• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

EdTechTeam

Global Network of Educational Technologists

  • Coaching
  • Google Certifications
  • Custom PD
  • Blog
  • Free Resources
  • Events
  • Contact

AppleEDU

The Possibilities of PicCollage: Practical Pedagogy in the Classroom

October 31, 2018

Utilising technology within the classroom is something I feel extremely passionate about. After all, as teachers, our pupils come to our classes digitally literate, ready to explore what’s next. We are incredibly lucky to teach the future, but with that comes the responsibility of ensuring our teaching is current, relevant and open to change. I love being creative with technology and using it to enhance the learning of my pupils. If you follow me on Twitter or have spent around five minutes talking to me about education, you’ll realise that one app is favoured over all others – and that is PicCollage!

PicCollage is essentially a photo, image and text editing tool. It is an engaging platform for pupils to creatively share their learning and can offer a basic introduction to graphic design and photo editing too!
The possibilities of PicCollage span as far as your creativity will allow, but in this blog, I’ll share some examples of how I have used PicCollage with my classes.

Tweet of the Week!

Recently, my pupils have been using PicCollage to reflect on their learning at the end of the week. Although, you may want to change this to reflecting on learning at the end of a specific topic, block of learning or as an assessment tool for different curricular areas.
With my pupils, I usually give them three or four questions that will encourage them to focus on what they have learned, the progress they’ve made and to think of next steps for improvement. Here are some questions that you may want to ask:

What have you enjoyed learning about this week and why?
What have you felt confident with this week?
Is there anything you think you could improve on? What are your next steps?
What are you proud of this week?
Have you been challenged this week? If so how did you overcome it? What progress have you made?

Once the pupils have discussed possible answers to their questions, they then use PicCollage to present them. The finished results are shared on our class Twitter page and are printed for display on our classroom Twitter wall. A simple and engaging way to gain insight into what your pupils really think and really know!

Photography

For this lesson, my pupils took the iPads outside and snapped signs of Autumn. Leaves falling from trees and the warm vibrant colours of plants and leaves – the pupils really enjoyed this photography lesson! Once they were happy with the photographs they had taken, my pupils edited their photos by clicking on them, clicking edit and then selecting an Autumnal filter. Once saved, they opened PicCollage, set their photo as the background and inserted the words ‘Hello October’ to welcome the new month and new season. A great combination of outdoor learning and technology! You could even extend this further by getting your pupils to create Autumnal poems, inspired by their photos!

SolveMe Maths

Use PicCollage to create math puzzles! Pupils saved a few pictures on Safari (usually emoji or Fortnite related!) inserted them in PicCollage and created a math puzzle for a friend to solve. A fun and engaging way to consolidate the order of operations, number patterns and sequences in maths!


Writing

PicCollage is an excellent tool to engage pupils in writing. From reluctant writers to accomplished writers, PicCollage offers an alternative and creative way for pupils to share their thoughts.
Recently, my pupils did a spooktacular (Halloween themed) static electricity experiment in Science. They took photographs at each stage of the experiment, inserted them into PicCollage and then wrote step by step instructions to inform others how to do the experiment too! The children love being able to change their background to something spooky, edit the font and colour of text, easily insert photographs and add stickers and illustrations.

Nicola Orr
Class Teacher at Condorrat Primary School in sunny Scotland
Follow @MrsOrrCPS for all things tech, STEM, art and poetry related. Harry Potter references may occur too…
I absolutely LOVE my job!

[themify_button bgcolor=”green” size=”large” link=”https://www.edtechteam.com/apple/”]Learn more ways to get creative with Apple Professional Learning from EdTechTeam[/themify_button]

AppleEDU, Creativity, Pedagogy Leave a Comment

Everyone Can Create in Science

October 19, 2018

Creativity in the Science classroom helped my students articulate their lab results, express their findings, and share what they learned.

When Apple released the Everyone Can Create project guide previews last spring, I was inspired by the innovative lessons that were shared. I have always felt strongly about creativity in the classroom, but coming up with new and exciting ideas year after year is hard. These curriculum guides offer new ways to seamlessly integrate photography, video, drawing, and music in my classroom.

Processed with MOLDIV

Last year our district started moving towards using Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) in the science classroom. While I love the process and structure of this method, I struggled with what felt like an absence of creativity. Students have choice and freedom when designing an independent lab investigation but the final product reminds me of a lab report. Don’t get me wrong,  writing is an incredibly important skill but kids need to have various ways to express their understanding of content.

