We're off!

I started a new adventure in teaching English this week as mine has become an iPad Academy classroom. With the help of BPS technology guru Ann Feldman, all five of my classes did work this week on the iPads. Together with Ann, I decided I would like to try the shared model with the 30 devices issued to me. That means that all 127 students will be using the Apple devices everyday in class but not checking them out to take them home with them.

It's been challenging to say the least. Have I learned a lot? Indeed. Some students are excited to use technology, but surprisingly some are not. We are finding out that the technology of using a smartphone doesn't necessarily translate into using Google and the iPads. Again, with Ann's help, I managed to teach four different lessons in four days to three classes of seniors and two lessons in three days to two classes of seniors. It's not easy. I'm still trying to get my head around a new way of thinking, not to substitute the device for the usual lessons but to think of ways to transform the classroom where technology will allow for the "creation of new tasks" previously unimaginable in the classroom (BPS Apple Foundations Training mantra).

So far, the "wins" have been small ones. Five or six students previously chiefly disengaged in learning all did something on the iPad lesson each day. One student who said he couldn't work in GoogleDocs admitted it was "easier to do it this way." And I have all 60-some vocabulary quizzes graded with the push of a couple of buttons! Only a few selfies on the camera rolls--two devices with the apps re-arranged into a single folder.

Reflecting on the first week--I'd have to admit it is hard, stressful work. Everyday it felt like I was starting research all over again. Anyone who has taken a class to a computer lab to work on research understands this feeling. It's overwhelming because even the days with three of us adults in the classroom, there weren't enough of us to help everyone at the same time. Fortunately, I have a few "experts" in each class who can help others through the glitches, true problem-solvers.

Maybe it's the pioneer spirit in me. Maybe it's the rebel. But nonetheless, I'm already looking forward to see what next week will bring.

Podcast using GarageBand

Well, no longer does my GarageBand icon sit on my dock unused. I learned a little bit about using it for podcasting for my latest CCU class. Check it out at:

http://kiliebenguth.podbean.com/2013/11/17/whowhom-hint/

Chaucer Assignment

English 12 and 12A students should complete this assignment on Google Docs.

https://docs.google.com/a/bpsne.net/document/d/1PG4PfjRvp_jyOWENBatQE76ODBfXrfJUTntu8XIyvnw/edit

Infinite Internet Possibilities

Every time I get on the Internet, it seems like I only know how to scratch the surface of what is available and how to use it. This blog post was no different. I went to Teaching Like It's 2999 and read a post entitled "Ecstatic about Extensions." http://teachinglikeits2999.blogspot.com/2013/05/ecstatic-about-extensions.html

The post itself described a few of the extensions you can find (most are free) in the Chrome Web Store. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions But let me warn you, if you go shopping here, it's like falling into a bottomless pit. I had no idea this place even existed, but the timesaving extensions you can add to your Chrome browser bar are endless. I tried for at least 10 minutes to get to the bottom of the list, and I'm convinced that more extensions are being added by the second to this store, and there is an infinite number available, ranging from "Shopping Assistant" with 4.5 million users to the Michigan football schedule (910 users).

I chose a couple to add to my browser bar, one called "Screen Capture" (used above) and the MLB.com scoreboard. I would also show this as a screenshot, but the screen capture won't let the MLB scoreboard stay open at the same time. I found that not all are available for Mac users, and one I thought sounded helpful for organizing my gmail account was not available. I found an Easy-Bib extension for creating bibliography citations as I was looking for things that would be helpful in teaching students, and then it hit me that our school computers do not have Chrome as a browser choice, so that is a definite drawback for the usefulness of this.

The other blog I commented on was Kathy Schrock's post "You Be the Judge." It was an interesting post about a type of Internet baiting that starts out with emails that appear to be from schools or libraries which want you to link to their page. The example she received was about safe Internet use. After they get enough links, then they switch their content to the real site such as a dating Website that Kathy got when she investigated the link.  http://blog.kathyschrock.net/2013/06/you-be-judge.html

The Internet can be a scary place full of different types of predators, so this just goes to show that you can't always trust the .org and .net domains. I used to teach students when researching that these were safe and that .coms weren't allowed. Now that has changed, but I know that some teachers still do not allow students to use .coms for research.

