New App

Hi Everyone
I did some experimenting this afternoon and found an app called notability.  It costs about $2.99.  This is a great app to use with students who might have difficulty with writing or a hard time staying on task in general.  I plan to use it for script writing to help those friends be more successful in completing their tasks.  It is worth checking out!

How will I use I-Pads in my teaching?

How will I use I-Pads in my teaching?  I am a work in progress!  I feel as though I am still at a very primitive stage in my technology skills and integration of technology in my teaching.  Thus far, I have used the i-pad to take pictures of students in programs and on field trips to share with parents in weekly communications.  In fact, the technology has already changed the way that I teach not by implementing the I-pads (yet) but by forcing me to better organize my thinking.  I have used ExplainEverything to make an appeal for greater funding for tech in our school. I have used Popplet to create a web of ideas and to find the connections, and to differentiate between the big ideas and the examples.  I can also imagine that it could be a tool for curriculum mapping or even for making family trees. Doodle is fun way for students learning the aleph-bet to practice writing.  I have also noticed that by using apps, I am learning to better use the Internet.   Becoming familiar with the I-pad, has also given me the courage to use Internet sites that I knew about but had not used such as making source sheets on Sepharia.org (my students were very impressed!) rather than cutting and pasting from Mellel.  I have been thinking about the interface between the Torah and Technology: Becoming a Digital Mensch.  I have researched and collected materials, brainstormed ideas, talked to people and created both a Popplet and an ExplainEverything on this subject.  Is it meant to be a lesson, a course, a curriculum?  And in our final session, exploring the Animator app, it occurred to me, that students could use Animator to demonstrate some of the texts in the Digital Mensch lesson such as teachings from Pirkei Avot, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" or "Your friend's property should be as precious to you as your own." Indeed, I am a work in progress!

Cohort 7 Reflections

I am so very grateful to the CJP-TTF for this extraordinary opportunity to explore the I-pad as a powerful tool to add to my education toolbox.  The CJP-TTF fellowship has taught me how to operate the I-Pad, how to execute some apps and has offered me hands-in experience with the I-pad and some apps. In the Fellowship I was introduced to dozens of apps and I was encouraged to start thinking creatively about utilizing technology in my teaching. It helped me to understand how technology may enhance the engagement of both students and parents. I am a ‘word person.’  This training has reinforced the importance of images and often moving images (videos.) As a participating educator in the TTF workshops, I was able to meet and work with other educators and to expand my professional community.  As a participating synagogue, it facilitated our formation of a Religious School Technology committee and a discussion about future planning (funding) for technology in our religious school.

Some challenges for me in this fellowship have included the introduction of too many apps with insufficient teaching/guidance about how to use them.  It also would be helpful to be exposed to (good) apps specific to Jewish education.  I would appreciate a significant discussion about the nuts and bolts of implementation and felt that the CJP-TTF should have recommended significantly more money allocated by synagogues to both inaugurate the technology and to plan for the future (sustain and enhance technology in their schools.)  It would be very helpful to learn strategies for teaching I-Pad use and apps to students.  As an educator with an awareness of developmental realities, I would appreciate a discussion about developmentally appropriate apps:  which apps are appropriate for K-1, 2-3, 4-5, Middle School, High School and Special Needs, etc.  And specific Pedagogy regarding I-Pad use in learning skills/knowledge and in assessment. 

Blog 1. Reflections

The  technology  cohort introduced to a variety of apps that I look forward to experimenting with my second grade students during class time.  Explain everything and I Movie are the two apps I would like to begin using with small groups.  I have already used the iPads to reinforce the 14 steps of the Passover Seder, the four questions etc.  I have also downloaded learning games to challenge some of my students.

Kitah Alef Year-long Technology Based Torah Project

I am excited to integrate a few different apps into my classroom next year. I am still working on each of the individual pieces, but the goal throughout the year is to capture the Torah stories, and all of the work my students do in learning about the stories, in a cohesive video to send home and share with parents in May.

We will start the year with an update to my usual parent/student activity of drawing Bereshit. Instead of having paper drawings I will ask each child and their parent to draw their day in the creation story on the iPad and narrate it. I can then link each of the stories together to create one cohesive Bereshit video from the class. I also plan to have my students draw their own versions of stories such as Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality or Jacob and Esau on the iPad and then have them narrate their pictures using Explain Everything. We can also integrate some of the stories using iMovie – for example a “breaking news story” about the Macabees, explaining what happened in the temple, and the steps the Macabees are taking to fix it. “They put the oil in for one day and prayed. I never thought it would work, but today is the 8th day that oil is burning!” Here is an example of what I plan to do for Pesach. There are 11 separate slides in this example because there are 11 students in my class. The ideas is for each child to create one slide and then I would merge them all. The 10 Plagues

At the end of the year I will have different videos for each Bible story and holiday that we covered in Kitah Alef. I will be able to merge all of the videos together and send them home with my final monthly newsletter so that my students will be able to relive the stories and work that they have done as well as share all of it with their parents.

