Hour of Code - Computer Science Week - December 7-11, 2015

For the third year our students will participate in the Computer Science Week "Hour of Code" in early December. The materials and resources that are posted on the HOC website support learning by tens of millions of students worldwide.

Our plan is for first graders to use the iPad App Kodable, gathering all the iPads so that each student has one for the class time that day. The 2nd graders will use the web version of The Foos to explore planning steps, repeating and building some programming loops. Third grade students will use the Lightbot Hour of Code site to move into the next levels of logical thinking and programming. By fourth grade students have a wider range of experience with coding and programming so they can learn to program the Frozen characters, create in Scratch, solve puzzles in a Minecraft game, build a Star Wars Galaxy and more. Students enjoy revisiting the Blockly Angry Birds Puzzles, coding a Flappy Birds game and many other activities that introduce the concepts of programming and game development.

Why Teach Google Earth: what are 2nd graders learning?

Second graders study communities, with one focus being our school garden and observing plants and animals. To help with learning about butterflies the technology connections include using the Journey North materials on the migration of monarch butterflies.

The teacher uses a classroom projector to show students the maps that show the path of the butterflies as they migrate to Mexico. After students have seen the maps they can use Google Earth to visit the states that they have seen pictured on the maps. As a literacy skill they learn that there are two letter post office abbreviations that they can enter in the search box to "fly to" a new state (e.g. MA, NH, MN, TX) and then zoom in and out to view the overall colors and features of the landscapes that give them visual cues as to the topography. What can they see when they travel? (Questions: Does the state of Minnesota look like the state of Texas? What do you see? What do you think the land looks like there?) What is going on in their minds as they change the view to go closer and then zoom back out to view the state boundaries and country borders? Is there a mathematical-spatial learning process going on?

Recently I've been reading about "partner learning" and the power of having students talk out loud about their explorations and questions. For this session using Google Earth we paired the students and had a "navigator" enter the search text and a "pilot" who pressed Return or clicked on Search to "fly" to a new destination.

What are students learning as they "fly", "zoom" and explore a virtual earth? The engagement in the room is full of, "What ifs?" and wondering as they talk about going N, S, E, W, look at the geographic features like lakes, mountain ranges and deserts. They are talking about countries, continents, oceans and more as they move around and explore. They are asking basic questions about typing on the laptops, finding letters, the space bar, delete key, etc.

A classroom teacher wrote a blog post about the session and the inclusion of a follow up activity where students went to see their own homes and explored the town. Part of the power of this lesson was the collaboration between the classroom teacher and my role as instructional integrator.

Engaging Learners Using Technology - Yarmouth Course

The week after students finish classes is traditionally the beginning of the Yarmouth Technology Course, this year entitled Engaging Learners Using Technology. A group of about twenty educators, three who are not Yarmouth teachers, met to challenge themselves to look at an instructional area or unit that could be changed to increase the engagement of learners through the use of technology. The animated, collaborative conversations culminate in "Shark Tank" style pitches for project ideas submitted by each individual or team. There will be a half day on a Saturday in September for teachers to get assistance with projects and then the final day will be presentations by all participants on a Saturday in October.

Hour of Code - Grades K-5

Summer-Fall Yarmouth Technology Course 2013

In the week after students finished classes in Yarmouth 32 teachers and 9 student assistants spent three days focusing on using technology to support personalized learning. The course site is posted at https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/summer-2013-tech. Proposed projects include ways to involve students in curation using various tools and sharing work through blogs and specialized Google sites. The summer component of the course requires that teachers spend time online viewing suggested materials and reflecting in blog posts. There will be a work day in September and a final Saturday in October to share projects with everyone enrolled in the class for credit.

EdCafe Take Away

This post was created during the Yarmouth Summer-Fall Technology course during our demonstration lesson of Katrina Kenney's EdCafe model. We introduced the EdCafe model and then presented the choices for three sessions of PBS TED Talks Education videos. My group chose to watch the segment by Geoffrey Canada, of Harlem Children's Zone.
We discussed the video for about a half an hour. One interesting component was that we had two high school students in our group and they added their perspective about their preferences for assignments and personalizing their learning.

The takeaway for our group is as follows:

How are we as teachers failing our students?

• Not all students are engaged at all times
• Compartmentalized learning by subject, not integrated
• Kids fall through the cracks - how do we get students to access support? Keep on trying!!

How do we keep on innovating?

