Professional Network Community Involvement

Credit: Connected by Omran Jamal

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,” Henry Ford once said. Mr. Ford strikes on the idea of much we are better together than apart.  This describes the importance of being a connected educator.  Social media and online connections have made where no longer do teachers have to be an isolated individual in their classroom.  There are several resources, communities, and professional learning networks to become involved in to become a better educator and find a support system.  The resources and communities are so varied, there would be no way to list them all here.  The following are the ones I am involved in and I recommend for you to try them out.  If these resources do not serve you enough, there are plenty more to discover to find your niche.

Edutopia

Looking for a source of best practices, researched based resources, and a belief that education is an art form?  Edutopia is the community to join.  I have used Edutopia for years as a source of inspiration and support for my classroom.  I have read the blogs, watched the videos, and used the suggested activities to make my classroom engaging and efficient.  The resources have been great, but I am excited to start being an active participant of this community.  To start being actively involved in this community I plan on adding my insights and thoughts about blogs posted in the comments.  I have noticed that participants of Edutopia blog post comments are supportive and receptive of ideas and insights.  I also will start sharing resources in their multitude of community discussion topics.  Some of the topics I plan on participating in are 9-12 High School, Design Thinking, and Professional Development.  These three are the ones that I have great passion for and relevance to my current career.  I look forward to learning more from this community and giving just as much.

TCEA

Professional organizations are a resource of information, protection and professional growth.  If you are a teacher, administrator, or support staff that integrates or wants to integrate technology into their job, a professional organization to join is Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA).  This is a Texas specific professional organization, but there are many members that are not a resident Texan, or even from the United States.  The professional organization goal is support educators become digitally literate and increase their pedagogical practices.  TCEA supports this by providing professional development for members and nonmembers.  Free professional development includes Lunch and Learns and other webinars.  They also run trainings at the TCEA office and around Texas.  These include TCEA Tots (designed for elementary educators), System Administrators and Technical Support Conference, Chromebook Academy, Microsoft Innovative Educator Academy, and their annual convention and exposition.  TCEA community also includes a resource for members with a job board, mobile app recommendations, and distribution of free software to educators.  There is a discussion board as well.  Discussion boards that I frequent are the All Things Google, Free Stuff, Apple Educators and 1:1 iPad Schools.  There are many more, enough for anyone to find their niche.  If you do not live in Texas, I encourage you to find your state’s professional organization for education technology support.  Also if you would like global connections and resources check out International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  Either one will support a technology integrator as much as TCEA does for Texans.

Twitter

Twitter has become a game changer of all the professional networks that I am a part of.  Twitter is a constant stream of resources and inspiration.  If you are not familiar with Twitter, or the power of it in education, do a search of many of the hashtags (#) that are used in Twitter.  Search #edchat and find resources that deal with education, search #scichat find resources for science teachers, or search #edtech find resources for educational technology.  Twitter chats bring these searches to an active participation of the same topic.  By searching these hashtags at a specific time and day you can discuss, share and find resources on a specific topic.  Twitter chats I participate in are #scitlap (science Teach Like a Pirate) Wednesdays at 8 PM CST, #gafechat (Google Apps for Education Chat) Tuesdays at 8 PM CST, and the largest on #txeduchat (Texas Educators Chat) Sundays at 8 PM CST.  All these are sources of not only resources, but also inspiration of innovation and endurance.  Do search for these chats on Twitter at their designated times and you will find passionate and dedicated educators willing to share and discuss ideas and interests.  If those chats do not relate to your section of education, check out Cybraryman’s list of all educational Twitter chats.  Two suggestions when looking for people to follow on Twitter. First off, do not just follow people you fully agree with.  Find someone you can discuss the many sides of education practice, and discuss why they feel the way they do.  I have been able to learn more from these discussions than just always agreeing with what is shown on Twitter.  Secondly, find companies of products that is used in the classroom.  Tweet to them about your thoughts or ideas about the products.  Educational technology companies are very responsive to their users.  If you would ever like to connect with me, or see how I interact on Twitter, look for @patrickreid28.  I would love to connect with you.

Professional learning communities are a source of learning, but also support.  Social media, professional organizations, and resource banks all are an integral tool of a connected educator.  To be a relevant educator, you must be a connected educator.  These tools have helped me find my passion in educational technology and education about the child.  Find a community to join, gain resources and when you are ready jump in and you won't be disappointed.  Professional learning communities will change who you are as an educator and both you and your students will benefit.

