New Possibilities with Padlet

I'm participating in a Heinemann webinar series that Kristin Ziemke is doing . She is my new favorite person and I've learned so much from her over the last few weeks.  Her classroom is amazing and she embed technology in thoughtful and authentic ways.

One thing Kristin showed was a Padet she created for participants of the webinar series (http://padlet.com/wall/CompandTech). I know Padlet and I've used it lots. But I've used it in a very simple way. I've used it for kids to put sticky notes up as a way to think collectively I had no idea it could be used as a conversation starter with videos, images, padlets on padlets and more. Her Padlet gave me new visions for what Padlet can do. I didn't know you could change the background. I had missed so much about this tool. 

So I played around with a few ways to use Padlet as a way to begin conversations and as a way to collect our thinking. I also think it will be a great way for kids to access learning and to continue the conversation at home.

I played with a board to think about how I might use Padlet in Read Aloud.  We are currently reading How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor.  I created a board with the cover of the book, a book trailer and a link to Barbara O'Connor's website.  We have had so much success with Corkulous as a way to stretch and collect our thinking around read aloud that Padlet seems to add even more options.  I can see adding a board within a board to do the things we are doing on Corkulous. And since it is web-based, it can be accessed from home and school.

We also played with a board to collect and add to as a class.  We have a bird watching area at our school and we've been spending time there for some of our science and math work.  The Padlet board shares the ways we are using various tools to collect information.  This is a site that will help us see how different tools can be used for different purposes. Hopefully it will start a conversation around tools that really help you observe and collect data in efficient ways.  

Today, I attended the Literacy Connection Event and Ruth Ayres spoke about Writing Celebrations.  She talked about the importance of writing celebrations--both the process and the product.   I'm thinking now of ways I can you Padlet for writing celebrations. I am thinking we can share lines we've written,a board of  links to finished products, a board of student writing with room for response. I am going to play some more to see where this thinking might go.

I have been playing with lots of tools over the last few years but, I so love finding one tool and thinking of new possibilities for use.  I am going to focus on this one tool for a while and think about various ways to use it, play around with what the tool can do and grow some possibilities!  Thanks Kristin for stretching my thinking about using this tool for more than one thing!

*For more posts on Digital Literacy, visit Reflections on the Teche for the Link Up!

Math Monday: Padlet

I have been thinking about how to better share our math thinking as part of our math workshop.  I have played around a bit with Padlet for lots of things. Last week, padlet helped raise our level of share a bit. Kids are used to sharing and responding to math thinking of their classmates.  We use lots of tools to do this but this week, we build a padlet as kids worked.  Finished representations went up on the padlet as kids finished. This is the problem we solved.

Jeffrey buys 5 boxes of oranges. There are 10 oranges in each box.  There are 12 rotten oranges.  How many oranges are there that are not rotten?

Created with Padlet

We have been playing with a variety of tools to share our math learning. So, some students used Google Draw. Others used Pixie. Some used Explain Everything.

I am thinking about the reflection piece of share with my math coach. I think there can be real power in Padlet as a way for kids to reflect on thinking, analyze work and learn new things to try.  The power of this Padlet was in the conversation. Because the Padlet was added to over a 15-20  minute period, kids naturally gathered around the Smartboard noticing things before we formally shared. Then as we shared, there was a power of having all of the representations on one board--in a place that we could see them all at once.

Usually, we can Airplay share one at a time or share a student's thinking from their notebook with a document camera.  Padlet allowed us to see patterns in our work. Kids noticed that with division, most kids were drawing pictures and wondered why that was.  Others noticed different number sentences across work. We could get a close up of one to analyze if we wanted to or we could look at the patterns we saw in our work as a whole.

I am going to work with my coach to build on this and to really think about how to raise the level of the share piece of Math Workshop. Lots of possibilities!

It's Math Monday! Join Mandy at Enjoy and Embrace Learning for the Math Monday link up!

Do You Know Emily Arrow?

I recently discovered Emily Arrow! It was one of my best recent discoveries for sure!  Maybe you have too. It seems that I have come across her work a few times over the last few weeks and I have become a huge fan! I remember watching her Water is Water video during our Mock Caldecott study. I had a small group of girls who learned the hand motions and had a blast with the book and song. But I didn't pay much attention except that I loved the song and was amazed that someone could create something like this around a book! Then I discovered her Be a Friend video and then researched to see what else she had out there!

