Are you looking for a way to save time and simplify parent/teacher communication? We've posted about Remind as a communication tool in the past. Now we would like to share a few great options that incorporate more features and are all available on a variety of platforms. Both programs are safe and secure and have similar features. Explore them both and find the one that works best for your classroom.
What is the ONE
thing that all teachers need? If you guessed time, you are right! This month, we are sharing productivity tips, tools, and
apps. Here are a few of my favorites:
Move an Email to Outlook Calendar- Select the email and drag it to the calendar icon (bottom left of the Outlook window). When the appointment window pops up, modify the date/time/details to block out time to address the email
Give your mouse a rest and review some keyboard shortcuts here.
When you receive a
document that needs to be signed, don’t print it out. Save a tree and use Hello Sign. (Click here for an overview of how it works.) To get started, visit the Hello Sign web site or download the Chrome extension to use in Gmail.
What are your favorite productivity tips? Do you have an app that you love? Leave a comment and share your favorites.
During the craziness of this last week of school before winter break, consider trying one of these winter-themed tech tools to get in the holiday spirit:
Kasey created a free winter poetry activity for you in Google Slides. To use, just go to her web page and click "Get Your FREE Copy of the Winter Magnetic Poetry Template." Then click the blue "make a copy" button of the webpage that pops up. A copy of the item will automatically be added to your Google Drive. From there, your students can drag and drop the words on the snowy background to create whatever poem or story they choose.
3. Quizizzsnow-themed quiz template
The company released this template last week -- just in time for winter class quizzes! Click here to see it live.
No matter the age or subject you teach, try incorporating one of those advent calendars into the first five minutes of your day. One is based on the Polar Express book, while the other tests your knowledge on how Christmas is celebrated around the world.
If you sign up for the Holiday Card Project with Jen, you can choose to be included in the "Ho-Ho-Holiday Mystery Skype" with several other classes. If you'd just like to find classes on your own to Skype with, browse the Skype for Education website. You could ask other classes to share their holiday customs or try to guess where in the world a class is based on holiday traditions or geographical clues.
8. Interactive Websites
There are tons of holiday, snow, and winter-themed websites! Any of the links below will take you to a list of themed activities:
Christmas Fun by Shannon Long (Christmas-themed games, printables, apps, and interactive flipcharts)
Google Santa Tracker (games, activities, a countdown to Christmas Eve, elf coding, and information about holiday traditions around the world -- special thanks to Lori for this idea!)
The Instructional Technology Team has been working with teachers throughout the district this school year to pilot Canvas, a learning management system. Teachers from each campus (grades 3-12) are participating in the pilot and exploring best practices for creating a blended learning environment.
What is Blended Learning?
According to Tucker (2013), "blended learning combines classroom learning with online learning, in which students can, in part, control the time, pace, and place of their learning."
What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
A Learning Management System supports blended learning and is “a way to simplify teaching and learning by connecting all the digital tools teachers use in one easy place.” (Instructure)
Why would I want to use Canvas with my students?
Anytime, anywhere access: 24/7 access to class resources, assignments, etc.
Workflow: Work can be submitted to Canvas from any device.
Differentiation: Vary due dates, assignment content and more for all learners. Learners can move at their own pace through material and even revisit content if needed.
Collaboration: Students can share their learning through discussions and work collaboratively on projects.
Digital Citizenship: Canvas is a safe and secure platform for students to practice positive digital citizenship.
When can I start using Canvas?
Canvas is being phased in (grades 3-12) over two years. During Year 1 (2015-2016), approximately 100 teachers are participating in the pilot phase. These teachers attended summer training and will be challenged throughout the year to explore the robust features of Canvas with the support of the Instructional Technology Team. Based on the feedback from the pilot group, we will develop an implementation plan for remaining teachers (grades 3-12) to move to Canvas during Year 2 (2016-2017). Resources:
Quizizz is a new multiplayer, game-based student assessment tool that can be used on any device with a web browser. One of the things that sets Quizizz apart is that it is self-paced and quiz questions, answers, and leaderboard all show on the student device.
Getting Started
To get started, create your FREE account at Quizizz.com.
As a teacher, you have the option of choosing a quiz from the online community, or you can create your own quiz. I especially like that hovering over a quiz gives you an at-a-glance preview of the questions, so you can quickly determine if it fits your needs. If you select the quiz, you get a preview list that shows all questions and answer choices.
If you choose to create your own quiz, the process is simple and fast. Quiz creation happens in split screen. Meaning, as you type your question items (multiple choice or true/false, with or without an attached image), you are also seeing what the question item will look like for students. You also have the option to set the response time limit anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes for each question.
Playing the Game
Much like Kahoot, students use a code to join your quiz, so there is no need to create student accounts, and there is no app to download.
Choose the quiz you want to administer, and select your options such as jumbling question order for students, showing/hiding the leaderboard, show memes after each question, etc.
Once you proceed, students navigate to join.quizizz.com and enter the quiz code projected on the screen. Once everyone is in, you’re ready to start the quiz.
Quizzes are self-paced. When participants finish the quiz, they have the option to review their answers while they wait on others to finish.
As a teacher, you can download the student responses in to an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet provides data not only on the class as a whole, but also for individual students.
Do you plan certain subjects or lessons for your team?
