Tag studentempowerment

Explore New Ideas and Learning With Buncee

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Explore New Ideas and Have Fun Creating With Buncee!

Now that the school year has started and for many, some are moving toward the end of the first grading period, you might be looking for some new ideas to try. Don’t worry, once he definitely has you covered when it comes to finding new ideas to use in your classroom. Whether you check out the many visually engaging tweets of Buncees created and shared by educators from around the world. Educators are posting how they are using Buncee in their classrooms with their students or in their roles as administrators and tech coaches. You should also explore the many templates available or ideas in the Ideas Lab, you can find exactly what you need.

Join the Buncee Educator Facebook community Check out some recent Idea o’clock live sessions that were held. The past couple of weeks had Shannon Miller, Amy Storer and Karina Q sharing ideas for journaling and time capsules, tips for instructional coaches and interactive Buncee journals and OneNote.

Sometimes we just need a few ideas to get started with and then before you know it, we come up with a bunch of ideas and what I find even more often, our students come up with many of their ideas as well. One that I start with in my Spanish and STEAM classes is creating an About Me. I love creating a new one each time with them! We are just getting started this week and I cannot wait to see what they create!

More Ideas to Try

With many schools looking to hold events for families virtually, why not try using some of the templates available within Buncee. It would be fun to have students create their own Buncee to share what they have learned and how they are enjoying their class. Students can add in a video of them talking about their experiences so far and add 3D objects, animations, stickers, emojis and more! All of the student Buncees can then be shared on a Buncee board to share with families. Imagine how fun it would be to see and get to know classmates and post comments even!

Perhaps create your presentation to share all of the information about your class and design your virtual classroom choosing from many the templates available. Why not also include your bitmoji and then record audio and video to go along with it. It’s very important for our students and their families to be able to see and hear us and our excitement for teaching and working with the students. What better way than to create a Buncee virtual classroom

Love these ideas shared from Buncee! Find the templates available in the Buncee library:

Meet the teacher flyers

Virtual classrooms

Daily remote learning journals

Time capsule activities

Digital citizenship lessons

Social media profiles

Record a video for genius hour

So many choices!

Get involved in the upcoming Global Write with Buncee and help to connect students with students from around the world. Daily prompts are provided for students to create and share stories. Learn more about this amazing collaborative project and get involved today!

Check out the many ideas that have been shared by Holly Clark. Look how many great ideas are listed in this graphic! Check out what teachers and students can do with Buncee and see which apps you are using that integrate with Buncee too! My students love using Buncee with Flipgrid and I love being able to share Buncees through Microsoft Teams and even schedule meetings! The possibilities are endless!

Explore the many new templates and have students create vision boards and more with Buncee! Virtual lockers, class schedules, organizers, newsletters, About me Buncees and so many other options to get started with here.

Learn about how other educators are using Buncee in their classrooms. Read about how Teresa Liu is using Buncee to engage special needs students in this blog post.

Updates and training!

If you’re looking for some help in getting started with Buncee, don’t miss out on the daily live training that is offered throughout the week. Each session is focused on helping educators get started with Buncee by showing some of the many possibilities and where to find all of the amazing graphics and the options that are available within Buncee. There really are endless possibilities when it comes to creating with Buncee and there is something in it for everyone.

I love taking courses through the Microsoft educator program, check out the Buncee course on Creative Expression & SEL with Buncee.

Buncee is always adding new features and expanding all that they provide for educators and for student learning. Recently they had a partnership with Flipgrid where now you can find many Buncee templates available to use in combination with Flipgrid, especially some for promoting SEL and also for organization. Stay tuned for some new updates coming with Buncee’s partnership with Microsoft.

Get involved!

Buncee is currently taking applications to become part of their Ambassador program. Applications are due on October 9th and if you’re looking for a supportive network to become a part of and to learn more about the power of creating with Buncee, I definitely recommend that you check out the ambassador program and see what is happening in the community. Especially at a time like now, where we are working through a lot of challenges in the world and an education, we need to have a supportive network to learn and grow with, especially one that is focused on promoting student voice and choice!

One of the ambassadors, Ilene Winokur has been telling the story of Bunceeman’s adventures! Bunceeman is visiting all of the Buncee ambassadors and this is a fantastic way to collaborate and learn about people and places from around the world! Check out his adventures here!

Global Events Coming up!

DigCit Summit happened on October 14th and Buncee was a sponsor of the event. See all of the digital citizenship templates and graphics available in the Buncee library! One of my first Buncees was a digcit lesson! Add in links, videos, audios, questions and more to create a lesson for students and then have them create their own digcit PSA! Join in the #Usetech4good Buncee challenge!

Global Maker Day is coming up on October 20th! Sign up to join in this day of amazing learning opportunities! Looking forward to seeing some Buncees created and shared throughout the day!

Guest Post: Culturally Responsive Teaching

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Guest post by Chris Orlando @Dr_ChrisOrlando

When COVID-19 struck in the spring, it forced an unprecedented portion of our country’s schools to suspend brick-and-mortar instruction. Teachers were thrown into distance teaching—referred to by many as “crisis teaching”— with little preparation. It was like trying to build a plane while flying it.

