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Innovative Pursuit of Authentic Digital Solutions

Campus Proposal Form

Spring 2013

Due to Richard Armand by May 17, 2013 by 4:30PM

Campus: Pirrung Elementary

Title: iHave iDeas but iNeed iPads Principal: Cara Jackson/Paige DeWitt

To view the proposal in its entirety please visit https://sites.google.com/a/mesquiteisd.org/pirrung-ipads/home

1. Describe the way teaching will be transformed through this iPad initiative.

Our school currently has one iPad cart to share among all the teachers on campus. As we have started using the iPads in our instruction, we are excited about the possibility of transforming the learning experience for our students through the use of this technology. We feel that having 1:1 student iPads in our classrooms is the best way to help us accomplish this task.

We feel that having 1:1 student iPads in the classroom will allow the teacher to take on more of a facilitator role and the students will be the ones in charge of their own learning. The iPads will allow teachers to be more innovative when creating lesson plans. Through the use of apps such as Edmodo and Nearpod teachers can start flipping their classroom one lesson at a time. Teachers are able to record themselves teaching specific concepts, post links to videos and informative websites, and create notes for students. Students are then able to watch the lesson at their own pace and create end products to show their understanding of the concepts in apps such as ShowMe and Popplet. When students are able to receive the instruction at home, it allows for more concept engagement to take place in the classroom. This puts students in charge of their own learning and enables them to think more critically, differentiating the instruction in a way that reaches each child where they are in their understanding of the curriculum.

The iPads will be used to increase rigor through problem solving and higher order thinking skills. Apps like ShowMe force the struggling learners to think through why they are solving the problem a certain way. When they are in charge of “teaching” the problem they cannot simply guess and move on to the next problem. As the teacher, we are able to listen to their thought process and determine what is causing them to struggle. On the other hand, the gifted students are able to provide more detailed reasoning for each problem and move on to new problems at their own pace. They are not forced to listen to the teacher explain problems step-by-step when they understood it the first time. The iPads are a great way to reach students on any point of the learning spectrum!

When iPads are used effectively in the classroom the instruction becomes centered around the students using iPads, rather than thinking of technology as an afterthought. Having a 1:1 iPad to student ratio allows the teacher to plan each lesson with the iPad in mind. We will be able to think of what we want the students to know at the end of the lesson and how they could demonstrate their understanding by thinking critically. We will then be able to use certain apps to accomplish our previous goals and differentiate instruction for individual students.

While we are making the best use of the iPad cart that we have, sharing one iPad cart between all the teachers on our campus does not allow us to use them to their full potential. In order to have the greatest impact, we believe each student should have an iPad in their hand to use every day at school. This would allow students to become more familiar with how this technology works so that they can focus on thinking critically about the lesson objectives instead of on how to operate the iPad. With only one cart available to the entire school, teachers are forced to share time with the iPads which only allows for students to have occasional access to this amazing technology, rather than daily access. Our teachers are eager and excited to use the iPads, but it is difficult for them to create lessons with the iPads in mind when they are unsure of their availability. Problems also arise when students do not finish an assignment with the iPads or are absent and the next day they are checked out to another teacher. We would love to be able to have a classroom set of iPads for the 3rd-5th grade classrooms and use them to transform the way we teach and the way students learn.

2. How do you utilize current campus technology? Describe your level of success.

In the fall, every classroom teacher received one iPad to use in their classroom. Teachers participated in a few training sessions with our tech facilitator to help them become familiar with using the iPads. As the teachers became more familiar with use of the iPad, the trainings began to focus on how to use specific apps with the students.

Shortly after the teachers received their iPads, our school purchased an iPad cart with 30 iPad minis that teachers can checkout to use with their class. Before we received the iPads, our administrators and two teachers went to Rutherford Elementary to observe how this technology was being used in their 5th grade classrooms.

Teachers have become familiar with certain apps through collaboration with other teachers and schools, personal exploration, and training with our tech facilitator. Lesson plans have been created that align with the curriculum and allow students to show their comprehension of different concepts in an innovative way. The examples below illustrate how these apps have been successfully used in our classrooms.

Nearpod

The teacher uploaded the district created flipchart over plant and animal adaptations into a nearpod presentation. Each student was given an iPad and was guided through the presentation as the teacher taught adaptations. Slides were included that allowed the students to show their understanding throughout the lesson. A few of these interactive slides included: labeling different parts of a plant and using turn-and-talk to describe their adaptations, matching different plant functions to its correct adaptation, and submitting any plant and animal adaption that the student could think of that was not previously discussed during the lesson in a short answer format. The teacher was able to receive immediate feedback on who was struggling and provide them with further help before assigning homework.

