JEFFCO ED TECH

DTL Spotlight: Seth Adcock

2/7/2022

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Seth takes his digital learning space to infinity and beyond

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When you walk into the Library at Free Horizon Montessori you can tell creativity and collaboration are happening.  Seth Adcock, a first year Digital Teacher Librarian,  has been working hard to create a collaborative space where students can engage with technology and be innovative.  Seth has worked hard this year to turn the library space into a 21st century learning hub.  He wants students to feel comfortable taking risks and sharing ideas.  Daily, Seth has students in the Library Media Center doing STEM projects, using digital tools and learning about technology.

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Seth starts his day as tech support for his school.  He works with staff and students to ensure their technology is working then opens his library for book checkout.  After checkout, though, is when Seth begins to incorporate his numerous ideas for students.  From mystery history day and lessons about ancient technology to students creating podcasts and their own music, Seth covers it all. 

Currently, the middle schoolers alternate between a STEM Open Lab elective and a Digital Design pathway.  During the Open Lab elective, students can determine their interests and pursue various paths.  With individualized creativity at the helm for each class, students create music and podcasts in Soundtrap, make Stop Motion videos, create their own stories and series using Book Creator, and engage in robotics and game design to name a few projects.  
The upper elementary students are working on their “pursuits.” At the start of the year students list 3 areas of interest that they want to learn more about.  The students then have class time to dig further into one of their pursuits.  Seth has them take this beyond just research and dig into why they want to learn about the topic.  

Taking his passion to space

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An area that Seth has been pursuing has been his love of space exploration.  Recently, Seth became a member of the Solar System Ambassador program with NASA. Through the program, Seth hopes to bring his love of space exploration and star gazing to his students as well as the community. 
“The NASA Solar System Ambassadors program is a public engagement effort that works with motivated volunteers across the nation to communicate the science and excitement of NASA's space exploration missions and discoveries with the people in their communities.”
If you want to know more about the NASA ambassador program, visit the NASA site.
Seth's passion for teaching, technology and most importantly his students shines through in all of his work.  His school and Jeffco are lucky to have him as part of #TeamJeffco.

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Getting the most out of your Screencasts

1/5/2021

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No doubt you have grown familiar with the concept of screencasting: Creating a recording of your screen or face (or both!) for demonstration and communication purposes. Below is a quick list of best practices and considerations for creating engaging videos for your students, staff or the community! While Screencastify is the premium screencasting tool for Jeffco Public Schools, the hints below are useful even if you’re using another application or web tool!
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  • Length of video DOES matter! Engagement has been shown to drop significantly for videos of more than 9 minutes. Want to keep your viewer's attention? Break up videos into less than 6 minute chunks! (Brame, 2015)
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  • "But how do I get them the information they need?" Stop thinking of your lesson as a 45 or 90 minute block. Think of the lesson content, the examples, and the practice as different parts. Break those up into 5 minute chunks (use more than one video for a section if needed!)

  • Remember, this is NOT your traditional teaching! Speak conversationally, use visuals instead of text when possible, focus on the main concepts. And don't worry about speaking too fast. Students can rewind or pause as many times as they need to! Those days of repeating yourself 10 times are in the past!​

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  • Make it interactive! Ask students to write down notes as you talk, or do some sort of task throughout the video to keep them following along and engaged. Embedded questions and guided notes are a few ideas on how to keep students "with" you.

  • Close any tab you don't need for your recording. People may get distracted by what else you have open!

  • Remember, if you record your desktop, any pop up (Chat, Email, etc.) will show up. Close them or choose Tab Recording.

  • While your camera might not be necessary all the time, showing embedded webcam creates community and connection with students.

  • Don't be afraid to pause. Remember, you can stop to collect your thoughts then continue, trimming out your "um's" and "uh's" can be quickly done in the editor!
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  • IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT! Don't re-record for a minor error. Acknowledge it and keep going. To err is human!

Want more information? Contact your EdTech Specialist or come to Office Hours to learn more!

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Trigonometry Learning with Book Creator

1/22/2020

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This blog post is by Tracy Peronard, a math teacher at Dakota Ridge High School. She has had a fascinating career track and shares some amazing insights into how Book Creator can be used for creative instruction and to set examples for students when using Jeffco Digital Tools. 

