The Scoop on Periscope

Have you ever wanted to share a live video but didn't want to use Facebook live? Well you should check out Periscope. Periscope is a video broadcast app that allows its users to post live videos. People have the opportunity to view the broadcasts as they're happening or they can be seen later. Using the Periscope app anyone can create an account which allows you to post and watch videos. While you're broadcasting a video, you are able to see a stream of comments people post while they're watching. If a comment is rude or not appropriate the presenter can block a comment. All comments are visible to anyone watching the video. Viewers also have the option to share hearts as the presenter is speaking, which show that they like what is being said.

I have only see Periscope be used for educational purposes. I follow teachers from the Ron Clark Academy who post regularly about lessons they have taught. Often times they use the live video to show you around the classroom if there was a room transformation involved. Periscope provides a cool opportunity to gain insight into what other teachers across the country are doing in their classrooms. I have learned a lot about how to plan unique and engaging lessons from watching various Periscopes.

When I have my own classroom I want to use Periscope to show others what I am doing in my room. I can post videos to share how I decided to set up my classroom, as well as any awesome lessons I have taught. If we are presenting a final project or having a classroom event that I want parents to be able to check out, I can start a live video so they can have the opportunity be included in what is happening inside the classroom.

References:
[Untitled image of Periscope logo]. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from https://invictaministries.org/periscope-app/

iPad Lesson 1

For my first iPad lesson I used the app myON. MyON is an educational reading app and website that many schools purchase to help their students increase their reading abilities. In order to access the books through their app and/or website you need to have a username and password. Since you have to pay for a subscription it may not be feasible for you to use this program with your students if your school has not purchased the program. When you log onto myON for the first time it directs you to a interest survey, where students have to choose how they feel about various genres of books. The scale is represented with smiley faces. Once the students have completed the survey and saved the information they will have to take a reading quiz to assess their reading abilities. From their quiz results the program will select books that are at an appropriate instructional reading level for that child. Upon completion of the quiz the student will be free to begin reading. They can choose from various options such as recommended books, genres, and favorites. Students can also type in a book they want to read to see if it is in the system. When a student chooses a book they click read this book and when they click play the iPad or computer will read the book aloud to the student. As the book is read the sentence the automated voice is reading highlights orange and then each individual word turns black. This is a great feature that allows students to not only listen but follow along with the words. If the student doesn't want the book to read to them they can turn off that feature. The book does not automatically turn pages, it is up to the student to click on the next page. Another cool feature of myON is that is tracks the number of hours students spend reading.

The focus for my first lesson was questioning. RL.2.1 was the common core standard covered in this lesson which focuses on the student being able to ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and how in order to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. The essential question was: I can read a story and answer questions to show my understanding. Besides the iPad other materials included a pencil and comprehension question sheet. Five questions were on the comprehension sheet that helped engage the reader in developing a deeper understanding the of the text just read. The five questions were: Who are the characters?, What is the story mainly about?, Where does the story take place?, When does the story take place?, How did the story begin?

The lesson began by introducing the concept of asking questions as you read and I asked her why she thinks good readers ask questions. Next, I showed her the comprehension question sheet and we read through the questions and discusses them. We then went on myON and she was able to choose a book she wanted to read. She decided to choose a book that she has read before. The title of the book was, Sofia the First: The Amulet and the Anthem. When she opened the book up and downloaded it to the iPad we began reading. She chose the read aloud option so for each page the story read to her. The first time through the story we just listened and I didn't add in any teaching points or make comments about the story we were reading. After hearing the story once, we read through the comprehension question sheet again. This time I told her to pay special attention now as we listen to the story again and as we read I want her to pause the story when she finds an answer to one of the questions. We completed the comprehension sheet during the second reading and not all of the questions were answered in order. We worked on answering them as they appeared in the story.

