The 8th Grade Science teachers at Grandview Middle School are flipping their classes!  Using her iPad, a free app called Teach by Knowmia, and Edmodo, Ms. Williams creates her own instructional videos that students can use to increase their knowledge on their own time. For her videos, she uploads a PowerPoint presentation into the Knowmia app on her iPad and creates engaging videos by adding voice-recordings and annotations to present the information. Ms. Williams attaches her completed videos to her Edmodo group for students to watch and learn.  One student even thanked her via Edmodo for the extra learning opportunity saying that it “really helped” him understand Matter!  You can watch one of her videos by clicking the image above.

Teach by Knowmia is a free app on the iPad that allows the user to create amazing instructional videos complete with voiceover and annotations in order to teach students concepts. Using Teach, you can turn your PowerPoint and Google Slides presentations into engaging instructional videos!  Edmodo is an online learning platform where students and teachers can interact, collaborate, and create/complete assignments 24 hours a day!  For more information on flipping your classroom, the Teach by Knowmia app for iPad, or Edmodo, please contact Mary Cordry, Pia Rosimo-Lee, or Diane Stephanchick.

Mary Cordry

Third graders in Mr. Norgren's class experienced a different way of getting to know each other at the beginning of the year, by creating an all about me video through an app called Educreations.  Students filled out an all about me worksheet then were introduced to the Educreations app on the iPads and were asked to pick their favorite things to share to the class. When they were finished, they each connected to Apple TV and shared their creations to their classmates with a popcorn party! Each student was highly engaged throughout the entire process as they might not have been if handed a piece of paper to do this project.

Check out Hailey's, Zarea's and Allison's All About Me Educreations. All are unique and fun depending on their personalities.

Educreations is a unique interactive whiteboard and screencasting tool that's simple, powerful, and fun to use. Annotate, animate, and narrate nearly any type of content as you explain any concept. Teachers can create short instructional videos and share them instantly with students, or ask students to show what they know and help friends learn something new.  Educreations have been added to all student iPads to use this year.

If you are interested in learning more about Educreations, go to our Educreations Information page full of technology integration ideas, templates for planning, tutorials, and examples.

Diane Stephanchick

The District's Instructional Coaches recently learned how to use the iPad app iMovie while participating in the new Apple Vanguard Program. iMovie is a great way to increase engagement in the classroom and opens the door to lots of possible activities not available otherwise. 

After learning how to create an iMovie, coaches discussed possible uses for the tool for teachers and students. Some of the ideas included;

• Student created book trailers
• Teacher created trailers to introduce a new unit/concept 
• Students created visual reports to demonstrate understanding
• Teacher created instructional videos to flip the classroom

During the Vanguard training GMS Coach DeeAnn Moore created an iMovie to introduce students to plate tectonics. The video will be used at the start of the unit as a way to introduce the concept and get students thinking and talking. You can view her video here.

The Instructional Technology Department recently spent a week working to make iMovie available on all district iPads. If the app is not currently there, it soon will be. In addition, students at the high school will eventually receive the Mac version of the program as well. If you are interested in using iMovie in your classroom, please don't hesitate to contact us for support.

Scott Sisemore

ThingLink takes the use of visuals to support teaching and learning to another level. With ThingLink, you can present images to your class with embedded text, links to websites, music, videos, and more. It is a great tool for making your images come alive! 

Dana Bedwell, teacher at Grandview High School, learned how to create interactive images from a training session we offered this summer. She created a ThingLink image of a human body and provided additional information of the different parts with text and links to other websites. She also included a short quiz using Google Forms. See the ThingLink image she created below. 

For her nutrition unit, she's creating a similar ThingLink image with text, links, and a Google Forms quiz.

For more information about using ThingLink in education and to see examples, go to this link. To create your own ThingLink education account and start creating interactive images, go to this link.

There are many ways to use ThingLink with the different stages of the SAMR model. For more information on using "ThingLink Through the SAMR Lens", go to this link.

Pia Rosimo-Lee (pia.rlee@grandviewc4.net)