I have to say that my 3rd graders are pretty spiffy when it comes to tech. They each have an Acer netbook and can whip out a Google doc, drawing or slide presentation like nobody's business. 
So now is the perfect time to have the discussion about WHICH images are okay to use.
Today they are writing blogs posts about planting Golden Poppies. They have to include an image of this flower in their blog post and it MUST be an image that they KNOW they are allowed to use.
I started off our discussion by showing this great video by Nancy Minicozzi (@CoffeeNancy) to introduce the whole concept of choosing images to use.  

There are many, many great resources out there for teaching about and finding Creative Commons images.  But I have to be honest, even I get "lost" in some of those websites.  I end up taking an "image bird walk" and start out searching for Golden Poppies and end up looking at cute photos of Golden Retrievers! Before I realize it, I'm in the middle of a page of adorable puppies doing all kinds of cute things!  Ugh!

Another way I taught my students to search for images is by sorting the images that come up in a Google search by Usage Rights.  The basic steps are:

1. Type the subject you are trying to find an image for into a new Google tab.
   
2. Click on images
   
3. Click on Search Tools
   
4. Click on Usage Rights
   
5. Choose one of the options that say "Labeled for Reuse"
   

Feel free to use this GIF I made...

Alice Keeler has written quite a few blog posts/articles about using Creative Commons items...HERE is one of them.  And of course you can search Twitter for even more spiffy stuff!

Here is another way my students use their Googly-ness...they create Google drawings to show their understanding of a math concept.

At this point in the school year, my 3rd graders are very proficient at creating Google stuff, which is nice!  They are now to the point where they can spend most of their time creating and completing the task and not spend time asking, "Where do I click?". 
Here are a few of their Google drawings:

I have been using Formative with my 3rd graders and I really like it!  Formative stands out because as the teacher, you can see your students' work in REAL TIME!  I can immediately see which students "get it" and which ones do not.  I can give guidance at the exact moment that I see they are getting "off track"...that is nearly impossible with other kinds of assessment tools.  Unless you are standing behind a student looking over his/her shoulder while they are working, you wouldn't be able to see the EXACT moment that he/she is heading in the wrong direction!  But with Formative you can!

The video below shows what I see while my 3rd graders are taking a quiz in Formative.  

So far, I've been using Formative for quick Math "check-ups".  You can create Multiple Choice, Text Response and Show Your Work (my favorite) type of questions.  In the video above, I used the Show Your Work type of question. The cool thing about the Show Your Work question, the students can use the track pad on their computers to "draw" their answer and they can also add text boxes to explain their answers.  

Again, if you're a GAFE district, student sign up is super easy.

This video shows what the student sees when taking a Formative quiz.  (By the way, this video was made by one of my super spiffy 3rd graders AT HOME...just because he wanted to!)  Oh, be still my heart!

The support at Formative is amazing!  I signed up and I immediately received an email from Craig Jones welcoming me and letting me know if I had any questions to let him know.  He really meant it!  I've gotten a few more really friendly emails with tips and how-to videos to watch.  I had a question a few days ago, so I emailed my question to Craig and within a few minutes I got an answer!  Super spiffy!  Check out Formative...it's way cool!

All I knew about Vine was my 14-year old son saying, "Mom! Look..." as he shoved his phone in my face with this looping video playing on it. (hint: Click the tiny sound icon on the bottom right corner...I muted it while writing this. UGH!)

After reading a few tweets and a blog post by@teachthought about using Vine in education, my curiosity was piqued!  So, I downloaded the Vine app on my phone and started to play.  First I made a Vine of me feeding some ducks at the lake.

It's ridiculously easy to make a Vine!  You literally touch the camera icon and then hold down your finger.  This green bar moves across the top of your phone so you can see how much recording time you have and that's it!  I'm serious!  

Now that I mastered the Vine making process, my creative juices started to flow! Check out a few of the vines I made for teaching/reviewing Math concepts! 

How cool is that?  Please leave comments with how you have used Vine in your classroom.  I'd really like more ideas!

