Documenting Our Progress

This school year, two classrooms have received significant amounts of technology through the wonderful work of our Education Foundation! Both teachers will be documenting the activities in their classrooms throughout the school year via blogs. Courtney Niemeyer, who teaches kindergarten received the Innovative Primary Classroom grant and Alissa Gray, who teaches fourth grade received the New Classroom grant.  Because blogs are chronologically organized, these teachers will document week by week what is happening in their classrooms. Check out their first posts.

Courtney Niemeyer from Eagle Cliffs Elementary has started the Connected Kinders blog:

 

Alissa Gray from Orchard Elementary has started the New Classroom blog:

 

The First Day...YAY!

In the Innovative Primary classroom, Mrs. Niemeyer did a great job of integrating technology seamlessly into her teaching. She did some great activities with the students using her document camera and the ipads.

 

When I arrived, Mrs. Niemeyer had the students gather on the rug for a story. She read The Little Engine That Could. I was amazed at the connection she made between colors, shapes, and technology!

 Mrs. Niemeyer uses her document camera to guide students in building a train with a collection of shapes after reading The Little Engine That Could.

After the students built their trains using the different shapes, they learned how to do an activity on the ipad called PrestoBingo Shapes, which reinforced learning colors and shapes!

Hmmm...looks like someone is enjoying this activity!

Innovative Primary Classroom - This looks much better!

In the previous posts, I have outlined the journey that Courtney Niemeyer (Kindergarten teacher) and I have been on in setting up her classroom to integrate a collection of digital tools. So far we have installed:

• 22 ipad lab (1-to-1 ratio)
• Color laserprinter
• Interactive projector
• Document camera
• Apple TV (turn the ipad into a wireless document camera)

We still have the following equipment to come in:

• Classroom audio system (to magnify teaching voice)
• Big screen TV
• Leap Technology (combined with the TV, creates a wireless interactive environment)

The transition from an empty room to a fully equipped and furnished classroom has been a bumpy one. We have had to request new electrical outlets positioned in the most efficient places. This takes time as our facilities personnel are swamped. We also had to wait for facilities personnel to mount our projector - sounds simple, but in reality it was a frustrating situation. One of the biggest struggles is the lack of time we had to set up the equipment. Most of it arrived 2 days before we started back to work for the school year...not a lot of time to get things up and running.

Setting up the ipad lab went pretty smoothly...installing apps takes a bit of time so Courtney will have to plan ahead when wanting to put new apps on the devices. Deana Elder - our district tech support engineer - helps Courtney setup one ipad that we could sync to all the rest. It took two days to get all the devices initially setup.

What a difference! Courtney's classroom is really looking great!

Innovative Primary Classroom on PhotoPeach



Here is a conversation Courtney and I had as I show her how to use her new document camera. She thinks of ways to use it immediately upon learning what it can do!

Setting up an Innovative Environment...Make Room for all the Toys...errr...Tools!

As Courtney and I were planning for the influx of technology into her new kindergarten classroom this summer, we wanted to make sure that we were thoughtful about placement of equipment, tools and learning centers. We started by taking a series of pictures of her room to get a feel for where things might best fit for optimal learning and optimal access to tools. Below is a series of shots I took with my iPhone, then used an app called Photo Slideshow Pro to create a view of the classroom BEFORE the technology.

Courtney and I talked about how she wanted to lay out her room. This video is a conversation we had as she brainstormed how to best arrange the learning environment.

 

In this video, Courtney is explaining one of her objectives and we are trying to figure out what technology best meets that objective for her students.

OOH! Things are starting to arrive!

The Innovative Primary Classroom...New Technology, New Experiences

In May 2012, I was contacted by our district's Education Foundation director, Krista Hertz, asking to assist in a classroom grant project. A teacher in my technology staff development program had written a grant (for a few iPads) that caught the attention of a consistent donor to the Foundation. He was so impressed, he wanted to personally fund her project. He also wanted to interview her and see if she would be able to do more in her classroom if she was not limited to the $1000 maximum grant amount.  

Our Donor, Our Hero 

Tom Wardell is a donor to the Foundation and funds Classroom Grants in his parents' memory, Harry & Alta Mae Wardell. Mr. Wardell has been a steady supporter of Billing's teachers and their efforts to provide the best education possible for students. He has provided funding to classroom projects in Billings that illustrate innovative teaching and learning ideas.  

One Innovative Teacher
Courtney Niemeyer is a primary teacher who has been involved in my technology staff development program (TILT) for two years. This amazing young woman has so many ideas, I get dizzy just thinking about it. When Courtney was asked what she wanted to do...if funding was not an issue...here is her answer.  

When asked, "what would you really like to do?" Courtney answered: 

My goal is to empower children with learning and to show them that their thoughts and opinions have an audience and can evoke change.  I not only want my students to be prepared for an ever-changing, ever-advancing world, I want them to be contributors.

I get some funny looks when I talk so idealistically about six year olds; however, I know it is possible.  Technology has transformed society and it can do the same for our children’s learning. 

Using tools like ipads and ipods, QR codes, and an interactive whiteboard, kids can be self-directed learners.  Students can access, analyze, interpret, use, and share information and data.  

Take, for example, the QR book review project.  In the project students have to read, analyze, and summarize books.  Then, they have to form an opinion to write and perform for their recommendation video.  Once the book review video is made and the QR code is attached to the book, we are able to watch the circulation of the books to see if their opinions increased the check out rate of the books.  We have found already that many students have been watching the different reviews.  We will be able to see at the end of the year library inventory if the books were in fact checked out more because their reviews.  Has their learning contributed to a change? Have they made an impact?  We are anxious to see!   

Of course, with two ipads we were only able to get about 25 review projects complete.  With a funding opportunity, I could expand this project and other innovative ideas to enhance learning in my classroom.

 What activities would you be doing? 

Taking and editing video, syncing ipad and ipod devices, creating ibooks, designing interactive whiteboard lessons, video conferencing and allowing other teachers to watch lessons remotely, blogging classroom events, making QR codes, and more. 

The "and more" part is what scares me! Not really! Courtney has been researching and cataloging ideas and resources all summer in her new favorite tool - PINTEREST.  

She has a collection of sites categorized under Clever Classroom. This category is filled with teaching strategies, center activities and lots of lesson ideas.

Techie Teach is a great collection of teaching with technology ideas! I know we will be doing these activities and more based on these ideas!

Courtney even has a category for Back to School preparation! Man, this lady can be intimidating!

Fostering Creativity and Innovation Through Technology

As part of my 21st Century Classroom professional development, I try to emphasize creativity and innovation in teaching and learning. We are reading and rendering this article from Learning & Leading in Intermediate TILT meeting today. How timely that this article from Learning & Leading is published:
Read Article to learn more....

I was exploring some very cool gadgets on the Education World site and came across this one! It's a lot like Wordle, only it has shapes! This would be another fun one for a brainstorming, vocab review, or word choice activity.