In May of this year, I purchased a FitBit Flex - a device to wear around my wrist that would help me to track my daily steps taken, nightly rest cycles, and to give me daily silent reminders through a vibrating alarm. Some teachers use the FitBit or other health trackers to ensure that they are up and moving all day. While my FitBit has certainly reminded me to get up and get moving more, I have found another use for it while teaching.

So, confession time: I am a very forgetful person when it comes to timing, scheduling, and keeping track of items like my keys. I could probably lose my keys while my car is running... it's that bad. So, if a brilliant moment of learning is going on, I completely forget that I am supposed to remind Student X to go take her ADHD medication or for Student Y to go to his small group lesson for Learning Support.  As I have settled into my new class for the year, I have several students who need reminders throughout the day about specific things, whether to check in with me on a behaviour issue, check in at the office for medication, or just to be sent to the Learning Support room for extra assistance with academic or social skills.

I have begun setting my FitBit silent alarms to go off throughout the day to remind me to do those things. That way, when I feel the device buzzing on my wrist, no one else hears it, and I can gently remind the student about what they need to go do, even if it is in the middle of something else important for the rest of the class.

I know this is a tiny tip, but it has already helped me enormously with remembering all of the "little things" that we teachers do to accommodate student needs. I hope it helps you, too!

I know my blog is named "Tech Teacher on a Mission", but every once in awhile I like to post other classroom ideas that have not very much to do with technology.  Consider this as your forewarning that this post is one of the "non-techy" ones, but it is by and large one of the coolest things that happens in my classroom. This idea has been adopted from my practicum experience in a multi-aged (Grades 1, 2, & 3) classroom and is now used weekly with my Grade 3/4s.

The concept is simple: a class meeting. That's it. Seemingly, it's nothing groundbreaking. But, like anything, it's all about how you frame the learning that makes it so powerful.

As an aside, I purposefully set up a lot of unfair and unstructured environments in my classroom that allow students to design the rulings within the space. For example, the job chart is a hot mess of disorganization in September, there is no set regulations on turn-taking in our classroom comfortable reading space, and there is certainly no order as to who gets the high honour of turning off the lights when we leave the classroom. These are things that are very important in the eyes of my students as they can cause social duress... Small people, small fights.

So I use Class Meeting as a place for my students to govern their own school experience. The activity is designed to allow them to make rules within the classroom to help it run more effectively.  These can include regulations that may positively impact their safety, learning, or social experience. My students run the Class Meeting session completely from start to finish. I model this at the beginning of the school year by using a loose framework of Robert's Rules of Order. 

1) Set-Up & Orientation

I always begin Class Meeting by setting my students up in some type of circular format so that everyone can see the person who is speaking. We do this on an open mat area on the floor, but if space is limited, moving desks into a circle works just fine, too. It is most important that the Chairperson and Secretary sit in a space where they can make eye contact with each person attending the meeting.

The meeting runs once every week, and is used to create new rules, amend or abolish old ones (the kids use this language!), or to re-visit unsettled business from a previous meeting.

2) Selecting a Chairperson

When modelling this, I highly emphasize that the chairperson is a responsible student who has the ability to manage the meeting. There are many speaking and listening challenges integrated within this role, as well as social expectations surrounding leadership.

The Chairperson is the student whom the meeting centres around, as they will be the one who keeps the entirety of the meeting on track, setting the agenda, and moving through that agenda within half an hour of time.

The Chairperson lets the class know that business has officially begun. Several students raise their hands to suggest topics:

• "Daily 5"
• "Using technology"
• "Line ups"
• "Math Centres"

These are among several topics that are brought up in my classroom. Each student's name and topic is recorded by the secretary (typically me, but I have had students do this job in the past) before any are discussed formally. We usually can get through 5-6 topics in half an hour.

4) Carrying out the Agenda

The Chairperson calls upon the first order of business recorded and that student will present their rule to the class. The Chairperson then paraphrases their rule back to the student to clarify what the follow-up discussion will be. Once the presenting student consents with the rule description...

Student hands fly up to ask questions of the presenter and to vocalize their support or rebuttal for the rule itself, stating evidence that backs up their opinions. By pushing for the "why", students will begin to see alternate viewpoints and consider how the rule may impact others, ultimately helping them to develop empathy and to exercise social problem-solving skills. Typically, the Chairperson limits the question and support/rebuttal commentary to three students, but if it is a hot topic or more discussion is required, they will allow for additional dialogue.

Votes are carried out after each rule is proposed, summarized, questioned, and defended. Sometimes rules will change on the fly depending on the line of questioning. In these cases, the Chairperson is responsible for clarifying the rule being voted upon before the vote occurs. Students are taught the difference between 'Yes', 'No', or what it means to 'Abstain' one's vote in the first few meetings and are encouraged to use their own voice to vote for what they believe in, not just to follow their friends.

