March Madness - EdTech & the 4Cs

After a long winter's nap, the TechSpot is back just in time for March Madness! 

SMAHS & SMAMS Teachers are invited to join in on the voting to see which application comes out on top. Click HERE to get started

Test Read-Alouds for ANY Student!

It's test day!  

            You have made your copies. 

            You have separated your desks. 

            You have fast-finisher activities ready to go.

But then.....

You forgot to schedule support staff to read your test to your population of students who need that scaffold! 

Never fear! Our 1:1 environment can help!

Technology can not only serve as a substitute but can also improve the read-aloud experience for students. Students can hear the directions and questions they need, as many times as they need them, all in your voice. 

Mrs. Deflippi recently had success using Classkick to assist with her Math 8 exam read alouds. With a Chromebook and a set of earbuds, any student was able to take advantage of the scaffold!

Not familiar with Classkick?  - Don't worry! There are many other options available.

Check out THIS VIDEO or the presentation below to see how you can have an audio recording ready to go for any of your upcoming tests or quizzes.

What options have you tried? Comment below to share out with your colleagues! 

Need help your first time around?  jtamburlin.youcanbook.me 

Middle School Teachers:  See get help with Tech Assisted Read Alouds during this year's Tech or Treat! See your "stall" news for details.

ABS Students? Classroom Android App to the Rescue

 I don't know about you, but when I am taking attendance in eSD I often see a splash or two (or 6) of red.

Not even the "Google Queen" has all of her items available for digital distribution.  

#paperhappens

Then, there is nothing worse than spending your entire prep making that one paper worksheet or note outline accessible for the one or two students who were unable to be in class.

1:1 Chromebooks have given us a quick life-saver solution to this problem through the use of the Google Classroom Android App.

On the taskbar of student Chromebooks, you will notice 2 similar icons for Google Classroom. 

SMASD Ts and Ss alike are most familiar with the Chrome web browser version of Classroom. Based on its ease of use, I still strongly recommend this version for daily teaching and learning. 

One benefit of the Android App is the ability to annotate a PDF assignment. This may be perfect for those now-and-again scenarios when you have one or two students absent. 

Annotation tools are also great for showing your work in math and as an accessibility option for students with special needs!

Check out the video (appropriate for teachers and students) to see how a student can use the pen, marker, and highlighter tools in the app to complete their notes or exercises when absent.

Want more information on what the Google Classroom Android App has to offer? Check out this blogpost by fellow Google Trainer Eric Curts. In this post, he covers in detail ways for teachers to use the Android App (on phones or Chromebooks) to: 

• markup student work with a digital pen
• quickly add videos and images from your phone to Classroom posts
• adjust your notification settings

Getting annotated PDF attachments of Docs or Slides when you want the students to edit the file directly?  Students are accidentally using the app instead of the browser. Look at this throwback post to see what I mean. 

Finding other ways to make the most of the Google Classroom Andriod App? Share below!

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! 

Flippity for Student Engagement

 Now that SMASD is beginning its 1:1 efforts, we need to rethink how we can leverage devices in the classroom. Before, we would not have thought to use technology for something short and sweet. Devices were difficult to come by, and you didn't want to hog them for a whole period for a 5-min activity.  Now, opportunities for quick bell ringers, formative checks for understanding and extension activities for fast finishers are available.

Let's take a look at how I leveraged Flippity Manipulatives this week as a bellringer for my 7th graders. 

Click HERE for the 📼 Video or HERE for just the slides. 

Link to my manipulatives from today ➡ Click HERE. 

Don't hesitate to reach out to brainstorm more ways you can make the most of the new 1:1 environment.

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.

I have a worksheet.... now what? Update 2020

 It is now one and a half years after our first "I have a worksheet... now what?" post.   

Back in May of 2019 we spoke of formatting Google Docs with textboxes for responses, using Google Forms as well as leveraging Add-Ons Such as Alice Keeler's Pull Table for digital worksheet completion.

Earlier that year we also looked into ClassKick  which provided a way for students to draw on top of PDFs and access a toolbar with text, scribble and audio recording features. 

Wizer.me made its debut to the TechSpot in 2017 creating a more interactive experience for the student, but with perhaps more upfront work for the teacher. 

