The Cabeza Chronicles

Mad Libs: A Super Silly Way to Fill in the _____________!

Raise your hand if your childhood memories include completing a couple of pages out of your newest Mad Libs book?! This popular game debuted in 1958 as interactive short stories, where those reading the short stories were prompted to fill in the blank for words that had been omitted. The missing words or phrases would be assigned a specific category or part of speech, such as noun, verb, place, exclamation, and so on. Upon completion, the story would be read aloud. Usually, the story would end up being quite funny and somewhat nonsensical. Countless hours of entertainment were sure to be had.

Mrs. Pickett at Beck Elementary introduced her fourth-grade GATES students to this familiar favorite. It didn’t take long for them to catch on and they looked forward to completing new ones during their class visits. Of course, Mrs. Pickett knew these Mad Libs would be entertaining, however, she also knew how they could help reinforce very important grammar skills and challenge their thinking. To successfully complete Mad Libs students needed a clear understanding and working knowledge of the different parts of speech, or their finished story would not make sense.

The real challenge came when students were asked to compose their own Mad Libs. They begin with writing short stories about a topic of their choosing. They made sure their story had a clear beginning, middle, and end. When students struggled with coming up with a topic, they were encouraged to write about their favorite candy or something they ate for breakfast that morning. When writing Mad Libs, literally, anything goes!

Once students completed their short story draft, it was time to reread and decide which variables to remove. The variables would be the missing words in their Mad Libs. Because their stories were drafted in Google Docs, students highlighted the variables and identified the part of speech. Careful thought went into selecting which words would be the best variables. Students had to think through scenarios that would result in the most effective, and often humorous, outcome. After all, the fun part of Mad Libs is reading the finished story. 

Using Flippity.net, students were then able to digitally publish their short stories in a Mad Libs template. Through using this templated Google Sheet, students became more versed in working in Sheets. They became familiar with the terminology used in spreadsheets, such as rows, columns, and formatting. Once the template was finalized, students published their Google Sheet to the web for sharing purposes. Since most 2nd - 5th-grade students are consistently spiraling back through grammar skills, it was a goal for completed Mad Libs to be shared with the campus.

Knowing these completed Mad Libs would be shared campus-wide was motivating for students. They were careful to spend quality time revising and editing their work because their audience was authentic and they wanted to share with pride. Revisions were made again and again as careful thought was given to the various possibilities of responses the Mad Libs may receive. They wanted to make sure the variables were descriptive and specific enough to produce an end product that would 

To say these students were engaged in this work would be an understatement. Mrs. Picket said it was incredible to see her students collaborating with one another as they thought critically about the decisions they made to produce their Mad Libs. Students were bonding and building relationships through the process too. The laughter was an added bonus. Countless giggles were shared as students read aloud completed Mad Libs and shared their work with families via Seesaw. This provided them with extra practice with fluency and reading with expression. 

We invite you to explore the Mad Libs created by the 4th grade GATES students at Beck Elementary. Share the Google Slides via Google Classroom or Seesaw. Then we’d love to hear from you. Share out on Twitter tagging @beckelem, @BES_GATES, and @kel_sanders. We can’t wait to share with these students how their work has reached others. 

Shout out to Mrs. Dixon's class for diving into these student-created Mad Libs before the break. 

Leading the Way...One Newscast at a Time!

There is nothing more powerful in the realm of education than the voice of our students. Allowing students to deeply root themselves into the culture of a school by sharing what they are passionate about, enables the school culture to thrive. Prairie View Elementary school does just that with their Leader Vision crew. What started as a club sponsored by a Northwest ISD Education Foundation (NEF) grant in 2018, has grown into a pivotal communication tool for the school.

