February 28

7 Tools to Aid in Video Creation

The following blog post is written by our student leaders from Digital Learning Day! #Exceptional job student leaders!

 

Welcome to Winterboro High School’s Digital Learning Day! DLD is a student lead program that allows grades 5-12 to familiarize themselves with new, intriguing digital tools. Winterboro High School’s Leadership Team worked to thoroughly plan lessons that introduced and explained digital programs. This year’s theme: a day at the movies. The objective was to introduce students and teachers to various video tools that enhance their classroom experience.

 

  1. Adobe Spark: In using the Adobe Spark website you can create a variety of different things. You can make slideshows, graphics, flyers, brands, web pages, posters, and lots of other different tech tools. The most popular tool that I use in class is the Adobe Spark Slideshow. Adobe Spark has helped me a lot when doing an assignment that involves creating a slideshow. When using a website like Google Slides you don’t really have as many resources as you would when using Adobe Spark.  During the Digital Learning Day program I chose to teach people how to make an Adobe Spark slideshow. When creating a slideshow using Adobe Spark there are lots of things that you can do that you can’t really do when using other websites. When creating a slideshow using Adobe Spark you can add music, videos, and images. Adobe Spark also allows you to change the theme of your slideshow and within each theme you have five different choices of color that you can choose from. When making a slideshow presentation you have to be sure that each slide plays long enough for all of the information to be read, using Adobe Spark you can choose how long each slide plays for, the maximum amount of time each slide can play for is 30 seconds. – T’Shari McElrath
  2. My Simple Show is a video making website that can be used to create a story for your video. You choose a template and write the story out and the website will choose keywords from your story to chose animations, and if you don’t like the animations this website provides you with, then you can go in and change the animations or upload your own. Then, choose a voice over and background music and finalize your product. This was my first time using this website but it was very easy to figure out. – Hannah Langley
  3. Magisto:  While using magisto you are able to make a short movie using only movies. You have a limit of 10 photos. Once you get all your photos you get to give them a theme and music. Magisto was a very fun website. – Demondre Robinson
  4. WeVideo:  Wevideo is a website that you can make your very own personal video relating to different things such as a  school project or community video. On wevideo you can add your different types of picture and you can add any music of your choice. Wevideo is a good tool where you can share it with your peers and have fun. – Kayla Merritt
  5.  Biteable: This Tech Tool is a free and easy way to make and promote your own products just making a video. While using Biteable you can make an animated video. The features are your own or embedded audio, animations, text, or your own pictures/ videos. This is a fantastic way to promote your idea, event or concept. Biteable is a video creator that has awesome features. Why not use it? – Aalani Cook
  6. Zimmer Twins Movie Maker: By using Zimmer Twins you can make an animated story. How you create your story is completely up to you. Zimmer Twins makes students utilize their creativity and imagination. You can use an example given by the site or create a movie from scratch. When you are creating the story you can change characters, locations, and actions. There are many scenes to choose from or to just make your own. -Brittany Parker
  7. Powtoon: Powtoon is a movie-based website that creates videos through the art of animation. Using Powtoon, students are able to add characters and props that interact with the video. Powtoon provides several options that enhance a student’s video. Using personalized backgrounds and characters, students can individualize any topic.-Tess Head

 

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January 13

Tech Tools to Support the Struggling Learner

Below is a post written by guest blogger and teacher leader, Alex Johnson! He lead our faculty on Tech Tools to Support the Struggling Learner in Teacher Academy!

 

Tech Tools for the Struggling Learner

In what ways have you packed the  “tech toolbelt” of the struggling learners in your class? Because so many of these students struggle, it makes things more difficult for the student and the teacher. These tech tools can add functional ways in which a student can learn from the teacher while gaining more independence.

  • Flipgrid Immersive Reader
  • Rewordify
  • Voice Typing
  • Read and Write
  • Graspable Math

 

 

 

The Purpose

These tech tools, when added to our struggling learners’ toolbelt, can become a vital part in the success of the struggling learner. The purpose for these tech tools are to “level” the playing field for all students. If used by the student, then hopefully we can “measure” the growth of that student! “Hammer” these tools so the students understand the importance of the tech tools. Remember, the end result is growth and independence.

 

3 things I love about these tools

  1. These tools are more for the student than the teacher.
  2. Learning how to utilize these tools can make school easier and more fun again to the student who has struggled so long.
  3. The students can work more independently and at a faster pace on assignments that used to be more difficult.
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January 6

How a #MetacognitionMoment Packs a Punch in Professional Development

How can a #metacognitionmoment pack a punch in professional development? It is fast, easy, and pumps the breaks throughout the day to reflect on teaching strategies used and the effectiveness of when to use those strategies.

 

Reflection is a vital strategy for the learning process.  Reflection either affirms current convictions or allows the learner to redirect their thinking.  Reflection is a key component to metacognition. According to The Core Six Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with the Common Core it is “the single most effective way to increase student achievement”. In our professional development day on Friday, we reflected on teaching strategies and pedagogy the teacher leader presenters used.

