Day Two of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

After the first day and the number of issues we were having with Facebook, I was fearful that I would have to scale down the project. Fortunately, it seems like the students were able to resolve their Facebook issues. The profiles have been created and the students have begun to develop their character through their networking activity.

As well, the tweets are also beginning to appear.

I really can’t complain about the project yet because the set-up does take some time. However, I do need to take a time out from the play so that the groups who were a little slower setting up can begin adding activity to their social networking sites. I’ve realized that for this project to work how I have envisioned it, everybody needs to contribute and keep up to date with where we are in the play. Tomorrow we are in the computer lab so hopefully I will see a full complement of activity.

Day One of the Midsummer Night’s Dream Experiment

Both the student and I were very excited to begin creating accounts for these characters. We went to the library to use the computers to begin creating a social network of these characters. Well, what seemed like an easy task quickly became difficult. First, I think we were trying to create too many accounts on both Facebook and Twitter that many of the students were rejected. Should have seen that one coming. What I didn’t anticipate was the difficulty students were having with Facebook. I have had students make fictional profiles on Facebook in the past with no problem, but it looks like the social networking site has changed a few things. First, there was poor Nick Bottom, one of the funniest and most pathetic characters created by William Shakespeare. Facebook doesn’t like his name, basically saying it is not a real name. The students were finally able to create an account with the name Nicholas Bottoms. Apparently that was more appropriate. Another group, Francis Flute, had their account closed because they were suspected to be spam.

As a result of these challenges, there was very little activity on day one. However, we will persevere and continue on with this experiment in social networking. The students are still excited.

You can follow our tweets by following the hashtag, #MSNDream.

Using Social Networking to teach Shakespeare

Tomorrow my grade nine English class will begin studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  This will be the first time most have encountered Shakespeare and from the comments over the last week, many are a little nervous.  I don’t blame them.  Shakespeare is terribly difficult to comprehend for those who have not spent much time with the bard.  We as teachers can forget how difficult the language is, especially when we teach the same plays year after year.

I thought that I would take advantage of social networking to make Shakespeare a little more enjoyable.  I have used social networking in the past with Shakespeare.  I have had students create Facebook profiles of the characters from his plays before.  The students had a great time doing this.  I’ve also seen what Danika Barker has done with Twitter and Shakespeare.  Both work very well, but I want to go a little further with Social Networking.  I want to bring these characters to life.  I want them to have fully realized social networking personas.

Here is the plan.  First, I will divide the class up into pairs.  This will give me 13 pairings which is a good number because this play has a lot of characters.  Each pair will be assigned one of the characters from the play.  They will create an email account for the character and use this email account to create all the social networking accounts required for the project.  The pairs are required to create a Twitter, Facebook, and blog account for their character.  As well, they must select two other social networking sites and create accounts.  Once everyone has created their accounts, they are to post the links to them on our Edmodo page so that we can follow their activity and so that the characters can friend each other.

As a class we will go through the play, scene by scene.  As their character, the students will then turn to social networking to respond to the actions in the play.  This is such a great play for this because of the chaos created by Puck.  It will wreck havoc on the relationship status on Facebook for the lovers.

My challenge, which I don’t yet have a solution to, is that I want to collect all of the social networking activity done by these character in one location.  I would appreciate any suggestions for this.  Right now I’m looking at using Evernote to collect everything, but I’m sure there is a better solution.

I have attached the assignment sheet for the project.  I’m still working on a hashtag for the character Twitter feeds, but will post it once we have agreed on one.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Project

The Social World of Midsummer Night’s Dream

I have this idea for studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream that I think is really good. It will display the students understanding of the characters and the story; it will display the student’s understanding of pop culture and social media; and it should be fun to put together.

The idea came to me thanks to Danika Barker’s Hamlet tweets. I want to take that, but go a step further. I want to create the characters from Dream in a fully social media world. This means that the characters tweet, have Facebook profiles, make YouTube videos, etc. to do this, I need a way to gather all of this information together in one place to tell it as a modern story.

The students would be broken up into character teams. Each team is responsible for creating a social media presence for their character. They will create a Facebook profile, YouTube channel, Twitter account, and any other social media account that would suit their character. From here they will develop their characters social media presence based on the actions of the play.

