Happy holidays, you guys! Here are a few links before we all head over the river and through the woods. Be safe, have fun (in that order, please), and we'll see you in 2014!
I provide a lot of professional development to others. I also attend a lot of professional development. I enjoy learning and love when I can help facilitate the learning of others. Recently, someone said something to me that made me really think about the methods of professional development that I typically deliver.
I've noticed that when attending tech type PD, STI PD generally rates skill sets for beginners, intermediates, or advanced. I am going to begin to host my PD sessions the same way. I do not want teachers to feel like I am assuming that they don't know certain things, but I want those that are struggling to feel like they can safely ask questions and have time to reflect. I also want our rock stars to be pushed to another level of excellence.
By now you are probably asking yourself as to why the heck I am saying all this. I do have a point and it IS tied to tech, I swear.
Recently I attended the ALEX Lesson Plan Summit sponsored by the Alabama State Department of Education. During that session, teachers from across the state were asked to submit lesson plans. Each lesson went through a very rigorous process of submission. The lessons we submitted had to be tied to standards, have clear outcomes, and include a technology component. You may find those lessons here. You may search by content area, then find your standard, and then find lessons that may help you to teach those standards.
While some of you are experts and may not need any additional lessons, some of you may be like me and like to glean ideas off others. If you are nervous about integrating technology into your lessons, just take a peek at these for lessons that infuse technology in a very easy way.
Shannon Bogert is a secondary curriculum specialist with the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Email her at the address mentioned above or connect with her on Twitter (@shannonbogert1).
Through our Submit a Question page, Northridge High School teacher Susan Newell recently asked the following:
What is the best and easiest app or tool students can use to create short video to enhance a research project - i.e. Is Animoto the best? Can a video from Animoto be embedded in a Prezi?
This weekend's links offer resources to help you and your students choose the right tool for video presentations.
The short answer to the last of Ms. Newell's questions is no, an Animoto video cannot be directly embedded into a Prezi. However, Animoto videos can be shared in a variety of ways. Users can post their videos to YouTube (and then embed them in a Prezi) or share them via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
The questions regarding what tools are the best require slightly more complex answers. When selecting a tool for a job, there are a number of criteria to consider:
Purpose: What type of video or presentation do you want your students to create? A how-to? An animation or stop-motion? A skit or clip of student action? Some tools are better suited for certain tasks than others, so it's important to keep your overall purpose in mind to select the right one for the job.
Ease of Use: Unless you're teaching a video production class, the focus of your video project will be on the content and your students' ability to present it effectively, not on the process of video editing itself. As a result, you're not likely to want to devote much class time to teaching the tool. Intuitive, easy-to-use resources are the way to go.
Length: How much "footage" is required for your students to accomplish their objective? Unless you're willing to pay, some tools will limit the length of the videos you're able to create.
Cost: Do you need to stick with free options, or are you or your students able to spend a little on apps? Many tools are completely free, some have free versions with limited features, others require a purchase.
Embed/Share Options: One of the greatest benefits of offering students opportunities to create digital products is the ability to share those products with an audience outside the walls of your classroom. Where do you want your students' work to go? Most online tools have sharing features, so it's important to do a little investigating as you plan your projects to make sure the tools you choose allow you access to the embedding and sharing options you need.
Below you'll find guidance on some commonly used video creation and presentation tools. This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but it might provide a place to start when you're ready to create video presentations with your students.
Animoto
For ease of use, it can be tough to beat Animoto. A gallery of themes and a library of curated music tracks offer a slick final product, and adding in photos, videos, and text is quite simple. Student feedback, however, suggests that the free version of this tool, which keeps final videos at a brief 30 seconds, can be extremely limiting for some projects. Additionally, the character limit on each "slide" (40 for titles, 50 for subtitles) may not allow students the space they need for sharing a research project. Students recommend this tool for quick, teaser-style projects like book trailers. Here's an example:
Vine & Instagram
Because most of our classes don't have access to stand-alone cameras, it's likely that students will be filming their videos on phones or tablets. If what's needed is a quick demonstration (a step in a science lab, for example), a Vine or Instagram video might be the way to go, particularly since students may already be familiar with these free apps and have accounts. Here's a side-by-side comparison from Tech Crunch that may help you decide which best meets your students' needs. Of particular note for classroom use are video length (Instagram = 15 seconds; Vine = 6 seconds), sharing options (Vine = Facebook and Twitter only; Instagram = a few more options including email), and embedding (Instagram = no; Vine = yes). Here's a Vine created as part of a 6-word memoir activity:
iMovie (for Mac or iOS)
When I surveyed the RQMS Student Tech Leaders about their preferred video creation tools, the landslide winner was iMovie. Users can play with numerous templates for making video trailers or their own movies, which can then be shared via email and other means or published to sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook, and the length limitations that must be considered with other tools are non-issues here. Two things to keep in mind: the app is not free ($4.99 in the app store), and students recommend using the iPad version rather than iPhone, as the extra screen space makes editing easier.
