Showing posts with label Chromebooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chromebooks. Show all posts
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Monday, September 11, 2023
Monday, January 20, 2020
Seesaw Superpowers: Able to Read and Reflect with a Single Bound!
In Northwest ISD, our youngest learners develop life longs skills of selecting, reflecting, and sharing their work in a digital format called ePortfolios. The standard program our district uses for primary ePortfolios is Seesaw. In partnership with district ELAR Coaches and Instructional Technologists they were able to offer kindergarten readers the opportunity to utilize Seesaw to reflect and set goals for their reading superpowers.
Casey Dibenedetto, Kindergarten teacher at Roanoke Elementary, is definitely a Super Teacher who is out of this world! Casey looked over the activities provided by the coaches and added audio instructions so her kids could listen to them independently. Before students began the activity she reviewed the Super Reader Powers and gave students time to think about a power they used frequently with ease and a power they often forgot to use - basically a celebration and a goal.
Students leveraged the creative tools in Seesaw to reflect on their learning and set goals. Specifically, they were thinking about the “Reading Super Powers” they had learned in their most recent reading unit. As a Kindergarten Super Teacher she knows students can talk about their learning much easier than they can write about it. By using this Seesaw activity her students were able to easily share their strength and their goal with their teacher and their families.
Casey believes “Seesaw is absolutely amazing! I love that there are so many tools available for students to utilize as they communicate about their learning. They can draw pictures and add text and drawings to annotate work or a provided image. It is also easy for students to collaborate and complete work together. The aspect of Seesaw that most helps to augment my students’ classroom experience is that they can record their voice and I can listen to their responses. The multi-page activities have also been a game changer in the way I am able to use Seesaw with my students. Communication with families is another key feature of Seesaw. Parents love seeing what their kids are doing at school. I also use it to share newsletters, links, announcements, and other information with families.”
In Mrs. Di’s classroom, her students use the NISD Portal to access Seesaw and Google Classroom often. She provides visual instructions to help her students remember the steps and follow them independently. Students in Mrs. Di’s classroom use Seesaw almost every week to share their learning. Sometimes this is an open ended Journal prompt where students share a piece of work and talk about it and sometimes it is a preloaded Activity that they access and complete. Students also use Seesaw to practice reading aloud and sharing their writing. Her students really enjoyed this opportunity to reflect as Super Readers in Seesaw. They loved getting to color themselves as a Super Reader, and they loved sharing their strength and their goal.
Please check out Casey’s adapted version of the activity - verbal instructions, wording changed slightly to sound like her.
Below are student samples of the completed activity as well as Seesaw activities for future units of study.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Leveraging Seesaw for Problem Solving
“Problem solving is for students to dig deeper into their thinking about math. They take the problem and break it down. The most important piece of problem solving is getting the students to talk about it using mathematical vocabulary and getting them to explain and justify how they worked the problem and how they arrived at the answer. Sometimes there is no defined right or wrong answer. It is more for them to explain to me how they got their answer.” -Mrs. Mancino.
At Haslet Elementary, Mrs. Mancino’s 2nd grade classroom uses Seesaw to leverage their problem solving in Math. It is truly unbelievable how quickly her students have picked up use of the Chromebook in the classroom. She did not return to the classroom from maternity leave until the second week of October. Before her return, the students did not do many activities on the Chromebook and did not use Seesaw at all. They started problem solving on Seesaw the last week of October. They now use Seesaw daily and have started learning to use Google Classroom, Google Sites, Google Slides, and Adobe Spark.
In their math journal, students explain step by step what they did to solve the problem. They write out the equation and the solution, take a picture of their work on Seesaw, then use the record button to explain their thinking.
An example of a multi-step addition and subtraction problem. The students have to start by breaking the problem down into 4 squares (I know, I need to know, equation, and solution). They know Ava and Shelby say 42 geese. They also know when they got to the top of the hill they saw 25 more geese. Lastly, they know 15 flew away. The students then have to figure out what question they are trying to answer. They need to know how many geese were left after 15 flew away.