 

Purpose:

  1. Stop, Reflect, and bring attention to the variety of teaching strategies used in short increments while teaching
  2. Review “oldies but goodies”
  3. Highlight the Before, During, and After for each segment.

 

The #metacognitionmoment didn’t take long, but it packed a punch. Teachers were discussing different strategies and talking about different pedagogies.

 

What I loved about it:

  1. Purposeful teacher talk
  2. Analysis of my teaching (how valuable to me!) and analysis of teacher leader teaching
  3. Everyone had different strategies as you can see on our chart from the day! TONS of strategies highlighted and used!

 

The #metacognitionmoment will be used again throughout this semester during our observations and future professional development sessions.

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October 18

#PowerfulTaskDesign

The following is a recap of our Teacher Academy lead by @GraysonLawrence on his work with the Powerful Conversations Network!

In our most recent teacher academy I met with teachers to discuss a learning opportunity I am participating in with a couple of our teachers. We are participating in Powerful Conversations Network through the Alabama Best Practices Center. This years we are studying the book #PowerfulTaskDesign by John Antonetti and Terri Stice. We were able to bring back some wonderful ideas to discuss with our faculty after our first professional development day. One of the most important parts in teacher planning is having teachers design learning tasks that are powerful and meaningful for the content they are learning. We spent our time in teacher academy looking at student tasks from our classrooms and discussed the components of a powerful task better know as the Task Design Component.  There are three components of a learning task:

  • Cognitive Demand- the minimal thinking a task will require of the learnings.
  • Thinking Strategies- the required visible evidence of Personal Response.
  • Engaging Qualities- the elements and conditions that elicit energy and enthusiasm.

I asked teachers to share some learning tasks they had students do during the last week to determine whether they were powerful or powerless tasks using The Original Powerful Task Rubric. I thought this process was validating to many of our teachers as they saw that the tasks they are having students do in the classroom are very powerful crossing the rigor divide resulting in engaging and meaningful work for our students.  I felt the work teachers are beginning to do with designing powerful tasks will be beneficial to them as they are collaborating to develop project-based learning projects in the very near future. There is no doubt that powerful learning task will result in an even more powerful project. This is just the beginning of the work we will be doing with our teachers in creating and developing powerful learning task.

Category: Reflection, Rigor | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 9

Technology Tools to Support the Engineering Design Process

The following blog post was written by Emily Nestor, Technology Integration Specialist and DLP Coach!

With the integration of STEM/STEAM becoming a focus in many  K-12 schools, the term Engineering Design Process has become an educational buzz word in both conversations and classroom pedagogy.

Within this methodical process, students begin with an idea or problem and follow a series of steps that emphasize the importance of planning, creating, testing, and improving. Coupled with its focus on the 4Cs (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity), the EDP is an educational gold mine that encourages a growth mindset while emphasizing 21st-century skills and fostering design thinking.

At Winterboro, the integration of the Engineering Design Process is not reserved for just STEM/STEAM activities, but instead has become a guiding process for all student work. From essays to presentations to tangible products, students utilize the steps in the EDP in order to create products that are #exceptional.

Winterboro’s 1:1 Chromebook infrastructure also plays a role in how students move through the steps of the Engineering Design Process. Through the embedding of technology, students are not only more engaged, but are also encouraged to communicate and collaborate. This, in turn, allows students to deepen their level of understanding, strengthen and broaden their thinking, and also share their ideas – all of which can have an impact on how a student chooses to tackle the task/problem/challenge.

Need some ideas on tech tools to support each step of the Engineering Design Process?

Check out this week’s Teacher Academy presentation!

Tech Tools to Support the EDP-t13iyq

Category: STEAM, Technology | 1 Comment on Technology Tools to Support the Engineering Design Process
August 12

The Power of the Positivity Jar

What a wonderful start to school we have had this week! The power of positivity and relationships are so strong at Winterboro! I would like to take an opportunity to introduce you to the Positive Thoughts jar. It is a simple, white, ceramic jar that sits on the corner of my desk. Often times many students and teachers come to pull a positive quote from the jar. This jar is special as it gives a positive jolt just when and how you need it the most. My dear friend and colleague, Marianne Garrett, gave this to me as a present and I cherish it daily and use it as a tool to bless others.

 

On Friday, she came to my office with two sweet friends to pull the jar. Basically, without looking, you pull a card from the jar and read it aloud. Never has anyone pulled a positive quote that doesn’t directly pertain to previous conversations or struggles. These sweet students were amazed by their quotes and asked if they could come to pull positive quotes when they needed one. Easy answer….YES!

 

 

The impact and power of positivity in a school culture is immeasurable. I am looking forward to an #exceptional school year!

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July 17

PBL and STEM…One in the Same!

