Engaging Emojis!

This week, Meredith Akers explains how to increase student engagement and provide students with the opportunity to create using emojis in her blog, Grow, Reflect, Share. After challenging a student to create math problems that made the solver to crack the code, her eyes were opened to the possibilities these emojis have to create active learning situations in the classroom. This got so many students engage. Students were creating more than she had originally asked them to complete. 

Meredith gives several examples of different ways to use emojis in the classrooms. One examples was using emojis to explain the water cycle. another was to create a story using 10 emojis. Students would summarize a story using 5 emojis, and explain their choices in paragraph form. The beginning of the year activity "All about Me" could be completed in emojis instead of words. 

As we begin to review for K-PREP, I can see this emoji activity being used in the classroom to help students practice their math facts, review how to find a number missing from various locations in an equation, and to solve multi-step problems and require them to use information from the problem before. All kids love emojis, so why not incorporate them into classroom instruction. 

Epic is EPIC!

As part of our Chromebook implementation this week, my students were introduced to a website called Epic. Epic is a online library of more that 25,000 books, videos, quizzes and more. Epic can be accessed from the website or an app downloaded to a handheld device. After the teacher create a classroom, each student is given a individual account. Teacher can even import their class from Google Classroom to make this process even more simple. Supplying students with the classroom code and the website gets them quick access. 

This has become a really popular tool in my classroom. My students are asking me often if they can get on when coming in in the morning, and after they complete their classwork. I have assigned a social studies project that allows students to complete research using the books Epic has to offer on Kentucky. Additionally, my lower readers have the ability to access books that can be read to them. 

Epic comes with a quiz features on some book. While I haven't specifically assigned books and quizzes to students, they are interested and trying it out on their own. I have had several students report their quiz scores to me. I can see Epic being used with guided reading time as a independent reading activity or within a small group with the teachers. The possibilities are endless. The excitement on students faces make me more and more interested in finding other ways to incorporate it within the classroom. 

Hyperdocs

I am sure you are sick of hearing me talk about Google Training, but... THIS is a pretty interesting instructional strategy worth hearing about. Multi-Media Text Sets (MMTS) were introduced to me within the Advanced portion of Google Training I completed a few weeks ago. This week, I came across a blog by Jennifer Gonzalez explaining how these MMTS, or HyperDocs, as they are more commonly referred, can transform your teaching.

A MMTS is a Google Doc that allows teachers to organize a set of instructional videos, documents, articles, and activities. After this document is created, it can he shared with students to allow for self-directed, self-paced learning. Gonzalez provided a list of benefits for using HyperDocs within your classroom, including fewer lectures, more face-to-face interactions, flexibility, multimodal opportunities, and privacy.

I gave MMTS/HyperDocs a try within my classroom today during math because students were taking the MAP Assessment, and were trickling back into the classroom at different times. Instead of having to catch students up, I could simply share the workings of the HyperDoc with them, and help them to find the necessary tools (downloading apps) to get them started. My students were engaged in the instructional videos, more so than they would be if I was in front of the classroom teaching. The exit slip given at the end of the lesson showed similar levels of mastery as a normal, teachers directed lesson.

I used some of Gonzalez's tips for success in implementing this within my classroom. She says start with a template found here instead of trying to build your own. Provide a variety of activities that would allow for participation, collaboration, and the use of multimedia. Students should have choice in their learning materials. Try not to overwhelm the students by incorporating too much. Work with other teachers in creating a HyperDoc. Teach students how to navigate HyperDocs. Don't feel the need to make every lesson a HyperDoc Lesson.

My kids ABSOLUTELY LOVED this lesson. They were on task and working through the activities. Many of them completed the activities without much assistance from me. HyperDoc definitely have a place in my classroom moving forward.

If you are interested in learning more about HyperDoc, you might check out this book featured in Gonzalez's Blog.

Chromebook Implementation

Have you ever taken a training, and been very thankful you did? That was me this week. I am so happy that my teammates and I tacked Google Educator Training last week during Spring Break. Without it, the implementation of Chromebooks within the classroom this week, would have been an even bigger challenge.

On Monday, when my students walked in to find Chromebook for each of them, excitement filled the room. There were more than ready to learn. We started the day by reviewing basic Chromebook expectations via a Google Doc shared through Google Classroom. Not only did this help us teach them the ways of handling the Chromebooks, but it allowed us to get everyone added to Google Classroom and to teach them a few of its features.

