12 Days of Twitter Challenge

In reflection to a prior post:

During a #TXLChat in December I read a tweet about another librarian sharing the 12 Days of Technology Challenge plus my IT Coach shared a 12 Days of Twitter Challenge from another district and this sparked our Twitter Challenge in December.  Many faculty members participated with over 200 tweets with #Pike_Proud.  The feedback that I received from many included they learned more about Twitter and it was fun.  It was an awesome program to showcase Twitter, model a collaborative tool, and present a fun activity just before the holidays.  I used canva, audioBoom, and thinglink for the presentation.  Each day I added a new Twitter challenge and at the end of the event gave out jeans passes to everyone who completed the tasks.  I also entered names into a drawing for Starbucks giftcards.  I noticed that a few remixed my thinglink and designed their own challenge using my basic format.  Now my thoughts are wandering to our next possible challenge in February.

Student Driven Hour of Code

It was our 2^nd celebration for the Hour of Code and although we organized the event completely different from last year, we had extraordinary results this year.  First we advertised and invited all interested students to the morning event rather than limit it to the technology club.  Second, the student technology club facilitated the event rather than participate in the coding.  We were ecstatic that 30+ students  (including girls) came an hour before school for the Hour of Code. 

Here’s our basic structure of how we ran the event.

•  Flyers were made, video commercials were produced for student announcements, and social media along with our school website were all used to advertise the event.
• The meeting began with refreshments and viewing the official Hour of Code video along with a brief introduction of our student technology club.
• A short student produced lesson on batch was taught.
•  A second short lesson on coding to produce a simple calculator was taught.  We are very fortunate that not only does the student technology club know their content but they have good communication skills with teaching the lessons. As students had questions other members of the technology club circulated around the room answering individual questions.  At times it looked like an EdCamp with mini lessons and teaching going on simultaneously.
• Finally, the students were given the option to continue to code or use one of many sites provided for the event.  As when you give students choice, the activity continued with varied possibilities. 
• The technology club grouped participants by knowledge levels.  They had beginners (the largest group), intermediate, and advanced groups.  Lessons on each level were taught congruently. It was interesting to witness the students take charge of the teaching and change the groups as they discovered the need for modification.  
• The student technology club took attendance and used the event to promote others to join the club.  They also produced and gave out certificates at the end of the event.  

In reflection everyone including the participants were extremely pleased with the Hour of Code celebration.  The feeling of accomplishment was experienced on both ends with some students excited about learning how to code and another student group pleased with teaching and sharing their passion.  As an educator I could not have planned a more perfect scenario then the student driven celebration.  At the next technology club meeting we will reflect on the event and come up with an action plan on how to move forward with this growing enthusiasm to code.  After all, isn't that the main purpose of the Hour of Code?

12 Days of Twitter Challenge @Pike

I see many creative librarians offering 12 Days of Technology but I wanted to try the 12 Days of Twitter Challenge with my staff.  There are many tweeters on our campus but I wanted to expand the use of our hashtag as a school.  I worked with our administrative staff and aligned the Twitter Challenge with the 12 Days of Celebration that our administrators implement during this time of year.  So far the participation in the use of our hashtag #Pike_Proud has been awesome.  I plan on adding a new challenge each day, tweeting it out, and emailing it to my faculty members.  When I shared the event with my students I had 2 incredible young ladies volunteer to modify and sing for the challenge.

The 12 Days of Twitter Challenge visual was designed in:

• Canva
• ThingLink
• Audioboom for the voice
• an iMovie uploaded to Youtube for the video

Click here to view the interactive image

Edublog Awards Voting - Open!

It's that time for us all to thank those that put countless hours into helping others learn. So please take the time and show your support and appreciation by voting for the many cutting edge educators and programs that make us all become better at our positions.  

Click here for the link to vote for your favorite Edublog Awards.

Here are all the categories:

•    Best individual blog

•    Best group blog

•    Best new blog

•    Best class blog

•    Best student blog

•    Best ed tech / resource sharing blog

•    Best teacher blog

•    Best library / librarian blog

•    Best administrator blog

•    Most influential blog post of the year

•    Best individual tweeter

•    Best twitter hashtag or twitter chat

•    Best free web tool

•    Best educational use of media (audio, video, podcast, etc.)

•    Best educational wiki

•    Best open PD / unconference / webinar series

•    Best educational use of a social network

•    Best mobile app

•    Lifetime achievement

Voting will close at 11:59pm EST on Monday, December 15th. 

Curating Student Blogs

I have encouraged my student library aides to blog this year and here is the result. I am extremely proud of the time and effort some of the students have spent on designing and develpoing this platform.  I have curated the blog websites through a Google form so we may all easily view and give feedback to the blogs (including mine).  I love to see the students share the number of views, the  geographic locations of the views, and their posts with one another.  The students have taken extreme pride in their blogs and have included them on their ePortfolios.

In producing this thinglink, each student made and emailed me their own avatar.  I arranged the avatars in canva before uploading it into thinglink.  Students were able to view the final product through there individual thinkglink accounts even before I shared the link.   Blogging, creating, smashing, writing, reviewing.....what other lesson can incorporate all these task?

Edublog Awards Nominations 2014 Are Open.

It's that time of year to recognize and nominate those who have inspired you along your educational path.  The Edublog Awards #eddies14 is now open and accepting nominations.  The deadline for nominations is November 24th so take some time to thank those who give so much of their time and wisdom to many. Click here and fill out the form.

Here are just a few of my nominations:

Best Individual Blog	http://teachkiwi.wordpress.com
Best Group Blog	http://www.edutopia.org
Best Student Blog	http://sarcasticsocrates.wordpress.com/
Best Ed Tech / Research Sharing Blog	http://d97cooltools.blogspo
Best Teacher Blog	http://www.coolcatteacher.com
Best Hashtag / Twitter Chat	#TXLChat
Best Free Web Tool	http://www.thinglink.com
Best Mobile App	voxer

It's difficult to choose when so many have made a difference in who I am as a librarian.  Please know I cherish my entire PLN.

Wii Day Tuesday - Sometimes It's the Simple Things

Our school has a solid group of 8th grade boys that are the core of our Technology/Coding Club.  They initiated the club and keep interest going through a variety of marketing techniques.  That in mind, they are always looking for exciting tools and projects eager to take on the next new challenge.  That takes us to a new marketing strategy.  Our principal bought a Wii that is used sporatically for special occasions.  The Wii is stored in the library and you all know the unwritten rule that if it's in the library, we can use it.  So with permission we started Wii Day Tuesday during 8th grade lunch.  The Technology Club showed in force and had the choice to play Mario or dance.  Yes, this group of high technology skilled 8th grade boys chose to dance.  Even after 34 years of educational experience students never cease to amaze me.  So the library and Technology Club will continue to host Wii Day Tuesday.  I must admit that I have many motives including: hosting a fun activity in  the library; expanding the Technology Club; getting to know more students; and the list goes on.  So Wii Day Tuesday has been another successful program in the library!