Using creativity to improve student engagement

Our first ADI of the year, Nutrition and Human Health, had students investigate the negative effects of drinking sugary beverages on their health. The experiment they designed tested a popular drink or soda to determine how it altered tissues. They designed and conducted the experiment and wrote a lab report that explained their conclusions based on lab evidence.  

One of the activities in the Everyone Can Create project guides discusses photography and personification of photographs. As an introduction to our Nutrition and Human Health activity, students photographed their selected beverages to share with peers. This was a fun activity to springboard them into the research. To kick this off, we spent a little time talking about photography, framing, focusing, lighting, and angles. Then students had 5 minutes to do their drink photo shoot. They put their finished image in Keynote, removed the background using instant alpha, and added shadows or reflections to create a powerful image.  Next, they used drawings and shapes to personify the image. This lesson took us approximately 20 minutes but built skills that my students will use throughout the year.  It also increased student engagement and excitement for the lab.

Another activity in the Everyone Can Create project guides explores the use of infographics.  I asked students to use Keynote to create an infographic that represents their lab data. With all the shapes and the drawing features of Keynote, they had a blank canvas on which to represent their data.  This took a lot more critical thinking on their part than I expected, but they really enjoyed it. They were proud of their work and asked if they could include it in their final report.

The positive impact of creativity

After completing the lab, students still did the lab report write up. I believe the write-ups were better because the students had a better understanding of the content and were more invested in the experience. They were also excited to share their results on FlipGrid and collaborate with classrooms around the world to discuss their findings.

The lesson was fun, engaging, and educational. My students used the skills they learned to demonstrate understanding in various ways. They learned photography skills and how to use imagery to visualize data.  As a result, my students were better able to articulate their results, express their findings, and share what they learned.

I am excited to see how the Everyone Can Create project guides change our classrooms.  I love the ideas and examples of innovative teaching across all subject areas and I can’t wait to try more in my classroom.  

Jodie Deinhammer has taught science in Coppell ISD for over 20 years.  She was the Texas Region 10’s Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2015 and was the Texas Medical Association Texas Science Teacher of the Year in 2013. She is also an Apple Distinguished Educator. As an Apple Distinguished Educator, Mrs. Deinhammer works with teachers around the globe to help creatively integrate technology into the classroom. She encourages educators and administrators to create classrooms that allow students to investigate and address real-world issues and create innovative solutions. Mrs. Deinhammer believes that students should have a voice in their education and that schools need to drastically change to meet the needs of our changing world. We should challenge our students with authentic real-world issues and give them a platform to make a difference in society.  We shouldn’t focus on preparing our kids for what is next but instead helping them make a contribution each and every day.

Twitter @jdeinhammer

[themify_button bgcolor=”green” size=”large” link=”https://www.edtechteam.com/apple/”]Bring EdTechTeam Apple Professional Learning to you![/themify_button]

AppleEDU, Creativity, Science Leave a Comment

Kindergarten Perspectives: Telling a Story on the iPad

July 27, 2018

One of the most exciting days of the year for my Kindergarten English as a Second Language students is our field trip to Patterson Farm. The field trip to the farm is a fun-filled day for students to experience a new place while learning about content standards and vocabulary. This year I asked some of my students to take their classroom iPads with them on the field trip to document their experience. Throughout our day on the farm, students took pictures using the iPad camera to capture special moments, the series of events, and their perspective on the excursion. I collected all of the pictures taken and created an album which I then shared with all of my students using Apple Classroom. One of the unique things about being an ESL teacher is that I serve my students in pull-out groups of 9-12 students, so I decided to have each pull-out use a different App to create a presentation featuring our field trip on their iPad. After learning about their features I decided to use the Apple Apps: Clips, Pages, and Keynote.

As an ESL teacher, I enjoy finding creative and innovative ways to integrate the content vocabulary and our technology while supporting student growth within the language domains of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. These three Apps allowed my students to practice these language domains while being creative and incorporating their perspectives through their pictures. With the group of students working on the Pages App, I began to model and guide students on how to add color, fonts, shapes, images, pictures from camera roll, and video. Students were immediately hooked and loved creating using the new book creation feature. Students were able to practice their writing skills with the new drawing feature in which they wrote on the iPad using their finger or a stylus. This was a challenge for students because they had to focus on letter formation and concentrate on making their writing legible. We also added videos to practice our speaking skills and drew on top of our pictures to emphasize our typed text.