Really?  That's it?  That's the whole definition of "status quo"?  Five tiny little words?  And you can tell that the dictionary tried to "spiff-ify" the definition, too!  Why then, is it so extremely difficult to go against the "Status Quo"?

I can remember my first "lesson" in status quo.  It was the very first year of my teaching career and I taught at a school in an extremely rough part of Los Angeles.   I had a student who was creative, quiet, and "quirky" (which actually meant ADHD at a time when it was considered to be the student's problem not the school's).  I really liked Kevin.  Yes, he had a VERY difficult time getting his work done.  He struggled with reading and math, but he drew the most wonderful pictures and his smile was glorious.  One day I discovered Kevin under his desk with his shoes off.  I was just about to make him to get up and put his shoes back on when I noticed that he was actually working!  So, I left him alone.  The next day during Math, Kevin was again under his desk and shoeless.  And again, Kevin was working so I allowed him to continue.  About a week later, a veteran teacher came into my room and saw Kevin under his desk without shoes and she asked me why.  As I proudly explained what I discovered about Kevin, her face crinkled up and she said loudly, "This is NOT how we do things here.  Get that child up off the floor!"  That was Status Quo lesson #1.  
Lesson #2 came the next year.  I was walking with one of my students down the hallway and another teacher stopped us and began to yell and berate my student about his clothes and his attitude.  I just stood there watching this whole demeaning episode and I said NOTHING!  In my defense, I was brand new and I felt like this teacher knew more than I did.  But, again the lesson in status quo was "loud and clear"...different was not acceptable.  
Another story, again from early in my career; I was on the Leadership Committee and my principal was discussing whether we should add a "Warning Bell" and have the students line up 5 minutes early so that they were inside and learning by the official start of the school day.  I, along with the other teachers on the committee agreed.  After this new bell routine was announced, a veteran teacher lectured me about how I had jeopardized all that the "old-timers" had worked for and that I had just given away teachers' before school prep time.  Status quo lesson #3...don't change anything because "it's always been done this way."

Then something wonderful happened.  Something that has completely changed the way I teach.  Something that has given me the confidence to kick "Status Quo" to the curb!  Last year my district went to 1:1 devices and along with Common Core Standards, and a supportive administration; I swear to you, I am now more excited than ever to get to work!  When we got our netbooks, an exciting world opened up not only for me but for my students!  We began to learn in ways that I've never before experienced!  I began to share the wonderful little things that my students were doing with my district's Director of Tech and I found an unexpected "cheerleader", a kindred soul.  I was constantly emailing him and saying, "look what my students did today!" and he would always answer back with "...just imagine what they will do tomorrow."

I was perusing that wonderful place that is Twitter one day and I came across this quote tweeted by @Justintarte and it really made me stop and think.

That quote was just what I needed to take a deep breath and kick "Status Quo" in the ass!  I am no longer under the crushing thumb of "Status Quo"!  I am proud that I am different and that my ideas are crazy!  I have revived that rebellious spirit that was always inside of me and it now roams freely!  At the beginning of this school year, I threw out ALL of my student desks.  My room looks more like a comfy coffee shop than a classroom and we all LOVE it! 

I have a bulletin board covered in bright green fabric for making greenscreen videos.  We have a Graffiti Wall.   My homework is optional and parents know this!  From the first day of school, my students understood that THIS year will be different!  From an impromptu learning session about Katydids because one flew into our classroom, learning about audience by writing in student blogs, to student-led parent conferences;  my students have been on a vastly different learning path this year.  For the first time in many years, I am proud and excited to be an educator!

Here is my plea...Join me!  All of you rebellious, non-conformist, wild and crazy march-to-your-own-drum, wonderfully innovative people; join me and tell "Status Quo" to kiss your ass!  Let's find each other somehow and form a giant "Anti-Status Quo" conga line grabbing people along the way so that our dancing becomes so infectious that people can't help but think and reflect on how schools should work!  Let's nurture each other's ideas!  Instead of saying "I wish we could...?" let's ask, "How can we make this happen?".  After all, has anyone ever done anything truly great by keeping the "Status Quo"?  I think not.