Every single day, the Leader Vision team, championed by Mrs. Tiffany Dold and Mrs. Jennifer Casey, Prairie View Elementary’s Library Media Specialist and GATES teacher, respectively, sets the tone for great learning through the broadcasting of their completely student-driven newscast. Leader Vision brings the news daily to the kids at our school and keeps them informed of events and opportunities happening on our campus. Teachers come to the team with special announcements or segments to add in. Mrs. Dold believes this program benefits PVE by giving students and teachers ownership of school announcements, making this a relevant source of information for the campus. Mrs. Casey shares that they constantly talk about the habits as part of our Leader Vision group, as expectations to uphold in the classroom, as well as brainstorming ideas for the segment about LIM. Students create content to teach the 8 Habits of Leader in Me on the announcements such as providing examples how to live the Habits, hand motions, and reminders about each habit.

Because of this illustrious morning announcement crew, in one week PVE was able to increase campus DI enrollment by 500%. To ensure that everyone has their voice heard on campus, the team also includes a Language of the Week segment where the Dual Language Hawk Leaders teach the campus Spanish phrases. During Hispanic Heritage month, 2nd – 5th grade Dual Language students created more culture and historical awareness by researching and preparing a report on an important Hispanic person.

So how does this well-oiled machine function so that everyone has the opportunity to listen to the newscast during their Hawk Huddle? Students were divided into teams of broadcasters and given one day of the week to plan and broadcast. The students were given a template to use to plan the broadcasts. Then they collect the information needed (lunch menus, birthdays, campus news, and Habit of the week, etc.) and brainstorm ideas for specific segments. This 9 weeks we are really challenging the kids to draw on their own LIM experiences to add to the broadcast. There are two cameramen/producers that are responsible for setting up the mic, preparing the recording area, using the recording software, editing, and uploading the final broadcast. This process starts with these students preparing the iPad for filming and ensuring that they have created the background image. This year the Leader Vision is using DoInk, a greenscreen app, that allows their students to have full control over what the newscast looks like. The producers record their video, apply the desired background, and export the video to YouTube. The final step of the process is to upload the video directly into the Google Site that is shared across the entire campus. This process seems intense, does it not? The amazing fact is that this group functions so well that all of this happens within the span of about 15 minutes before the final bell rings to start the day of learning. That is efficiency at its finest.

When asked about future goals for the Leader Vision Program, Mrs. Casey and Mrs. Dold shared the following aspirations. Casey expressed that, “We would like to involve more kids in the news broadcast. In the spring, we will hold auditions again to rebuild and train a new crew for our departing 5th graders. Flipgrid helped us to determine a student’s on screen presence and a google form let us know about the applicants and their interest in Leader Vision.” Dold added, “We also have a long term goal of live announcements and a short term goal of pre-recording everyday.”

When we asked these young newscasters what they enjoy about the Leader Vision program the most, one student shared that, “He enjoyed being part of a team that was beneficial to the school and being able to film on the iPad.” Another student shared that her favorite part was “recording and being able to tell students about the lunch menu and birthdays.”

Though this writer may be signing off for now, one thing is for certain; the Leader Vision crew will continue to deliver the news and drive the Prairie View Hawks forward toward success.   

Check out some of their broadcasts below!

                                                   

You've DOT to Read This Book!

We love reading at Hughes Elementary! With a campus and district focus on literacy, 5th grade ELA teachers decided to create a platform for students to recap, rate, and review books they were reading. This idea came up during “Dot Day” when students were learning that they can leave a mark and inspire others in the process. Teachers wanted students to be able to recommend books to their classmates and inspire them to pass their love of specific books on to others in the class. 

Writing about books and recommending them to others was a skill that these students got to learn throughout the process. Mrs. Covarelli points out, “Some students didn’t understand the difference between writing a book blurb and a review.  We got the chance to model how to write a book blurb to hook the reader versus writing a review. We’re continually teaching students how to give specific text details to support a review rather than just writing 'it was fun, funny, or enjoyable.’”  Mrs. Covarelli adds, “ I love seeing which books my students have felt impacted by in their independent reading time. I enjoyed seeing my students give a book 4/5 stars rather than 5, but still highly recommend it.” 
Mrs. Bass adds, “Students were excited to create a review of the book they had read and share it with a wider audience than their class. It allowed them to express their opinion and encourage others to read.”

