Can you show me a "Show Me"?

So I keep talking about these fantastic apps, but I do not believe I am doing an appropriate job explaining them.  Watch what my students have to say about Show Me.  Also, We just finished up another assessment applying the idea of expressions to buying a fish tank.  Take a look at some of the created Show Mes my students created by clicking the links below! Take a look at 3 different ON grade students.  See the different levels of understanding and work....  Want to see the task they were working on?  Open up the PDF.
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=6CnMZGq
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=jqLH1Yu 
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=FFcwwAy 

Success

Success
Over two weeks now and still paperless!  I finally feel like students are truly getting the hang of the new routine and finally I Am seeing the results I seek.  As I anticipated, the iPads are an amazing gateway into the common core world.  Because of my constant access to apps and the web, I am able to dig deeper into the curriculum in the real world context.  Let me expand,....my classes are focused more on one main idea or question because of how deep I can explore with my students.  Today, my students focused on creating expressions based on helping people buy burgers at the In and Out restaurant.  Through the lesson, we were able to experience multiple facets of this restaurants.  Although the lesson was focused on just one idea, students were able the dig deeper into the idea and show their understanding more in depth.  Using an app, called Show Me, students are able to explain their understanding as they record their answers.  Why is this so beneficial to common core?  So many times in discussions, students only speak who are confident.  Having each student record their vocal and written understanding in depth allows each student to have a voice.  I individually listen and watch the show mes with my students and discuss the mathematics and discussion techniques.  This is a safer way for quiet students to get experience talking about mathematics.  Check out this video that went with the second task in our lesson today.  This video came from one of my on grade students!  I am so I impressed!
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=nc8BUSO

Too much?

December 11
Too much?
I guess the saying is,... you live and you learn.  For the past few days I have been trying to establish routine with the iPads.  For my warm-up, my students scan into the problem, then write their answer in "show me" and finally post their answers on My Big campus.  Today I added the additional task of responding to a classmates post.  20 minutes into my class and I am overly frustrated that some students are not complete.  Reflecting, I suppose it is not necessary to implement all these different tasks for just a warm-up.  I have decided to scale this down to just scanning into the question and discussing as a class by posting our answers with air play.  Although the idea of them responding to each other on mbc is appetizing, it's is completely unnecessary and can be completed at another time.

Note to self,... You are not superwoman
Your kids are not sub-human
Slow down speed racer......

On the plus side, I am four days paperless! Awesome!!!

Informing Parents Draft

Parent Involvement

My hope is that this pilot will allow parents to become more involved in my classroom.  Step one: Informing parents.  Here is a draft I have been working on to send home.  Some say snow day,...I say work day!

 

Evernote

Evernote

I want a way for students to access their notes any where,....introduce,...Evernote.  For my purposes, I set up one Evernote and made a folder for each child to keep their notes in.  Students can keep notes from Type on PDF here, so this will ask as a working portfolio.  
My concerns,...every child has the same login.  So, every child can alter this Evernote.  This may cause a problem in the future,...
So far, so good.  Student each have a folder and have been saving notes here. No issues yet.  Below is a picture of what the main screen looks like.  
I like the idea of Evernote because I can also use this like a live dropbox.  I will be able to access all students work.  Is this an easy way to monitor progress,..maybe?  I also plan on having student turn in certain projects into an "assignment turn in" folder.

Paperless,..part one: Type on PDF

Showing work on the Ipad is easy, we can essentially use an interactive whiteboard on the screen with our fingers and styluses to do our work.  The more challenging idea is taking notes and saving them so students have access to them.  Part one,....taking notes and getting the note sheets out to the students.  Welcome,...Type on PDF.
First, I saved my documents as PDFs under My Big Campus.  My students have used MBC on several occasions and are more than advanced .  The students open the PDFs in the app "Type on Word".  Shown below are two examples of the notes students took.  One student chose to use a stylus and the other chose to type.  Type on PDF is a great option for taking notes.  

GOING PAPERLESS,....THAT'S RIGHT,...NO PAPER.....

