Flipboard

I know what Flipboard is, but how do I use it in my classroom?  

Last year I was introduced to Flipboard.  However, I am a mother of three small children and reading is not something I find the time to do.  So, I downloaded the app, created a login, and then the app sat on my iPad- untouched (unless my children accidentally opened it up when playing on my iPad).  That is until about three weeks ago.  

I have been lucky enough to be part of an iPad committee for my school district.  As part of this committe I have been given time away from my classroom to discuss and plan how to implement 1:1 iPads.  At our last meeting, another teacher brought up using Flipboard to teach non-fiction reading and writing.  Then the following week,  a friend of mine forwarded  me a blog on 'flipping for non-fiction'.  So with that, I decided to give Flipboard another try.

I must admit, when I asked our technology department to add Flipboard to our iPads, I was questioned.  'Didn't I know Flipboard is social media?'  Luckily, I have a very supportive principal, who had my back and supported the use of Flipboard in my classroom.  

Little did our technology department know, Flipboard was going to transform my Reader's Workshop. Since the integration of Flipboard there is a renewed joy of reading.  My students can't wait to see what new stories are posted each day.  They are asking to read during their choice time, and our sharing time at the end of workshop could go on forever.  Everyone wants to share, and the kids are actually listening and commenting on what other's have to say.  

Since I started using Flipboard, it has even taken over our Speech class as well.  One of my students has shared the idea with her speech teacher, and now the kids are getting on Flipboard during speech and using reading strategies with the articles they find.  

Management:

So how did I get started?  Here are a few tips.

First: I created one login for our class to use.  This allowed me to add the magazines to everyone's iPads at the same time.  

Second: I am the only one allowed to add or delete a magazine.  Although there are an assortment of great articles for kids on Flipboard, there are also an assortment of not so great articles for kids.  When I introduced Flipboard, I explained to the kids that I am the only one allowed to add a magazine. If there is site or magazine they are interested in reading, they have to let me know. So, far we have had only one mishap, and the students involved handled it well.

Third:  Give the kids a day or two to explore without any other expectations.  Kids (people) like to play with new toys.  After a couple days of exploring, then I introduced my expectations for Reader's Workshop.  My students are expected to fill out a reading log that incorporates "Before, During, and After" reading strategies.  This helps the kids continue to think while they are reading, and not just read the words on the screen. The kids then get in small groups to discuss what they read.

So what are my kids reading?
Magazines we follow:  

Sports Illustrated for Kids

Ranger Rick

Kids Discover

The Why Files

Science News for Kids

Tween Tribune

Bedtime Math

National Geographic Kids

So what do the kids think?  One day, after reading articles on Tween Tribune, I asked the kids to share their thoughts on reading online articles and Flipboard.  Here are a few of their comments.

Paper Blogging Time

If your classroom is like mine, writing isn't your students favorite subject.  Writing is a challenge for many students,  and with students abilities all over the place, challenging to teach.  At my school, writing is one of our school improvement goals.  As part of this goal, all of our students are expected to complete some type of weekly writing assignment. Unfortunately,  the quality of work I am receiving isn't meeting my expectations.  So what does a reflective teacher do... change the game plan.  I decided to introduce my students to blogging as an alternative to our weekly writing assignment.  Little did I know blogging would get my students so excited to write.

Before the kids started writing, we had to establish what a blog is: a web-log.  The kids really had no prior experience with concept, so it was nice to know everyone had the same starting point and I was building the foundation I wanted them to have.

During our discussion I asked questions like: What do you know about blogging?  Have you ever read a blog? Why do people blog? Why might a student not feel safe blogging?  Of course, there were a variety of responses to these questions.

Once we had established our starting point,  It was.... Paper Blogging Time!!!  Ms. Grier stumbled across a paper blogging lesson that was a great resource. (http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2010/09/learning-to-blog-using-paper.html)   We adapted this lesson to meet our classroom needs.

To begin, students were asked to write one to two paragraphs about something they are passionate about.  They could write about anything.  We had ideas from sports to outdoor life and girls scout cookies to annoying habits.  Fifth and sixth graders are creative!  This was their rough draft, for their official paper blog post.  Next, I showed the kids my blog and had them notice some of the features of a blog.  We brainstormed a list of noticings and this was our expectations for the paper blog.

The kids designed their own paper blog, complete with a title, background or border, and list of archived posts.  They worked hard on these paper blogs for about three days during I/E time.  When they were finished, their blogs were amazing!

