Creating Infographics in the Elementary Classroom

Infographics are a great way to display information and corresponding data. Ever since seeing a presentation by Kathy Schrock at METC last year, I have been eager to learn more about infographics and how they could be incorporated into the classroom. Creating a quality infographic is a higher order thinking activity. Students have to collect data, research and find corresponding data, bring together these data sources and combine them into one visually appealing infographic. This synthesizing of information makes infographics a high-quality assessment for students.

Being more comfortable with infographics, I started to work on how I could integrate this into the elementary classroom. Infographics could be incorporated into math class when working on graphing, science class when students are reporting data from an experiment, or in any other subject where a lot of data or knowledge needs to be condensed into just the essentials. All of these tasks fit into the elementary classroom curriculum.

With curriculular ties in place, I then started to look for the best programs to use. After looking at online resources such as Piktochart, I actually think Microsoft Publisher and SMART Notebook 11 are great programs for elementary students to use when creating infographics because...

• They already know how to use them so there is no technology learning curve (this is the case in many of my buildings)
• each program can export out to image files
• graphs can be copy and pasted from Excel with ease
• each program allows students to move and insert objects anywhere on the page
• both programs have their own clip art to use in addition to images from the web.

Here is a short demonstration for using Microsoft Publisher to create infographics.

Here is a short demonstration for using SMART Notebook 11 to create an infographic.

Infographics seem to be everywhere so it is time to see them in the classroom as well. The benefits of being able to research and collect information and then turn it into an informational graphic, provides students with a real world, higher order thinking task. Give it a try in your classroom today!

From the Golf Course to the Classroom: A Simple Reflection

This past weekend, I had a real learning experience. In the course of 3 days, I played 5 rounds of golf while away on a golf weekend. Golf is a passion of mine and is always a learning experience. This was my first golf weekend and was the most golf I have played in such a short period of time. As I play golf, I am always learning lessons that can be applied to life (and education).

Lesson #1 - Creativity can overcome any obstacle.
Throughout the weekend, I found my golf ball behind a tree, in a bunker where a bad shot would lead to a water ball, and much more. A normal shot just would not do, so I had to be creative by hitting a hooking shot or using my putter out of a bunker (yes that actually happened). The course provides many obstacles but the goal is the same...get the ball in the hole. In education, things are the same way. Students are going to have difficulties and situations that are going to get in their way. They need to learn how to creatively solve their problems so they can reach their goal. The path they take to learning might not be the planned route because certain obstacles just might be in their way. We need to encourage our students to solve their problems by thinking outside the box while seeing the end goal.

Lesson #2 - Failure is going to happen, embrace it and learn from it.
My golfing skills are average at best. I know that I will have some good holes and then I will have some really bad holes too. I embrace the fact that I am going to fail on the golf course. But to improve, I have to embrace my failures and learn from them. By learning from them, I can hope to not make the same mistake twice. This will lead to more success in the future. Learning is the same way. We need to prepare our students for failure, how to cope with it, and how to grow from it. With lessons learned from failure, students can apply this to their future learning and ultimately be more successful. If we do not teach our students how to deal with adversity and failure, we are depriving them of a valuable life lesson.

Lesson #3 - Acknowledge your surroundings and adapt to them for success.
This weekend, golf was played in sunny conditions, in a heavy rain storm, 45 mph winds, and everything in between. We had no control over the elements and so we adjusted to them. If you did not adjust to what was happening around you, you were doomed to not play as well. In education, students deal with different surroundings everyday. Every classroom has a different feel to it, different routines, different peers. To be successful, students need to make subtle adjustments to be successful. The skill of flexibility is something that students need to have for success.

I could go on and on because golf has so many connections to learning and life, so let's get to the point....golf is a passion of mine. When you have a passionate about something, you could talk about the subject all day. In the classroom, every subject is not going to be a passion for all students. To make those subjects more interesting, we need to find those connections between our students' passions and the content being learned. Those connections can lead to greater understanding and hopefully more student learning/achievement.

Find those connections today and foster that environment into your classroom. Pretty soon your students might start making connects between their passions and their learning just like I have done with golf and education.