Teyla, McKenna, and Addie were three students that were particularly excited about writing reviews and reading reviews from others. “The One and Only Ivan is a book that I feel should get more attention than it does,” said Teyla. “This book made me feel lots of emotions such as sadness, loss, excitement, surprise, and joy. The cover doesn’t show what the book is really about." She noted, "It may look like a picture book for first or second grade, but it’s actually great for fourth or fifth graders. Writing a blurb and review helped me share these details with others.” 

McKenna read “Because of Mr. Terupt.” She admits, “It took me a while to get into the book, but then it got very intense. I loved the author’s craft. I also noticed that the main character switches between having a growth and fixed mindset.” It was neat hearing how McKenna was able to relate her learning from school to the characters in her book and how she developed empathy for each character their situation. 

When asked about reading reviews from classmates, Addie claimed, “Lots of people in our class want to read a book called ‘Pax.’ I was drawn to the review by Veronica. Her blurb described how the book was about the fox and a boy who get separated and their journey of getting back together. She said it was really emotional. When I read her rating, I could tell she was being very honest. I want to read the book even more after reading her review.”

Teyla and McKenna gave their books a five star rating while Addie gave her book a 4. She claimed, “I gave my book a 4 because, you can get confused at times. Multiple languages are used in the book along with multiple scenes. It is very descriptive and makes me feel like I’m part of the story.” Students learned how to separate their opinion from fact. “I learned to be honest about my experience in the review. To think deeper about how to get other readers to read my book. You don’t want to leave spoilers, but it helps to have a big question or a hook to get them excited,” says Addie. McKenna adds, “In our writing right now, we’re learning about going deeper with our words. I tried to leave a cliff hanger, so that others would read my book.”

All in all, this project truly did get students talking about books! Mrs. Brewton claims, “When students were looking for books the other day in our classroom library, I heard them pointing out books that they had seen on the Padlet. They were checking out their friend’s recommendations! It was exciting to see my students engaged in their book selection rather than having them come to me because they couldn’t find anything they liked.” Addie also mentioned, “I think our class talks more about books when we’re doing book reviews. The talk has died down a bit, so I think it’s time to write another review. My friend Abby told me that she read my review and liked it. I was happy that she took the time to tell me that she wants to read my book, 'Resistance' because of my review.” 

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It will be fun to see who students get to share their book recaps and reviews with. Mrs. Alvis, the Hughes librarian has plans to showcase specific student reviews by their corresponding books in the library. This will allow students to read reviews from other students when they are choosing what they want to read.

Click HERE to Enlarge Image

Student ISTE Standard - Creative Communicator: 
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

• 6D: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Warning... #Slackers Ahead

Sometimes the words "Professional Development" can make you cringe -- especially when you mix those words with summer!  However, those were not the sentiments of the dual-language team in Northwest ISD.  This summer they decided to take on the challenge of meeting the needs of #EveryChildEveryDay by becoming #Slackers.  No, they did not wait until the last minute to start preparing for the upcoming school year.  Rather, they dove into intellectually collaborative conversations using a tool called Slack to discuss their practice of educating bilingual students, which worked to strengthen their professional learning community (PLC) across the district.

Slack is a collaborative messaging service that allows teams to meet virtually and gives teams the ability to share a variety of digital products in one online space. Teams can organize their discussions into both channels and threads to maintain productive conversations on a plethora of topics.

It all started when Señora Katia Ramón Pino had the idea to connect the dual-language teachers all across NISD. Understanding the importance of learning from one another through sharing personal experiences and the power to learn from literature, she began looking for the best avenue to virtually connect educators. While collaborating, initially she thought a Twitter chat would work best, but she wanted the conversation to feel more like a live discussion with the ability to share out any medium to express their thoughts. Eventually, she landed on Slack as the ideal platform to meet their needs because discussion questions could be posed and message threads could carry the conversations to deeper levels. Additionally, the ability to create new channels to focus learning was a priceless feature as this method of meeting is planned to continue throughout the entire school year.

