Anytime, Anywhere Learning .. with an iOS app

Podcast app by Apple

This one app can be a powerful anytime, anywhere learning tool for educators!

I began listening to Podcasts years ago. I started off with the Tech Chicks Tips podcast. I would always learn something new with every podcast. As I started to add other methods of personalized PD, podcasts fell off of my list, until recently!

I had heard about the BAM Radio Network on Twitter and participated (and lurked) in various Twitter chats, but never put the two together until I had to drive to Atlanta, GA .. by myself!

 

I sat in the Starbucks parking lot somewhere in Alabama and downloaded as many #edchat and #edtechchat podcasts as I could. For the rest of the drive I listened, I learned, and I talked to myself.

The #edtechchat and #edchat podcasts are not longer than 15 minutes and continue the conversation from the previous Twitter Chat.  During my drive, I listened to podcasts about parent involvement, Future Ready, and using Twitter as PD (or PL).

Podcasts have become a part of my personalized learning again.  I have recently added the #satchat podcast to my list. I can never seem to get up in time for that weekly chat!

So, where can you go to find these 15 minute jewels??  You can go to the BAM Radio Network's website or do a search on the Podcast app on your idevice.

Do you have a favorite podcast? Share with us!

Eva Harvell

Formative Assessment Resources - Socrative and Plickers

Teachers use formative assessment strategies through out the day to assess his/her class's understanding of the concept being discussed. You can find multiple articles, websites, presentations, etc on different formative assessment resources and strategies.

There are online tools out there for teachers to use, including KaHoot, NearPod, Socrative, The Answer Pad, and Plickers.  Even though each one can be used to assess students throughout a lesson, they each have a uniqueness about them.

Last week, we explored KaHoot and NearPod. You can find that post here. This week, we are going to dive into Socrative and Plickers.

www.plickers.com

Plickers is unlike the other formative assessments tools, because the students do not need a piece of technology to participate. They only need a piece of paper!

To start off, teachers go to the Plickers website, create a free account, and create classes. You only need the student's first and last name to create the student accounts. Once the classes are made, you can print off the cards. These are how the students will answer the multiple choice or true/false questions you ask through out the lesson.

The cards look like QR codes (but they aren't) with a number on each corner. This number matches each student in the class you set up. There is also an A, B, C, D on each side.  When a student wants to select an answer, they hold the card with the answer pointing upward. The teacher uses the app to capture the cards.  As you scan each card, you can see if the students answered correctly or not.  You can scan multiple cards at one time, so it is not as time consuming as it might sound. The Plickers app is an iPhone app, but you can download it onto your iPad too.

Plickers does have support materials available for teachers here. You can access my Plickers Quick Guide here.

www.socrative.com

Socrative is a formative assessment resource that could also be used for summative and even diagnostic. Teachers can create a free account on Socrative and start using the resource within minutes!

When the teacher account is created, you are assigned a "room number". This is the number the students will use to join the quizzes and activities you create. The students can join using any device with Internet access on the website or using the downloadable student app.  Teachers can create "on-the-fly" questions or prepare a quiz for future use.  The created quizzes can be teacher-led or student-led. This is where the summative and diagnostic connections come in.  Student-led quizzes allow the students to work at their own pace. Questions can be in various formats, including multiple choice, true/false, and short answer.  Reports can be accessed in multiple formats as well.

Socrative does have support materials available for teachers here. You can access my Socrative Quick Guide here.  

Do you use either one of these resources in your classroom? Share your thoughts with us!

Formative Assessment Resources - KaHoot and NearPod

Teachers use formative assessment strategies through out the day to assess his/her class's understanding of the concept being discussed. You can find multiple articles, websites, presentations, etc on different formative assessment resources and strategies.

There are online tools out there for teachers to use, including KaHoot, NearPod, Socrative, The Answer Pad, and Plickers.  Even though each one can be used to assess students throughout a lesson, they each have a uniqueness about them.

Today, I'm going to talk about two of those resources - KaHoot and NearPod.

www.getkahoot.com

KaHoot has taken the edtech world by storm!  Were you one of the participants in largest KaHoot game at FETC 2015?

KaHoot is one of those resources that pull you in from the get-go and I think it has something to do with the competitive nature in all of us.

KaHoot is a free resource that students can participate with on any web accessible device. Teachers can create multiple choice quizzes, two answer discussions, and two answer surveys.  The quizzes are most popular with students. Students earn points for answering correctly and the quickest.  After each question, the top 5 point earners is displayed along with a graph of how many people answered A, B, C, or D. The students love the points, but the teachers love the graph. You can see immediately if the class understands the question being asked or not.

