Using Document Cameras to Improve Student Learning

Marco Torres talks about focusing on the Verbs, not the Nouns. This is not an easy task when planning the roll out of a Tech Levy. Lots of talk about equipment, wiring, furniture etc. How many computers in each room? Where and how should we mount projectors? Who gets what when? These are all important considerations, but we need to remember that the real focus needs to be on what we are going to DO with these new resources? How can we best use these resources to meet the needs of learners. One THING on our list of equipment we would like to eventually have as a standard in every classroom is a document camera. A document camera, for those unfamiliar with this technology, is basically a small camera mounted on a stand which is hooked up to an LCD projector. A presenter is able to place objects or documents under the camera and project its image onto a screen for the audience to see. It functions somewhat like an overhead projector on steroids. However, a document camera offers enormous advantages over an overhead projector. Ask most any teacher with a document camera if they would be willing to give up their document camera and go back to using an overhead projector and you will most likely hear a list of reasons of why that would not be a good move. The capabilities of the document camera far outweigh the capabilities of the overhead projector. Instead of giving you my own list, I have asked others to share how they are using document cameras to improve student learning. The list is long and limited only to imagination. So why don't we already have a document camera in every classroom? Initial cost is probably the most prominent answer. Currently, a document camera can be purchased for around $400. But in order to project the camera, you also need a projector. Making the initial cost about $1000. The projector is a valuable tool in itself, and the list of potential uses for improving student learning with just a projector and computer is also endless. Teachers will also tell you that with clever use of document cameras and projectors, you can save huge amounts on paper and printing, as many activities and assignments that would have to be printed so that all could participate, can now be displayed on the projector for all to see. For me, the power is in student interaction and accountability and the increased opportunities for sharing and collaborating with others. Teachers will tell you, that when they use their document cameras as more than an overhead projector on steroids, it is transforming for student learning and engagement.

Here are a few resources with ideas of how to use document cameras in class.


Teaching Tips For Using a Document Camera
(Lots of great resources and lists of ideas from this link.)

Document Cameras in the Classroom

Classroom Uses for the Document Camera

Are Document Cameras the Next Big Thing?

Document Camera Ideas Handout


I asked my Professional Learning Network on Twitter and Plurk for their ideas about using a document camera to improve student learning.

February 365 Photos of the Day

Week 23: Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge

This week's challenge is a great tool for creating books. Mixbook lets you create online picture books using your pictures and words and their creative scrap-booking materials. Books can be made with students artwork, photos of Science experiments, field trip stories etc. The tool is free to use and the digital stories can be shared by e-mail or embedding in blogs, wikis or class websites. You can order printed copies of the book for a price. These make great gifts or additions to class or school libraries. Mixbook provides an educators section where teachers can create and edit in a secure online environment and receive discounts on printed materials. As those of you know who have been following these challenges. I love collaboration tools. You can create your own Mixbook, or you can invite others to join in collaborating on your mixbook.

Here is a book I created using Mixbook.



Click here to learn more about creating Mixbooks.

Week 23 Challenge:

1. Register for a Mixbook Educator's Account.
2. Choose to have your book viewable to everyone.
3. Invite me to collaborate on your book. (mthornburgh@mv.k12.wa.us) (I will use this to embed your book on our challenge page.)
4. Create a Mixbook sharing student learning.
5. Share your book with me and others.
6. I will post all books shared on this site and will draw a winner on March 25.

My friend Sylvia Tolisano has created a great tutorial about creating a Mixbook. Check out her tutorial for step by step instructions.

Our Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge Site

Give Math a Voice

After the scare of leaving my power cord in the hotel and being saved by the fact that my presentation was available online via Google Docs and the generous Becky Firth sharing her computer with me for the session, the session went well.


I shared a little about the history of creating MathCasts and how VoiceThreads worked. The focus was on sharing ideas about how teachers could use these tools to engage students in conversations about math and improve student learning. I shared lots of examples, asked for brainstorming and ideas from the audience and then invited teachers to share their ideas on a VoiceThread. Again, it was an action packed hour. I am hoping that as teachers have a chance to reflect, they will add more ideas to the VoiceThread.

