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.

A New Look at Professional Learning

This time of year tends to be difficult on teachers. The long stretches before another break, lack of sunshine when entering or leaving school, less outside time with students make for long days and stressful times. Springtime also means assessments are right around the corner, and everyone begins to feel the pressure. Teachers are wearing down, and begin to struggle with student behaviors more often. Self-preservation becomes necessary.

Meredith Akers write about a creative solution to this problem in her blog Edu Podcast Tasting + Podcasts & Pedometers for PD with Choice and Movement. Meredith explains that instead of the typical sit and get format for professional development (PD), her school has begun to offer two "Podcasts and Pedometer" sessions a week, where teachers could walk around the school while listening to an educational podcast of their choice. After walking and listening to the podcast of their choice, teachers would complete the "Podcasts and Pedometers Exit Ticket" that asks them to name their podcast, takeaways, and how they will apply it. This seems like an easy trade off for a unique option for PD.

Since reading this blog, I am considering how this could work within my school. It is a great option for self-care and professional learning because it allows interest based learning, movement, and reflection. However, would JCPS consider this as an acceptable PD? Could it count toward the PD hours we need for the year? I ran this idea by a few coworkers. They were very interested. I would be interested to see what my principal would think about something like this. Until then I will be checking out some of these podcasts Akers suggests within her blog.

Edu Podcast Tasting

Podcasts and Pedometers- Exit Ticket

Students Created Learning Playlists

In their book, Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, Horn and Staker (2014) give several examples of schools using learning playlist created by teachers. These playlist provide a more individualized learning experience for all students. Data is collected through digital formats that teachers use to assign new learning playlists to students. These playlist might include online videos, paper pencil practice, research, small group practice, independent practice, or something similar that teachers believe would be a good fit for their students.

This week, Meredith Akers wrote a blog on student created learning playlist. She explains that the typical use of a jigsaw would provide students with a section of text to read and require them to present their findings from that section to their group. However, this method does not allow students to be very creative, nor does it include the use of technology. Akers suggest allow them to create a learning playlist instead. By assigning a small sub-topic instead and providing them with a list of online resources to use, students can use high levels of thinking in order to demonstrate learning.

Akers provides a template and example of the student centered learning playlists she created. Within the template, students are asked to insert a video relevant to the topic, select an appropriate article for classmates to read, insert an image, create a 10 question formative assessment, and a prompt asking classmates to create something to display 3 important facts they have learned.

This is an image of the Learning Playlist Akers provides in her blog. The yellow boxes are the directions. The blue boxes would be what is displayed for other students to follow. 

This is an example for teachers to use while learning to use this tool. 

Chromebooks: 1 Ms. Chapin: 0

Over the past couple weeks, we have been working to draft opinion pieces. We started by reviewing what an opinion was and how to use reasons to support their opinion. 2.6 paragraphs were introduced to help them organize their thoughts into well crafted paragraphs. Next, I modeled to show students how to complete organizers to include their opinions, reasons, and support evidences, as well as, what someone with an opposing opinion might think. Students were taught how to use their organizers to create their 2.6 paragraphs. Finally, we were reaching the point of being ready to publish.

Students were eager to get to the publishing part after the mention of typing and Chromebooks. Pieces were being finished fast than it had taken them to finished one paragraph over the last few weeks. I was feeling pretty confident. With the 6 Chromebooks in my classroom, I began to assigned students the task of typing. This is where the challenges began. I really hadn't planned for the needs students would have during typing. While conferences with other students, many were calling my name, coming up to me asking questions about formatting, starting a new paragraph, tabbing, and sizing.

I was surprised by all of these questions. I honestly had assumed they would have received instruction on these concepts within computer lab before coming to third grade. Clearly my assumptions were wrong. This really has me reflecting on the reading we have been doing. I can't assumed that students are digital natives in the sense that they have a basic understanding of all technology. In the future, I will plan for instruction in these concepts to support student success. To make this work, I gave small group instruction to several groups as they began to type their pieces. Several students then became my tech experts and helped others students who encountered trouble.

Overall, this wasn't a complete fail, but in the future, teaching these concepts to the whole group would have been much more effective and less disruptive.