However, we weren't finished just yet.  As you know, kids (people in general) are good at giving feedback.  For the purpose of blogging, I want specific types of feedback.  So after the blogs were finished, we took one day to look specifically at types of comments people make and expectations for commenting.  We even brainstormed a list of blog sentence starters to help jump start their thinking.  Once we had a game plan, I set the kids loose to read, think, and respond to their classmates.




Commenting is still a work in progress, but the kids couldn't wait to get back to their seats to see what others thought about their posts.  Our next step is to take a closer look at the specific comments students wrote and what we can do to develop our commenting skills.

Practice What You Preach

Mrs. Iocoangeli and I are going to introduce blogging to her students on Friday. I thought it might be helpful to actually try it out myself beforehand, you know…practice what you preach. So, what kinds of things can I use blogging for?

• To share information about a topic I’m interested in or an expert in
• Exciting moments
• Things I wonder about
• Controversial topics–things that people can take a stand on and debate
• Creative writing
• Poetry (which I despise)
• Research writing
• Getting feedback from my peers on writing I’m working on

Basically, the uses are endless. For now, I’m going to go with what I know. An exciting moment for me and a challenge:

Last week, one of our technology specialists stopped by to set something up for me. I mentioned to him that we introduced the kids to iPads that day and how excited they were. He commented on how he didn’t know how they could be used beyond toys and that the kids would basically play with them. I told him to come back in a month and see what our kids can do with this awesome digital tool!!  :)   So now the pressure is on–and not just from him. Part of the responsibility of being among the first classes to deploy iPads is we have to disprove those beliefs some parents, teachers, and administrators may have about the impractical use of iPads. We have to challenge our students, push them towards higher order thinking, and transform the way they are used to learning at school. It’s exciting AND scary stuff!

Netiquette

Day 2:

Having been privileged enough to pilot a 1-to-1 laptop program in the past, I have some experience with the online learning environment My Big Campus. However, this year I decided to try out Edmodo instead. This decision was made for a couple of reasons. One, I was introduced to Edmodo at an iPad Academy I attended this past summer and wanted to give it a try. Two, our middle school uses Edmodo, so it just makes sense to be consistent.

Before allowing my students complete access to Edmodo, my class had a discussion on netiquette. Instead of just giving the kids a list of rules to follow, I thought it would be more impactful if they developed the expectations themselves. After creating our netiquette expectations, it was time for them to show me what they know on Edmodo.

Prior to today, my students had already set up their Edmodo accounts. However, I noticed that many of them did not capitalize their names. So, I had them begin by going back into settings and capitalizing their names, since they are a proper noun. In addition, they went a little crazy practicing their first posts. I felt like we needed a clean slate, so I deleted all the "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" and "I like pie" comments and created a new post which asked them, "What is one netiquette rule you learned about today." They were required to respond in a complete sentence. It was amazing to sit back and watch as they started responding. Kids are natural peer editors! Without any prompting I heard comments such as, "****, you did not write in a complete sentence," and "***, don't forget to use punctuation." I couldn't keep from smiling! This was learning at its best- student initiated!

On Day 3, we continued with more Edmodo practice. The students updated more of their profiles. They were able to select how they learn best, a career goal, and their favorite quote. I then had them share their selections.

iPad Deployment

Day 1:

Friday was the long awaited, official launch day of 1-to-1 iPads in my classroom. The kids, and I, were so excited. Like every other morning, I greeted my students at the door. With a smile on his face, one specific student greeted me with, "Happy iPad Friday!"

We (Ms. Grier and I) began with deployment by using my Apple t.v., to display the student's iPad screen. We then opened the floor for the students to discuss what they noticed. Through this simple activity, we were able to go over the current apps that had been installed on the iPads, as well as the iPad expectations for our classroom. After we had discussed our general expectations, it was time to get the iPads into the students hands.

In my classroom, each iPad is assigned a number. My students are also assigned a student number. To make things easy on myself, I then assigned my students with the iPad that matched their student number. Students will only use their assigned iPad. To help ensure iPads aren't mistakenly confused, we taught the kids how to save an image from google into their pictures and then apply that image as their wallpaper. The image had to be of their student number. We then disable sounds, and taught the students had to set-up their email accounts and close programs.

The final lesson for today involved showing the students how to put away their iPads and charge them, so that they would be ready to go for tomorrow.

Although these tasks do not seem exciting, excitement is in the air!