Screencast-o-matic
At some point, you or your students may want to create screencasts (videos of activity happening on your computer screen - a how-to video, for example). Screencast-o-matic is one of the favorite tools for this job. It offers a free version with up to fifteen minutes of recording time and publishing options that include YouTube HD and a variety of formats. One of the best features of this tool, in comparison to other screencasting tools, is that there is no installation required. A single click can get you and your students started. Check out the how-to by Bill Selak below:
WeVideo
Since TCS students now have Google accounts through our system's Google Apps for Education domain, WeVideo can be a great option for video creation. This app, which can be added via the Chrome web store, connects to Google Drive, and offers a variety of themes (including both graphics and music) to get you started. While the drag-and-drop process makes editing fairly easy for beginners,there are some significant limitations for the free version. First, you can only export a total of 15 minutes of video for sharing (links for posting on Twitter and Facebook). Downloads of your video are not an option without upgrading to a paid account, nor is collaboration on video projects (which is a bummer since that's one of the biggest benefits of many Google tools).
Again, because of the ubiquitous nature of Google tools in our daily lives, Google Hangouts on Air might be a great solution for your video needs. This tool allows users to broadcast life on Google+ and YouTube, and these broadcasts automatically post to your YouTube channel so that they can be viewed at any time and shared or embedded elsewhere. Hangouts on Air can be recorded using your computer's built-in webcam, can include multiple participants, and require very little setup. Keep in mind, though, that our system's Google Apps for Education currently has Google+ disabled. Since Hangouts are tied in to Google+, these videos must be made using non-TCS Google accounts. Rock Quarry Middle School currently streams video announcements daily, in addition to broadcasting them over the intercom. Check out an example below:
Lapse It
Want to create time-lapse videos of events going on in your classroom (building a project, staging a set for a play, setting up for a school celebration, etc)? Consider Lapse It, available for Android and iOS. The app is free and allows for sharing via social media, YouTube, and more. Visit this post at Leyden Techies for some additional usage ideas and an example.
What am I forgetting? What tools work best with your students? Share your ideas in the comments section below.
Many thanks to the RQMS Student Tech Leaders for offering the student perspective on a few of these video tools!
Want to submit your own question to the TCS Tech blog? Click here! Thank you to Susan Newell for being the first to submit a question.
Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School. She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn.
We as technicians are here to support you, the teachers, in your efforts to provide the best possible educational experience for the children in your classes. We are here to help you use the technology that you have available, helping you find new technology, or recommend technology for you when you ask.
We have the same goal that you do – educating children. We are limited in number, so sometimes we aren’t able to get to you or your problem as quickly as you would like us to. We are eight people (7 technicians and 1 Supervisor) taking care of 24 school sites, 800 or so teachers and administrators and 10,000 students. This works out to more than 8000 devices on our network that are in use on any given day – from desktop computers, to laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, smart phones, etc. We also support the entire infrastructure that makes all of this work – network switches and routers, wiring, the new telephone system, internet access, and whole lot more behind the scene that you may not even be aware of.
So, while it may not seem like we doing much for you at times, look around. Look at your classrooms and offices and see how large a part of your daily activities involve technology. We would like to do more for you and we will as we can. Remember, when you stop a technician in the hall because something isn’t working and he asks if you have put in a work order, he isn’t trying to put you off. We have to track our work just as you have to track what you are teaching your students. Submitting a work order gets your problem into the system and ensures that it won’t be forgotten. Please, work with us and we will be able to work with you better.
Sorry, I've been pressed for time this week. My next post should be much more interesting.
A lot of people are afraid of computers. They don’t want to use them, or interact with them, or even be in the same room with them. They’ll cross the street if one approaches them on the sidewalk. They may even be uneasy around technology in general. Some of people with that fear of the digital world can probably remember a time when the flashing 12:00 on the VCR taunted them, like a phantasmal beacon in the night daring them to press buttons.
It knows things!
In talking with some people that have admitted to being wary of computers, I’ve found the answer to the question “What are you afraid of?” has most often been “That I’ll break something.”
“I’ll mess something up.”
“I’ll click the wrong thing and it won’t go.”
Well… yeah. You’re probably going to do that. Chances are, if you get in there and play with the software on a computer, at some point you’re more than likely going to break it. Suddenly it won’t boot. Windows won’t load. Office is gone. Your default browser has been set to (gasp!) Internet Explorer. There’s a litany of things that could and probably will go wrong.
So?
How else are you going to figure out how to do stuff? Personally, I’m a kinetic learner. At a very young age I learned how our VCR worked… by completely dismantling it. I got in a little trouble, but thankfully it was hard for my parents to get mad at my curiosity. Along those same lines, if you play around with your computer and you do manage to break something, what’s the worst thing that could happen? The entire tech department will not -- contrary to popular opinion -- burst into your classroom astride our fiery warhorses, donning tattered ebon robes and demanding your very soul.
It would look like this if we did, though. That would be cool.