Our district's frame of thinking is meeting the needs of #EveryChildEveryDay. This group of educators exemplifies this mantra as they are discussing with one another best practices to try with their students. At times, being a dual-language teacher can feel isolating as you are the only member of your grade-level team that does what you do. However, with the use of Slack to build and strengthen this PLC, the teachers are able to communicate and collaborate with one another to make every child successful. Slack helped meet the purpose of this PLC because teachers across the district feel empowered by their colleagues to continue being lifelong learners, both from one another and literature, to gain the knowledge of how to help their students grow.

There is definitely no room on this team for a slacker as everyone contributes their expertise and strengths. With all the prework these #Slackers did over the summer building the toolkits of one another, the possibilities are endless when it comes to trying new strategies with their students to help them be successful in their learning environment.

Collaboration that BLEW our Mind and FLOODED our Learning!

“This project was so cool! We got do our own research and meet 7th graders who learned about tornadoes and floods too.” -Alondra (4th Grade Hughes Elementary)

Virtual Connection via Zoom

From research to organization to collaboration, and then feedback and revision, students in Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Covarelli’s class had a learning experience that they won’t forget!

As a part of a Lucy Calkins unit, students were put into groups based on interested level to research a natural disaster or weather event. They were responsible for taking the overarching topic and creating subtopics within that. They did their own research, took notes, and cited sources to write a final essay with their research. After writing the essay, groups then created videos using FlipGrid to share what they learned about their event.

RESEARCH AND WRITING:

According to Alondra, the most challenging parts of this project was the research. “When you type too much in your search, sometimes you don’t get what you need. We had a hard time finding just the right information.” Mrs. Covarelli agreed that research was the most difficult part for her students. She points out, “Students struggled with how to use keywords in search engines to find the results they were hoping for. We did mini lessons on how to use keywords when researching. Some students also had a hard time finding research on their subtopic, so they changed subtopics based on the research they were finding online.” Alondra added, “Our teachers helped us by giving us safe search websites. It was nice that Mrs. Covarelli was protecting us from any bad websites.”

ORGANIZING AND PUBLISHING:

Two specific groups took their information and organized it within a Google Site to submit for Expo 2019. Naomi's group researched floods. She states, “I liked creating a Google Site with my group because we could all work together. We could see each other’s work and get feedback from each other. If someone was absent we could still see their work.” Mrs. Turner helped students learn the importance of organizing a website and making information engaging and clear for others. Students added their Flipgrid video to the website along with photos, and even maps to bring their research to life for their audience.

COLLABORATING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK:

7th Grade and 4th Grade Partner Up on Collaborative Slides

It just so happened that 7th grade students at Tidwell Middle School were learning about catastrophic events the same time that these 4th grade students were doing research. Mrs. Wellborn and Mrs. Christian's were part of a scheduled ZOOM meeting that allowed them to provide feedback for 4th grade and share a little about what they learned about tornadoes, floods, and the effects these disasters had on the environment. “It was nice to hear feedback so that we could fix parts of our website," Said Alondra. She added, "it was also nice because when we were texting (AKA: typing on collaborative Google Slides), my partner sent us a link to their 7th grade project. It was cool to learn more facts from them.” Naomi added, “I liked that we got to learn with the 7th graders that we got to see some of what we are going to learn in 7th grade. We even got to meet our future 7th grade teachers!”

Mrs. Wellborn and Mrs. Christian Meeting 4th Grade Students at Hughes Elementary

SHARING: Not only did these students share their site with 7th graders, but they have also been selected to present at Expo 2019! Come learn more about their experience on February 28th! "I'm so excited about Expo. I went in 2nd grade, but I’m glad to get to share my project again this year," said Aislynn. “I’m very excited about Expo. It’s my first time doing it,” added Naomi. For Adelais, this will be her second time at Expo. “ I went in 2nd grade, but I’m glad to get to share my project this year and even see other people’s projects.” Presentation times can be found at: https://expo.nisdtx.org/

Click the images below to view student websites:

Floods by Aislynn, Landon, Yosari, Lia, Rachel, and Naomi 

Tornadoes by Adelais, Alondra, and Bella 

ISTE STANDARDS:

Knowledge Constructor:

• 3a - Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
• 3b - Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.
• 3c - Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

Creative Communicator

• 6a - Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
• 6b - Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
• 6c -Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
• 6d - Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Global Collaborator

• 7a - Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.
• 7b - Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.
• 7c -Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.

