QR Code Mysteries

-
Recently I came across a resource through my PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter that gave me an idea for Black History Month.  If you are an educator and you are not on Twitter we need to talk!


Using a resource shared by James Gubbons  that was originally created by Tony Vincent I decided to introduce QR Codes to the 4th grade students.  We talked about what a "quote" was and referenced some famous quotes. I brought the iPads in and displayed some of the mystery quotes from Tony's website around the room. The students worked in pairs to scan the QR codes to find missing words from famous quotes.  For today's purposes I only used quotes from African Americans.

 



The students then created their very own quotes, with "mystery" missing parts just like the ones we scanned.  I demonstrated how to create a QR code using QRStuff.com and created a step by step guide for the students to assist them.


They did a great job!  Next week we'll spend part of our lab time scanning their creations.

 

















I love working with QR Codes and was happy the 4th graders felt the same way.  I've presented on QR Codes in education on more than one occasion.  Below is a presentation I created for an Illinois Computing Educators' webinar.   




P.S.......here's a post about the power of the PLN 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twenty Years is Worth Two Cents

-
Image
Time It’s been an interesting year.  My twins entered middle school (time flies).  My mom died unexpectedly leaving me parentless with probate and a house built by my grandfather in 1948 (time stands still).  Oh…and CPS is shuttering my school  (time to move?). The school I’ve built my career at and spent the last twenty years with students. I sat in the library with my colleagues and was read two scripts; one by my principal and one by a Chicago Public School Central Office employee.  With that, it was done (or in the beginning phase of 'done'). Teachers were told to “have a good day of teaching and learning” (one of our daily mantras) and were sent off to teach their students after just being told our school was not remaining open after this school year but our building would remain open with a new faculty and three student bodies.   George Leland school would inhabit our building while May Community Academy and Louis Armstrong Math & Science Elementary would be
Read more

Understanding Plagiarism

-
Image
Our middle school is 1:1 with Chromebooks so students spend a fair amount of time researching topics online.  A teacher noticed there is a lot of copying and pasting of information by students and asked me to come in and have a conversation about plagiarism.  I developed a Prezi with an accompanying notes guide for the students to complete as I presented the content to them.  The Prezi and notes guide are below.  As we wrapped up the students were able to use their Chromebooks for a bit of fun (with a topic that isn't so fun).  We played a Kahoot game where they reviewed concepts about plagiarism from their guide.  They loved it!  What I loved is that Kahoot also provides a summary of student responses to the game- I can see which students missed specific questions which allows me to follow up if needed. Resources used in the presentation (good for teachers and students): http://www.plagiarism.org http://en.writecheck.com (this has a plagiarism checker available) https://o
Read more

Water the Flowers, Not the Rocks: Tips from 10 Years of Instructional Coaching

-
This June I wrapped up ten years of instructional technology coaching. Soon (tomorrow, in fact) I will begin a new journey in my career where I will still utilize my coaching skills but in a different capacity. This new opportunity has caused me to reflect on lessons learned throughout my time as a school-based coach. If you are a coach or aspire to be one following are ten tips I've learned during my ten years in the role. Be a model . Practice what you preach! If you want your teachers to join Twitter make sure you are already there. If they would like to try a new tool or lesson familiarize yourself with it first in order to lend additional support. Be honest . If you don't know something, say so. As a coach, your faculty will look to you as an expert. There have been several times throughout my career that I've said, "I don't know that tool/concept/strategy but let me see what I can find out about it." If you are a former classroom teacher, remind peo
Read more