The first thing we'll do is fix it, which automatically puts you ahead of my parents because they had to buy a new VCR. There's nothing you can do that we can't fix. I've said that time and time again, and it's still as true as it's ever been. The worst thing that can happen is that we'll have to re-image your computer. Since you save all your documents to your h: drive (RIGHT?) then you've not really lost anything at all, have you? Once we figure out what happened, we can talk about why it happened and hopefully help you get whatever result you were going for. Remember... we're here to help you teach those kids. Don't be afraid to ask for our help in getting that done, and don't be afraid to strike out on your own to see what you can do. It'll all be okay, I promise.
For me, as a former English Language Arts teacher, I did not have any trouble imagining the power of the Chromebooks for writing and editing in a collaborative classroom environment. But when I heard that the devices would be used in the math classrooms, I had no idea where to even start.
Our 8th grade math teacher here at the Magnet is excited to have the Chromebooks in her classroom but needed some help in finding apps, extensions, activities and the like that would enhance her sound instructional practices. Lucky for me, there is this thing called YouTube which houses Google Hangout recordings, made by tech-savvy educators from around the globe, who talk about and show their viewers all of the cool things they are doing with the Chromebooks.
Take, for instance, the vid I found below. Yes, it is 48 minutes long, but this one video contains a volume of helpful information for the middle school math teacher who has just been handed 30 Chromebooks. Do not bother with the first 3 minutes of the recording -- there are long introductions, technical difficulties, and sounds of babies or small children in the background audio at times -- or with the long stretch in the middle (see item 6). Skip straight to about 3:00 to start. Some highlights, in order of appearance:
1. (3:00-10:20) Google Draw for:
* math projects, posters, starter activities, collaborative assignments, student accountability using revision history tool, templates, graph paper
2. (10:21-11:20) Movenote (Movenote.com), Google app:
* These are "presentations with emotion"; recorded at students' desktops; saved and shared via email; examples and tutorials for Chromebook use of this app on movenote.com
3. (12:03) Daum equation editor, an extension available on Chrome web store
4. (15:00) Interesting discussion on problems and solutions of implementation of Chromebooks in math classroom
5. (17:54) Ideas for assessments of math concepts, such as triangle congruences. This is very cool. The author of fishing4tech.com discusses and shows his students' proofs of understanding on this website. Link: www.fishing4tech.com/triangle-congruences.html
6. (23:00-37:20) The participants discuss at length the problems and solutions of giving Chromebooks to teachers and students without training.
7. (37:20) Brief mention of Scoot and Doodle , a collaborative drawing tool to use with Google Hangout.
8. (40:20 - 43:40) Socrative for exit tickets. Participant refers to Mathy Cathy, a teacher with a blog and great ideas for math teachers. Follow her on Twitter: @mathycathy
9. (43:40) The Chrome extension, Lucid Chart, a tool to create the ubiquitous thinking maps and flowcharts we know and love.
Ideas for Chromebooks in the Middle School Math Classroom
Lavanda Wagenheim is the IB Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa Magnet School - Middle. Connect with her on Twitter, where her handle is @ELavanda.
Many educators, administrator, and other education stakeholders are aware of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and/or their Alabama incarnation, College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS). These standards bring with them many issues to be addressed not the least of which is how to assess the standards. Many bright people immediately volunteer, "Technology can help us assess the standards" and rightly so.
Unfortunately, for many other people, assessment equals standardized testing. In this post I offer an inside view into part of the quandary school districts face regarding implementing the CCRS.
As an aside, please let the record reflect:
high, challenging standards are good and
standardized tests are useful measures for assessing student performance.
Quality assessment consists of multiple measures to insure students have mastered standards. Various evidence artifacts should be gathered to prove students meet expectations. Students should take increasing ownership over the assessment process as they get older to show what they know, and just as importantly what they can do.
In order to assess the CCRS as a state, Alabama has partnered with ACT and Pearson to develop state-wide tests. The aim is to eventually deliver all the tests online. Providing these tests will take significant planning and resources.
At present, the system requirements for the existing tests from ACT require districts to maintain full-client desktop or laptop computers. iOS, Android, and Chrome OS devices cannot be used. Schools will need enough computers to test all students at one grade level on the same day. This feat can be accomplished but not without good planning. The plan must account for inevitable technical difficulties like catastrophic connectivity loss (e.g. Some guy on a backhoe digs up and re-buries your fiber optic cable). None of my thoughts above consider how test security must change in the individual rooms where testing takes place. That is a topic for a different blog.
Technology can help us assess. Student created electronic portfolios, digital products shared with community members, and foreign language dialogues with native speakers via video conference, are just a few ways technology can provide timely and durable feedback to students, teachers, parents, and others.
As school leaders decide how to access student learning, we must make sure we are having the right conversation. There are only so many resources to go around. If we again put too much emphasis on standardized testing, even if it appears on a computer, we will miss the power technology offers.
My thoughts are echoed from Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk in 2006 about the need to change our thinking about education. If you have never heard it, here is my favorite version from RSA Animate:
Chris Jenks is the instructional technology coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Follow him on Twitter, where he goes by @chrisjenks.
We'll be on hiatus over the Thanksgiving break, enjoying some time with our families and (hopefully) some rest.
If you need reading material while you're hanging out in an airport, waiting for the kitchen timer to ding, or lining up for Black Friday insanity, peruse the links below for some discussion of student voice.
