I have had the pleasure of working with the Sony Education Ambassador program since December 2012.  Since then I have been discovering new ways to use Sony's Xperia tablet as a teacher and imagining new ways it can enhance my students' academic experiences.  Specifically I found that the Xperia coupled with Android apps can address Common Core State Standards. This is what I have come up with so far...

For Students

• The Shake-a-Phrase app from Art Gig helps students know parts of speech. I detail this in my Common Core Connections: Shake-a-Phrase post.
• Create movies or have your students become budding filmmakers using the Movie Studio app. See my post Videos to Web Site in a Snap!

For Teachers

• Teachers run the risk of being known as "The bag lady" (or pack mule) when they are seen lugging their students work back and forth from work to home.  Why not use an app that transfers your students' work to the Web for easy retrieval and viewing sans tote bag?  See my post Common Core Connections: How to Transport Your Students’ Data without Needing a Chiropractor
• In the spirit of using the Xperia tablet as a data collector and holder, consider using yours to record your students' oral reading when completing your informal reading inventories.  I talk about the app Easy Voice Recorder Pro in Common Core Connections: Easy Voice Recording to Facilitate Reading Assessment

To check out more posts by the other Sony Education Ambassadors go to our Web page.

Student Tutorials are the Window to a Student's Cognition

    Now that I have established my own informal PLN (professional learning network) on Twitter, I am proud to say that I have been able to apply some of the fantastic ideas that appear regularly on my Twitter feed.  This particular post was inspired by a recent event in my classroom.
    If you don't really know me then you might not be aware that I recently switched to third grade after teaching first grade for nearly ten years.  Also, you might not realize that Math has never been my strongest subject (this fact heavily influenced my decision to do a qualitative study for my dissertation).   It was never more clear to me how far I have come in my mathematical prowess until I started teaching third-grade Math. Yes folks, I actually feel pride that I have been able to handle teaching the beginnings of algebra, factorization, and equivalent fractions.
    What has also become abundantly clear to me is if you don't understand the strategies you are "teaching" then you are not going to be highly successful with "faking it."  Especially when you have students in your class who have already mastered what you are "teaching" and are very "kind" to point out your mistakes.  So here is where I did a 180 degree turn in my teaching. Rather than saying to the students, "Oh, I know it is wrong, I was just seeing if you were paying attention," when said error occurred, I confessed.  I actually told my students that this was a new strategy that I was learning to use when solving the problem and that I did not really fully "get it" yet.  Boy, you should have seen the looks on their faces. It ranged from dubious expressions to utter amazement.  How could a teacher not know everything?
    So after practicing a few more times with the strategy in front of the class, I guess I successfully modeled problem-solving and perseverance in its most organic sense.  So that made think of about a previous blog post concerning those that are doing the talking are doing the most learning.

     To remedy this situation I thought back to a Tweet about virtual whiteboards on your iPad.  One of the apps that was recommended was ShowMe.  ShowMe allows you to record your voice as you draw or write on the iPad screen.  It has a very simple interface and allows you to import pictures as well.  Ah ha!  I knew what I had to do.
     The big fraction test to end the unit was last Friday so on Tuesday I told the students that after we discussed the fraction review packet they should think of one particular problem that caused them the most difficulty.  They then were to write up a similar problem in their Math notebook to be used in a tutorial.  The students would become the teacher. Well everyone stepped it up and conscientiously worked on their chosen topic
     After they had practiced what they were going to say, I met with each student to record their tutorial on my iPad. (Some used very clear "teacher voices.")  It was apparent to each of them when they went to teach the concept, if they understood it or not (and it was crystal clear to me as well).  I was able to nudge them back on track before they recorded the final version.  As the teacher I noticed some aspects of the tutorials were not quite right. For example, some circle models of fractions were not drawn in perfectly equal parts, but I cannot say that I could draw freehand a circle into 12 equal parts either.  Instead of correcting everything I had to stop myself to honor what they did know.  Our school's math specialist may very well cringe at some of the final tutorials but I am downright proud. Watching the students go through the process of explaining the math strategy to a peer gave me valuable information of what the student knows and understands at this point in time- a running record of Math skills, if you will.

     The tutorials from ShowMe easily embedded in my class Web site and were available to use when studying at home before the big test.  I am sure that many just showed their parents their tutorial and did not really utilize their peers' entries, but I would like to think the process of creating the tutorials and the special feeling of ownership of their learning was the most rewarding part of this class "project."

You can check out the class' tutorials here.