Noah Lynch, News Editor of the Xavier High Xpress

Almost half a billion students around the world have taken the first step in learning about the technology of the future. The Hour of Code is a global movement that aims to teach people about coding. People of all ages can participate; but the main focus is on students, especially those who are new to computer science. Xavier held their own Hour of Code events throughout the week of December 4. The goal was to get all students to experience at least one hour of coding.

The events hosted at Xavier included a variety of speakers as well as many interactive activities for people of all levels of coding knowledge. Each activity  focused on different types of technology: including wearable technology, domains and IP addresses, drag and drop code, virtual reality, coding music, apps and games, coding languages like Python and Raptor, programming a TI calculator, recursive thinking, and creating a webpage, along with many self-paced tutorials.

In addition to the activities, there were a wide range of speakers from different tech companies. Tom Schuster, who is employed at Crystal Group as an electrical engineer, showed students how to code with a Python tutorial. Samantha Dahlby, who works for code.org at NewBoCo, showed multiple kinds of wearable technology, like an Adafruit bracelet and a circuit playground. She also taught students how to code their own projects using Arduino. Shannon Hampsher and Chris Leonard from GoDaddy taught students about the need for young people to practice digital security and citizenship. They had students practice coding by changing the Google logo and creating their own holiday emoji.

“I think it is really cool that we got the opportunity to participate in Hour of Code here at Xavier,” senior Erin Smith said. “I was able to attend a presentation given by employees at GoDaddy. It was interesting to hear about all the different types of jobs that involve computer science, and how many real world applications it has. I also got to learn about the basics of coding, which I have always been curious about.”

Around the world, there were over 141,000 events registered for the week of December 4 alone. Coding tutorials exist in over 45 languages, and over 100 million students completed almost 450 thousand hours of coding. Xavier has participated in Hour of Code since 2013, but added to the amount of activities each year. Xavier Technology Coordinator Mrs. Barb Miltner organized the event, along with help from Mrs. Tracie Marshall and Ms. Hannah Konzen.

​“Not everyone is going to be a computer scientist or fluent in multiple computer languages,” Miltner said. “But everyone benefits from learning the critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and art of perseverance that computer science promotes. The Hour of Code lets students try something new without a long-term commitment of an entire semester or year-long course. By offering this opportunity, we just might be able to help some students find a new passion.”
This year’s Hour of Code had a large turn out, with students from math and science classes participating in the movement. Xavier will hold another Hour of Code week during this same time next year.

You can see Noah's original Xpress post and pictures here.

Have you checked in with Think, Make, Innovate lately?
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It's hard to believe that we are into Season 3 of sharing maker ideas and highlighting schools who are encouraging their students to be makers.  There are 22 different Think, Make, Innovate episodes out there waiting for you to take up the challenge.  As always, you can complete any challenge in any order you want to best fit your students' creativity.  We have recently reorganized our Think, Make, Innovate page into maker themes, like No or Low Tech Challenges or Coding Challenges to help you easily find maker challenges for your students.

But I would say that the biggest, WOW for me has been how you've taken up the challenge! 

A part of every episode, either the students or Jason and I will say, "We Challenge You" to encourage students in Iowa or anywhere to take up the maker challenge.  We've added so many schools from across the state (and a few other states as well) to our online maker community.  It's been super inspiring to see!! 

A huge surprise for us has been how you have empowered yourselves to challenge each other! 

Check out rockstar librarian, Chelsea Sims & her maker crew (@sejhlibrary on Instagram - if you are not following you are missing out) challenge other schools in her district to take up a cardboard challenge.

And then, there are these two inspiring teachers, Gina Miller (@ginabeckmiller) from Belle Plaine and Manda Marshall (@mw_techlabA) from Mary Welsh Elementary in Williamsburg.  Their story of collaboration is so fun and authentically awesome.  Coming from two different school districts, crossing paths through professional development and being inspired and by each other.  They had an idea to bring their students together for Bot Smackdown Challenge Day and it all came together yesterday.  It was an amazing day of collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity for these students.  I was overjoyed to be able to help be a part of it and capture it to share in the NEXT episode of Think, Make, Innovate coming out in January.  Click here to subscribe to our mailing list if you want to be notified of future episodes like this one!

Listen to them tell their story, and tune in to their Think, Make, Innovate Episode in January!

How have you taken up the maker challenge? 
We'd love to hear from you, share your students' work on our maker community, or collaborate with you on a future Think, Make, Innovate episode!  We love to see you tag us on social media or use #havefunmaking to share the fun and joy of making that your students are involved in.

Leave us a comment and let us know how your school is moving forward with the maker movement.

This is the third and final part of our blog post series that looks at innovative ways to use Google's iPad apps in the classroom with students. If you haven't read Part 1 or Part 2, you should check those out. Otherwise, here are five more tips and tricks for making the most of Google on your iPad. If you have great tips of your own, feel free to add those to the comments below. 

I wrote a bit about this in part one of this series, but in the last few days, Google has updated several of their iPad apps so that they now support drag and drop. You need to have a device that is capable of running iOS 11, but once you have that taken care of, you are ready for some multitasking goodness. With drag and drop you can research content from Safari on one side of your screen and drag that into a Google Doc, Slide or Sheet on the other side of your screen. You can drag images, URLs, and text simply by pressing and holding, then dragging them over. (just be sure to cite your sources!) Right now, it only works to drag things into Google apps, (as opposed to out of them), but it's a great option to have and will hopefully be expanded to other apps like Keep, (see below), in the near future.