The crisis has exposed societal inequities impacting our students’ daily lives including food deficits, inadequate health care—including mental health care, issues with housing stability, and insufficient access to the internet.

This fall, to ensure that I’m meeting the needs of my marginalized students even as I shift to a new learning environment, I plan on creating a culturally responsive digital classroom, one that can provide a space where students feel welcomed and valued. Culturally responsive instruction centers on building the learning capacity of all students. According to Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, “There is a focus on leveraging the affective and the cognitive scaffolding that students bring with them.”

Here are three ways in which I plan to implement culturally responsive teaching this year:

Building Relationships

The single greatest investment teachers can make is to build relationships with their students. Relationships boost motivation, create safe spaces for learning, build new pathways for learning, and improve student behavior. The question, of course, is how can I build relationships with students who I might never see in person?

First, I plan to master the soft start to class in order to ease students into our learning environment each day. Though often thought of as an elementary school strategy, my middle schoolers respond well to soft starts. It allows time for students to transition and to re-engage their mental muscles with a short game, puzzle, brainteaser, reading, or interesting “Would You Rather” question. Be cognizant that typical icebreakers like, “What I did this summer” may leave children with nothing positive to share and create a social hierarchy of who had the most impressive summer break. Instead, pose questions like, “Imagine your best day ever. What would happen?” or “If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?” Taking even ten minutes to check-in with students at the beginning of class each day is vital because high-trust, low-stress environments can help marginalized students effectively process and retain learned information. Additionally, I plan to do the following to build relationships and increase connectedness virtually:

  • Learn my students’ names promptly and use them as much as possible. As a teacher who often mispronounces my students’ names, I’ll assign students to create a short video in which they pronounce their name so that I can reference it.
  • Ask for student feedback regularly through an ungraded video or Google Form known as “Friday Feedback”
  • Host informal office hours that will encourage one-on-one communication
  • Collect and share virtual notes of gratitude and appreciation

Be a Personal Trainer of Students’ Cognitive Development

As a teacher who is preparing for Round 2 of distance teaching this fall, much of the success or failure of this upcoming school year will depend on my students’ ability to work independently. In order to foster this independence, I will be providing students who are dependent learners with cognitive routines and tools that will help them organize their thinking and process content. Consistently using a regular set of prompts in all assignments helps students internalize cognitive routines so that they can use them when I’m not around. After all, isn’t the goal of education to help students become lifelong learners who can marshal their critical thinking skills long after they’ve left the classroom? Internalizing cognitive routines will help expand the learning capacity of students who have been historically marginalized and work to dismantle dominant narratives about students of color.

Make It a Game, Make It Social, Make It a Story

Each day students walk into our classrooms (or this year, log in to our classrooms) armed with their own learning tools, but too often teachers fail to use them to maximize student learning. Students’ culture can inform us whether they learn best on their own or by collaborating with others. In a distance learning context, students are often given packets and assigned independent projects, which serve independent learners, but are a detriment to communal learners. For example, diverse students who come from oral traditions, might benefit from activities that require social interaction, physical manipulation of content, or narrative. In other words: make it a game, make it social, or make it a story. Utilizing breakout features in Zoom and apps like Jamboard, Flipgrid, and Socrative can help engage communal learners. However, it’s important to remember that culturally responsive teaching isn’t simply a set of strategies. It’s consistently mirroring students’ cultural learning styles and tools.

My job is to be responsive to students’ individual and collective lived experiences, and in particular this year, their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. That will require me to integrate my students’ cultural learning tools into my pedagogy and be a warm demander of their cognitive development. But above all, this year will be about relationships. Creating a learning partnership that encourages my students to take ownership of their learning has always been important, but this year it will be paramount to address gaps in learning outcomes between diverse students and their white counterparts. Through robust reflection of my own pedagogy and the adoption of culturally responsive teaching practices, I plan to make learning exciting and joyful for my students so that they’ll be motivated to take ownership of their own learning. Students will be seen. They’ll be heard. They’ll be loved. And we’ll make it through this school year together.

Gonzalez, J. (2017, September 10). Culturally Responsive Teaching: 4 Misconceptions. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-misconceptions/

**Interested in writing a guest blog for my site? Would love to share your ideas! Submit your post here.

Looking for a new book to read? Many stories from educators, two student chapters, and a student-designed cover for In Other Words.

Find these available at bit.ly/Pothbooks  

Keeping the Learning Going

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a lot of conversations about what educators will do if schools need to experience school closures or move to a hybrid model in the upcoming school year. With so many uncertainties when it comes to the pandemic, it has definitely been a challenge to figure out how to provide the best learning experiences for our students and to keep them engaged and motivated during this time. I miss being in my classroom and the interactions with my students, greeting them at the door, working with them on activities and projects in that classroom” space” although the time we had never seemed to be enough!