Throughout the week, we moved slightly from paper to Google Suite. Everything from trying out Google Forms, Slides, and Docs, to Pear Deck and EPIC!, my student were diving in head first. From a teachers perspective, there were challenges. Student typing skills were the first. We have been practicing keyboarding weekly through Typing Club, but this limited time didn't support great growth and some student were moving through lessons using the "hunt and peck" method. Because of this, we have chosen to use Typing Club as a morning work activity and an end of the day activity. If students aren't using the home row as expected their lessons and progress will be restarted to the beginning. Additionally, it was difficult not know exactly what student would see on their end. It require patience from both parties to ensure I was giving and they were received appropriate directions.

We are still in the learning process. However, our team is dedicated to having our students become creators instead of consumers when using the Chromebooks. It will be interesting to see the growth we will make before the end of the year.

Magnetic Poetry Writing

In his blog, Springtime Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings, Eric Curts from Control Alt Achieve describes a cool springtime poetry writing activity. He provides a template for teachers and students to use for writing in a creative new way. There are several benefits to using this template in your classroom including the tech skills of dragging, dropping, copying and pasting, creating new words, and editing words within a text box. Additionally, it is free to use and allows for collaboration and easy sharing.

The template is easy to use. On the left side, you will find a variety of commonly use words (including sight words). The work space is located in the middle. In this space, students will place words to build their poems. To the right, students will find a list of springtime specific words, as well as a few blank boxes to add words of their own. In using this template, students can easily draft and revise a writing piece without much trouble.

I can see this being used in my classroom in a variety of ways. One example would be for sentence combining. During sentence combining, students take two or more kernel sentences and experiment with different way of combining them into more complex sentences. This template would provide a fun way of completing that task. Additionally, younger students could use this template to practice creating simple sentences using their sight words.

This is the link to create a copy of this template. 

Google Educator Level 1... and 2

Happy spring break to my fellow teachers! It seems like it has been a long time getting here. I am looking forward to a break from kids, and the school building. However, my work as a teacher doesn't end. This week my teammates and I decided to take on the challenge of becoming Google Certified Educators. We have had this plan for a while now, but the need became even more real when our class sets of Chromebooks were placed in our classrooms Friday. We spent the day organizing, rearranging, and labeling to ensure things were ready.

Did you know that Google offers free training for anyone interested in learning more about what Google has to offer our classrooms, and how to utilize these programs within your classroom? Completing training to become a Google Certified Educator Level 1 takes approximately 11 hours. This training includes 13 units around topics like having a (mostly) paperless classroom, bringing students work online, and building interactive lessons. After completing the learning experiences of online reading, audio clips, and videos, questions are provide to check your knowledge. At the end of each unit, a unit review of questions helps you synthesize your learning. The Level 1 Education Assessment costs $10, and takes about 3 hours. This assessment includes a variety of questions types, including multiple choice and drop and drag, and performance-based scenarios. 

The training to become a Google Certified Educator Level 2 includes 9 units to be completed in about 10 hours. The layout and assessment is very similar. This is assessment costs $25. 

A couple take-aways my team and I learned during this process: 

1. Google has some really cool FREE products to offer teachers that would make teaching a little easier. 
2. Google Training in 3 days isn't for the faint of heart. It is intense. 
3. Don't discount the intensity of an online, at-home, certification assessment. It was NOT EASY. 
4. Google Training is inspiring and exciting. The possibilities for implementation are endless! 

GOOD NEWS!! I am officially a level 1 and 2 Google Certified Educator! 

BOOM!

A teammate recently introduced me to Boom Learning. This is a scale-priced website that allows you to create and purchase interactive question cards related to content you are currently learning or reviewing. The Boom Learning Store has a variety of questions cards for all content areas. The question cards provide a multiple choice for students to answer. Immediate feedback is provided. If the question was answer correctly, student are moved to a new card. If the question was answered incorrectly, students are able to continue selecting answers until the correct answer is found.

I used this with my students to help them review for an upcoming math assessment. I found that students were very engaged in the program. They were able to complete these cards on their own with little redirection. However, some of the cards were very specific to how a given teacher would teach them. I also found a few incorrect answers within the card sets. Students enjoyed getting a new card after answering the first. If the question was answered incorrectly, no reteaching was provided. Students just continue to selecting answers without gaining knowledge of how this new answer would be correct.

Under the reports tab of your Boom Learning page, we are able to see how the students did with each Boom card deck. You can select a card deck to get more specific information. The red color circle shows that a student hasn't completed a full cycle of the deck yet. A green circle shows that all the cards have been answers, and the number in the inside shows how many times they have cycled through that deck. The percentage next to the circle shows their accuracy with the deck, and the time shows how long it has taken them to complete the deck. You can also click on the individual students to see more specific information like what questions they missed, how they have progressed over the multiple uses of the deck, and to view the specific questions.

Boom Learning Cards have an interesting approach to review and practice. Careful viewing of cards and review of data could make the implementation of this tech tool more successful within the classroom.