Seesaw activities are another way they problem solve. The question is asking the students to find the quadrilateral with all sides a different length. Mrs. Mancino teaches her students to connect the dots using different colors so they are better able to see how many sides each shape has well as how long each side is. By using different colors for each answer, it helps them learn to do this for similar questions later on. They used different colored pens to draw the shapes, then they had to record their justification of why they chose the answer they did.
The power of problem solving and having an authentic audience can change the way your kids look at their work! Seesaw has allowed these students to work hard, share their accomplishments with their peers and family members. Talk about motivation!
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Comprehending WILD Literature
Back to school in the FALL at Justin Elementary is all about policies, procedures, routines, and setting expectations with students. One of the goals for 5th-grade teachers Ms. Haley Donaldson and Mrs. Becky Carlson is for students to take risks and try new things to enhance their reading comprehension. With that goal, both teachers are committed to incorporating relevant technology into her lessons to help students reach their goals across multiple literary elements. After finishing the read-aloud Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, students were given the choice to produce a technology-infused product that represented: Theme, Character, Comparing, Setting, and Plot.
Emma N. from Mrs. Donaldson’s class really enjoyed making the WILD Wordcloud project. She stated, “ I liked doing this project digitally because I got to be creative to choose my own words, design my own colors, and I chose a plane as the background. I found my idea to make the flipbook on Youtube.”
Students were challenged to capture the essence of the novel and give the reader a good idea of what the book was about. In this novel, thirteen-year-old Brian is flying on a bush plane when the pilot suddenly has a heart attack and dies. Brian manages to keep the plane level until it crashes into a lake in the Canadian wilderness. Brian survives the crash, but that was just the beginning. Characters in many novels go on adventures and through their journeys teach the reader much about life and themselves. Below are more projects that follow Brian’s WILD journey into the wilderness. Students used their Chromebooks and were given the choice of four types of tools to elaborate on their literary elements: Google Draw, Canva, Adobe Spark, and Wordcloud.
In this video, Seth L. from Mrs. Carlson's class wanted to publish a video about what the WILD Canadian setting looked like to him after reading the book. Click here to view
Cameron L. said, “My favorite part was typing my paper in Google Docs since I have bad handwriting. I am really proud when I get my papers typed up, they look professional.”
Emory H. from Ms. Donaldson’s class chose to show the reader about the WILD setting of the book by using Google Draw.
Brady T. from Mrs. Carlson’s class showed voice and choice by producing a WILD monthly newscast in WeVideo about the book. To show his creative side he even interviewed his teacher as if she had the main character Brian in her class. To watch the video - click here
Haley B. from Ms. Donaldson’s class used Canva to entice readers to come to visit WILD Hatchet by creating a magazine about the book. Click here to view the project.
These projects are showcased on the board outside the classroom in the hallway for all visitors to see. Also, they will be submitted to our district's learning showcase event EXPO in February. More information can be found at http://expo.nisdtx.org In closing, students demonstrated content-specific skills. This project utilized technology in a way that enabled students to demonstrate how they have empowered learners and creative communicators, crucial skills for being future-ready. (ISTE Student Standards)
Monday, December 10, 2018
Gettin' Sketchy With It!
Third grade GATES students at Lakeview Elementary have been focused on Architectural Design. As an introduction to their learning, Mrs. Blake read aloud Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty. They also spent time researching famous structures around the world using various depth and complexity icons to identify patterns, details, and how their structure has ethically impacted the environment. This then led into an architectural details hunt, where students viewed houses and identified exterior details from their research. Their language of the discipline deepened throughout this initial study as students prepared to design their own city.With inspiration from Iggy Peck’s Blue River Creek Challenge (found in the Iggy Peck’s Big Project Book) students began focusing on attributes of a town and what it should include. The components outlined in the book included: school, library, factory, office buildings, shops, city hall, zoo, fire/police stations, and a building design of their choice (ex: a church or museum). Students set to work on creating their own town with the outlined parameters. As part of the project requirements, they were tasked with creating both an aerial and street view rendition of their town.