Annotated Listing of Professional Learning Communities mentioned:

Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/

“We share evidence- and practitioner-based learning strategies that empower you to improve K-12 education.” - Edutopia

International Society for Technology in Education

http://www.iste.org/

“Because, ultimately, it's not about the technology at all. It's about changing the way learning and teaching takes place to make it more meaningful and impactful for educators and learners around the globe.” - ISTE

Contact: International Society for Technology in Education

1530 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 730

Arlington, VA 22209

USA

iste@iste.org

Texas Computer Education Association

http://www.tcea.org

“TCEA is dedicated to the improvement of teaching and learning through the use of computers and technology.” - TCEA

Contact: Texas Computer Education Association

3100 Alvin Devane Blvd

Building B

Austin, TX 78741

tceaoffice@tcea.org

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com

“Keeping you in the know. We believe the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact.” - Twitter

Interactive Formative Tools

Today’s classroom is filled with instant access to your student’s thinking.  Formative assessments are way to gain insight into the thinking, understanding, and desires of your students.  Correctly used formative assessments can help teachers adjust and create effective and engaging classrooms, where every student in the classroom has a voice and the lesson is geared for them as an individual.  With students having access to personal devices like iPads, smartphones, Android tablets, Chromebooks, laptops, etc., a teacher can quickly and easily tap into their student’s thinking by completing a formative assessment.  I have listed out some of my favorite formative assessment tools below.  Some I have used more than others, but all are worth checking out to see which fits your class best.  Not one tool will fit every situation, so feel adapt and adjust which one you use.  

Online Quizzing and Games

Socrative

Create a quiz with multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions.  These are then found in your dedicated classroom.  Quizzes can be student paced or teacher paced, where student quizzes can also provide immediate feedback or not.  There is also a “Space Race” game to have students to compete in a group.  A Quick Quiz option is also available if you have a question already made within a presentation, on the board, or given orally.  Finally, there is an Excel template to import quizzes made in a spreadsheet, or just find a quiz in the Socrative Garden community.  Socrative has been a staple in the edtech world for many years, and still one of my favorites.   

Kahoot

Kahoot came on to the scene with a bang, and quickly showed what including games into the classroom could do to the classroom culture and student engagement.  Build or find a Public quiz.  Start the quiz and student join in at kahoot.it.  Answer choices appear as color and shape options, and the question is projected on the classroom wall.  The simplicity, kitschy sounds and themes, and the leaderboards make this a favorite for most students.  Embed a YouTube video for the lobby that reviews the topic in a song is an added bonus for review.  I like to take my Kahoots a question at a time, and truly look at the results and give immediate redirective, constructive teaching based on misconceptions/misunderstandings that become very apparent.  Another way to use Kahoot in the classroom, is to allow the students to build the quizzes.  Then play them as a class. Kahoot is currently working on a mobile version of the quiz builder, stay tuned for more details.  

Quizizz

Like Kahoot, this site offers game based review of topics and leaderboards.  Unlike Kahoot the questions are on the student’s devices and student paced.  An added bonus of correct and incorrect memes makes this quiz game more enjoyable for some students.  They also recently come out with a homework option, where quizzes could be started and slated as homework.  So you could use this instead of worksheet home.  Students will then know there leader status as the class complete the homework.  

Quizalize

Yes, another interactive quiz game site.  This one stands out to me though in its focus on the data that is being received.  Quizalize does a great job of finding the weaknesses in your student’s understandings.  Also the leaderboard is really engaging with constant updating and action.  Finally a fun feature of Quizalize is the team competition addition.  The leaderboard is split into two columns and each team member’s addition to their team’s progress.  

Plickers

Have a limit on the number of devices your student’s have?  Try Plickers if all you have is your personal smartphone or One iPad Classroom.  Print out individual cards, ask a question, have the students hold up the card based on the correct answer, then scan the room with your device’s camera.  Each card has four answer choices depending on the direction of the card.  The app will see each of these answers, then collect and code the results.  Print out the cards and have students glue them into their notebooks for easy access and storage.  This is a great option if your hang up on using tech in the classroom is because you don’t have a lot of access.

Goformative

One of my favorite data collection tools is GoFormative.  Favorite because there is so much that you can do with this.  Take your standard practice problems, questions, and worksheets and make them interactive on the student’s device.  GoFormative allows for students to answer question by typing, selecting, inserting an image, or drawing their answer.  This opens up the type and subject matter of the questions to a whole new level.  