In the event of a tie, the chairperson (who does not vote in the original rule election) must vote to break the tie. Remember, rules can always be amended or abolished at later meetings if they're a point of contention. As a teacher, I will often re-propose these topics at later meetings to see how opinions have shifted on topics in the classroom.

The students repeat going through each rule proposal, summary, questioning, and defense until the entirety of the agenda is carried out.

5) Closing

My students close the Class Meeting with what I like to call the Self-Esteem Circle, but it can really be any variation of speaking and listening activity with a talking piece. With a mirror in hand, they state one thing they like about themselves, and pass the mirror along to their neighbour telling one thing they like about them. This continues around the circle until it has been passed to every set of hands in our classroom, making sure that each person is included in the activity. We've also done this as a Gratitude Circle. This small, but effective activity has built up a ton of friendly community in the room, and the kids are adamant that the adults are included, too!

I am also intending on creating a how-to video on Class Meeting this year so that other classes can see how self-regulated and powerful this activity is for us. Engaging students in critically thinking about the social governance of their learning space is a powerful way to put the importance of community into their hands.

There are several powerful technological tools that can document visible thinking and learning for our students. Screencasting, voice recording, blogging, and video are at the forefront of the movement for student content creation and undoubtedly hold a lot of clout in helping teachers to assess for next steps in instruction.

When creating screencasts, my students' thought processes have become more complex as they speak their thinking about learning processes aloud. They take time to consider their words carefully in order to create authentic recordings of their learning. However, as my students work on these mediums, I'm not convinced that students' simple documentation of their thinking is enough. Sure, it tells something to me as the teacher, but does it reach full potentials for the student? 

This brings me to the most incredible choice I've made in my classroom so far this year: pushing for a consistent blend student self-assessment, constructive criticism toward and from their peers, and materials that inform my future teaching.

When screencasting, there is nothing more powerful than students listening to the playback of their own thinking. This process of re-reading, reflecting, and re-vamping is necessary in so many other facets of our classrooms, though. The challenge for educators lies in teaching students how to take fair and meaningful reflections and assessments of their own work. Though this is a little bit meta  (learning how to assess your own learning ), it is amazingly powerful when students learn what they need to improve about themselves and their work, and when they choose to do so independently.

Explicit instruction and one-on-one interviews are absolutely necessary in the beginning of this teaching. It helps to set your expectations for each student's self-assessments as well as finding out about theirs. The end result helps them to shape their evaluations of themselves and base this thinking on a growth mindset: "What could I do better?" and "How can I do it better?" 

After seeing the power of this in areas such as reading and math, I have begun integrating multiple student self-assessments into every subject area both with and without technology. My conclusion thus far is that student engagement is not improved simply by use of technologies, but rather, by meaningful student-centred pedagogy. From improving recorded playbacks, to monitoring self-progress through checklists, student blogging, reflection on completed tasks, and goal creation for the future, it has been nothing short of rewarding to watch my students take charge of their own learning. 

How do you your students assess their own work? How do you help students to make appropriate and fair judgments of their own work to improve for the future? Your commentary is appreciated as I continue to build on this aspect of my classroom.

My students have been busy learning the rules of the road for posting online and representing ourselves appropriately.  As we have become more comfortable with replying to posts, using hashtags, and knowing who to follow, I have begun to pose more difficult challenges for my kids. This particular challenge is one that I would like to invite you and your classroom to be a part of: The #Grammar911 Project.

#Grammar911 is a hashtag that the @EduMinions (my class) will be using to learn about appropriate grammar and punctuation when posting online.  All too often, I have to remind my students to use capitals, periods, spelling, and appropriate subject-verb agreement in their written work. Through social media, students can create and complete their own collaborative "Daily Oral Language" exercises.

The coolest part is that my kids are very engaged in completing this task as a part of their Daily 5 work in Language Arts. I can offer bite-sized, contextual grammar lessons and my students can immediately experiment with their applications.

1) Begin by modelling. Post teacher-created "messy sentences" with the #Grammar911 hashtag attached. 

When beginning this project, error rates in your modelled messy sentences should start small with one or two errors per sentence.  This way, students will get used to the idea of searching for specific things to correct. Make sure the #Grammar911 hashtag is attached to your messy sentence.

2) Have students correct errors to create a "clean sentence".
     
Here is an example of how we have complete this in our class:

The clean sentence author should begin with an indicator that it the sentence is fixed.  We use two stars -- ** followed by the student's initials so I can track how many contributions each student makes. 