The group of students using Clips on their iPads had more speaking practice within the project and really enjoyed the different filters, posters, background music, and stamps/labels. The live titles feature of this App supported my ESL students with practicing speaking loudly, clearly, and using complete, detailed sentences. To support my struggling speakers we created sentence starters on sentence strips for them to use when recording. These students were also actively using their listening skills by listening to their narration and descriptions of their pictures and experience on the recorded slides within the Clip.

Students using the Keynote App did a fantastic job creating their presentation and the animation feature was by far the highlight of the project. These students also used the new drawing feature to write sentences on their slides and annotate over pictures. Students were required to add videos within their presentation and we discussed appropriate images to use. For example, I chose to add a picture of a goat because on the field trip we fed the goats. Once all of the projects were finished students were excited to share them with parents and other classmates through our Seesaw account.

I am amazed and proud of my young ELL students completion of this task and look forward to using these Apps for different projects next year. It was so powerful and engaging for students to take their own pictures during the field trip and be able to tell a story about their experience through their photography. No matter our age, background, or ability we all can create!

 

Katie Gardner has 6 years experience as a Kindergarten English as a Second Language teacher in Salisbury, NC. She has presented at the district, state, regional, and national ELL and Tech conferences. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator class of  2017 and received her certification as a National Board Certified Teacher in English a New Language in 2017. Follow her on Twitter @gardnerkb1

 

 

 

[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”http://www.edtechteam.press/bookstore/”]Want to learn more ways to innovate with the iPad? Check out this book by EdTechTeam Press![/themify_button]

AppleEDU, English Language Learners, K-2 Leave a Comment

Video Storytelling Transformed My Classes

July 3, 2018

 

As teachers, we all model skills, assignments, and behaviors for our students. Here is a video introduction, using Apple Clips.

Before we talk about how Clips has become a fantastic tool for video storytelling, I want to share just a little bit about myself. I teach in one of the largest and most diverse schools in the New York City area, New Rochelle High School. I think it is important that people know that for the past 16 years I have been a General Ed English teacher in a somewhat traditional English department. In fact, if you walked by my classroom before my video storytelling program, you would have seen ninth graders in rows. I was obsessed with order, and I hated group work. I would do it because I had to, but I always found it loud and pointless. Secretly to myself, I would say what the kids would say, “When am I ever going to stand around and talk about this stuff.”

Example Student “Walkout” Video

The Project

My program started five years ago with what I call the “Poem Project.” I got the idea to explore famous poetry using video storytelling, and I created the program for all the wrong reasons. I thought if I could make it work I would get out of teaching ninth grade students. I proposed this idea of video storytelling using iOS devices, not even knowing if it was possible, and my administration loved it. There was one catch; they wanted me to create this program as an alternative option for an existing ninth grade class. I had a principal who used to say, “You wanted the dog. We bought the dog. Walk the dog.” This was my walk the dog moment. So I began the next school year with 28 ninth graders and 5 iPads. And I had to teach students all the same topics and skills the other students were learning, but I had to do it with video storytelling. I was shocked when that year became one of the most transformative years of my career. Sometimes people walk by my classroom and comment on my film class, and I have to remind them that what they are looking at is an English class.

Let’s look at just one of my student’s projects, created with Clips. And it was a simple assignment. Students had to record an assigned poem, and they had to keep recording until enough students in the class believed that the student recording understood what he or she was saying. Here is an example of this assignment with Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun.”

Sample Project Video

One of the mistakes people make when considering video storytelling is the belief that it is movie making.  This assignment “My Mistress’ Eyes…” is a very simple video storytelling assignment that can be used in any class. The simple act of recording something as written to demonstrate understanding. The poem could be substituted with any content, such as vocabulary words, steps in a process, an article, etc. In my assignment, I had the simplest task. Each student had to record him or herself and show the video to a group of peers, and they could not submit a video for grading until they demonstrated an understanding of each word said. And as students worked, it was amazing to see them recognize how even though they say something out loud, it doesn’t mean they are communicating their intent. And, the number of students who openly admitted that they actually did not understand something was amazing. For example, with this assignment I would say, your classmates think you don’t understand the word “demask’d,” and they would go… “Yeah. You’re right.” And the amazing thing is that I would never have to teach it, because once the students had this moment of self-revelation and even self-acceptance they would go off and look all the words up themselves. I asked a student once why he would say something out loud and on video, if he did not understand what he was saying. He responded, “Because it is what my teachers expect me to do.” As I dug down, I began to realize that he was ashamed to share that he did not know the meaning and that he did not want to let me down.