Google Forms

The hidden gem of the Google Apps Suite is Google Forms.  Create a simple form of text, multiple choice, checkboxes, scale, or grid style questions.  The results are collected into a Google Sheet for analysis and manipulation.  Try including videos or images into your assessment and reach different learner types.  Use a branching structure and the go-to page option to provide a unique experience to every user.  Extend the use of Google Forms by using Add-Ons like Form Ranger and Form Limiter, and extend the ability of your results, in sheets, by using Add-Ons like CopyDown or Autocrat.  The favorite though, among teachers, is Flubaroo.  With this Add-On, in Sheets, you set up a form, create the answer key, then Flubaroo will grade, calculate scores, and email the results auto-magically.  Check out the links for more examples and explanations.  

Interactive Presenations

Nearpod

This is more than just formative assessment tool, it could transform completely the way you give direct or indirect instruction to your students.  Upload your Powerpoint or use the Chrome Extension to “nearpodize” your Google Slides presentations. Then add built in multiple choice questions, free response questions, or draw responses.  Once your Nearpod lesson is published students login to a class, and follow along on their devices.  Student’s slides will progress with you, and will be able to answer the questions individually when embedded into the Nearpod.  If you want the students to go to a specific site, send them the link during the presentation, this is also a way to get them to a YouTube video if you are not a premium subscriber.  Results are viewable instantaneously, and can be shared out to the rest of the class to point out great examples.  

Classflow

Another site to change the entire way that you deliver content students is Classflow.  Originally built to extend and connect Promethean Board users to their students, Classflow now will allow connections even if you do not have the Promethean board software.  Either using classflow.com or the Classflow desktop applications, student login into a class.  Teachers deliver content on their projected computer, and when necessary they can send the image of the content to their students.  Also, you can instantly create poll questions to see the understanding of your class.  Questions may be multiple choice, free response, likert scale, true/false, “wordseed”, or creative/draw based.  I find the Classflow delivery and processing of lessons to be a little clunky and outdated.  But if you are looking for a way to get more students engage and use their devices in an interactive way this could be an option.

Gooru

An OER and localized place for learning, Gooru provides access to multimedia rich learning experience.   Teachers can create collections, based on state and national standards, from resources in the community or upload their own resources.  They are then able to assign these collections to students as a learning journey.  Teachers are able to track student progress and provide feedback when needed.  This is a “newer” site, as I have noticed they are planning on introducing TEKS soon, but the resources are ample.

SMS/Web Based Polls

Polleverywhere

Immediate understanding of the audience’s comprehension of the topic at hand is the benefit of polling, and Polleverywhere excels at this.  Create a multiple choice, free response, Q&A/Brainstorm or clickable image poll, then project the instructions to vote on a screen.  Students can use SMS or web browser to submit their choice.  The results are then tabulated and easily visualized as either a table, graph or word stream or cloud.  These results can also be integrated into your PowerPoint or Google Slides.  I liked using Poleverywhere before tests to see what final questions my students might have.  This allowed the questions to be field in an organized manner and give a voice to the quieter students.  

Mentimeter

Polling with Mentimeter is simple.  Type your question, set up the look, then send out to your audience.  Voting can be done via SMS or web browser.  What sticks out is Mentimeter’s matrix options.  Most are paid for option, but a the free Arthur D. Little matrix can help you see how aligned your classroom is with the objectives of the day.  Other options include the free text, scale, and multiple choice answers.  Finaly once results have been collected, these can be embedded onto your website.  This could be an option for getting class understanding of the day’s objective or direction of the next assignment.  

SMS Poll.net

Simple and efficient is the benefit of SMS Poll.net.  Like other poll sites, voting can be done via SMS or web browser.  The polls built here are much quicker to build and dynamic.  Also, unlike other sites, the number of votes allowed updates per month.  On the free version 300 votes are collected per month.  Results can be shown on PowerPoint, online, or embedded onto your website.  

Social Media

Social Media - Twitter, Pintrest, Google Plus

Your students are on social media, and they cannot live without social media.  So why not use social media in the classroom?  Since the advent of the “hashtag”(#) social media has become a search and specific interactivity.  Develop a hashtag, ask a question using that hashtag, have your students post on your selected social media type with the hashtag, then see the results.  Two words of caution on this.  1) Check out the hashtag on social media before claiming it.  It may lead to results that were not expected and 2) Set expectations for proper digital citizenship are established.  This may be something you would want to practice on a shared Google Doc, before trying on the interwebs.  To curate the search and results, try Twitter Curator on Google Docs as an Add-On.  The use of social media in your classroom can be a powerful tool.  If you can get your students to use this appropriately, you are meeting and engaging them where they are already engaged.  