Another teacher used Nearpod to teach a lesson about fractions. The lesson included interactive features such as videos, polls, and quizzes. The polls and quizzes give the teacher immediate feedback on each student's understanding of the concepts being taught. Here is an example of one of the polls and the student responses from the presentation:

Skitch

A teacher posted a screenshot of an article online through Edmodo. Students accessed the article through their Edmodo account and opened it using Skitch. Students were then able to highlight the reading objectives that were the focus of that week’s curriculum. Some of these topics include main idea, punctuation, and parts of speech.

This app has also been used during a social studies lesson over World War I. Students read and discussed some of the main events that caused the war and the effects that took place as a result. They then used Skitch to create a flow map showing the sequence of events.

One teacher had the students draw a habitat and type four facts including information about the weather, predators, food available, and surroundings in the habitat. Using AirServer, the teacher projected the habitats on the promethean board. The class then open the edmodo app to discuss what adaptations an organism would need in order to survive in the given habitat. See example below:

Another teacher posted a graphic organizer as an assignment in Edmodo. Students retrieved the character trait map and completed it using Skitch. See example below:

ToonTastic

The students have used this app to create and tell stories. They were asked to focus on developing their story by creating a setup, a conflict, climax, and solution. Students loved personalizing their story by either choosing from the settings and characters provided through the app or drawing in their own. Students were then able to narrate and animate the story. This is a great app to get students excited about the writing process! See the Google site for an example of one of the stories created by a 3rd grade student.

Keynote

Students were broken into groups and given a passage specific to their reading level. Each group read through their passage and followed their note-taking strategies. Then each person used keynote to create a presentation over their understanding of the reading selection and concepts such as cause and effect, summary, character traits, and sequencing. They had to identify two cause and effect relationships from the reading selection and create a slide with flow maps. One slide included a list of each character with a circle map of one specific character and their traits. Another slide had to include 5 major events from the passage put into boxes in sequential order. The last slide needed to include a summary with details from the beginning, middle, and end of the selection. Each keynote presentation was unique to the student that created it and showed the level of their comprehension of given concepts. This was a great review for their upcoming reading STAAR test.

Keynote has also been used to create a review presentation for Life Science. Students are tested over plants, adaptations, life cycles, and inherited and learned traits. The presentation included the following six slides.

Title Page
Picture of a plant that the students took a photo of and a description of what plants need to survive and what they release.
Flow map of inherited traits and learned behaviors, there definition, and an example of each.
A picture of an animal the students took with arrows pointing to three adaptations on the animal and how they help the organism survive.
Complete Metamorphosis life cycle with three examples of insects that go through the four stages.
Incomplete Metamorphosis with each stage label and three examples of insects that go through each face. Students were able to add special effects to their presentation and using AirServer, the students were able to present their creation to the class.

See examples on the following page:

ShowMe

ShowMe has been used with the higher order thinking questions provided by the district. Students were asked to take a picture of their questions and read them for understanding. Students were then able to become the “teachers” by recording themselves reading the problem and talking through their thinking process while using their finger to show their work. These ShowMe presentations were then uploaded onto the teacher’s account. The teacher was able to use the Promethean board to project the ShowMe videos to the class. The expectations were raised for each child because they were put in charge of teaching each problem rather than simply marking an answer. Some teachers have uploaded the ShowMe videos onto their classroom blog so that students and parents can view them at home. Students loved seeing their work on the blog!

Popplet

Students were taught a lesson on inherited traits and learned behaviors. They were asked to show their understanding of each by creating a Popplet with two circle maps. One circle map showed examples of inherited traits while the other showed examples of learned behaviors. Students were able to use any books provided (textbook, sciencesaurus, library books) to take photos to use as examples. They were also able act out different learned behaviors while a friend took their photo. These photos were then placed in the circle maps in Popplet. See example below:

During college week, every third and fourth grade teacher had the students create a popplet with information about where they wanted to attend college, what goals they wanted to accomplish, and what their dream career was. These popplets were hung from the ceiling in the third-fourth grade hallway.

Edmodo

The teacher uploaded several links to websites that contained information on the life cycle of insects including those that go through complete and incomplete metamorphosis. Students were able to use the iPads to research these life cycles through Edmodo and take notes. Students were able to choose interesting facts and post them to the discussion board throughout the lesson. After students researched the sites, they were able to choose two insects, one that goes through complete metamorphosis and one that goes through incomplete metamorphosis. They took a screenshot of the insects’ life cycles and uploaded the photos to the Popplet app. They were then asked to record the details of each phase in the life cycles.