Happy Thanksgiving! Be safe. Have fun. In that order, please.
When my posting rotation has come around for this blog, I have mostly used my turn to pitch general ideas or to share my own educational philosophies as they intersect with instructional technology. This time let me share about a tool we are using at our school that is working very well.
One of the persistently difficult things for schools to be good at is communication. "Poor communication" is a (largely justified) criticism that is lobbed at just about every school and school system. It seems to me that at least part of the reason for this weakness can often be traced back to organization: it is hard to speak clearly when you don't know exactly what you are saying. It stands to reason then that tools that provide organization and clear communication would be very valuable to schools.
Two years ago, the leadership team at our school began seeking systematic ways to communicate clearly (and directly) with our community and with each other. One of the tools we looked for was a calendar that could be published and shared publicly. The idea was that a "living" calendar that could be updated as needed would provide a level of real-time communication far beyond what we had in place. We started with a digital calendar that was available to us but began to discover several major issues with that option. Early in this school year, we switched to Google Calendar. I have wondered aloud several times why we waited so long.
Some features of Google Calendar and a couple of how-tos are listed here. If you are looking for a great organizational and communication tool, I hope this will be useful to you.
Anyone with a gmail account can create a calendar. In case you didn't know it, every teacher in Tuscaloosa City Schools has a gmail account. Most have never been activated or used, but you have one. You should know that (for reasons I do not understand) these gmail accounts limit some of the functionality in the Google suite of apps. I have a different gmail account connected to my work calendar and documents in Google; having said that, you can also use your TCS gmail account to set up a calendar.
Create a calendar
log into Google and click on the "calendar" link. You should see a blank calendar that defaults to the week view. You can adjust default settings by clicking on the gear symbol at the top right side of the page and going to "settings". If you prefer to default to a month view, for example, this can be set here.
click on the arrow next to "My Calendars" on the far left side of the page. Select "Create new calendar".
name your calendar. Try to make the name a description of how it will be used. For example, one of our calendars is named "RQMS Faculty/Staff Calendar" and is used for events that employees need to know about (but not parents). You can include a description of the calendar on this page as well.
you should make the calendar "public" by checking the box for this option. This will allow you to share this calendar with other users.
Add events
this is the easiest part of Google Calendar. If you have the rights to edit a calendar (the creator does and can give that right to anyone else too), all you have to do is click on the day you want to add the event, give the a name, select the beginning and ending time and click save.
additional details can be added to events - such as location or notes. Events can also be set to last several days (i.e. State testing), recur regularly (Faculty Meeting every first Monday), or some combination of the two.
events can be edited any time. If the parent meeting gets moved up 30 minutes, you can change the start time with four clicks.
because Google Calendar is web-based, you can add, edit or remove items from the calendar from any device that has an internet connection. Remember to add a test for two weeks from Friday at 10:30 at night? Put the date in from home. Find out that your department's PD day will be starting at 9:00 instead of 8:30 while you are riding in the car? Adjust the time from your smart phone on the spot. The best part is that these changes aren't made to one person's view of the calendar, they are pushed live to everyone who subscribes to the calendar.
Invite people to join
there are several ways to do this. You can enter gmail addresses for individuals but if the calendar is meant for lots of people this will be simply impractical. You can also provide a link to everyone who is invited to use the calendar; when they click on the link, they will be guided through the process of subscribing to the calendar.
calendars can also be linked or embedded in blogs and websites. A link to our school calendar is posted on our website and the PTSA blog.
while I am not going to share instructions for doing so here, individuals can also link a calendar directly to their mobile device - so that your calendar events show up on their calendar app.
the best part about all of this is that changes made to the calendar are pushed out immediately. I have watched the calendar update itself on my devices less than two minutes after I added or deleted an event in Google.
I can think of ways everyone who works in a school could use a Google calendar. I have described our two school-wide calendars. Departments could create calendars. Librarians could use Google to schedule all the events in the library that they coordinate. Counselors could schedule their guidance lessons and group sessions. CNP could publish the menu for the month and provide live updates when things have to change. Custodians could keep a schedule that plans for special events at the school without letting regular rounds slide. Teachers or departments or grade levels could keep calendars to schedule shared events or to communicate planned events. Student clubs and organizations could make their calendar available to everyone who is involved. I am not saying that schools should have twenty or thirty calendars. I am saying that because of how it works, Google Calendar is a powerful tool for organization and communication. Tools like this are only as good as the folk who use them, but this does make it much easier for everyone to stay on the same page when it comes to the events that are planned in the life of a school.
Many phenomenal educators do not use a digital calendar of any kind. For someone as forgetful as me, though, a tool this powerful results in levels of organization and clear communication far beyond what I would otherwise be able to achieve.
If you are interested in hearing more about how we are using this tool or if I can help answer specific logistical questions, please feel free to contact me. If I can't talk to you immediately, I'll be sure to put you on my calendar!
Andrew
Maxey is the principal of Rock Quarry Middle School. He blogs at
nothingthatprofound.wordpress.com and tweets from time to time as
@_ezigbo_.