As part of their studies, experts from the field visited their classrooms. Brandon Blake, from Blake Architects, visited to discuss the design process from the architect’s perspective. He showed students examples of blueprints and models from projects he’s personally been a part of. These artifacts provided an up close look at how important scale images and models are to both the client and the builder. Blueprints and scale models allow both parties to visualize the client’s request and identify areas that need additional attention to detail. He stressed the importance of getting to know the client and understanding their vision.
Lisa Payne, Town Planner in the Community Development department in the Town of Trophy Club, also visited to discuss urban planning. She deepened their thinking by sharing the importance of long range planning that is mindful of the community and its resources. Relevant information was introduced as she spoke about future projects planned for the Town of Trophy Club. One of the projects specifically shared was the Byron Nelson Field House, currently under construction. Knowing that many of these third graders will one day utilize that facility brought much excitement to the room. During both of these visits, students were able to ask the experts questions that would lead them to be more successful in their own design process. They developed a language of the discipline that would be carried with them throughout the project. It was especially neat to watch students roll up their “blueprints” in true architect form, just as they saw Mr. Blake do during his visit. Annabell said she has enjoyed this study because, “as a little kid you might want to grow up to be an engineer and this project is a really great start”. Providing relevant, real world experiences for students can open the doors to so many possibilities.
Monday, October 22, 2018
"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" Chromebooks in Kindergarten Classrooms
When first implementing Chromebooks with Kindergarten students last year, Library Media Specialist, Kelley Valdez, was focused on two main goals. Her first goal was to show that Kindergarten students truly were able to handle utilizing the Chromebooks and the Google Suite apps as long as the task were developmentally appropriate. Her second goal was to model for teachers how to use Google Classroom and a variety of other tools by integrating them with the curriculum. Kindergarten teachers worked closely with Mrs. Valdez and continued to implement Chromebooks to amplify the learning experiences currently happening in Kindergarten classrooms.
The Kindergarten teachers at Roanoke Elementary were amazed at the progress their students made in such a short amount of time during the spring. Not only were their students engaging in innovative learning experiences they were also developing foundational keyboarding and mouse skills as they gained exposure to the device they will be using in the upper grades. By the end of the school year Kindergarten learners were able to:
- Login to the Chromebook using the Rapid Identity QR code.
- Join a Google Classroom and learn to locate activities and turn them in.
- Click on the Google Chrome icon, "rainbow eyeball", and then tap on the red flag icon for the NISD portal.
- Practice keyboarding and mouse skills - through games and Google Slides activities that supported learning goals.
- Log out of the Chromebook using a simple 6 step process: Touch your icon, touch Sign Out, Touch your name, Touch the arrow pointing down, Touch the Blue words, Touch the Red Words.
Mrs. DiBenedetto says one of her favorite things about the Chromebook is the QR code option for signing in efficiently. She believes this is a big help for her students to meet their learning goals. Mrs. Valdez said Google Classroom was one of her favorite tools she used because she could easily assign activities and monitor work in progress and completed work. She also created Master Slide templates in Google Slides to build exactly what she needed to support learning goals. The Chromebooks were labeled with colored stickers on the left side to help with locating keys (red, yellow, green, blue). Round stickers in the top left and right corners with L and R These are just a few helpful tips adapted from Christine Pinto to help students navigate the Chromebook with success. Mrs. DiBenedetto helps her students stay organized by keeping their login QR code in a baggie in their book box. This makes it very easy for them to get their login cards quickly and get started using the Chromebook independently. As the 2017-2018 school year came to an end Mrs. Valdez created a Google Apps for Littles book study course for the summer. This book is an excellent resource for any PK-2 educators looking for ways to ease their way into the Chromebook and Google World. Skip scat scoodle doot. Flip flop flee. Everybody is saying a Chromebook might be the key.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Supporting the #Wildcatway Reading Initiative
The Wildcat Way is more than just a motto at Wilson Middle
School. Over the summer, teachers put down their beach reads and picked
up Disrupting
Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by
G. Kylene Beers and Robert E Probst in an effort to better understand
ways to foster a culture of reading across campus and provided
opportunities for collaboration through ways to disrupt our thinking about
reading.