• Students respond to choice in learning materials and project options
• Keep talking about what "personalized learning" means
• Pursue YEF grants for resources

Building Bridges to Tomorrow - FlatClassroom K-2 Project

This spring I have been working with Marypat Bowen's class and the Building Bridges to Tomorrow K-2 FlatClassroom global collaboration with 22 schools. As part of the project each school created video content about weather and seasons in their part of the world that will be compiled using WeVideo. This is the video created by the Yarmouth class to share with the others. 

4th Graders Present to Yarmouth School Committee - Nexus 7 Pilot

The Yarmouth School Committee opens the monthly meeting with a presentation about a learning setting or offering in our schools. On March 28th we shared a ten minute explanation of the Nexus 7 1:1 Pilot Project that has been part of Kate Parkin's 4th grade classroom. Since we started the project in early December, Kate and I have been exploring ways to use the Nexus 7s in her classroom for learning. In talking with the students, the biggest uses of the tablets are for researching questions and creating written work that is then saved to Google Drive for further editing on laptops. Certainly there are Math apps and some utilities that the students are finding engaging and useful. In addition to the apps we put on initially we have added VidTrim for editing videos, Comic Strip It for creating comics and a Poetry app in honor of April being Poetry Month. While we weren't able to record the student voices that added a powerful element to the slides, this is the presentation we created for the meeting:

Yarmouth Summer/Fall Technology Course 2012

Registrations are building for this years summer/fall technology course for K12 faculty. The site is at: https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/summer-2012-tech. Dates: June 19, 20 & 21 8:00-3:30, September 22 8:00-12:00, October 27 8:00-3:30 at YHS.


Teachers will learn and practice expanded uses of media for teaching and learning around these questions:

1. How will student demonstrations of learning be more innovative in my classroom?
2. How will I as a teacher move toward more choices for students to demonstrate learning?
3. How can I share or celebrate my students’ work?

As we develop the progression of topics and assignments the site will be expanded beyond the syllabus, dates and times.

Mrs. Wolinsky, thank you for letting us explore...

This time of year I try to fit in a unit on Creativity and Design in the 4th grade classes. I started the unit last week with an exploration of Lego Digital Designer. This is the first step of unit that is about exploration, self-discovery and creating using design tools. The next couple of weeks will be spent moving on to Scratch. Some of the students have been attending an after school class through Yarmouth Community Services with a more extended time to explore this theme. The students who have been in the after school class have been a stimulant to their classmates to explore and learn during our class periods. What did I hear from a student as they filed out of the lab? "Thank you Mrs. Wolinsky for letting us explore today!"

Deepening Learning through Storytelling - Wes Fryer in Yarmouth

One thing I would like to get better at is sharing professional learning when I go to a workshop, etc. This morning we were fortunate to have Wes Fryer at the YHS faculty meeting. This is a link to the site he used: http://wiki.wesfryer.com/Home/handouts/deepening to talk with us about "Deepening our Learning Through Storytelling: creativity, STEM and stories." Hopefully I'll have a chance to share more with faculty groups at a future time as I think his message is applicable to all levels.

Yarmouth Summer Tech Course for Teachers

Once again we (Alice Barr & Mike Arsenault and me) are offering a course designed to bring teachers the most recent innovations related to using technology for learning and teaching. The course site is online and is a hybrid of classroom time and online learning on their own. The course is being attended by teams of teachers working on planning for units and ways to use our 1:1 laptops in grades 7-12 and 1:3 in grades 2-6. K-1 teachers are exploring grade level information sites, class blogs and the use of new document cameras in the classroom. The course continues into the Fall and will wrap up on October 22nd with a day long session of sharing projects.

Learning with Laptops

On Friday, March 25th our high school students were invited to present what the laptops at YHS have meant to them in their learning as the Keynote presentation for a Technology Day at SAD 6. The students planned a presentation using the Google Presentation app, working on it whenever they each had a chance. Alice Barr worked on getting the students, coordinating their ideas and making sure that all was ready for Friday. With the entire faculty of SAD 6 gathered the team of students spoke clearly and eloquently about the power and importance of having laptops and technology as integral parts of their high school lives. This is one short video clip, the full video is available.

The rest of the day was sessions for teachers and the students helped me and Alice Barr teach creating Google Sites. While this isn't blog post isn't about Elementary students it is about the investment that Yarmouth students have in incorporating technology into every aspect of their learning. Seeing what that can mean in high school gives me even more impetus to give every elementary student the experiences that will lead them to creative, independent learning with technology.

