Become Apple Teacher certified today!

Apple Education recently announced an exciting opportunity to become more proficient at teaching with iPad or Mac AND earn badges & certification at the same time.

Apple Teacher Program

http://apple.co/discoverappleteacher  

Sign up; then sign in to earn badges and the Apple Teacher certification

I recently explained the program and more on this ESU 8 Wednesday Webinar:

There is no time like the present to begin your personal quest to become a certified Apple Teacher.  Look for some exciting promotion within the ESU 8 Community very soon. 

Digital Citizenship Resources for Educators

The 2016 Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium was held on September 27, 2016.  Five sites concurrently hosted teams from over 40 Nebraska school districts.  School teams consisted of administrators, teachers, parents, and students-- all gathered together to learn how to #bethekey to bring better digital citizenship practices back to their communities.

Speakers for the day included:

• Karen Haase, KSB Law, @KarenHaase
• Craig Badura, Aurora Public Schools, @mrbadura
• Hunter Radenslaben, Waverly High School, @AthleteNation
• Keegan Korf, Common Sense Media, @CommonSenseEd
• Stephanie Bernthal, ESU 17, @SBernthal

School teams created digital posters and action plans to take back to their schools, all emphasizing how each of them could #bethekey to better digital citizenship. View their creative creations here:

Many takeaways happened over the course of the day and beyond, as schools not only shared within their teams, but also with each other.

I've collected some key resources to accompany the event to help continue to promote digital citizenship with your students, teachers, and community.

• Common Sense Media has a great K-12 Implementation Plan linked to their free digital citizenship lessons that could be followed as a district's scope and sequence.
• Mindy McBride (@mindymindyp) from Lynch Public Schools requested an easy-to-access poster with QR codes for her students to scan when looking for copyright friendly images.  I put this one together from some of the most commonly recommended image sites. Feel free to use this poster in your classrooms as well. https://goo.gl/OpnS9P 
• Don't forget TASL (Title, Author, Source/Site, License) when giving attribution to Creative Commons licensed photos!
• Jennifer Showalter (@JKShowalter) from Norfolk Public Schools shared her CyberNinja Quests site that she built for use with her Jr. High Technology Classes.  
• 21 Things for Students from REMC Association of Michigan has some great mini-units dealing with digital citizenship and related topics.
• A collection of digital citizenship resources from Kara Welty

Digital Citizenship is an ongoing challenge, but an extremely important one. Continue the conversations in your school on this critical topic. 

Google Apps in the Classroom -- Valuable Resources for Educators

1. 40 ways to start using Google Apps for Education

http://goo.gl/pySakU  

 Although this free online presentation is from a couple years ago, the content is still relevant and valuable if you teach in a Google Apps school. Consider perusing the slides to see if you can come across any new ideas for integrating Google Apps for Education into your teaching and learning. 

2. Google for Education Training Center - Get certified

In addition, the Google for Education Training Center offers a plethora of resources for diving deeper with your educational application of Google Apps. Educator Level 1 and Level 2 certification quizzes are offered for $10.00 each, but you can learn a lot from the training resources without paying for the certification. 

3. Deeper Learning with Google Apps

I always enjoy Matt Miller's 'Ditch That Textbook' blog and this recent post entitled "Deep Learning with Google tools: 20 Tips" is a real treat. 

What is a Technology Integrationist?

iPads in Elementary! (Resources from ESU 8 - Sept. 2016)

Two great events at ESU 8 schools were held this week.  As we visited with teachers there, they were looking for ways to better integrate iPads in their elementary classrooms.  The following site of resources was a collective effort from the ESU 8 team to share our ideas with our schools.

https://sites.google.com/a/esu8ne.org/ipadsatevelem/home

Take time to learn more about the SAMR model by exploring the "Where are we headed" tab.

LEARN: Learn about apps for curriculum review and research in the "Curriculum skills practice" tab.

CREATE: Experience apps for student creation in the "Student Creation" tab.

ASSESS: Gather more information about the learning in your room with the "Formative Assessment" tab.

Then wrap it all up by looking at your own BrightBytes data and deciding what your "Next Steps" are.

Adventures in Art: Be an art analyst! (Green screen activity)

 

GreenScreen Activity

Be an art analyst! 

View student example from 2015-16 ESU 8 Art Show (Annika Thomas from Norfolk Jr. High)

http://youtu.be/v-xUoqLhTH8 

Discuss key strategies.