Lesson

I have used my iPad in quite a few lesson plans however for the final presentations for the fellowship I am going to use my Passover lesson plan.

I created a movie in iMovie with a Passover story. I had a Tellegami that was telling the story and it breaks away into a U-tube cartoon I found on Passover. I interject Tellegami in between during the movie to explain what’s what and each time will usually change the backdrop to something relevant to Passover. Or screen shot the movie they are watching and interject that as a backdrop to the Tellegami so it looks connected. As they watch the story I also have slides created in Explain everything of questions or comments that I write for them – their “food for thought” and it is on a chalkboard with my handwriting. The kids like to read this aloud as the movie plays. I usually run this through Tiltshift to enhance speed of the writing to x4 or x8.

In iMovie I add some special affects that the kids will usually find funny and as they watched they were very engaged and when they were polled at the end of class they all said this was a great way to learn about Passover and they like the movie mixed in with the other apps it kept it interesting.

Along with this in Tiny Tap – I have created games for Passover for them to work on at home and practice the 4 questions.

To round the lesson out we build a Passover plate and discuss customs of Passover and I feel the kids have Listened – Seen and Touched using all sensor’s enhancing their understanding.

Reflections

Coming into this fellowship I was very excited and hopeful of expanding any knowledge I may have had or thought I had. I had been using my laptop in my classrooms and I thought that was fairly advanced, however not being part of the iPad or any pad type of technology I knew that I was still way behind.

As we met each week and learned some form of application, I would try the applications within the week in any class that I felt it could be applied. My goal was to see where – what application could fit.

My experience was amazing and this opened an entire world for me that I had been oblivious to.  I learned an abundance of information at times I felt it could be overwhelming in the sense that you want to use everything however that may not possible. The goal is to “right” fit the applications to the class.

I fortunately teach different ages and subjects so this provided me a platform to try different applications on different levels.  Even in a setting where Wi-Fi / Internet connection is not available. As I planned and executed lesson plans utilizing my iPad I would survey the kids to see what their take was and they had some really positive feedback for me and they definitely liked what I had brought into the lessons.

I found the fellowship very educational and I believe it will enhance my teaching methods and my curriculum. I notice that technology is still not as popular within the Jewish Educational system but it seems to be growing and I feel that the teachers participating in this fellowship are being awarded a great opportunity to be in the forefront of bringing technology into the classrooms.

This is a great tool to interweave within each curriculum and I sat and evaluated each grade, age and ability to use iPad in the class. This has created awesome opportunities not only for classwork but it has provided an opportunity for me to set up webpages the kids work on at home and they come to class prepared and more confident with themselves because they have a connection to me – their teacher at home and they practice with me using web pages set up for homework.

In summary I feel that I came in expecting to learn the basic concept of iPad usage and I feel I am walking away extremely confident in my capabilities with an iPad, I feel I can provide amazing lessons plans that are educational and engaging to my students and I feel a drive to continue on and learn more and expand on what we have done thus far to create stimulating an engaging lesson plans that take Jewish Education to that next level.

Reflections

I am very excited to be using technology in my classroom and the students have had a lot of fun with it.  My third grade class just completed a class Tellagami project about the Passover story.  They had a great time making their Tellagami and were even engaged with the paper work portion of the project.
I have enjoyed learning about the different apps and am amazed at how many different onescan be used to enhance learning in Hebrew School.
To start I will most likely use iPads to enhance student learning in content area subjects such as holidays, Bible, Jewish History and Israel.  I will also start off with the more basic apps and then move onto the more involved ones like green screen and puppet pals.  This will continue to be a learning  curve for me as well as my students.
Over the next few months I plan to investigate the iPad further to see how I can use the apps in the Hebrew language classes.  In the spring I would like to introduce my students to doodle buddy so that they can practice writing their script letters.  I have also used quizlet in the older grades to help them review their vocabulary.
Of course we also take lots of pictures and videos of students at work!
Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this cohort.