Remote learning heightened our awareness and increased the need for taking our paper tasks and enabling their access digitally.  Previous mentioned methods became more popular, and Google Slides allowed us to create backgrounds with our activities and have students respond on top. 

But then, here last month TeacherMade came out with a web application that is exactly what teachers had been looking for.  A quick and easy way to upload a worksheet and have students write on top with little to no prep. 

Here in today's TechTuesday, instead of just introducing TeacherMade, I decided to take a paper worksheet that I had given my students this week as a pre-reading activity and put it to the test of 4 top digital worksheet tools. 

You can view the Google Slides presentation alone to see some screenshots of my results and/or follow along with me as I test each one in the Loom recording: 

Intro: 0:02   TeacherMade: 1:03   Google Slides: 7:00   ClassKick: 12:22  Google Forms: 16:58

Elementary teachers now have SeeSaw which enables them to push out a PDF for students to complete.  The above applications may have some features that could further enhance some of  your activities and certainly be assigned through your SeeSaw platform as well.   Is there anything that stands out to you? Let us know in the comments below! 

Have you been able to try any of these applications yet?

How did it go? 

Would you mind sharing a sample with us? 

As always I would love to hear how I can help you brainstorm new ways that technology can enhance and amplify what you do in the classroom! jtamburlin.youcanbook.me

Google Earth Projects

Last year the TechSpot posted about creating Map and Tour projects with Google.

The following applications were presented in the post:


Google My Maps - map with plotted points that offer media & text descriptions

Google Tour Builder - puts the separate points into a narrative sequence

Google Tour Creator - adds the VR feature to the project




Last week at the Pete&C conference, I was asked to talk about the above applications and offer 1 on 1 sessions for teachers as part of the Google Playground experience.

In preparing for the presentation I found that Google recently released a new version of the Google Tour Builder:

Google Earth Projects

Google Earth projects offer the best of Google Earth, while allowing the user to easily narrate a story, trip or adventure.

Google Earth projects, unlike Tour Builder, save to your Google Drive and allow for the collaboration inherently found in other Google Apps. Check out the intro video below to see how your students can start creating with Google Earth. Then, click HERE for a an online how-to guide.  Provide this link to your students who are creating their first project.

Not ready to have students start creating yet?  Want to see some examples? 

Check out Google Earth Voyager.  

There are many pre-made voyages that your class can explore and many come with pre-made classroom activities.

• Interactive quiz on Ancient Civilizations

• "This is home" tour traditional homes around the world

• How Wind Becomes Electricity - for elementary students

• Media4Math: Triangular Structures

Have an idea for your classroom?  

Contact me and we can get you and your students off and running with Google Earth! 

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 

He's Makin' a List & Checking It Twice....

Need to mark off who is naughty or nice?   Or perhaps all of your holiday break to-dos?

Here are three Google options for you!


Google Keep 

Google Sheets

Google Tasks

Don't forget to double check all of your blessings too!  Have a great holiday break everyone!

Wakelet - Resources Where & When You Need 'Em

If you are like me, more and more of your ideas for lessons and resources that you use in class are online.   At this point in the game it may be overwhelming to figure out a best practice for saving and storing all of those links.

• There is the bookmark bar at the top of your browser...

• Or, you can hyperlink resources in your UBD Curriculum map or a Chapter Resource Page for students...

• And of course, Pinterest has been a popular option for many of us, especially K-5 teachers!

Today I would like to offer you one more option for organizing your digital teaching resources.   It is this time of year that we are getting to that "To File" pile behind our desks, yet we still are accumulating more and more ideas that we want to try next year.

For this, I bring you Wakelet.  Wakelet is very much like a personal Pinterest account.

You curate collections of resources based on topics of your choice.  Some ideas of teacher collections could be:

• Unit Resources
• Tech Tools
• Project Ideas
• Strategies to Try in 2019-2020

Within each collection you can add any of the following:

• Links to Websites
• Images
• Text Descriptions (Notes to Self)
• YouTube Videos  
• PDFs
• Google Drive Files
• Tweets! 

With the Wakelet Google Chrome Extension, it is easy to add resources as you use/find them.

