Many of our professional development meetings are focusing on providing meaningful feedback for students. My school recently purchased copies of the book Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam. I thought that the "chatroom" venue of TodaysMeet would be a good way to provide feedback to a quiet and thoughtful "discussion" of concepts.
We all know those students who have great things to say but never say them. With TodaysMeet, some of those students feel more inclined to participate in meaningful discussion. Creating a nickname helps. For credit, I insist the student email me his/her nickname via our Google Classroom account.
I like to provide instant feedback to students' thoughts, suggestions, and questions and TodaysMeet allows me to do that. It is sometimes easier, however, to have a few different rooms open with groups of students. I can switch between "rooms" to see how discussions have developed and then provide feedback. With a large class participating at once, it can be quite overwhelming for both teacher and students.
One thing I find is that students like it. Even in the most talkative classes I see students engaging in the quieter form of discussion and feedback. Also, the "written" format allows for accountability. For example, students are less likely to type derogatory comments to one another as I can review the conversations when filling out rubrics for grading. Additionally, it cuts out the possibility of students interrupting one another. ;)
What I like most about written discussions is that it allows my students to deeply process what they want to say. Research has shown that when we are forced to put our ideas into written words it helps us to know the material better because we have to communicate the ideas to others in an understandable way.
Anyway, back to the feedback point. :P TodaysMeet is one way to directly embed feedback to students in "real time". What a beautiful thing it is that I read and type much faster than my students and hence, I need to send shout-out to my typing teacher from high school. Thank you Mrs. Geoca!!
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Thing 30: Flash Cards, Quiz Games and More
All hail Kahoot!!!
THIS is a gem! Everybody should try this. My students love it and they learn with it.
Teachers need to go the the getkahoot.com sign in, create a free account and then create, or search for, Kahoots. The best part about Kahoot is the fairly extensive amount of public Kahoots already available. So far, I have yet to create my own and I've searched for the following with results:
Literary devices
Rhetorical devices
Othello
Author's purpose
Understanding Rhetoric (graphic textbook)
Hamlet
RTI (Response to Intervention)
Yesterday our Kahoot topic was rhetorical devices and techniques. The particular list I selected had questions that involved some devices we had yet to cover. The students were up to the challenge and I noticed they were critically thinking to choose the best answer. Those who got the the difficult questions correct actually started clapping. We had so much fun and they loved the challenge. It was a great way to "introduce" new devices and techniques.
I know my students well and I am looking forward to officially introducing the new terms covered in the Kahoot. I feel fairly certain that a few of them will recognize the term at the very least which will motivate them to learn the word more so than without the Kahoot point of reference.
Teachers, go ahead and "treat yo'self"; play Kahoot with your students.
THIS is a gem! Everybody should try this. My students love it and they learn with it.
Teachers need to go the the getkahoot.com sign in, create a free account and then create, or search for, Kahoots. The best part about Kahoot is the fairly extensive amount of public Kahoots already available. So far, I have yet to create my own and I've searched for the following with results:
Literary devices
Rhetorical devices
Othello
Author's purpose
Understanding Rhetoric (graphic textbook)
Hamlet
RTI (Response to Intervention)
Yesterday our Kahoot topic was rhetorical devices and techniques. The particular list I selected had questions that involved some devices we had yet to cover. The students were up to the challenge and I noticed they were critically thinking to choose the best answer. Those who got the the difficult questions correct actually started clapping. We had so much fun and they loved the challenge. It was a great way to "introduce" new devices and techniques.
I know my students well and I am looking forward to officially introducing the new terms covered in the Kahoot. I feel fairly certain that a few of them will recognize the term at the very least which will motivate them to learn the word more so than without the Kahoot point of reference.
Teachers, go ahead and "treat yo'self"; play Kahoot with your students.
Thing 9: Databases & Search Tools
I couldn't help checking out
From there, I found Doctopus/Goobric instructions. The instructions were "in owners trash" but I made a copy anyway. I just hope they work and the directions weren't thrown away because they were faulty.
Basically, these two will link together so that rubrics can be graded electronically and emailed to students.
I have to modify the directions a little as my students already finished and turned in their assignments. Let's see how this goes...