Cohort 7 Reflections

After being part of the Teaching and Technology Fellowship cohort 7, I have a lot of takeaways that I am excited to integrate into my classroom. When I started the fellowship I was excited to learn about new technology, and looked forward to sharing it with my fellow teachers, but was also slightly worried about finding technology/apps that would fit into my young classroom. The projects that I do with my students now usually involve crayons and washable markers, so I wasn’t sure how to integrate an iPad into class. Through this year I have found that my class loves to tell stories, so I focused on this while in the fellowship, and found creative ways to use the apps – such as Explain Everything – to supplement the things my students love instead of trying to create something entirely new. I know that my students this year as well as in years to come will love to integrate iPad and technology into their learning all year long with me.

Teaching about Pesach with the iPad

As soon as I started experimenting with the first set of Apps, such as Explain Everything, Popplet, and Tellagami, I could envision the endless possibilities that were available to me as a teacher and to the students, in learning about Pesach, notwithstanding other subject matter such as Holidays, Bible, Hebrew language, and Reading. My first graders are mentored by fourth graders on Thursdays, during the Mincha service in the sanctuary. The fourth graders are experts in Pesach, as they follow a curriculum based on the Haggadah, and so I decided to enhance their experience and that of the first graders by videotaping them and creating an iMovie which I will show to them and to my first grade class. The children were very excited to be in the movie and to recite, sing, dance, and show what they have learned. We did our videotaping in February, and I posted some of the videos on You Tube. I made the iMovie, using some of the videos. Now that we have the iPads in the school, the children will be involved in making their own movies, and trailers, and we will share them with their parents and the other classes. Next week, the fourth grade is conducting a "Walk-Through Seder" in which the parents participate in the steps of the Seder by going to different "centers" and the children engage them by sharing what they've learned. The iPads will be used to videotape this experience. After Pesach, I would like the students to either create their own Haggadah in Book Creator, make a puppet play using Puppet Pals, make a Tellagami, and as I said before, make an iMovie. Thank you to Sara for the information about Passover Karaoke.

Reflection on my TFF experience

The experience of learning about Technology in the Classroom during this Fellowship has undeniably made me more confident to want to explore all kinds of ways of enhancing teaching and learning, and to "speak the language of technology" ! I love reading the blogs by the current and past Cohort Fellows, and I have gotten some excellent ideas from them. I look forward to being able to share my experiences and ideas in using Technology in my classroom.

Some Preliminary Reflections: So What's the Big Deal?

When Svetlana came to visit (see my "In the Classroom" post), I shared my slightly ironic view that I found my choice for our class, "Pesach Karaoke," a bit perplexing.  Why, I asked - knowing full well that the students would immediately engage with the app - was iPad use so much more powerful than the traditional learning that I could have (and have) provided to the students:  a piano accompaniment, drums handed out to the students for fun accompaniment, and a list of lyrics?  What was it about the iPad experience that so fascinating and captivating?

The immediacy, according to Svetlana.  Students could receive instant gratification and experience learning directly through interactivity.  But couldn't I achieve the same thing by recording a "traditional" performance, I wondered?

As we sat with the iPad with the dancing figure, the words, the ability to turn the music on and off as well as controlling the voice, a thought started to occur to me.  Our subsequent GarageBand recording, with the students vying to give input, corrections and even control the editing themselves, confirmed my thought:  Empowerment.  The students were no longer subject to my whims as leader; they had control!  And they used that control wisely, to learn - even chiding an occaisional "outlier"  for not participating fully or seriously enough.  The balance between empowerment and responsibility had been struck!  Eureka!

P.S.  My next class involved an app that allowed for coloring pre-drawn scenes from the Exodus story.  Needless to say, it was way more fun on the iPad than with crayons, especially the ability to simply hit the "trash" button if the drawing was not 100% acceptable and start all over again from a fresh template.

Our classroom visit by Svetlana

Shavua tov!

We had a wonderful visit with Svetlana on March 19.  My Siddur Hebrew 2 class (Grades 4 & 5) has been learning the songs from the Haggadah.  We took the opportunity of Svetlana’s visit to inaugurate iPad use with a wonderful interactive app called Passover Karaoke, which can display original Hebrew as well as transliterations of the song text in English, Russian and other languages.  We chose Hebrew and, although the students were concerned at first that the letters were written in scroll script, without vowels, they easily got past this because they could simply sing along with the Israeli-accented vocal track.  We sang several songs and tried with and without instrumental accompaniment, and we also bravely sang without the accompanying vocal track.  The students especially loved the images that join and dance along with the singing.

After gaining confidence in singing “Ma Nishtana” – always a favorite! – we used GarageBand to make our own recording.  Some of the students were already very well versed in its use and were eager to help with some of the technical difficulties.  We layered a rock drum beat loop and the students sang with great gusto!!  It was the best class ever!