Yarmouth Goes Google

On March 18th the K12 Technology Team planned and carried out a professional development day at YHS for all faculty and staff. The process of moving from Google Docs and FirstClass Mail to all Google Apps is accelerating as we plan to be using all Google Apps as of April 25th (after April Vacation). Google Education provides numerous tutorials and transition aids to all districts moving to Google Education Domains. Using those materials, and others from colleagues and Google Certified Teachers, we put together a Conference style day that is posted at this site: http://ytechday.yarmouthschools.org.


The reaction has been very positive as to the differentiation that was offered for learners at different points in the transition. We offered 20+ sessions in strands that ranged from Novice to Experienced. We were fortunate to have colleagues from neighboring schools and districts as well as our own faculty offer sessions and twelve YHS students spent all or half of the day assisting presenters and offering help to faculty members. Photos uploaded during the day are posted online.


These were some comments on the Exit slips:

I was a little nervous about the Google inservice day at first, but you all did such a great job explaining everything. It was so nice to have time to work on what we learned that day when we had others there to answer any questions we may have. 

I really enjoyed working with others...we helped and supported each other in a safe environment.  

This was phenomenal. I really didn't realize how much these tools can do. Now I know more about what I don't know. This day helps me to continue with my own learning.   

A very professional day with all of the amenities that one would expect from a conference that we paid lots of money to attend. 

I thought the day was very well planned. I enjoyed learning new things and working with colleagues I don't normally get an opportunity to work with. 

I love the variety of sessions and all the extra help. Lots of energy around this transition! 

A wonderful learning experience!

I appreciated that I could leave a session anytime that I felt that it wasn't what I needed.  

I really enjoyed working with others...we helped and supported each other in a safe environment.  

After much apprehension, I am so excited about creating a website.

 I love the way you always include students - they are such an amazing resource and it's wonderful for them to see us learning, learning, learning.   

We will continue to offer informal and formal learning opportunities for faculty and staff as we move through the coming months. Over 30 Yarmouth faculty will participate in the “Teaching & Learning with Google Tools” course posted at https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/spring-2011-tech/.

Flat Classroom Elementary Pilot Moves Ahead

One of my primary goals for our use of technology at school is to increase communication and collaboration. The Elementary Flat Classroom Pilot project "A Week in the Life..." is becoming a powerful experience of interaction, engagement and learning. Rosie Lenehan's 4th grade class is participating and the students are in the midst of designing multimedia ways to describe their lives in Yarmouth, Maine for students in the other schools and countries. We are working off of a page of Web 2.0 tools and each set of reading buddies is preparing a project to post to their team page in the project wiki.

The focus is on creating a media message that shows an aspect of their daily lives in a manner that is clear, interesting and if possible, interactive. Right now we have teams that are using Animoto and Photopeach which can include photos, captions, background music and selected themes. Viewers can leave comments if they are logged in. Animoto allows short videos as well as photos and "producers" are encouraged to select brief highlights which is an editing skill. Animoto supports education accounts providing me with unlimited space for videos. For both tools the students are using my school email to login with our town zip code so they can access from anywhere and I can moderate their projects. Some students are creating or responding to Voicethreads. This year we have subscriptions for 3rd and 4th grade classes to log in on their own and create projects within the K12 Education domain. This allows more students to be on at a time and group projects can be shared within classes or across the school for comments.

A few students are exploring Simplebooklet using my email and the school account password. This tool looks to have tremendous flexibility from as simple as photo and text to as complex as adding a GarageBand soundtrack or copyright free music as well as videos. The group exploring this tool has taken Flipcam movies and they are editing them to show a view of our school. This tool allows interactivity online so we may be able to use it to compile team projects into on on the final project wiki pages.

This intensive exploration of tools is also a chance to work with students on the idea of concise communication and preparing for a particular audience--other students who do not know about their school and their daily lives. Today Rosie's class will be working on their projects, viewing other projects, leaving comments and communicating with their teams on Edmodo. Gordon Chibroski, a photographer from the Portland Press Herald took these photos in preparation for an article in January about the pilot.