Finding ways to extend the “space” of learning for our students has been a popular topic of discussion for many years, and something that I have worked on, so it is not entirely something new. However, with our current global situation, educators and schools are seeking to find the right resources that can be put into action right away and that will work for transitioning back into the classrooms too. I love that I can create a message to share with students, to check in and  for them to connect with each other.

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We must look for ways to provide rich learning experiences through versatile tools that students can access and work on independently wherever they are and regardless of time. What I have suggested to many educators is finding one or two tools that enable them to do many of the same things they would do in the classroom and even more. With Buncee, we can work remotely and provide meaningful learning experiences that engage students in the digital space as well as our physical classroom spaces. As students create, they can work from school, at home, or anywhere, and be able to share their work with classmates and teachers, even globally.

Endless Possibilities with Buncee

One of the things that I love the most about Buncee is that it can be used in so many different ways, not only for instruction in our classrooms but also in life. I tell the story often that I have used Buncee personally to create cards for family and friends, personal business cards, design engaging graphics for Twitter chats and presentations for webinars, or to make quote graphics for my books. There are so many ways to use it and for me, it always comes down to the why, or the purpose for choosing a specific digital tool. What can I use it for? What are the benefits? How does it help students to learn, to be more engaged in learning and to build skills?

When I decide to use digital tools in my classroom, I want students to practice the content in a more authentic and engaging way, while also developing essential skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity that will benefit them in the future but that are necessary now too.

Having a specific platform or digital tool in place that all educators can use and making sure that all students will have access is very important. As teachers, we have so many choices for how we can use Buncee in our classrooms and we can share ideas for families to use it for activities too. It is a versatile tool that provides multiple ways for people to learn and to express themselves.We’ve tried a lot of different ways for using Buncee in the classroom, many of which have been a result of the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking of the students.

Unlock the Power of Creativity

It just takes logging into Buncee to unlock the power of creativity once you see a library of more than 31,000 graphics with new assets added every day that connect with what is happening in the world. Regardless of what you want to create, there are more than enough choices for what to add into your multimedia presentation. Students (and anyone) can quickly create a multimedia presentation full of animations, drawings, stickers, emojis, 3D objects, Buncee messages, 360 images, audio and video embedded and even student artwork!

Beyond the potential for creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, using Buncee, students can build skills in digital media literacy, technological proficiency, and digital citizenship. Students have the opportunity to use technology as a tool for solving real-world problems or making real-world connections.

Buncee is so invested in providing a lot of options and opportunities for students and educators to enjoy learning, creating and growing together. I have been proud to be a part of this growing educator community and have learned so much from the connections that I have made and from the relationships that have formed with the Buncee team and Buncee Ambassadors.

I looked for some examples and asked for some feedback from ambassadors and Buncee educators.

“Buncee has been a wonderful asset during this time of remote teaching/learning.  I used Buncee every week to create my lesson plans.  I would make a copy and adjust my template to what I needed for that week. I also used Buncee to create flyers for our school-wide virtual spirit days.  
Buncee provided templates that I was able to use both for paper packets as well as digital templates for the students who were able to connect digitally (even if that number is small).
One big way that Buncee was a help was the sense of community and support that it provided during this time.”   Jessica Chandler 

 

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“It is such a special time for my students and for me as we look back.” Barbie Monty.

Barbie worked on the Hugs4Heroes initiative with Kristina Holzweiss and Amy Storer and there was also the #WithHeartWhileApart.

Check out this Buncee Board with more than 10,000 views!

Check out Buncee’s posts on Ideas for the end of the year and Summer Fun!

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10 ideas 

10 activities for a productive summer

Here are some of the latest ideas that have been shared.

Explore virtual classrooms.The Merrills shared a template and I created several virtual classrooms for my students!

Check out Marie’s virtual classroom where she lost her Bunceemen!

Explore Summer fun for early learners

A new habit in 21 days activity

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My Spanish I virtual classroom

Art Classroom by Colette

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Kristen Regan’s Classroom!

Check out Parent Newsletters from Laurie Guyon

Barbie Monty said, “My favorite is having my students create a Buncee end of the year reflection.

Bonnie Foster created a Covid-19 Survivor certificate

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Ide Koulbanis is having students plan a trip! Bunceeman Adventure

Daily Reflective Thoughts by Don Sturm

Test Prep and Motivation: Amy Nichols

Self-care suggestions

End of the year celebrations and certificates or make a Buncee Card! 

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Virtual Graduation  Ceremony!

Virtual Camps!

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To learn more, join in the daily live webinars with Buncee at 12 and 3pm eastern. I also have webinars on Tuesdays at 4pm!

Check out the Ideas Lab!

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Fun badges and learning opportunities!

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Connecting Students through Buncee

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Leveraging  the right tools for remote learning

By Rachelle Dene Poth, Spanish and STEAM Teacher, @Rdene915

One of the things that I love the most about ​Buncee is that it can be used in so many different ways, not only for instruction in our classrooms but also in life. I have used Buncee to create cards for family and friends, personal business cards, graphics for Twitter chats and webinars, quote graphics for my books, invitations, and more. When I decide to use digital tools in my classroom, I want students to practice the content in a more authentic and engaging way, while developing skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity that can be transferred to their future. In using digital tools like Buncee, my hope is that they will also use them in other classes, for personal use, and will share them with family too.

