Tech Talk: How can we build portable classrooms and eportfolios?

I have scooped two fantastic services for education this week, that I am sharing with many of our lower school teachers.  The first is Edmodo.  This incredibly robust web-based service centers around a very interactive discussion board where students and teachers can post and reply to any classroom topic.  Students in Mrs. Shallhorn's and Mrs. Samuel's classes have been using Edmodo to discriminate Internet sources based on author, source, domain name, and content.  Want to join our discussion?  Email me and I will send you your parent code to join your child's Edmodo classes.

When I was young I remember teachers sending me home with a huge folder filled with all the projects and papers I had worked hard on all year.  As is usually the case, all of these masterpieces have been lost over time.  Evernote is an online eportfolio service that will store each student's work from year to year.  At the end of term it is fun for kids to choose their best works to show next year's teacher, parents and share with their friends.  Best of all, every child's work is available to them anywhere they go, even on mobile devices.  My vision is that each student maintain an eportfolio of their educational experiences every year so they can demonstrate what they've learned when they become seniors and beyond.  We are all a culmination of our experiences and Evernote can help our students keep them close at hand.  If you would like to learn more visit Its the question that drives us.

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

The Spanish IV students worked collaboratively to create a public service announcement that dealt with the issues of sustainability and protecting the environment in iMovie and MovieMaker. The students were asked to present a problem, provide evidence that this problem existed in the world today, and finally provide solutions to solve this problem.  Not only were the students practicing their speaking skills, they were taking their learning outside of the walls of Episcopal by addressing critical issues in our world. Take a look at one of these amazing PSA's here:  

AP Physics took an interesting field trip this week!  Read Ms. Dowell's description of their adventure below: 

The AP Physics C students took measurements at the Metropolitan Bank Building to find the maximum acceleration of that buildings elevators both ascending and descending.  The students took these measurements in two ways.  The first was the old-school way using a mass on an electronic balance.  The second way was to use the accelerometer built into an Apple laptop.  This was the first year in which using this new technology was possible!  There were some challenges to this new method.  Initially, the students thought they would use an app on an ipad to take the acceleration measurements.  In the limited time between thinking of this option and the execution of the lab, there wasn't time enough to find an app that was just right for the scientific data the students wished to collect.  The second challenge has been the analysis of what, exactly, the accelerometer on the laptop was measuring.  The preliminary analysis of the accelerations has shown a large discrepancy between the results using the mass/balance and the laptop.  The students continue to try to reconcile the data!

Analyzing Data

In their discussion of A Separate Piece, the ninth grade English classes used Popplet, a mind-mapping tool, to analyze a chosen character's development over the course of the novel.   Follow the link to view an example: 

Character Development: Gene 

The eighth grade Math classes have been continuing their work with slope by completing a mini-project titled, "Up, Up and Away." They were asked to inflate balloons to seven varying circumferences, and then measure the diameter, projected radius, projected surface area, projected volume,  and the time it took for the balloon to deflate when let go.  The collected data was gathered in a spreadsheet and graphing tool provided by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  This online tool allowed students to determine if there was a linear relationship between the measured variables, and then determine slope.  Finally, the students were asked to discuss how slope corresponds with the experiment and geometric relationships.

Students, Parents, and Teachers: Don't forget to check out the Fine Arts Blog at: http://fineartecs.blogspot.com

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: How can we build portable classrooms and eportfolios?

I have scooped two fantastic services for education this week, that I am sharing with many of our lower school teachers.  The first is Edmodo.  This incredibly robust web-based service centers around a very interactive discussion board where students and teachers can post and reply to any classroom topic.  Students in Mrs. Shallhorn's and Mrs. Samuel's classes have been using Edmodo to discriminate Internet sources based on author, source, domain name, and content.  Want to join our discussion?  Email me and I will send you your parent code to join your child's Edmodo classes.