In order for this to work, we will need to alter some of the characters. The king may no longer be a king; the fairies may no longer be fairies. That is for the class to decide.

As I develop this more, I will provide more details of the project. I’m hoping to begin at the start of December.

More About Technology in the Classroom

Yesterday I quickly put together a post reflecting my thoughts after coming out of an Apple session.  It was rough and rushed, and since then I have had time to further reflect on technology and its role in education.  Today I want to focus on one of the main problems with incorporating technology in the classroom and a potential solution.

I’m not sure about what goes on in other boards, but in my experience I have found my school board (Avon Maitland) to be very supportive about the use of technology in the classroom.  There many excellent teachers in this board using technology in an effective and engaging way.  Just look at the work done by Heather Durnin (@hdurnin) and her current Internet Radio project (#105thehive).  At my school we currently have a cart of iPods, a cart of iPads, several SMARTBoards, several Macs, and several computer labs.  As well, the school has wifi, and each student has their own Google Account through the board’s Google Education account.  We are not short on technology.

The technology is there, and many teachers within my school and within the board have done an excellent job of using the technology in an effective and engaging way without the technology becoming an intrusive part of the learning.  However, these teachers only represent a fraction of the teachers within the school board.  The problem that I am finding is that teachers just don’t know how to use the technology and therefore lack the knowledge of how to use the technology in their classes.  I have an interest in the technology.  My iPad is always at my side, I am on Twitter several times a day, I read my news online, I use an Apple TV to watch programs on my television.  However, not everyone has an interest in technology, and teachers tend to teach to their comforts.  It just so happens that my comfort also seems to be the direction that education and the world is going.

Going back to all that technology that we have in our schools.  Yes, the students for the most part know how to use the technology or can at least figure it out.  However, teachers can’t and shouldn’t bring the technology into their rooms if they do not understand it.  It would be doing the whole class a disservice.  It is great that we have a cart of iPads.  I use them on a daily basis with two of my three classes and several times a week with the other group.  The students like using them and seem more engaged as a result.  The problem is that I am able to use them on a daily basis.  With only 30 iPads in a school of over 500 students, you would think that I would need to share the devices, and on a few occasions I have shared them, but for the last three weeks they have almost regularly been mine.  This is a lot of money to spend on one teacher.

Why am I the only one really using the cart of iPads?  The answer is simple.  Everyone else (save for a handful of others who are using them a little) doesn’t know what to do with them.  There are very few on staff that have an iPad of their own and therefore do not understand what can be done with one.  They have no knowledge of the plethora of apps available.  Many likely see the iPad as a very expensive toy.  I could run a workshop on using the iPads and that would probably get a few more using them in their classes, but only superficially.

The real solution to this problem is to get the technology into the hands of the teachers.  If we really want teachers to use technology as part of their teaching, they need to be users of that technology.  Provide teachers with their own iPads.  Let them play around with them.  Let them figure out for themselves what the iPad can be used for.  If they understand the technology on a personal level, they will have the confidence and desire to make it an integral part of their teaching.

Apple Products in Education

Today I got to attend an Apple run session on creating content with iPads and Macs.  Really, this was a chance for Apple to show how iBooks Author really works.  I thought I would share my thoughts about what I saw today.

First, let’s get something straight; this was nothing more than an Apple sales pitch to buy their products.  I knew this when I signed up for the session.  However, I wanted to see if they would show me something that I didn’t know.

Now, on to the session.  In the first half we looked at the iPads and the different types of apps that can be used in education.  Some I had heard of, many were new to me, but some I found very interesting so points to Apple here.  For example I have now downloaded the app Explain Everything.

From here we moved on to looking at iBooks and digital textbooks that were created using iBooks Author.  I must admit, these textbooks look really good and are highly engaging.

Break

Back from break, the rest of the session focussed on using iBooks Author.  This really is a great app and has the potential to be a very powerful tool.  You can make really great textbooks in the simplest of ways.  However, there are several problems.  First, before you can even drag and drop into this program, you need to create the videos, photos, and text.  Either that or find videos, photos, and texts that are copyright free that would be suitable for what you want in the textbook.  This now becomes a very time consuming venture.  That being said, I will likely take on this task for some of my classes over the summer because it looks like fun.

