Being Thankful for..

In the spirit of Thanksgiving,
Principal, Nat Vaughn asks the Blake Middle School staff to take time, to reflect and
to share their thankful thoughts with each other and the student body.

We'd also like to share a few of those thoughts with you
and to wish everyone a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving!

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Parent iPad Highlight Sessions

As Blake MS launched the BYOiPad model this year, it's been a goal for us to have continual communication with the parent community and to offer opportunities for us to highlight student learning and work with the iPad being a new tool for many students and teachers.  Also, the sessions are open for discussions and Q & A between parents, teachers and students.

Our first round of Parent Highlight Sessions began on November 7 and 

November 7 @ 12:30 and November 12 @ 6pm

 All Grade 8 parents/guardians were invited to attend our iPad Highlights Information Sessions. 

Teachers across clusters as well as a handful of students demonstrated their work and explained how certain apps are integrated into classroom instruction.  View the presentation below.

Also, a few of our teachers were asked to select their own favorite app 'starting lineup'.
Click on the hotspots to view each of their homescreens with further examples
of student work and notes.

Any questions or comments? Any apps we forgot?
Please feel free to leave comments below.

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Cómo se utilza Padlet?

8th Graders in Maura Batts' Spanish Class just finished a quiz. With time left in the period, she set up a Padlet wall for students to practice answering casual conversation questions. Students quickly went to the Padlet link on their iPad, tapped the screen and added their responses.

Padlet is basically a virtual sticky note board accessed via web--working across any device.  What typically would be an paper and pencil task, can now be collaborative, shared collection of responses in one place, which can then be incorporated into a website or saved as a PDF!

Students are also able to respond to each other or add as many notes as they like with images, videos and/or text.  The teacher has the options to moderate posts and control who has access it. This is a quick, easy way for World Language teachers and others can get feedback about homework, assessments, a lesson, or use for reflections, etc. In fact, Blake's Middle School Principal, +Nat Vaughn found by integrating it into faculty meetings as the "parking lot" of staff questions and comments, he's able to demonstrate how a web-based tool can enhance learning and discussion. With this "student" experience, a few teachers took this back to their classroom to give it a try!

Echar un vistazo a las respuestas de los estudiantes Maura Batts'!

Created with Padlet

Thank goodness for Google Translater in my Chrome browser or iPad app... I only understand a little bit of Francáis, and none of Spanish!  If you have used Padlet or other similar collaborative tools, please share in the comments below.

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Early transformation of the Russian Icon project!

Eighth grade begins the shift in the Massachusetts' Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks towards learning about World History. Medfield students begin their year examining Russian civilization. This includes a visit to the Museum of Russian Icons located in Clinton, Ma. to help students understand the role that icons played in the lives of Russians.

In years past,  the assignment was for students to bring their worksheet and a pencil to complete a scavenger hunt while touring the museum.  This year, with iPads in hand, they could capture their "answers" and easily refer back to the powerpoint slideshow  (which was accessible on their device) as a reference for more information.

 In addition, students were now able to capture their experience by snapping photos and videos which were incorporated in their follow-up collaborative group project.  The project had to include at least 5 of 11 images stating the significant fact of each. Students were given leeway to use any of the following apps:  TouchCast, Telligami , Explain Everything or any combination to produce their project and share it with their teacher via Google Drive/ email the link.

These are a few fantastic examples:

With the TouchCast app, Py and Joe pulled in their videos & pics while recording their
video of themselves (reading from a built-in app prompter).  Other elements can be pulled into the app too such as twitter feeds, webpages, and more offering a real 'newscaster' production.

Telligami has really caught the attention of our 8th graders as

most are hesitant to record and listen to their own voices or see themselves in a video.

(Who can blame them, I am the same exact way!) Telligami's avatar 

option has been a wonderful work around /alternative!
(For other Talking Avatar apps: Click Here)

These are also examples of how learning is being transformed across that SAMR model line to more of a modification and redefinition use of technology than purely substitution. Bravo!

Thanks to 8th graders and to our Social Studies teachers, Mrs. McClelland, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Taliaferro for sharing their work and projects.

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Sand and Water Lab Remix!

This is the remix.. of Science.

The 8th Graders in +Jason Heim's Science Class covered the usual Sand and Water lab to learn about volume and density. With the options that the iPad offers, students put a touch of creativity to demonstrate their learning.

First up, students write a rap. Yes, a rap song to explain the steps to calculate the volume of sand and water. They took advantage of the Apple's Garageband app going FREE, wrote their lyrics and mixed up a fly beat to deliver their fresh Science rhyme!  Take a listen.

While another student chose to animate her narration of the Science lab using the Telligami app.
The Telligami apps lets you create an avatar, select a scene and add dialogue by recording your voice or typing in text.  If you notice, her scene is an actual photo of the experiment from class. How cool is that !

Creativity is one of those skills that is best developed with exploration.  Combine it with the learning objectives and the opportunities the iPad brings, you'll get these surprising results!

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