Tracy has been teaching in Jeffco for nine years, eight of which have been at Dakota Ridge. She is from Atlanta, GA. and has a BS in Management from Georgia Tech. Tracy also completed a post-baccalaureate program at Georgia State University in Secondary Mathematics Education and is working to finish her Masters in Mathematics in the fall. Tracy and her husband moved to Littleton, CO. in 1998 where she was a stay at home mom for the first few years. In 2001, she went to work for the Lakewood Police Department as an Investigative Technician. She then left the LPD in 2010 and returned to the classroom. Her son graduated from Dakota Ridge in 2011 and her daughter graduated from Lakewood High School in 2014. She likes to run, play soccer, and go to the gym.

Tracy currently teaches trigonometry and Integrated Math 3. The Math 3 class is comprised entirely of juniors who are working on a math Capstone Project to fulfill the new graduation requirement. Tracy uses technology almost everyday in her math classroom. Thank you Tracy for sharing your expertise with us!
Dakota Ridge High School went 1:1 three years ago. I was excited that my students would each have a device of their own. I dove head first into the technology pool. Despite a lot of groaning from my geometry students, I had them use Geogebra for many tasks that once had been paper and pencil lessons and activities. By the end of the first six weeks, most students were able to successfully use the technology that I presented to them. Through Google Classroom, I provided links to various resources for my students. Since Chromebooks were new for both myself and my students, there were some bumps along the way. My students let me know what was good and more importantly what was bad. 

This school year, I started teaching Trigonometry. The school has a set of books that the students can use in the classroom but the students cannot take the textbooks home. I saw students taking pictures of problem sets from the book. They did not take pictures of any of the examples, definitions, or formulas. I also noticed that students rarely used the textbook if they had access to the material electronically. 

Nick Steinmetz (Jeffco Ed Tech Specialist) and our DTL Robin Luster, did professional development training at the start of this school year that included a brief overview of the new digital tools that were available throughout Jeffco. Book Creator was one of those tools. Initially, I was not interested. Nick used the example of English teachers using Book Creator; and I thought how fun it would be to have my math students write pages of a math book. From that "aha" moment came a spark. What if I wrote a book for my students?
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Trigonometry is a one semester class. The first unit covers some topics that I taught my Honors Geometry students. I knew that I had some electronic resources that I wanted to share with my students; so I decided that I would write a book for this first unit. I worried that the book might flop, but I had not invested a lot of time writing a book covering only one unit. I decided not to start Unit 2 until I had feedback from the students. 

The best part about writing an eBook is that you can include links to Geogebra activities, Khan Academy practice problems, and my own videos showing how to do select problems. The other advantage to putting all the resources into a book was that students did not have to search Google Classroom to find one old video or link. I watched a YouTube video to learn more about how to use Book Creator, then I started writing.

This is a snapshot from the Unit 1 book. It has a link to a Geogebra activity and an example video about Coterminal Angles.
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Like all new tools, there was a learning curve. I clicked on every button to see what would happen. Sometimes, I discovered things by accident. The first few pages were slow, but by the time I had written the material for the first lesson, I felt fairly competent. I was hooked. I worked on the book on and off for a few days before school started. Once it was complete, I was proud of myself. ​​

It did not matter how enamored I was of the Trigonometry Unit 1 book, because the true test was whether or not the students found value in it. I put a link to the book on Google Classroom and told the students that it was there. Not only did the book contain the Google Slides presentation that I would use in class but it had so much more, including homework for each lesson. Below is the Google Classroom post I showed my students when I introduced them to the book.
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When it was time for the first test, the book became a valued resource to some of the students. I knew that some students would not use it, but my hope was that a few students would. Much to my delight, I had students ask if I was going to write a book for the next unit. That was all I wanted to hear.  You can see the Unit 1 book here.

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Since the first book, I have written one for each unit of Trigonometry and they have been easy to revise. The students like the interactivity of the book and students who want to work ahead now have a resource available so they can be self-paced. I use the same language when I talk in class as what is written. The two biggest sells for writing an eBook are that I am not trying to fit my way of teaching to a textbook that is 20 years old; and that I am presenting material to my students in a format that is tailored to their way of learning.


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Deeper Learning with Film

10/2/2019

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WeVideo is one of the core digital tools for staff and students in Jeffco this year. As a result, students and staff have access to a wide range of opportunities to engage in deeper learning activities that personalize and authenticate learning through film and multimedia. Getting started with WeVideo is fairly straight forward and there are plenty of resources such as the WeVideo MMTS to help you get started. (Click on the image below to open the MMTS and start exploring.) However, getting started with using film creation and WeVideo for authentic tasks can be a little more challenging. Here we hope to provide a few ideas and inspirations to help you get started. 
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Capturing and creating videos as part of instruction can seem daunting at first however, it's doesn't need to be a complicated process. One approach is to begin with photo stories. Challenging students to capture or collect photos that tell a specific story and compiling those photos together with a narrative or background music allows us to practice compiling stories and using video editing tools. Photo stories can be about academic content such as a historical time period, scientific or mathematical processes, or about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They can also be about personal things such as our daily journey to school or our family history. Everyone has different perspectives so our photo stories can be shared to deepen the learning and understandings.