 

Buncee is more than just a creation tool, it is a supportive educator network that is invested in fostering connections, expressing kindness and gratitude. There have been  many initiatives for classrooms and families around the world to join in, most recently Hugs for Heroes. This is an amazing project worked on by Kristina Holzweiss, Barbie Monty and Amy Storer. Learn more about itand create your own!

Why Buncee?

Now with the shift to remote learning and educators looking for ways to connect with students and provide authentic and meaningful learning opportunities, I have been recommending Buncee more. As a multimedia creation tool, it offers so many possibilities for educators of any  content area or grade level, and provides resources for students, families and educators to get started right away. For ideas, check out some of the  Coffee Talks!

Finding time to explore new resources can be a challenge because our lives as educators become quite busy and we may find ourselves lacking in time to really explore a variety of options for use in our classroom. With the sudden transition to remote instruction, this is another one of the reasons that I recommend and choose Buncee and appreciate the team’s investment in providing exactly what educators, students and their families need. It truly has become a go to multi-purpose platform that can do so much, that I feel pretty comfortable in saying that the possibilities really are endless when it comes to creation with Buncee.

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Fostering the SEL skills and making connections

At the start of each school year and throughout the year, I focus my efforts on student relationships, learning about my students and also providing opportunities for them to learn about one another. In the past I have done this by using activities in our classroom such as ice breakers or having students work together on different review games and other in class collaborations like that. Earlier this year I created a project for students to learn about the Spanish language and culture and also to engage more in learning about one another. I came up with a project focused on using the “About Me” template in Buncee. I wanted students to share who they were and create one slide to show this using words, animations, stickers, and other add-ins. My hope was that by looking at each student’s slide, we would understand one another better and relate to each other based on similarities and differences.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity for them to choose and learn a little about a place where Spanish is spoken and create an “About_(​country​)_____” to share that information with the rest of the class. But I also realize that there are many students who are visual learners like me and I wanted to encourage students to be able to quickly look at and process information and represent it in a different way. Rather than simply restating the same content, push them to apply it at a higher level or find a different way to demonstrate an understanding of a concept.

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I also wanted students to choose a Spanish speaking country and I placed a limit on the number of actual words they could use because I wanted them to represent what they had learned about the place that had chosen using the Buncee features. The topics they had to include were: languages spoken, school subjects, foods, activities, and other information like that that they could display using Buncee.

How did it go?

It was a fun activity and I learned so much about them and they learned about each other and what life is like in countries where Spanish is spoken. We shared them on a Buncee board ​which made it easy to access and created a colorful display of students and their creativity. Students shared their slides and gave a brief description in Spanish about themselves and made connections with their classmates. We had good conversations exchanging our likes, dislikes, and learning about our backgrounds.

For the second slide, students were able to get a quick glimpse of different Spanish-speaking countries and begin to understand the culture of some of the places they would be studying. It was fun that they could only include 3D objects, animations, stickers or emojis, to represent the information for each country. So for visual learners, being able to choose the right object to use to share this information made the learning stick a little bit more. Students who enjoy creating but not drawing really enjoyed the activity.

A recent feature is the ability for students to comment and give feedback on the boards. This is a great way to encourage online student interaction whether through comments or emojis!

nullOne other feature that I thought was important to share with students was the new Immersive Reader and how it works. We enjoyed looking at all of the capabilities with it and using Buncee for learning!  Check out the video to learn more here!

Check out  the information from Buncee for Remote Learning and everything you need to get started here.  Want to learn more about  Buncee? Sign up for their live webinars happening each day, Monday through Friday  at 12:00 and 3:00 pm EST. Sign up here.

 

**Interested in writing a guest blog for my site? Would love to share your ideas! Submit your post here.

 

Looking for a new book to read? Many stories from educators, two student chapters, and a student-designed cover for In Other Words.

Find these available at bit.ly/Pothbooks  

Buncee: Learning Anywhere

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Providing Ways to Keep the Learning Going

Over the past week, there has been a lot of conversation about what educators can do if schools need to close for a period of time, especially due to recent events related to the Coronavirus. Finding ways to extend the “space” of learning for our students has been a topic of discussion for many years, so it is not entirely something new. However, with the current situation, educators and schools are seeking to find the right resources that can be put into action right away.

Over the past few years, many schools have started to offer flexible learning days to deal with school closures due to weather conditions, environmental issues or something else entirely. Being able to keep learning going and have ways to collaborate without being in the same physical space is important. Having a specific platform or digital tool in place that all educators can use and making sure that all students will have access is very important. With so many choices out there, it can be tough to figure out exactly where to begin, especially when time is a factor.

As I’ve been talking with some friends this week, a large part of our conversation has focused on what to do if our schools were to close and even in the general sense, how can we also provide more for our students for times when we need to be out of the classroom? For times when I have not been able to be in class, whether due to illness or a pre-planned conference, I rely heavily on technology to be able to connect with my students so that they can ask questions and have the support they need. However, I also rely on it to provide them with rich learning experiences through versatile tools that they can work on independently wherever they are. With Buncee, we can work remotely and provide meaningful learning experiences that engage students in the digital space.