Distance from the camera
Hiding “behind” parts of the artwork
Gestures and body movements

Determine access to the DoInk Green Screen app ($2.99)

Learn about more "Adventures in Green Screening" with this free book for iBooks

Steps to Completion

1. Decide if you want to put your video together on MAC or iPAD.
2. Choose an art project that you have completed and digitize it. (Scan it or simply take a digital photo of it.)
3. Write a script that you would say to give a “tour” of your artwork. Things to discuss may include:
1. IDEATION: How did you get the idea/inspiration for the artwork?
2. PRODUCT: What medium did you create with?
3. PROCESS: What process did you go through to complete it?
4. PRINCIPLES: Which art principles did you employ while creating it?
5. BACK STORY: Explain the “behind the scenes” meaning and/or techniques used to create.
6. MESSAGE: What do you hope your audience thinks when they see it?
   
   

4. Film yourself reading your narrative.

MAC	iPAD
Film with iPad camera	Film with iPad camera
AirDrop to a Mac	Airdrop clips from Photos app to another iPad (if desired)

5. Edit your video

MAC	iPAD
Open iMovie and start a new project	Open the DoInk GreenScreen app and start a new project
Drag in your art project and make it last for longer than you think your video will be	Add your art project to the very bottom track (+ Select a Source: Image)
Drag in your greenscreen video and drop it ON TOP of the art project clip	Insert your greenscreen video in the track ABOVE the art project clip             (+ Select a Source: Video)
Choose Green/Blue Screen from the drop-down effects in toolbar	Adjust the ChromaKey, if necessary
Clean up the area by dragging the handles around the greenscreen area. (Optional crop is also available.)	Pinch and zoom to place your greenscreen clip wherever you want it to appear on your background.
Repeat for additional clips as desired	Repeat for additional clips as desired

6. Export and share!

Tips for a better finished product

• No vertical video! Landscape to avoid letterboxing
• Camera supports - tripod, etc.
• Audio - add a mic (Suggested one for iPads: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ABTVFJE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
• Light, light, and more light
• Teleprompter or someone to hold the script next to camera

Additional Ideas for Student Art Commentary projects

• Tellagami app to create a talking avatar to explain art (30 sec limit for free app)
• Example
• PicPlayPost app to make a collage of images and videos clips, like a “talking poster”
• Example
• ThingLink website or app to add “hotspots” to an art project that lead to additional info
• Example
• Timelapse video, stopmotion, or just photos over time to show an art project’s progression; then add voiceover narration.
• Example

Gallery of finished products!

“Drew’s art example”

https://youtu.be/JFyhqhyUQAQ

“Cardboard art”

https://youtu.be/eFUKEc14xpQ

“Masks”

https://youtu.be/ShkfblBJQmo

Letters About Literature: Reading/Writing opportunity for schools

Young Readers Invited to Write to Favorite Authors

Young readers in grades 4-12 are invited to write a personal letter to an author for the Letters about Literature (LAL) contest, a national reading and writing promotion program. The letter can be to any author (living or dead) from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic—explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s view of the world. The 24^th annual writing contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations. This reading and writing promotion is sponsored in Nebraska by the Nebraska Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission, and supported by Houchen Bindery Ltd. and Chapters Books in Seward.

Prizes will be awarded on both the state and national levels. The Nebraska Center for the Book’s panel of judges will select the top letter writers in the state, to be honored in a proclamation-signing ceremony at the state capitol during National Library Week in April 2017. Their winning letters will be placed in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln. Nebraska winners will receive state prizes, and then advance to the national judging.

A panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select one National Winner per competition level (Level I for grades 4-6, Level II for grades 7-8, and Level III for grades 9-12) to receive a $1,000 cash award, to be announced in May 2017. The judges will also select one National Honor winner on each competition level to receive a $200 cash award.

Teachers, librarians, and parents can download free teaching materials on reader response and reflective writing, along with contest details and entry forms, atwww.read.gov/letters. Nebraska-specific information (including lists of Nebraska winners of past competitions) is available at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/LAL.html. Get inspired by listening to Nebraska winners, Ashley Xiques and Sydney Kohl, read and talk about and their winning letters to authors that meant something to them in their own lives, see NET Radio’s All About Books(http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/radio/all-about-books). Submissions from Grades 9-12 must be postmarked by December 2, 2016. Submissions from Grades 4-8 must be postmarked by January 9, 2017. For more information contact Mary Jo Ryan, MaryJo.Ryan@nebraska.com, 402-471-3434 or 800-307-2665.

The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.

As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, bringing the most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.