We'll try something a little different for this round of weekend links. As you begin finding content online that makes you reflect on your practice or provides you with helpful ideas and resources, you'll need a way to keep your web reading organized and efficient. There's a lotta good info out there, folks, and it can get overwhelming.
So, for example, if you've liked any of the bloggers highlighted in our past weekend links, you might want to keep up with what they continue to share. The tools below offer some assistance. Check them out, and see what works best for you.
Feedly
After the demise of Google Reader in July 2013, Feedly offered an alternative to folks wanting to use RSS to subscribe to online content. You can sign in using your Google account info, subscribe to specific content of your choosing, or get started with some recommendations built into the tool. After that, all the stuff you want to read comes straight to you - no need to spend your time hopping from one site to another. Please note that Feedly attempted to swap over from requiring Google credentials to using Google+ instead. As of the writing of this post, it seems as though that substantial mistake has been rolled back due to user feedback. Here's a quick overview of Feedly from CNET.
Flipboard
Pitching itself as your own personal magazine, Flipboard offers a snazzy look and feel along with a lot of the same functionality of an RSS reader.
Pocket
The tool formerly known as Read It Later allows users to do exactly that. It's not uncommon (particularly among educators who are incredibly generous in sharing resources) to find yourself swimming in interesting links that you want to explore. Save them to Pocket, and you can visit them when you have the time. This app works in your web browser and in tons of apps including Twitter, Feedly, Flipboard, and more.
These are just a few of the options available to support your online reading. If you have experiences to share with the tools mentioned here or want to share others that work well for you, please post them in the comments below.
As an aspiring archaeologist in middle school and high school, I spent many a sweltering week on the Alabama Museum of Natural History's summer expeditions, digging along with other campers and archaeologists at sites in both Alabama and Mississippi to uncover bits of our history. Those experiences helped to shape many of my beliefs about teaching and learning, and because of that I was thrilled to learn that the museum recently opened their GeoTech Lab in Smith Hall on the University of Alabama campus.
Funded through a grant from the MacArthur Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the lab, which officially opened in July 2013, is one of only two of its kind in the southeast. Allie Sorlie, Education Outreach Coordinator for the museum, says the goal is to give teens access to tech they might not be able to use at home or in their schools. Their hardware offerings currently include fifteen iPads, seven laptops, and fifteen GPSs used for geocaching and other activities, and students can access many different pieces of software and apps for creating projects. Access to 3D printers is also available through other sites on campus.
The lab operates under the principles of HOMAGO. The term, which stands for "Hanging out, messing around, geeking out," refers to spaces and learning activities that allow for flexibility, hands-on experimentation, collaboration, and tinkering in areas of personal interest. Because of this philosophy, much of the lab's time is spent in open sessions, during which students can work on projects of their own choosing. Mentors - UA students in fields such as engineering, geography, and environmental science - are available for support and can offer guidance and expertise with the available tools.
Right now the lab hosts open sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-6pm. However, starting in the spring, open labs will be available each Thursday, plus the coordinators will add formal workshops every Saturday. Check out the schedule below for some of the spring workshop offerings:
Game Shop on January 11:
Learn how to code your own video game
3D Creations on January 25:
Learn how to use Google Sketch-Up to create your own 3D printable object
Digital Design on February 15:
Learn how to design in Photoshop and Illustrator and enter your ideas for a GeoTech Lab logo into their logo contest
Headstart for College on March 1:
Learn Excel, PowerPoint, Prezi, and other programs that will help give you a headstart for college
My Global Position on March 15:
Learn how to use GPS units through geocaching, and create story maps of where you have been
Want to use some of the GeoTech Lab's equipment and expertise for a lesson or project? Contact Allie Sorlie to schedule a pop-up lab, and the lab will come to you! See the information below to get started.
Allie Sorlie - Education Outreach Coordinator
(205) 348-6383
acsorlie@bama.ua.edu
Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School. She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn.
When 8th-12th grade English teachers arrived to their classrooms this past August, they were greeted with a classroom set of shiny Chromebooks. The TCS Digital Conversion had begun! While teachers were excited about the prospect of being able to use the device EVERY SINGLE DAY, some still felt trepidation regarding how exactly the tools would be utilized. As my inbox began to flood with questions, I took a few minutes (heck, really a few days........) to mull over just how I could best help teachers. And here's what I came up with.....start with the standard.
Yep, it was that simple. After all, the Chromebook and the myriad of technology it brings really are just all instructional tools. Like a graphic organizer, or biopyramid, or reciprocal teaching cards, the Chromebook is an instructional tool. Thus, as I plan with teachers, we start with the standard and then we evaluate our tools....including Chromebooks.
So, for this post, I thought I would list two writing standards and then share how Google Docs could be used to teach the standards. The two standards I chose are under the anchor standards of Production and Distribution of Writing:
W.CCR.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others
W.CCR.5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach
To me, Google Docs is like Microsoft Office on steroids. Users can create documents, presentations, insert images, add tables, and add links. But what makes Google Docs the ultimate collaboration tool is its sharing function. Once you've created a document, you just click "share" and then invite people to edit your document. What's impressive is that all edits of the document are saved and you can see who made the edits! There's also a chat function so that you may chat with your collaborators. If you can't collaborate in real time, you can also leave comments for your collaborators to look at when they open the document. How cool is that?!