Buncee = Learning Anywhere

As I have been thinking about some of our recent Buncee projects, my 8th grade STEAM course has been working on a few activities. They have created an About Me Buncee, a few for gratitude and most recently, “Tech Over Time.” In the Tech Over Time project, students have been exploring the transformation of some digital tools or electronic devices over the past 10, 20, 30+ years and also making predictions for the future.

As students create, they can work from school, at home, or anywhere, and be able to share their work with me wherever I am. Teachers can assign fun projects for students or choose from the many ideas in the Buncee Ideas Lab.

We have used Buncee for years in all of my classes and through it I have been able to provide opportunities for my students to engage in more authentic and meaningful learning, to be creative and to drive their learning experience. Whether students use it to design a Buncee to share their experiences, engage in project-based learning, summarize a book they have read, explain a concept in math or science, for a few examples, the possibilities are endless for what students can create.

As teachers, we have so many choices for how we can use Buncee in our classrooms. It can be used to have students work through a Hyperdoc, or used as a model template for students to then create their own Buncee, make a timeline, solve word problems, and more. The idea is that we can leverage the tool to provide something that will connect with each student and it can be done from anywhere.

Ideas for your Classroom

1.Make an interactive book

2. Create a timeline

3. Design a digital business card

4. Explain steps in a process

5. Teach a lesson, add audio and video

6. Book summary

7. Design classroom signs

8. Create study aids

9. Create an ebook

10. Recreate a moment from history, personal experience, or make a future prediction

A Powerful Learning Community and So Much More!

Rachelle Dené Poth 2 Comments

A Powerful Learning Community and So Much More!

By Rachelle Dene Poth @Rdene915

Being an educator requires a lot. It requires a huge investment in time to make sure that we are providing everything that our students need and that we are making time for ourselves to grow professionally. Finding a way to balance the numerous responsibilities can be difficult sometimes and trying to do so can result in a lack of balance and a loss in time for personal and professional development. So what can educators do? Do we have to choose only one thing? How can we when it is all important to our students’ growth as well as our own?

We don’t have to choose. We have access to the support we need and more importantly, that our students need, through the ability to connect in the Buncee community. For several years I have been proud to be a part of this growing educator community and have learned so much from the connections that I have made and from the relationships that have formed with the Buncee team and Buncee Ambassadors. I am so proud to be a part of this Buncee family.

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Finding what we need

People often ask how to find resources and new ideas for their classes, how to become more connected, and where to find a supportive network of educators. Over the years I have been fortunate to become connected with a lot of different educators in various communities ranging from state and national educational organizations, to ambassador programs and a growing PLN from leveraging social media networks that enable me to learn and gather new ideas that will benefit my students and my practice.

There are a lot of communities out there to choose from, but one in particular has continued to make an impact in my life and for my students over the years, and in the lives of many students, educators and people from around the world. And that is Buncee.

Where to Begin

Whether you’re on Twitter or not, I would recommend checking out what educators have been sharing when it comes to Buncee. During the week there are many Twitter chats happening and discussion in online forums such as Facebook.

These are a few of the most common topics that educators have been exploring:

  • Finding resources and authentic ideas for assessment
  • Providing different types of learning experiences that are more student-driven and full of choices like project-based learning.
  • Building social emotional learning (SEL) or digital citizenship skills
  • Promoting global and cultural awareness
  • Engaging students in more authentic and meaningful work.
  • Differentiated instruction and how we can make sure that we are providing what each student needs in our classrooms.

For many years I kept myself kind of isolated and relied on my own experiences as a student and used only the materials that I had in my own classroom. Truthfully, I didn’t really know where to look to find support or other resources and didn’t feel like I had the time to do so. But today, all of that is so greatly changed, and it just takes looking outward to see what is happening in classrooms around the world. Finding the right connection and taking that first step.

Finding New ideas

Just in the last few weeks, I have learned how teachers are using Buncee for more than just creating a presentation. Educators are leveraging technology to help students to build confidence, facilitate global connections, foster social-emotional learning skills, and even for helping students to overcoming anxiety when it comes to doing presentations in class.

Recently a friend asked me if I had ideas for a different way to teach mythology. I posted my question in the Buncee community and it didn’t take long for someone to share a few project ideas and for many educators to offer more support.

There are so many unique ways to use Buncee and beyond just being a versatile tool for students and educators and anybody to use to create. Buncee has really brought people together in a welcoming community. A community that is focused on supporting one another so it can support all students.

If you are looking for a new idea, a different way to present information to your students, to have students create, to be engaged in learning, then I definitely recommend you check out Buncee.

If you are looking to become part of a supportive educator network, then I encourage you to become part of the Buncee Community. Engage in the conversations that happen each day, join in the monthly Twitter chats, take advantage of all the resources that they are so willing to give and to share. Explore some of the recent Twitter conversation and tremendous support in this community here.