This app has also been used for students to participate in book discussions. The teacher created small discussion groups through Edmodo and posted a discussion question to each group. The students answered the questions and supported their answers with details from the story. They also were able to respond to each other by elaborating on another student’s response or asking a question. See example on the following page:

Other Campus Technology

We are extremely excited about the cart we already have on our campus and are excited about the possibility of receiving more iPads for our 3rd-5th grade classrooms. We will use these iPads daily; however, we will continue to utilize the other technology we have available to us such as the laptops, Promethean board, and voters. These technologies can also be used in conjunction with each other to enhance lessons. Here are some examples of other technology that has been used in classrooms on our campus:

Laptops

Students in 4th grade used the laptops to complete a research assignment as required by the district curriculum. Students were given a choice between 5 research topics. Once the student chose their topic, they used the rubric provided by the teacher to guide their research. After the research process was complete, students combined information from various sources and used the laptops to type their reports.

Infuse Learning is a web based program that our teachers have used on the laptops as well as the iPads. Throughout the lesson, the teacher can ask students to draw in a response, vote on a multiple choice question, or text in an answer. Teachers can also put a quiz in for students to complete. The website provides the teacher with information on each student's progress and how many questions they answered correctly. The drawing feature allows for students to be more creative in their responses. Below are three examples of student responses when the teacher asked the class to draw a picture where 3/5 of the items were blue. It was neat to see the variety in their responses!

The laptops have also been used for students to create their own digital stories using Storybird (students have also used Storybird on the iPads). The students select a style of artwork to use as the inspiration for their story. Every student in the class is grouped together allowing students to read and comment on each other's stories. Students have loved receiving feedback on their story. Students can also invite other students from the class to collaborate with them on a story. See the Google site to read an example from a second grade student.

Students have created book trailers using Animoto. After reading a book, the students wrote a script to advertise the book and make other students interested in reading it. They selected images and music to go in their video. The videos were then posted to the teacher’s blog.

A third grade class used the Trading Cards website to create Trading Cards for the different characters in the chapter book they were reading. We are excited that the iPads will have the Trading Cards app available for our classes to use! Here is an example of one of the cards created by a student:

Promethean Board

The Promethean board has served many purposes for teachers across our campus. They have been used to show educational video clips when appropriate for the lesson, to project results from the voters, to play an interactive jeopardy review game, and to use interactive flipcharts with the students. Some of the flipcharts have been provided by the district while others have been created by specific teachers. A resource we have found to be extremely helpful is Promethean Planet. While we usually have to alter the downloaded flipchart to align with our curriculum, this site provides quality flipcharts.

Voters

Several teachers add questions throughout flipchart lessons and allow the student to send their vote. The teachers are then able to receive immediate feedback which allows the teacher to decide if a re-teach is necessary or if the lesson should continue.

During discussion time, the students are given a question to think about, discuss with a friend, and then use the voters to send in a short answer. The teacher discusses some of the answers, allowing for a more in depth conversation.

3. How will the proposed initiative impact your ability to implement the curriculum and transform teaching practices?

Instead of using the iPads to do the same things we have always done with the addition of technology, we will look for ways to transform the learning experience by using the iPads to accomplish things not possible without the use of technology.

Each of the examples of how our campus has previously utilized the iPads shows that we are able to implement the curriculum with the iPads. We are not simply using the iPads to teach technology. We are using technology to transform our teaching practices while allowing the students the opportunity to receive the same higher order instruction in a new, innovative way. The learning is becoming more student-centered and the teacher is able to be more productive as the facilitator and helping those in need, rather than giving each child the same instruction in the same way. The iPads allow for immediate, formative assessment which can help us reach the struggling kids sooner, while the gifted students are able to move on at their pace and truly excel.

4. How will your initiative be measured in improved student achievement?

One of the main goals of this initiative is to improve student achievement. We will look at several pieces of data throughout the school year to make sure that this goal is being accomplished. At the beginning of the school year, students will be given the opportunity to express their feelings about their level of engagement and success during their classroom instruction and activities. Surveys will also be given in the middle and at the end of the year to see how their feelings have changed as more technology has become a routine part of the classroom environment.

Teachers will perform weekly formative assessments to determine how the technology is impacting classroom instruction and student comprehension. Current and previous CBA data will be analyzed to ensure the implementation of this technology is benefiting our students. We will also examine data to see if there is a correlation between the implementation of iPads and discipline data and attendance.