Presentation Wiki

Connect, Create and Collaborate with Google Tools

This session was a lot of fun as I got to share the power of using Google Collaborative tools. Most teachers had used Google Docs to create and store their own work. Kind of like a flash drive in the clouds. But very few had used the tools to collaborate with their peers or with students. I shared lots of resources and ideas. And then we actually had a chance to try our hand at collaborating on a few projects. In the first project, I asked everyone to share something that they had learned at the conference on a Google Presentation slide. I was able to invite teachers to join because at the beginning, I had asked them to fill out a form including their e-mail address. I was able to go into the Google Spreadsheet and easily copy the list of e-mails and paste them into the share part of our Google Presentation. This was the first time I tried to gather e-mail addresses in this way and it worked slick for gathering info at a session like this. At the end, we had just a few minutes to explore collaborating with a Google Map. I had teachers post a placemark and share what type of innovative and engaging uses of technology they were using in their district to improve student learning. Great hands on fun and a glimpse into how easy it can be to collaborate using Google Tools.

Presentation Wiki

View Larger Map

Discovery Educator Network NCCE Event with Reed Timmer

Lots of fun and networking was had at this DEN Event on Thursday night. It was wonderful to see so many DEN members and STARS. We were even blessed with a few STARS all the way from California. What fun to have both Jannita Demian and Dennis Grice at the event. Lots of great sharing and dreaming of what to do next happened during the event. We all had the chance to meet Reed Timmer from Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers. He has lots of amazing stories to tell. He is a great example of how being in to Science can take you to amazing places. We were entertained and inspired more by Reed Timmer when he presented the closing Keynote on Friday. He shared lots of harrowing clips that proved that he has to be a little bit crazy to do what he does. I thought it was great how he emphasized that what he does adds to scientific research and saves lives.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

If you have photos to add to the collection. Just tag them with NCCEDEN09 in Flickr.

Thanks DEN for hosting such a fun event.

NCCE Day 1: February 19

Thursday was officially the first day of the conference, but I already had 2 very full days of learning and networking under my belt by that time.

Peer Coaching Birds of a Feather Session:

The room was packed with Peer Coaches and Mentees from Cadre 1 and Cadre 2. We heard about the success and the challenges of the work we have done so far and were given information about the Cadre 3 Grant. Applications are open for Cadre 3 . This is a 2 year program focusing on using peer coaching to enhance and embed meaningful technology into content learning. Not only do you learn more about using technology in your classroom, you build your skills as a peer coach and gain funding for technology for both you and the person you are mentoring. This grant is for teachers who are tech savvy, but you don't have to be an expert, just willing to learn and share with others. I highly recommend planning to do this within your content area so that you can build on your School Improvement plan and PLCs instead of just adding one more thing. We have been told that there will be positions available for all qualified applicants through the stimulus package. Information and the application can be found here .

Before the keynote started. I was very surprised and honored to be awarded the NCCE Technology Educator of the Year. It was fun to see the power of my PLN (Professional Learning Network) as news spread to the other side of the country via Twitter, before I even got back to my seat. This was quite and honor and I really appreciate those in the Mount Vernon School district who honored me by sending in letters of nomination.

The Opening Keynote was Debra Pickering, coauthor of Classroom Instruction the Works. This book has been like as a bible in our district as we have focused on high yeild learning strategies. Debra stated that these strategies are really better named "High Probability Strategies" because nothing works best in every situation. You have to know your students and watch for results. She emphasised that we should be focused on the learning goals. Not the tools. She asks are students attending to technology, or is technology enhancing their engagement in learning? When students are focused on the learning goals, the do better than if they focus on the activity. She had several examples of how we have focused on activities instead of learning. One such example was the celebration of "Mole Day" in Chemistry classes. Here are some examples I found on Flickr . Projects must meet learning targets. No Electronic Dioramas. Focus on Learning Goals. To emphasise the point that technology has to be purposeful to improve student learning Pickering showed a sketch from Saturday Night Live where an Interactive White Board was not being used in a purposeful way.