How Summer Is Going

I went to a wedding over the weekend of a friend of my daughter. Everyone kept asking me how my summer is going (They know I am a teacher.). My answer is that summer doesn't start for me until summer school is over June 28. But in the meantime, I've been trying to catch up on some things around my house and yard. Because of all the rain, it has been hard keeping up with mowing, planting, and weeding, but I have managed to reap the rewards and share the bounty of my harvest of roses, both physical as well as cyber bouquets via Facebook posts.

Some years in summer school, I find time to explore new ideas while the students are reading or working independently, but in these first two weeks, I have spent most of my time grading their quizzes and essays and making sure they are on task in some way. I like to browse the Internet for teaching unit ideas for the literature I teach. This year, I probably would spend extra time reading blogs since that is a part of this learning.

I am also working on some technology and social media ventures for a committee I co-chair at my church. We are making a brochure (not so technologically advanced), have created a gmail account and began a blog there, and are exploring a Website on Wix, Twitter, and other social media. We are planning a "How Plugged In Are You?" survey via Survey Monkey, but we will probably also offer it as a paper opportunity for those without Internet access or for those technologically impaired congregants. All of these things I have been putting off for a few months because teaching takes a lot of time and energy in my life.

Taking up other summer days will be the Apple Foundations Training course in July and a trip to Dallas with my youngest daughter Kelsey to visit a friend who lives there. We are planning to visit the new George W. Bush Presidential Library while we are there and will make a side trip to St. Louis on the way back for a Cardinals-Phillies' game -- we're hoping former Bellevue East Chieftain Tyler Cloyd might be the starter for Philadelphia that night but haven't stopped to calculate the odds of that happening. I hope to take in Shakespeare on the Green with my sister Carol at the end of June at Elmwood Park to see Twelfth Night. 

Sometime during the summer, I will have to travel to Ames, IA, to visit my oldest daughter Jessie who works at Reiman Gardens as a gardener and whose name for this year's theme was created by:  "More Than Meets the Iowa." You can check out the garden online at:

http://www.reimangardens.iastate.edu/

Their volunteers have a blog with some pictures of the summer project in the works. As I was musing about this, I remembered a connection that Brent Catlett and I have because it was working for his uncle's greenhouse set up at Menard's parking lot (before they had their own outdoor department) which first got my daughter interested in her career in horticulture. Small world.

I suppose I will have to find some time for relaxation and rejuvenation as the summer progresses. I do that by reading (I'm finally almost finished with Anna Karenina, which I started about a year ago -- if Tolstoy had had as many interruptions writing the novel as I have reading it, it might never have been finished!) and watching baseball (America's pastime) and entertaining my critters, one of whom is pictured here, Oliver:

How Turnitin Has Made My Life Easier

Term Paper Sanity

After years of having to rely on trying to keep track of older siblings' term paper topics, running Google searches to determine if papers are plagiarized, close reading dozens of term papers each year to determine whether Student X could really write that well, and students themselves not knowing if they have done an adequate job of paraphrasing and attributing quotes, a technological wonder came into my life a few years ago when the district began to subscribe to Turnitin.com. For those non-English teacher nerds out there who might be reading this, Turnitin is a subscription Website that tracks plagiarism and allows students to view their similarity scores to online sources and other students' papers. The recent addition of grading software to the program allows teacher the capability to view suggested grammar and mechanic corrections.

Student Advantages and Best Practices

Because the program allows teachers the option of setting a choice for resubmission, students can submit a rough draft (even more than one) and make changes and then resubmit for a better paper. There is immediate feedback for the student, and the teacher can load the program's suggested corrections if he or she doesn't have time to read all 125 rough drafts the same night!

Image from Smudgem.blogspot.com

In Praise of Turnitin

Turnitin.com has made my life as an English teacher easier when it comes time to grade term papers. A year or two ago, there was some talk among the administrators of cutting the subscription. We English teachers protested so loudly that they decided to keep it, thankfully.

Twitter in the Classroom and Random Thoughts

I am finding all kinds of ways to use technology in the classroom this summer. I am posting in the blog a connection I saw on Ann's Twitter feed for the Twitter class. There are a lot of good ideas here, and I don't want to forget where I saw this article.

28 Simple Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

I am also interested in learning more about how others are using social media in organizations like church. If anyone has experience or has read about it, please share ideas with me.