FCEC iPad Project Presentation, Jacksonville, FL

Thank you all for the warm welcome and enthusiastic interest shown during the presentation!  You are awesome participants!  There was too much to cover in too short a timeframe.  However, I have put together this list of must have apps.  Please be aware that many work on more than Apple products but on the iPad and Touch units, they are magic in the hands of your students - regardless of abilities.  I am not going to list the prices - the App Store on iTunes can find them fast.  Again, the apps that I have chosen are there because they have been tried-and-true when it comes to having students engaged and productive.  If an app is not used, it goes into one of those little box collections.  If I see students using them, I take them out for easier access.

On my first page of the iPad - these are the apps that are the most used for production.

Notability - taking audio and written notes, can add photos, uses a built in whiteboard, can upload to Dropbox
Dropbox - files storage in the clouds somewhere that holds lots of files.  Free and you can pay for more storage space or send invites to others and when they download the app, you get more free space.  Excellent for students to save their Notabilty files to.
Evernote and Evernote Peek - great note taking apps and test review (Peek), has audio and internet access but is a bit more involved than Dropbox for storage.  Limit on space and cuts you off if you go over it.
TypeDrawing - lets you type in words and lets you draw with those words.  Can be saved to your photo album or emailed.  Awesome app for those who need to see it to learn it.
Comic Life - allows students to create a comic strip for their projects.  Great app for those who do not like to write but still want to do the project.
Pages - awesome app that have many formats for student written work.  I showed you the brochure for our Experimental Science glass class.
Keynote, Keynote Remote - great presentation app (think PowerPoint on steroids).  One key difference is that audio and video can be embedded so that you don't lose it when you  migrate to another computer or flash drive.  Remote lets your iPhone, touch or pad become a clicker or remote to advance your presentation.
Numbers - Apple's Excel only better
GarageBand - create, compose, and edit podcasts, original music, audio files, lessons and lectures.  Awesome app!
iMovie  - create original movies or import in from cameras or video.


Productivity box - I have a bunch under here that students sometimes use but I might use more than they do.  Because they are not an every-day goto- I lump them into the box.
Whiteboard, Stickies, TouchDraw, Stopwatch, Dragon Dictation, Flipboard, Splashtop HD, Splashtop Whiteboard, Splashtop Browser.
Splashtop HD, Splashtop Whiteboard, Splashtop Browser.  There was no time to show you these.  Splashtop allows your iPad2 (won't work with iPad1) to access your laptop and become a slate.  You can move around the room and manipulate your computer using your iPad2.  The whiteboard allows you to write on your iPad2 and have it display on the projected image.  Browser allows your iPad2 to annotate over whatever is displayed on your desktop's projected image.  These are incredible!

2nd page of the iPad2 is for the learning games.  Before I will download a game, it has to fit the needs of my students:  help with reading, math, science or writing, be easy to play and educational, engage in critical thinking, not be too awful in the destruction area, and multi-curricular if possible.  I have the following games:  Pocket Frogs, Angry Birds, WordCrasher, BrainPop, Spore Creatures, Dino Rush, Scoops, Cut the Rope, Slice it!.
Also on the 2nd page:   Dictionary, SketchBook Pro, iTunes, Videolicious, i-nigma, DocScan, Edmodo, Pocket Drums and Steelpan.


The 3rd page is more of my reference page.  The following apps are on it:  GoSkyWatchPro, Star Walk, NASA HD, Google Earth, EasyBib, RSA Vision, Today History, Math Ref, Kobo, nook, Kindle, iBooks, PeriodicTable, Memorix Periodic Table, Chemisty textbook, Dinosaurs (Smithsonian), Photo booth, Science@VL, TCT Lite, Elements, Molecules, Sparkvue, SMART Bridgit.


Most of these work on the interactive whiteboards.  A few do not.  The display is a product of how the developer wrote the app and most were written without thinking about how educators would use them.  The developers are getting better and most are only an email away.  We worked with TypeDrawing on a few items and several others were great to do update when needed.  Just email them from the App store.

To get the apps on your computer - Mac's anyway - you will need to upgrade to 10.6 or better or to Lion.  There is an App store app that will download and you can purchase computer versions for some of the items listed above.  We have asked for others and the developers are working on them.

My thinking was that the iPad and Touch units would be in the hands of the students as long as school is in session.  I have handed the unit to children of all ages, abilities, and temperment.  All have treated the unit with respect - even if they did not show that respect to me!  To watch students take an active part in their learning with the tool makes every penny worth it.  Both of my units were purchased with grant money.  I am trying to write more this year to get more.  We have learned that the Touch units will do just as well as the iPad units but for students with fine and gross motor controls, find the unit that fits them.  My eyes are OLD so I prefer the iPad - it's bigger!

