A post! Although it has been quite some time since I have formally posted, I have been busy sharing my work on twitter! Be sure to follow @agatorbites for daily updates and sneak peaks inside my classroom!
A Gator Bites: EdTech Tips, Coaching, & Consulting
Friday, February 10, 2017
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Movies in School: Not for Watching, but Creating!
It's no secret, my favorite iPad App this year is DoInk Green Screen. In January, I contributed to our Technology Department Reflective Practitioner blog, offering a review and confession of my addiction and adoration for Doink. The addition of a green screen to my lab made students see, think, and wonder what they could create with this mysterious green sheet!
Well, I am here to tell you, the possibilities of what they can create are endless. Never-mind the daily broadcast of our school news, WEGL-TV, created by "app-smashing" DoInk and iMovie, but the real fun came with a 3rd grade project creating newscasts about physical features. Third grade students spent a trimester researching, documenting in a collaborative Google Doc, collaborating and writing original scripts, filming, and editing the news cast to synthesize all they learned about a land form or water feature.
Today, we had a "viewing party" to watch and reflect on the process and end products. I am so proud of my students and their hard work! Stay tuned for more from my budding producers!
Well, I am here to tell you, the possibilities of what they can create are endless. Never-mind the daily broadcast of our school news, WEGL-TV, created by "app-smashing" DoInk and iMovie, but the real fun came with a 3rd grade project creating newscasts about physical features. Third grade students spent a trimester researching, documenting in a collaborative Google Doc, collaborating and writing original scripts, filming, and editing the news cast to synthesize all they learned about a land form or water feature.
Today, we had a "viewing party" to watch and reflect on the process and end products. I am so proud of my students and their hard work! Stay tuned for more from my budding producers!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Family Fab Lab Day!
I am one lucky teacher. At NBPS, we have so many resources to transform learning in the classroom. One of the FABulous resources is our state of the art Fab (fabrication) Lab. Equipped with Maker Bot 3D printers, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter, and all the cardboard/glue guns/ power tools a budding engineer could dream of Middle School & High School students can explore the incredible world of a maker space to challenge and bring learning to new levels.
This past Saturday, however, we opened the space up to Lower School & Middle School students and parents to participate in a design challenge where the end product resulted in the creation of a rubber-band car. We are inspired by the work of Mike Rigsby, Curt Gabrielson, Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager, and many others who are pioneering the increasingly popular trend to helping students explore their innovative and creative side through tinkering. The students and parents had a fantastic time constructing, testing, and iterating their designs with the hopes that the handful of participants would be inspired to continue tinkering. Oh, and did I mention, if you're local in the South Florida area, we are offering an incredible three week summer camp opportunity to get your tinkering on! Click HERE for more information!
This past Saturday, however, we opened the space up to Lower School & Middle School students and parents to participate in a design challenge where the end product resulted in the creation of a rubber-band car. We are inspired by the work of Mike Rigsby, Curt Gabrielson, Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager, and many others who are pioneering the increasingly popular trend to helping students explore their innovative and creative side through tinkering. The students and parents had a fantastic time constructing, testing, and iterating their designs with the hopes that the handful of participants would be inspired to continue tinkering. Oh, and did I mention, if you're local in the South Florida area, we are offering an incredible three week summer camp opportunity to get your tinkering on! Click HERE for more information!
Friday, February 6, 2015
100th Day of School Fun!
The 100th Day of school is fast approaching (Monday, February 9th to be exact) for my students, and in total Kindergarten awesomeness, the students created this FANTASTIC movie using the iPad Apps Book Creator & Old Fart Booth. Once they transformed themselves into 100 year olds, decked from head to toe, they imported the image into a collaborative class book in Book Creator, added voice recordings, and then exported as a movie and shared with their parents! (Did I mention that my favorite App update is the "export as movie" addition in Book Creator?!) Get ready to laugh, and be sure to see the last "page" with a special message from their classroom teacher!
Take A Bite Out of 21st Century Learning
Wow! First, how AWESOME is my new logo?! I mean Seth Mularz of Mularz Desgin really hit it out of the park in bringing my vision to life graphically.
So what really is A Gator Bites? Aside from my clear obsession with the Florida Gators (my alma mater), the premise of this blog is to provide tips, ideas, and hopefully some inspiration for how you (the reader) can integrate technology seamlessly and creatively into your classroom. I'll do my best to share best practices, successful lessons, student work and feedback, and even the failures that happen on a daily basis as part of the learning process.
Oh, and if you're ready to take a huge bite out of the world of Ed Tech, then be sure to check out my top "Go-To" resources that spark creativity and innovation:
1. Edudemic
2. Edutopia
3. Mindshift
4. Free Technology for Teachers
5. iTunes U
Looking forward to sharing many more tech bites with you!
Alexis
So what really is A Gator Bites? Aside from my clear obsession with the Florida Gators (my alma mater), the premise of this blog is to provide tips, ideas, and hopefully some inspiration for how you (the reader) can integrate technology seamlessly and creatively into your classroom. I'll do my best to share best practices, successful lessons, student work and feedback, and even the failures that happen on a daily basis as part of the learning process.
Oh, and if you're ready to take a huge bite out of the world of Ed Tech, then be sure to check out my top "Go-To" resources that spark creativity and innovation:
1. Edudemic
2. Edutopia
3. Mindshift
4. Free Technology for Teachers
5. iTunes U
Looking forward to sharing many more tech bites with you!
Alexis
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