Chess on the iPad

When was the last time you heard this conversation on a Friday afternoon in a middle school classroom?

Student 1: What are you going to do when you go home this afternoon?
Student 2: I'm going to play some chess on my iPad!

On Fridays one of our 8th grade Math Flipped Classrooms has an extra class period to work on math enrichment. They have started a little chess club in the classroom where students are learning to play chess on their iPads. The students are really excited and learning problem solving, critical thinking, and strategy skills.

    

One of the students is so excited that he created a chess club website for the class.

Monte Vista Chess Online


We have also downloaded a couple of free Chess apps so students can use these along with the Chess websites they have been using.

Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers

Check out these online graphic organizers from Holt:

Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers

The site has over 30 graphic organizers for a variety of tasks. Each graphic organizer is interactive and can be downloaded onto a computer with Adobe Reader and be filled out right on the computer. There are also Teaching Notes available with tips and lesson ideas for each organizer

What we really appreciate is that they also work on the iPads! Using the "Open In" feature in an IOS web browser such as Safari or Chrome, you can import the graphic organizer into the Adobe Reader app and easily fill in the fields.

Students can then take a screenshot of the completed graphic organizer to share with their teacher or import into another iPad project.

CSD Academic Parent Teacher Teams

One of the projects that has helped us to better create home-school connectors and involve parents in the learning process is the implementation of Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT). As a participant in the program, parents attend 3 parent meetings during the year where they learn about their child's academic progress and ways they can help with learning at home along with an extended parent-teacher conference times where they can really focus on the specific needs of each student.

Learning to access assessment data online.

The iPads have become an invaluable tool in supporting the APTT meetings. Parents are able to access student assessment data, view projects, and listen to audio recordings done by their student.

Teacher explanation about instruction and supporting learning at home.

Parents really do love seeing and hearing what their students are doing in school.

Listening to her child's recording! 

Listening together!

Flipped Classroom PLC: Challenge Based Learning

We had a really great PLC with our Flipped Classroom team today. We are half way through the year and have begun thinking about learning projects for fourth quarter after state testing is completed.

Last November I attended a conference session led by Mark Nichols of Apple on Challenge Based Learning. Challenge Based Learning, or CBL, is an engaging approach to learning that guides students through solving real world problems developed by Apple. It is collaborative, hands on, and very student driven.

We invited Mark to join us at our PLC today to introduce our teachers to the process, which includes identifying an overarching big idea, developing essential questions to narrow the thought, and then coming up with a challenge to be completed. Then utilizing guiding questions and guided activities and resources, students work thorough the problem to come up with solutions. Finally you implement the solutions, evaluate the outcomes, and  reflect on their process and learning. The process is outlines on Apple's CBL page: http://www.apple.com/education/challenge-based-learning/


Here is an example of the CBL framework for a project:

The teachers were truly engaged and excited about finding ways to implement projects. One teacher's responded: "I found it both empowering for the students and for me as a teacher, as well as thought provoking and door opening. I see that my project I have assigned for this quarter falls short of true inquiry learning and my head is swimming with ways to improve it for next year." She is ready to be a "guinea pig" for piloting a project and welcomes input that will grow her students and her.

For more information about Challenge Based Learning visit:

https://challengebasedlearning.org

Tools 4 Students: Graphic Organizers for iPad

One of our new favorite apps is Tools 4 Students. This app is a collection of 25 different graphic organizers that students can fill in on their iPads. When complete, the organizers can be saved as either a photo or PDF and then shared through email or linked to Dropbox.

This great selection of organizers makes the app useful for a variety of content areas. Students can complete Character organizers or Beginning-Middle-End organizers for Language Arts. The Compare/Contrast organizer would be helpful for life science as you compare and contrast different animal species or organ systems. As you study historical events in Social Studies, the Cause/Effect organizer would work really well. As you start a new unit, have students complete the KWL or KWLW organizers to show what they already know about a topic and what they would like to learn during the unit. Just a few examples but you can see how this app could be used in a variety of ways.

Here are some example of Tools 4 Students in action in a classroom!

Getting ready to type.

Entering the information.

Teacher modeling how to complete the organizer by mirroring his iPad via Apple TV!

ScootPad

    One of our new favorite tools is ScootPad (http://www.scootpad.com/). ScootPad is a common core standards aligned tool for practicing and mastering math and reading skills. ScootPad provides self-paced personalized practice for each student - and all for free!

Teachers create a free account and then add their students. Each student has a customized log-in to access the program. Teachers have access to customized reports for their classroom and students. Teachers also receive a ScootPad Weekly Digest report via email. This report highlights each students accomplishments along with highlights and updates about the program.

The ScootPad website works well on the iPads but they also have a free app. The app makes it really easy for students to access their accounts and complete their practice activities. Teachers can also access their ScootPad Teacher Dashboard through the app to manage their account. There is a ScratchPad embedded in the iPad app for doing math calculations.

One of the things I like best about ScootPad is the questions. They are not all multiple choice! Students have to actually type in their answers for many of the questions - and they check for correct punctuation and spelling.

ScootPad is also creating strong home/school connections. There are a lot of resources for parents. They can even log-in and monitor their child's progress. ScootPad generates customized letters teachers can send home with information for parents to sign up and see what their child has been doing.

Thanks ScootPad for creating such a great tool for us to use!

iPhone (iPad) Contract

This article about the mom who bought her 13 year old son an iPhone for Christmas but also created an 18 point contract about its use has pretty much gone viral. It has been referred to on many blogs, posted on Facebook, and retweeted on Twitter numerous times. If you have not seen it yet, here is the link:

To My 13 Year Old, an iPhone Contract From Your Mom, With Love

This is such a great idea and I love the many "touchy" subjects she addresses with both humor and love, such as not texting or emailing something you would not say to someones face, no porn, and really thinking about the photos you take. We have a great iPad Agreement we use with our students but some of these ideas really need to be addressed with them in depth also. May be making some revisions for next year!

Sounds like Ms. Hoffman is a really great mom - hope her son appreciates her!