Friday, August 15, 2014

Challenge Week 11

Well, we've reached the end of our #SummerLS.  I can't express enough what an experience this has been from me.  From originally planning this for my staff of 36, to now having over 2,000 people from 8 different countries participate.

Thank you each and every one for learning this summer.  I DO plan on continuing this once a month throughout the school year (on this same blog), and we'll continue to use the same hashtag :)

This week's final challenge is brought to you by.....me!  And it's all about Google Hangouts!

You can watch the video challenge HERE.

When you're done with the challenge you can fill out THIS Google Form

(***On a side note: lots of people asked about not having a Google Form to fill out last week.  The goal was to have you tweet your Classroom Champions learning.  BUT I went ahead and created THIS Google Form for you to fill out from last week's challenge!)

See you online!


***like the video said, if you would like notifications of upcoming challenges, go to our first post and fill out the Google form (if you haven't already; most have)

Friday, August 8, 2014

Challenge Week 10

We are in our second to last #SummerLS Challenge!  Thank you everyone for following and learning with us.

This week's challenge is one that is very near and dear to my heart.  Almost 2 years ago I connected with an organzation called Classroom Champions.  This is an organization that I continue to work with to this day because of what they seek to do.  You can read several of my blog posts that talk about things my class was able to do by being a part of Classroom Champions.  You can read one HERE.  And if you read THIS post you can see how our athlete, Paralympic Gold Medalist Joshua Sweeney, changed an entire campus.

My good friend, and Olypmic Gold Medalist, Steve Mesler, co-found Classroom Champions with his sister Leigh.

And this week's challenge comes straight from Steve Mesler himself.  You can watch his video challenge HERE.

How do you complete this challenge?  Excatly what the video says, you watch his TED Talk, watch a Goal Setting video by one of two olympic atheletes, and then TWEET him and Classroom Champions about your learning using the #SummerLS hashtag.

Also, make sure you add Classroom Champions to your circle on Google+ to follow the journey of Paralympic Medalist Lex Gillette as he uses Google Glass this year to teach even more kids!

I can't wait to see the ideas you guys come up with!

Happy Learning!

Friday, August 1, 2014

Challenge Week 9

We're at week 9!  And also, August 1!  Man the time has flown by!  It looks like we only have 2 more weeks of the #SummerLS left.  But don't fret.  My plan is to continue doing challenges, once a month, throughout the school year.

First of all, if you missed Erin Klein's Classroom Design webinar last week, you can watch it HERE.

Here's this week's challenges...

Part 1:

This week's first challenge comes from Amber Teamann in Texas.  Her video challenge is about Smore.  A great free tool that allows you to make some cool online newsletters and such.  You can watch her video HERE.

Her next part covers how she has used Twitter on her campus as an administrator and the neat little function called "Fast Follow".  You'll definitely want to read THIS post to learn more!

Your challenge this week is to create your own Smore, and then to read Amber's blog post (and leave a comment).  Once completed you can fill out THIS Google Form.

Part 2:

I come across many great resources, but one of my favorite is Sophia.  Sophia is an online platform that I use for flipping my classroom.  They have over 40,000 videos already made by other educators.  Plus Bill Nye (the Science Guy) is a Sophia partner and has exclusive content on their site!

The best part?  Sophia has partnered with Capella University to offer FREE certifications.  You can get Flipped Classroom Certified, iPad Certified, Chrome Classroom Certified, or Virtual Classroom Certified....ALL FOR FREE!!!  And you get a nifty little certificate and t-shirt out of it! Go HERE to see the certifications.

What is your challenge this week?  Create a Sophia account, play around on the website, and choose 1 (or more) of the certifications to complete.  Once you've completed your certification take a picture with your certificate and tweet it to the #SummerLS hashtag.  Then fill out THIS Google Form.



Happy learning this week!  Remember to continue to tweet all your learning with the #SummerLS hashtag!