One of the ideas that came up from the woman attending the session with me was that this could be a great tool to have students use in the creation of their final assessments.  Having students create their own textbooks based on the material covered in the course or based on their own research on a topic is a fantastic idea.  This brings me to my next problem.  Now I need to have Macs in my school to fully utilize iBooks Author.  We have three iMacs in our school and three and a half MacBooks. For a school to fully utilize such powerful tools, the school needs a large number of iPads and Macs.  Ideally there would be a 1:1 program for iPads and a full lab worth of Macs.

I get that Apple is in business to make money and by running these programs, they are working on convincing the education system to buy their products.  The problem is that the education system does not have the funds.  Sorry, the funds may be there, but they are tied up elsewhere.

Two things then that I have taken away.  First, if we want to use these tools, why do we have to wholeheartedly support Apple and only Apple?  Secondly, why can’t the education system fully embrace technology and make the shift?

iPads in my classroom

My school was lucky enough to get a class set of iPads (unless you have a class with over 30 students), and I was lucky enough to be the one in charge of looking after them.  Since I am the one in charge of them and the one who really pushed to get them, it seems necessary that I make the most out of these devices.  To do this, I have made them a daily part of my grade 12 class, and am currently using them daily with my grade 9 and 10 locally developed class.  It has been about three weeks since the start of the semester and the start of my use of iPads in the classroom so I thought I would take the time to reflect on them.

Let’s start with the locally developed class.  This is a very small group of only 9 students.  I have yet to ever see this many, but officially I have 9 students.  Each student has been assigned a specific iPad and will be using only that one for the duration of the semester.  This makes it easier to track any problems to the source.  On day one I handed out the iPads and instantly the camera app was opened and pictures were taken.  Three weeks in and they still enjoy taking pictures.  Most have changed the wallpaper as well.  Once I was able to get them focussed I had them open up the Edmodo app and join the class group.  Once in, I went through the basics of Edmodo, highlighting the calendar and library features.  Next I introduced them to Evernote and Dropbox.  Since the work done for this course takes place completely within the classroom we have not had any real reason to use Dropbox, but about half of them have really taken to Evernote.  I will get into the Evernote app a little later on.

The real reason for my desire to use the iPads with this class was that I wanted to have them read a high interest book that would appeal to both boys and girls.  I also wanted to be able to extend their learning of the content in the novel.  I selected The Lightning Thief after much consideration, purchasing the book through iBooks and putting it on the iPads the students are using.  Also, since a large percentage of the class has an IEP, I also purchased the audiobook.  Now, using the iPads, the students are reading the novel or listening to it and following along.  We are now nine chapters into the novel and the students are really enjoying it.  I know that while the iPad is fun to use, there is nothing here that could not be replicated with paper texts and other technology.  I will also admit that in this case their engagement is mainly the result of it just being a good book.  However, the iPads have made the accessibility to and reading of the novel much easier for me as the teacher.  Also, for those who have difficulty reading, the audiobook has been really helpful.

One of the primary focuses for this novel unit is summary writing.  We have been writing one paragraph summaries of the chapters as we go along.  I have found the iPads very helpful here.  Many of the students have chosen to use Evernote for their class notes.  This has made it much easier for them to keep track of their notes, and much harder for them to lose them.  Each chapter summary has become a separate note within their Evernote notebook.  If I want to look at the summaries, they simply email them to me (without setting up an email account on the iPads I might add).  If you have never used Evernote with iPads, I strongly recommend that you do.  I have made notes on the board, and instead of copying them down, they have used the iPad camera and taken a picture of the board and added it to Evernote.

Switching apps, but staying with the summaries, one of my students took advantage of the Dragon Dictation app to take down his summaries.  Having seen both his written summary and the oral-to-written summary created by Dragon Dictation, this app has made a huge difference in the quality of his work.  Other students tried this but didn’t like it so they went back to typing out their summaries.  What makes the iPad so great is that it has provided my students with options for their learning styles.  Some have stuck with paper and pen, some have really taken to Evernote, and one has reaped the benefits of Dragon Dictation.