Imagine the power of meeting the previously mentioned writing standards through Google Docs. No longer do your students have to swap papers and edit via red pen. They can now write, collaborate for peer edits, and provide feedback all through Google Docs.
If you would like to discuss using Google Docs in your classroom or for any planning help, please email me at sbogert@tusc.k12.al.us. I'd love to come visit you and your students!
Shannon Bogert is a secondary curriculum specialist with the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Email her at the address mentioned above or connect with her on Twitter (@shannonbogert1).
I’ve always been fond of 37signals’ products like Basecamp but also their always-fantastic writing. Their newest full-length book Remote is no exception, and has inspired some big changes in how I incorporate technology into my classroom.
My class is now paperless, a fact that has been incredibly well-received. Despite the enthusiasm, however, systemic obstacles remain for reliably sharing, communicating, and (eventually) collaborating on classroom projects. Given this, I decided to go back to the old school moment we all had when someone’s cursor first appeared in one of our Google Documents, which very few of my students had experienced before.
It might seem strange that I began this piece by talking about 37signals’ Remote, as the full suite of tools that would allow for the most effective remote work are not possible in our current system (not to mention I can never assume that my students have reliable Internet access at home.) By having multiple Drive-related tabs open on my own laptop, however, I can see which students need help but aren’t raising their hands, check whether students who are talking have been working on the project or need further direction, and even do effective classroom management all by typing in students’ documents as they write them.
If this sounds simple, it is. That’s why it works. A student gets out of his seat to show another student something on his document that has now distracted four others? I quickly fire off a message asking him to return to his seat, and it happens. No power struggle, no classroom theatrics, and no hurt feelings.
A student is more worried about formatting than the work itself, even though I continue to tell them that doesn’t matter? I go into their document and say that how the bullets look isn’t the problem; it’s what’s written next to them.
Teachers will recognize these as more “macro” answers than ones linked to things like teaching ACT Writing best practices, but that sort of fine-tuned writing instruction definitely occurs all the time in my pseudo-remote classroom. Rather than interrupt the entire classroom, however, those students who want specific help simply raise their hand, I give them a thumbs up, and go into their document to discuss whether they are on the right track.
If 37signals are correct that the modern office has become an interruption factory that will give way to more remote workers, and if we are attempting to prepare students for 21st century college and career readiness, then doesn’t it make sense to start trying right now?
Christopher Watson teaches 8th grade language arts at Eastwood Middle School. Connect with him on Twitter, where he goes by @schoolpivot, or check out his blog.
When I started reflecting my use of technology during instruction I thought about the types of technology I use, the cool websites I have taught the students use, and my favorite - Edmodo. I realized though that before I could get into explaining and highlighting the different tools I used I need to first discuss why I didn't use technology in my classroom. And that was a mixture of pride and fear.
I am not a "tech guru." For several years, I went without using all of the cool resources I had available because I didn't want to admit I didn't know how, and I was afraid of not having it work and looking silly in front of my students. As I began to realize that my kids were really missing out on some great opportunities for learning, I had to be brave. I had to figure out the technology.
For me, that meant asking questions, finding a patient person who could show me a few things, playing around a lot, and then doing what I do best...teaching others how to use the things I had discovered. I began by using the video tutorials on the websites I was using or even using YouTube videos to figure out things I was unsure about. I also found a co-worker who was great at instructional technology and I would ask questions and work with her and her classes collaboratively in order soak in all of the technology I could. When I found new resources I spent time to make demo versions of what I wanted my students to make. I was able to anticipate the questions they had or possible glitches that might occur. Then, when I felt comfortable, I would share with other teachers in my department or in my building my newly gained skill. This would prepare me even more and help me to feel even more comfortable with the new software, website, or tool.
By no means did I turn into a "tech guru" (true confession: I had to watch a You Tube video on how to copy and paste on my new Mac Book last month), but I am more comfortable and have more confidence so that my pride and fear will no longer be stumbling blocks to using instructional technology.
If you find yourself hesitant about trying something new, I encourage you to ask questions, find someone who will patiently guide you, play around with it, and then teach it to others. Take advantage of all the amazing resources that we have available.
And if you happen to be a "tech guru" and it comes naturally to you? Take the time to help answer the questions of someone more hesitant. Maybe even partner with them on a collaborative project. Our students will surely benefit from the time you take, and the hesitant teacher will be thankful for the support.
A computer is just a box of circuits, transistors, resistors and other electrical engineering words. Left to its own devices, you can’t really do anything with it. You need software, right? Of course you do! Luckily, the internet is full of software, and a lot of it says it’s free in big red letters! Isn't that great?!
No. That is not great.
Here’s the thing… most of the time, that “free” software is going to be a timed trial. You can use it a certain number of days or hours, and then it wants you to purchase the full version. Even worse, most of those programs are bundled with installers that will add several different programs to your computer that you didn't ask for. Those programs are often harmful to your computer, and are what we call “malware”.
