What's Happening at Episcopal?

What are Google Forms?

If you have never tried any of the Google Drive apps you are missing out! Not only does Google Drive allow you to create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets that are all saved to the "cloud" and collaborative in nature, it also provides a Form app.  With the Google Drive Form, you can collect a variety of information such as teacher evaluations, t-shirt or ticket orders for your club or organization, a quick check for mastery of a concept in your content area, and RSVP's just to name a few.  The possibilities are endless!  The best part about the Google Form app is that it collects the data for you in a spreadsheet, and also allows for charts and graphs to be created from the data.  Teachers, there is even a way to conduct a quiz using a Google Form and digitally grade the responses.  

On Wednesday, February 6 a tech session on Google Forms will be offered to all teachers at 3:45 pm, but if you would like to see how to create and use Google Forms you can watch the video below for a quick overview.  

Katie Robinson 

What's Happening at Episcopal?

The ninth grade English classes have concluded their college research project, and presented their completed websites in class on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Learn more about the various colleges and universities by clicking on the links below: 

2nd Period  

Megan Bellfield/NYU 

Maddie Burke/Harvard

Sarah Maxwell/Clemeson 

Jack Hudelson/Pepperdine 

Samuel Sutton/University of Georgia

Nash Jordan/Davidson College 

Ayanna Worsham/USC

Chelsea Flowers/Stanford 

Mitch Ross/University of Virginia 

Will Baker/Kenyon College 

Blake Russell/United States Navel Academy 

Jess Murphy/Vanderbilt 

Aly Broadnax/Baker University 

Nick Hopkins/LSU 

4th Period  

Davis Kohler/University of North Carolina Chapel Hill 

Grace Ann Bourdreaux/University of Pennsylvania 

Adam Hall/Brigham Young University 

Madeline Tabor/TCU 

Will Stebbins/Washington University at St. Louis 

Kelsey Claybrook/Purdue University 

Braylon Smith/University of South Carolina 

Arin Jemerson/Auburn University 

Susan Tucker/Tulane University 

Gus Powers/Washington and Lee University 

Justin Robinson/Wake Forest University 

Webb Williams/Baylor 

Adam Jackson/Princeton 

Yumi Ha/Berkeley 

Cogan Wade/Johns Hopkins University 

Abby Graham/Georgetown University 

5th Period 

Zachary Angel/Alabama 

Harris Bethel/University of Oklahoma 

Kristen Orsi/Middlebury College 

Emily Franks/Texas A&M 

Grace Quinn/Lyon College 

Mattie Thornton/College of William and Mary 

Arianna Kiael/Darmouth College 

Sally Barnes/Ole Miss 

Gracie Kreth/Columbia University 

Margaux Mourot/SMU 

Kennedy Dijimpe/California Institute of the Arts 

Sydney Morgan/Duke University 

Adrianne Ownings/Yale University 

Pamela Rogers/The University of Colorado Boulder 

7th Period  

Haylee Greer/College of Charleston 

Henry Owens/Rhodes College  

Will Conyer/Indiana University 

Anna Culpepper/Savannah College of Art and Design 

Cole Hartsell/Notre Dame 

Anna Toepfer/University of Washington 

Kiva Hanson/Furman University 

Ladell Tyler/UCLA 

Becca Zolten/Northwestern University 

KR Galloway/Warren Wilson College 

Kelvin Robinson/University of Oregon 

Annie Ellzey/University of Missouri 

Alyssa Davis/Rice University 

Allie Freeman/University of Miami 

Skye Rippentrop/University of Ohio

Tech Talk: How should we be using technology?

Earlier this week I discovered an excellent TEDx talk titled: Re-imagining Learning by Richard Culatta

This video identifies to three challenges traditional education systems face, and how technology re-imagined can help personalize our student's learning experiences.  As an advocate of student-centered education this approach to learning is very exciting and we are working toward this model every day.  Edmodo has been an excellent vehicle of personalized education at Episcopal Collegiate, where teachers and students are able to collaborate on topics and projects that extend beyond the walls of a classroom.  Students are excitedly building their own learning spaces by designing Internet site libraries and will be storing their grade-level masterworks in an eportfolio using Edmodo Backpack.  The second TEDx talk I enjoyed is called:Kids Should Learn Programming As Well As Reading And Writing by Mitch Resnick.