One of the biggest challenges to using technology in classrooms is to ensure it is not a distraction from the larger goals of learning and content mastery. A great way to begin addressing these challenges is to empower students to lead their own learning. As students gain foundational understandings of content, they can be challenged with application of the content and creating products to share their learning and additional understandings. For example in mathematics, we often ask students to memorize key facts and processes but seldom challenge them with application and sharing of the learning. We can empower students to lead their learning by asking them to look for examples in their lives where they can apply the content they're learning and capture those applications to tell their stories. With this challenge, students gain deeper understandings of why content is needed and ways in which it fits into their worlds. Students can then share their creative stories of content application with each other, another class, or students at another school, which leads to deeper learning of the content. 
One of the essential skills across many content areas involves the ability to effectively conduct research and compile our findings so we can form argumentative or persuasive claims. As humans, we regularly find ourselves in situations where multiple views are represented and the need to understand and respond respectfully to others is a foundational aspect of any democracy. As students conduct research and capture evidence that supports their claims, they can put together short films with photos or video clips to support their stance. When sharing with each other, students have access to practice listening and summarizing skills that lead can lead to civic and global engagement or the continued development of communication skills necessary to succeed in settings beyond the classroom. 
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Teachers are experts at creating links between outcomes and learning which drives us all to the continuous search for new ideas and strategies. Here are a few tips to consider as you begin to design learning opportunities involving film and multimedia: 
  1. ​Keep it short. No one likes to watch lengthy films unless they are coming from Hollywood or experienced film makers. The most difficult films to make are often the shortest ones because getting content that tells a great story into small time frames is challenging. Limit the films to minutes at most to keep them interesting, anything over a few minutes is far too long and students won't want to watch them. A great place to start is 60 seconds or less and work up from there. 
  2. Don't forget the planning. Great films aren't just put together on a whim, they often involve months if not years of planning and revising. Setting goals and involving planning processes such as outlining, drafting, storyboarding, and deadlines, are essential to creating films that will captivate an audience. Editing and revising are also essential components that need not be forgotten. It's critically important that students understand how planning and revising are components of all processes we engage in. 
  3. Group work is easier.  It's rare to see people doing great things alone, there are often multiple people involved. Providing students opportunities to work in groups when creating films will make outcomes more attainable and lead to better products. Group work also provides opportunities to develop collaboration skills. Working with others is essential to success in any environment and students need practice. Getting captures worthy of being involved in a final film product takes time and work and it's much easier to have multiple people capturing different things. This provides options for choice and the more we have to choose from the better the final product will be. Lastly, sometimes there is a need for a camera person, a director, or an editor, and working in groups makes all of these roles easier to fill as students learn to collaborate together. 
  4. Portions of the work needs to extend beyond the classroom. Capturing for film should always be done outside of a classroom. Students see their classrooms everyday so capturing them is certainly no novelty. Classroom time can be used for planning, revising, and compiling however, much of film work will take place beyond the wall or outside the school. This can be a replacement for homework but shouldn't be called homework. The term "homework" has many negative connotations so terms such as capturing or filming can be used instead. Students often love to use their phones (or their parents phones) outside of school and the purpose of capturing for films makes the use of their phones interesting and purposeful, as well as, authentic. Rather than spending time scrolling through social media feeds or messaging with friends, students can find joy and purpose in figuring out ways they want to tell their stories. 
  5. Celebrate the successes and challenges. There will be many successes but there will also be many challenges and celebrating both will help students want to continue honing their film skills. When students realize they didn't get the capture they wanted or something is missing, they will face opportunities to reflect and create new practices so they avoid those situations in the future. Call it building resilience, learning from our mistakes, or something else, these opportunities are priceless moments for growth and they need to be celebrated. The first film products might be a little rough around the edges but what are the areas of growth and the new learning that comes from those final products? Students will excel if we allow them time and space to reflect on their work and identify what they will do differently in the future. 
  6. Don't forget about the laws. With film and multimedia come a wide range of copyright laws and it's important to know what is permissible and what is forbidden. There are plenty of royalty free options for music and images and helping students understand where to find them is useful. A great resource to help you with finding them is your DTL (Digital Teacher Librarian), they have expertise that is invaluable in these areas. We have some increased rights for using multimedia when it comes to education however, as students become more engaged in capturing and sharing their learning, it will be vital for them to understand where the lines are drawn in regards to copyrights. It's also important for them to understand so they can protect their own work as they grow into more experienced film makers. Ultimately, it's a great lesson in citizenship and ethics that will help them throughout their entire lives.
  7. Look for ways to authentically challenge your students. There are a variety of options for students to begin engaging in authentic challenges when it comes to film. The Denver Film Festival has created opportunities for high school students to be a part of the festival each year by attending the festival for a day and being involved in a film competition if they so choose. You can register a group of students to attend this year's festival for free by visiting this link. At the festival, students have opportunities to engage with professionals in the industry to learn tips and tricks, as well as, possible careers in film. If you would like more information about the Denver Film Festival opportunities, contact Nick Steinmetz (nick.steinmetz@jeffco.k12.co.us). Digital Promise also has a great FilmMAKER Challenge and 360 Degree Filmmakers Challenge for students. Check out some of the student film products on the Digital Promise Student Film page or share them with your students to provide inspiring looks at how other students around the world are sharing their learning through film. 