Malware is actually a portmanteau… it’s short for “malicious software”. The actual definition of malware is “software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems”. Those programs that you may have seen pop up wanting your credit card number to fix several thousand errors in your registry? Random things opening when you try to start up your favorite Internet browser that should never, ever be Internet Explorer? Yep, that’s malware.
Getting rid of malware isn't always easy (though sometimes it totally is; it depends on what’s on the computer and what you're willing to lose). The easiest thing to do is to just not get it in the first place! With this stuff sneaking its way onto your computer when you're trying to download innocent-looking software from reputable sites (even CNET is guilty of distributing the stuff now) how can you avoid it? How do you know if that file you want to download is safe or not?
ASK US FIRST.
That’s the best piece of advice I can give you. Put in a work order and let us know that you’re interested in a program, and where you found it online. We can download it and try it out first to make sure it’s safe. If it’s not, we'll let you know and might be able to suggest a similar, safer program that will do what you need to get done.
Teachers at the Magnet Middle have wanted a user-friendly way to showcase students' work from the school year so that all stakeholders could access the work at any time. We knew that the Chromebooks would be launched this semester, and I think we were all aware that when the students had their gmail accounts set up that everyone would be able to collaborate, create, and store work using Google Drive and the suite of Google tools. However, we couldn't wait for the Chromebook roll-out because of the (impending) IB Authorization Visit in early October. We felt that we had to show the team that we were beginning the process of setting up a system for organizing student projects. Since I was already familiar with Livebinders.com and its ease-of-use (basically little to no training of staff or students required -- a kind of log-in and use-straight-away tool), we looked at the free tool and decided to implement its features immediately. The IB visiting team came and viewed student work samples and reflections via Livebinders (with the permission of students, of course), and we seem to have "passed that test." So here is an assessment of the online portfolio tool.
Pros: Livebinders serves a good purpose for what it was designed to do: it is a fairly decent organization and presentation tool that can be accessed at school or at home. Students may showcase their best work from all of their classes -- even music, visual art, Spanish, and participation in community service projects -- with minimal effort or steps. It is relatively attractive with its color-tabbed format. Students find it easy to upload pictures of their 3-D projects and their text documents. They can write directly onto the tabbed pages to reflect upon a project or to describe a picture of the project. They can create layers of subtabs under each school subject. They can provide links to videos that they have uploaded on Youtube, such as their video or animation projects, or even embed the Youtube video itself onto the page (however, see Cons list below for caveats regarding this feature). Teachers can monitor the most recent session time when a student has logged in, and when the level of student effort is in question, teachers can show parents or students a screenshot of the most recent log-in time. Work is automatically saved, so there is little risk in "losing" work.
Cons: According to the teachers, one of the cons of using Livebinders is the fact that there is not an admin feature to the website. Teachers have to log in to every student's account to make sure that their work has been uploaded as assigned. This can get very tedious for the teacher. And although the teacher can edit work when he/she is logged in, there is no feature to comment on the student's work. It is not designed to be a collaborative tool among teachers and students, and that is where the usefulness and productivity of Livebinders ends. Another detraction from using this tool concerns momentary "freezing" of the program while students are working. One teacher reported that one student could not work on his binder for a few minutes, which can be frustrating for students working on a deadline. Livebinders is also hampered by its slightly static, "old school" Powerpoint slide-like format interface for each tab. In addition to its rigid styling options, students can get buried in creating multiple subtabs to the point that they have to dig to find their own work. The file formats supported by the Livebinders platform are very limited as well. Video files can be inserted as links to other document saving sites, but unless they have been uploaded to Youtube, they cannot be embedded right into the tab page. Some students do not have permission to use Youtube, and therefore, this limits what a student can show directly on his/her portfolio. PDF files cannot be embedded either. They display as links.
Another inconvenience for setting up Livebinders in a middle school classroom: Livebinders requires students to be 13 years of age in order to use their personal email accounts to set up a Livebinders account; however, the company provided a way for our under 13 population to use the program. Because we did not have our systemwide student Gmail accounts in time to set up our Livebinders accounts, we had to create "subaccounts" on teacher's existing Gmail accounts. There is a detailed video that shows teachers how to do this, and it is provided in a link on Livebinders. It is not as difficult as it sounds. The username is created by the student and the password can be a generic password for all users. The teacher receives emails on his/her Gmail inbox that each student account has been set up. In order for the teacher to access and assess the Livebinders account for that student, he/she keepst the list of usernames handy. Students are encouraged to keep their usernames private so that others could not compromise their binders.
Overall, the teachers, students, and parents have been pleased with Livebinders and its simplicity. Students have taken real pride in organizing their work in this manner and have shown a genuine enthusiasm for reflecting back on their learning goals for the projects they have posted, writing down what they learned and enjoyed, and evaluating their work to describe what they could have done better.
