VOL 1, ISSUE 3 MAY 1, 2019

Cain’s Corner
Authentic Reflections of Learning & Impact

Second Grade Habitats Come Alive

Students use Chatterpix to share animals’ perspectives
In Grade 2, learners explored the question, How should humans live
alongside native animals? Tapping into individual curiosities, students
chose a local endangered animal to research. After learning more
about animals’ habitats, food sources, and predators, as well as how
humans might support endangered species, students designed
blueprints of habitats. Dr. Jones’ eleventh grade biology students
provided their younger peers with feedback to refine the blueprints.

After finalizing their habitat blueprint, learners authored a brief blurb

describing their animal for the exhibit in the hallway. They read their Gray Bat
blurb aloud using an app called Chatterpix, which brings still images
to life when students draw a mouth on a photo and record their voice
to make the photo “talk.”

Sturgeon

Click the animals’ names in the blue box to see finished Chatterpix
products. To see students’ full learning journey, including QR codes
for every animal video, wander over to the second grade hallway.
Loggerhead
 Pic Collage: More Than Pretty Pictures
Gearing up for iPads in middle school next year, seventh grade teacher Kristen Pisacreta
challenged her students to put aside their Chromebooks for a class period. They used an iOS app
called Pic Collage to celebrate completion and demonstrate understanding of an independent
reading book. Students intentionally curated images to represent themes and characters,
connecting their chosen images to deeper symbols and ideas. For more information, check out this
guide Mrs. Pisacreta created for her students.

TIPS TO TRY / RESOURCES TO REVIEW APPLE

Gmail Tips CERTIFIED
• Do you ever hit ‘send’ on an email, only to realize later that you need to correct a TEACHERS
mistake? You can customize Undo Send in your Gmail settings. Click the gear in
Allyson Campbell
the upper right area, then click Settings. On the General page, scroll down to
Undo Send and adjust the number of seconds according to your preference. Amy Wilkes

• The Boomerang extension for Gmail is very useful for scheduling emails. For Claire Christerson
instance, maybe you prefer that a parent receive your email after school, but you
Emily Edwards
need to write it during planning. Or maybe you’d like your students to receive an
email from you at a specific moment during the day. Or if you’re a habitual late Kari Young
night emailer, you can use Boomerang so that you don’t wake your teammates.
Katie Cain
Check Out This Resource: Synth
Margaret Gunter
• Perfect for world language teachers, or any teachers hoping to gather verbal
feedback from students, Synth is kind of like a FlipGrid but designed specially for Ryan Welch
just audio. Once an instructor creates a threaded topic, students can respond by
Susan Oltman
recording posts in English or a different target language.

Summer is right around the corner! If you’re interested in exploring instructional tech in between
beach trips, or if you would like a break from chasing your children (like me!), I’ll be hosting a few
instructional tech meet ups this summer. If you’re interested, please share some input here.