Computer Intervention: MobyMax

At my school, we are currently using MobyMax as a computer based intervention for math. After taking a placement test at the beginning of the year, MobyMax provides individualized learning for each student that allows them to progress at their own pace. MobyMax provides additional instruction for its struggling users to help them progress toward mastery. Instruction is direct and adaptive to the individual students. At the end of each unit, students are given a formative assessment that will provide them with re-teaching or move them on to the next topic. There is a variety of data provided to teachers that assists in tracking student progress.

After using MobyMax in my classroom for a couple years, and a couple different grade levels, there are a few standout pros and cons to the program. Below I will discuss these pros and cons.

Pros of Moby Max

• Teacher Control: MobyMax allows teachers to select the content students will be exposed to while on the program. 
• Student Incentives: Game time is provided to students in small time increments (seconds) as they complete questions. This is supportive of on-task behaviors. 
• Fact Fluency: Fact Fluency is an option for students while engaging in MobyMax. The fluency facts given are related to their individual placement assessments. 
• Data: MobyMax provides teachers with ample data and notifications of student progress. 

Cons of MobyMax

• Ineffective Reteaching: When students are struggling, the reteaching and support provided isn't strong enough for students to gain knowledge. Many times, students are coming to me for support with these concepts, which interrupts small group learning in my classroom. 
• Unlimited Fluency: Students can practice their fluency skills for an unlimited amount of time. This could skew the data when looking at math instruction. 
• Lack of Engagement: Students often are off-task due to lack of interest or inability to complete the assigned questions without support of other classmates of teachers. With limited game time, they aren't as willing to partake in their program as they are others.

To me, MobyMax is more of a hassle than useful in the classroom. I am not available to during the times of MobyMax use to support them through learning the concepts they are being presented. I am asked my principal about the opportunity of using something new. She is completely on board, but the problem is finding what the program would be. 

What are you guys using in your classroom? What makes it something that you would recommend to another teacher?

Any and all suggestions welcomed! 

Drawing for Poor Artists

While browsing the Cult of Pedagogy Blog this week, I came across a blog titled 6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2018. Jennifer Gonzalez highlights 6 tech tools that educators should try out in their classrooms this year. I was particularly interested in a tool called AutoDraw. AutoDraw is a predictive tool that will guess what you are drawing. It provides you with a variety of professionally drawn images to insert that may match your doodle. There are a variety of easy to use tools including text, shapes, fill, and select. Gonzales points to the power of images in helping us remember things. Using a tool like this could be very helpful in helping students learn new content. 

While trying out this tool, I found several pros for using it within the classroom. 1. It is easy to get started. There is no registration and sign-in. When you go to the website, it allows you to start doodling right away. 2. The tools of AutoDraw are very simple and allow for little instruction on how to use. 3. Drawing doesn't have to be perfect or anywhere close for the predicting to be accurate. 4. It is fun to see what images will be given to you. Each of these pros make me very excited about trying it out within the classroom.

AutoDraw can be used for a variety of things within the classroom. Here are a few ideas:

1. Brainstorm: Students can brainstorm ideas to write by drawing on the page and seeing what items are predicted. They can then write a story about these images.
2. Knowledge Dump: Students draw pictures to show what they know about a topic. 
3. Newsletters: Students could draw and write about a topic they are learning about in school. 
4. Story Elements: Students can draw pictures of elements within a story they are reading. 
5. Field Trip Reflection: Students can draw and write about what they learned while attending a field trip. 

These are just a few ideas of how to use this awesome tool within the classroom. AutoDraw is an easy tool to use, and would be easy to implement within the classroom. Let me know what ideas you have for using this tool within your classroom. 

Computer Based Interventions: Lexia

At my school, we use Lexia Core5 as a reading intervention. The program was adopted 2 years ago to help build students' reading skills. This program was selected because it was closely tied to the Big 5 introduced within the Bellarmine Literacy Project. There are both pros and cons to using this program. I will give you a brief overview of the program followed by my pros and cons below.

