Unlocking a Child's Potential

I saw this video for the first time today- you must DEFINITELY watch!  What can you do- whatever your role may be- at a school site to unlock a child's potential?  How would you want your child's interactions with others at school to look like?  Powerful video with a powerful message!

Unit 5 Final Project- Assessment

Assessment can create both positive and negative feeling in teachers.  When I think of the standardized state tests given once a year, negative thoughts start to put up.  “How can one test determine a student’s proficiency?”  However, when I think about teaching in my own classroom I enjoy the assessments I create and use as they give me valuable information about my student’s knowledge and helps me determine where I need to focus on next to help all students progress.  When I speak of assessments in this sense, it takes many forms: exit slips, observations, games, and conversations.

Rick Wormeli’s powerful statement in the TedEx video summed it all up nicely: “Teaching and learning boils down to that formative assessment.”  It’s hard to get past thinking of assessment as the one shot, final measure of a student’s knowledge.  Spelling tests, chapter/unit tests, state tests, etc. are not the only form of assessment.  While they still have their place in today’s world, they provide an autopsy of learning rather than a checkup.

Assessment can take place in a multitude of ways.  Formative assessment allows teachers, as Rick Wormeli also stated, to find out where students are, how far away they are from their goal, and what needs to be done to reach that goal.  I think of formative assessment as a constant check-up with students.  Whether it be through conversation, use of technology, quick exit slips, etc., all the information helps me (and teachers) to guide what happens next in the classroom.  Changing our thinking about assessments- what they are and how we use them- will change how we teach and how our students can show their learning.

Who is Christi Bangsund?

My Visual Resume

How can a visual convey meaning about a person?

Made with Canva

Learn how you can make a beautiful visual in Canva!

Unit 6 Final Project- Learning Spaces

Final Reflection: How is space the third teacher?

The third teacher speaks volumes in a classroom.  I created this visual to show just what the third teacher should be telling students and teachers who enter a space!

Is your space teaching what you want it to teach?

Unit 4 Final Project- Visual Literacy

How does Visual Literacy fit in with Global Collaboration, Project Based Learning and Flipped Learning?

Visual Literacy plays a huge role in 21st century learning. It is a hugely important skill that both students and adults need to learn. Here is my response to the prompt, "Why is being visually literate important for your students?" from the beginning of this unit with connections to Global Collaboration, PBL, and Flipped Learning:

Our world is becoming more and more image focused- emojis, Snapchat, Instagram are all visual ways in which we communicate with each other.  Our kids and students are growing up in this world of quickly sending and receiving images to convey and interpret meaning (Global Collaboration).  Many of them are not privy to handwriting letters or taking pictures with 35mm film.  As Brian Kennedy of the Hood Museum stated, “Everything is an image.”

Thus, Visual Literacy is important for our us and our students.  The Common Core Standards stress the importance of literacy in a variety of modes; we want students (and teachers, alike) to critically think about what they see, hear, and read.  With Photoshop (which I adore) and other photo editing software it is easy to alter images to our own preference and convey a meaning that may be different from the original picture.

Our students need to comprehend not only the content of images, but also accuracy of them.  Rob Legato’s Ted Talk hit this perfectly.  When watching Apollo 13 or Titanic, is important to question and understand that everything being seen may not be authentic experiences.  After all, they didn’t resurrect the Titanic to make the movie.  This can bring about curiosity in ourselves and our students to wonder “how did they do that?” (Problem Based Learning- using a guiding question to solve a problem.)

Analyzing images means looking beyond the initial view and going deeper; this is reading.  Reading of text or reading of images.  When we read a text we may know the main idea or theme, but have to use details within the pages to support other underlying themes.  Beginning readers are all about visual- they read the pictures before text and eventually use, and are encouraged to use, pictures to identify unknown words when reading.  Listen to any emerging reader and they will read a book entirely by looking at the pictures.  Images are everything to them.  It is important that we all (students and teachers alike) are visually literate to interpret, question, and comprehend the world around us. (Flipped Learning- using and initially interpreting an image before a lesson or having students look for an image that meets the objective.)