Blog Posting (weekly)

• Digital Wish - Virtual Volunteers

  tags: expert videoconferencing webconferencing

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Heart of Tech Integration

Last week was eye opening, enlightening, and thought provoking for me. It all started at a district level technology committee meeting. Our Superintendent came to speak to the committee about his vision for technology usage in our district. There were things that I could not believe I was hearing...in a good way. To hear the words "game based learning" come from the number one in your district was shocking...again in a good way. Game based learning seems like a forward thinking concept and not something that is mainstream. But to me, this was something minor. It was everything that followed that got my attention.

He then talked about BYOD and all the possibilities it represented. Again, this was great to hear district leaders talk about this but it was not the highlight for me. I became excited when all these buzz words and hot topics came together to talk about student learning. When talking about devices, game based learning, connectedness, etc., he showed that he understood our students and the world in which they live. This world of information at your fingertips and the possibilities of unlimited connections is where our students thrive and where we need to take instruction.

So in the tech committee meeting where we could just strictly talk about the technology, the discussion was brought right back to student learning. That is the heart of technology integration. All of the technology components are important but none are more important than the product of student learning. Student learning should always be the focus with technology just being a component.

I am excited to see where this will go in my district. You beat the drum and keep pushing for change but it takes buy in from the top. It looks like it could be there and I hope we are all ready for some positive change.

I think this video that was shown at the meeting sums things up pretty well.

Blog Posting (weekly)

• Catch.com

  tags: notes notetaking evernote bookmarking

• English vocabulary | LearnEnglish | British Council | Wordshake

  tags: games language

• The Miniature Earth Project ::: Official Version

  tags: social studies socialstudies

  • Shows us how we compare to the rest of the world. - post by Clayton Theleman
  • This was an interesting video! It really surprised me what percentages of the world are poor, illiterate and malnourished. - post by Greta
  • This shows the distribution of people on earth and the shocking econmonical gap. - post by Anthony Doouglas
  • I think that this is an interesting video, and it appeals really well to everyones emotions with the pictures, and the music - post by Kelsey
  • A great video that goes over many of the Principles Dr. Wesch has talked about in class. A good source of inspiration as we create our own miniature earth. - post by Nick Timmons
  • A breakdown of what the earth would look like if the population were reduced to 100 people, all while keeping the relative proportions the same as they would be as reported at the start of this century. - post by Matt Warren
  • This video puts life in the US in perspective. - post by Will Richardson
  • Shows what the world would be like if its population was reduced to 100 people. - post by Doug Belshaw
  • miscellaneous source 2 - post by Alisa
  • This website shows a video that demonstrates what the Earth's population would be like if it were reduced to a hundred people, keeping statistical proportions correct.
    While some statistics are purely demographic, others depict the state of literacy, poverty, health and living conditions. For instance, it is shocking that "If you sleep on a bed, keep your clothes in a closet, have electric light, and have a roof over your head, you are richer than 75 of the other people."  Also, just over a dozen people would own a computer and only two or three would have internet. Incredible, but true, the statistics are enhanced with striking images. 
    While this website has a lot of emotional appeal, there facts of it are credible and have an even more profound effect on viewers like myself.  The emotional sympathy for poverty-stricken populations generates income in donations to the site and purchases of the downloadable video, and the money is used to fund the site and small public projects. For me, however, watching the video graphically demonstrated the need to improve living conditions in many paces around the world, as well as the previously assumed, but now obvious, relationship between lack of housing, lack of education, poor health, and financial need.
    
    
    - post by Alisa
  • nice avp, like the concept, but a litte weak - post by bvalshaiv
  • Nice way to start a conversation with kids, though. I think it makes a good springboard for introducing globalization. - post by Beth Cullinan

• ScootPad :: Practice. Learn. Succeed.

  tags: common core assessment ipad

• Free Texts, Calls + Number. Text students & parents online or by cellphone

  tags: text

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Let's Get Real About Assessment...and Technology

Before we begin, let me first say that I am not an assessment expert. There are many people who could talk circles around me when it comes to assessment. But I have witnessed many different assessment practices, have been involved in many assessment conversations, and have been through my share of assessment for learning training. These experiences and my own teaching experiences have shaped my opinions on assessment.