Once we have finished the novel, the students will be using the iPads to create Keynote presentations on mythological characters.  If you have not seen Keynote on an iPad hooked up to a projector, you really need to check it out.  The iPad screen displays the slide, the speaker notes, and the time.  This makes for a much smoother presentation.  I am also planning on using iMovie to create short storytelling videos.

The locally developed stream can be a difficult one to teach.  These students have come to really dislike school over the years, finding little success along the way.  As a result, they are disengaged from the lesson and tend to act out in negative ways.  So far this semester I have not seen any of this.  The students come into the room in a positive mood, willingly take on the tasks assigned to them.  They appear engaged in the work: quietly reading the novel, discussing grammar questions with each other or working hard on writing up their summaries.

One final note: often when we get new technology in the school, these students never get a chance to use it.  We tend to save the technology for the more academically minded students.  I’m not sure why that it.  Do we not trust these students to use the technology appropriately?  Are we afraid they will break it?  Do we feel it is too sophisticated a tool?  Whatever the reasons, stop!  The technology is there for all of our students.  This group has been more positive about using the iPads than my grade 12 class, but that is for a different post.

Hamlet Project Part 2

For many of the students in my class, collaborating with someone online is a new experience. Most of these students haven’t even done an eLearning course before. So naturally, they are nervous about the project. This is a grade 12 university English course so marks are incredibly important to them. The unfortunate side to the mark hungry student is that they are not always interested in the learning that goes on in the course. All they care about is the mark. An assignment like this one therefore scares them because it is unfamiliar. Mark hungry students thrive on the familiar.

For the Hamlet Project we therefore thought that co-creation of the rubric would help the students relieve their stress and become more comfortable with the project. I had my students working on the success criteria today in class. I’m going to highlight some of the points they identified as important to the success criteria.

This first one is my favorite: “Efficient use of the media resources”. Since they are using technology to create their final product in a set timeframe, efficiency with the technology’s very important. The group also felt that efficient use of collaboration was important, including whatever tech they chose to collaborate with.

Another group felt that it was important to include the plans and steps taken towards the final product for assessment. This is a smart call because it reward the students who are hard works and strong team players.

Another group thought the ability to combine information and creativity was very important. It isn’t enough to be creative or informative. You need to include both.

Overall, all agreed that some form of group evaluation was required to both highlight what they brought to the group, but also the role others played in the group. Whatever this looks like, it should not be a grueling task.

Ms. Weir will now collect the same information from her class. We will the collaborate on the success criteria for this project. Hopefully we can remove the fears the students have with a clearly defined set of criteria.

Hamlet Project

As I continue to explore 21st Century learning in my classroom, I find myself discovering opportunity after opportunity. To be honest, I only began moving in this direction about 4 years ago and upped the pace of my pedagogy shift 2 years ago. In the past four years I have found myself leading my own professional development through readings of my choice and conferences of my choice. As a result, I have learned a great deal about the teaching profession and the different approaches to education. Also, I have made a number of great connections beyond my own building. It is through these connections that I am discovering these wonderful opportunities.

One of those opportunities literally fell into my lap. All it took was a simple tweet:

Oh boy! Starting Hamlet on Monday! For such a depressing character, Hamlet is so much fun to teach. #hamletrocks

As a result of this tweet, I am now working with @msjweir on a collaborative Hamlet project. Our two classes will be working together to create a visual storytelling of the emotional journey of the characters in the play. I am really excited about this project because I think it in itself is a really cool project, and also, this is the first time I have had a class of students collaborate with another class of students who are not in the school.

Looking at this project, I realize that while I have an end product in mind, what the students end up creating may be something totally different. This is a very uncomfortable thought for a teacher to have. In truth, with this project I need to let the students find their own way and make their own decisions. They will interact with their project group members in a way that is most comfortable for them and not for me. Because they will be working with students from a different school, they will also be doing most of the collaboration outside of class time. Our classes are at opposite times of the day too.

Looking at this project, the most important skill I need to bring to the table is flexibility. I may have one timeline created, but there is a good chance it will look very different by the time the project is complete.