Also new in iOS 11 is the ability to record your iPad screen without using any additional software or devices. You simply turn it on in your Control Center settings, and start recording. Here's how to do it. This new functionality is great for teachers who may want to flip their classroom or create instructional videos for students to use as part of blended learning rotations. Students can also use the screen recording function to present their slideshow and turn it in as a live video. All screencasts are saved to your device and can be uploaded to Drive or submitted as assignments in Google Classroom. Best of all, it's quick and easy to do. If you need some iPad screen recording tips, read this.

Some people have ignored Apple Classroom because they think it's just Apple's version of Google Classroom. It's not. Instead, it's a free suite of classroom management tools that you can use to monitor and control your classroom iPads. Do you want to open Google Docs on all your student iPads and lock them in that app so that they don't get distracted? Use Apple Classroom. Do you want to see what's on the screen of all your student iPads? Use Apple Classroom.  Would you like to lock all the screens on your iPads so that students pay attention to you? Use Apple Classroom. Looking for a quick way to share the URL for a website to every iPad in the room? Use Apple Classroom. It's not for assignments, discussions or quizzes. For that, you absolutely should use Google Classroom, but for more control and easy sharing, you can use Apple Classroom alongside Google Classroom and the rest of your Google apps.

As we learned in Part 2 of this series, not all Google apps have Google in the title. Another great example of this is Toontastic 3D, a fun digital storytelling app that is completely free for teachers and students to use in the classroom. With Toontastic 3D, you can create animated cartoons that include a recording of the student's voice. There are multiple themes, scenes and characters to choose from, and if you can't find what you need, you can always create your own using the built-in 3D drawing tools! Completed projects are saved as videos to your Camera Roll so that you can upload them to Google Drive or YouTube for sharing with others. Download the app here.

Google Keep is quickly becoming a real favorite in the tech savvy teacher's toolbox. It's a versatile note taking app that syncs across all your devices. You can use it for quick notes, checklists, to-do lists, and more. On the iPad you can create drawings, take or add photos, and record voice notes. You can even create location based reminders! This collection of multimedia tools makes it a compelling addition for any classroom, so if you are looking for awesome ways to use Google Keep in your life, be sure to check out episode 32 of our podcast where Stacy Behmer talks about all the great ways that teachers AND students can use Google to help make them more productive at school.

So, there you have it. 5 more ways to use Google's suite of apps on your iPad. Do you have innovative or unusual ways to use Google's iPad apps in your classroom? If so, please share so that others can learn some new ways to enhance teaching and learning with the iPad.

Jonathan Wylie (@jonathanwylie)
Digital Learning Consultant
Grant Wood AEA

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform that allows people to add in their thoughts, ideas, and musings around a topic. Teachers develop a “grid” and then post different “topics” to the “grid”. The most common organizational structure for creating a grid in an educational setting is by class period, classroom teacher, or grade level, however, it is a very fluid tool and can be used in many different ways. For example, a club or extracurricular activity might create a grid to collect ideas and feedback from their members and others outside of the club or a group of teachers might create a grid to gather and share ideas related to professional learning.

So, what are the must know features of Flipgrid? First - there a currently two plan levels offered by Flipgrid, “Flipgrid One” (Free - we love free) and “Flipgrid Classroom” ($65/classroom per year). Flipgrid One offers individuals, true to its name, one grid. There are many ways to share your Flipgrid.  You can share by URL, you could embed on a website, have students scan a QR Code, or you can direct share to Facebook, Twitter, Google Classroom, or Remind.

You can share also Flipgrids, by grid link or topic link.  If you share a grid link with a class, they can see all of the topics on your single grid. This would be great for a self-contained classroom.  If you just share a topic link, then they will only see that single discussion.  This could be helpful for  a secondary teacher who teaches multiple sections of different classes. How long can your students respond in the free version?  Flipgrid One responses are limited to either 15 seconds or 90 seconds.

“Flipgrid Classroom” affords individuals multiple grids and the ability to create more video dialogue by allowing users to respond to each other. Additionally, response length increases up to a maximum of 5 minutes. There is also more flexibility in the teacher management of the grid. Teachers can freeze and launch topics as well as advanced grid management. And, if you have 4 friends who are interested in using Flipgrid Classroom, you need to look at the Classroom Five Pack pricing!  You can get $15 off the single classroom membership when you sign up together.

Topic Discovery Library is your fast-track way to getting started with Flipgrid.  Think of them as templates to start your journey.  Educators have already created starter grids on different topics and all you need to do is add the topic to your grid.  Templates contain descriptions of the topic, questions to focus discussion and sometimes even videos to get the discussion flowing.

Things get really interesting with the Connections Library that gives you another opportunity to open the door of your classroom to collaboration with other schools and professionals.  Teachers are posting their classroom grids in the Connections Library where you could go and contribute to that class’s discussion. Additionally, professionals in various fields have started to catch #FlipgridFever and have developed grids to engage learners from all over the globe. Check out paleontologist Jason Osborn’s Fossil Flipgrid. 

How could you use Flipgrid in your classroom?  We challenged some great teachers we know to share ways that Flipgrid could be used in the classroom.  Check out their ideas below.  Have a great idea?  Share it to the topic by clicking on the + sign.

Still looking for inspiration, check out this blog from Karly Moura about ways to integrate Flipgrid into your classroom.

Happy flipping!
Amber Bridge - Digital Learning Consultant - @abridgesmith
Gina Rogers - Digital Learning Consultant - @grogers1010