We - our teaching team - had a major learning curve as none of us owned these devices and couldn't afford them.  We got to play with them for about 2 weeks before we put them into the hands of the students.  We learned that the students know way more than we do but they will help us learn.  We did not lose or damage any units.  The headphones with the microphones were stolen - at $25.00 a pop.  So we had to put some strict requirements on those.  We lost 5 over the course of the year.

In retrospect and looking forward, we learned from our mistakes and capitalized on the successes of both students and staff.  All parties moved forward along the learning path.  I watched students deemed incapable of learning run the rest of us ragged on WordCrasher.  Who knew!  The visual vocal produced the largest learning gains as students became successful for the first time in their high school math classes.  From students with profound disabilities to those with mild learning disabilities, all students can learn if we put the right tools forward and teach to the students' preferred learning styles.

I hope that I have given you some tools that your students and staff can make work in your schools.  Enjoy!

Please feel free to holler at me!

Conference Materials: Apps that help students access curriculum:

As our experiment with technology continues, the focus remains student access to curriculum via a variety of tools.  Currently, students are familiar with cameras to capture events or projects and are able to upload this media to a variety of programs or applications and manipulate the media for project purposes.  With the introduction of the iPod Touch units and the iPad2 unit, the field opens up for some additional exploration.

QR readers and generators:
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ (reader and generator)  There are tons of readers and generators out there!
http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/  (this one I have used as it gives a variety of options).

This is a QR key to this blogspot.  I give this to my students or have them scan it with their smart phones. I created QR keys for their photo albums, class web pages, online surveys and assessments.














There are a number of apps available across platforms that will help students access curriculum in ways that fit their learning modalities.  We use Notability and Evernote for note taking and lecture captures.  Using the Livescribe Pulse or Echo pens will do the same thing but encourages the physical act of writing to help facilitate learning.  Notability Peek has been introduced to help with reviewing material for mastery.  The app is designed around the folding cover on the iPad2.  Lifting up one flap exposes a question.  Lifting up the second fold exposes the answer.  For students who need the kinesthetic manipulation of learning materials, here is a digital flash-card way to review.  All of these note taking apps have the option of notes being sent to a DropBox file for digital storage and universal access.  My students get a QR key to my DropBox file for their course so they have access to files (syllabus or article links) we will use throughout the course.

EasyBib is a quick way to capture citations.  However it needs a book's barcode.  If you have a few years on you, then you well know that most of the books you have collected for your research are older than this technology.

I am using this blog to share information with my students and with the participants in a variety of conference presentations I have conducted.  Blogs can be used in so many ways to help students learn complex material or to showcase their efforts.  Make of it what you will and what you have time for.  A note of caution:  if you allow comments - and you should if you are asking students to use the blog - you are looking at a content and time management commitment.  Comments should be audited to make sure they are appropriate before they are approved for posting.  You do need to check the comments often or they pile up and become a drudge to handle.  Think about this aspect while implementing this tool.

I will continue to add apps that seem to help students with learning as we test them out in our course.

Visual Vocabulary using iPad2© and TypeDrawing© app

Vocabulary has been a problem that repeatedly shows up as deficit scores on most assessments.  We are trying an experiment with iPad2© and some of the apps that are available.  Using Notability© or Evernote© to take notes, students can imbed a visual representation of vocal word using the TypeDrawing© app.  Here are some samples of student work and several short how-to videos.

Fifth Project - Open Stained Glass Panels and others

We made a very short foray into hot glass with a few items of fused glass jewelry.  This project got sandwiched in between the mirrors as students were finishing and did not have a lot of time for another big project.  Several sets of earrings were created and some test items for tack, contour, and full fused samples.  We will come back to the hot glass work after we finish with the FCAT testing over the next few weeks.

The stained glass open panels are small airy panels that are delightful little suncatchers.  The criteria was that the panel could not exceed 12"x3", had to have 10 pcs. of glass and 2 bevels, had to have open spaces and at least 2 wire curls.  As you can see from the projects in process, there are some interesting pieces being created.  We may not be able to finish these for the next 2 weeks due to testing schedules, but we hope to have them finished by Mother's Day.

The last few photos are of the Emerald Awards that are given out by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners for the best landscaping or environmental contributions in the county.  This year, there are 7 awards being awarded.  Our students have had the distinct opportunity of creating these garden award stones since 2006.  We are honored to continue to support the environmental greening of our county. This is just one of the ways we try to have our students become involved in their community.   Good luck to those who are pursuing this award.  The ceremony is next week.