Here are some of the most recent ideas shared that are definitely worth checking out:

Holiday Hugs Marie Arturi and Amy Storer Read about it here.

Tutorial Shared with Anyone Looking to Get Started: Dan Spada

Link to Video

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Submitted by Bonnie Foster to Buncee, this amazing board designed by Mary Gaynor & Colleen Corrigan.

Daily Reflective Thoughts by Don Sturm

Book recommendations: Rachelle Dene Poth

Hopes and Dreams: Laurie Guyon

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day: Barbie Monty

Welcome Back messages: Laura Steinbrink

Student Reminders: Barbie Monty

Student Focus for the year: Heather Preston

Barbie Monty

Student Business Cards and Goals: Loni Stein

Task Cards: Amy Nichols

Teacher PD: Barbie Monty

Student Projects: Todd Flory

Test Prep and Motivation: Amy Nichols

Video and Buncee with Greenscreen: Jennifer Conti

Buncee Holiday Hugs

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

 

 

Have you heard about the Buncee Holiday Hugs? This is an absolutely amazing project that has taken place during the months of November and December. Through this project, students from around the world have created Buncees and shared their work on a Buncee Board for everyone to see. There are now 957 Buncees added to this Board!

So what are these Buncees being used for?

 

Buncee is partnering with children’s hospitals from around the world to share the Buncees that have been created for Holiday Hugs. These amazing Buncees will be shared with children who will be spending their time in the hospital during the holidays.

The Holiday Hugs project was started by Amy Storer with inspiration from Michael Drezek. The idea evolved from Amy’s own experience as she was spending time with her mother in the hospital over the holidays. The idea for Buncee Holiday Hugs then came to life through the connections with Amy and Marie Arturi, Creator of Buncee. Holiday Hugs is another wonderful project that follows past projects such as the Buncee Buddies (a penpal project that connects students globally to collaborate on different themes) and Miles of Smiles with Michael Drezek.

To learn more, watch this interview with Amy Storer and Brian Romero Smith in which they discuss this amazing Holiday Hugs project and their hopes for it during this holiday season.

Here are a few of the wonderful messages shared with the children. What I love the most is that the messages written on each of these Buncees can be enjoyed by everyone through the use of Immersive Reader. A fifth grade class created this Buncee story for their Holiday Hug and with Immersive Reader, not only can the language be translated, but the story can then be read to the children as well. Beyond simply sharing a wish for the holidays, students can tell stories, send messages, tell jokes, express themselves and it is accessible and can be enjoyed by everyone.

Each Buncee is uniquely different, adding in winter themes, specific holiday traditions and celebrations, animations and even video messages for the children.

Seeing each student share a story, a joke, offer encouragement, record videos, or share their picture to lift others up, truly is inspiring.

Each Holiday Hug is heartfelt from student to student.

With Buncee’s integration with Immersive Reader, students can write a message and share it with any child around the world for them to enjoy. The use of Immersive Reader in Buncee enables students to create multimedia content, improve language skills and build global awareness in authentic and meaningful ways.

Please take time to explore the Buncee Holiday Hugs and read more about this project and its incredible impact on the lives of so many children and on everyone who has participated.

Look at the different creations! I hope you will take some time to explore the Buncee Holiday Hugs and read more about this wonderful project and its incredible impact on the lives of so many children and on everyone who has participated.

 

Buncee: Getting to know our students

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

One of the things that I love the most about Buncee is that it can be used in so many different ways, not only for instruction in our classrooms but also in life. I have used Buncee to create cards for family and friends, personal business cards, graphics for Twitter chats and webinars, quote graphics for my books, invitations, and more. When I decide to use digital tools in my classroom, I want students to practice the content in a more authentic and engaging way, while developing skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity that can be transferred to their future. In using digital tools like Buncee, my hope is that they will also use them in other classes, for personal use, and will share them with family too.

Each year, I continue to explore new ideas to have students create with the content, rather than doing the exact same project or using traditional worksheets or other assessment methods. For years, I assigned students to complete very rigid projects in the same format and left little up to student choice. Now, after seeing the benefits of being more flexible with my instructional methods, I’d rather open it up more to student choice and see what students come up with.

Finding time to explore new resources can be a challenge because our lives as educators becomes quite busy and we may find ourselves lacking in time to really explore a variety of options for use in our classroom. This is another one of the reasons that I choose Buncee and appreciate the team’s investment in offering more than just one way for students to create. It truly has become a go to multi-purpose platform that can do so much, that I feel pretty comfortable in saying that the possibilities really are endless when it comes to creation with Buncee.

Learning about students and pushing them to explore

At the start of each school year, I focus my efforts on student relationships, learning about my students and also providing opportunities for them to learn about one another. In the past I have done this by using activities in our classroom such as ice breakers or having students work together on different review games and other in class collaborations like that. But this year I decided to do something a little bit differently to not only engage students in learning about the Spanish language and culture but to engage more in learning about one another. I came up with a project focused on using the “About Me” template in Buncee. I wanted students to share who they were and create one slide to show this using words, animations, stickers, and other add-ins. My hope was that by looking at each student’s slide, we would understand one another better and relate to each other based on similarities and differences.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity for them to choose and learn a little about a place where Spanish is spoken and create an “About_(country)_____” to share that information with the rest of the class. But I also realize that there are many students who are visual learners like me and I wanted to encourage students to be able to quickly look at and process information and represent it in a different way. Rather than simply restating the same content, push them to apply it at a higher level or find a different way to demonstrate an understanding of a concept.

