Checking for Understanding, Increasing Student Engagement, and So Much More! -- EdPuzzle Revisited (DCMS 11.3.15)

1. Take Attendance

Use this link or your STARRED DRIVE in Google Drive to access the attendance document

Explorers -- Piktochart, Part 3 (Bring your laptops, & we'll continue working on your projects!)
Spartans -- Skitch Follow Up (Bring your iPads and a digital image in an upcoming unit that would work well for a labeling/explaining assignment)
All Stars -- EdPuzzle work time (Bring your laptops)

 

2. Labeling/Explaining (Skitch) Challenge from 10.20.15

Our CHALLENGE from last time: How can YOU measure student learning in YOUR CLASSROOM using a tool like Skitch? Challenge yourself to include a labeling or explaining assessment or check for understanding between now and Nov. 3. Bring it back then and tell us how it went!

3. EdPuzzle Refresher (Laptops!)

I try to title each agenda blog post with the pedagogy or methodology that best reflects the area the tech supports, but that was especially difficult this time. EdPuzzle helps us do SO many things that I couldn't pick just one!

EdPuzzle (edpuzzle.com) allows teachers to pull in videos (or use videos already pulled into the site) and embed activities like questions and comments into them, making video lessons interactive and individualized. No more stopping for whole group discussion when you know that some got it and are ready to move on and others are lagging far behind and need to catch up. When you embed the discussion and CFU activities INTO the video, each student or pair of students can progress at the appropriate speed, rewatch as necessary, and demonstrate their INDIVIDUAL understanding of the content. Because of these advantages, EdPuzzle is a great tool to check for understanding, measure student learning, and increase student engagement. Someone once said that iPads (devices) "put every student on the front row," and EdPuzzle definitely illustrates that concept!

Our OBJECTIVE today is to become comfortable enough with EdPuzzle to have it as a resource in our classrooms to check for understanding and increase student engagement.We'll accomplish this by reviewing EdPuzzle's features as a group and then individually searching for content and exploring the editing features.

A. What can EdPuzzle help us do? 

Here's an edited video most of us are familiar with. Let's think about how these changes may make this video more effective in the classroom.

B. How do we do this in EdPuzzle? 

Here's a video tutorial you can use later for reference!

C. Look and play

4. Your Challenge

Do you plan on incorporating video as a teaching tool sometime between now and November 17? If you do, consider using EdPuzzle to deliver and individualize this content. Let me know if you need help, and bring your activity back to us on Nov. 17. We'd love to hear how it went -- the good, the bad, and the "Oh, wow. I didn't think of that" ('cause that always happens!).

5. Anonymous Feedback

Use this Google Form to provide feedback!

Delivering Instruction -- Polyvision Boards (CMS Sunflowers 10.28.15)

1. Take Attendance

Use this link or your STARRED DRIVE in Google Drive to access the attendance sheet. I know the attendance sheet is labeled today for the Electives Team's topic, but go ahead and mark your attendance in the column.

2. Delivering Instruction -- Our Polyvision Boards

Our OBJECTIVE today is to understand basic Polyvision Board maneuvers so that we can begin to use them more to increase student engagement in our classrooms. We will accomplish this goal via peer coaching and a video tutorial.

A. Are our boards working?
B. Who uses their board, and how do you use it?
C. Video tutorial -- Eno Board Training Video

3. Our Challenge

Let's CHALLENGE ourselves to make sure our boards are functional (call or email technology with a work order) and try to use them at least in a small way in the next two weeks! This way, we'll know what questions we have.

4. Feedback

Leave anonymous feedback here

Blended Learning 2 -- Getting Set Up (CMS Electives 10.28.15)

1. Take Attendance

Use this link to get to the attendance sheet in Google Drive (clunky!), OR go find your attendance sheet in the STARRED DRIVE of your Google Drive (if you starred it!).

2. Blended Learning -- Getting Set Up

Our OBJECTIVE today is to more fully understand what system we'll each use to store and deliver curriculum to our students. We'll accomplish this by actually setting up our chosen system. This is work time, so ask questions as you run into them!

B. Showbie -- You can also use either your laptop (showbie.com) or your iPad (Showbie app). Create an account. You will use the WRENCH icon in the upper left to create classes, add assignments, etc. Mr. Alfrey is your SHOWBIE EXPERT, so definitely let him guide you!

C. Don't want a "system"? That's okay. You'll need some way to store and deliver videos or material, though, so consider using folders and files in Google Drive (hyperdocs).

3. Your Challenge

Work today to start getting set up and challenge yourself to do something SMALL using your system. This way, you'll know what questions you have!

4. Anonymous Feedback

Want to tell me something anonymously? Use this link!

Measuring Student Learning -- Labeling & Explaining with Skitch (DCMS 10.20.15)

1. Take Attendance!

I'm not loving how the attendance Google Sheet is working as a link here, so remember that you can always star a file so that it appears in the STARRED DRIVE in Google Drive!

Wrap Up from Oct. 6, 2015, Tuesday Tech Day -- Who’s used Padlet, and how did it go?

(Explorers -- Piktochart, Part 2 -- A brief look at blocks in the Piktochart templates and then WORK TIME!!! Bring your laptops to the conference room). Click here for the agenda.