Of course, since we are now launching Chromebooks and Google Drive in the classroom (as of this week), once teachers have set up the folder sharing feature, they will be able to view and comment on student work without having to log in to every individual student's account. True collaboration in the classroom to improve learning is our main goal. We are excited to see what G-Drive can do for writing workshop and math class, and we're ready to incorporate what we learn from every new tool to improve our fledgling digital archiving system.
Lavanda Wagenheim is the IB Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa Magnet School - Middle. Connect with her on Twitter, where her handle is @ELavanda.
Here are a few links from the week to keep you learning through the weekend. If something grabs you, give these blogs a follow or consider joining in on the discussions via comments.
Connected Educator Month causes me to stop and ask questions? I ask lots of questions anyway.
What would connected educators look like?
My friend and colleague, Andrew Maxey, correctly points out connections cannot be forced. Networking happens organically. So what is the proper environment to make the seeds of connectedness produce fruit? How can leaders tend to their crop of educators to generate a better harvest?
What structures keep us separate?
I routinely refer to teaching as the most lonely profession. Using an industrial revolution model, we isolate teachers in a classroom with 20 to 35 kids and no other adult contact for most of the day. Any structured adult time is usually centered around "sit-and-get" meetings or petrified development.
If a teacher does not do well in managing alone 30 kids, s/he is regarded as less-than. I wonder how many really good teachers have left the profession because those management skills would have developed later, if the structures existed for the teacher to be used differently until management skills developed.
What current structures could help us be more connected?
We have teachers who are very good a certain things and not very good at others. How do we allow teachers to be better matched with their strength areas? Are there scheduling changes we can make to facilitate this process? Are there people within the current system whose skills can be better matched with tasks?
We now have tremendous technology tools for communication and collaboration we can use within the current system to improve how we connect with one another.
What structures have to change for educators to be more successful?
Is there any facet of educationism so dear we would not sacrifice it if we knew it would create a most ideal educational situation for our students and teachers? Are all "cards on the table" when we talk about how teachers can be encouraged to be learners in a professional community?
How might teachers quality of life be different if we answered some of these questions?
Chris Jenks is the instructional technology coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Follow him on Twitter, where he goes by @chrisjenks.
In case you have missed it so far, October is Connected Educator Month. Clearly implied is the assertion that educators should be "connected". I know many teachers who are. I aspire to be a principal who is. This post is for my peers and colleagues near and far who do not know what it means to be connected or are not convinced that they should be.
Allow me to begin with my definition of being "connected". To me, being a connected educator is about forming professional relationships with educators I am unlikely ever to meet for the purpose of exchanging ideas. Being connected means discovering and activating vast digital resources for professional learning. One metaphor for the "traditional" approach to teaching describes teachers as independent contractors. The new conventional wisdom suggests that teachers leave that model for one of collaboration with their peers. Connected educators embrace that wisdom and take it much farther, seeing themselves as part of a team that extends across the profession. They seek to engage the teacher next door in powerful professional dialogue and to apply that learning to planning that impacts student learning. They are willing though, to find such connections on the other side of the country or the globe if they must. Many connected educators have come to the realization that the Digital Age was not created specifically to serve learning but has provided an enormous array of tools that do exactly that. In today's rapidly shrinking global society, long distance communication and collaboration can be done instantly and nearly effortlessly. "Being connected" then, usually includes learning how to take advantage of the tools to make such connections possible.
Lest there be any confusion, let me make clear my opinion that educators should never be required to be connected. Any attempt to do so would be counterproductive at best. It would be analogous to forcing someone to diet - isn't that called starving them? I believe the case for connectedness to be so strong, however, that it requires little more than a clear articulation and open modeling of these practices to win the consideration of others.
So, let me attempt to very briefly make the case. If you are an educator (of any kind) you should be connected with other educators. Imagine carrying in your pocket the computing power equivalent to that which put a man on the moon. Picture having the collected whole of the accumulated knowledge of mankind at your fingertips. Then open your eye and realize that you live in a world where such power is not only available to but already in the hands of most educators. Today's technology allows you to seek for resources or advice from colleagues via social media such as Twitter and receive outstanding responses from folks who do not know you and who have no reason to share other than their love of the profession. Through platforms such as Pinterest, teachers can gather enough instructional ideas and templates to last a career ... without spending a penny. Only first year teacher in your building? There are hundreds of thousands out there waiting to share how they are tackling the very same challenges you are facing. Creating a new program or course or club or student organization for your school? You can find someone who has implemented what you are shooting for and would be happy to mentor you or at least to share a few pointers.
If you need one more great reason to begin the journey towards being a connected educator, consider your students. Imagine the implications of the fact that change accelerating at an exponentially accellerating rate. Imagine a future where social media is long out of style, where text messaging is embarrassingly quaint, and where cell phone calls are as forgotten as mimeograph machines. What if that future is just around the corner, waiting for your students before they are a quarter of the way through their career? Will the instruction you are providing them prepare them to be healthy and productive members of that society?
What I am trying to say is consider becoming a connected educator. What could it hurt?
Andrew Maxey is the principal of Rock Quarry Middle School. He blogs at nothingthatprofound.wordpress.com and tweets from time to time as @_ezigbo_.
