Plan of Implementation: iBook Author

This school year I am going to focus on using iBook Author in my classroom.  I currently teach 7th and 8th grade social studies and I would like to use it with both grade levels.  While attending the Kodiak Virtual Learning conference, I learned how powerful this tool is.  It will be a great way to have kids show what they know in a in an authentic format.

The biggest challenge I am having in planning the use of this technology is deciding how I can get the biggest impact from it.  I have several ideas,  some of which rely on buy-in from the rest of my team.  For instance, we have thrown around the idea of implementing a school-wide Genius Hour and I think creating ibooks as the final format would be very powerful.  Until, however, I can get back with my team and share all my ideas, I will instead focus on a plan of implementation that I can control.

7th grade project
Step 1
I Do, You Do: Student Handbook
First Month of School

At the Kodiak Conference we had the opportunity to work with Sally Eberhart.  I really appreciated the way she taught us to use the iAuthor tool.  Sally had all of the clips, photos, text, movies, etc., all ready for us to use.  Because of this, we were able to concentrate on how to use the tool and not be distracted by surfing the net to find what we wanted.  I think this is especially important for teaching kids!  Everyone knows how distracted they can become then a laptop gets placed in front of them.

I am planning on using the content in our school handbook as a teaching tool for how to use iAuthor.
I will send all of the students the content and use the I Do, We Do, You Do method of teaching how to use the tool.  The creation of the handbook with likely take the better part of a week, and it will be one of the first things we do in class.

Step 2
You Do: Where I live Unit
Every couple of weeks throughout the school year.

The next step of the plan will take the better part of the school year to develop.  My plan is to pause after each standard is taught and have the student's apply their knowledge of the standard in  creating sections of an ibook about Metlakatla.  The book will include the following sections:

• Geography
• Government
• Culture
• Economics
• History
• Citizenship: My place in my community

Step 3

Collaboration

May

At the end of the year each student will be a charge of a section of the book; pulling information from  their classmates, finding/taking photos, adding video clips, creating quizzes and using all the various aspects of iAuthor.

In the end we will have a collaborative book that describes Metlakatla.  The ibook will be published and shared with students from other states.

Virtual Teaching

My original reflection about the Kodiak Island Virtual Learning Conferences was written before I left on a month long trip in a truck camper.  John and I drove about 4,000 miles around the United States, visiting family and enjoying the open road.  It was a fantastic trip and one of the best parts about it was how unplugged I was.  Being unplugged, however, made be really reflect on technology in our classrooms and the idea of virtual teaching.

I have been very torn about the use, and in some cases over use, of technology in today's classrooms. Sure it is a reality we can not ignore, and sure kids need to have the skills survive our technology driven world, but when do our kids get to unplug? Basically, my month in a camper, driving around the United States made me aware of two things when it comes to virtual teaching.  They are not new concepts, but important ones.  First, kids need time built into the school environment to unplug and decompress. Second, any use of technology weather it be through a virtual classroom or a brick and mortar building must be authentic and not just a way to fill time.

I truly believe that it is imperative that we explicitly teach our kids how and when to unplug.  Did I miss my lost iPhone when I was hiking around Garden of the Gods, Colorado?  No. But I am dismayed to think that many of my students would be; driven more by the need to Snapchat and Instram their experience instead of actually living the experience.  My point with all of this, is that I realized how important it is to teach kids how to disconnect from technology.  One way to do this is to make sure that our use of technology in schools is authentic.

I have become very dismayed at how much time our students are connected to their technology with no educational goal connected to that time.  I look around before school, during lunch, and unfortunately even during classroom instructional time and I see kids randomly texting, surfing the net, taking selfies, and playing games.  Even in school we are using technology as a way to pacify kids.  We purchase reading programs and games that are supposed to support the standards and raise test scores.  Show me the data that says its working.

I am not anti technology in the classroom.  I am excited to develop the use of ibook this year.  I think it will be a powerful tool, but I also plan to advocate we devote as much time as possible to teaching kids how to unplug.

I finally have some time to post!  We left Wenatchee, WA early on the 25th of June and are now in Silt, Co.  We will make it to Colorado Springs in the morning to see my 95 year old grandma.  

Although we are certainly rookie truck camper owners, the trip has been great so far; full of scenic vistas in complete juxtaposition to what we see in Alaska. The traveling is much slower with a 4,000 pound camper on the back of the truck, and we spent a lot of time in the slow lane.  That, however, is what the trip is all about.  

Leaving Wenatchee we became a bit worried about the wurring sound the engine seemed to be making.  After making several stops, and talking to a couple very nice mechanics, we ended up at Powerhouse Diesel in Pendleton, OR. The owner and mechanic, Mike, sure knows his diesel trucks.  John took him for a ride and Mike plugged his computer into the dash.  After a short time Mike assured John that, "Your truck is just being badass."  Apparently, all turbo diesel Ford 350's make that sound when the temperatures are pushing 100 degrees. Hmmm.  Good news.  He checked everything else and assured us we were good to go.

With all the stops, we made it just northwest of Boise for the night at an RV park called Country Corner.  Although the place was full, the owner was kind enough to let us pull into a spot without hookups and even cut a limb off a tree so we could fit our crazily tall camper under the tree.  Being self contained is certainly nice. The next day we drove past through Salt Lake City, and finally pulled off for the night at Yuma Lake State Park.  It was pretty dry and dusty, but beautiful just the same.  

That takes us to today.  We wound our way through incredibly beautiful country.  We took hwy 50 out of Scipio, Ut, and hooked up with I-70.  Although John was not fond of the cliff edges, it was truly magnificent country.  What a world we are blessed to live in.  

 

Now we are now sitting beside the Colorado River in a KOA campground where we can hook up to power and water.  We are enjoying the fact that we chose a camper with AC and may even venture out when the temperatures drop just a bit.

Cheers.

Shannon

Welcome!

I have been contemplating starting a blog for some time now.  I read plenty of them, and have often thought it's a great way to give and receive information with average folks like me.  John and I recently attended a conference in Kodiak, Alaska sponsored by AKTEACH.  It was a fabulous experience and one of the follow up assignments is to post several reflections on a blog.  As a result, I have finally been forced to pull the trigger and create one of our own.

Thanks for joining us.

Shannon Hudson