Reading: Lexia Core5

Lexia is a program that provides differentiated literacy instruction for all students grades kindergarten through fifth grade. Students take a placement test before beginning the program. The assessment lasts around 40 minutes to an hour. After the assessment is complete, students are placed within the appropriate level of learning. This may not be grade level work depending on the abilities of students. There are 6 targeted areas of instruction: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Structural Analysis, Automaticity/Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. Within each of these areas, students are provided game-like activities that engage them in practicing the skills.  Student progress is closely monitored, and teachers can access up to date assessment data on a daily basis. Lexia offers a variety of graphs and charts that make tracking student progress pretty easy.

Pros: 

• easy to access through the web or app
• students practice skills in a game like environment
• provide students with reteaching when needed
• notifies teachers with a red apple on the screen when students are struggling after a couple reteachings; provides teachers with lessons to use to build the needed skill in students
• give students information on their progress toward complete target areas, units earned, and time spent on Lexia
• Lexia provides skill building handouts for students to use after completing the target areas for further practice
• data can be used for progress monitoring

                                                                                    Cons:

• teachers can't control the content offered to students
• content doesn't always align with grade level standards
• students grow bored and tend to lose care and attention
• teachers need training on how to use the program effectively with students

Overall, I would say that Lexia has benefitted our students. They often reference things they have learned on Lexia when they are being taught in class. It provides all students, including those struggling and advanced with instruction at their levels. However, I do wish there was more teacher control over content. By having more control over content, I could better align it with the standards being taught within the classroom. 

Program Compatibility

Before the age of Google Suite, there was Microsoft Office. Just like me, many teacher have save documents in Microsoft Office, and struggle to use them within Google. Eric Curts, ControlAltAchieve, explains three ways to make Google Suite compatible with Microsoft Office in his blog, 3 Ways Google Drive and MS Office Can Live Together in Harmony. Each of these options seem like easy ways for teachers to use the old and the new within their classroom with engage students in learning. I'm going to tell you about 2 of the easier options to use.

Option 1: Convert Microsoft Office Files into the Google Format

• After adding the Microsoft office file to your Google Drive. You can right-click, select with with, Google Docs (or the other file type you may be looking for)
• This is an easy way to convert your older documents into Google Documents. However, it can be challenging as Curts points out because not all of the formatting will transfer to the Google Document created. 
• I have used this easy conversion in the past, but did experience these formatting complications. This complications can be fixed fairly quickly if you are familiar with the formatting options of Google. 

Option 2: Do Light Editing of the Office Files with the Office Editing Extension

• After downloading the "Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides", you can use this Google Extension with Google Drive. 
• By double clicking on the file, a light web-based version of Microsoft Office will open and allow you to make your edits. Updates will be save to your drive upon saving. 
• When converting to Google Formats after downloading this extension, you must click file within the Microsoft Office extension and select save as a Google Doc. 
• I have not used this type of converting, but it seems simple. However, I'm not sure if being in a Microsoft Office file is better or worse than a Google Format. I would consider converting with option 1, the better option. 

Hopefully these tools will make your life a little bit easier with using Google Drive in the classroom. 

Story Speaker

Creating interactive stories has just gotten easier with the Google Add-on, Story Speaker, that was discussed in Meredith Aker's blog this week. Aker's explains that the Story Speaker add-on provides students with two build your own adventure story templates. This template allows the "reader" to interact with the story to make it their own with the options provided by the author. The Story Speaker tool bar provides options for interacting with these stories through Google Home and Google Docs. After installing the add-on, it was clear that I needed to start with the basics.

Within Story Speaker, there is a basic and advanced level templates. The template provides some basic directions, as well as a link to the informational video provided. The Story Speaker tool bar provides directions on how to insert different features within the story to make it even more creative. Although the template is written about a pig monster, kids can change it to be whatever you want. The template just provides to proper layout for the story to be interactive for the listener.

I can see this being a great tool to use within the classroom. Providing my students the example of the template would get their mind flowing with great ideas. They could brainstorm to create an obstacle and different paths on their own can take story writing to the next level in my classroom. I am sure my students would be very engaged and writing to create these writing pieces.

Digital Math Manipulatives

This week in math, my class is reviewing basic fraction concepts, and learning how to compare and order fractions. In the past, we used Play-Doh to model different fractions. However, this week, I decided to take advantage of the electronic tools provided through our math curriculum, Envisions. Within this program, several digital math manipulatives are provided. The tools are arranged in categories related to content. Some of these categories counters, bar diagrams, money, and fractions. Today, we tried out the modeling fractions tool.