When I was young I remember teachers sending me home with a huge folder filled with all the projects and papers I had worked hard on all year.  As is usually the case, all of these masterpieces have been lost over time.  Evernote is an online eportfolio service that will store each student's work from year to year.  At the end of term it is fun for kids to choose their best works to show next year's teacher, parents and share with their friends.  Best of all, every child's work is available to them anywhere they go, even on mobile devices.  My vision is that each student maintain an eportfolio of their educational experiences every year so they can demonstrate what they've learned when they become seniors and beyond.  We are all a culmination of our experiences and Evernote can help our students keep them close at hand.  If you would like to learn more visit Its the question that drives us.

Tech Talk: How are our students thinking with technology?

In an earlier Tech Talk on how students think using technology I identified the many ways our students are thinking through technology.  This week is no exception as our 5th grade students have been thinking using information literacy.  Mrs. Schallhorn and Mrs. Samuels students worked with phrase searching and boolean logic to understand how to communicate with popular browsers like Google, thereby yielding more relevant results when they do research on the web.  The second part of information literacy has the 5th graders discriminating reliable websites from questionable ones.  They do this through assessing a sites validity through investigating its author, source, domain name, and content.  We started by investigating the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.  Our 4th graders have been doing some conceptual thinking using Inspiration to map out ideas involving natural resources.  Mrs. Hemeyer and Mrs. Parks have encouraged their students to visually design a concept web starting with general topics and making connections to specific ideas.  3rd Graders have been spatial thinking with Google Earth as Mrs. Feland reviewed landforms around the world and had students building a catalog of place marks to mountains, lakes, rivers, and peninsulas.  Mrs. Hughes is starting a global thinking unit where her students use ePals to connect with other classrooms and students both domestic and foreign.  Our 2nd grade students have been getting acquainted with the basics of using a Mac Mrs. Nichols, Mrs. Jennings, and Mrs. Stansbery's students worked with Dashboard, Launchpad, the Dock, and starting a formatting exercise using line spacing in Word.  The 1st Grade students in Mrs. Peterson's classes have been thinking with iPads as they did interactive word blending and spelling with phonics using ABC Alphabet Phonics.  Mrs. Keener paired up her first graders on the iPads in the commons so they could compare sums in a fun competitive app called Top-It.  While they were competing to match the highest sum each pair was able to share their work with the class on the AppleTV.  All in all there has been a lot of thinking and learning with technology happening this week in the Lower School. 

Christian Rogers

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

The Fine Arts department has been hard at work developing a blog to showcase all of the amazing things the students and teachers are doing here at Episcopal.  Visit the blog to learn about upcoming school events, and see video and pictures of student work. Please feel free to post comments and let the students and teachers know what a wonderful job they are doing.  You can access the blog at http://fineartecs.blogspot.com or by visiting the Arts page of the Episcopal website.  

In the Math department, the Algebra I and Pre-Calculus students have been using the many functions of Microsoft Excel software to find and use trend lines.  

The eighth graders have had a wonderful week using their new iPads.  In their Physical Science class they used SloPro, a camera app designed to create slow motion video. During the lab, students measured the effect of air resistance on identical sheets of paper formed into different shapes.  They videoed and timed each piece of paper falling from 2.5 meters. Using their recorded times and slow motion video, they analyzed the effects of air resistance on the force of gravity.  

Creating designs that maximize air resistance. 

Testing designs

Testing designs

The Math classes used a Clinometer app to analyze how accurately slope could be measured using technology rather than measuring and completing the equation by hand.  During this lab, the students stacked books progressively higher and used the Clinometer to measure the slope of a ramp created with a meter stick.  They then measured and calculated the slope by hand.  The two were then compared to analyze the clinometer's accuracy.  

Clinometer app in action! 

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: How does authenticity drive a student's incentive to learn?

