BackChannel Chat

What is backchannel chat?

 Backchannel chat are the conversations and questions that an audience member has during a presentation. Backchannel is any application that allows audience members to ask and answer questions during the presentation instead of waiting to the end of the lecture. Backchannel apps allow students to enhance the conversation by adding on to the discussion in real time while the presentation is taking place in the classroom.

Backchannel Chat Apps

• Answer Garden
• Google Slides
• Tozzl

How to use backchannel chat: Google

1. create a google account
2. go to Google apps and create google classroom
3. create a class
4. share class code and Google presentation with students
5. click in middle of the page where it says share with class
6. click google drive and upload google slide presentation
7. type a message in the share with class box and click post
8. present the slides to class
9. students can backchannel chat using speaker notes

Students are able to access presentation from their classroom time line

Backchannel Chat in the Classroom

The backchannel chat app that I would use in my classroom would be Google Slides. I use it for presentations in all academic subjects. I currently teach Kindergarten, so I use Google apps for students to login into educational programs. If I taught a higher grade level, I would share the Google slides presentation with students. They would open Google Slides on their digital device and follow along with the presentation. This backchannel app allows them to have on task conversations and ask questions about the academic content that is being presented. The app also gives a voice to students that do not like speaking in front of crowds of people. Misconceptions can be corrected with immediate feedback. These conversations can be viewed after the discussion allowing students to review academic content. Lastly,teachers can print presentation for documentation of individual student or whole group understanding.

Nearpod

Nearpod 

Nearpod is an interactive education application that allows educators to create presentations where they can incorporate research, virtual field trips, and formative assessment tools within a lesson.

The link below is a Nearpod lesson created for a professional development for new teachers
Cycle of Instruction

Nearpod Classroom Use

Whole Group Presentation 

Nearpod allows teachers to present lesson content onto student digital devices. The app prevents student devices from opening windows now related to instructional content. This assist the students with staying on task. Students are able to interact with the lesson through open ended responses, fill in the blank, quizzes and more. At the conclusion of the lesson, teachers are able to pull data from the presentation to determine if students understand the content taught during the lesson. 

Self Assessment

Students are able to determine how well they understand academic content lesson through participation in formative assessments throughout the the lesson. They can visually see their

academic performance between themselves and their peers. 

Games Can Make the World Better

Games the Holy Grail to Life

My first impression of Games Can Make the World Better was that
 the notion was true. The Bobo Effect proved it possible with children,
and social media challenges prove it true with adults. Only the strong
willed resist the urge to follow the crowd where social norms change daily.
During this course, I have learned much about gaming in the classroom.
 It has caused me to change my instructional plans in how I deliver
academic content to students through digital devices. The Title One school
 that I teach at is all about collecting data, research based practices,
formative, and summative assessment to best serve the student body.
Gaming in the classroom lends itself to total student engagement
and of course student learning. According to McGonigal, the four things gamers
do that make them virtuosos is their urgent optimism, tight social fabric,
blissful productivity, and epic meaning. I believe that all four characteristics
describe the model citizens that we all would like to become; however,
other factors allow, delay, and sometimes prevent us from meeting our goal.
This impacts the motivation of the human spirit. I understand how
McGonigal connects gaming and learning to enhance student experience
as they gain their education. I agree, students are more optimistic in a gaming
 challenge in comparison to course work because they do not have several lives
to redo the task until the get it right. School officials attempt to create real life
with a safety net to prepare students for life after graduation. Traditional schools
 attach the labels of pass and fail because in “real life” people are not given
 unlimited chances. This results in the human spirit giving up on the challenge
they attempted because they have failed and its documented in someway that
they were unsuccessful. Many educators forget that academic learning is within
the experience, so grading an assignment and returning it to the students to do
over does not stunt student growth, but assists in the perseverance needed to be
 successful in life. Tight social fabric is associated with the collaboration that
 occurs within the classroom during academic dialog and group projects that
encourages social networking amongst students. This is a tool necessary for
 success in college and career. Blissful productivity occurs when these
relationships are built and the students find their niche within the group much
like citizens performing careers within the community. Epic meaning occurs at
 the conclusion of the assignment or assessment where the student is given points
based upon academic performance much like a game, but with meaning that can
be applied to everyday life. In conclusion, I have more respect now for video
games and their use in the classroom. My first impression was that video games
were a pass time intended for entertainment, but I have learned it can be used for
 learning as well.