4th Grade Natural Disasters Project: Making IT Personal

Many educators today are making the shift from teacher centered to student-centered learning experiences.  Fourth grade English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher Deanna McCabe in partnership with her teammate Charlotte DeRossett, GATES teacher Cindy Ford, and Library Media Specialist Jamie Jensen at Cox Elementary were able to design a personalized learning experience that challenged students to use nonfiction text features to create an interactive project that will teach others about natural disasters. 

Originally the project began as students simply making posters using nonfiction text features to showcase the information they had researched about natural disasters. Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. DeRossett felt that this project was a great opportunity to dive into personalized learning and integrated many technology tools that would support and enhance the learning process. Mrs. McCabe said, “In the beginning there was a lot of brainstorming involved - a lot of collaboration, investigating, researching, and learning in order to figure out how to make this project happen!” She and Mrs. DeRossett worked hard to tier their students' abilities, as well as group them by their interests”. Once Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. DeRossett figured out that they wanted students to have the opportunity to present their final project “expo-style” for K-5 students at Cox Elementary, they were able to put the instructional pieces together.  Mrs. McCabe described the planning process as the most time-consuming portion of this project. She feels like the key to their planning success was determining what they wanted the final product to look like, collaborating with others to push their students beyond what they knew, and being open to productive struggle for themselves and their students.

Mrs. McCabe created an  interest survey  using Google Forms so she and Mrs. DeRossett could find out more about their students’ interests in natural disasters.  Then students were strategically grouped in Google Sheets based on their ability levels and interests.  Students were given a research template to guide their investigations about natural disasters.  Each student was responsible for teaching a specific topic related to their natural disaster which helped hold them accountable for contributing to the “expo-style” presentation. Mrs. McCabe believes this strategic grouping expectation took some pressure off group members because they were able to work on their own projects independently, but also had the opportunity to collaborate as a group to present their information to other students at Cox Elementary. 

Students were also provided differentiated project menus with a multitude of options, rubrics, and clear expectations for designing their project. The students loved having a choice for how they would engage their learners based off of how they themselves love to learn. Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. DeRossett introduced their students to a variety of apps, websites, and experiences that they had never used before.   Using technology was critical in the planning, research, implementation, and reflections for this entire project. Mrs. McCabe and Mrs. DeRossett used many different technology tools such as: Google Apps for Education (Slides, Docs, Forms, Sheets, Sites), Metaverse (augmented reality), VR tours, digital breakouts, and green screens (DoInk and WeVideo) that supported the learning process and product for this project.  These technology tools increased student's excitement, participation, and enjoyment of the learning process. These tools were also easily differentiated based on individual students' needs. The students were able to manipulate the tools so that they could successfully teach other students as young as kindergarten or as old as 5th grade. 

Blogging Challenge

The Librarian at Schluter Elementary has challenged the entire 4th and 5th grade to become bloggers! She started the challenge out by having each class come to the Library. The classes brainstormed what a blog was and what they could blog about. The conversations naturally led to having passions, and that's when the spark was ignited! The second the students realized they had choice in what they were able to blog about, they suddenly got interested in this challenge. Each student had to brainstorm what they wanted to write about and the title. Then used Blogger to execute the challenge!

Mrs. Pospisil used her connections and reached out to people in the district to be mentors for the student blogs. She wanted their voices to be heard! 85 people jumped on board. Principals, Assistant Principals, Librarians, Instructional Coaches, and people at the Administration building all wanted to be a part of the challenge of mentoring students in a digital world. The mentors respond by leaving a comment on their assigned students blog once a week. This ongoing process encourages students to keep writing for their authentic audience, while building a relationship with their district mentor.

Blogging gives students a way to reflect, grow, and learn about themselves as a 21st century learner. We need to vary our methods of reflection and blogging is a great outlet for many people. It offers ongoing documentation and long-term reflection. 

