I am SOLD on book snaps! After hearing about book snaps and seeing them on twitter and at ISTE, I decided to try out the concept. (Big shout out to Tara Martin, she is the one that came up with the idea!) I have been on snapchat with my kids, just because it's a place they are and I wanted to understand it. However, the thought of using it as a learning tool had never entered my mind.  So the first few book snaps that I tried were of course to my own children.  After their initial response of rolling their eyes, I actually got really good feedback, as in you should do this with students and they would respond well. 

Learners can use snapchat to create book snaps without ever actually sending their work through the app. Everything they create can be saved and shared through a mobile devices camera roll. 

Watch how to create a book snap in Snapchat below. 

A recap of what all the icons represent on the Snapchat screen:

 1) Discard your Snap                  5) Set a timeframe for your Snap
                2) Add emojis                               6) Save your photo to your Camera Roll 
3) Add a caption                          7) Add a Snap to your Story        
                  4) Doodle                                      8) Select recipients and share your Snap

 So much information can be transferred in one image or in a string of images in a video.  To combine a series of snaps into a video watch below.

It's a creative process that allows the learner to go as deep as they want to show their learning. 

The next time you are reading a text try creating either a snap or story that shares a reflection.  

• Insert free response or multiple choice questions during the video allowing for quick checks for understanding. 
• Teachers can prohibit students from fast-forwarding through videos and assign each video a due date.
• Insert an introductory comment, a conclusion, a remark, or a verbal prompt. 
• Do a complete voice over of a a video.
• Access student data from individual student responses.  Classes can be imported from Google Classroom. 
• Students are required to create an account or log in.
• EdPuzzle is free to all educators.

When embedding in our LMS, I found that students needed to refresh their screens sometimes to allow video to play through. 

• ​Teachers have the ability to insert multiple choice, free response, and reflective pauses throughout their videos, allowing students to interact as well as serving as a formative assessment. 
• The teacher has the ability to enable students to be able to rewind and watch a segment of a video to gather more information before answering a question.
• Audio can be added to their answer choices in multiple choice questions.  (Audio comments can not be added in the actual video as in Edpuzzle)
• Students do not need to create an account to participate in a video that is shared by a teacher, they simply join by using a code. 
• Provides analytics for teachers that include student performance data as well as interaction data. 
• Playposit has a paid subscription that allows teachers to embed a number of other types of questions and elements as well.

One noticeable difference between the two tools is that while both tools allow a video to be shared through a link or embedded, Playposit allows teachers to use a video he/she has designed in Broadcast Mode. Broadcast Mode allows a teacher to project the video whole class and as questions and stopping points are inserted student screen go from a blank blue to an interactive environment. Depending on a teacher’s purpose and learning outcomes, this option gives them a completely different strategy in which to use video in their lesson. 

Some “A-Ha Moments” in working with video that I have found. 

• Short and sweet beats drawn out any day
• Use technology to allow for formative assessment 
• Utilize transcripts and closed caption resources
• Pushing play and having students watch and just take notes is not an instructionally sound practice.

If you are going to be working with teachers and want to take a look at the PD structure I used to introduce teachers to these two tools below is an example.

It seems like a simple question, "What are we going to do in here?" 

As summer hits the midway point, it's time to start thinking about welcoming your faculty back to campus. Are you looking for some creative, fun, active ideas? I have a few ideas to share from our campus, Ipadpalooza in Austin and ISTE in Denver this summer.

The first is an experience  that we offered on our campus last year. Using Goosechase, our faculty participated in a scavenger hunt.  We are a comprehensive high school with a large zone. We chose to do a scavenger hunt for a few reasons. We wanted teachers to have an opportunity to meet teachers they didn't know. We let teams form on their own with one rule. The one rule was that there could not be more than one other person from a department on a team. Teams formed in groups of 5. We also wanted teachers to explore the geographic zone in which our students live. The scavenger hunt was also an opportunity for teachers to visit and thank the businesses that support our school throughout the year. In Goosechase, you can pre-select missions that they have designed or design your own. We had a creative member of our admin team design our tasks to make them specific to our community. Many of the missions he just tweaked from an idea that Goosechase provided in their mission bank. Each mission was worth a different amount of points.  The teams set out in cars to compete for the grand prize which was a half day off during the year. Teachers are motivated when you give them "time".  The feedback that we received from the scavenger hunt was wonderful. Funny stories of the time spent together in cars and getting to know each other were shared  during the post hunt debrief.  Throughout the scavenger hunt, teams posted pictures as they accomplished a mission.  Posting to social media earned them extra points. The images that came in were great and shared the story of the day our teachers had with our community. Great PR as well.  Watch a one minute video of a Goosechase scavenger hunt.  *Please note that there is a fee to run a Goosechasewww.goosechase.com/solutions/k12/ Scavenger Hunt as a large event or school wide. Teachers can use the tool for free with individual classes. 

