BYOD: Bring Your Own Device

Our new school initiative, BYOD (not as exciting as BYOB) has been in the works since September and has finally become "official." The program allows students to bring any electronic device that might have applications to help them with daily tasks in class. Kids with laptops, iPads or other tablets, e-readers such as Kindles, and even smartphones, have begun bringing them to class and are now using documents on their devices to take notes, write down homework, and do in-class research. I've mentioned this in several comments on other blogs, so I thought I'd put up a post about it, explaining what it looks like in my classroom.

I have one student who brings a laptop, but most bring tablets and phones. Students are sometimes your best resource in finding a new app to use for educational purposes. Many of them found their own app versions of digital agendas for keeping track of homework & upcoming tests, flashcard apps for studying, and for my class, an online French-English dictionary to help with writing. Here is an example from my own classroom. Students were doing an activity in their textbook working with partners. About half used pencil & paper while half wrote their answers into their device:

I have not had any problems with texting or any other inappropriate device use at the middle school level. I have at the high school level, but no more than usual! A colleague of mine put it in perspective for me when he compared it to a student doing his science homework in your French class. You don't confiscate the binder and create a new "no science binder" policy, you simply tell the student to put it away. I have had to tell a student "we are not using our devices right now, you should only be listening" but it hasn't needed to go further than that. So far BYOD is much more of an asset than a liability!

Here is a link to the Cheshire BYOD Resource Center

I "dig" Diigo!

I believe I have finally arrived at a place where I'm remembering to click the "Diigolet" button, rather than instinctively going for the "Bookmark" tab. I was reluctant to get on board, but I have to admit Diigo is way better! I like that I can easily organize everything so that if I am trying to remember that blog I saw on iPad apps for Education, I don't need to sift through all my bookmarks at once. I can click on the "iPad" label I've created and only look at the few pages I have saved that have to do with iPads. Bookmarking on Firefox does allow you to make folders, but I never remember to. This is much more user-friendly. I also love how it "suggests" labels - I assume it's based on the wording on the page? Half the time I don't need to create any more labels than what it's suggested for me! Here is a link to my Diigo page - it's a bit sparse right now but I plan on using it a lot more!

My Animoto - "Expressions Avec Faire"

My Animoto will be used with my 8th grade classes when we learn the verb "faire." "Faire" is the verb "to do" or "to make" and it used in a TON of expressions in French. Sometimes it is difficult for students to understand why expressions that use "faire" in French do not always translate word for word. For example, in English we say "go on a picnic" or "have a picnic," but in French they say "faire un pique-nique" (do a picnic). Therefore, I get questions like "I want to write that I'm going on a picnic this weekend. How do you say 'go?'" I have to explain that it is not worded the same way. This is a good way to introduce the verb and how it's used. After we watch the Animoto, students can answer the question at the end about what they noticed about the expressions and their meanings - HOPEFULLY they will pick up on the fact that the translations in English did not always use the word "do" or "make!"

I can't believe that RSS really stands for "Really Simple Sindication"

I literally thought Judy was joking when she said what it stood for ;)

Acronyms aside, I had previously considered myself a "pro" at all things Google, and I must sheepishly admit that I had never even heard of Google Reader, nor did I know that there were tools out there that sent information to you. The only similar concept I had experienced were those annoying e-mails you get from websites that had asked for your e-mail address if you had clicked "continue" too fast before you realized you hadn't unchecked the box that said "I would like to get e-mail updates about news and special offers." Therefore, clearly, I had never considered it an asset to "subscribe" to something for updates until now! (Except Groupon - Groupon is awesome)

I excitedly told my husband about it, and to make myself feel even more out-of-the-loop, he already knew about it and used it regularly. His favorite blog, Barstool Sports, comes regularly into his Google Reader, and half the time if I hear him laughing from another room, it's because he's catching up on its latest updates. (BE CAREFUL if you choose to check out that particular blog - highly inappropriate and NOT safe for kids!!! I purposely chose NOT to include a hyperlink).

I have now subscribed to several blogs, including my colleague's blog "Little Bytes" that I included in a previous blog post. Now the next step is remembering to check for what's new!

Farm Animoto - great idea!

I have been looking at Animotos made by pre-school or young elementary school teachers because they are usually used to introduce basic vocabulary words. Although my students are middle & high schoolers, I introduce basic vocab in a very similar way. When I checked out Nolia's Blog, however, she had something different that I also want to use. She created an Animoto about a class trip to the farm. I think this would be great for the upcoming field trip I will take with my students to Quebec. Parents send their kids on these immersion experiences, and I'm sure they hear some stories from their kids, but as we all know, teenagers don't tend to "gush" to their parents about all the cool experiences they had. Putting together a short Animoto with pictures and blurbs about our experiences would be a great way to let parents know about the experience their child had (and precisely what they are paying for!). My husband chaperoned this trip with me last year - below is a picture of us at Montmarcy Falls - a partially frozen waterfall in Quebec City.

Check Out "Little Bytes" - A Colleague's Tech Blog

The former 7th grade Social Studies teacher at my school was appointed to a brand new position this year : Technology Supervisor. My colleague, Scott Conway, has created a tech blog called "Little Bytes" for his co-workers to follow, keeping us up-to-date on what new tech tools are out there and how other teachers in the building are using them, updates on our technology policies, etc. . Scott is fantastic at what he does and does a great job explaining a lot of these tools. While it is specifically directed toward teachers at my school, don't hesitate to check it out anyway. I'm sure you'll find something useful there!

I'm actually proud to say that I made it onto Scott's blog in his post "Teacher Showcase." Since the World Language department was granted iPads this year (YAYY!!), I had been playing around with different apps and tools. I found a great one called EduCreations that I have been using as supplementary material on my website. Instead of explaining it in this post, click here to check out Scott's explanation of it. He also has a link to my website where you can see some examples.

Classroom Blogging and Multiple Literacies

This article was well-organized in that it listed the NETS standards along with things that real CT teachers are doing to meet them. This is great for those of us who are unsure how to incorporate technology effectively into our teaching, or may think we are but are still somehow not meeting standards.

I love the example given under "Writing Across the Curriculum and Multimedia" of the students doing "news casts" for their classmates about topics they are learning in class. I could easily do this in my own classroom, whether in English about a cultural or research topic, or in the target language using basic phrasing on topics we are studying such as weather, food, etc.

What really excited me was the use of Skype mentioned in the article. Students took part in a Skype Literature Circle to discuss and get excited about reading. The website gives a quick video showing the end of a Skype call. It's easy to see how excited the kids are to talk to someone about their reading, and it's not hard to imagine how this might encourage a struggling reader or a student who does not like to read might get pulled in through the dialogue via Skype. Personally I have been in search of a way to use Skype with my students. I REALLY hope I can connect with a French-speaking classroom somewhere someday! I know my students would love it.