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Back in July, Teach Thought published a short piece on 6 Powerful Strategies for Deeper Learning in Your Classroom by Dr. Monica Martinez who is one of the leading experts on deeper learning. These 6 strategies are a great way to get students engaged in learning that involves their passions and interests. Film creation can be used in a variety of ways to implement and achieve all 6 strategies. As students are challenged to create films demonstrating their knowledge and understandings, they are provided additional opportunities to share their learning. Not every film needs to be publicly shared, there might be some short films that are simple reflections allowing us to go back and revisit some of the learnings we gained. Think of them more as selfie videos that are for the purpose of journaling or compiling a personal narrative. Ultimately, remembering the last strategy of "Making Technology the Servant, Not the Master" will help us leverage the power of film in more ways. As we use technology to capture and tell stories rather than consume them, we will be the masters of the digital tools we use and the time in front of a screen will have far greater purpose and outcomes. 

Looking for more ideas on how to use film in your instruction? The WeVideo blog is a great place to find ideas and examples. 
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K-2 Can, Too! Designing a STEM-Centered primary Classroom

2/20/2019

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Stephanie is a first grade teacher at Foster Elementary, a Title I school in the Arvada Area. She has graciously penned this blog as a way to share her learning around how she has integrated STEM to transform the learning experience for primary students.

​Follow Stephanie on Twitter @STEMphanieTime for more inspiring ideas! 

Empathy Inspires Change

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My love of STEM came about a couple of years ago. I was in my 11th year teaching,  and it was the first time in my career that I was actually considering leaving the profession. I was unhappy, and my passion was gone; how could my students learn if I wasn’t passionate?

​Everything changed during a school technology committee meeting when I was tasked with figuring out why teachers were not using our 3D printer. There was just one problem…I had no idea how to use a 3D printer. My school was, and is, a STEM school, but we were still in the very beginning stages of trying to figure out what that meant.

Ideas Create a Path Forward

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I started little by little. First, I taught myself how to use the printer; then how to print something. Finally, I tried creating my own model to print. Everyday I was a little bit happier. It was fun, and I started including students in my learning process. We learned how to fail together and succeed together. It was a long and slow process, and I had a lot of help from Jacquie Adkins, a Jeffco TOSA who specializes in science. We found a program called Maker’s Empire that made creating and printing 3D models easy for first graders to use!  Students’ behavior improved because they were engaged and motivated to design and print their own models.

Prototyping the Student Experience

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I figured if changing the student task through 3D printing was working so well, maybe I should try adding other STEM-related tasks to my students’ learning experience. Through code.org, I learned coding and then taught my students how to code. The more I learned, the more I integrated it into my classroom.  As a result, my students’ were more engaged and their behavior continued to improve. Students learned that failure is a part of the learning process and started using it to fix their mistakes. I also noticed that they were much more willing to take risks because they knew that our classroom was a safe place, whether their answers were right or wrong.

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Flash forward to my class today; it looks a lot different than it did a few years ago, and my passion for teaching is back! At the beginning of this journey, I would use technology just because I wanted to see how it works. Now I choose digital tools that match my lessons' learning objectives. Students are held accountable with apps like Showbie and Pear Deck. They use the 3D printer for creating beginning of the year nametags, bringing characters to life, and designing products to sell for our economics unit. Our bulletin boards come to life with Augmented Reality, which shows our work and enhances our goals. Even when we aren’t using our iPads, our STEM philosophy always remains: we strive for learning from our failures, adjusting our thinking when something isn’t working, and using collaboration to help us see tasks from a different angle.

