Time Has Flewn

How did it get so late so soon?

It’s night before its afternoon.

December is here before its June.

My goodness, how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?

--Dr. Seuss

I just turned my calendar from October to November.  I’m not sure I can answer Dr. Seuss’s question.  Just how did it get so late so soon?  Each time I flip the calendar to another month I am reminded of how quickly time passes and feel a quickening sense of urgency at all that needs to be accomplished before the start of next school year.  Perhaps I am premature in my worries, but with the passing of each month, I can’t help but think of 3,000 students walking through the new doors of HSHS, each carrying some kind of technology and expecting to put it to use.

Picture from Zealousgood

 As you all know, next year your students will be coming into your classrooms with some kind of computer or tablet.  With a "Bring Your Own Device" program like we will have at HSHS, not all students will have access to the same software or app, so part of our struggle will be creating high probability lesson that engage students with technology in ways that are accessible across multiple platforms.

Picture from Nextdigit

What you may not know is that a group of our teachers have been part of the Technology Leadership Certification program through the Central Indiana Educational Cooperative.  Members of the TLC cohort have been meeting for the several months and working on ways to improve student engagement and learning through the use of technology.  Some teachers are working directly on technology applications and others are building Understanding by Design Units that specifically incorporate technology as part of the instruction and/or assessment.

For those of you not in the TLC cohort now is still a good time to start thinking about what 1:1 will look like in your classroom, and one way to do so is to look at what your peers are creating.

Projects and Assignments:

• Canterbury Tales using Pinterest to create a personal pilgrimage
• Using Blogger to collaborate on a book review which incorporates images, multimedia, and videos
• Teach compositional strategies and principles and elements of art by having students create a superhero or villain
• Students design and implement a digital survey from start to finish as part of an AP Statistics course
• Create “Teach-a-Tip” tutorials using screencasts for student and teacher use
• Students use Google Presentations and share their product about French holidays
• Continue to wage the “War Against Mediocrity” by having students identify a problem, research, blog, and solve the problem
• Create a Google+ Community for all English 12 students to post and share information, rate books, and discuss reading recommendations
• Use Google Docs, Google Forms, Socrative and/or Kahoot to create a simulation of the European Union, where students vote as to which countries should be allowed to join
• Students research and create a German character, decide what gifts might be appropriate for the character, and share using Anime, Voki, ThingLink, or other online resources
• English 11 students create a ThingLink for themselves to include in college applications

Full UbD Units

• The Progressive Unit that includes authentic assessments and the website Newsela
• Students learn the Elements of the Periodic Table using Google Docs and other digital resources
• A unit on Energy which includes a windmill design challenge and possible Skype interviews with residents living near windmills
• A unit on Cells that requires students to use Google Slides, complete a viewing log, and review using Kahoot

Did any of these ideas resonate with you?  Could you steal any of these concepts or adapt them to your own purposes?  If so, you have numerous in-house experts ready to help.  Just ask!

As the good doctor reminds us, time does fly when you’re having fun.  We must be having a blast!

I hope your week is outstanding.  Keep fighting the good fight, HSE.

Phil