Student input on use of the iPads in the classroom:

“I pay more attention when I’m using the iPads.” (Kelsey Demchuk)

“The new technology is amazing and makes learning fun.” (Diego Arreola)

“My favorite app is Popplet. Using iPads is better than writing with paper. They are the #1 way to do school work.” (Collin Turner)

“We make maps in our class on the iPads. It is a lot easier than drawing on a piece of paper and it can help save trees to use the iPads.” (Thomas Edward)

“I love this app called ShowMe! You can take a picture of a question and you say step by step what you’re supposed to do to solve it.” (Spencer Hutchinson)

“iPads not only give you more information, but they help kids have fun as they learn. A kid needs something to keep them entertained. If I was a teacher I would want to let kids have fun at school.” (Meagan Galloway)

“Keynote is my favorite app because we did a presentation on a book and my group got to present our information on Keynote. I loved putting special effects on the slides. Keynote makes me feel like I’m the teacher. Please give us the iPads. It would mean the world to us!” (Marissa Tovar)

“Infuse Learning is cool because the teacher asks you a question and you get to answer (write or draw) and submit it. The teacher instantly gets it.” (Ava Shields)

“I like Edmodo because you get to take quizzes and share interesting facts. I shared a fact about dolphins and it helped a lot of other people.” (Abriel Rosa)

5. How will the student’s role and learning experience change?

One of our main goals at Pirrung is to motivate students to become lifelong learners and equip them with skills necessary to be successful throughout school and later in the workforce. Today’s students are constantly surrounded by technology in their daily lives. In order to have the greatest influence on students’ motivation to learn, we need to adapt instruction to meet the needs of 21st century learners. The use of iPads in the classroom will help us meet these needs by allowing students to learn in new ways that will help motivate and engage even the most reluctant learner.

Proper use of the iPad allows students to be in charge of the pace of their learning by allowing more individualization of the learning process. One size does not fit all in education, and iPads will allow us to address the individual needs of students and differentiate the curriculum more efficiently. We want to provide students with a student centered learning experience that allows them to take ownership of their own learning. The iPads provide yet another tool in our toolbox for reaching out to all learners.

The students' role will change from sitting and getting information to becoming active participants in their learning. Students are used to experiencing the classroom as an onlooker, only responding when called on or working when asked to start the assignment. When iPads are used as a tool to enhance the learning experience, students will be forced to use higher order thinking skills and rely on their knowledge to complete a task. They will be in charge of how the end product turns out and what information they put into it. They will be allowed more freedom with their work, but must become more responsible in making sure they learn the content. The expectations will be raised, but students will be able to have more fun, be more creative, and be actively engaged in every lesson.

6. Describe your timeline and action plan.

Two of our teachers will be attending the TCEA Tots and Technology conference on June 10-11 in Galveston. These teachers will present what they learn during a staff development day in August.

Representatives from our campus technology team will attend the PFK iPad camp 1 and 2 next school year and bring back the newly acquired knowledge to the rest of the staff members. It will be highly encouraged to all 3rd-5th grade teachers to attend these trainings when it is possible. Through future workshops/trainings and collaboration with other educators, we believe we will be able to continually improve how the iPads will be used to transform the classroom.

These teachers have also agreed to meet with staff members each six weeks to introduce a new app and how it can be used within our curriculum. Our goal is to focus on using apps that will allow the kids to create an end product unique to their learning style and that will also allow the teacher to easily assess their level of mastery.

In order to determine which app we will focus on each 6 weeks, we will send a survey out to teachers. The survey will include a list of apps available on the iPads that allow the students to use higher order thinking skills when completing an assignment. The teachers will be asked which apps they have already used with their students and which apps they are interested in learning more about in order to create lesson plans that involve using the iPads to increase rigor for the students. The information gained from these surveys will determine which app is going to be introduced to the teachers. The leaders will create a video and upload it to our staff Edmodo page for teachers to watch before the training. This will allow the teachers to become familiar with the app and play around with it before being asked to create a lesson plan. During the training, the leaders will provide an objective selected from each grade level's curriculum that would work with the given app. After the teachers are shown a few examples of lessons that have been used in correlation with the app, they will work with their grade level team to create their own lesson plan using the provided objective. The leaders will be able to spend their time monitoring and helping groups with questions about the app and how to use it with their students and the curriculum. These trainings will also serve as an example to teachers of how a flipped classroom works.

7. Describe your initiative in Twitter format in 140 characters.