Throughout the lesson I noticed that creating complete sentences was one of her weaknesses as well as spelling. She was able to articulate the answer but when it came time to write it down she often struggled. I would help her work through her thoughts in order to put down an answer that matched what she would say aloud. As we read through the story the second time working to fill out the question sheet she did a great job with finding the answers within the story and pausing the story when she came across new information to fill in. A teaching point focused on using the words from the question to help us create the beginning of our complete sentence as well as using the words provided to help us with the spelling. I made sure that if the word was in the book or in the question she spelled it correctly. We also worked on making sure we had capital letters in the correct places within our sentences and that we ended with the correct punctuation.

Overall I thought that this iPad lesson was very successful. She was able to listen to a story read aloud which is a great way for her to hear fluency and learn to recognize words within stories. She had a good understanding of the story because she was familiar with it already. We worked through the question sheet together, because she is still not as a level where she can independently complete it. I would recommend myON to anyone who is working with students. It is a great program that allows students of any reading ability to improve their skills. It is tailored to what students need and provides students with a variety of books to read on their own or hear read aloud. I will definitely continue using this app to work with my student as she works on developing her literacy skills.

References:
[Image of book cover]. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.capstonedigital

[Image of myON logo]. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.capstonedigital

Tweeting Our Way Into The Classroom

Twitter is a 21st century social media platform. This social media site can be accessed through apps and online. Twitter acts as a blog in a way, allowing its users to share their thoughts by tweeting messages that are 140 characters or less. Once you tweet your message, if you have a private account anyone who is following your account can see it. If your account is not private anyone on twitter can see what you wrote. Twitter encourages the use of hashtags as well. By using a hashtag in your post you are able to direct your message to similar tweets about the same topic. If you click on a hashtag you will be able to see all tweets that have used the same topic in their message.

Twitter is often used by people as a way to keep up with what their friends. However, despite what many people may believe, Twitter can play an important role in the life of an educator. Along with following friends accounts, you can follow other accounts related to topics you're interested. As a graduate student working towards my masters in literacy, I follow various educational accounts. Such accounts include, High Point University, edutopia, Reading Rockets, and NC Public Schools. These are just a few of the educational accounts that I have chosen to follow. By following them I am able to see continual information posted that relates to my interests as an educator. If there is something I feel compelled to share with my followers, I can retweet what the account has tweeted themselves. Sometimes your newsfeed can become overwhelming when following both personal and professional accounts. This issue leads me directly to my next point.

TweetDeck is a wonderful extension of Twitter that allows you to create a sense and order to your Twitter newsfeed. Instead of displaying one page, TweetDeck is organized into columns. Each column displays something different such as your profile, notifications, messages, etc. You have the freedom to add additional columns to help make your account personalized for your needs. When you click "Add column", a page pops up that displays 15 various options for your new column. For my TweetDeck, I like to use the collection and list option. When you choose collection you are creating a column that displays tweets relating to a specific topic, such as education. When you scroll through your newsfeed and come across a tweet you really like and want to add it to your column all you have to do is click the three small dots on the bottom of the tweet then select, add to collection. From there you can select which collection to add it to, if you've created more than one. Once you have tweets in your collection you have the option to share your collection with others. This is a great way for others interested in the same topics as you to easily view the tweets you found valuable regarding a central theme. When you create a list, it is similar to creating a collection. You create a title and then add users to the list. The tweets from the users you select will appear in this new column. You also have the option to embed your list onto your Twitter page. It will appear under lists and anyone who follows you can view things you have pined or retweeted from the accounts you follow, relating to the theme of your list.

In the future I plan to expand my use of Twitter for educational purposes. Using TweetDeck will be a great way for me to organize what I see on my timeline. I will continually follow more reputable educational sources in order to have a wide variety of information on my timeline. Twitter can help me become more aware of what is going on in the educational world, while informing me on best practices that have been researched and now shared on this social media platform. My main goal is to use Twitter as a way to help me as an educator stay in the loop about the latests and greatest trends when it comes to education.

References:
[TweetDeck logo]. Retrieved January 21, 2017, from http://keywordsuggest.org/gallery/667783.html

[Twitter logo]. Retrieved January 21, 2017, from https://www.webceo.com/blog/how-to-keep-monitoring-twitter-popularity-despite-the-tweet-count-api-deprecation/