Testing our TEaching

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STEM is changing the landscape of our teaching in a good way. It allows us to are create an environment where students can learn and fail forward without fear of receiving bad grades. It gives choice to students and encourages them to learn real-world skills that they will be able to transfer to jobs they will have in the future. Teachers can weave STEM into every content area and grade level. It's is not just a subject, it is how I teach and how my students learn.  As educators, we need to take a risk to transform the task and continue to better adapt our teaching. STEM changed how I taught and I became a better teacher because of that.

Resources

  • Coding in Elementary
  • ​STEM: US Department of Education
  • No Fear Coding, by Heidi Williams
  • Code In Every Class, by Kevin Brookhouser
  • Code.org Teaching Resources
  • Makers Empire
  • Jeffco Robotics Kits
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Developing Jeffco Generations Skills through Learning with Technology

12/3/2018

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BY GUEST BLOGGER Christopher Brannon Church

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Brannon Church is a technology teacher at Carmody Middle School. He has been a teacher in Jeffco for 19 Years. For the first 18 years, Mr. Church taught 6th Grade and this year has joined the Carmody team as their Robotics Teacher. Here he shares how he is making impacts in student lives through the development of Jeffco Generations. Mr. Church provides some great examples of how students learn with technology and ways teachers can access resources to begin integrating technology that engages students in creative learning opportunities. 

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I have always felt the need to incorporate technology into my day. I realized early in my career that very few things can improve student engagement like introducing a new tool or program. However, this usually only works if the teacher is as excited to explore new opportunities with their students. Fortunately, opportunities are much easier to come by nowadays because of the availability of chromebooks and free software. 95% of the curriculum we are exploring at our middle school comes from free programs that coexist with student Google logins. The Jeffco Ed Tech team is extremely supportive, and has equipment/resources for teachers to borrow to show their administration how important purposeful play can be in learning.

With all the free resources out there that appeal to the STEAM driven teacher, there is no excuse for not trying to implement computer science into some aspect of their day. Most educational apps use the Google Identity Platform which eliminates the burden of student login problems. I feel that Jeffco is headed in the right direction when it comes to preparing students for a successful future.
Demonstrating how to use Makey Makey & Scratch: 
An Exit Ticket Using Makey Makey. Students were given the opportunity to create a project using Makey Makey and Scratch.  I wanted them to see that they are limited only by their imagination. One on my administrators came to me looking for ways to make exit tickets more engaging and relevant.  With student input, we created our interactive exit ticket using Makey Makey and Scratch. It was a huge success, and students immediately tried to jump on the “aluminum foil switch” idea for their own projects.
Jeffco Generations Skills:  
These are examples of using technology as a tool to develop Self Direction and Personal Responsibility as well as Communication skills from Jeffco Generations.  As an initial activity with Makey Makey, students were to research their favorite childhood song, find the sheet music, create a piano in Scratch, and use the controller from Makey Makey to recreate their song.  The most amazing part of this activity is that students completed this project with very little guidance. Students relied on each other to figure out how to fix bugs in their program to make their music selection work.
Resources: 

How do I get access? - I am extremely fortunate to have 1:1 chromebooks in all of my Robotics classes, and nowadays there are hundreds of reputable websites that are available at no cost. Many of the hands on materials that I rely on have come from my own pocket, or were funded through the Donors Choose website. Any student can learn to code!

Funding is out there - After borrowing
Makey Makey kits from Jeffco Ed Tech I decided that I had to have a set for my class to take our scratch lessons to the next level. Believe it or not, it was fairly simple to acquire the funds needed for a Makey Makey kit. Donors Choose and Google’s CS First are practically giving away money to teachers that complete a few simple activities with their class.
Skill Application Across Content Areas:
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One of the favorite parts of my job is giving students an opportunity to show off what they have learned in Robotics/Coding and using those skills in other content areas. An example this year is a 6th grader who decided to retell the entire story of Maniac Magee using Scratch by taking her character on a journey through the story. It was amazing! This clearly demonstrates proficiency in computer science as well as a deep meaningful comprehension of a novel in literacy. 