After you create your quiz, share the link with your team members.
Want to challenge another class?
Share the join code with the other class. Since all questions, answer choices, and leaderboard rankings appear on the student devices, players don't need to be in the same room.
Want students to get to the join page faster?
When they visit the join page for the first time (on an iOS device), have them add the link to their home screen for easy access next time.
Have a feature suggestion for Quizizz?
Tweet them @quizizz and let them know! They welcome teacher feedback.
Blendspace (formerly Edcanvas) is the perfect, free web tool for organizing and streamlining your media materials. In a matter of seconds, you can sign up for a free account and begin creating lessons using video, Google Docs, images, web links, and so much more. Have a PowerPoint that you've created? Pull that in to your lesson too! The possibilities are endless!
Classroom Application
Differentiated Instruction
Flipped Classroom
Project-Based Learning
Student Projects (They can create their own “lessons”!)
Sharing materials with colleagues
Creating Lessons
While users have the option of creating classes, it's not a necessary step for lesson creation. After choosing, “New Lesson” users can select a layout and get right to adding content. Content can be pulled from a huge variety of sources and everything is searchable right through the Blendspace site. Once you've found what you need, drag and drop it to your lesson. You can also search the gallery for lessons/collections created by other users. Click here to view a sample lesson from the gallery.
Want to assess your students as they progress through the lesson? No problem! Users also have the option to add multiple choice assessments. Want more options? Create a quiz in Google Forms and add the form as a web link in your lesson!
Sharing and Collaborating
Lessons may be shared to classes that have been created or through a link. Users may also share or embed lessons on the web. Privacy settings can be tailored to fit your needs, and teachers have total control over who can view the lessons. Do you want your team members to be able to add content? Add them as collaborators in settings. No need to worry when sharing lessons with others because the site is web based and works with any device that has Internet.
Creating Classes
Per the Terms of Use, students under 13 may use the program with parental permission. Teachers can set up the accounts or have the students use join using a unique code. No email is required from students. One of the benefits of creating classes is the lesson tracking feature. Students can add comments to the lesson, and they can also check the "Can We Go Over This In Class?" box to notify the teacher that some material may need further discussion. Teachers can view the stats and see feedback from the students.
How do you see Blendspace being used in your classroom? Let us know in the comments below. Then create your free account and get started!
Padlet (formerly Wallwisher) is a web based collaborative tool that can be used in any classroom from elementary to high school. Posts to this virtual bulletin board appear in real time, offering the opportunity for collaboration and discussion. Once you create a free account, you are ready to create your first wall.
How can Padlet be used in the classroom?
Embed a picture or video and have students respond.
Post to the wall for brainstorming or create a KWL chart.
Group discussions or research, book talks, exit tickets
Click the wheel to access settings for your board. You can add a title and description for your wall, and change the board's background.
Layouts: Streaming looks much like a Twitter feed with posts placed one below the other. Freeform allows posts to be placed and manipulated anywhere on the wall.
Your wall is accessed through a unique URL. Students do not need an account to access or post.
Privacy Options: Walls can be public or private and could require a password to access if you choose. You can also adjust the rights for users depending on your needs. Users can be set to read only or you can allow them to post to the wall.
Walls can be shared or saved in a variety of ways (social media, export as a PDF or image, embed in a blog or website).
What can be posted to the boards?
Double clicking anywhere on the wall will create a post.
You can type text, use a webcam to take a picture, insert web links, images, documents, or video. You can also drag and drop files to the wall.
Posts can be easily deleted by clicking the trash can.
Moderation: If you choose to moderate posts you will need to approve each post before they can go live on the page.
Are you a Google Chrome user? Get Padlet's Chrome App!
With countless new technology resources becoming available every week, teachers can become lost in a sea of endless "waves" of possibilities for integrating technology into their curriculum. Hopefully, most teachers have been willing to board the "Project Based Learning" ship and explore many of the mobile apps and Web 2.0 resources available for use by students to demonstrate their knowledge. From research to development of their ideas to final presentations, students need to no longer be limited to the familiar waters we've been traveling for some time. Our blog highlights many of those resources each week. Take a look at past posts for detailed information on favorite resources complete with suggestions for use in the classroom.
You can also check out this list for the most popular tools chosen by more than 500 learning professionals worldwide.
Most of the familiar tools and many brand new ones have made this list. While Twitter might be the #1 technology tool for the last 5 years and Google Drive and YouTube vie for 2nd place, others are dropping in the rankings, not because they aren’t quality resources, but because of the influx of so many new ones. Animoto is a great example, dropping 42 places to #81 in just one year. However, it is still one of my favorite tools used by many teachers and students to create book and content trailers or create unique videos to introduce themselves, demonstrate learning, present a point of view, or promote a cause.
One tool I would add to the list is Bounce - a fun and easy way to share ideas on a website or even an image. It's free and no registration is required. Copy and paste a URL or upload an image into Bounce and it will grab a screen shot of the website or online document. Students can then highlight portions of the screen shot or image and add comments. When finished, the annotated document can be shared with its unique URL. What a great way to quickly collaborate or demonstrate understanding of the content.
Are your favorite technology tools for teaching and learning on the list? If not, please leave a comment and tell us which one/s you would add and why.
