I first heard of #leydenpride after meeting and then following @JasonMMarkey, the principal of East Leyden High School, at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio. Jason is a genuine instructional leader who encourages student voice and provides opportunities for student as well as teacher ownership of the school. Jason has really used twitter to encourage other educators in our pursuit of excellence. Jason was one of many of my PLN I asked for input this summer while planning for this school year. Jason was one of three administrators presented with the 2014 NASSP Digital Principal Award!
Leyden is one of many schools that has harnessed the power of social media for the good of students, parents and educators. Check out the #leydenpride hashtag to see what some students are tweeting and instagramming about their school.
This November, I visited Jason's school, East Leyden High School. The Leyden High School District 212 is a 1:1 chromebook district of two high schools with about 3500 students total. Leyden is in its second year of 1:1. Leyden High is an exciting district with many opportunities for students to learn outside of the normal classroom. I first visited the culinary classroom with a kitchen. Students were working with the teacher to prepare the catering for the East Leyden site visit the next day. Students have the opportunity to take the food and safety test necessary for certification in order to work in a restaurant.
The Culinary Classroom
A History Classroom
Next, I visited several classrooms where I saw students engaged in learning. I visited a Social Studies classroom where students used VideoNot.es to take notes on YouTube videos used in class. I was able to see the Hapara Teacher Dashboard being used in action to manage student engagement with technology. I visited a French classroom where the teacher doled out digital assignments, giving students the opportunity to hear, speak and write in the target language. I visited English classrooms where students were analyzing literature using a Google document. I visited a Math classroom where students were actively problem solving using a calculator, a chromebook and their minds. Every student was working at their own pace. Teachers and students have continuing discussions about the use of technology in instruction. Technology coaches and administrators support teachers in the transition of a digital classroom. Parents and students attend a brief orientation before the student receives a chromebook. Students also take a class on digital literacy within their first semester of receiving the chromebook. Every part of the 1:1 program is a learning experience for all who are stakeholders in the Leyden district.
@JasonMMarkey speaking with students during an assembly
One of the many takeaways I had from visiting East Leyden is student and teacher voice. Developing the 1:1 program took time. It was a gradual process of equipping each classroom with base-level technology, upgrading the network, training and continually supporting the teachers and, most importantly, continuing communication with those who are actively involved in instruction, whether students, teachers, administrators or parents. They all listen to each other. Listening is a big part of Leyden.
Melinda Sears is the Title I Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Check out her website or connect with her via Twitter.
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.
At this year's parent open house, lots of moms and dads asked me questions about supplies and notebook setup: Does my son need a 3-ring binder? How many inches? What tab labels should my daughter write on her dividers?
The truth is, once we're fully running with our Google accounts and have daily access to our Chromebooks, there might not be enough paper floating around in our classrooms to warrant much fuss about these issues. Instead, we can set up digital notebooks in Google Drive for organizing all (or almost all) of the work students do each day.
Why Google Drive?
Let's check out the SAMR model for the bigger picture of what we want to do with tech in our classrooms.
If we are to take advantage of what a digital transformation has to offer, then we must move beyond doing traditional work in a digital format. Additionally, we must offer a more substantial rationale for our tech choices than "It's more fun/engaging for the kids." The key word is transformation: What learning experiences can we offer our students that we could never pull off without the tech?
I am not suggesting here that everything we do must hit the Redefinition level. However, we should strive to keep the image above in mind and push ourselves to develop lessons that leverage technology to arm our students with the critical thinking and collaboration skills that members of an active, thoughtful citizenry need.
For that reason, Google Drive is the workhorse of my classroom. It allows my students to collaborate with one another asynchronously and in real-time, and it gives them a space for working efficiently with collaborators throughout the world, as well. Drive makes for easy and constant revision and iteration, and I can provide more timely, more human feedback via text and voice comments. Apps that hook into Drive offer opportunities for multimedia projects, remixes, and mash-ups, and housing their products in a digital space makes the jump to publication much more manageable.
But what about Edmodo?
When I decided to make the switch to housing most of my students' work in Drive, one of the biggest questions I wanted to answer for myself was "What does this offer that Edmodo doesn't?" The kids know Edmodo and tend to be proficient in using it. Widespread use throughout our school and system has made parents comfortable with it, as well. However, Edmodo doesn't offer much to support student collaboration, nor does it play well with other tools. So while I do use Edmodo still for quick notifications and occasional posting of resources, Drive tends to meet our current needs in ways that Edmodo does not.
How do you set it up?
For our general purposes, I start my students out with two folders:
a personal class folder they can edit, in which they create their assignments (in our class, we call it their writer's notebook) - each student shares this with me so that we can communicate about their work throughout the year
a view-only folder in which I'll place documents they need for their work - students have access to this folder but cannot make changes to documents in it
Step 1 is to make that view-only folder, which I create myself, naming it "[Class Name] Handouts" or some other informative label. Then I share it with students using the Can View setting. Students will be able to view all documents I place in this folder but will not be able to change or move them, making it an easy place to deliver electronic handouts.
See the video below created by the ed tech facilitator for Norfolk Public Schools to guide you through this process with both teacher and student views. The video also demonstrates how students can make a copy of a document if they do need to place it in their own folder and edit it (i.e.lab reports, templates, etc).
Step 2 requires the students to create the class folders that will house their work for the year. They make these, naming them using criteria I specify, then they share it with me at my email address, giving me Can Edit rights. Once they've completed this step, I'll have access to every document they place in the folder. I can drop in digitally as they work and offer feedback or assess a class's progress without lugging around stacks of notebooks.
Here's a video walk-through of Step 2 from the student perspective. Please note that, for consistency's sake, you may want to develop folder naming protocol at the school-, grade-, or team-level.
For those who are a little more comfortable with Google tools, there are ways to automate folder setup using Google templates and scripts. If you're interested in learning more, check out the instructions here.
Once your folders are up and running, you've got a powerful system for managing student work and a space in which students can collaborate with others both within your building and beyond. What ideas do you have for using shared folders in Google Drive? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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.