(cross posted at http://elementaryflatclassroom.wordpress.com/)

Year in Review: Teacher Web Pages

Tomorrow is our last full day of school and we have much to celebrate about the school year 2009-2010. From my perspective I am impressed by the progress we have made sharing student learning using teacher web pages. Whether the teacher is using a FirstClass web page, a Blogger blog, a WordPress blog, a Blogmeister blog or our new Yarmouth Google sites they have taken off and are helping each other place videos, student writing and digital photos online. The increase in videos is a result of student use of PhotoBooth and teacher use of our FlipCams. The resulting videos are being posted on SchoolTube or through connecting to our Yarmouth WebApps server.

We have reached the point where a teacher web page with updates displaying student learning is an expectation by parents, teachers and students. There have been many factors that contributed to this. One very important one has been time during faculty meetings and team meetings to learn some of the basics of setup and some options about what is available through a "speed-geeking" session in February. Each week when classes come to the computer lab I get an opportunity to check in with teachers about questions or support for adding media to the classroom web pages. This might be testing the new Flash uploader for sets of photos on a WordPress post, creating an iPhoto web page, a Photopeach slideshow, recording student voices on a Voicethread or finding classes to Skype with around the country.

As we start to think about next year my goals include having students use the cameras to record learning events and even help with the uploading for viewing via. a web link. I know for myself that it is a challenge to keep a blog or web page up-to-date. As we all develop and become comfortable with some simple procedures for posting it becomes easier to keep things current. A goal for myself is to continue to work on the YES Technology site and more frequent updates there about what we are learning each month.

YES Student Surveys

Recently I asked the students in grades 2, 3, & 4 to respond to a survey about learning in the Computer Lab. The survey was designed to give me feedback on my teaching as well as what activities we do in the Computer Lab might be engaging enough for them to continue use at home or away from school.

The survey took the students 5-10 minutes and there have been 213 responses from three classes at each grade. Most of the students responded that they like to use the computer to learn (Yes ~ 69%, Sometimes ~ 30%, No ~ 3%). They listed a number of things they like to do in the lab, most of which were activities we have done in the past few weeks: Google Earth, Timez Attack, Clicker Paint, Math Sites, Arctic Activities, and of course, "playing games". Other short comments included that they like to "learn with the teacher on what we are learning on in class", "study stuff like science and all of the other stuff" and that "you are allowed to use very advanced technology".

The questions about whether I help them learn and whether I help if they need help had positive responses, but there were more "Sometimes" responses than I would have expected (Yes ~ 72%, Sometimes ~ 29%, No ~ 3%). I can tell from the response sheets that a few students selected both Yes and Sometimes. I am curious about the Sometimes responses as combined with the No responses because they are where I would like to improve. I may be able to have conversations with students about these. I also wonder if it would have been a clearer result if the students only had "Yes" or "No" as choices.

In response to the question about what they wished we would do more of in the computer lab the responses mirrored the list of activities they like: Google Earth, Math & Reading, Free Choice, Games, Clicker Paint, Writing, Science, Typing, and "more of what we want".

A few students responded to the open-ended option to tell me anything they wanted. Some of the unedited responses are below:

• I like playing a game on math that is called seed ball.
• Computer lab is fun.I also very much enjoy typing.It is very fun.
• No. I think computer time is good
• i also like multiplication  baseball.
• computer lab is perfect for me and I don't think it could be better. 
• Well  I  like  computers a  little  and that  is it.There  is nothing else really.
• I want to do more fun things in comeputer!
• You are a great teacher
• I wish we could type more in AppleWorks 6
• I love  to  be  in  the  lab. play  on  the  computer  in  the lab.
• I wish we could play more games, and go on AppleWorks 6 and type more things cause i love typeing and writing!!!!!
• i like computer lab
• i have fun doing a lot of games it is so fun.
• i like computer
• I need you to help me more
• You are a spaktakeler  computer teacher and you shall always stay. Thanks for doing all the thinks you do. Thanks again.  
• I wish we could go play more Arctic Games and go on AppleWorks 6 and type more and more and more things because I love writing/typing thanks.
• can we watch videos.
• I think we should play more games because sometimes we only work and computer lab is a special so we  should be able to play games and stuff like that
• your a wonderful teacher
• I just Love computer Lab.
• Your AWSOME.
• dear mrs wolinsky you are the coolest teacher in the YES school.
• you are a Great teacher
• Computer class is fun!!! just maybe we should have more time to explore.
• I like how you work the lab and what we do.
• I think you are a awesome teacher and you teach me a lot.
• Are their more thing that can help us with math?
• I wish we did more storys were we draw then write a story aboutit and the computer reads the story we made.
• Yes, can we do the website on the close ups on the bugs?
• And, can we have some more free time on the school website and on multiplatin?
• I like to play games.
• Can we please do more art
• I just want you 2 know that you are really good at your job and that I love being in your computer class.
• that i like a lot  of stuff that is going on in computer.
• Computer is my favorite subject.
• Computer lab is my second favorite subject in school.
• You are the best computer teacher in the whole world in my mind
• Thank you for being a great computer teacher this year. I also think its very nice you teach us stuff about the computers and how you help us whenever we need your help. Im glad i have you as my computer teacher for these  three years. thank you for all your help.