Etherpad

Etherpad

Let me introduce you to the program Etherpad. Here are the who, what, when, where, how, and why you should use Etherpad in your classroom.

Who

• Educators
• Students
• Small Groups
• Partners
• Classrooms
• Grade Levels
• Schools

What

Etherpad can be used as an education collaboration tool for group assignments that require student or education professionals to create projects, presentations, and documents together. The program shows the document in real time allowing all members of the group to contribute to the finished product.Users can see one another work on the document at the same time; there is also an option in which users can chat with one another.

When

Etherpad lends itself to any academic subject. It is appropriate to use it before, during, and after an open ended responses, fill in the blank, or multiple choice formative assessment. It can be used the same way in profession development.

Where

Users have access to Etherpad documents on any digital device no matter their location on Earth.
Documents can be accessed anytime day or night.

How

Etherpad displays a box much like blogger, google docs, and Microsoft Word. Inside the box users control the font, text size, images, hyperlinks, list, spell check, and other editing tools that are necessary for a publication. Download or share document when it is complete. 

Why

• Etherpad gives all users a voice in one document. 
• efficient use of time
• It allows an educational institution to go paperless.
• allows students to apply 21st century skills needed for college and career
• extends class time to meet assignment due dates

Plickers

Plickers is a educational tool used within the classroom to collect student responses revealing their understanding of academic content that has been taught. The data collected from student responses

The Plicker app is compatible with all digital devices. It is perfect for all a BYOD classroom setting. If students do not have access to digital devices the students can use the plicker card to registser responses. There are many uses of Plickers in the classroom. It can be used to record student attendance. Plickers can be used as a formative assessment. The data collected determines the instruction that follows and student grouping for response to intervention.

As a Kindergarten teacher, I would use Plickers to record attendance in my classroom. I would use it to formatively assess students during the lesson. At the conclusion of the lesson, I would use Plickers as an exit slip. The Plicker tool can also be used as a pre-assessement tool before covering new information.

GameOn QR Code

For Your Convenience

This QR code will take you directly to Game On Blog!

Augmented Reality in Education

AR Zoo: Augmented Reality Zoo Animals 3D Photos

This app could be utilized by all grade levels of school age children.
I am a Kindergarten teacher which requires me to teach all academic subjects.
These subjects consists of English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies,
Visual Arts,  and Health.  I would use this app in the following ways across
all academic subjects.

English Language Arts

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
W.K.2 requires students to use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative or explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
Activity:
Create an informative or explanatory text regarding the characters in the picture.

Math

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
K.OA.1 requires students to represent addition and subtraction
sentences with drawings or pictures.
Activity:
Write an addition sentence that matches the picture. Examle: 1 baby + 1 jaguar = 2 

Science

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
ACOS.K.3 requires students to distinguish between living
and nonliving things and the basic needs that must be
met for them to survive.
Activity:
Compare/Contrast living and nonliving things in the photograph.
Compare/Contrast basic needs of baby and jaguar

Social Studies

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
ACOS. K.10 requires students to use vocabulary related to giving and following
and following directions.
Activity:
Where is it?/ Quess Who? - Students use position words to find an object in the photograph.

Visual Arts

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
V. K.11 requires students to distinguish between images and real objects.

Activity:

Compare Contrast images vs real objects - Students use Venn diagram to
determine what  characteristics the image and real object have that are
the same and different. 

Health

Alabama College and Career Readiness Standard :
H. K.8 requires students to list behaviors that promote personal safety.