After each KaHoot game, teachers can dive deeper into the reports, looking at how each student did on each question.  The reports can be downloaded or saved to your Google Drive account.

KaHoot does have support materials available for teachers here. You can also check out my blog post about KaHoot here. You can access my KaHoot Quick Guide here.

www.nearpod.com

NearPod is a resource I first saw in action a few years ago in a gifted classroom.  The teacher was reviewing information about their theme and wanted to make sure the students understood before they started their projects.  NearPod was the perfect resource!

NearPod is available for free and subscription.  NearPod is web-based, but you can also download their app on an iOS device and through Google Play.

Teachers created a lesson on NearPod using either content screens or activity screens.  On the free account, the content screens include a single slide, a video, or a slide show and the activity screens include open response, poll, quiz, or draw it.

To start the lesson, the students use the session code provided by the teacher.  Once in the session, the teacher can control which screen the students see.  When an activity screen appears, the teacher can see how each student responds. This information lets the teacher know if she/he can move forward or needs to reteach. After the session ends, the teacher can review the data further within the reports area of NearPod.

NearPod does have support materials available for teachers here. You can access my NearPod Quick Guide here.

What are your thoughts on Kahoot and NearPod? Do you use them in the classroom?  Tell us about your experience!

personalized learning - #edtechchat thoughts

#edtechchat happens every Monday night from 7-8CST on Twitter.  I thoroughly enjoy this hour! Sometimes I just lurk and sometimes I participate.  This last week I was an active participant.  The guest moderator was @bhwilkoff (Ben Wilkoff) and the topic was on personalized learning (PL) and how school districts can support PL.
Because of my job, I have had to rely on personalized learning to stay current and informed. I can't just go to what you would consider "normal" CEU course and get what I need. Joining #edtechchat, for example, is just one way I learn and grow in my profession.

So, the questions we discussed made all of us ponder personalized learning for ourselves and our teachers within the district.

So, lets go back to the questions:

Q1: What does personalized PD mean to you?
Q2: Is it up to the individual to personalize their own PD or should districts play a role? Why?
Q3: How are districts/schools currently helping to personalize pd?
Q4: What should districts/schools do to improve the way they personalize pd and how can teachers better advocate for change?
Q5: What types of tools work well (or could work well) to personalize pd?
Q6: What role should technology play to help districts (or individuals) personalize pd? When should we put the tech away? 



For me, personalized learning should be just that - personalized.  What I need in terms of educational growth will not be the same as the person next to me. This is one big reason why experts say one-size-fits-all PD just doesn't work. If all you offer is workshops on math, how will this help your music, PE, and ELA teachers? 

Some districts play a big role when is comes to offering PD or PL opportunities, but this shouldn't be the only way educators grow and learn.  There is so much out there!  Unfortunately, the first question asked is "Will I get CEUs for this??". This question makes me, personally, say UGH! CEUs should not be the reason why you want to attend something, the reason should be what new information you will get from the session. CEUs are my soapbox topic, but I won't jump on it today! I think this is one reason why teachers shy away from things not offered by a district or educational group. Twitter is a great example!  I learn more during a one hour Twitter Chat than I do in a one hour conference session sometimes. I don't earn CEUs for Twitter though! I don't earn them for reading edtech books, either but that doesn't stop me! I use Twitter and edtech books to grow in my profession!

Creating a PL session takes time to put together, I know, I am working on two right now! (one on digital tools and one on Twitter use - YAY!!) There are other ways to offer and provide PL for teachers.  A book study is a great idea!  Teachers are able to read a book of interest, on their own time, and talk with others about it through the reading process.  How great is this!  Schools do book studies often, but why not do district-wide book studies or better yet, find (or start) a book study via social media. Google Hangouts and Skype also provide great avenues for PL. Bring experts to you for an hour. There are several edtech minds I would love to question from Twitter, and GHO/Skype give me the opportunity to do just that! You can't get more personalized than that!

Is technology always the answer -- NOPE! Technology is there to enhance the PL. Think about edcamps -- These are a PERFECT way to talk and share ideas with other educators.

Last week's Twitter chat topic goes perfectly with the book I am currently reading - Leading Professional Learning: Tools to Connect and Empower Teachers by Thomas C. Murray and Jeff J. Zoul. You can also read the archive from last week's chat here.

So what do you do for PL?

Lets Make a Movie.... With Our Interactive Board?!

iMovie
Educreations
Explain Everything
Swivl
cell phone

These are just a few of the resources you can use to create an instructional video for your classroom.  There is one resource you probably have hanging in your classroom right now that you won't add to your list - the interactive board.