Update on the Mosaic Mirrors

We have almost finished the mirrors!  The snook and the tarpon are still waiting to be grouted.  All in all, the students were able to express some creativity with the mirrors.  We hit some snags with the power tools in that the router cowling screw stripped and we did not have the funding to purchase another.  So I had to do all of the routing for the mirrors.  Most of the students cut their own wood shapes and drilled their holes so they were able to work with some of the power tools.  All of the mirrors were sold with one exception.  Overall, the response to the mirrors was excellent.  These were part of the midterm practical exam and students were given a 2 week period to complete them.  This was a good project to judge creativity, skills sets, independent work, and grouting skills.  This is a keeper lesson that can be incorporated into Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Biology or Marine Science.

Fourth Project - Mosaic Mirrors

This project was loaded with new adventures for the students and staff!  Mosaic mirrors are usually built on top of a marine plywood or other strong wood that will stand up to the glue and grout process.  The mirrors are usually inset into the back of the project and the rest of the glass is completed as a mosaic on top of the front side.  Students were given free rein on creativity for this project as it was designed to see how independent they could be with glass construction.  Some direct instruction and guided instruction was needed when it came to the construction tools:  a circular saw, jigsaw, drill and router.  Students need to design their project and indicate where the mirror was going to be imbedded.  Then they had to cut out the basic wood shape, cut out the mirror space, drill holes for hanging and rout out the lip for the mirror inset.  Once the board was finished, they could then start cutting the glass for the pattern they had picked.  As you can see, we are still in the process of construction with some students almost ready to grout and some still working with the wood.  Chemical bonding is the necessary science in this construction but the color spectrum for creating the project and background plays an equal part in constructing a project that looks good.  I will publish the finished projects when they are completed.  It has been interesting to see the growth process in some students who know exactly what they want and are working toward that goal.  Some are finding out how very difficult glass art can be when skills are not applied properly.  At our 7th week end, skills are being defined and talents are being uncovered.

Third Project - Mosaic Picture Frames

We obtained some wood frames from a clearance bin at a local craft store.  Each student needed to complete a frame using either a pattern they already had or they could have created a pattern.  All decided to use the rose bud from the stained glass project.  Color combo were the choice of the student.  This project was designed to show students how to take and make a project from found objects or other substrates that could be used as a base for the art project.  Once again, the chemical bonds were needed in order for the glue to adhere the glass to the wood and the grout to fix the glass to the wood.  This was the first project where they did not use stained glass tools to construct the project.   Four students sold their frames and several still have not finished the project.

Second Projects - 3-D Stained Glass Flowers or Bugs

This project was designed to stretch the students' creative side and learn how to turn a flat project into a 3-D project quickly.  Students could choose from a rose bud stick, a ladybug stick or insect with legs, or a heart memo holder.  All of the items used recycled copper wire from an air-conditioning installation.  We took the left over wire and stripped the coating off and used the copper wire as the legs or sticks.  In working with the tools for stained glass, students learned that a liquid flux was needed in order for the tin/lead solder to stick to the copper foil and wire.  Chemical bonds were responsible for this "sticking" process.  Not all students completed the project on time.  Most of these were sold around Valentine's Day.  A few were added to a recycled bottle that was turned into a vase.  We added some pathos plants and a glass stick and made several teachers' birthdays special!

1st Project - Stained Glass Hearts

The Exp. Sci students finished up their first stained glass project - hearts!  During this process, they were exposed to over 20 elements from the Periodic Table that were used in their art work.  Most have their second heart - to demonstrate skill processes - and their science notebook current with the directions on how to create a stained glass product.  Several have sold their work and have now become professionals!

Welcome to the adventure...

I am starting this blog with the idea that it will be a way to share what we are doing within an experimental science class that explores scientific inquiry though art glass.  We have finished the first week and so far most of the students have complied with the safety requirements and are on their way to learning glazing skills.  All students have completed the basic steps of learning the tools that we will be using and how to use the cutters, runners and grozers to score glass, run the score, and groze off the sharp points.  They have learned some basic vocab and have put together their science notebooks.  Because we will be using art glass to learn about science, the notebooks are a critical part of the daily routine within the class.  We finished the week by adding a periodic table of elements to our science notebooks and indicating which of the elements we have encountered so far in our studies on glass.  I will try to photograph the notebooks so that we have a chronicle of our progress.  This course relies heavily on earth science, biology, and chemistry.  We will be exploring mosaics, stained glass, and hot glass work with kilns.