Activity:

What Would You do?- students will list unsafe behavior of the baby in the photograph. They will then list what should be done to return the setting of the photograph back to a safe living environment for the baby.

Closing

I would encourage students to interact more with the photograph by writing text to assist in meeting the completion of the academic standard.  Some standards require lists, equations, collaboration in small group, or the publication of a document.

SeeSaw in the Classroom

What is SeeSaw?

Seesaw is a digital portfolio that allows students to reflect on their learning and track their academic progress. Parents have access to student work samples and online journal. They are also able to comment on their student's work. Seesaw is an appropriate program for the diverse groups of learners within the classroom.Student work can be documented through PDF, Word documents, photographs, PowerPoint Presentations, blogs, drawing pictures, creating videos, and much more. 

SeeSaw 21st Century Learning and Assessment

There are many ways that Seesaw lends itself to the 21st Century learning within the classroom. Seesaw allows students to go paperless. Students are able to store their assignments, photographs, videos, and presentation within their student profile. Seesaw would be an excellent program to use with Student Led Conferences. Student Led Conferences are lead by students. Parents come to conference with their students as they  present a collection of their course work. 

Seesaw requires students to use the following twenty-first century skills :

• student drives their own learning
• inquiry based
• collaborative assignments
• critical thinking &problem-solving
• communication skills
• apply academic concepts to real life

Seesaw from the teacher perspective is beneficial to the assessment process because it allows all student work to be collected in one location.  The student work that is uploaded to Seesaw can be used for both purposes of formative and summative assessment.  The teacher is able to view pretest  and post test to assess student learning. The teacher uses the feedback received to plan classroom instruction and student assignments. 

99 Problems Animated Video

Animation in the Classroom

Toontastic Animated Story App

    

Toontastic is an app that allows users to create animated short stories,
classic stories, and science reports. I would use Toontastic within my
classroom in all academic subjects. Literary Elements are a state
mandated standard for Kindergarten. The students would use Toontastic
to apply what they know regarding the role of the author, illustrator, and
plot of a story. Toontastic app reminds the student what each part of the
story consists of right before they create the before, during , and after of
the story. There is also a feature that allows the student to draw their own
character and narrate their own story. The last portion of the story making
process is to Title and Name the author of the story. They are then able to
publish and share with the teacher and classmates. The teacher would you
a rubric to grade students on the story they created with Toontastics as it
corresponds with the College Career and Readiness standards.

Classroom Friendly Animation Apps

Animation in the Classroom

The web link above will direct you to a website with five animation apps

that are safe for students to use within the classroom and at home. One of the

featured apps is Toontastic which is what I used to create the animated short

story above. The 4 remaining apps are Tellagami, Animoto Video Maker, FlipaClip, and Puppet Pals. All apps are free and compatible with either

Android or Apple devices. All five can be used during the English Language Arts block in the classroom. Currently the subjects of Science and Social Studies are integrated into the ELA block that all five apps are beneficial to all subjects.

The following are benefits identified by the website

• students take responsibility for their own learning
• appeals to a diverse population of learners
• take sstudents through the story writing process

Augmented Reality Exploration

AR Dragon

• This app was utilized on a Samsung Galaxy 8 Note Android Device
• The user is given an egg. The eggvhatches by the user tapping on the egg. The egg hatches and you are granted a dragon. User scans the room and summons the dragon into reality. The objective of the game is to care for 
• I have summoned my dragon Oggy. He has already broken the first rule of not getting on the furniture.

Kings of Pool 

• This app was utilized on a Samsung Galaxy 8 Note Android Device
•  Kings of  Pool a virtual reality game that allows players to play a game of pool. You are able to send messages back-and-forth between the 2 players. The objective of the game is to get all of your balls into the pool pockets before your opponent.
• I started the game in the lead knocking in two pool balls on my first try. My opponent is an equal match he struck two balls into the pool table pockets as well. The circular icons on the screen allow me to change pool sticks, instant message, and change position of pool stick on the table.