 I've been following Mitch's work with MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten Group for a few years and am currently working toward his vision of lifelong learning through programming.  His talk identifies misconceptions of digital fluency.  Just because we think our students are 'digital natives' doesn't mean they are actually fluent with technology.  Dr. Resnick makes the point that our children are experts at interacting with technology but not so much so with creating or expressing themselves with technology.  "It's almost as if they can read but not write with new technologies".  As a solution Dr. Resnick has pioneered a program called Scratch with MIT, that uses interactive programming blocks to encourage computational thinking, abstraction, problem solving, sequential and parallel processing and systems thinking.  Last year I briefly introduced Scratch to 2nd, 3rd, 4th graders who responded with resounding enthusiasm.  I would like to expand the use of Scratch this year for students to use in all the traditional disciplines they study.  It is important that we help our young people express themselves and develop modern habits of mind, through writing with new technologies.  Please take a moment to watch these two TEDx talks and let me know what you think.

Tech Talk: What is Information Literacy?

As adults many of us grew up in a world of paper and limited access to information.  Our children are growing up in what author David Shenk coins a "Data Smog", where digital information aggressively permeates almost every aspect of their young lives.  It is essential that we help our young people develop strong information literacy habits so they can navigate through this smog.  Currently our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students are learning how to find, retrieve, organize, analyze and effectively disseminate the information they encounter as they do various research projects.  The 2nd graders are investigating famous African Americans, while the 3rd grade is preparing to research a variety of animals, and the 4th grade are studying the Southeast region of the United States.  Each grade will learn how to use efficient browser language to find specifically what they need, how to retrieve and organize the sites they find in their Edmodo Backpack, and discriminate reliable from unreliable information sources.  We are also extending our keyboarding program to the 4th and 3rd grades where they will practice proper keyboarding techniques every day in class and at home using Typing Master.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

What's Happening at Episcopal Collegiate?

Going Paperless?  

The idea of a completely paperless classroom is still foreign to many educators and students, but with the emergence of various digital resources creating a paperless classroom is easier than one might think.  Jo Stoltz and her senior level Statistics class is leading the way into the paperless world here at Episcopal.  When students entered class the first day and were pulling out notebooks and binders, Ms. Stoltz was able to say, "Your laptop is your notebook!"   

How is Ms. Stoltz creating a paperless classroom?  After careful planning and consideration of the most effective tools she chose Evernote and Edmodo, both of which have been written about on this blog by myself and colleague Christian Rogers.  

Evernote has become Ms. Stoltz and the students digital notebook. Via Evernote, Ms. Stoltz creates unit notebooks that she shares with her students.  By sharing these notebooks students have access to their course schedule, notes, and other materials within their Evernote account that will supplement their learning.  How will students take notes and turn in homework ?  In the same way that Ms. Stoltz can share a notebook with her students they can also share notebooks with her.  Each student has created a "homework" and "notes" notebook that they have shared with Ms. Stoltz.  When they take notes or complete an assignment she can immediately access their notebook to grade and make comments.  

Edmodo is being used as the class LMS (Learning Management System).  By creating a digital classroom via Edmodo, students can take quizzes, complete assignments and activities, and participate in class discussion. Via Edmodo they can create a true classroom community by sharing not only their thoughts and ideas, but resources they find helpful in their studies as well as having instant access to their teacher and fellow students when questions arise. 

Gone are the days in which a student has to have their notebook and textbook to complete work outside of the class period.  Both of these resources are accessible on all mobile devices and feature apps that can be downloaded for free. Allowing the student the freedom to complete course work anywhere at anytime.  

I am excited to talk with Ms. Stoltz and the students at the end of the semester.  I feel certain they will have loved their journey into the paperless classroom.  


Katie Robinson