To begin math today, we did an oral review of fractions. We discussed concepts like equal parts, the meaning of the numerator and denominator, and unit fractions. Next, I modeled using the modeling fractions tool to create a circle/rectangle, partition the shape, and shading to create the given fractions. Then, all of my students were placed into groups of 3 and given a Chromebook. Prior to the day beginning, I logged-in and bookmarked the Pearson Realize website to make this process a little easier. Students were easily able to find the tool, and begin making the fraction they were given first. We made several fractions this way until everyone was given a chance.

The lesson today was introductory. Students were given an opportunity to learn a new tool in a easier fashion for later use with a more difficult skill. My overall goal is for students to uses this tool to create two fraction models to compare. This would be an easy way to begin recognizing the different between fraction models. Next week, we will use the equivalent fractions tool to explore how fractions can be equivalent.

Creatively Created

In her blog, Adobe Spark: Ignite a Learning Fire in Your Classroom, Holly Clark shares a new, simple technology tool, called Adobe Spark. This tool allows students to create a post, page, or video with very little difficulty. Clark recommends this tool for classroom teachers because it doesn't have a lot of "bells and whistles" to get hung up on. It took very little instruction for her students to begin using it. She provides several ways to incorporate this tool within the classroom as well. I will discuss these a little later.

After reading about Adobe Spark, I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, I didn't find it as easy to use. I wasn't sure of the purpose of the tools, and how to add my own touch to my creation. I found this how-to video by Richard Byrne that walks you through the steps of making each of the three types of creations. I used his guidance to create a webpage displaying the technology trials of my student so far this year. After viewing his show tutorial, I found this tool much more manageable. The link to my creation is below.

My Spark Adobe Example


Clark gives a detailed list of different way it can be incorporated within the classroom. Being an elementary school teacher, I picked a few that I could see my student creating to share.

1. Character Profile: Students can create a page, or video, profiling a character from a story they have read. This could be a whole class reading or a book being read independently. Additionally, students could highlight a historical character from a non-fiction text the same way. My students could use something like this during their independently reading time to share their reading from the week. This would be much more engaging way to be held accountable. 
2. Class Weekly Summary Page: Clark suggest have a different student each week to create a page or a video about the learning taking place. This could be shared with parents or the school community. I can see my students doing this around topics they were successful with or sharing concepts that were once a challenge. Sharing with parents would be a great way to keep them involved. 
3. Field Trip Page: This would be used to students to share this learning from a recent field trip through a video or page. We have an upcoming field trip planned to Lost River Cave in Bowling Green, KY that I am sure my students would love to document. By collecting artifacts along the way using my camera, students can put them together in a creative way. 

Adobe Spark seems like it would be an easy tool for kids to operate without getting too overwhelmed. I do think it might take a little more explaining that Clark implies. However, sharing the how-to video by Byrne would be a great starting place! 

Engaging Google Docs

Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about the different text structures of informational texts. This is a challenging skill to master, and my students still needed some additional practice. So, on Friday, I took the opportunity to try out a tech tool and provide my students will a review of cause and effect text structure. In a Google Document, I copied a passage I had purchased off of Teachers Pay Teachers. Below that passage I created a graphic organizer using Google Drawings, which was inserted into the Google Doc. Because we don't have enough technology for each students to access their own Google Drive, this document was saved to my teacher Google Drive for all students to access.

In the beginning of this lesson, I showed students how to locate the appropriate Google Doc and how to create a copy. The copy was renamed with their group number, and their names were added under the title of the text. I instructed students on how to highlight information within the passage and how to type within the Google Drawing. Students picked their own groups and were sent off to begin reading and assigning typing roles for each part of the organizer.

Here is what I noticed when students were working. Students worked well together without arguments. Everyone, even my strugglers, were engaged within the reading and identifying

evidence. I feel this is because they needed to have appropriate evidence in order for their turn to type on the Chromebook to be successful. Students were not only experimenting with highlighting, many of them even changed the font colors as well. If students finished early they were encouraged to explore within the Google doc to insert images that would support the understanding of the text. Overall, this was a GREAT first experience using Google Docs within the classroom. I am sure my students are itching to learning more about them in the future.