"Mommy, I just made a police car that looks like the real thing".  Children are always measuring their performance by what they perceive as real.  Reality for a child is often defined by what they experience outside the protective walls of their school or home.  Teachers frequently make clear connections between classroom activities and the real world.  Authentic experiences are happening all over our campus this week as our Integrated Technology class just submitted a series of Little Rock tourist sites to the 3D Warehouse awaiting Google Earth publication.  Their mentor in this process was professional Draftsman Jeffrey Hughey who has published 363 models on Google Earth.  Our upper school First Tech Challenge robotics team is “learning by doing” as they use science and technology to design and compete with an autonomous/RC robot in the “Ring It Up” global challenge.  While our lower and middle school First Lego League robotics team is also building an autonomous robot and inventing a way to improve the quality of living for seniors in this year’s challenge “Senior Solutions”.  Authentic learning thrives when students are engaged in self-guided challenges involving, role play, simulation, problem solving, competition, modeling, and mentoring.  How do you make your child’s learning authentic?  Please post comments.

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

The addition of iPads in the Middle School is not the only place on campus where mobile technology is being implemented.  Two of our Upper School math teachers, Heather Benton and Alison Passmore are assisting their students in understanding math concepts.  By using QR codes the students can access content related videos on the go.

In their study of the Periodic Table, the Upper School chemistry classes accessed interactive tables at www.chemicool.com to research the history, properties, and uses of elements. 

In the Middle School, the eighth grade history classes are hard at work on their projects for the National History Day competition.  Last Friday, they were introduced to Evernote. Evernote is a digital binder that will allow them to collect and organize their research.  The students have the opportunity to present their work in a variety of  ways including: a paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary, or a web site. We look forward to seeing their amazing work.  

Katie Robinson 

What is the Purpose of Technology in the Classroom?

On Monday, I read an article on Edudemic, a technology blog I follow.  This particular article caused me to pause and reflect about the role of technology in the classroom.  In the article, “The Secret to Successfully Using iPads in Education”, the author Greg Kulowiec creates an analogy between the iPad and a hammer.  He argues that a hammer is merely a tool for construction.  The builder doesn’t draw inspiration from the hammer itself, but from what can be created with the hammer. He likens the hammer to the iPad by saying that just as the hammer is merely a tool, the iPad must be thought of in the same way. The hammer is useless without an end goal in mind. Likewise, the iPad will not engage students in the correct way without proper planning.   

Isn’t the same true for all technology used in the classroom?  As educators we have to know what we want the particular learning outcomes to be, and then choose the appropriate technology to achieve those outcomes.  No one can deny that technology has opened doors in education many never dreamt possible, but the use of technology must allow the students to be inspired, to problem solve, to learn and to create.  It is only when technology is used with those goals in mind do we find it most beneficial.  

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: How should students think using technology?

I think everyone would agree that technology is and will continue to be an integral part of our children's daily lives.  This year mobile devices will outnumber the world population creating the largest global network ever imagined.  The question I ask myself every day is, "how will this proliferation of technology change how our children think and learn?"  What types of thinking will we see more of in this new century?  As I talked with our 3rd grade teachers we discussed how we can encourage more Global Thinking using  ePals  as a bridge between our classrooms to other schools around the world. In the second grade Mrs. Nichol's students engaged in Spatial Thinking  through experiencing  Sketchup, a gateway program to 3D animation and architectural design.  Mrs. Hemeyer's 4th graders used Systems Thinking to collaboratively write, direct, produce and act out many aspects of a television commercial using Photo Booth.  On Wednesday many of our teachers attended a workshop on how to manage information on  Microsoft's Sky Drive and  Apple's iCloud .  Cloud Thinking is not native to those who have become accustom to storing and sharing their information with hard drives, flash drives and email, but will be a prevalent way of thinking for our students.  As they grow up they will expect their information to be ubiquitous regardless of device or service.  Next week we will be starting our iPad program from PreK-3 to 1st Grade.  This "instant-on", touch technology places our students at the center of learning where a wide range of productive and creative applications (apps) promote self-directed discovery.  We are very excited to introduce this transformative technology to both lower and middle schools.  It is not the multitude of gadgets or software that will define this century's students, it is how they think through these instruments that will shape their learning. It is our mission to encourage technology fluency in every classroom so our children will be producers with, rather than consumers of technology. They will be leaders rather than followers with innovative and creative thinking?  Please post your comments to our new Blog, " It Is The Question That Drives Us".  What do you think?