After a long time following the directions it worked!! It is actually pretty neat and while I had to backtrack a little and modify I found it a lot more fun than grading the rubric on paper. Below are the links to my final results. I purposely left out a few sheets necessary to complete to get to the final spreadsheet.
Overall, I like the process but I need to report the CONS as well. First and most importantly learning it is VERY time consuming. As you all know, teachers have sooooo much free time that why should that ever matter? :P Right?!!! I was determined to finish the "project" and so I stuck with it. I'd be lying, however, if I said I didn't think about abandoning the whole thing a few times. Secondly, in the end, I still needed to calculate the final grades. That part didn't take long but for the amount of time it took me to set up, I thought perhaps the process would do my laundry for me as well. (Sigh)
So I recommend it if, and only if, you have time. Summer fun perhaps???
The instructions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1otOyzwgVcp9Qhi0vsCrIyqnz821FFg67O9X9Vo_gI5E/edit
The Rubric:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZCENs6P3jncKaJN7Ke4g2BEOkBcKkyzcupqdvWA9yrY/edit#gid=0
Final Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/134tF-j0SLRERCwHyodKoLvja1Kpd2OYB2E5DsgbK6yM/edit#gid=122540047
After a long time following the directions it worked!! It is actually pretty neat and while I had to backtrack a little and modify I found it a lot more fun than grading the rubric on paper. Below are the links to my final results. I purposely left out a few sheets necessary to complete to get to the final spreadsheet.
Overall, I like the process but I need to report the CONS as well. First and most importantly learning it is VERY time consuming. As you all know, teachers have sooooo much free time that why should that ever matter? :P Right?!!! I was determined to finish the "project" and so I stuck with it. I'd be lying, however, if I said I didn't think about abandoning the whole thing a few times. Secondly, in the end, I still needed to calculate the final grades. That part didn't take long but for the amount of time it took me to set up, I thought perhaps the process would do my laundry for me as well. (Sigh)
So I recommend it if, and only if, you have time. Summer fun perhaps???
The instructions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1otOyzwgVcp9Qhi0vsCrIyqnz821FFg67O9X9Vo_gI5E/edit
The Rubric:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZCENs6P3jncKaJN7Ke4g2BEOkBcKkyzcupqdvWA9yrY/edit#gid=0
Final Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/134tF-j0SLRERCwHyodKoLvja1Kpd2OYB2E5DsgbK6yM/edit#gid=122540047
Thing 11: DIY
Updated info!! 😃 April 18, 2017
So, on to the next one! :) I decided to try Common Curriculum. The "basic" level is free and very professionally created. There is a "pro" version for either $6.99/mo. or $4.89 if you pay for the year (roughly $59 total). It is also available for schools to purchase for many teachers. The site provides a nice breakdown of what each subscription level has to offer.
What I've found is that it takes a little bit to learn the whole thing BUT it is fairly extensive and easy once you get the hang of it. There are many different lesson plan templates to choose from which is nice! Once you select one, entering information is simply a matter of editing. Also, teachers don't have to stick to the same template! One can switch to a different template for each day or for each class or anything. Common Curriculum is quite flexible.
To get set up, the first thing to do is to enter days off for the year, which I find to be a nice feature. Once the schedule is set up, there is an option for "turning off" any day that one is not actually teaching (during exam week, or perhaps, there is an assembly during a certain class period). In addition, teachers have the option to download, copy, paste, or print any day's lessons. The lessons can also be made into full screen mode. I especially value the "Shift Lesson" option! At my school, attendance can be very unpredictable. We often have to compile alternate lesson plans in the event that more than half of the students in one class are absent. If only six out of 23 students show up on a day where the lesson requires group work and/or new material, the alternate lesson can be shifted into place and the original lesson can be shifted forward for the next day (or even later).
One of the most user friendly aspects to Common Curriculum is the feature that allows teachers to search for standards and directly insert them into the lesson plan. Standards are banked and searchable by state (including Common Core State Standards), grade level, and key terms. This is truly convenient and saves a lot of time for those of us who have yet to memorize them for four different preps.
Overall, I highly recommend using Common Curriculum as an online teacher planner. It is an extensive user friendly tool with many choice options for teachers who like (or must have) formal, organized/structured, and complete lesson plans.