2. Measuring Student Learning (bring your iPads

 

Our Objective today is to learn or review Skitch so it is available to us in our classrooms as a tool to measure student learning.

Skitch is an iPad app (available for Mac, also) that allows students to label and explain on an image using arrows, text, and drawing.

Today, we’re going to learn basic maneuvers in Skitch by labeling TLAP hooks on a picture from our district TLAP inservice.

Need the Skitch app? Get it here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skitch-snap.-mark-up.-send./id490505997?mt=8

3. Quick Skitch Demo

Let’s look at the tools in Skitch by annotating a picture together! We’ll identify the TLAP hooks we see in play in this picture from our district TLAP inservice:

4. Your Turn!

Go find a folder titled Skitch Practice Photos TLAP in your Shared Drive in Google Drive. Pick ONE photo you’d like to work with and send it into Skitch by using the 3 dot menu (right side) and choosing Open In and Open In. Choose Skitch.

Use the list of TLAP hooks provided and decide which 2-3 hooks you see at use in the picture. Use arrows & text to label these hooks.

5. Publish it!

When you’re finished annotating your image in Skitch, use the Share box (box with arrow out; upper right) and then the Photos icon to send your Skitch image to your camera roll.

Click here to get to our DCMS Skitch Padlet wall and follow the instructions to upload your Skitch image to the wall!

6. Classroom Applications

How can YOU measure student learning in YOUR CLASSROOM using a tool like Skitch? Challenge yourself to include a labeling or explaining assessment or check for understanding between now and Nov. 3. Bring it back then and tell us how it went!

Want To Leave Feedback Anonymously? Use This Google Form!

Blended Learning 1 -- Getting Started! (CMS Electives 10/21/15)

1. Take Attendance!

I'm not loving how the attendance Google Sheet is working as a link here, so let's take a look at the STARRED DRIVE in Google Drive

2. Blended Learning -- bring your iPad and/or laptop 

Our Objective today is to acquaint you with a few learning management systems (LMS) that will support a blended learning environment so that you can ultimately choose a system that will best work for you and your classroom. We'll look specifically at hyperdocs, Google Classroom and Showbie.

In our planning session a few Wednesdays back, we landed upon Blended Learning as a topic we were interested in because we all understand the need to have a way to deliver instruction to students who have been absent or to students who need to see or hear things more than once. Video is a powerful tool, and the most difficult part of providing instructional videos to our students is finding a way to organize and house them.

There are many solutions to this dilemma, but three very easy solutions are Google Hyperdocs (fancy name for documents with hyperlinks),  Google Classroom and Showbie. Classroom and Showbie are learning management systems, but neither LMS involves difficult set up, and each platform offers its own pluses.

Let's look at each platform so you can decide which one works best for you. Then, let's get started setting them up.

1. Google Hyperdoc -- Use this link to open this folder in Google Drive where I would create and store hyperdocs for each unit. A hyperdoc is a document file that contains hyperlinks to various resources. It works similar to a web page or blog post without having to mess with the fancy parts of a web site or blog.

 2. Google Classroom -- To set your own up, go to classroom.google.com on Safari or Firefox (Classroom doesn't like Internet Explorer). Classroom does have an app. All the tools are the same, but the layout is a bit different.

3. Showbie -- To set up your own account, go to Showbie.com on the internet, or download the Showbie app on your iPad.

There are MANY other options when it comes to housing and delivering content in your classroom. The trick is to find one that you're comfortable with and just get started!

Your challenge before we meet again for tech is to think about your needs and decide which type of system will work best to house and deliver content for your students!

Hope this helps! As always, leave any anonymous feedback here.

Checking For Understanding, Part 2--Padlet (DCMS 10.6.15)

"...students who don't quiz themselves (and most do not) tend to overestimate how well they have mastered class material" --From Make It Stick (Brown, Roediger III, and McDaniel)

1. Take Attendance!

I'm not loving how the attendance Google Sheet is working as a link here, so let's also look at the STARRED drive!

 

2. Checking for Understanding--Padlet (bring iPad or laptop)

Explorers--Piktochart (bring laptops)
Voyagers--Socrative Quick Question (bring iPads)
All Stars--EdPuzzle (bring laptops)

 Our Objective today is to learn or review Padlet and consider it as an option in our collection of Check For Understanding (CFU) tools to use with our students. Padlet is a web-based tool that has been around for a while, but they recently released the Padlet app, which puts Padlet at teachers' fingertips. Many of us have Padlet accounts and have used Padlet with our students, but we often forget what a powerful tool it can be for collecting student responses.

Last Tech Tuesday, we talked about the importance of checking for understanding in our classes and looked at Socrative Quick Question as an at-our-fingertips tool for this purpose. Our challenge was to purposefully incorporate a Check For Understanding (CFU) to bring back to Tech Tuesday to share, so...LET'S SHARE!

Use this link to post a recent CFU you've used in the classroom on our PADLET WALL!

3. Get the App (iPad) or go to Padlet.com (laptop)

4. Create (or remember) Your Account

5. Let's Look at Padlet 

 

  6. How Can You Use Padlet In Your Classroom? 

Our challenge today is to create and use a CFU Padlet wall before our 10/20 Tech Tuesday! What will this look like in your classroom? We can't wait to see!

Want To Leave Feedback Anonymously? Use This Google Form!