Here are a few student blogs to check out:

An Addition To Math

All Elephants

Imagine.Dream.Think.Real

The More You Know 2018

Extra Work for Extra Curricular? Leaders Make It Worth It

This school year, 7 Hills Elementary embarked on their journey as a  Leader in Me campus. The Leader in Me program cultivates leadership skills in students and encourages a culture of shared responsibility.  Students have taken their new title of “Leader” very seriously and often seek out ways to improve their own school.  Recently, leaders noticed that while there were several opportunities to be involved across campus, most parents were unaware of these options.  With the help of school librarian (Melissa Quisenberry) and student leaders (Kate, Cami, and Haylyn) the group was able to solve this problem.  

After careful consideration as to the ways parents seek out information about their child’s school, leaders decided the best option would be to design a website showcasing all the extra-curricular activities available at 7 Hills.  Leaders quickly got to work researching the different clubs and snapping pictures of each club in action.  Once they had gathered everything they needed, it was time to start designing a website.  Ms. Q was able to meet with the girls and discuss their options for website creation tools.  As a team, they decided Google Sites would serve their purpose well.  Student leader Kate was impressed with how easy it is to use Google Sites.  “I learned how to create websites.  Which is something I don’t do a lot.  I liked that it was simple and easy.”  

Students “Put First Things First” and chose to use their own lunchtime to complete the project.  Ms. Q allowed students to take the reigns on the website and provided only minimal support throughout the process.  The freedom Ms. Q granted her students allowed them to take ownership in the content.  Since Google Sites allows multiple users to work on a website simultaneously, students even worked on the project from home.  Haylyn and Kate both shared how much they enjoyed being able to “Synergize” on the project even when away from school.  Kate stated, “I liked that I could work on it with friends anywhere.”  One of the greatest benefits of utilizing Apps available in the Google Suite is the ability to collaborate on tasks remotely.  The dedication these leaders had paid off with a user friendly and informative website.  Ms. Q linked their website to the school’s main website so parents could easily access it.  Click here to take a look!

In the future, these leaders plan to update club information and add additional pictures.  They also hope to provide a way for other students to sign up for a club through a form on their Site.  With this student driven activity, Ms. Q inspired students to create a valuable tool that will serve their campus for years to come.  Throughout the process, students gained valuable skills in Communication and Collaboration as outlined in the ISTE standards 6 A, C, D.  

Going from STAAR... to ROCK STAAR

Mr. Martin’s 4th grade ELA class were in final preparation mode for the STAAR Writing test. They played a revising and editing Kahoot game.  “I wanted them to be able to have a fun way of showing what they have learned throughout the year, while helping to relieve some stress for the upcoming assessment." After the game was finished, he charged the students with sharing their feelings about their level of preparedness for the upcoming state test.  

Mr. Martin's Blog

Earlier in the year, they set up individual student Blogs using Blogger to define a space where students could share what they have learned, showcase reading responses and writing tasks, and to simply be able to express their feelings with school.  His initial intentions with the blog were to allow for  students to communicate with one another using a different platform to challenge each other’s thinking.

The task was to have each student search for a meme, picture, or emoji to represent how they were feeling before the test.  From there, students had to justify why they chose the picture they did.  Mr. Martin pushed them further to then make a comment on another friend's blog.  The catch with this is they knew the commenting expectations were to a) share something you enjoyed with the blog, and b) pose a higher-order-thinking question to the original blogger. This is the fuel to the in-depth conversation fire.

Students immediately took to their Chromebooks.  Some students were not sure what a meme was by name, but when they researched what it is and saw some examples, they knew exactly what to do.  This process was a completely student-driven as Mr. Martin was able to simply listen to students helping others and was able to even join in the online conversations.  

Zion was one student who really made the most of this experience. The thoughts that came out of her mind were completely mind-blowing.  She was a pivotal force when it came to driving the conversations.  Every blog I would read, she had already been to and commented with some fascinating questions.  For those students that were struggling with part B of the commenting criteria, she directed them to the wall of questions.  