After the whirlwind days and sessions so far, I decided to do something a little less heady in the afternoon. NCCE has been doing a Geocaching activity at their conference for several years, in fact, I first was introduced to geocaching at NCCE in Seattle about 5 years ago. Organizers had set up a puzzle cache around the area of the convention center. There were 8 caches to find. At each cache there was a paper punch with a different design. When you had found all of the caches. There would be one spot/design left without a punch. This design had a combination code for opening a treasure chest. Inside were lots of goodies plus you could enter to win a $300 gas card. Didn't win the card, but enjoyed the caching. I loved the simple idea of hiding the paper punches to complete a puzzle cache. There are so many great applications from using Geocaching and GPS receivers in classrooms. Here are a few.

NCCE Admin/IT Summit

On Wednesday, I attended an all day Tech Summit designed for district technology leaders. There was quite a large group there from a variety of districts throughout the region. We began with lively panel discussion moderated by Tim Lauer, where issues of filtering and blocking seem to be the heated point. The balance between protecting the infrastructure, following the law and allowing as much access to the real world as possible is always a heated topic.

Some of the key ideas in the panel discussion were as follows.

• high touch,high tech, flexibility, accessibility
• a good tool gets out of the users way.
• parents that have options will choose the schools w/ project based learning, rich experiences, parents w/0 options will have students in schools that are focused on learning core subjects in traditional ways.
  
• tech is not the core. excellent teachers and leadership is the core
• all students needs are addressed
• balance between success in core curriculum, and creativity, learning skills
• differentiated instruction, multiple paths for students to get there.
• hands on better than drill in kill
• learning is messy
• kids are involved as partners in their learning
• ubiquitous access whenever needed
• leaders who give teachers permission to be innovative
  
• digital citizenship
• authentic audiences

Most of the day was spent in groups with like sized districts exploring 5 essential questions.

1. Equity: How do 21st century schools meet the needs of diverse learners?

There was, of course, discussion about provided equitable and sufficient amounts of technology accessible to all students. But the meat of the conversation seemed to be about providing equitable instruction for all students. There is a real concern that even with access to equipment in classrooms, students are not getting equal access due to inequities in teacher training and or willingness to use equipment. Action steps included connecting students to resources both in school and in the community. Peer coaching to help teachers gain capacity and learn new skills. Leadership that encourages professional development for all in the areas of 21st Century Learning Skills.

2. Infrastructure: What are the elements of an infrastructure that meets the needs of 21st century schools?

Ideas discussed in this session had to do with focusing on the adaptability, scalability and reliability of technology in schools. We tend to jump at what is available, but not necessarily look to the future of how it is going to work in the system as a whole. We need to think beyond the classroom. Technology is a whole system. We need to think how everything works together including the home to school connection. Tech needs to modular and flexible to adapt to the needs of the system.

3. Data: How is data used in 21st century schools to improve learning and school performance?

In this session we talked about what is important to consider in data collection. Data must be easy to use to get the right data. There must be integrity of the data. Data must be well organized. It needs to be an important form of communication.

4. Leadership: What are the characteristics and actions of 21st century school leaders?

In the area of leadership. We talked about the need for leaders to have a shared vision. (Get the big idea.) They need to be technologically agile leading by example and participating in initiatives. The focus must be on the doing and the skills and not the stuff. It is more than a budget issue. Technology should not be compartmentalized. It should be expected to be embedded in all areas of learning . Leaders should be sharing success stories and encouraging innovation.

5. Policy: What policies need to be in place to leverage the power of technology effectively in today's schools?

We were short on time for this session, but we talked a little about the Washington State legislation that would require all districts to have an online learning component. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=5410

The power in the day for me was getting to know other educators and hearing issues and solutions from around the region.