I love Brian Kennedy's quote- "Everything is an image."  It's not something that we can teach if we have time, it's a crucial element of 21 century learning.  The conversations, questions, critical thinking skills, and ideas that will be heard and shared in classrooms (and among teachers in professional development settings) will greatly enhance any classroom.  Combine Visual Literacy with the Common Core Standards, multi-discipline topics, and technology and you will create a classroom of excited and passionate students/teachers who can analyze, synthesize, and conceptualize topics deeply and thoughtfully.

That's the kind of classroom I want to teach and the classroom I want my kids to be a part of!

My Final Project- Google Certified Educator Level 1 Infographic

Video Explanation

Infographic

Unit 3 Final Project: Flipped Learning

Final Reflection: What impact does Flipped Learning have on your classroom? How can Flipped Learning empower you as a teacher?

Being able to flip the learning that happens with teachers really excites me!  I provide a lot of 1-hour after school professional development session in my district and I want teachers to walk away with something they can immediately use the next day in class.  However, 1 hour is not a long time!  I feel that most of the time we have together is spent with the 'basics' or the 'how-tos' of content- especially when it comes to technology.  Being able to use the technology is one thing, but being able to apply and integrate it into instruction is where the real magic happens!

There are so, so many online tutorial videos for software and websites that making teachers come together to view them seems wasteful.  If the teachers could view and learn the information (short bits of information would be best) before meeting face to face that would drastically change the culture and content of the pd sessions.  Time could be spent discussing implications for the website or software in the classroom and working out the little kinks of operating the software along the way.

Having teachers view and interact with "how-tp" content would empower them the next time they want to learn how a site works.  After experiencing several flipped pd sessions, they would be able to see the power of the flipped environment and how they might use that within their classrooms.  Discussions would be richer, ideas would flow, and I know teachers would walk away from each pd session with a lesson or idea to implement the next day!

Flipped Learning Matrix

Flipped Learning- QR Code Session

Thank you for registering for the QR Codes in the Classroom session!  Before we meet, please take a moment to watch the following videos and install the goo.gl url shortener on your Chromebook.

Unit 2 Final Project: Project Based Learning

What will student agency look like in your class one year from now?
I would like to continue developing and facilitating professional development sessions for teachers that allow them to find, use, and make sense of information to augment their instruction and increase student engagement with technology in their classroom.  I find there is a fine line between giving teachers necessary skills to use technology (nuts and bolts) and applying the technology in the classroom.  In each of the sessions that I offer, I try to model how to use the technology and then model applying it in the classroom.  This is a lot to accomplish in a 1 hour session!

Next year our district-wide focus for professional development will be technology integration.  Working with all teachers (at all levels) will enable us to get over the nuts and bolts of technology resources and begin to focus on effective integration within our classrooms.  That's where the power of collaborating will truly come in- being able to take a lesson plan developed by one teacher and refine it for your own.  Most technology is not content specific.

Many times I feel teachers get into the 'just tell me what to do' mindset and we lose sight of how we can really change student outcomes.  Giving teachers the power to find and use resources to support the Common Core Standards, but giving teachers the choice of how to use those resources in their classroom is a game changer.   Having an entire district begin to work on effective technology integration next year will probably be messy.  We will need a lot of support, modeling, direct instruction, and more modeling, but we can do it!

Design Thinking- A Project Based Way to Solve Challenges

I have never heard of or used Design Thinking as a way to solve a challenge, but after doing some research for my second EdTechTeam Teacher Leader Class on Project Based Learning, I would love to try this process with a group of teachers or administrators in this upcoming school year.  It could provide innovative solutions to challenges faced in our schools!

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Unit 1 Final Project- Collaborate with the World Lesson

Two weeks and I know my Personal Learning Network (PLN) has grown by leaps and bounds.  Being connected to other educators means sharing and gaining new ideas, transforming our practices, and building collegiality with others who are working towards effective technology integration in their schools.  We share and consume each other's information to use in our lives as educators to prepare and teach students, teachers, and administrators in innovative ways.

