BoomWriter - Be part of the "process"

One of my on-going themes this year as a teacher, is to give feedback "during the process" rather than at the end of an assignment.  Life is not one and done, and neither is learning.

Google Classroom & Google Doc comments provide a platform for a feedback conversation. I have also been utilizing video Feedback with FlipGrid and Screencastify, to get more in-depth and personal with my students' work when reviewing it.

In my continued pursuit of finding a variety of tools for feedback, I found BoomWriter.  Boom Writer comes off as elementary, but certainly can be used K-12.

Boom Writer offers several assignment options including collaborative writing/storytelling.   Today, I am going to focus on the Vocabulary Assignment.   With the vocabulary assignment you provide a writing prompt for your students, while creating a list of key terms or phrases that the students should consider including in their response.   Word count limits can be set, and a basic, or customized rubric can be attached.  

Teachers can view the writing as soon as the student begins and can suggest revisions in the feedback box. 




Hover over the hotspots below on a student sample I received.  Or, take a look at my screencast experience of using Boomwriter for the first time.




If you are interested in trying out Boomwriter with your class, let me know.  I can get you set up for success and be of support during the first time you try it!  Then, we can check out the other features such as anonymous voting & whole class story writing.

;lk ;lk 

Explain Yourself! Over, and Over Again

 Ever feel like you are wasting time explaining directions over and over again for students?

Today's Techspot may have a solution for you!

Solution #1: Screencasting 

This morning, I had a question from a student in our virtual academy on how to complete and submit a particular assignment.  After already hitting the point of frustration, the last thing this student would have wanted was an email with a narrative set of steps of what to do.  Faster than I could have typed it out, I used my Screencastify Chrome Extension to create a video that she could pause, rewatch or fast forward as needed with the automatically produced url.  The best part is now I have a video to share, if/when another student has a similar issue. See the Techspot's past blogpost on screencasting by clicking HERE. 

Solution #2: Interactive Image Tutorials

On Friday I assigned a multi-step assignment where students would be figuring out if it is cheaper to make empanadas at home, or to go out and buy them in a restaurant. I formatted the tasks, links and reflection questions into a table on a Google Doc.  Instructions were given in class, but as you can imagine many things get "lost in translation" here in room 409.  Instead of typing a narrative of directions to reference in Google Classroom, I recalled a post that I had saved from Alice Keeler, of Teacher Tech on creating Interactive Graphics with Genial.ly  In just a few minutes I had the interactive tutorial below linked to the assignment in Google Classroom. 

For teachers already familiar with Thinglink, you may want to create your interactive image there.  The only difference I can see is that you may have a limited number of "views" with the free plan of Thinglink.(e.g 1000)  Also, a paid account is required for students to create content.  Click HERE to the same interactive image on Thinglink.

Like Genial.ly? 

Genially offers a variety of projects that students can create as well!  They can embed interactive images and videos into their current presentations, or create stand alone interactive projects.  Send one of your students who is seeking something more to genial.ly to see what they come up with!

Schedule Send in Gmail

On Friday afternoon, I remembered I had a question for a colleague.  I was hesitant to compose the message, worried that it would be buried in their inbox on Monday morning.   However, I also wanted it off of my personal To-Do list as Monday morning was going to be busy enough.

Thanks to Gmail's "schedule send" feature, I was able to write the email and have it delivered at 8am on Monday to my co-worker.

Click the arrow next to Send to schedule your message!  

See a full set of instructions on support.google.com by clicking HERE.

Add Audio to Google Slides

Student-created Google Slides presentations at SMASD are becoming more and more powerful by the addition of graphs, images and videos.

We have also seen the power of hyperlinking objects to make slides interactive:

- 5th Grade History "Guess Who?" Postcards
- 6th Grade ELA Book Reports
- 7th and 8th Grade Math - Choose Your Own Adventure Stories
- HS Anatomy Heart Amusement Park Projects

Lately there also has been the power of recording narration via screencast videos. Now students can efficiently complete peer reviews without a week of classtime lost to individual presentations.

- 7th Grade Holocaust Survivor Projects
- 8th Grade <<Mi Familia>> Photo Album Presentations

Up until now, adding audio to our Google Slides was only available via this Screencast method.

The tool is wonderful, but has some limitations with editing and collaboration. For example, you have to record the entire presentation at once, and there is little room for editing.  Also it doesn't allow for a full class or small group collaboration on a slidedeck where each student can narrate his/her own slides.

But the wait is over... Google Slides > Insert > Audio is HERE!!!

I can't explain it better than fellow Google Trainer Eric Curts does in his blogpost at controlaltachieve.com. Feel free to share the post with your students or the tutorial below if they need specific instructions.

The key points to remember are:

- Record the audio for each slide and save it to Google Drive
- Allow sharing perimissions on the audio file
- Set the audio to automatically play when slide is opened, if desired
- Set slides to auto advance if desired

See the slidedeck that I've created to share with your students who would like to add audio.    Just add THIS LINK to Google Classroom with the project.  They can listen and follow the instructions!  No need for you to teach the tech.