Not sure how to create your own account?  Follow me as I sign up for Wakelet and add the Chrome Extenstion in this video tutorial.

Wakelets can be shared between teachers and students alike.   Encourage students to curate a portfolio or a resource set to explain key concepts as an alternative assignment! 

That said, click HERE to access & make a copy of my Formative Assessment Tools Wakelet.

And be sure to share your Wakelets with your colleagues and students!  

Let's Talk Elementary Math!

I am always searching for ways that math teachers can effectively incorporate tech into their classrooms.  This year at Pete & C I, along with Mrs. Bauer & Mrs. Michuck were able to attend a session on Math in the Elementary Classroom. 

The session spoke a lot to the M.A.T.H. station rotation model with some really great variations on how to implement it in your classroom, while leveraging technology tools in some of the stations.

The Math Learning Center's Website & Mobile Apps offered a space for digital manipulatives for: 

- fractions
- money
- number rack
- number frames
- pattern shapes 
& more! 

Click HERE to open an interactive PDF. Then, click on the squares to be taken to each different web-app. 

I am picturing students app-smashing these tools with SeeSaw for annotating screenshots of their work as well as creating screencast videos where the student's explain their thinking.

Also these may serve as great impromptu teaching tools on your interactive whiteboard. 

Are you an elementary math teacher?  Have you used the Math Learning Center's Web-based Apps? 

How do you think these could be incorporated into your classroom?  Pros? Cons?  

Let us know in the comments below! 

......... Interested in the M.A.T.H. Station model with Tech Integration? Schedule a visit! 

.......   Didn't find what you were looking for?  Browse this large list of elementary math resources provided by the presenter. 

Resources for this blogpost were provided by Jennifer G. Southmayd

Instructional Technology Coordinator

West Chester Area School District

Doodle, Draw & Demonstrate Learning with Google Canvas

Google has released an easy-to-use whiteboard application called Google Canvas. 

You can find it here:  canvas.apps.chrome

• Doodles auto-save.
• Doodles can be exported and added to Google Classroom, Seesaw, etc. 
• You can easily doodle on top of an image, such as a diagram or a worksheet.

*To draw I was using the stylus end of a promotional pen.  

Worked great!

Rather kick it "old-school"?



How about Etch-a-Sketch online?   

You can find it here:  
https://web-a-skeb.firebaseapp.com/

*Warning  please do not shake your device!!!

Got an awesome doodle or sketch to share? 

Send it my way and I'll add it to the post!  jtamburlin@smasd.org 

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!

Making the Most of iPads in the Classroom

With the wealth of iPads available for use at the elementary level, I thought it would be a great time to highlight some of the apps that are currently installed. If you have a personal iPad, you may find these apps useful as well. There are quite a few installed apps for skill-based practice, but the apps I am going to focus on will, in many cases, help move students from consumers of information to producers or will help them apply what they've learned!

I tried to break the apps down by category, although some may actually fit into more than one. It would be great if we could have the apps sorted into folders on the iPads, but with the way the updates push out, that isn't currently possible :(

Robotics-Sphero EDU & Sphero Mini (for use with the Sphero Mini robots), LEGO Boost (for use with the LEGO Boost kit), WeDo 2.0 (for use with the LEGO WeDo 2.0 kits), Wonder, Xylo, Path, Go, Blockly (all for use with the Dash and Dot robots), Droid Inventor (Little Bits R2-D2 Droid Inventor kit)

*Note: the robots for use with these apps may not be available in all buildings, but if you'd like to borrow something, let me know!

Coding-Hopscotch, The Foos, Scratch Jr

Osmo-Pizza Co., Osmo Monster, Coding Duo, Osmo coding, Numbers, Masterpiece, Newton, Words, Tangram (see previous post about Osmo here!)

Google apps-Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Classroom, Hangouts, Google Earth

Formative assessment-Plickers, Flipgrid, Kahoot, Nearpod, Explain Everything

Digital portfolios-Seesaw, Class Dojo

Notetaking/Organizing ideas-Popplet Lite, Dragon Dictation, Notepad +

Create Videos-iMovie, Spark Video, TeleStory

A few others: ActivCast (mirror devices with the new ActivPanels), QR Reader (scan QR codes-great for puzzles, scavenger hunts and more!), EdPuzzle (assign video lessons-great for flipped learning)

Mark Anderson (@ictevangelist-click here to see a larger version) recently posted a great periodic table of useful iPad apps, especially for elementary use, sorted by category. You may recognize some of them from the above list. If you check out a new app and think it would be beneficial, let us know by dropping a comment below!