Marco Torres: Focus on the Verbs

Back from a great week of learning and finally finding time to do some much needed reflection and sharing. It is funny how a week can take on a theme even when it wasn't planned that way. The theme of this week was definitely focusing on the verbs, not the nouns. This was a phrase I first heard Marco Torres say on Tuesday during my "Tuesday with Marco" day. I think that for me, it set my focus and kept me on the look out for that theme in conversations, sessions and reading throughout the week. I hadn't originally planned to go to the ITSC conference in Portland, but when I learned that Marco Torres would be presenting on Tuesday and I was planning on being in Portland a day later anyway for NCCE, I jumped at the chance to add a day to my agenda. I am so glad that I did. I have been inspired by Marco Torres' work for years as he has been a great model of teaching, expecting nothing but the best from students that most people would just write off due to their lack of resources and socio-economic conditions. He takes these bright minds and shows them that there is a way to be successful, creative and love what you do. I was most impressed with his assistant Rosa Ruvalcaba. She is a former student of his who has gone on to get a Master's degree and partner with other past graduates to start their own video and web production company. Not only was she very bright and well educated, she has had the opportunities that allow her to make choices to do what she really loves.

The first session I attended was on taking photos to tell amazing stories. One big idea I learned is when taking photos to tell a story, be sure to take Wide/Where shots, Mid/Verb shots and close up/ tight shots that explain and give detail. There is a grammar to photography. These same ideas work with telling a story with video. Torres stressed the importance of leading kids to be metacognative thinking through product and process. We then got in the technical stuff about taking good photos, talking about light, composition, aperture, shutter speed, etc. I just had my little point and shoot with me and it was interesting to spend time exploring the different settings and pushing that little camera to its limits.

Torres rushed from that 3 hour session to a keynote. Again, his keynote did not fail to inspire. His main message was that you are not alone. Working as a team, you can accomplish great things. You can have an idea that you don't know how to execute, but someone does know how to do it. Build your network, find your experts and then create amazing things. You don't have to know everything, just find some one who does. Marco and Rosa demonstrated this by sharing their desktop with Rosa's sister Eli in Los Angeles. Together, the two used their different talents to create and edit a video. Marco says that distance is now measured in bandwidth, not in actual distance. Fear equals being alone. What a great example of the skills we need to be teaching our students to help them prepare for this world of collaboration, collage and creativity. Marco shared that his classroom is called the Community Inspiration Studio. Students are creating and collaborating, before, during and after school and during holidays. Some kids are enrolled in a class with Torres, and others just come to learn and create. They work as a community to create. They also work as a community of students to tell the story of their own neighborhood. Marco relates that Movie Making equals great teachers. Students are involved in both the product and the process.

Torres had so many great ideas and quotes to get us thinking. Again, the theme continues.

"It is not what it is, it is what we do with it."
"The Thing versus the purpose of the Thing. Nouns vs. Verbs."
"If we see the student as recipient, it won't change, if we see the student as producer, it will change."
"It is not just what type of learner are you, but what type of producer are you."

Torres shares what an ideal learning environment includes.

Studio: An environment where you can choose which instrument you want.
Stage: A place to showcase our learning
Community: A way to share.

Wow! What a great way to think about learning environments. Are we providing these types of learning environments for our students. What I love about all of this, is that it is not about film and media, it is not about technology, it is about teaching and learning. Again, not about the nouns, but the verbs.

Learning should be active, not passive. Move from logical to creative, individual to community, functional to meaningful, facts to the story.

And even more Marco! The last session of the day was really laid back as we looked at making learning relevant and applicable. Marco and Rosa showed the process of story boarding, outlining using Inspiration and creating great stories. Again, Torres emphasises the product, not the process. Students have to be aware of the product and the process. What is it that you want to showcase and communicate and then how are you going to showcase and communicate. Good film production is actually good business planning. Good storytelling creates more questions than answers. It's the story not the technology.

Marco shared several fun videos to emphasise points about process. He said that documentaries and public service announcements are a great genre, because you don't have to worry about acting. He also shared that when creating a video, you should think of how others would do it, and then do something else.

What a great and inspiring day of learning and a great way to start my week of focusing on the verbs instead of the nouns.

Here are a few of the video examples Marco shared.

Time to Log Off!
Carpet Layer
Lamp Commercial
EPuron Commercial
Fun Two Guitar

Here are some great resources shared by Marco Torres.

sfett.com
flickschool.com
alasmedia.wikispaces.com

My rough notes from the day.

January 365 Photos