This student, like so many, wanted me to be proud and wanted my approval. Video storytelling began to make it easier to explore the content and help students develop new ways to approach that content. Video is a powerful tool that encourages student self-reflection. What has been amazing is asking students to watch their work back. One question I always have students answer is, “What is a piece of criticism that is irrational or unnecessary?” When students reflect on themselves and their work it impacts their self-image. I have been amazed at how this type of exploration has impacted their self-esteem. It is a natural byproduct of this type of creativity. And it is a very comfortable way for students and teachers to approach sometimes sensitive topics.

This simple assignment has transformed the way my students were working. Once students had recordings the students were happy with, they used Clips to edit each video together, and I had them prepare Keynote presentations to accompany their poems, where they explored all the topics, such as literary elements and writing rules, and we took these presentations and sent them to teachers in our school. All of a sudden, my class was all group work all the time, and I loved it. Video Storytelling gave the work purpose, and I assigned each student a job, such as director, or editor, or writer, jobs that were catered to their strengths. What has been awesome about switching over to Clips is that the work they were doing is now easier than ever to produce, and the built-in features allow students to produce polished final products in little to no time. And while so many students feel compelled to airdrop footage to be edited on a computer, students now realize that they never need to leave their iOS devices to create a well crafted and sophisticated final video. Because Clips makes the format and form so easy, students can focus on content. By making design choices easy, students don’t spend an unnecessary amount of time on form, and content is able to be the true star of your lesson.

So what message would I want you to talk away from this?  I hope you take a chance. One thing I will say is that it is always scary in the beginning. And honestly, I had to learn that sometimes my students knew more than I did. I think the biggest fear I had was that I had to be an expert. I just need to provide the basics and opportunity, and the students brought a set of skills that are so much a part of their everyday lives. Once I did it once, it was easier each time I revisited the concept.  Video storytelling, and now video storytelling through Clips is an exciting way for any teacher to transform how students explore content.

 

Anthony StirpeApple Distinguished EducatorEnglish Language Arts/Theatre TeacherNew Rochelle High SchoolTeacher, Speaker, Filmmaker: www.DontAskHere.comTwitter: @StirpeCon   [themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://www.edtechteam.com/blog/2018/05/get-creative-with-apple-clips/”]Want to learn more about Apple Clips?[/themify_button] 

 

AppleEDU, Digital Storytelling, ELA, Pedagogy Leave a Comment

Get Creative in the Classroom with Apple Clips

May 25, 2018

What is Apple Clips?

Apple Clips is a free iOS 11 App for iPhones and iPads that makes capturing and sharing those moments of learning easier than ever. And, since its release, and my first blog so much has changed. I want to walk you through some of the updated features of Clips because Clips is remarkably user-friendly.

Apple Clips Rule of ThirdsClips also allows you to access content in your camera roll and use it to compile compelling stories. The Clips interface is easy to use and user-friendly no matter the user’s familiarity with technology. Clips makes it easy for kids to process the video experience. I like to tell students that the main area is the stage, and they can set the stage. And once they record the small squares below, or Clips, it becomes their video. Seeing it all in one video truly helps them to take time as they set the stage. But what makes Clips so amazing is the big Pink button. Nothing is added to the video until you push the big pink button. This is honestly one of the features that makes it so easy no matter the level. You don’t just tap record and roll; you actually have to set the stage and hold that button to add a clip.

The simple Clips interface makes it accessible no matter your comfort level with technology.  Clips meets you or your students where you are at in terms of skill level, and in moments you or your students can create sophisticated looking video projects. You can mix and match clips from your library, photos from your photo library and freshly captured video clips, and shift their order (or delete them) by tapping and dragging them in the small timeline at the bottom of the window.