​Below are just a few activities where application of the following Jeffco Generations Skills were imperative to complete the activity. As students completed these activities, they developed these Jeffco Generations Skills:
  • Self Direction and Personal Responsibility
  • Communication
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Collaboration and Leading by Influence
  • Agility and Adaptability​
Sphero Bridge Build: ​Students were to demonstrate Critical and Creative Thinking along with Communication skills as they used the Engineer Design Process to research, design and build a bridge with drinking straws.  Bridges needed to support the weight of a Sphero and span over 50 centimeters.
Friday Fly Day: During this activity, students were to research ramp design and create their own ramp to support the weight and acceleration of Sphero. This activity supports Collaboration and Leading by Influence.
Sphero Battle Tanks (captured with a 360 Camera): Students demonstrate Agility and Adaptability during their Sphero Battle Bots competition.  Students used the Engineer Design Process to create “tanks” for their Spheros.
Merge Opportunities: During our introduction to 3D design, students were able to use Merge Cubes and AR/VR Goggles to check their 3D Prints. Instead of wasting printer filament, we are able to upload our designs to Object Loader and see if there are any flaws to our design. Students demonstrate Self Direction and Personal Responsibility as they create their own designs using Tinkercad, view their design in Augmented Reality, and print a clean final project.

Oh no he didn't... @MergeVR @CarmodyMiddle pic.twitter.com/NRs0UsLIRY

— Brannon Church (@MrChurch) September 18, 2018
In conclusion, I would urge all educators who are interested in integrating tech into the classroom to join Twitter. I have found so many creative educators on Twitter that share an endless number of incredible projects or ideas. Feel free to follow me @MrChurch (shameless plug) and make some connections with teachers all over the world that are passionate about integrating technology into their classrooms. ​
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Student Spotlight: Maple Grove 5th Grade Design Stars: Flexible Learning Spaces

10/9/2018

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Move over HGTV, the fifth graders at Maple Grove Elementary are the stars of their very own school library redesign!  Budgets, research, surveys, and floor plans are being drafted in
​Ms. Ligrani’s and Ms. McCormick’s 5th grade classes as students create their proposals in hopes to be selected for the final design.
​This unique PBL (project based learning) asks the students to apply math, economics, technology and reading skills in an authentic way in order to create a flexible learning space for their school.
PictureThe Maple Grove library in its current state.
The innovative idea began last spring, as the teachers recognized a need to replace the old and uncomfortable library furniture. The library is a shared learning space for everyone at Maple Grove, and Principal Chris Neville began to ponder how students could be involved in the improvements. He was inspired by Jeffco’s vision to transform the task for student learning. ​

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When asked how they felt about being entrusted with the library redesign, 5th graders Lilly and Cameron smiled. “I think it was pretty cool! Since this is our last year at the school, we would like to use some of the furniture that we’ve wanted and to help everyone else get a new library.”
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Handing over the reigns to the students has been an exciting adventure for Digital Teacher Librarian, Amy Stahura. “I’m totally game! The whole school is really excited about changing the look of the space. Hopefully it will look a lot different in here!  I told the kids you can even my office space. The office would be a great green screen room.”

The Design Process

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Students have been learning about design thinking (with resources from the Stanford d.school and ISTE Standard "Innovative Designer").    
Research began in the field as students  explored three sites in the community with flexible learning spaces.  Their inquisitive minds visited "The LINK" at the Jeffco Education Center, fellow Jeffco school, Three Creeks K-8, and mindSpark Learning. 
Ben and Jack were amazed by one site on their visit. "It was hard to believe that mindSpark was an old library and had no windows!" In their own design, the boys are interested in understanding how the wall colors might help learners in the library.
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Empathizing with multiple stakeholders is important to the fifth graders, so the students have been collecting input from students, staff, and the community.
Surveys created in Google Forms allow students to collect and analyze data and share the results across groups. "We're working on a survey to the teachers right now. The teachers still use [the library], so they still have a voice in it," commented Austin and Ben H.
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The student's creative juices are flowing as they ideate multiple scenarios for their new space. Tristan shares a draft design with considerations for height of the learners. iPads in the library will have the AutoCAD app available for groups as well. 

The budget is on the mind of Bren and Stephanie. "Our budget is really really tight. We may have to reuse some of our stuff. We could reuse the bookshelf and make it a reading space to look outside." A generous donation from the PTA is funding the redesign and community partnerships are at the heart of the project.  Parents with backgrounds in architecture, design, and furniture sales have become local experts from which to learn.  
Instructional Coach, Amy Ellerman, a collaborator in the PBL remarked, "This project has provided such an authentic opportunity for collaboration between students, Maple Grove staff members, and our community. It is expanding our understanding of where and how learning happens."