YouTube Cards

Reading the Technocation blog, by Michael Fricano II, I found this gem.  Cards on YouTube video came out about year or two ago.  With cards YouTubers can direct their viewers to further information, interesting websites, or collect polls.  Michael shares how to use cards in your classroom.  By incorporating cards during a video, a specific spot, students can interact with the video by answer questions or being directed to different resources.  Here is an example of how this video might look like with cards.  Use this as a station in your class, or maybe as a flipped classroom assignment.  The best part about cards, unlike YouTube Annotations, is that cards are accessible by mobile devices.  

Like I said before, not one tool “will rule them all”.  Try them out, see which ones your student’s like the best.  Many times novelty can be your best friend.  Pull out a new tool every so often, and keep others for only certain occasions.  This will keep your students engage and actively participating.  No matter which one you use, the important part is what you do with the data you collect.

There are many, many more types of formative assessment tools.  These are just some of them.  Which are your favorites?  Which ones did I forget to mention?  

*All images are from the companies mentioned in the post.

Google's Other Side

Browser by JuralMin CCO

If you know me, read any of my blog posts, or follow me on Twitter you will recognize one pattern.  I talk about and share out a lot of Google resources.  There is even a joke that I will respond to “Hey, Google”.   Most people know about how Google Docs can be shared between students and teachers to increase communication and editing, or how to use Google Slides to facilitate collaborative group work.  If not, check the links above from Educator’s Technology Blog and Alice Keeler’ Teachers Tech.

What many people don’t know are the side projects Google has put together to bring the world to students and teachers.  Here is a list of some of my favorites, see which ones you enjoy the most.

Google Cultural Institute - Google has curated a resource for anyone looking to do research or just discover about culture and historical setting of events that have changed the world.  To bring this into your classroom, try having students create their own galleries or have this as a starting point for a socratic circle.  I love just going in here and exploring what I can find.

World Wonders Project - Find your way through the wonders of the world.  Examine historic photos or visit the pyramids of Giza.  Swim with the fish of the Great Barrier Reef.  Use this in your classroom to set the scene for a novel or find the significance of these sites historically.  

Art Project - Walk the halls of the most famous art museum, and don’t get yelled at for getting too close.  In fact, zoom in on Van Gough’s Starry Night and see his brush strokes.  Have your students create galleries to bring reading to real life, or use this to bring “Art in the Dark” to an interactive experience.  

Google Moon, Mars and Sky - Google Earth has been out for a while, so let’s take a trip that is out of this world.  In Google Earth, under the top toolbar, click on the planet symbol and choose your destination.  See NASA imagery, follow rover tracks and seek out landmarks.  Use this as an extension activity or brainstorming activity to get the creativity flowing in your classroom.

Google Maps Treks - Using Google Maps Street View technology, go on virtual field trips to exotic locations.  Follow the steps on Jane Goodall’s chimpanzee research or take a closer look at the Taj Mahal.  Use this in your classroom to gain a deeper insight and a first person perspective of world that is normally not reachable.

Google Trends - The Internet of things and big data is becoming commonplace in our society.  Use these ideas to help stir interests and discussion in your classes.  Use Google Search Terms to track interests and relate to current events.  You can search multiple terms, varying lengths of time and locations.  Bring up the discussion of correlation and causation.  So does education cause career growth?

There are so many other tools that Google has available, that I will share with you at a later time.  But for now, go do some exploration and see what you can find.  

#EdTech Helping with Differentiation

Years ago if a teacher had a student that needed extra help with reading, keeping organized, or might need to see the instructions in a different format it was a real struggle to open up all of these options.  Today though, technology is here here to help and alleviate a lot of this extra work, and bring the tools to students to help them achieve success.  

Google Forms and Google Slides - Go to page option

Google has always been about collaboration and creativity, so it is no wonder that they have ways to support student learning.  By using either the “Go to question based on answer choice” in Google Forms or hyperlinking slides in Google Slides, teachers can create lessons that the student guides their learning.  Google Slides can be linked within the presentation to make a “Choose Your Own Adventure” learning setup.  When a student comes to a slide that he/she needs more support on a help link could be available to take a student to another slide that can assist them with the content.  This assistance could be a reading passage highlighted, a video, a graphic, or any other number of options.  This concept is also done in YouTube based on annotations.  Here is an example of how that would look.  

https://youtu.be/Av52WOE1MjA

With a series of linked videos and annotations over the video, the students were able to cover a large topic, but in an engaging and differentiated way.  

