Tech Talk: What's happening at Episcopal?

Mary Katherine Hastings' PreK 3 students had a live video visit with C-130 Air Force pilot and parent Brent Reiss and two co-workers stationed in Qatar.  Using Skype her class sang Christmas songs and learned about flying aircraft half way around the world.  Developing global communities is a very important skill our students need to continually practice, so we are always looking for new Skype or Google Hangouts opportunities.  Using Keynote, PhotoBooth and iMovie students in the 2nd grade have been authoring, illustrating, and narrating videos to build strong writing, reading, and technology skills.  Some students enjoyed using Slimber to design digital illustrations and inserting a snapshot in their Keynote.  As the holidays approach I am often asked, "what are some good programs or apps my child can play, that are creative and educational".  Here are a couple that I would recommend.  A very creative game that has taken many youngsters by storm is MineCraft.  After building a sky-castle out of glass, mining for gold and diamonds, and developing a network of fortified keeps, I have to endorse this most excellent game.  I know many will be surprised to hear me recommend Chess, but no other game exercises higher order thinking like it.  Chess.com and ChessKids.com is an excellent online trainer and playing location for all ages.  You can find members of Episcopal's Lower and Middle School Chess clubs playing every night from 6pm - 7pm on Live Chess.   Have a wonderful holiday season enjoying your families.

Skype with Caitlin Reiss' Father in Qatar

 Captain Reiss and friends talking with PreK-3

What's Happening at Episcopal?

What is a Wiki?  

The use of wikis, websites developed by a community of users, has become very popular among educators.  Wikis allow teachers to share a multitude of information with their students as well as allow the students to collaborate with their peers and their teacher in a safe and secure environment.  One of the most popular wiki creation services is Wikispaces, which several of the teachers here at Episcopal use.  

Natalie Luer's French wiki, LeWikideMadame is one of these examples.  Ms. Luer maintains a page on her wiki for each of her French classes; here she has a link to her Dropbox where students can access handouts and power points from class.  She also provides links to study and review materials that she has created for the students.  Among the other pages on her wiki she has included links to various resources and supplemental materials that the students can use in their studies.  The wiki is also collaborative in nature.  Ms. Luer has created a special page on the wiki where students can add useful resources or interesting French related things they find online. 

Access the resources below to learn more about wikis and how they can be used in the classroom! 

Wikis in Plain English: Common Craft 

5 Ways You Can Use Wikis: Richard Byrne (Free Technology for Teachers) 

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: How are we conceptual thinking?

How does the construction of the U.S. Constitution relate to documents like the Treaty of Paris, or The Mayflower Compact?  How do you classify the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell or the American Eagle?  Why is St. Louis where it is?  These are questions that 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are answering this week through conceptual thinking.  Conceptual thinking involves the visualization of ideas using clearly defined connections to help students critical think complex systems and the evolution of events.  Episcopal Collegiate enhances this process by using software like Inspiration which can also convert a concept map into a detailed outline for a report.  Conceptual thinking doesn't have to happen just in school.  Encourage your children to map out their thoughts and ideas at home using online resources to map ideas and systems like bubbl.us, popplet, and Inkflow for the iPad.

by Christian Rogers

What's Happening at Episcopal?

What is Authentic Learning?  

By definition, authentic learning is one in which activities and lessons are planned in order to structure learning outcomes around the "real life" contexts in which they would be used. Well, that's one definition of authentic learning, but I feel sure many educators would have varying ideas from the one stated above.  Therefore, authentic learning can be many things, and the two activities that were the focus of this week's tech talk do an excellent job of illustrating that point.    

Reconnecting to a text and gathering research for an essay can take on many forms as shown by Tandy Cobb and her Survey of British Literature class.  She developed a project using Fakebook, which allowed students to create a Facebook profile for a secondary character in the play, Hamlet.  Fakebook gave the students many of the same features that Facebook now offers.  The students were able to create a profile for their chosen character as well as simulate friendships and conversations between characters.  Ms. Cobb envisioned the project serving several purposes which included the students studying the development of the character and their relationships to other characters in the play, reconnecting to the text to review plot and character, and finally gathering and documenting appropriate quotations from the text for use in their essay.  This project takes the traditional method of character study and gathering of material for an essay and gives it a creative twist.  

Take a look at two of the Fakebook projects below: 

Ophelia 

Laertes 

Students in Jo Stoltz's eighth grade math classes were given an interesting task on Friday of this week.  Each class learned that they were now the proud owner and operator of an online retailer called CoolShoes.com, and it being the Christmas season they were very busy! Unfortunately, they had a major problem.  Most of their customers do not know the shoe size of the family member or friend they want to purchase shoes for.  They realized that it would be easier for customers to guess their loved ones height rather than their shoe size, so they were tasked with creating a graph and equation that would allow customers to input the approximate height and calculate an approximate shoe size for ordering purposes.  To test their theory they gathered the height and shoe size of each class member and used an Excel spreadsheet to compile and graph the data to investigate boy’s height vs. boy’s shoe size, girl’s height vs. girl’s shoe size, and everyone’s height vs. everyone’s shoe size.  The data compiled in Excel helped them determine what kind of correlation existed between height and shoe size and ultimately allowed them to chart a graph and write the equation to solve their problem.  Once this task was accomplished they were able to input other heights and shoe sizes to complete further testing.