I also wanted students to choose a Spanish speaking country and I placed a limit on the number of actual words they could use because I wanted them to represent what they had learned about the place that had chosen using the Buncee features. The topics they had to include were: languages spoken, school subjects, foods, activities, and other information like that that they could display using Buncee.

How did it go?

It was a fun activity and I learned so much about them and they learned about each other and what life is like in countries where Spanish is spoken. We shared them on a Buncee board which made it easy to access and created a colorful display of students and their creativity. Students shared their slides and gave a brief description in Spanish about themselves and made connections with their classmates. We had good conversations exchanging our likes, dislikes, and learning about our backgrounds. For the second slide, students

were able to get a quick glimpse of different Spanish-speaking countries and begin to understand the culture of some of the places they would be studying. It was fun that they could only include 3D objects, animations, stickers or emojis, to represent the information for each country. So for visual learners, being able to choose the right object to use to share this information made the learning stick a little bit more. Students who enjoy creating but not drawing really enjoyed the activity.

One other feature that I thought was important to share with students was the new Immersive Reader and how it works. We enjoyed looking at all of the capabilities with it and using Buncee for learning!

 

 

 

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Buncee and Immersive Reader

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Buncee and Immersive Reader: A Winning Combination for Assistive Learning

For several years, Buncee has been one of my favorite creation tools; both for personal creation needs and for classroom instruction. While there are many digital tools to choose from when it comes to teaching and having our students create, Buncee’s versatility, ease-of-use, and recent integration with Microsoft’s Immersive Reader make it a go-to tool for all creative needs and accessible for students of diverse ages and abilities to learn 21st-Century Skills and express themselves. What my students love the most is that Buncee offers something for everyone, and I love that they love it.

Always keeping their finger on the pulse of their community’s needs, Buncee listens to educators about the needs for our students and takes action to find solutions! Their integration with Immersive Reader is a perfect example of this.

Immersive Reader: It’s About Opportunities to for ALL Students

This summer, Buncee added Microsoft’s Immersive Reader to its platform, increasing accessibility for students and offering more robust ways to learn. Immersive Reader is full-screen accessibility tool, supporting the readability of text in a Buncee for students with dyslexia, visual impairments, and for language learners and their families. Any text added into a Buncee can be translated and read aloud in over 60 + languages.

There are many ways Immersive Reader can enhance the learning opportunities for all students, build their confidence, and create an inclusive classroom environment. The use of Immersive Reader in Buncee will enable students to do more than just create Buncees, it will help them improve reading and language learning skills, while engaging more with the content in authentic and meaningful ways.

Imagine the possibilities for reaching and engaging students and their families who are just learning to read, who may be struggling with identifying parts of speech or word recognition, or who may be coming from non-native English speaking homes. Educators can use Immersive Reader to create lessons, make interactive flashcards for students and also for communicating with families. Being able to provide for students and their families of different backgrounds and learning styles is something that the Buncee team is definitely passionate about and does well!

How Does Immersive Reader Work in Buncee?

There are several ways to help students to build their skills through the different options available within Buncee and using Immersive Reader.

Getting started with Immersive Reader in Buncee is easy. By clicking on the Immersive Reader icon when viewing a Buncee, options pop up that you can work with to help further personalize the learning experience for students. Immersive Reader can then access the text in a Buncee. For example, it is easy to adjust the reading speed and make changes to the font spacing to help students who might need some adjustments in the visual appearance. You can also choose to display the text in shorter lines, or break down the syllables, to help students process the information in ways that meet their needs.

Navigating the Options

I decided to create a Buncee using some of the new 3D objects and also explore the options available through Immersive Reader. When viewing my finished Buncee, clicking the Immersive Reader symbol takes me to a new screen where I have additional options to further personalize the appearance of the creation. For first time users, it is easy to figure out how to adjust the settings. In preview mode, I clicked on the speaker symbol to listen to the text. Students could use this as a way to practice their own pronunciation, especially when using it for language learning, by repeating after the speaker. Students can also build listening comprehension skills by focusing on the written words and making connections with the audio.

By clicking on text preferences, I can choose the text size, increase spacing, and select from three choices in font style. These are great options to help with readability for students. There are also 21 color choices for the background on the screen. I find this to be very useful, especially as someone who can be sensitive to certain colors when reading. I’ve also had students experience difficulty with reading on certain colored backgrounds, so this is a definite plus.

The grammar options enable you to turn the syllables on or off and also color code the different parts of speech. Being able to use the color codes to help with the identification of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs will help students to build their grammar skills. These labels can be turned on or off, which means that families can work with their children and use it as a teaching tool for review.