We will have to wait until the end of the trimester when students share their proposals with school leadership and the PTA to find out the final design. 
Ms. Stahura plans to reveal the renovation and invite all the partners who have supported the project.  The celebration will not only be of the new space, but of the contribution of the fifth grade students to this authentic need in their school.  
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Want to learn more about designing learning spaces? 
Read the review for The Space: A guide for educators

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Want to learn more about project based learning? 
The Buck Institute for Education
Design Elements
Teaching Practices

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Insights of a Stem program Design at Alameda International Jr./Sr. High School

10/8/2018

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By Guest Blogger Felicia Frantz

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Felicia Frantz is a computer science and business teacher at Alameda International Jr/Sr. High School. She is one of 300 teachers certified by Rasberry Pi in the United States and has been teaching at Alameda International for 4 years. Here she shares how she and her colleagues started a successful STEM program that has caught the attention of many, including 9News. Big thanks to Felicia for sharing her amazing expertise and experience! 

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About ten months ago my principal, Susie Van Scoyk, had submitted for a Title IV grant being offered offered through the district. Me and four of my coworkers were designated as the design team (think The Breakfast Club but much cooler). We were tasked with creating a STEM program, initially for 7th and 8th grade, but our hope was to be able to quickly expand it in to 9th - 12th grade as well.
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We were nervous but excited over the opportunities and possibilities this grant afforded our students, and, although each of us had experience with one or multiple STEM focus subjects, we were not sure what exactly a “STEM” program would look like at Alameda International. There were so many options and we felt truly overwhelmed.

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The grant consisted of $8,000 to spend on resources and $1,500 for professional development. In order to receive our grant we had to complete a training through the Choice Programming Department which would guide us in designing our program and spending our grant money. After a day of studying the concepts of project based learning and attempting to align it with the International Baccalaureate MYP Design Cycle, we had an idea that we wanted a lab or something that would give as many students and teachers access to the resources as possible, but we still could not visualize what exactly “STEM” was as a program or what this would look like at Alameda.

One of the members of our team, our DTL Dorina Miller, suggested we check out the ideaLab at the Denver Central Library. She had modeled several elements in her redesigned library makerspace after their area. We decided to check it out and were instantly enamoured. We decided we wanted to completely mirror the ideaLab in one of our classrooms. We also decided we would have the lab open before and after school so students could have access to come in and create and design at will. One other thing we decided to do, in order to help encourage the use of STEM in non-STEM classrooms was to offer the space to teachers to use for their classes.

Despite our decision on how to spend the grant, we felt like we were still missing some key elements to drive the idea of STEM at Alameda. As a team and as individuals we tried attending trainings and workshops over the summer, but could not find what we were looking for. We brought back great ideas that would definitely contribute to the enhancement of our program, such as industry contacts, ideas for authentic assessment panels, and the desire to build our own R.A.F.T., but we still felt like something was missing.

When we returned to school we were excited about the new journey we were about to embark upon. We were a newly minted department, in IB language we became the Design Department. Our course offerings had tripled and we had numerous sections being offered from 7-12 grade, including computer science, pre-engineering, imagination by design, to 9-12th grade robotics, computer graphics, and audio/visual production. Despite these wonderful offerings, we were still unsure how to bring STEM and the IB Design cycle into non-STEM classes. This concern plagued me more as I had been the author of our proposal and the IDEA Lab was under my care. ​
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However, as people wandered by my room and as I shared out the resources we were collecting in my room a wonderful thing happened. The teachers started identifying ways in which they could use the resources with their students. An English teacher started talking about how she could have the students actually weave one of the textiles talked about in a book they read. The drama teacher started talking about his students using the sewing machines to create costumes or the resources to create props. The science teachers started talking about using augmented reality to allow the students to bring certain concepts to life, such as the muscular, vascular, and skeletal systems. And a geography teacher wanted to use virtual reality to take her students on field trips of geographical features.

Our DTL brought in our subject group leaders in for an all day training with mindSpark Learning. They spent the morning learning about different educational technologies and resources available and then the afternoon was spent working with members of the Design Department to create a lesson utilizing a new resource or technology. The department leaders left excited and invigorated to share their new knowledge with their team members and students.
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On the outside these probably look just like forms of substitution and adaptation from the SAMR model, but in all honesty these are the examples of STEM we had been looking for all along. By merely sharing the potential resources with our peers, on their own they were able to identify a problem or challenge they had been facing in their classes, in many cases how to make something like literature or reading hands on, tangible, and engaging. From there, they were able to brainstorm ideas on how they could use the resources they now had access to to help solve that problem, as a result, they began to make a plan on how they could incorporate that experience into their lessons. Eventually they will get the chance to reflect on the experience and modify it where necessary.