It was from this book study, teachers Helen Read, 7th grade ELA, and Matt Norris, 7th grade Math, crafted “The Wilson Review.” The Wilson Review is a process of creating and posting digital video reviews for students and staff. The goal of the showcase board is to get students interested in books as well as to share the books they love so that they can get inspired to read. Students can access the reviews via teacher Moodle pages and Google Classroom courses. The Reviews are also on display outside Ms. Read’s and Mr. Norris’ classrooms on a large bulletin board where students and teachers can use their mobile device to scan the QR codes.
While the activity of having students submit book reviews
might seem somewhat mundane,
these two teachers took it up a notch by allowing students to use FlipGrid as a
tool for recording
their review. In the world of Instagram and SnapChat selfies, what a better way to relate to
students than asking them to record their book review.
their review. In the world of Instagram and SnapChat selfies, what a better way to relate to
students than asking them to record their book review.
Flipgrid is
place where you can verbalize your learning. Flipgrid was purchased by Microsoft
and provides a moderated and easy to use platform to create up to 5 minute
videos and showcase the videos for only NISD users to view. Flipgrid along
with the cameras on student’s Chromebooks were a great pair for this project.
“With the integration of Flipgrid students get excited about sharing their
books using the Book, Head, and Heart Model. As they are creating they
can investigate what others have said about books they might be interested to
read. Find a review you enjoy, students
can leave a thumbs up to the creator and check out the book in the library.”
This type of interaction motivates students to continue reading so they can make
additional post. WOW, so far The
Review board has 26 hours of engagement time and growing.
Student Raul shared, “Flipgrid allows you to express what
you think about a book, you can
say what you want.” Students enjoy the freedom and creativity this outlet offers. The ability to
record something for others to watch later is also an aspect of the tool students appreciate.
Gracie Clair reflects, “My flip grid experience has really put it in a way for me that I can speak
up and prove my thinking, with people watching it after I film it, not while I film it.”
say what you want.” Students enjoy the freedom and creativity this outlet offers. The ability to
record something for others to watch later is also an aspect of the tool students appreciate.
Gracie Clair reflects, “My flip grid experience has really put it in a way for me that I can speak
up and prove my thinking, with people watching it after I film it, not while I film it.”
Staff have already seen an increase in student engagement
during daily reading and this is
only the beginning! Ms. Read and Mr. Norris hope to continue utilizing Flipgrid throughout
the year for book reviews. Even teachers have benefited from the program! As Ms. Read
reflected on her experience she shared, “Making my own Flipgrid video was an interesting
experience because it put me in the shoes of my students. I was a bit nervous recording myself.
It also solidified what I wanted my students to be able to share about their reading. I’ve learned
about some books I have definitely added to my own TO BE READ list.” Mr. Norris has also
enjoyed the experience and was pleased to see, “With showcasing of teacher examples and as
more students recorded their reviews, students overcome their hesitations.”
only the beginning! Ms. Read and Mr. Norris hope to continue utilizing Flipgrid throughout
the year for book reviews. Even teachers have benefited from the program! As Ms. Read
reflected on her experience she shared, “Making my own Flipgrid video was an interesting
experience because it put me in the shoes of my students. I was a bit nervous recording myself.
It also solidified what I wanted my students to be able to share about their reading. I’ve learned
about some books I have definitely added to my own TO BE READ list.” Mr. Norris has also
enjoyed the experience and was pleased to see, “With showcasing of teacher examples and as
more students recorded their reviews, students overcome their hesitations.”
