Tonight is NYE and I completely teched out for the night. I just couldn't put my iPad down. No matter how many football games, kids screaming or dogs barking around, nothing could break my excitement. I found http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/ Thank you Alice Keeler...you rock!!
Keeler's blog was a one-stop-shop for removing my roadblocks. Most of my Google Classroom questions were answered. Those that weren't answered I learned alternative ways to get it done. For example I have way too much in the students' stream and I needed to clean it up. One thing that was cluttering it up was the daily objectives/do nows where I asked questions to start class discussions. The discussions were not as good as I would have liked and the posts had too much real estate in the stream. Starting after break I am now going to use a Google Sheet equipped with Scripts by Keeler to have class discussions. I will blog about set up and implantation over the next week or two.
I am also now looking for Playsheets. Playsheets is a term I learned tonight. Playsheets are interactive worksheets/activities that grade the work and offer students instant feedback. I once again miss teaching science. There are so many interactive games and Playsheets out there for the Sciences and Math, but I have not really found English Language Arts for Middle School students. However, I only spent a little time on Quia.com. I was able to find a quiz for The Giver. I may try this out with my 30 day free trial next week. I'll let you know how that goes too.
I wrote down my list for everything I wanted to get done during Media Monday, right when we return from break and I am now up to 5 things; start Class Discussions on Spreadsheets, set up writing journals on Google Classroom/Docs, ThinkMarks (continued assignment), PBS Storyboard learning lesson, join Quizlet classrooms (I just upgraded to teacher!). I know I should set the bar high, but I am also dealing with a tooth ache and no dentist until 4:30 on Monday. So, the next 3 days I need to widdle things down and make a schedule I will survive.
Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
PBS Storyboard
Today I was able to play around with the PBS Storyboard. I have to admit that when I first began to explore the PBS Learning Media I was really missing my science classes. This is my first year not teaching science. I am all ELA now.
I quickly searched for some content on adding detail to writing for our department's PLT lesson and I was a bit bummed at the lack of stuff I found. My frown quickly turned upside down when I found Lesson Builder and Storyboard. I only spent a brief moment on Lesson Builder just to see how it worked. I will definitely be revisiting it especially after working with the Storyboard feature.
Storyboard is just an awesome interactive multi-media poster where students can get their learning on! In the current 8th grade ELA Narrative Reading unit we are focusing on historical fiction with the book Nightjohn by Gary Paulson. I quickly created a Storyboard with a video of the Nightjohn movie trailer, links to PBS's amazing Slavery, The Making of America, other video clips from PBS, and a video I downloaded from YouTube. I have placed some basic captions and instruction so far, but I plan on adding more once I work out the whole plan.
Putting the board together was easy and fun. I love the concept, the ease of use, and I am excited that the students can obtain and retain the information on their own at their own pace. There are no lost papers or lack of resources. My students will be able to see the Storyboard if they are on iPads in the classroom, on PCs in the labs, or at home.
I will publish the Storyboard and blog more about the lessons that accompany it as well.
Please let me know if you have used Storyboard or any other questions or thoughts. Thank you!
Check it out:
Welcome
In my many Twitter quick research reads I learned that in order to really emerge into the education technology world I would need to narrow my focus and dive deep. I figured this was not possible because my brain is just not wired for a narrow focus. After a bunch of research, playing, and planning I think I have a good starting point...
I will be mainly focusing on using technology to allow for differentiated instruction. My goal is to have the students working and learning non-stop as individual learners while allowing for small group or one-on-one instruction. The students will continue to use iPads in the classroom and weekly use of PCs in the Media Center.
I will be blogging about setting up, classroom use, and ideas for improvement. One of my classes is co-taught with a special education teacher. I will compare and contrast the use of technology as a single taught and co-taught classroom.
I have been using Google Classroom and I plan on continuing to use Google products (Docs, Sheets, Drive, Slides...) for ease of classroom structure. I have also found PBS Learning Media. After winter break I will work with PBS LM to link historical facts to historical fiction. I will blog about the set up of My PBS Storyboard and Lessons with the Literary Reading Unit.
Please join me on this journey!
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