As a starting point, the group will be using Edmodo. It is a great place to begin because we can post the project information sheet to the library and add important dates to the calendar. Also, we can divide the two classes up into small groups. From this starting point, I think it is important to let the students make their own decisions about how they’re going to collaborate. I am going to guess that many of my students will want to use Google Docs. I’m not sure what Ms Weir’s class will prefer to use. I don’t doubt that at some point Facebook will become a collaboration spot for the students. Like I said, they need to make these decisions since they are the ones collaborating. Ms Weir and I will make our own decisions about how we want to collaborate.

Well, that is enough. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head. Okay, deep breath and let go.

Richard

To Flip or not to Flip

It may just be me, but there seems to be a lot of information and comments popping up lately in regards to the idea of flipping the classroom. This is not that new a concept, but with the growing popularity of the Khan Academy, it is easy to understand the coinciding popularity of the flipped classroom method. I for one am very intrigued with the flipped classroom model, but I will admit that I also have some concerns with this model as well.

Let’s start with a description of the flipped classroom, or at least my view of it. Simply put, the lesson takes place as homework, and homework takes place during class time. What this means is that teachers record audio or video versions of their lesson and make it available for students to consume at home. Alternatively, teachers could use other sources such as the Khan Academy or iTunes U for lesson material. The advantages here are that the students can consume the material at a time convenient to them, and they can consume it as often as they require. Meanwhile, back in the classroom, the traditional lesson would be replaced with students working on the normally assigned homework. The idea here is that teachers would be able to move around the room and provide more one-on-one time with their students.

I’m going to start with the problems of this system. The first and biggest problem with this format is the reliance on the traditional method of lecturing. A lecture is still a lecture no matter what time of day it takes place. Students who struggle with the lecture style will still struggle no matter how many times they view the video or listen to the audio. Next, there is a lot of class time that is now made available from the removal of the lecture. This time needs to be filled with something of value to the student. If it is nothing more than “homework time” then students will become disengaged through boredom.

All this aside, I see this as an extremely effective method of delivery. First off, who says you need to replicate the traditional lecture model when creating your video or podcast. There is a great opportunity for the auditory and visual learners. As well,you can link your “lecture” to a plethora of information available online. I understand that some students will have trouble with the “lecture,” but there is one-on-one time during class to work with those students. Secondly, in class is an excellent time to work collaboratively. Truth be told, I spend very little time lecturing to my students as it is. I’m a big fan of projects and project based learning. By switching to a flipped classroom model, you are able to provide students with the essential course content (content will always be relevant) while opening up more time for students to get one-on-one support, work collaboratively in a face-to-face setting, and use technology that may not be available to them at home.

This seems to me to be less flipped classroom and more blended learning. One aspect that needs to be added to the flipped classroom model is the availability of the teacher outside of the classroom. I’m not talking about 24/7 access to your teacher. I do enjoy my sleep. However, students should be able to ask questions outside of class and get a response. Technology has made this simple. Using technology such as texting, Twitter, email, or Edmodo makes the teacher far more accessible. For the flipped classroom to work, this element is the key to its success.

Now, I don’t think I am some old fool. I still see problems with this system. Having tried something like this in the past, there are a few areas of concern that cannot be ignored. First, and most obvious, is the disinterested student. You know the one. No matter what you do, they hate it and will do little to be a part of it. Truth be told, they work best under the worksheet and test model of teaching. The flipped classroom will be a disaster for them. These students will not watch the lectures and will not use the class time to work on their projects. These students, thankfully, are a small percentage of the students you teach. Actually, this system will give you more time to spend with them. Hopefully all the one-on-one attention will engage them. The other problem is the students who do not have technology at home. This number is a very low number, but these students still exist. Likely you have at least one in every class. One option here is to burn your lectures to disc, assuming they have a DVD player, or making time in class for them to view the lectures. Some schools will even make special arrangements for these students. Overall, however, I feel that the strengths outweigh the areas of concern. This model is an excellent way to prepare students for what faces them in the world they will face after high school.

Come February, with the gift of new classes and new students, it is my goal to flip my classroom. At this point I am not sure exactly what it will look like, but the idea of a flipped classroom is too intriguing to ignore.