Technology and the Writing Process

Writing is an area I consistently identify as an area of growth. So when I visited Eric Curts' blog, Control, Alt, Achieve, I was happy to see he shared a variety of technology tools that could help students improve their writing. He organizes the technology tools by within the 8 stages of writing: inspiration, planning, writing tools, self-editing, peer and teacher feedback, revising, assessing, and publishing. Below I identify couple stages of writing that I find challenging in the classroom and highlight some interesting tools at that stage. 

1. Inspiration

Several of my students tell me that they don't have anything to write about. When given prompts, they often sit for the entire writing time saying they have no connections to make sure the prompt. The Emoji Random Writing Prompt Generator gives students 2, 3, 4, or 5 emojis that they can use for inspiration for their writing that day. If they aren't happy with those emojis, then they can press control and R to get a new set. Click the link above to get your own copy the Emoji Random Writing Prompt Generator. 

2. Planning

Graphic organizers are a great way to help students organizer their thinking. Google Drawings allows you to create templates for students to fill in or they can't create their own graphic organizers. Curts provides 2 links to graphic organizers he has already created. Those are below. 
http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/05/graphic-org-drawings.html
http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/01/language-arts-graphic-organizers.html

Additionally, in a recent search, I came across this website that provides more than 100 Google Doc and Drawing templates for free use. 



4. Self- Revising

My students often had difficult seeing errors within their own writing. SAS Writing Reviser provides students with a menu of possible issues to choose from, including sentence economy, sentence variety, sentence power, sentence clarity, and support tools. By choosing a tool, the students will receive feedback in that area and suggestions from improvement. 

5. Assessing

Another issue I have in teaching writing is knowing what assessment tools to use. A rubric tool that Curts suggests is Orange Slice Teacher Rubric, which is an add-on for Google Docs. This add-on allows greater productivity by providing an "easy-to -use format." When previewing this add-on, it was clear that creating a rubric was pretty easy. Your choose the performance level and categories, and then you are prompted to customize the rubric if you see fit. After selecting finish, the rubric is submitted into the doc. If you are Google Classroom user, it can be sent distributed and used to provide feedback.





These are just a few of the tool discussed within Eric Curts' blog this week. Check it out to learn about more tools you can use within your writing workshop.

The Effect of GIFS!

After reading about using GIFs in the classroom from Meredith Aker's blog, Grow, Reflect, Share, I knew I had to find a way to incorporate this within my classroom, and soon. This week, we have been learning about the cause and effect text structure. My students have been struggling to determine the causes and effects within a text on their own. In order to give them more exposure to these relationships, I planned another cause and effect activity using GIFs!

After modeling the steps of planning and creating a GIF, students were placed in teams of 4, and given an effect. Students had to think of at least 2 causes for this effect. After planning and practicing the GIF they would create, students were given Chromebooks. I had already logged in and bookmarked andtheniwaslike.co to help the process go more smoothly. Two chances were given for each pair within the team of 4 to create their own GIF. Their hashtag was the effect they were given and their group number. After creating their GIF, students were asked to copy and paste the link into a classroom Google Doc for viewing later.

At this end of their recording time, we discussed the purpose of this activity again. Almost all students were able to tell me that we created GIFs to help make connections between effects and their possible causes. Students were highly engaged and more than willing to work together to complete this assignment. I was surprised by the parent involvement in this activity. I posted their GIFs to class Dojo and got great feedback. A first grader, who visits my classroom for reading, even told his whole class about it. The teacher reached out to me about doing the activity in her classroom. We are planning a paired activity with my students serving as experts to support her students.

Below you will find links to some of the GIF my students created. Happy Viewing!

#igotsick

#babycried

#thecarcrashed

#lostkitty

#lostkitty

PLICKERS!

Plickers are individual cards that have unique QR cards for each students. Questions can be inserted into the Plickers website or app. These questions would be multiple choice or true/false. Students read the question, select their answer, and how up their card with their answer on the top. A teacher can scan those cards using their smartphone. Students receive a check once their answer has been recorded. Teachers can see immediately whether a student's answer was correct or incorrect. Additionally, these results can be show to the room by individual students or as a class.

