Hosting "Technology Showcase"

Hey everyone! It's Meredith from Creativity to the Core. Can you believe it is the end of the school year already?!? I'm sure some of you are already out of school, others have about 6 days left (me too!), and a few of you still have a few more weeks (praying for ya'll!). As the school year comes to a close, our school seems to host every. single. event. possible. in about three weeks. I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that I have survived the rush with only one more award ceremony this afternoon. Whew!

Technology Showcase

I work at a school that has only been open for about six years. We are *blessed* to be a technology school equipped with Promethean boards, classroom computers, laptop carts, iPad carts, and Chrome books. Usually, each grade level shares a cart. With 8-9 classes per grade level, it turns out to be about 3-4 computers/iPads per classroom. It is our school tradition to host Technology Showcase once a year, usually in May. 

Here's the basics of Tech Showcase:

-Each class comes up with a unique project showcasing the use of technology

-Teachers display projects in their individual classrooms

-Guests (parents, students, friends) travel around the school to visit various projects

-Live tweets and hashtags are used throughout the event by staff and families
-Hallways are decorated with "technology artwork" and augmented reality opportunities

Teachers pretty much have free reign for this event. Some people played parent vs. student Kahoot games, others had research projects, some made iMovies. This year, a few of the third grade teachers decided to focus on augmented reality. We used the app ColAR Mix which was recently renamed Quiver - 3D Coloring App. The app is seriously the MOST fun I've had with augmented reality. The black lines on the coloring sheets become the trigger image  that brings a child's coloring sheet to life! 

As a teacher, you will need to print the coloring pages and have students color them. Some coloring sheets are free, and some are available to purchase. We decided to pay for a few because they were SO much more interactive than the free ones. ***Tip: Color lightly with crayon. Coloring dark or with marker will make the black lines hard to pick up, and therefore the image will not scan.

After students color them, you can use an iPad or iPhone and the Quiver app to scan the image. All of a sudden, the airplane is flying across your screen! The penguins were waddling and sliding on their bellies! The dragon that I am testing below was flapping his wings and blowing fire balls. Sound effects and all! The kids ADORE these.

 

Our Technology Showcase projects become our curriculum for a few weeks before the BIG event. Therefore, we cannot just color. We decided to have students practice writing narratives to match their images. (I KNOW! We actually let them color BEFORE writing. Shocker!) :)

After writing their narratives, we edited for content to ensure that the content matched the augmented reality image. Many discussions were held about remaining on topic and adding specific details. I mean, you can't write about two boys eating ice cream if your image is a grasshopper eating a bug. #truestory #idontlie 

The kiddos rewrote their stories with more detail, and then it was off to Google Drive! This was a S.L.O.W. process at first, but they got the hang of it. Soon the Google Doc experts were showing their friends how to create a new file online and how to type an exclamation mark. These moments make my teacher heart just explode!

If you haven't used Google Docs, I HIGHLY recommend implementing it as soon as possible. There are SO many benefits. Umm....hello automatic save!!! This was a lifesaver while I was editing at my small group table, keeping an eye on center groups, and checking each augmented reality trigger picture. I didn't have time to keep saying, "Don't forget to save!" Google Docs is also helpful with editing because it works just like Microsoft Word, so students are familiar with the setup and there is Spell Check (Hallelujah!). From a teacher's point of view it is brilliant for late night editing. My co-teacher and I would both log on, and read/edit/reread the papers together from our cozy beds rather than sitting for hours at school. 

Below, is a screen shot of our files. I literally just logged onto my personal account (Although it may be helpful to create a separate one for your classroom!) and showed students how to create a document and name it with their name. I have covered their names for privacy, but you can see what I mean below. If it was time for lunch, students just stopped typing and closed the computer. After lunch, they could return to any computer in the classroom, open Google Drive, and find their name. 

Naming each document with student names also helps teachers to quickly see who is ready to go and who needs more time.

The day of the Technology Showcase, we printed each story and each child's augmented reality photograph (like the one of me and the dragon above). They were then stapled to a file folder which sat up on the table. Parents and friends traveled around the table with our iPads scanning the images and reading the stories. It was a HUGE hit! 

Technology Showcase would be a wonderful addition to any classroom or school culture. Try it out and see your students purposefully integrate technology in fun new ways!

You can kinda sorta see the final projects in the background of this picture. Sorry for the poor quality...we have 6 days left. Can you believe we forgot to take pictures of the actual night?! My two lovely co-teachers and I were a bit too busy with parents, technological tweaks, and slurpees to remember to get some action shots. So, as the school year winds down I will leave you with this crazy picture of two tired but excited teachers, at 6:00 PM before our Technology Showcase began, after teaching all day.  

Of course, slurpees are necessary. ;)