A Little Fun with Google Arts & Culture

You may have seen (or tried) the latest trend of finding the piece of artwork that looks most like your selfie. This is a fun use of the Google Arts & Culture app/website, but there is so much more you can do with Google Arts & Culture in the classroom!

1. Take a Virtual Field Trip-The "Explore" menu through Google Arts & Culture gives the user an opportunity to tour famous sites, landmarks, and museums using Street View (which teachers may be familiar with if they've ever used Google Maps or Google Earth). In a few short minutes, I was able to travel from the Great Pyramid of Giza to the Colosseum in Rome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. Teachers could use this feature to connect to ideas in subjects across the curriculum like locations in a novel, studies of foreign languages/countries, and landmarks from history.

2. Look Closely-When viewing works of art (which includes paintings, photos of historical events and people, and places), the user is able to zoom in on features down to the brush stroke. This could be a great way to compare and contrast artists' styles, to look for examples of symmetry, or to look at details of life in the 19th century. There are lots of options for use of this feature!

3. Explore History-The information in Google Arts & Culture seems to be endless-photos, artwork, historic people, places, and events, museums, and more. There is a search feature if the user knows exactly what he/she is looking for. Additionally, the home page includes a highlights section, which includes items like surprising facts, spotlight works, people born on the current day, and events that happened on the current day in history.

4. Find Your Painting Doppelgänger-I had to try out the trend of using the app to find a work of art that looks like me. My result came back at a 65% match, but I've seen some people post matches that could be twins! Scrolling down in the app gives the user the opportunity to upload a selfie. Google scans the image and searches its database for several matches. This could create some great discussion the the classroom, but it is probably more trouble than it's worth. If you have a minute and are checking out the app, try it just for fun! Note: The app is a little different than the website, and you're only able to use the "selfie" function through the app.

How could you use Google Arts and Culture in your classroom?

Tag, You're It!

This week's post comes from guest blogger, Jenn Ingram. Jenn is the 3rd grade teacher at BV Elementary and presented on her topic at our most recent in-service. She is currently using Class Tag in her classroom and has some great thoughts to share with you on this new communication tool for teachers. 

Tag, you're it!

With so many parents and students connected to their devices, it only makes sense for teacher communication to be transitioning into an online environment as well. ClassTag is an online platform designed for teachers to engage parents in their classroom community. Gone are the days of paper newsletters! ClassTag provides teachers with a social media outlet to share announcements and photos in a secured, online environment. With ClassTag, teachers are presented with a two-way, mobile friendly, transparent communication tool to send messages, seek volunteers, plan events, and track goals. 

Navigating ClassTag is as easy as navigating Facebook. To begin, visit classtag.com to set up your free classroom environment and enter your classroom roster. Each parent will be provided with their own unique code to enter your classroom community. If a child comes from a multiple-parent family, all caregivers can be easily added so that everyone is receiving identical communication. Parents then have the option of choosing to receive their ClassTag updates via email, text, or the ClassTag app. ClassTag also provides options on their website to print information for families without digital capabilities, and to translate your communication for ESL families. As you set up your classroom, ClassTag will provide you with automatic tutorials to walk you through the process on your class page.

Once connected, teachers post to a generic ClassTag 'wall,' just as they would in a Facebook environment. Events can be added to a classroom calendar, and automatic reminders will be sent as the activities approach. Photos can be uploaded directly from your phone, eliminating the hassle of uploading from a camera. Volunteer and to-do requests can be viewed and coordinated. Automated newsletters will be sent, summarizing the events of the week. One-on-one and group messaging options are available for easy contact between parents and teachers. Teachers with the app receive push notifications that immediately notify them that a parent has reached out with a question or concern without the need of checking their email. Parent teacher communication has never been quicker or easier! 

For more information on how to get started, check out the link below! Happy tagging!

http://help.classtag.com/23184-for-teachers/how-do-i-get-started