Technology has really transformed how I communicate with each other.  In my 13 years in teaching, never have I been able to learn so much from others by simply logging on to a computer.  During these past two weeks I was able to collaborate with others in an instant (via Slack, which I love!), plan an entire digital citizenship lesson, Hangout with others around the world, and review other final projects- all with the click of a few buttons.

It doesn't matter if we teach in the same school, work in the same district, state, or time zone, or even live on the same continent!  Technology levels the playing field and we are all instantly connected.  When else in our lives have we had this amount of resources and knowledge at our fingertips?

Check out my final project- a pd session that I've been wanting to provide since I started building my PLN using Twitter this past January.

Collaborate with the World Final Project

Meet Christi Introduction Video

Hello from Chico, CA!

Image sources:

Chico Unified Logo: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/771432811/CUSD_logo-1.jpg
Luther College Bell: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Luther_bell.jpg
University of Missouri, Columbia: http://www.accessbackgroundscreen.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Columbia.jpg
Lesley University: https://writingpostmasters.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/lesley_university.jpg
Toby Mac Life Quote: https://www.facebook.com/tobymac/photos/a.241173571178.147755.10162931178/10153635084926179/?type=3&theater

#InLove with Adobe Education Exchange

Once again, I have to give a shout out to the FREE professional learning opportunities available on the Adobe Education Exchange, or Adobe EdEx.

Here's my final assignment from the Publishing class I just completed- an interactive document that explains step-by-step how to create a QR Scavenger Hunt for your students: http://christibangsund.blogspot.com/2016/04/qr-code-scavenger-hunt-yes-please.html.

I am definitely 'self-taught' when it comes to programs and software.  I knew a little about InDesign and had the 'basics' down (or what I thought were the basics), but wow.  5 weeks and 5 assignments later I can create way better documents, even interactive documents, with the InDesign (as seen above)!

From a previous post about Adobe EdEx, here's why I (still) love it:

1.  It's free.

2.  It's totally online and done in your own time and space.  I literally did all 5 weeks of coursework in 1 week.

3.  It's free.

4.  Collaborative environment with Adobe professionals as the teachers- Each week the teachers go over content and give you an assignment to create and post for other participants to see and give feedback. 

5.  Classroom Applications galore (your imagination is the only limit!)- You also get to see and give feedback to other's work, which, can in turn, inspire a more ideas!

6.  It's free.

7.  The cool badge you get after completing the course. (cha-ching!)

Visit the Adobe Education Exchange at http://edex.adobe.com/professional-development/courses to check out what is coming up!  Try one class, try several.  You will be glad you did!

QR Code Scavenger Hunt? Yes, Please!

See the layout full screen here.

I'm in love with these 3 Apps/Extensions- as a Teacher and a Mom!

Here are 3 new apps/extensions that I am in LOVE with!  I tutor a group of 2nd graders each morning and am DEFINITELY using these to augment the learning (and infuse technology...it's a win win!)

Epic! Books Online

An online database of books, free for teachers.  Books organized by category; age range, average reading time and AR Level information listed with each book.

Available for Chromebooks and iPads (click image below to download or add to Chrome browser)

   

Green Screen by Do Ink

Students can create green screen pictures using an iPad or iPhone. Great tool to augment students writing and reading in your classroom!

Not available for Chromebooks. $2.99 in the App Store

(click image to download from App Store)

Google Tone

Does it take forever for students to type in a web address?  Send it to them wirelessly with Google Tone.  By adding Google Tone to your Chrome web browser, you can ‘send’ a website to each student’s device by simply pressing the Google Tone button. See how it works with this 26 second video.

Available in the Chrome Web Store:

(click image to download from Chrome Web Store)

Up Your Skills with Adobe Education Exchange

Looking to up your tech skills?  Adobe has fantastic online professional development- for educators- on their products.

