GooseChase Recap

Well played SMA Teachers!

You were given a challenge and you RAN with it.

- Great collaboration.
- Great leadership.
- Great community & culture.

Hopefully "the Chase" has gotten your wheels turning about how you can incorporate some scavenger hunts into student learning both in and out of your classrooms.

I know some of you already have your accounts up and missions locked and loaded for some great class activities!

Did you try it yet? Did you participate this past week?  

Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments below! 

And now the moment you've all been waiting for.....   THE AWARDS! 

I have put together a show of my personal favorites in most categories!  
Check them out below! 

Be sure to hit "pause" to view the awesome videos!

A tight race .. 

3rd place - SOUTH
2nd place - THE MIDDLE SCHOOL
1st place & the yummy cookies! - BV 

Thank you all again for playing and being the best, most inspiring co-workers!

Jen

Learning Beyond the Class with Goosechase!

Do you like adding gamification and competition into your classes?
Want to take demonstrations of learning outside your classroom walls?
How about getting your students to collaborate, connect and communicate in real time?

Try Goosechase!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present on GooseChase to instructional coaches in IU 8, 9 & 10.

The coaches, principals and mentors had a blast with this digital scavenger hunt.

Now it's your turn SMA!  

Which building will come out on top?

Start strategizing now!  

• Up to 5 teacher-leaders from each building should download the Goosechase App on their phones
• Search for "SMA Teacher Goosechase" (no acct. required)
• Find your building
• Your team password is your principal's last name
• Start completing missions!!!!  Get text, photo and video evidence about why your building is the best in SMASD! 
• The building with the most points by next Tuesday will get faculty room treats! 

Ready to learn more & use it in your classroom? 

My presentation website is HERE.  

Click through the top to find a presentation, ideas, how to & more. 

Click HERE for a direct link to the setup tutorial.

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! 

Not another poster... Throwback Post

One year ago we posted about alternatives to poster projects, such as interactive Google Slides, Info graphics & Fictitious Social Media profiles.

Mrs. Bothun's high school students ran with the idea this year in their "If the heart was an amusement park" assignment.  I was lucky enough to have visited and witnessed some really great interactive presentations.

Cardiovascular Candyland was one of my favorites.  It sent students through a tour of the heart with comprehension checks along the way.  If questions were answered correctly, the tour continued.  If incorrect the participant was redirected to review information and asked to repeat the question.

Other students took the same concepts and applied it as if the human heart was an "Escape Room". Yet again, another great example of a presentation where the audience had some say in how the presentation was led.  Something like this would be very cumbersome with a stereotypical, linear presentation that goes from slide 1 - 20.

Cick here for a video segment of Cardiovasular Candyland!

Mrs. Bothun's interactive presentations, as well as Mrs. Wensel's VR/360 Tours are both featured on the Tech Showcase.  Be sure to check it out and let us know if you have something for display!