Here are the steps my students typically take: 

1. Select a tweet and hold down your finger on the "messy sentence"
2. Click "Select All" and then "Copy"
3. Tap the Reply arrow
4. Tap and hold in the tweet box and click "Paste"
5. Move the cursor around the tweet using the magnifying glass - hold down and move your finger on any part of the text (students who are unfamiliar might need practice to get used to this feature)
6. Fix the errors, ensure ** and initials/name are attached to "clean sentence"
7. Check with a teacher before tweeting (Some students may not even realize that they haven't corrected all the errors, either!) 

If you want to aim messy sentences directly at your class account, you can do so as I have in the second example below.

Things can also get increasingly difficult as time goes on by adding extra grammatical elements like quotation marks, spelling errors, etc. You can get creative -- as long as it is generally readable! 

You can also create your messy sentences with classroom context in mind. 

3) Have students create messy sentences for each other.

Once students get comfortable, have them begin to create the messy sentences.  Mine started asking if they could post their own almost immediately! Again, they still need to check with their teacher before sending out tweets, and should only be including 1-3 errors per sentence to begin with.  Don't forget to add the #Grammar911 hashtag!

Here is an example of a student-created messy sentence with another student correcting the tweet:

4) Students can create, find, and clean up messy sentences on their own by following #Grammar911!

This is the phase I'd ultimately like to see the project get to.  This would happen when students understand the rules of the road around the project and are using the hashtag appropriately.  My class is getting a point where they are completing the task in a self-directed fashion, and this is where YOUR class comes in!  I'd like to invite you to join the #Grammar911 conversation so our classes can interact and work together on the online language-editing process! 

If you would like some more examples about how this project works, check out this Storify of a few #Grammar911 corrections from my class. 

If you have any questions or would like to contact me, please feel free to comment below.

Remind101 is a free, safe, and efficient way to communicate with students and parents via SMS (text) messaging.  You can sign up for the service on their website or through their iOS or Android apps on your phone or device. 

Remind101 does not give your subscribers your personal phone number and does not allow for them to reply to your reminders.  Likewise, you cannot access the personal phone numbers of your subscribers. Messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent, either. 

Once you sign up and create a class, Remind101 will generate a domestic phone number and unique class code so that subscribers to your class can begin to sign up.  Any phone that receives text messages will be able to subscribe to your class reminders.

Through both the web portal and the app, you can schedule SMS messages to be sent out at specific times.  Another cool feature is that if you are composing a message at a late hour - let's be honest, teachers work often work late - you will be prompted to schedule the message to roll out at a more reasonable time.  After all, your subscribers probably don't want to receive a text message at 12:30 AM! 

The text message interface is set up exactly as a regular SMS message.  In the screenshot below, I have sent the code to subscribe to my class texts, and followed the prompts sent back to set up the subscription.  Having your parents and/or students inputting their full name is important so that you can manage your subscription lists.  You don't want to have anyone on your subscription list that isn't a part of your class.

Near the bottom of this same screenshot, you will see that every time I send out a text message via the Remind101 web portal or iPhone app, my name will appear at the front of the text.  This will remind parents and students who don't save your Remind101 number into their phones that the text is from you. 

It is my hope that these instructions can help you get set up with this awesome app.  Communicating is easy when you have Remind101! 

This post will be available for future reference under "Remind 101" on my site. 

Aurasma is the primary app and web resource that I utilize for getting my students to create their own augmented reality (AR).  For those that do not know, augmented reality is the ability to digitally overlay images or video overtop of a static image or "trigger image."  AR is often jokingly referred to as "QR codes on steroids." After creating an aura using Aurasma, you would then point the iPad camera at the trigger image, which would automatically generate the overlay video or image onto the screen of your device. 

There are some specific things that you need to know before getting started with Aurasma in your classroom:

1) You need an account via Aurasma Studio 

2) Create a Channel for your classroom/class section through your new Aurasma Studio Account

3) You will need to sign into your account on each device that you will use in your classroom OR follow your channel to see the auras you create on your studio account (see gallery below for visuals)

4)  UPDATE: Auras created on devices can be viewed immediately on other devices that are signed into the same Aurasma account. However, they cannot be added to a channel for other users to view on their devices. (...yet. Perhaps soon on another update!)

When getting started with Aurasma, it would be prudent to go through these amazing tutorial videos on twoguysandsomeipads.com.  The authors of the site are Drew Minock and Brad Waid, and they are leaders in the field of augmented reality in education.  There is also a fantastic compilation on their site of "Meaningful Integration of AR in Education," co-authored by several educators, myself included, that hosts some amazing ideas of integrating augmented reality into the classroom. 

Happy augmenting of reality! Thanks for reading!

This post will be available for future reference in the "Augmented Reality" section of my website. 

Today I, alongside one of my colleagues, had the honour of making a presentation to our local Rotary Club for their generous donation to Gordon Greenwood.  Earlier this year, the Club provided us with the funds to purchase our first 10 iPads and get our technology program off the ground for our special needs students. 