Mr. Martin has taken the Bloom’s leveled planning question stems and adapted them to become a resource to enhance the level of discourse in his classroom.  Students were able to truly reflect on their peers thoughts by using this resource to their advantage.

"Through blogging, I have seen an increase of student participation, especially with the usually timid students.  With the ones who typically don’t like to respond in front of others, they feel completely open to sharing their thoughts from behind their screen.  In order to make this such a success, we had to build the culture of respecting other’s opinions and really embracing our online character through our digital citizenship lessons.  It is really powerful to see that this avenue of discussion has really allowed me to reach ALL students as it enables those who don’t feel like they have a voice, to shine." -Jeremy Martin

Cabeza de Vaca Goes Digital!

Who is Cabeza de Vaca?

Schluter 4th grade students created an authentic game-based learning platform to show depth and mastery of knowledge on the DBQ study on Cabeza de Vaca. This fun project supports Social Studies and History skills in which students demonstrate communication skills by creating written and visual material, as well as identifying the accomplishments and explaining the impact of significant explorers on the settlement of Texas. (TEKS SS 4.2B & 4.22D)

Using the game platform Kahoot! each student created their own questions about Cabeza de Vaca with answer choices, identifying the correct answer. Students chose either multiple choice or true/false questions, and they could upload visuals to accompany the question. Students received feedback from classmates and their teacher as they developed and tested their questions. As one student describes, "We were testing each other to see if we really knew the information."

Students collaborate & discuss accuracy of other students' questions

To provide peer feedback, students play each other's game to see who "wins" by correctly answering the questions.

Multiple classes worked on this project, which provided a unique opportunity. After students completed their assessment questions, a set of questions was created for each class and then... they switched classes! Each class played another class' game to provide not only a review of the material but also to experience how other students created unique questions covering the same material.  

The excitement shown by students who get the correct answer says it all!

In addition to demonstrating content-specific skills, this project utilized technology in a way that enabled students to demonstrate how they are empowered learners and creative communicators, crucial skills for being future-ready. (ISTE Student Standards)

Some students will be presenting their Cabeza de Vaca Kahoot! project at Techno Expo on February 23, including the opportunity for audience members to play a sample game to test their knowledge of the impact of Cabeza de Vaca on Texas history!

Cox Academy Takes Off!

4th graders at Wayne A. Cox Elementary are taking learning into their own hands.  Mrs. Krista Sarpalius created a Wix website for her students to use this year called Cox Academy.  While, she set up the shell of the website, it is up to the students in the grade level to add the content.  The students have spent the year creating math instructional videos and presentations to add to the website.  The website is then available to parents and students at any time to help them with the understanding of any of the math concepts that have been taught this year in 4th grade.

http://www.coxacademytx.com/

 In an interview with some of the 4th graders they told me exactly how Cox Academy has helped them understand the content at a much deeper level.   One of the girls, Averi, stated that,"When I make the videos I try to think about what it would be like if I didn't understand the problem.  I have to not think through it like I already know how to do it. I have to think more simple and slow down my thinking so that anyone struggling to understand also has time to think through it."
Another student, Klaire, told me that the website has become a great tool for self- assessment.  She said that students can take the quizzes when they feel they have mastered a concept, and if they don't pass the quiz they know to go back and watch the videos again.

The students create the videos using an ipad and then upload them to Dropbox.  The presentations have been created in Google Slides and there are even a few quizzes that have been created in Fyrebox Quiz Maker.  The students have been the ones to decide on how they will deliver the content and then researched presentation platforms to choose the best fit for their audience. When I asked Brynne, a student at Cox Elementary, who she thought their main audience was she said, "My parents are always trying to help me with my math. But they learned it a different way and when they show me their way I get confused. So the videos and quizzes help them see how to do the math and then tests them on their understanding."

This really has been such a mindset shift for these kids and parents.  One parent has even helped them make a Cox Academy App using Hockey App. The free app will be available in the App Store for iOS devices hopefully, next week! Also coming next week, a guest appearance by some 1st grade mathematicians with instructional videos for addition and subtraction!