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In time, they will feel comfortable enough with the design cycle to begin letting the students identify their own problems or challenges and developing their own solutions. Because this is really what STEM is. It is not a set curriculum. It is not technology or special set of manipulatives. What STEM is, is teachers digging through recycling boxes looking for resources which students could upcycle into something else. It is providing students and teachers access to resources, skills, and a safe environment where they are free to identify potential problems based on their experiences, where they feel safe and empowered to brainstorm ideas and create solutions to those problems, to design them with guidance when they need it, to fail when things do not go just right (or celebrate the successes when things do go right), and are given the freedom and opportunity to reflect on the experience and what they learned, so that they feel empowered to go out and try again. ​

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Postscript: As I was in the process of writing this post, our school had learned it had been selected by 9News at their first “CoolSchool” of the year because of the cool things we have going on here at Alameda, in particular the addition of our STEM program and that two of our middle school Society for Hispanic Engineer Jr. teams qualified to compete at the Technology Student Associations’ TEAMS competition in Atlanta this past June.  9News came an interviewed some of our STEM teachers and then also held a pep rally to help us celebrate. You can check out the story and the video segments at 9News Cool Schools: Alameda International

If you're interested in developing STEM programs or pathways at your school, contact Heather.Waldron.jeffco.k12.co.us, STEM Pathway Designer for Jeffco Public Schools.
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Student learning experience first, technology integration second

10/31/2017

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House and shark tank

 Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been around for a while. I’ve read in a couple of different sources that it began in the medical field as a way to authentically prepare doctors to practice medicine. Professors would give students a scenario of a patient and they had to use existing knowledge, as well as research, to help that patient. It got me thinking about the show, House. Every episode is basically a PBL in the way the team works together to gather information and move forward in diagnosing the patient. Shark Tank is another example of TV shows gone PBL--or PBL gone TV shows--because the entrepreneurs have learned skills and knowledge through launching their business and presenting to the sharks. Maybe the allure of copying what's on TV is why PBL is gaining so much traction in education. No, I don’t really think that. I think the promise of authentic learning experiences, engagement, and development of future-ready skills entices teachers to explore using PBL in their classrooms.

The gist of PBL is that students learn through the project that is led by a driving question. Usually, teachers include community members, either in person or digitally, to make connections to the real world.  

Learning first

Although PBL is gaining traction, there are some arguments of critics to ponder when deciding if PBL is right for your classroom or school. One of the arguments is PBL lacks rigor and focuses too much on “soft skills.” Similar to technology integration, instruction doesn’t magically become better because you put a device in a student’s hand; PBL doesn’t automatically equal rigor and strong instruction. However, it can equal that when pedagogy and curriculum are the drivers. Jeffco has a planning template that combines what we know about the Gold Standard PBL and Jeffco Curriculum. 

Jeffco's pbl planning template

This post is not about explaining what PBL is, but I would encourage you to check out Buck Institute for Education (BIE) for resources for implementing PBL. Jeffco also has a planning template that has BIE resources embedded to make it easier to explore as you plan. The document helps teachers think through the Jeffco curriculum and use project based learning as the vehicle to create student learning experiences that are authentic and rigorous.
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Technology integration and Pbl

Two major premises of project based learning is inquiry for a student-led learning experience and authenticity in how they are applying their learning. Technology plays into both of those goals. Using technology meaningfully in the lesson/project design allows for students to be the drivers and teachers to give real time feedback along the way. Technology gives students the opportunity to be engaged citizens by connecting their learning to authentic problems or projects in their communities and beyond. Last, technology integrated into project based learning gives students many opportunities to learn the skills of computer and internet use in contextualized experiences. The combination of technology integration and project based learning can be very powerful in preparing your learners to be future ready. Check out Jeffco’s PBL Planning Document to learn and get started on planning a PBL!
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What's all this talk about MakerSpace?

11/30/2016

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You’ve probably heard the word thrown around in certain circles. People casually dropping the catchy word, MakerSpace, like it’s no big deal. You smile and nod but don’t really know what they’re talking about. It sounds fun and STEM-like but it sounds a little intimidating. 

So what IS all this buzz about a MakerSpace?

A MakerSpace is just what it sounds like...a SPACE to MAKE! Makerspaces provide students with the opportunity to create, learn, invent and make, using a variety of different resources. From Legos to robots, straws to 3D printers, the sky's the limit when it comes to innovation. And even with tight budgets - scrappy DTLs and teachers have found great ways to include some incredible resources.

So you might be wondering, “How does that work in a school?”

Great question.

Keri Douglas is the DTL at Deane Elementary School located in Lakewood, CO. She got her MakerSpace up and running in the library this year. She’s a rookie, too, so hopefully her journey can inspire you, as you embark down the MakerSpace road.


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