Just to experiment, I turned everything off except for the verbs. Displayed on the screen were the two verbs in the sentence both highlighted in red. I then selected a different color for each part of speech, I chose purple to identify nouns and green for the adjectives. I was amazed at how quickly this could be set up and the possibilities for helping students with reading comprehension and language skills. Using this as a way to further engage students with identifying parts of speech and making the visual connection is another option for more interactive learning.

Under reading preferences you can focus on one line or on the entire text.

When you focus on a line, it closes the screen down to that one specific sentence, which you can also make narrower or thicker depending on your choice.

There are more than 60 languages available for translation. I decided to try French first, and when I clicked on a word, it showed me the word in French and in English. I also explored other languages, including Spanish and was impressed with how much it offered to reinforce the content and to provide a more personalized learning experience for students. You can choose the voice and speed of reading, so it provides a great way to reinforce speaking skills as well as listening, reading and writing.

In his book, Digital Leadership, Eric Sheninger talks about the critical competencies needed by learners to be successful in today’s world. These competencies are in alignment with the ISTE standards for students and teachers, and can be addressed through the use of Buncee. Now with Immersive Reader integrated, the possibilities to address these standards is open to all learners. Beyond the potential for creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, using Buncee, students can build skills in digital media literacy, entrepreneurship, technological proficiency, and digital citizenship. Students have the opportunity to use technology as a tool for solving real-world problems or making real-world connections. We have to look beyond simply using digital tools to engage students in learning and instead, empower them through opportunities to apply what they have learned in unique ways.

Connecting With the Past…Meeting With Former Students (#2): It’s All About a Feeling

Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Guest Post by Maureen Hayes, #4OCFPLN

Connecting With the Past…Meeting With Former Students (#2): It’s All About a Feeling

It’s All About a Feeling 

This is the second in a series of blogs about meet-ups with my former students. As I shared in my first blog, my students now range in age from 22-34 years old. I recently connected with many of them through Facebook, and plans have been made to get together and catch up.

In 1996, I was fortunate to be part of my district’s multiyear classroom initiative (AKA Looping), which means I taught the same students for two years; from first to second grade. I loved being a looping teacher! Having the same group of students together for two years was an incredible experience! Essentially, we were given the gift of an extra month of school together, as September of 2nd grade became a continuation of 1st grade. There was no “first six weeks” of the new year for getting to know each other and establishing a classroom culture for learning. That had been done in first grade, so we began September right where we left off in June. I knew my students well, and the connections we made through two years together was strong. We were a family.

I taught my second looping class from 1997-1999, and the end of our second year together culminated (for me) with the birth of my daughter. As I was waiting to become a first-time mom, my students pampered me and even threw me a surprise shower. Of course, watching my stomach move around while I was teaching math (right after lunch) became entertainment for my students (and me!) by spring of that year.

Our Looping Class during Year 1- 1996
Rachel is right next to me.

Rachel was one of my students in this looping group. I remember that she always had a smile on her face, and was a genuinely happy kid. Rachel’s twin sister was in the other looping class right next door. I honestly couldn’t tell them apart, but I always knew Rachel because her face would light up with a smile when she saw me.

Rachel and I recently met up for dinner, and the first thing we realized is that we hadn’t seen each other in twenty years! After my daughter was born that June, I transferred schools within my district to shorten my commute. I hadn’t seen her since.

Rachel’s first question to me “how do you remember me?”.  Honestly, I remember every student from my looping classes. They have a special place in my heart. 360 days together over the two years where students demonstrate more academic and social-emotional growth than any other years in school was pretty significant to me.

Rachel shared that she doesn’t remember a lot of details from our classroom. She explained that it was more about the atmosphere, or feeling she remembers and less about the specifics. She does know that she liked school and that she felt smart in first and second grade.

Rachel and I on Halloween

She did remember our class hermit crab (Bud) and hamster (Speedy), and a class trip to Duke Gardens in second grade. Reading groups (guided reading) was a special time and she has always loved reading. Rachel specifically remembers changing groups during the year, and that she was intimidated at first in her new group because she knew they were the “good readers”.

A memory Rachel shared that I don’t recall, is that someone once put glue on the toilet seat in our classroom bathroom. Apparently, I was not happy.

On the whole, we both agreed that this class was a pretty amazing group of kids. There were very few behavioral issues…we really couldn’t remember much of anything,  but these were six and seven-year-olds so there had to be some amount of behavioral issues/lessons, right? I guess I just forget things like that 😊

We looked through pictures together and remembered the students in our class. Rachel is still in touch with several of them, and her classmate Megan is still one of her closest friends. We both noted the lack of diversity in the class and the school as a whole. We had a great conversation about education, equity, and multiple intelligences. It was a fun time together reminiscing and telling stories.

The thing that most resonated with me after my dinner with Rachel was her comment about her memories being rooted in a “feeling”. Though specific memories fad, the feeling of connections, relationships, and belonging remain. Children need to feel a sense of safety and belonging and that someone cares. Only then are they ready to learn.

Rachel and I at dinner together 2019

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