In today’s schools, technology can be seen as an enemy of
reading, however these two innovative teachers have uncovered a strong ally in
growing passionate readers. The Wildcat Way Reading Initiative is off to
a strong start.
Monday, October 1, 2018
Podcasting: The Chronicles of the Gifted & Talented
Students in Mrs. Flores’ 7th grade GT ELA class ended their spring semester reflecting on the learning and growing that occurred throughout their year together. As an outlet for sharing their reflections with others, the class delved into the world of producing podcasts. It proved to be an excellent opportunity for students to let their creative and fun personalities shine.
Podcasts are being used to educate others on a particular topic, to entertain an audience through storytelling, or even just to share about personal experiences. With a wide range of topics available, it seems as if there is literally something for everyone. Podcasts are definitely growing in popularity across all generations. Even knowing this, Mrs. Flores was unsure how many of her students had personal experience with podcasts. To ensure the project’s success, her first plan of action was to provide her students with age appropriate podcast episodes that might peak their interest. From the list she provided, she encouraged them to listen to a variety of episodes paying special attention to their format, music, and special sound effects.
As a class, it was decided the name of the podcast would be The Chronicles of the Gifted and Talented. Each student was then responsible for contributing an episode. In thinking about the content/topic for their episode, Mrs. Flores encouraged students to think about their accomplishments from the year. What elements stood out? What reflections from that learning can be shared with others?
“I think one of the things I liked most about the project was the amount of freedom we had. Sure we could only use the topics that we covered in class, but the topics were so broad that it wasn't very constricting.” Ella was not alone in this thinking. Students were very excited about choosing their episode idea. Topics were selected and more intentional planning and deeper thinking occurred to help generate content. Careful consideration to following questions was encouraged:
Podcasts are being used to educate others on a particular topic, to entertain an audience through storytelling, or even just to share about personal experiences. With a wide range of topics available, it seems as if there is literally something for everyone. Podcasts are definitely growing in popularity across all generations. Even knowing this, Mrs. Flores was unsure how many of her students had personal experience with podcasts. To ensure the project’s success, her first plan of action was to provide her students with age appropriate podcast episodes that might peak their interest. From the list she provided, she encouraged them to listen to a variety of episodes paying special attention to their format, music, and special sound effects.
“I think one of the things I liked most about the project was the amount of freedom we had. Sure we could only use the topics that we covered in class, but the topics were so broad that it wasn't very constricting.” Ella was not alone in this thinking. Students were very excited about choosing their episode idea. Topics were selected and more intentional planning and deeper thinking occurred to help generate content. Careful consideration to following questions was encouraged:
- How has this aspect of our class made a positive impact on you?
- How will you use this topic to inspire or entertain your audience?
- How can you share an interesting perspective or a unique “take” on this topic?
- What will the tone of your episode be?
- How will you create that tone?
- What resources & information will you need to write your script?
It was also important for students to think about their listeners. While current and future students were the target audience, the likelihood principals, teachers all over the district, and other administrators would take a listen was high. For the podcast to gain the attraction of others, they would need to be carefully planned and thought out. Catchy titles, attention grabbing introductions, and sharing the why behind the chosen topic definitely helped. Some students even chose to create advertisements for relatable sponsors to be endorsed during their episode.
Although individuals were responsible for contributing their own episode, students were working with their peers throughout the entire process. It was during that collaboration phase that they were able to give and receive feedback on each other’s episodes. Many of the students also helped co-host a peer’s show. Natalie said it best, “I really enjoyed applying what I learned throughout the school year, and being able to review the year in a fun and creative way. I loved seeing my friends projects and participating in them.” Final podcast were edited using Beautiful Audio Editor and then exported to Google Drive, where they would ultimately be shared with the class. Students had a bank of resources for royalty free music and sound effects they utilized throughout the project as well.
And, now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… explore some of the class podcasts linked to the images below. If you are interested in finding podcasts that may be appropriate for your students or yourself, be sure to explore the Best Podcasts for Kids resource. Check it out, there is something for everyone!