Before tonight, I'd never been to a Rotary meeting, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  I hadn't anticipated the "community" aspect of our role in this project and presenting in front of so many esteemed community members.  Though we were likely the youngest people in the room, we were instantly welcomed as peers and equals.  The inviting smiles and warm conversation occurred not only through our complimentary meal, but throughout the rest of the evening. 

The most important part of the meeting, though, was our presentation about how technology has impacted our school.  Our students are engaged and excited about going to Learning Assistance.  Kids who have difficulties with reading, writing, and math are getting the adaptations they need in order to be successful at school.  Previously resistant teachers are jumping on board after seeing the positive results of iPad implementation in the Resource Room.  A small grant from a local community club was turned priceless in the hands of passionate educators, a team of educators I am proud to say I've been a part of.

Bringing this success story back to the community members that made this possible was also priceless.  A comment from Langley City's mayor sat with me at the end of the Club's meeting. I may be paraphrasing, but in a nutshell, he said that any community outreach is fundamentally ineffective without passionate implementation behind it.  I agree 100%.  It's not enough for schools or outside agencies to buy technology just for the sake of having it in the hands of students - passionate people who believe in authentic and creative learning is equally as important to have as the hardware itself. 

Okay, I'll admit it. I came into my position as Tech Facilitator at my school thinking that I knew what was what in tech integration.  I mean, come on, I integrated SMART Technology into several subject areas and I was savvy with my devices on a personal basis.  How hard could it be to bring those things into the classroom?  Could I support other teachers in the process? No problem!  Compared to most of my colleagues around me that had difficulty with things as simple as email, I was a pro!  Beloved readers, you all know how this ends: I swiftly became a small fish in a very big pond. 

I'm not someone who takes failure lightly;  I persevere until I get it right.  So that's what I'm doing now.  My largest growth has been since I became more active on Twitter in the last two months.  I now regularly participate in different #edchats, have grown my PLN substantially, and I've even moderated a chat for pre-service/new teachers (#edteach).  I've learned about all things iPad and about many new software tools that I'm beginning to pilot in my classroom.  Things have been going really well in that world.  

But that's just it... it's a different world.  A PLN is a world where ideas are so plentiful that it's extremely easy to compare yourself to the success stories of others.  Are these wonderfully resourceful people continually posting their techno-failures? Absolutely not.  They're telling you about the times that they've innovated, created, re-imagined, and re-designed learning for their students.  If you ask, sure, they'll tell you what did and didn't work for them or their school, but when you first jump on Twitter, there's no way to see a clear picture of their entire journey in their field.  You just see a snapshot of the present.

It was in reading this article that this notion became clear to me on a personal level.  I actively compare myself to my PLN colleagues despite the fact that our school and our access to tech is severely less than most of those I read about.  I'm continually criticizing myself for where our school is at, yet I forget the staggering distance we've come since September. 

Here is a piece of commentary from the same article that inspired me to write this post:

So there it is, folks.  Don't compare yourself.  It's not worth it.  If you make a valiant effort to better yourself, make goals to progress on that continuum, and you engrain that attitude into your teaching, then people will undoubtedly see the value in what you're doing for kids. And hopefully, you will too.

Part of the technology plan at Gordon Greenwood has been to get iPads into the hands of our teachers and support staff in order to give them an idea of the possibilities that technology can  present for their students. A few weeks ago, Sarban Sangha, a principal at Lochiel U-Connect here in Langley, was kind enough to offer his services to provide a discovery session for our special needs educators. And more recently, I was able to finish the preparation of our teacher sets of iPads to release into the hands of our teaching staff.

In my opinion, there is nothing more empowering for a learner than hands-on experience. I could stand in front of a group of staff members all day and show them what they could do on an iPad, but none of it means anything to them unless they actually have the iPads in their hands. Moreover, I find that learning on devices is more authentic when the learner makes the discoveries themselves rather than through delivery of app knowledge. The part of these sessions that excites me the most hearing the little murmurs between engaged staff members, "Oh, this would work really well with [Student A]!" or "My low reading group could really benefit from this app!" or "This is a great extension for [subject area]." For teachers who are really stuck in the discovery process, I get them started with  apps like GeoBoard or FindSums that are user-friendly and immediately engaging and they usually move on on their own from there. 

After a few discoveries have been made and some play has ensued, most of the educators I've worked with have aligned themselves with the idea that the devices have something to offer their students.  Following this process, there will certainly be a more vested interest if you do want to introduce increasingly complex apps such as PDF annotators, note-taking, or file sharing apps. Or maybe you just want to show them how to buy an app. It's a neat challenge for teachers to look for apps that matter to their students and classroom, and I'm finding this far more valuable to staff than just me calling all the shots when installing apps. (And it's really fun for me to monitor their discoveries as my device is the Master iPad on our iCloud)