With Google Forms, the same can be done but with the “Go to question based on answer choice” option on any question that is Multiple Choice, Choose from a List, or Checkboxes.  This is again a way to support student learning with graphics, video, and annotated reading selection.  Here is a video I made to explain how to do this.

https://youtu.be/Wdy8p5I8RKE

Student Choice - Allow students to show understanding in multiple ways

Just like giving small children the option between multiple vegetables to eat, giving students a choice will make more success in them wanting to show their learning.  

Wheel Decide is new tool I just stumbled upon.  This site allows you to create your own spin wheel for students to choose tools, topics, or questions.  It can be set up to eliminate choices once it is landed on, which would be useful when assigning topics.  It is also embeddable, to be able to put to you class site as a staple to encourage a starting off point when trying to start a writing assignment.  Here is an example of that.

Have students show learning by completing a Bingo card or Learning Menu.  Kasey Bell of shakeuplearning.com brought me to this option of differentiation.  Here is here post about Bingo Cards.  Basically, create a series of tasks that a student must complete to show understanding of the topic.  On the Bingo board the student must complete a BINGO to finalize the assignment.  When using a learning menu the student will choose from a series of tasks.  Each task is worth a certain amount of points.  The students can then complete the task, and gain the grade based on the task completed.  Here is an example of this.  

Separate Groups in your Learning Management System - distribute work based on student grouping

Most Learning Management System (eBackpack, Google Classroom, Schoology, etc.) gives teachers a way to set up different groups within an already setup group.  The assignments or notes can then be distributed to multiple different groups, but not singling out a specific group. Create these group based on previous limits like ESL, Dyslexia, etc. or by a previous or pre-assessment done in class.  This could be a way to do small group instructions all at one time.

Record and Share Classes - students access this content later for learning at own pace

Recording you lessons are good way to get your students additional support.  If a student learns at a different pace, or is absent that day in class can access these recordings later.  These students can then pause, rewind, and slow down the instruction for deeper learning.  A couple tools to try out with this are:

Google Hangouts on Air - Create a Google Hangout and link on your learning management system.  Then start the hangout during the lesson time.  This hangout will then be recorded and saved on YouTube.  Add this and any of the handouts to your website.

Doceri on iPad - Using the free app and Doceri desktop to record annotation and desktop.  This can then be uploaded and movie to a sharing site.  I would do this for every class, then upload to YouTube at the end of the period.  By the end of the day, the video, assignments and handouts were posted to the Google Classroom.

Swivl - Handy little robot will follow you around and record your class.  This can then be housed on the Swivl servers, or can be downloaded.  Don’t have money for the robot, many times they will be happy to let you try it out for free first!

Lexile Level of Reading - change the reading level of what you student is reading

Making the reading attainable by all students, allows for all students to access the learning.  A few examples of where to help you with this.

Lexile Analyzer - use this site to determine what the reading level is that you are assigning.  Knowing the lexile level helps know if the material is accessible.

Newsela - The site curates news articles, aligns them to learning standards, and even can set-up quizzes and assignments.  My English teachers shared this great resources with me, and it just amazing.  It will also take a reading level and adjusted as needed by the student’s reading level.

TLDR - Too Long Didn’t Read is a Chrome extension.  It doesn’t lower the reading level, but it does summarize and shorten the reading.  If you want your students to gain the content, and they refuse to read long passage this just might help.  

Learning Ally - Students with visual and reading difficulties will enjoy this app and website.  Text is available in audio format, and easily accessible.  As an added bonus, and Texas student with these disabilities can access Learning Ally for free.

Rewordify - Lower a reading level of any text or webpage with this web tool.  After pasting in the text or website, Rewordify will rewrite the article.  Article will then be highlighted and accessible with extra support built in.  Words are clickable for definitions, synonyms and audio components.  Also vocabulary list, quizzes, and other assessment tools can be accessed based on these sites.  Here is a short screencast about this site.

https://youtu.be/HAlvFwrkCcg

Differentiation is make content accessible to all students.  By using technology and address your student’s needs, all students can learn.  I hope some of these are useful to you.  Are there any that I did not mention that you favor?  Put them in the comments below.