Although individuals were responsible for contributing their own episode, students were working with their peers throughout the entire process. It was during that collaboration phase that they were able to give and receive feedback on each other’s episodes. Many of the students also helped co-host a peer’s show. Natalie said it best, “I really enjoyed applying what I learned throughout the school year, and being able to review the year in a fun and creative way. I loved seeing my friends projects and participating in them.” Final podcast were edited using Beautiful Audio Editor and then exported to Google Drive, where they would ultimately be shared with the class. Students had a bank of resources for royalty free music and sound effects they utilized throughout the project as well.
And, now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… explore some of the class podcasts linked to the images below. If you are interested in finding podcasts that may be appropriate for your students or yourself, be sure to explore the Best Podcasts for Kids resource. Check it out, there is something for everyone!
Monday, May 14, 2018
Readers turned Vloggers
The practice of having students recommend books to their classmates is no new idea, however Kindergarten teacher, Jenny Stokes, recently decided to take this tried and true method and make it more engaging through the use of technology.
On any typical day, visitors can stop by Mrs. Stokes’ class during literacy block and find students actively engaged in a variety of tasks designed to increase fluency and ignite an excitement for reading. One of the most popular activities has quickly become the class book recommendations vlog. During this activity, students are either making book recommendations or browsing through their classmate’s videos in search of a recommendation matching their interests.
Students acting as consumers of the vlog, have been trained to independently login to a Chromebook using a QR code. Once active on their profile, students are able to access the class vlog easily through a link in Google Classroom. Students spend a few minutes watching their classmate’s videos before settling on a book. The latest featured books are displayed in a center so students can quickly locate them and begin reading. Their sweet grins and excited nature is evidence this practice is working wonders to build a love of literacy. Yahel shared, “I like it because you can see the other people’s books.”
Mrs. Stokes believes the activity provides students the “opportunity to use something other than tablets and an app.” She feels the process of working with the vlog “ is making them more independent and teaching them to solve problems.”
While the plan was for students to develop and grow, Mrs. Stokes found that she did too. In the original planning session with her Instructional Technologist, Jenny first hoped to develop and maintain a class blog. Once she saw how easy the platform was, she took it a step further and invited students to be not only consumers of the vlog, but also producers. It wasn’t long before students were taking videos on iPads and using QR codes to login to the Chromebooks independently. In the future, Mrs. Stokes envisions turning the vlog over to her students and allowing them to manage and organize their own videos.
This lesson is a perfect example of the learning that can unfold when a teacher is willing to take risks and learn alongside their students. The motto at Prairie View Elementary this year is “Move Mountains” and boy are these tiny tots learning what it means to put caution to the wind and tackle even daunting tasks!
On any typical day, visitors can stop by Mrs. Stokes’ class during literacy block and find students actively engaged in a variety of tasks designed to increase fluency and ignite an excitement for reading. One of the most popular activities has quickly become the class book recommendations vlog. During this activity, students are either making book recommendations or browsing through their classmate’s videos in search of a recommendation matching their interests.
When a student is ready to make a recommendation, they use the iPad to record a video explaining why they would recommend the book. With support from their teacher, the video is uploaded to Google Drive and added to the class vlog created in Google Sites. Videos are organized by genre and kept up to date by Mrs. Stokes. Students are anxious to share about books they love! Zanelly said, “I like recommending books so my friends can read them and I like seeing what books my friends like to read so I can read them again.”
Students acting as consumers of the vlog, have been trained to independently login to a Chromebook using a QR code. Once active on their profile, students are able to access the class vlog easily through a link in Google Classroom. Students spend a few minutes watching their classmate’s videos before settling on a book. The latest featured books are displayed in a center so students can quickly locate them and begin reading. Their sweet grins and excited nature is evidence this practice is working wonders to build a love of literacy. Yahel shared, “I like it because you can see the other people’s books.”
