Make the Most Out of Wordwall.

See the video below or click HERE for just the slides to see how you can leverage Wordwall. 

Do you have any favorite Wordwall activities that you have created or discovered? 

Add the link in the comments below to provide examples in different content areas for your #GoDutch colleagues! 

Padlet: Archive, Clear Posts, and Reuse

 Padlet is SMASD's go-to collaborative digital bulletin board.

Some of Padlet's inherently awesome features are: 

• immediate change of audience from teacher only to whole class or to 💡 multiple classes 💡
• ability to reply to posts, fostering dialogue
• differentiation with the variety of post types
• text, image, video, screencast, url, audio, draw (I see 👀 you math teachers!!) and more
• collaboration
• real-time interactions and feedback

Despite these features, some teachers have been put off by Padlet's limited number of free boards. (only 3)  Although what we often do not realize is that the board limit is only for active boards!  

In today's Tech Tuesday, I will show you how I  took an archived, not deleted, board from last year, cleared the posts, and reused it for this semester!

Pro Tips: 

• Ask students to SIGN IN WITH GOOGLE before posting.  This allows them to edit their post if they make a mistake or accidentally post too soon.  It also automagically puts their name on it!
• When reviewing student posts, use CTRL + F to search for a student name.  You will immediately know how many times he/she contributed to the board. 
• Want posts to be private for a high-stakes assessment? - Turn on moderation in the settings.

Tech or Treat

Today finds me hanging out in the flexible learning space in the SMAMS Library.

The event is a "Tech or Treat" PD opportunity, focused on differentiated learning.

There are three learning stations at "Tech or Treat":

• Google Forms
• For Mastery
• Students have to get all of the answers correct before submitting

• For Remediation & Challenges
• <Go to Section Based on Answer>
• Upon answering incorrectly, students can be directed to a worked example or tutorial, before attempting to answer again.
• Upon answering correctly, students can level up to a harder question

• Quizalize
• For Mastery
• Turn on the "Mastery Mode" so that missed multiple choice questions will be re-entered into the quiz again, and again until the student gets them right. 

• For Remediation & Challenges
• Based on the student's achievement, he/she will be sent to an appropriate follow-up quiz, activity, video, etc. 

• Differentiation Design 
• What are you going to differentiate in your lesson... 
• the content?
• the process?
• the product?
• How are you going to differentiate... 
• by student interest? 
• by skill level? 
• by learner profile? 
• Are you going to include...
• centers?
• flexible groupings?
• student choice?

Then...  will you find your groupings by a pretest or something else?   Will there be direct instruction at all?  What will that look like?   What happens after formative assessment results are taken? 
How will the summative assessment be conducted? 

A differentiated lesson plan has so many layers and potential combinations of strategies.   The MS is creating a Differentiation Design Team of teachers to pilot some design frameworks this year.

Are you interested in building a lesson plan this way for your department or grade level?  Reach out to me and we can work though this together!  jtamburlin@smasd.org 

In the meantime please stop by the MS Library for our second day of "Tech or Treat" tomorrow, Wednesday, October 30th.  Here are some pictures from what we have in store!  

Throwback Tuesday - Flippity for End of Year Review & Games

Need a review game?   How about a random name picker?  Certificates? A timeline project? 

Could you use an easy way to have students practice spelling words?  How about a way to mix and match ideas for creative writing prompts? 

There is so much you can do with Flippity & the only skill you need is the ability to type text into a spreadsheet.  This original post was brought to us back in November, and the web application just keeps getting better and better.

As Breakouts become more and more popular I would like to showcase Flippity's version. They call it a "Flippity Scavenger Hunt".

Try out the demo now by clicking HERE! 

No programming skills needed, just add your questions and answers to the Google Sheets Template.

No time???

Have your students make up games for year-end review then challenge teams to open as many locks as possible in a station rotation!

Brain frazzled from PSSAs & Keystones? 
Here is exactly what you need to post to Google Classroom.

Link to add to Classroom:

 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ubDVulJpW7B2NDDuHMA1CtBwRxGiehQQZzeJpExdcwQ/copy


Did you or one of your students make a game?   Post the link for us below to try!

Kickin' It with ClassKick

Classkick.com is a site that has been on my to-do list for quite some time.

It is a way to deliver asynchronous content to your students so they may guide themselves through something as simple as an exit ticket, to something as complicated as an entire slidedeck with embedded activities.

Students can write, draw, type, use manipulatives, add images and even.....

- Anotate a worksheet! 

- Record their thinking with an audio recorder!

The teacher dashboard shows you at a glance where each student is located in his/her work.

It even has a feature that allows the student to raise his/her hand letting you know he needs help!  The teacher can then go over and assist the student, or help him via a chat/feedback conversation that wouldn't draw attention to a student who is embarrassed to get help in front of his peers.