Here is the basic workflow:

When you launch the app it will use the front-facing camera by default – this is the video for the selfie generation. You can swap between camera views by tapping the camera icon and enable live titles by tapping the text bubble icon.

You will see icons in the middle of the screen, these are (from left to right): Camera, Library, Poster, with Live Titles and Effects to the left and right of the big pink button.  New to Clips, with iPhone X you will also see a Scenes option that allows you to create augmented reality selfies. To work Clips you must press and hold the pink record button. You can also hold the record button and swipe up to lock the record. A lock symbol will appear. This is useful for complicated or long shots.

Live Titles

Press the pink bar to record and your words will appear on screen as you speak. What makes this cool is that they appear at the same rate as your speech – pause and they will appear on a new line. You may have noticed the flaw with this when filming a clip: your voice will be recorded as you speak the caption. The way around this is to tap the clip and a Mute icon will appear – the caption will still appear but your voice won’t be recorded. Tap the Live Titles icon to edit the text.

Filters

Click on the star icon to access your filters, stickers, emojis, and labels. There are a number of filters, but Ink and Comic Book appear to be the most used filters. New to Clips are filters such as Vivid, Cool and Charcoal. You apply these to each clip you want to use.

Stickers

Choose between multiple statements and shapes that you can place wherever you like on the screen. If you make a mistake just tap the sticker or emoji you used and then tap the “X” to remove it.  Now with Clips you will find a number of amazing Disney, Starwars, and animated stickers to experiment and have fun with.

Posters

With Posters, you will find a bunch of ending frames, from the prosaic “The End” to “Hello”. To change the text just select it on your screen and type what you want to say. You can preview the poster animation using 3D Touch. When ready, record the clip by holding the pink record button. Clips has added dozens of new posters, with dynamic animated graphic, or fun Star Wars, Disney and Pixar titles.

Music

Tap this and you can select from Apple’s own soundtracks or use your own music. Whatever music you do use will automatically work to the length of your clip.

Editing clips

As you add clips you will see them gather in a small timeline at the bottom of the screen. Tap a clip to select it and you can apply filters and other effects, mute or enable the volume of that item, trash it, or edit its length. To edit length just tap the scissors tool. You can also zoom in and out of photos and video using the familiar pinch gesture, and adjust the length of time a photo is used within a clip. You can put together up to an hour length of the video in one project, but no clips used in the project can be any longer than 30-minutes in length.

Share

Share the clips using the Share button. You can share your Clip with your contacts using Messages or through your choice of social networks, including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Instagram.

Help

Don’t worry too much if you get stuck using Clips.  Users have created a myriad of online resources. With a quick search on Twitter, you can find a ton of excellent examples using #ClassroomClips.

Kristin Brooks, ADE 2017, has created a fantastic video how-to that you can use or you can show to your students.

As I said, Clips uses the camera to record or add photos, but it also can access your entire photo library.  That in-app camera is definitely the most popular source. Tap the music icon and you can select from Apple’s own soundtracks or use your own music. Whatever music you do use will automatically work to the length of your clip.  That is magic for their assignments. Before Clips, my students would search for music, have to balance the music with the content, and cut the music and fade it out. Clips takes care of all of this and caters the music to the assignment.  And, as teachers who must reach all learners, the Live Titles options is an excellent way to create accessible videos that have open captions.

Clips is a game changer, making format and presentation easy so that you can focus on content. Take a chance and see what your students can create with Clips.

 

Anthony Stirpe, Apple

Anthony Stirpe
Apple Distinguished Educator
English Language Arts/Theatre Teacher
New Rochelle High School
Teacher, Speaker, Filmmaker: www.DontAskHere.com
Twitter: @StirpeCon

 

Explore more with the Everyone Can Create curriculum from Apple EDU

[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/book/id1357353934″]Download the Teacher Guide[/themify_button]

[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/book/id1357353820″]Download the Student Guide[/themify_button]

 

AppleEDU, Creativity, Tip Tagged: #AppleEDUchat Leave a Comment

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Let’s Stay Connected

We're dropping into your inbox with all of our new webinars, guides, tips and content created with YOU in mind.

EdTechTeam
5405 Alton Parkway
Ste 5A-305
Irvine, CA 92604

 

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
If you have any questions please email us at:

[email protected]

Copyright ©2023 EdTechTeam : Global Network of Educational Technologists- Theme by Lovely Confetti