If you didn't discover her work during Caldecott season, maybe you discovered it when you saw her new amazing Louise Loves Art video on Mr. Schu's blog this week!  As Colby Sharp said on Facebook:

Or maybe you discovered her because you celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day last week and there is nothing better than her song to celebrate the day.   (We like the one with the Motions Guide--it has become a class favorite in the last few days!)

Before I introduced her songs to my class this week, I created an Emily Arrow Padlet for my students so they could easily get to each one of the videos. I knew they would want to know how to find all of her videos as I knew they would fall in love with her work just as I did. They are mesmerized and inspired by every single video. We started off with Be a Friend. I hadn't been sure which video to show first , but when one of my students came unknowingly dressed perfectly for Be a Friend,  how could we not start by watching Emily Arrow's Be a Friend video first?  Then, of course, they wanted to watch every one of her videos!

 I love Emily Arrow's work for so many reasons. First of all, it is pure joy.  The songs are happy and joyful.  This week, Emily Arrow brought so much joy to our classroom.  We are in testing season and we needed a few pick-me-ups after a few tiring mornings. I shared the Emily Arrow videos I discovered and could not believe the happiness in every face as they watched and played along. Just as I did, they became instant Emily Arrow Fans!

But the songs are not merely fun and happy (although that alone would be enough!) But the books Emily chooses to interpret in song are books that have powerful messages for readers.  They give our young readers another way to look at a book.  I love that my kids can think differently about a book because of Emily's songs.

I also think that these inspire a kind of creativity that I hadn't thought of. love that kids are already thinking about creating their own songs. Some are thinking about the videos and how she creates those.  We have a few Makerspaces at our school and no one had thought about making a song. Emily Arrow inspired a few that making a song is something they might like to try. Emily Arrow has brought huge possibilities to our classroom.

I purchased her new album (Emily Arrow Storytime Singalong) on iTunes and added it to our classroom playlist.  We have cleaned our classroom this week while singing along to The Dot Song (we are partial to the version with the motion guide!), Poem in Your Pocket and Max the Brave.  These songs are perfect for all ages.

So, my recommendation, if you are looking for more joy in your life...if you want your students to see things that are possible with books, music, video, play... if you don't want to miss anything new that Emily Arrow creates, you should :

Follow her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter (@hellowemilyarrow)
Visit her blog.
Subscribe to her Youtube Channel.

If you don't know Emily Arrow, go get to know her now!

Studying Slide Design: Learning from #EdcampKids

We started with our own version of #EdCampKids in later March.  So far, we've had 4 EdcampKids sessions where kids attend 4 workshops each time. Every single child in my class has presented something--it is always a choice but everyone loves to share things they know.  We are in an animal slideshow stage right now--probably because so much nonfiction they are reading is about animals.  They seem a bit obsessed with animals and slideshows but we also have workshops on Origami, science experiments, and building and we have children who choose to create posters or use non-tech visuals. The conversations around audience and purpose have been amazing.

The teaching that comes out of #EdcampKids is incredible. Every time, there are so many things that happen that fall into our learning the following week.  We started this late in the year to see how it went but I can imagine that next year, the possibilities for teaching from what happens each session will have a huge impact on our writing workshops.  One of my favorite conversations happened a few weeks ago when a student very kindly shared how distracting it was as an audience member when a word was misspelled on a slide.  Such a natural way to bring up the importance of editing when you are publishing in this way.

Last week, during writing conferences, I met with several students about slide design. I am noticing from afar that the sophistication of slide designs--the choices that writers make when deciding how to design slides--is really changing.  There is a great deal of intentionality in the slide design and I wanted to capture a few that we could study. I met with several students who had recently completed a Google Slideshow to share during Edcamp and they chose a slide that they were especially proud of.

It is easy to start to worry about the traditional things we think are important---because students are not citing sources or the wording often sounds too fact based instead of synthesizing what they know. But in this process, I feel like I've gotten back to the true feel of the writing workshop.   I remember these are eight year olds who are learning to share their new learning with others. They are thinking hard about audience and purpose and how to share their new passions with peers. They are learning to combine images and text in unique ways.  They are learning to navigate sophisticated tools and collaborate with others in the process. I am reminded of all I learned from Troy Hicks The Digital Writing Workshop and Crafting Digital Writing every day as I listen into kids' thinking during writing. I am looking forward to revising both of those amazing books this summer as I plan for another year of digital writing workshop.

So in the coming weeks, some of our mini lesson work will focus on slide design (which transfers to pretty much any nonfiction writing design). We will use these slides to begin our conversation and to look closely at decisions third grade writers have made.  Since all of the kids have participated in EdcampKids as both presenter and audience member, I expect these conversations to be powerful.

You can find the padlet here.