Here's why I love it (after taking just one course so far...):

1.  It's free.

2.  It's totally online and done in your own time and space.

3.  It's free.

4.  Collaborative environment with Adobe professionals as the teachers

5.  Classroom Applications galore (your imagination is the only limit!)

6.  It's free.

7.  The cool badge you get after completing the course.

I've used Adobe products for quite some time but am totally self-taught.  I was looking for something to spur my creativity and found Adobe's online Collaborative Courses one day.

The first course I took was on Adobe Muse and I am currently taking a Publishing course using Adobe's InDesign.  Both courses are about 4 weeks long.  You can 'attend' the live class each week OR (as I do) go through the week's class on your own time.  Each week the teachers go over content and give you an assignment to create and post for other participants to see and give feedback.  You also get to see and give feedback to other's work, which, can in turn, inspire a more ideas!

Here's my product from the first class- totally NOT done- but a work in progress as our district moves to create a technology continuum that will 'live' online.  This is a website created in Adobe Muse- web authoring software.  You can see how I've organized our work here: http://cusdedtech.businesscatalyst.com.

Check out the upcoming courses:

• Train the Trainer: Creative Cloud
• Animation
• App Design
• Digital Storytelling with Adobe Mobile and Web Apps

Visit the Adobe Education Exchange at http://edex.adobe.com/professional-development/courses for more information.

GoFormative.com

Goformative.com is an AMAZING resource for any teacher with students in their classrooms.  But...what about educational leaders???  I think so!  After a brief couple of minutes on the site I was easily able to make an assignment with many different question types.  You can create multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions, but also show your work questions where a canvas appears as a work space for their answers.  You can add images, YouTube videos, and extra text boxes.  I haven't tried it (yet) but you can also upload your previous quizzes and make hem interactive.  But...the piece that toally intrigues me is the way you (the teacher) sees the feedback.  Each question will show mini "screenshots" of each student's answer.  At a quick glance you'll be able to see who's understanding and who needs more instruction.

My perspective is through professional learning sessions so I will most definitely be working this into my next pd...what a great way to check for understanding with teachers, but also a way to get personal feedback on topics in a quick way!

Gamify Your PD: Jeopardy

You know what can make your pd session fun?  A game of Jeopardy!  I've always loved watching this game on TV, brought it into my classroom as a teacher, and now am bringing it into pd as a TOSA.

Here's an example of my latest Jeopardy game- designed for each grade level in my school district. This game is made in google slides.  The amounts on the gameboard amounts are linked to the question slides.  To get from the question slide back to the gameboard, click on the girl.  Check it out here...click 'present' to get the full effect!

Here are the rules I play by with students AND adults...which is different from the Jeopardy you see on TV. These are the rules I used for district-wide grade level meetings.

1. You will work with a team of teachers from other sites.
2. Each group will have the opportunity to choose a category and question amount from the board.
3. We (facilitators) will read the question and give every team time to discuss the answer(s).
4. Every team will have the opportunity to share their answer(s) with the entire group.
5. Every team will have the opportunity to earn points for each question.

Talk about collaboration!  You can take a look at how the questions were formatted in the example (above) to encourage (and really, force) collaboration!  This game was a BIG HIT at our last grade level meetings- it totally gamified collaboration!!!!

So...are you ready to make a Jeopardy game for your next pd session or staff meeting?
Here you go...a copy of the Jeopardy game for you to edit and use when you click the link it will automatically prompt you to make a copy): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DIkeXeFi2BULqRmYzfPlngldOXqehLuvcdxn5hHtAmY/copy

To edit:

1. Add your title to the title page.

2. Add questions to the question slides.  Don't rearrange slides as that will mess up the links on the gameboard page.

3.  When you're ready to play, explain the rules (above), click 'Present' and have some fun!

Lead with Technology...Enjoy!