Despite all of these features I hesitated to introduce Classkick as it seemed as if it was a lot of work on the front end with lesson design. Until I found out that...

  You can upload multiple page PDFs!   

Finally, an answer for all of our TpT junkies :-)! 

As a sample, I have created a Classkick assignment that highlights many, but certainly not all of its features.

Join in as a student and see how you like it!

Go here to get started!  https://app.classkick.com/#/login/OK2Z7H

Teacher overview: 

- See where each student is working. 
- See results of auto-graded questions
- Easily grade finished slides. 
- See which students have their "hands raised"

You can even give stickers that award different point values and come with custom feedback!  

This is certainly an elementary example, but can be used for MS & HS just as well.   

I cannot wait to try it in Spanish class, especially with the easily embedded audio recordings for fluencies! 

Check out this video to see how I created the April Morning Work Classkick assignment! 

Or, view this video to see the awesome features of the teacher dashboard to view student progress in real time! 

Tired of Kahoot ? - Meet Gimkit!

Kahoot, Quizlet Live & Quizizz are all awesome formative assessment tools for our students.

Each of them coming with their own set of pros & cons.  We love options for team play as well as homework mode. However, sometimes typing in multiple choice responses can be a drag.

Gimkit is different.  It has the options of live mode and self paced.  You can play as a team or individually.  Questions are repeated, improving retention.  Multiple choice items are even automatically created from your term list.  But that is not all...

Gimkit adds one of the 4C's that I haven't seen a formative assessment game do yet, and that is
critical thinking.

As students answer questions and progress through the game, they earn money.

This money can then be spent in the "store" mid-game to help make their money work for them.




Examples:  

• Spend $50, and all future dollars will be multiplied by 1.5!
• Purchase insurance, essentially giving you a lower copay for missed answers. 
• Buy a bonus for correct answer "streaks"
• Increase the amount you earn per question. 

Multiple Choice or Fill in the Blank !

Did you know ???  

Gimkit was made by a HS student!?!?! 

 A HS Senior in Seattle,  Josh Feinsilber, started it as a school project and now is its own company! 

Don't forget to remind your students of this when playing!

Check out this demo!

Want to play???  

Click HERE > Enter your first name > Play!

Need help making your first Gimkit? Click HERE

Reward yourself!  
Get to the badging center and earn an Act 48 hour per entry. 
(Not to mention the coveted badge!)

*Gimkit is free when you create up to 5 games!  Pay $7.99 for one month or $4.99 for a subscription.  Remember this is a HS project gone start up.  I can think of a lot of sillier ways that I've spent $7.99!

Save Time - Create a Course Vocab Spreadsheet

Bonus Tech Tip... 


Create a Google Sheets workbook with key terms and/or questions for each unit.


Use this sheet to copy and paste your questions into formative assessment tools. 

Many tools accept a .csv file that can easily be downloaded from Google Sheets. 








Makes for easy editing as you change your course over time.

Quick uploading to websites as educational trends come and go! 

Want a template to get started? Click HERE

SeeSaw in Action

Last May we introduced you to SeeSaw-an online portfolio tool teachers and students can use to document learning. This week guest blogger Diane Bobik, first grade teacher at Fox Twp., gives us a glimpse into how she's been using SeeSaw in her classroom.

Welcome to the 21st Century….wait we’ve been here for 18 years!  This was important message that I learned at PETE&C this year in Hershey.   Are you still sending home paper newsletters, notes, and updates? I was guilty of keeping things the same even though times are changing.  There are so many digital tools out there to track behavior, send messages and newsletters to parents, practice skills after lessons, and gather electronic portfolios...but who has time for all of these apps? I know that I certainly don’t have the time or to be honest, the patience to learn all of these programs.

SeeSaw offers all of these tools in one simple app.  And the best part, it’s FREE! Setting up a class is easy.  There are templated letters to send home to parents so they can sign up.  Parents can keep one account for several children. This was a win for my class since I have siblings together this year.  Once you have your account ready, the kids can start using the app. So far, we have taken pictures of our vocabulary words and then recorded ourselves reading them.  We have recorded videos explaining how we solved our math problems. We have done videos of our oral reading of stories. I can also use the app to send newsletters, reminders, and behavior updates.  Parents are then able to respond directly to me, or send praise to their children on their posts. Parents and students cannot make their posts live until they are approved by me. This is especially helpful if you have a student who wants to put silly things onto our page.

Here are some examples of what we have done with this amazing app:

Students log in with a QR code.

Student is taking a picture of his vocabulary words.

Students are recording themselves reading their vocabulary words.

Thanks to Mrs. Bobik for showing us how this 21st century tool has impacted her classroom! If you have any questions about getting started or if you already use SeeSaw in your classroom, be sure to let us know and check out the Badging Center under "Other Badges" to get your badge and let others know you're ready to share your expertise!