After having my students use the Ipads, it has occurred to me that I could transform my classroom.  What do you think about a mathematics classroom being paperless???? 

Sound insane?

Sound challenging?

Sound impossible?

This is where I thrive.  Let's do it!  I am committed.  It may be slow moving at first, but I know I can do it.  Imagine a math class, the cornerstone of pencil and paper, transformed!  What would we be teaching our students,...that you can do and access math ANYWHERE!!!!  How powerful is this!

QR reader

One of the apps I used frequently, even before I received a class set of Ipad, was the QR scanner.  My students were used to using their phones or other devises to scan into problems.  They have also created their own.  Instead of writing my warm-up question or individually passing out a warm-up sheet, students can scan into the problem and have the problem at their hands to manipulate.  In the future, I will start using avid marking strategies.
I use http://www.qrstuff.com/ to create my QR codes.  Right now, I am just creating text, but eventually these QR codes will scan into sites where students will have a more interactive approach with the warm-ups.  I am thinking about using Khan Academy videos and responses as a warm up.  The possibilities are endless and I am so excited!!!!

December 6th: Time for MATH

December 6th
Time for Math
Okay, so maybe I dug too deep too fast.  I was just so excited to begin!  I am not a half in type of person,...I like to jump in feet first!  I would say our first day was,...not a success,...but not a failure. I underestimated the amount of students that lacked basic understanding of the Ipads. 
My agenda for the day was:
1. Warm-up (QR into the problem and QR into the answer on "Today's Meet".  Practice work done on "Show Me").
2.  Notes (received from My Big Campus and opened in Type on PDF free).
3.  Collaborative understanding (Mover+ and Skitch used to view others work and add collaborative work)
4.  Pass a Problem (Mover + and Skitch.  Use "Show Me" for practice work)

Okay, so looking over this list, it does include a bit of new apps.  The only agenda number we did not get to was #4.  Not a failure,...not a success.  Going through each agenda number, I want to express my celebrations and concerns.

Pictured above is the warm-up I posted on my board for students to QR into.  Students easily found this app and used it to find the warm-up problem.  A time consuming issue occurred as the students attempted to show their work.  Using "Show Me", students used their fingers to attempt to find the answer.  Dexterity with some of the 6th graders was a problem.  Many of the students had issues using their fingers to write.  I have decided I am going to buy styluses for each students.  I believe this may fix my problem. 

Once students identified the answer, they were to QR scan into "Today's Meet" to write their answer and explain their processes.  Problems that occurred stemmed from the website being blocked from our schools server.  I had to individually log each student into the site.  By the time I got to the third class, I changed up my idea from "Today's Meet" to the My Big Campus discussion board.  I love the idea of "Today's Meet".  Students were able to see the answers on the board as they were posted.  I could ensure that each student participated and was engaged.

December 5th- Day 1 with students: Let them Play,...

December 5th- First Day with Students

Let them Play,...

The students have been itching to just touch the Ipads.  Each day my students have pleaded for us to start using them. 
Let the chaos ensue,....
Just Kidding.
The first day I gave my students the I-pads, I knew I needed them to get their curiosities out of their systems.  I knew most of my students would probably know more about the apps, so I allowed them to play around.  After assigning each student an I-pad, we talked about ground rules.  I introduced them to the apps and allowed them to explore.  Pictured above is the adapter I needed to buy to display the Ipads on my screen.  This specific adapter was $29.99.  I convinced my principal to buy it for me!  Worth every penny!  Why did I not use airplay,...with the new iOS7 update, the airplay has many errors. Ug.  I guess I will have to hard wire for now.