Mrs. Stokes believes the activity provides students the “opportunity to use something other than tablets and an app.” She feels the process of working with the vlog “ is making them more independent and teaching them to solve problems.”
This lesson is a perfect example of the learning that can unfold when a teacher is willing to take risks and learn alongside their students. The motto at Prairie View Elementary this year is “Move Mountains” and boy are these tiny tots learning what it means to put caution to the wind and tackle even daunting tasks!
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
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.
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:
Monday, January 29, 2018
Teaching Your Future Forgetful Self
From homework, to extra-curriculars, lunch, friendships/other relationships, as well as chores and other duties at home, so much "life" happens in between today's class period and tomorrow's. Units of study are typically scheduled to end on Fridays so that students can cultivate skills throughout the week and test on Friday with the weekend being a mental break and a new unit/topic starting the following Monday. As much as a week-long Thanksgiving Break is desired, it occurred in the middle of a 7th Grade Math Unit causing Medlin Middle School teachers, N. James and B. Salazar, to get creative in overcoming this potential forgetfulness.
Following a rigorous Scope-and-Sequence, students began studying TEKS 11A (model and solve one-variable, two-step equations and inequalities) and 11B (determine if the given value(s) make(s) one-variable, two-step equations and inequalities true) with only three days remaining before Break. In having this unit resume upon return, James and Salazar wanted to find a way for students to not only learn the foundational skills within the limited time, but also retain the information post-break to maximize instructional time focused on next-steps with minimal review.
What better way to remember content than become your own future self's tutor! To do so, students were tasked with creating a video tutorial utilizing Sketch IO and Screencastify that included the following requirements.
Multiple scaffolds were put in place to ensure students were reinforcing correct information. To start, these on-level students were allowed to be in groups no larger than 3 so peer-teaching could be utilized to support and clarify learning. Additionally, students were tasked with prewriting a script which encouraged planning and preparation instead of an on-the-fly performance; furthermore, this script had to include a few Key Terms in order to provide structure to the video whose remaining components were largely decided by student-choice.
Upon return from the week-long Thanksgiving Break, students had access to their own tutorial as well as a shared Google Folder containing their classmate's videos. This repository was valuable because students could hear and see explanations in student-friendly language from multiple viewpoints and problem sets. Creation of this video is at the highest level of Blooms Taxonomy in which students must synthesize information to create their own original work. Through creating a tutorial to teach yourself and others, students not only had to remember, understand, and apply these math concepts, but then use this to analyze the required steps and evaluate their order and purpose so that they could formulate this video. Applying higher level thinking commonly solidifies the learning to long-term memory so that instruction could resume right where they left off before Break with the tutorial videos available for memory jogging and review.
This activity meets ISTE's standard of being a 'Knowledge Constructor' in which "Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions." (3c)
Monday, April 3, 2017
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.
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| 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
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Students Teaching Students
According to instructional technology Guru Alice Keeler, "The person doing the work is the person doing the learning." At the end of the day, are you tired or are your students? Yari Kemp, math teacher at Chisholm Trail Middle School, makes sure she sends her kids home each day exhausted from learning! As a math teacher, Mrs. Kemp works tirelessly to provide students opportunities to think deeply and reflect on their learning. Recently, students and teacher traded roles when students were asked to create “How-To” style tutorials teaching a classmate about Volume.
7th grade PreAP and 8th grade On-Level classes studied Volume for several weeks. At the conclusion of the unit, students were challenged with the task of utilizing a digital tool to create a tutorial for classmates still struggling with the topic. Students could choose from Canva, Google Draw, WeVideo, Adobe Spark, or Piktochart to complete the assignment. Since students were encouraged to select their own tool, this project allowed for limitless creativity, evident in the completed products. Take a look at a few examples below.
In this activity, students were empowered by the opportunity to be instructional leaders to their fellow classmates. According to the ISTE standards, 21st Century learners should “contribute to the learning of others.” In this powerful classroom example, Mrs. Kemp’s students learned a valuable lesson in communication, collaboration, and supporting others.
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