While both of these activities content, learning outcomes, and authenticity vary, they still allow the student to take their learning into a "real world" context which both of these teachers believe is an important part of the learning process.  

Katie Robinson 

What's Happening at Episcopal?

Ms. Blair's ninth grade English classes are using an innovative piece of online software to make the research process more effective and efficient.  Each ninth grade student was given a one-year subscription to Noodle Tools.  Noodle Tools gives students "integrated tools for note-taking, outlining, citation, document archiving/annotation, and collaborative research and writing.” The program also offers excellent resources and support for educators.

Edmodo, the learning management system mentioned in previous Tech Talks, has made some significant improvements in how teachers can grade student work turned in via the portal more efficiently.  The new annotation feature allows teachers to add comments, highlight text, and underline portions of student work without having to download the document.  This allows teachers to grade work more effectively, as well as allowing students access to more immediate feedback.  The teachers received an introduction to this new feature, how use of the LMS could benefit them, as well as how to start the process of becoming a "paperless" classroom during Wednesday's division meeting. A more in depth tutorial will be offered during a tech session Wednesday, December 5th.  

Before Thanksgiving Break, I featured the Dans La Cuisine project that Ms. Luer's French II classes had been working on. Please take a moment to view some of these amazing projects.  

Josie: Les Moelleux au Chocolat 

Adrianne: Macrons 

Kiva and Anna: Les Desserts  

Katie Robinson 

What's Happening at Episcopal?

How Can Student Video Production Facilitate Learning?  

From Animoto, to iMovie, to Windows MovieMaker, there are a wealth of tools that allow students to create stunning video projects.  Video projects can be a wonderful opportunity for students to not only demonstrate their learning, but use their creativity as well.  These projects can span across all content areas as seen by two projects here at Episcopal Collegiate.  

During their study of The Outsiders, seventh grade students wrote and produced a book trailer using Animoto. Much like a movie trailer, a book trailer is a short video clip that highlights important plot points, and themes in the hopes of increasing interest in purchasing and reading the novel.  Students were tasked with creating a 30-second book trailer for the novel.  They had to bring together a combination of images, text, and music to highlight what they felt were important themes. Click on the links below to view several examples:  

Book Trailer 1 

Book Trailer 2 

Book Trailer 3

The French II class is currently working on the Dans La Cuisine project. The students are tasked with creating a 3-minute cooking show in which they prepare a French meal. The project serves two purposes: 

1. Use their study of the French language to further their vocabulary in terms of food, food preparation and kitchen equipment. 

2  Learn more about French culture and cuisine. 

To produce and edit their work the students are using video production software, Windows MovieMaker and iMovie.  

For more information on the benefits of video production in the classroom please view Richard Byrne's blog Free Technology for Teachers.  

Katie Robinson 

What's Happening at Episcopal?

This week our teachers had the opportunity to present the innovative ways in which they are using technology in the classroom during the Parent's Auxiliary meeting.  Bobbie Waters, our 8th grade Physical Science teacher, presented the simple machines project that her students have been working on for several weeks, and Joy Schultz, our Upper School Art teacher, presented the masterpiece remix project her students have started.  Thank you to both teachers for your hard work and dedication to your students.

The 8th grade Physical Science students had a great time presenting their simple machine projects to their classmates this week.  Below you will find two of the many amazing presentations.

THE DUNKINATOR

YOU CAN RECYCLE, TOO

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

How Can Technology Bring Students Together?  

One of the many benefits of integrating technology in the classroom is its ability to allow collaboration and communication with other students across the United States and even the world. The ability to share perspectives and ideas with others allows the student to learn about differing viewpoints and see what life is like in various places.  Therefore, the learning becomes more global in scope.  Several teachers here at Episcopal are using technology to bring this type of learning to their students. 

In Joy Schultz’s painting class she is using an online tool, Voicethread, to connect her students with an art class at Oconomowoc High School in Wisconsin.  Each class of students documented their artistic process through pictures and uploaded them into a Voicethread presentation.  They then made comments via text, video, or audio recording to walk their viewer through an explanation of the artistic decisions they made.  When the project is complete, Episcopal students will have the opportunity to view and offer critiques as well as receive feedback on their work with students at Oconomowoc.  

In Angeline Karigan-Winters AP Spanish classes, Episcopal students are connecting with students in Spain via email.  Ms. Karigan-Winter was able to make contact with a teacher in Spain via Edmodo, and begin the communication.  Our students will not only receive practice in written communication in Spanish, but will be able to teach students in Spain about American culture and learn about Spanish culture as well.  

What's Happening in Episcopal's Middle School Science Classes? 

The eighth grade Physical Science classes completed their work on their simple machines project.  The week was spent building and testing their prototype as well as documenting their process via picture using the iPad.  Students then planned and put together a presentation using the Pinnacle Studio App.  Next week, they will present their prototype to the class.  

Hard at work. 

Is it working?  

Documenting our progress.

The sixth grade Life Science classes continued their study of cells by playing TIC TAC TOE.  This project, put together by Dr. Wilmoth, allowed students to choose how to demonstrate their knowledge of cells by completing a TIC TAC TOE board of options.  One such option was the making of a podcast.  Students came down to the TLC and learned how to create podcasts using Garage Band.  

Have you always wondered what the difference between a prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell is, or what exactly is cell theory?  Listen to the podcasts below to find out!