OLD FYI below:
MyStudyLife ... NOT for teachers... yet anyway. (Not sure if this will count toward a task number but wanted to share nonetheless.)
Last week I went on a search for an online teacher planner and after reading all about it, I decided to try out MyStudyLife. Again, I ended up disappointed after a few hours of trying my best to get it to work.
After downloading the app (available from iTunes) onto my Mac, I went through the process to register and eventually had to email for help Below, is my email and the developer's response.
I'm afraid we're not currently accepting any new applications for our schools beta (teacher account) as it is being phased out in favour of our new offering for schools (including MIS integration, allowing students timetables to be automatically populated). We don't offer a teacher specific account for this at the moment (the beta account was very similar to our student account), however, this is something we're working to add. If you're interested in MIS integration for your students, please let me know.
Many thanks,
Josh
So, on to the next one! :) I decided to try Common Curriculum. The "basic" level is free and very professionally created. There is a "pro" version for either $6.99/mo. or $4.89 if you pay for the year (roughly $59 total). It is also available for schools to purchase for many teachers. The site provides a nice breakdown of what each subscription level has to offer.
What I've found is that it takes a little bit to learn the whole thing BUT it is fairly extensive and easy once you get the hang of it. There are many different lesson plan templates to choose from which is nice! Once you select one, entering information is simply a matter of editing. Also, teachers don't have to stick to the same template! One can switch to a different template for each day or for each class or anything. Common Curriculum is quite flexible.
To get set up, the first thing to do is to enter days off for the year, which I find to be a nice feature. Once the schedule is set up, there is an option for "turning off" any day that one is not actually teaching (during exam week, or perhaps, there is an assembly during a certain class period). In addition, teachers have the option to download, copy, paste, or print any day's lessons. The lessons can also be made into full screen mode. I especially value the "Shift Lesson" option! At my school, attendance can be very unpredictable. We often have to compile alternate lesson plans in the event that more than half of the students in one class are absent. If only six out of 23 students show up on a day where the lesson requires group work and/or new material, the alternate lesson can be shifted into place and the original lesson can be shifted forward for the next day (or even later).
One of the most user friendly aspects to Common Curriculum is the feature that allows teachers to search for standards and directly insert them into the lesson plan. Standards are banked and searchable by state (including Common Core State Standards), grade level, and key terms. This is truly convenient and saves a lot of time for those of us who have yet to memorize them for four different preps.
Overall, I highly recommend using Common Curriculum as an online teacher planner. It is an extensive user friendly tool with many choice options for teachers who like (or must have) formal, organized/structured, and complete lesson plans.
OLD FYI below:
MyStudyLife ... NOT for teachers... yet anyway. (Not sure if this will count toward a task number but wanted to share nonetheless.)
Last week I went on a search for an online teacher planner and after reading all about it, I decided to try out MyStudyLife. Again, I ended up disappointed after a few hours of trying my best to get it to work.
After downloading the app (available from iTunes) onto my Mac, I went through the process to register and eventually had to email for help Below, is my email and the developer's response.
Hi,
I am a teacher in Rochester NY. I have downloaded the application and I’m trying to sign up. I can sign in using Google. I select Teacher and then it asks for a code emailed to me when my school registered.
I don’t know how to register my school. The app says it is free.
When I sign in via Google I am using my school district (RCSD121) purchased Google account. The app says it doesn’t recognize it. Then, I tried signing in with my school district Office 365 email account. That is not recognized by the app either.
Please send me an activation code. I would like to start using the planner and don’t have a lot of time to spend trying to sign up.
Thank you,
Kara Muddle
1478950@rcsd121.org (Google mailbox)
Kara.muddle@rcsdk12.org (Office 365 mailbox)
I'm afraid we're not currently accepting any new applications for our schools beta (teacher account) as it is being phased out in favour of our new offering for schools (including MIS integration, allowing students timetables to be automatically populated). We don't offer a teacher specific account for this at the moment (the beta account was very similar to our student account), however, this is something we're working to add. If you're interested in MIS integration for your students, please let me know.
Many thanks,
Josh
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