Christian A. Rogers

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

Analyzing and discussing the plot of a novel has taken on a new look this week as the ninth grade students use interactive tools on the ReadWriteThink website while discussing A Separate Piece. 

iPads are making there way onto the Episcopal campus!  The eighth grade team is excited to begin using their cart of iPads and the newly installed Apple TV's in each of their classrooms.  These mobile devices will bring a whole new dimension of teaching with technology into the classroom environment.  

Students, Parents, and Teachers: The technology integration team would like to share their blog: It's the Question that Drives Us. Check it out and stay up to date with what's happening with technology at Episcopal, as well as the amazing things happening in the world of teaching with technology. 

http://itsthequestionthatdrivesus.blogspot.com

Parents:  Don't forget about the Veracross portal!  Veracross allows you to stay up to date with what is happening at Episcopal, as well as check your child's progress in their classes.  To access the portal, simply visit the Episcopal web-site and login by clicking on the Wildcat Web link. 

Katie Robinson 

How Can Teachers Create a Sense of Community?

Edmodo is a social learning network created for teachers that want a space for their students to securely interact with each other.  Teachers create groups, usually based on classes, which their students join.  Once a student is a member of a group, they can begin interacting with one another as well as the teacher.  They can have discussions. They can turn in assignments. They can take quizzes and polls. They can access various types of media the teacher shares. The possibilities are endless!  In many respects, Edmodo allows a teacher to create an online community for his/her students.  But, as I have found, it allows the student to go well beyond the occasionally sharing of ideas or turning in of assignments and become an integral part of shaping their classroom community. 

Like many teachers, creating a sense of community among my students has always been a high priority, and I have always questioned the most effective ways in which to accomplish this goal. When I began using Edmodo two years ago, I could see how it could accomplish this in basic ways.   But as my fellow team members and I introduced our new seventh graders to Edmodo, we began to see the students take ownership of their classroom community and learning.

We encouraged the students to post questions or comments about the day’s lesson if they needed extra help after school.  But, what we didn’t anticipate was the student’s willingness to assist each other.  On numerous occasions, students would respond with helpful tips or advice before we had a chance to. 

The students began “sharing” review items they made for tests and exams.  When a big test was coming up, we would see our Edmodo pages fill with websites, videos, and student created material all in the name helping their fellow classmates succeed. 

The students began reaching out to peers they might not interact with during the school day, and finding new and exciting ways to use their community.  While their “group” was teacher created and facilitated, it truly became a space that they owned and were proud of!

I truly believe this was possible because Edmodo created a space that spoke to the students. It looks and feels very much like many of the social media sites they already participate in.  Edmodo allows the student to tap into that part of their lives in the school setting. 

Through Edmodo, my question has been answered. Give students the correct tools, and they will create and embrace community within the classroom. 

Katie Robinson 

Tech Talk: What's Happening at Episcopal?

August 31, 2012 

The Middle and Upper school teachers and students have been busy integrating technology into their daily classroom routines since school began.  

The sixth grade writing classes started the Typing Master program, and implemented Edmodo, an educational networking tool, to discuss science articles.  During their discussion of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the eighth grade English classes took a virtual field trip using Google Maps to visit several places in which C.S. Lewis lived and worked.

  

The AP Biology classes have begun using Evernote to create their lab notes digitally, the Physics classes have completed their first labs using online lab stations as well as having the opportunity to view “homework hints” on the portal that were created with SmartBoard technology. The Geometry students have made concepts come to life with the Geometer Sketchpad software, and our teachers are discovering new ways to connect Episcopal with students across the country.

The faculty was also given guidance in creating or expanding their PLN (personal learning network) to collaborate with other teachers across the country.  This included a “tech tip” session during the weekly faculty meeting, and will continue with a training session being offered on Wednesday, September 5 after school.  They have also been collaborating with the technology integration specialist to bring new and innovative ways of teaching and learning with technology into the classroom.  

Katie Robinson