For the past two days, I was involved in vendor presentations for assessment systems. These companies, which will remain nameless, all showcased systems that did essentially the same thing. Each system gave us way to test students and get data back on a variety of standards. Some of the technology that was on display was simply awesome! From the easy to use interfaces, to the types of multimedia questions that could be used, to the tracking abilities, and to the types of input devices that could be used, these systems showcased some great assessment technology! As a tech guy, you would think this would be all great but it was not. 

Seeing all the technology and what it could do, just made me reflect on where we are now in terms of assessment. If a system like these are going to succeed, there are going to be changes that have to occur in our everyday practices.

1. Standards replacing letter grades - With assessment systems, the greatest strength is the ability to tie questions to standards. From this, teachers can get the data to see if students are meeting the standards. From this data, teachers can adjust their instruction and truly differentiate to meet the needs of their students. Notice that I have not talked about a percentage or a letter grade. Unfortunately, we still need grades for that grade book so a letter grade can be given at the end of the quarter. Are we ready to make the jump to standards based learning and reporting or will we not take advantage of a new assessment system and just use it to grade tests for us?

2. Teachers as data analysts - When I started teaching, the only data I remember having is the yearly standardized test data. I had my grades from my grade book and my observations, but I did not have the capability to easily collect target data on my students. Now with an assessment system, teachers have assess to tons of reports. To make the most of this system, teachers will need to learn how to pick the best report and interpret the data. These are new roles and we know that change does not come easy. It is a change in practice and an additional responsibility. How are we going to make this work?

3. Teachers as assessment experts - It made me smile during these meetings when I heard some other teachers talking about assessment practices after seeing the presentations. By seeing the possibilities, it caused the participants to reflect on their current assessment practices. I was hearing discussions on formative and summative assessments, what types of assessments were best to be used with an assessment system, etc. With greater assessment and data analysis tools, we as teachers need to become assessment experts to take advantage of the system to get the right data. It is now not good enough to be instructional experts, we need to be assessment experts too.

When it comes down to it, any system we choose is only going to be as good as our assessment practices allow it to be. Are we willing to change and step out of our comfort zone? 

Just like anything else, the technology can be great but it is all in the application. I am excited by the possibilities!

Thoughts???

Class Dojo for Report Card Data

I have been hearing more and more about Class Dojo so I figured it was time to take a deeper look at this program. As a classroom management tool, it does a good job of keeping track of positive and negative behaviors. With the accompanying app, you don't have to be tethered to your laptop or interactive whiteboard to track behavior. I can remember many times where I was working with a small group and I had to correct behaviors of other students working independently. With the app, I can quickly record the positive and negative behaviors and get back to teaching my small group.

I have seen teachers apply several strategies when using Class Dojo. Some teachers only give points for positive behaviors and do not record the negative behaviors. They want to focus on the positive. Others give only negative because that is the data they are tracking. Some teachers reset the points after a week so everyone gets a fresh start. Most teachers I have seen do not take advantage of the student and parent connections that are offered through the program. They simply want the data to be their own. No matter how it is used, Class Dojo is a great data collection tool for behavior.

So let's go back to the title of this post...How can Class Dojo be used for report card data?

Here is a sample of a 4th grade report card:

I always struggled with filling in this portion of the report card. With every other section, I had grades as my proof or justification of the grade.For behavior, I usually had to go with my overall thought without any data to back it up. With Class Dojo, I can customize the behaviors to match my report card. This strategy allows me to track data that I can use when filling out the report card.

Here are some screenshots that show how this would look in the Class Dojo web version (left) and the Class Dojo app (right).

Notice that when you are using the app, it does not display long titles. This is something to consider if you are going to use your smartphone to track behavior with Class Dojo. I would recommend using keywords that will display no matter which version you use.

The other strategy I would use is to make the positive and negative behavior titles the same. So in my example, I would input the report card behavior indicators in for both positive and negative behaviors. In this way, my data is aligned to what is reported at the end of the quarter.

I definitely recommend that you check out Class Dojo. Besides the ability to track behavior, Class Dojo is easy to use, has a great interface, and enough reporting features to make it worthwhile.

It is technology that actually works!