Today during our summer planning days, we conducted a protocol with teachers about the similarities and differences between PBL and STEM. The group was split into 4 groups, each group not knowing the question given to the other. The four questions were as follows:

  1. What are the characteristics of a PBL teacher?
  2. What are the characteristics of a STEM teacher?
  3. What are the characteristics of a PBL student?
  4. What are the characteristics of a STEM student?

 

Each group brainstormed characteristics of each and we sorted the characteristics on whether they were characteristics of a Student, Teacher, or Both. All of the characteristics listed here both student and teacher!

 

Why was doing this so important? Often we see PBL and STEM as two separate initiatives. They are indeed NOT. This really helped to visually see the collective thoughts of our teachers, and to show that what they are doing matters….whether they are in a full PBL or whether they are conducting a STEM activity, they are doing what is expected, valued, and believed by our school culture! It was an #exceptional day of learning!

 

Category: Project Based Learning, STEAM | LEAVE A COMMENT
July 8

Google Certification

 Having just completed my Google Certified Educator Training, I wanted to take a second and reflect on my experience passing the first level. I cannot give away the contents of the quiz, but what I can discuss is my experience throughout the process. I consider myself an avid Google User and Educator. The certification took some time, just under two hours, but it was well worth it. It was validating that many of the questions I knew, and there were tons of morsels of information that I picked up along the way to enhance my google experience moving forward.

 

As a principal, the learning and validation were invaluable. The productivity reminders and lessons will truly enhance my work time at school, but to be in the role as a teacher and educator through the training helped me to refresh the Google Experience that my teachers experience in the classroom on a daily basis. It is important that administrators are always learning and growing.

 

If you teach at my school, let me know if you want to complete this to become a Google Certified Educator. I have a discount code that makes the certification only $5!

Category: Google, Technology | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 16

Reflections on Embarrassment- Part 1

One of my new year’s resolutions was not only to read and tweet about what I have been reading but also to blog and reflect on it as well. This first snow day of 2018 has allowed me to begin this journey cuddled up with a new book, (embarrassment) by Thomas Newkirk. The title and why students are easily embarrassed are what attracted me to this book. As teachers, we think students shouldn’t care about their “image”, but they do….and we secretly do too!  I only started reading it today and just finished the first section of the book.

Embarrassment is a facet of learning. Newkirk states, “If we can take on a topic like embarrassment and shame, we can come to a richer, more honest, more enabling sense of who we are and what we can do”. @Winterboro_high we studied the teachings of Eric Jensen this summer and the value that student and teacher relationships play on student achievement. Very simply put, students will not care about content until they know you care about them….GENUINELY. Having relationships be our bedrock this year has been great. We have formed advisories, made connections, etc., but after reading Newkirk’s book, one of the next steps to student achievement is to be aware of triggers in class such as the blush or the crackle of a voice. Those triggers can be characteristic of students being embarrassed in class and are potential barriers in the classroom.  Newkirk states, “I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that embarrassment is not only a true enemy of learning but of so many other actions we could take to better ourselves”.

What are ways teachers can help to combat embarrassment in the classroom (other than having strong relationships)? Meet PBL- Project Based Learning. Although Newkirk hasn’t explicitly cited this in his book so far, it is heavily implied through tapping into students strengths while in class groups as well as teaching through a variety of modalities from Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. PBL is a great venue to do this, as it allows students to recognize their current strengths and develop their areas of weakness.

“The very act of writing can also serve as a form of rehearsal”. LOVE this quote! Embarrassment can be eliminated by giving students a trial run before open classroom discussions. Students can write about their thoughts or participate in “turn and talks” in the classroom. I am always looking out for new strategies, but often times some of the most effective ones cover so many areas. The turn and talk is widely used, easy to use, and does not discriminate when it comes to content. The turn and talk is one simple strategy that packs a punch!

 

Section 2 of the book will be coming soon! Hopefully without a series of snow days!

Category: Embarrassment, Project Based Learning, Reflection | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 8

Tech Tools to Support the 4C’s

Below is a blog post from Emily Nestor, Technology Integration Specialist! Great job!

An integral component in today’s 21st Century classrooms is the embedding of College and Career Success Skills into teaching and learning. These Success Skills include communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking and are often referred to as the “4 Cs.” Embedding these Success Skills into daily teaching and learning experiences has become almost seamless thanks to the plethora of Tech Tools that are available to students. By utilizing technology, educators are able to cultivate and promote the use of the “4 Cs” in meaningful and effective ways in all content areas.

 

With so many AMAZING Tech Tools out there, trying to sort through them all can sometimes be a daunting task! So I decided to help my #exceptional teachers out my giving them a few examples of some of my favorite 4C Tech Tools! These examples included both “oldies but goodies” and some more recent additions to the Tech Tool world. Check out these awesome Tech Tools below or CLICK HERE for an Interactive Infographic.

 

If you check out any of these Tech Tools in your own classrooms, I would love to hear about your experiences! Feel free to comment below or Tweet me – @emilycnestor !

Category: Technology | LEAVE A COMMENT