Essential to my classroom, at least I think, are the rule I imparted on my class.  If my students are not doing the math by being on another app or another web site, they will loose their Ipad privileges for a day.  The second offense will have the student loose the Ipad for a week.  Third offenses will cause students to loose all privileges for the rest of the year.  On the first day, I had one student loose his privileges.  I plan on holding strong to my rule system.  Ipads are a true privilege in our school.
As my students "played" on the ipads, I walked around and inspected problems and celebrations.  I noticed how I had a vast divide in the skill level of my kids.  Some could easily navigate where as others had no idea what the "home" button was.  I think this exploration time was essential because I was able to pre-assess what I needed to directly teach.  I also wanted them to get their curiosities out of the way because these have not been given to me as play things, but rather an instrument to improve my instruction.

Can we fix them?

After an hour of scratching our heads, we figured that in order to make them usable, we needed to delete all the profiles off the Ipads.  Before we deleted the profiles, my Ipads belongs to the 500mathcheckin group.  Why wouldn't this work?  Apparently, when these group Ipads were supervised, it was done on a specific computer.  The ONLY way to change the supervisor, so that I would be able to add apps in bulk to all ipads, is hard wiring EACH Ipad to this said computer, un-supervise each one, and re supervise them on a new computer located in my school.  UGGGG.  Apparently this is an Apple issue. 
 Unless I did not want to use my Ipad this year, I had to delete the profiles off all the Ipads.  What is the problem with this?  Under the last system, certain websites were blocked under airwatch.  I had to physically go into EACH of the 24 Ipads and add all the Apps (but only the free ones, because in order to get the paid ones, I would need to have them be pushed out by this mysterious computer!) and impart RESTRICTIONS so that my students would not be able to download games, listen to music, or go on inappropriate websites.  I also had to update EACH Ipad to iOS7.  After hours of adding apps and adding restrictions, my Ipads were ready to be used.  Honestly, I really didn't mind this time because of the benefits I hoped to receive from the Ipads.  We will see how this goes.....

Dec. 4- Ipads in Action at HCC

December 4th- I-Pads in Action at HCC

Presented by Emma K Doubs and Apple Inc.

 

On Monday, one of my lead teachers gave me to opportunity to join her for an Apple event, I-Pads in action.  I was given the opportunity to see how one of our county schools, Emma K Doubs, had implemented I-Pads on a one-to-one basis.  Sitting through four sessions, I learned various apps and strategies for using them in my classroom. The librarian was named MSET technology teacher of the year.  What these teachers do at their school is beyond amazing!  I feel like this is Washington Counties hidden gem!  I am confused as to how this is the first time I am hearing of their successes.  Although I love Washington County, I truly believe that one of our weaknesses is vertical teaming.  Emma K Doubs is an elementary school.  As a middle school math teacher, I am inundated with valuable information for teaching middle school and math, but I truly believe I would benefit from training at the elementary level as well.  Although I am unable to use some of their strategies, I am able to differentiate for my level.  If I did not have this amazing lead teacher (Amy Hilliard), I would never have had this opportunity.  As a county, we need to expose these hidden gems!  I am committing myself to educating my staff with what I have learned, but I believe the training I received is essential to all employees at all levels.

I WANT THEM TO WORK!!!! (Nov. 26th)

 

November 26

I WANT THEM TO WORK!!!!

I have had these amazing Ipads for a few weeks now and they have done nothing but sit in their boxes.  Yes, I have had the training from the board, but I cannot get them to work!  Let me expand,...I have sent my list of apps to the board to get pushed out to my group of Ipads, but they are not showing up. Not only that, but my Ipads are missing essential applications, like the camera, that are essential to what I want to do with my classroom.  I have sent about 80 e-mails to our technology department trying to get them to work.  With only 1 man servicing 45 schools, it is quit difficult for him to attend to just my problem.  He has committed to coming in next Thursday, to see if we can find a fix.  In the mean time, I need to ensure that all of them are charged and ready to go.  Pictured above is my attempt to charge my Ipads.  I am guessing that this may be a fire hazard?  

For anyone interested in implementing Ipads, the idea of storage and charging need to be thought of.  It would be amazing to have an I-pad cart, similar to what we have for laptops.  As of now, 24 Ipads are littering the outlets around my room.  Question for myself for the future, how am I going to ensure that my Ipads are safe when I am not here?  Where am I going to lock them up?