In all, the survey confirms my impression that most students like learning in the lab and find me available as needed. It's useful to see what students like about what we do and it's not surprising that they would like more free time and free choice. I enjoy their candid responses to the open-ended questions and look forward to more conversations with them during classes. 

What do I do?

Recently I had an inquiry from another school district asking what we do around technology to prepare our elementary students for 1-1 in grades 7-12. After I wrote the response I realized it might be a blog entry:

In the eighteen years that I have been in this position we have gone through many generations of equipment, but we have maintained a consistent philosophy of using technology as a tool for increased learning opportunities for all students. My own journey with technology started in the 1980s with first graders using Delta Drawing and in a staff development role with districts using the newly developed Bank Street College Voyage of the Mimi curriculum with middle school students.

In our district the budgetary focus for new equipment for the last 6 years has been on providing one to one in grades 9-12 (this follows the state provision of 1-1 in grades 7 & 8). Until this fall we had a lab of 24 desktop computers and 2 carts of laptops for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th graders at Yarmouth Elementary School. This year we were able to move equipment from the high school to our students in  grades 2-6 so now our 300+ students have a lab of MacBooks and 4 carts of 24 MacBooks that can be used in classrooms. All teachers have a MacBook, each classroom has a set of 2 iBooks and we have a projector for every 2 teachers. We have additional iBooks that can be borrowed from the Library for small group projects. Each classroom has a digital camera and microphone for recording, some have document projectors and tablets. We also have Flipcams, video cameras and digital cameras that can be borrowed from the Library. Learning Centers have additional computers for student use. Across the district we have wireless connectivity from all learning settings and networked printers.

Teachers plan the weekly lessons in the lab with me, either as a grade level team or individually, so that they mesh with classroom learning. We have overall guidelines based on the ISTE Student Standards focused on using technology primarily for communication, collaboration and creativity. I coteach the lessons in the lab with the teachers or I go into their classrooms when they are using the laptop carts. I maintain a set of resource pages that connect with the math, writing, reading, spelling, science and social studies topics taught at each grade level.

I support teachers creating classroom web pages and blogs as ways to give students an audience for their learning and accomplishments. These teacher/classroom pages are posted on the Teacher Pages on our school web site. I assist the Specialists in using technology during Library, Music and Art classes and I am available to anyone in the building who needs assistance with PowerSchool (our student information system), FirstClass (our school email system), curriculum planning and other times that technology is involved in our work.

I am at the Elementary School 3 days a week and work directly with all 15 classes. The other 2 days a week I am at our high school. We have 3 instructional technology integrators in our district. We often combine to support staff development for all teachers and administrators in the district. We teach a 3 credit graduate course in the district that meets for three days in June, continues into the fall and then finishes with individual presentations of lessons or units during an October class. Teachers receive credit which counts toward salary scale advancement and/or recertification.

The variety of my days and the opportunities to collaborate, learn and modify instruction for students are all reasons to continue my pursuit of this wonderful vocation.

Login, Play & Learn

Fourth graders have been creating Cyberchase accounts at http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games.html so that they can keep track of their scores and progress with selected Cyberchase math & science games. Students challenge themselves to improve their skills as the play more games. In addition to the challenging games, the process of creating a user name and password is part of our conversation about Internet Safety. Students practice creating a unique user name and private password with a password reminder question that can help them retrieve a forgotten password.

Yarmouth Learning & Technology Course 09

Twenty Yarmouth educators joined us at http://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/summer-2009-tech/Home for three days of Google accounts, Diigo bookmarks, Voicethread interactions and shared Google docs as ways to increase communication and collaboration. Thanks to the Yarmouth students who helped individual teachers with questions and served as sounding boards for ideas about expanding our uses of Web 2.0 in the classroom.