Plickers was the technology tool of the week in my classroom. While learning about text structures, my students struggled. As a way to provide interactive practice of the first three structures we taught, I created a Plickers lesson. I developed 7 multiple choice questions that included paragraphs with a variety of text structures: description, comparison, and chronological. I provided students with a hard copy of the questions that were used to practice identifying key words for each structures. The interactivity Plickers provided was helpful in keeping students on task. Additionally, the immediate feedback guided discussion and help to show improvement as the lesson went on.

My students absolutely LOVE Plickers. It keeps them engaged, and provides them with excitement to see if they were all able to determine the correct answer. It is a flexible tool that can be used in a variety of content areas.

One Word Goals

Meredith Akers shared One Word Goals recently in her blog, Grow, Reflect, Share. One Word Goals is a collaborative slides activity that Meredith used to create New Year's resolutions with her students. Students were asked to choose one word that they would focus on for the remainder for the year. This word should apply to different parts of their life to help them improve themselves as a person. Some examples she gave included disciplined and  joyful.

I created this example to share.

This is an independent activity that students complete within a shared google slides document. Add their name, choose and input their choice word, explain what the words means to them, identify 2 ways to apply this word to their life, and insert and picture or icon to represent the word. Meredith includes direction slides and models within this document as well.

Here is the link that will allow you access to the One Word Goals Template.

I think this could also be used to create goals related to school. Students could select words that would have them be more successful in school, like persevere, encourage, growth, and write goals that would help them improve in an academic area.

Great Gifs!!

This week, I reviewed Meredith Aker's blog, Grow, Reflect, Share.  In her blog, she discusses the use of GIF's for learning. These are the four easy ways she suggested:

Teach Vocab with GIFs:

1. Pick a Vocab Word
2. Find a GIF
3. Define the Word (with reference to the GIF)
4. Teach it to your class
5. Have students tweet the GIF and definition in their own words.

#GIFvocab Examples

Engage and Motivate:

• Provide a GIF of the day to motivate students.
• Challenge students to post a GIF to respond to a question. Example: How can you show kindness to someone today?

Engage with Content:

• Use educational GIF websites to support instruction
• https://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-educational-gifs/
• https://www.ngssphenomena.com/
• Use Google to find GIFs related to your content and insert them into your presentation.

Create GIF's with your Webcam:

1. Go to https://andtheniwaslike.co/feed

• Record an awesome GIF
• Click Save
• Click on the finished GIF
• Two finger click or right click on the GIF and choose "Copy Image Address"
• Go to Google Doc or Slides Presentation
• Choose Insert, Image, By URL and paste

Here are some ideas that Meredith provides:

• Create a GIF to express the emotions of a character.
• Demonstrate a science concept.
• Show your work solving a math problem.
• Use a GIF to show where your found the answer to a higher level thinking question.

Here is a fun example I made with a coworker. #jousting

The Club All Students Want to Join

In order in increase the efficiency of using Chromebooks in the classroom, I decided I needed to provide my students with the opportunity to learn how to keyboard. I reached out to our school's computer teacher, who suggested I try Typing Club. So... I signed my students up.

Typing Club is a free website, with paid upgrades, that provides students a comprehensive way to learn touch typing. Typing Jungle is the default curriculum that has over 670 lessons. These lessons include a variety of typing experiences, games and videos. This curriculum is customizable with the paid version.

Typing Club was appealing to me as a teacher because it provides incentives in the form of points, stars, and badges to students. It also provided a variety of data to show their progress. I provided pictures and a brief description of those below.

This calendar provides a month view of the total amount of practice time and the number of attempts per day. The darker the green the more time was spent on Typing Club.

Speed and Accuracy by finger is show on this chart.

This chart reports the speed of the keyboarder and the increase in coverage over time.

This keyboard shows the speed and accuracy per character. The darker the blue, the faster the character. If the keys are white, they have not been practiced yet.

Introducing Typing Club was a new experience for me. However, in order to make it a routine, I created a daily schedule with groups of students who would get on Typing Club first thing in the morning and at dismissal. The kids love to see it is their turn. Several of them have even chosen to practice their keyboarding skills instead of other free choice activities. I am looking forward to seeing the impact this has on technology implementation within the classroom.