ShareD YouTube Playlists- Create a playlist with multiple collaborators

One shared video on Facebook got me thinking...my sister-in-law shared this super fun video today, mostly (I think) because the guy with the glasses has a hilarious dinosaur dance move: https://youtu.be/Imhi98dHa5w?list=PLLRi5Ghj26dCHEmCAj4-7P8rK6q620OMq

That video led me to think about how perfect and fun these videos would be for brain breaks in the classroom...

which led to making a YouTube playlist so I could keep them in one spot...

which got me thinking...why keep them to myself?  What if my teaching partner wants to add a video she/he found...

...which led me to wonder about shared YouTube playlists where different people can add to the same list!!!

So...how awesome would it be to lead through technology and START a shared playlist for:

• grade level teams (Brain Breaks, videos for science content, etc.)
• Entire sites (motivating/inspiring videos, Kid President snippets for morning announcements)
• An entire District (Teaching strategies, district-wide grade level lists- talk about collaboration across sites!!!)

Here's how you do it!  (It's so easy...)

1. Sign in to YouTube.
2. On the left hand side, click Library.

 

3. In the upper left hand corner click 'New playlist.'

4.  Give your playlist a title and add videos by clicking 'Add videos.'

5.  Once you have your videos, select 'Playlist settings.'

6.  Now choose the 'Collaborate' tab.  Turn on collaboration by clicking the button so the blue check mark appears.  A button will appear that says 'Get Link.'  Click for the link; copy and paste so you can invite collaborators!!!

Now you have a shared playlist that anyone can add to, as long as they have the link!!!  You are still the 'owner' so you can monitor additions as needed.

Enjoy!

Gamify Your Staff Meeting or PD: Kahoot

Image from https://getkahoot.com/tutorials/Kahoot_Tutorials.pdf 

Want to add a little gaming to a staff meeting or pd session?  Kahoot is a GREAT tool to spice it up!  Kahoot! is easy to use and a fun way to collect feedback!  And that's not it...what a great way to model technology use to collect information and/or feedback that can immediately be used the next day in a classroom.

Kahoot! can be used as a classroom formative assessment tool to:

• begin a lesson- gathering prior knowledge or building background knowledge on a topic
• gauge student understanding in the middle of a lesson
• assess knowledge, drive your instruction for the next day or week, at the end of a lesson as an 'exit slip'

Materials Needed: To use Kahoot! everyone needs a device that connects to the internet, i.e. smartphone, iPad, Chromebook, laptop... they'll all work.

To set up a Kahoot! quiz, discussion, or poll, you'll first need to make a free account.  Then you can build your own game by following directions here.  These directions are easy to follow and walk through creating a quiz step-by-step.

When you're ready to play, log in to kahoot.com on a device connected to a projector (preferably), choose your game, and select 'play.'

Select 'Launch...'

Players need go to kahoot.it and enter the unique code that was generated for your quiz (it'll appear after you click 'Launch').  They'll also be prompted to enter a nickname to identify themselves.

Your device (connected to the projector) will display the questions and answer choices.

Players devices will ONLY show symbols for answer choices.

Image from https://lh3.ggpht.com/8MB3BaV2DmsB0OgTNW3dBr7moEdgQgyd8WPcyTLfFXCEhm4XiHA5UGz8bQFqapA2iNSu=h900

Results will appear as soon as everyone has responded.  Players play for points...the quicker they answer the more points they get!

Have fun with this!

Kid Snippets: Math Class

Kid Snippets are some of the funniest videos on YouTube.  Here is my ABSOLUTE favorite- Math Class.  In Chico Unified (my school district) we have a group of teachers that facilitate district-wide grade level meetings during the year.  We used this video to open our very first meeting of the year and it was a huge hit...every teacher can relate to this situation.  Needless to say we haven't been able to find one to top this video yet, but we keep looking...

This video is perfect for:

• Opening a staff meeting after a rough day
• Instant icebreaker at a Professional Development session
• "On a whim" sharing (Hey!  Check out this funny video!)
• When you're by yourself and are looking for a laugh!