Promethean's ActivInspire and Mimio's Mimio Studio software have a recorder located in the tools/application feature.

This simple to use feature allows you to record your voice and what you are doing on the board and/or computer screen.  In fact, the videos in the "How-To Videos" section where made with Promethean's recorder and a Mac.  Which reminds me.. I need to make a few more of these!

So, when will the recorder feature come in handy?

- make an instructional video on a new topic for students and parents
- make a quick homework help video and post to your website/blog/social media
- make a step-by-step video for student/parent reference
- make a "here are the instructions..." video for students
- let students make a video to how mastery of a topic

You can find four different hand-outs here on how to create a video with either ActivInspire or Mimio Studio.

Eva

Informational Text Resources on the Web

In the Common Core State Standards, you see a discussion about introducing more informational text to students.  In the 4th grade, for example, you should see 50% literacy and 50% information.  The percentage of information increases in the higher grade levels.  Informational text can include science and social studies textbooks, but there is so much more out there teachers can use in the classroom.

These are just a few of the resources out there teachers of all grade levels (and subject areas) can use to increase the informational text in the classroom.

Read Works - www.readworks.org

Read Works is a free resource (account required) that provides teachers with a variety of reading passages. You can search the passages according to grade, lexile level, and skill. (Just to name a few.) The passages contain comprehension questions in multiple choice and open response format.

 

If you want more than a passage, you can explore Read Works' growing list of skill units and novel studies. The novel studies are paired with other text for integration of non-fiction and fiction.


NEWS ELA - www.newsela.com

NEWSELA allows teachers to discuss current events with their class and yet staying within the Lexile level range of the students.  For example, the article about Baghdad's music and ballet school can be printed in 650L, 900L, 1010L, 1040L, and max.  This allows the various reading levels to experience the information without feeling frustrated.

                                  

Like Read Works, NEWS ELA does require an account and the material is correlated to the CCSS.

News-O-Matic - press4kids.com

News-O-Matic is a daily newsletter you can have sent to your inbox. Each newsletter contains short, current events articles.  Each article comes with four comprehension questions and is correlated to one CCSS. You can also download News-O-Matic onto your iOS and Android device, but there is a fee.  The daily email digest is free.

TweenTribune - www.tweentribune.com

The Tween Tribune is part of the Smithsonian, and like NEWS ELA is a collect of current events articles students can read on or near their reading level. Tween Tribune is for grades 5-8.  Grades K-4 can access TT Junior and grades 9-12 can access Teen Tribune. Students can log into their respective site (after a teacher account is created and parent permission is given) to access assigned articles, make comments, and complete quizzes.

These are just a few of the resources out there for teachers who are in search of informational text.  What site is your go-to resource?  Share your favorites here!

The Importance of the Keyword

Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to work with a group of 4th graders start their research on various civil leaders. The students came to me with their questions and were ready to find the answers.

The first group was researching Abraham Lincoln, so I asked them what would be a good keyword to start off with, and they said (of course) Abraham Lincoln.

 

We looked at their first question, which was where/when was Abraham Lincoln born, and the students began to look around the screen for the answer. The keyword they selected wasn't good enough. So we brainstormed and the students decided to use Abraham Lincoln and the word born.

 

The students were amazed to see the information they needed just appear on the screen. We continued searching and exploring various keyword combinations.  The basic information was easy to locate, birthdate, birth place, and family. Things like personality traits and life obstacles were not so easy. Thankful this was not a one day lesson! 

One of my goals was for the students to gain a better understanding of just how important keywords can be when you are looking up information online. So why is this important? Without the right keywords, you may never find the information you need. Students need to learn how to take a large amounts of information and sort through it to find just what they need.  Had the students stuck with the first search "Abraham Lincoln", we would have had a too much information to sort through.

If your personal searching skills are lacking, don't worry there is a great collections of resources for you to use with your students (and yourself).

Google's Search Education

Google provides great resources to teachers to use in the classroom! Be sure to click on the Lesson Plans and Activities area. These lessons are great for all grade levels and can be taught over multiple sessions if needed.

Teaching Channel

Do a search for "research skills". You will find a variety of videos that show how teachers are facilitating activities with students on things like keyword selection and website selection.

Read*Write*Think
You can find some great lessons and activities within the International Reading Association's website Read*Write*Think. Be sure to search the learning objective "inquiry/research".

These are not the only three resources, but they are a great place to start!

Do you use a great resource on keyword searches? If so, share it with us!