Developing My Professionalism

Whew! These past two weeks have been crazy!! I got back from Arizona last Monday where I spent the weekend with a ton of family that I hadn't seen in years.  It was so much fun bonding with them on an adult level and I could absolutely see what I'd been missing as a kid! We also got to celebrate my mom for two reasons-- 1. her graduation from the physical therapy doctoral program, and 2. her engagement to Nate.  So much fun! I came back feeling refreshed but also just wanting to get a jump on things! I'm still unpacking my apartment even though I've been here for almost a month now.  I'd say I'm embarrassed, but it's kind of hard to unpack a one bedroom apartment when your living room is full of classroom supplies! Boy am I ready to get into my classroom!

In keeping with my "productive" mantra, I have been attending professional developments at any chance I get. I know that I just finished four years of professional development, but I am so eager to be the best teacher I can that I just cannot say no to more learning. At the beginning of the month, I attended Capturing Kids Hearts.  If you haven't attended, you need to.  I learned so much and I made some friends in the process! :)  On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I had the opportunity to attend the CyFair Digital Learning Conference and it was awesome. There was so many great tools, but two really stuck with me and I'd love to use them in my classroom this year.  Starting with... augmented reality.

Augmented reality...it sounds like some sort of science-fiction, futuristic mumbo jumbo and, plot twist, it totally is. Augmented reality is like a QR code, but you can scan pretty much anything and it will show you a graphic right on top of the object you scanned. Basically, it's a hologram. I attended two breakout sessions throughout the conference, and one presenter showed us an example of the augmented reality that we're already used to: lines on a football field.  When you're watching football on tv, the lines will show up on top of the field, but it's not actually on the field.

http://www.augmentedrealitytrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Football-AR.jpg

See how the blue and yellow lines are there, but aren't actually there on the field? That's what augmented reality, or simply AR, does. But how does this work in the classroom? Thanks to Brad Waid and Drew Minock, the guys over at Two Guys and Some iPads we were able to find out.

First off, let me just say that Brad and Drew were excellent presenters.  I laughed and I learned-- two things that go together very well. After introducing the idea of AR, they showed us the app Daqri that has all sorts of resources that can be used in the classroom.  One, for example, was a picture of the solar system.  When your hover your device (tablets, phones, etc)over the image, a 3D version of the solar system pops up.  Then, by moving your device closer to the image, it zooms in on the solar system.  Cool, right? I couldn't find a video of the Daqri product, but here is an idea of what it would do:

So how awesome would it be if we could bring this kind of thing into the classroom?  Not only would it be cool for us, but it would be engaging for students! Brad described a time where he used this with his fourth grade class.  They wrote a paper and drew a picture of an assignment and then filmed a video to go along with the topic.  When parents came in for an open house, they were able to scan their child's work and watch the video instantly. I just can't get over the many possibilities that can come from this.  But while I was sitting there listening, I was thinking "great, this is awesome, but how could I use this with kindergarten."  Luckily, some programmer dads out there had the same question and designed ABC AR flash cards.  When you scan the card, a 3D animal that starts with that letter shows up.  No, I'm not kidding.

Start at :38 to get to the good stuff

So to finish off on AR, here are the apps that were mentioned in both of the sessions I went to:

1. DAQRI
2. AR Flashcards Animal Alphabet
3. Aurasma- I didn't talk about this one much, but it allows you to create your own AR. They have preset 3D graphics that you can add to any target (what you point your device at). This one could keep you busy for hours!

Moving on from Augmented Reality, we have Plickers. Plickers is the new way to check for understanding in one quick scan.  Each student is given a card with an original square on it.  The sides of the square are labeled a, b, c, and d.

This is an example of two different cards.

Before using Plickers in the classroom, you go online and set up a free account.  In your account, you will have the opportunity to create a classroom... do it.  Each Plickers card is labeled with a number which corresponds to the student in the class.  Once this is done and you've download the app on your device, you're ready to go.  After asking your question, students hold up their card so that the answer side is on top.  You take your advice and scan the room.  It documents which students got it right and which students didn't, and keeps that data on your account for you.  How super stinking cool is that? What a great way to do simple formative assessments throughout your day! Definitely worth looking into.

There you have it! Two really cool technology tools that could catch your students' attention in no time.  Enjoy! And feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer!

-A