The next idea for team building is to design an Amazing Race for your faculty to compete in. Janelle Maurier shared her free iBook at IpadPalooza. The iBook, Professional Learning AppMazing Prescription, is available to download for free in the iTunes store. I can't create a link to it but if you go to the itunes store and search you will find it.  It's an electronic interactive book with great ideas to create your own race organized using the tool Thinglink.  

At ISTE, Josh Gauthier shared additional information about creating an Amazing Race.  His presentation can be found under ISTE in Denver 2016 "Amazing Race Instructions". Theme music from the Amazing Race can be played in the background when you introduce the challenge.  The feedback from educators that had participated in this in the sessions I attended was positive.  These two resources should get you going in the right direction to create your own Amazing Race!

The next idea is Breakout EDU. The Breakout EDU bus was onsite at #ISTE2016 and Breakout EDU CEO Adam Bellow's along with Steve Dembo from Discovery Ed ran a great session on PD. The Breakout EDU approach creates a gaming challenge for teams to work in. ​

Breakout EDU does require a basic kit so that the games can be played. Kits can be purchased through Breakout Edu or the can be assembled by a school by gathering the supplies that are listed at Breakout Edu's website. 

Over 200 Breakout EDU games have already been written. Some of the games are more polished than others. Any of the games can be adapted to your own needs as well.  Breakout EDU games are all  Open Source. You’ll need to register with Breakout EDU and then access the games and their details behind a password protected site.

As the week comes to a close I am reminded about living life passionately and leaving things better than we found them. This past week was a tough one at my high school. A senior and her sister, that graduated in 2014 both lost their lives in a car accident on the way home from Spring Break. Death and tragedy are never invited, wanted or something that makes sense to any of us. 

Following the accident I witnessed a student population come together and work for the greater good and honor the students that lost their lives in the accident. We talk a lot in education about authentic learning and allowing students space to create real world solutions and connect their learning.  This situation was real and what this group of students did was move into problem-solving mode to do something that would honor and help the surviving members of these girls families.  As they came together, they found a passion, basketball and came up with an idea to hold an event to benefit the families affected by the accident.  The accident also took another student's life that attended a local high school, and left a student in critical condition yet from another school. The group planning the event wanted to make the fundraiser about all victims and not just the sisters from their high school. They came up with a basketball event that would have a team named after each victim in the accident, and they reached out to our large city to get the best players from area high schools to play. They did more than that; they also connected with athletes that had graduated and are now playing in college. The planning team launched their idea on social media and were blown away by the response that they received. Real ideas, real communication, real results, all done by students. 

Now I have to admit when they showed up at school with their enthusiasm and plan in motion with no viable venue, I thought oh goodness I hope there is a field house available. The district I work for graciously provided a venue when our principal reached out to them. The rest of the planning....well let's just say was amazing. The planning committee all took on different roles, from coordinating basketball players, bringing on help to organize the athletic event from a major university in our city, students to advertise, students to get media involved and students to bring sponsors on board. The students even appointed a point person to make sure the school's administration was  up-to-date.  
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My post cannot begin to document or detail all of the work they did. What I can offer is...that it has been fantastic to see students work together and make a difference. I heard more than one student say this week, "I can't believe that we have been able to reach so many people and get responses...." These students felt the power of hard work, planning, vision and what can happen when a group of individuals come together and work for a common cause.

After the funeral, I happened to come across a Twitter post that shared the following video with Inky Johnson. Knowing your why, how and what ignites your passion and puts you in a lane to leave things better than you found them.

A family laid to rest two beautiful young women today.  Both of these girls time on earth was brief but powerful. They left all of us better than we were before they came into our lives. The student group working to honor them is following their lead and making us better as a community.  The event will take place this week, and I can't wait to see and experience it with them.​

As educators, how can we encourage our students to find their voice and experience the power of making a difference through their learning and actions?