How do we engage the students in the content of other students' presentations?

Photo manipulated from geralt.

This question has been on my mind ever since I sat in on Nate M.'s 9th grade English class. That afternoon he prepped his students for their upcoming in-class presentations focusing both on traditional Japanese haiku artists, as well as a few of the student's own original haiku.

To be completely clear, Nate's approach looked good. Students would demonstrate their knowledge of the subject matter, show artifacts of their own creations in the content area, and touch on the communication standards through the in-class presentations. To me, this is a solid incorporation of multiple strands that English/Language Arts Standards hopes to accomplish, and by putting the student in front of the class, Nate has the added benefit of being able to analyze and provide feedback on the skill and content areas right there in class.

The problem was this particular group of ninth grade boys. How do we keep these boys engaged in the content of the presentation? How can we help them to see the benefit of listening rather than tuning out, or worse, negatively influencing the presentation? Is it even possible to hope for such a thing, or is the better course of action to sit near these boys throughout the class period?

I am going to admit right now that I have yet to find the perfect answer for this question. Instead, I would like to help generate some ideas (which I am hoping some will do via commenting on this post) by presenting a few overall mechanisms that can be tinkered with to enhance the presentation experience. Keep in mind, also, that the ideas below are in addition to techniques that the presenter must learn, practice and execute, e.g. elocution, audience interaction, use of humor, etc.

1. Presentation Tool
   Changing the presentation tool to allow for more multimedia interaction and different ways of displaying information (check out http://www.tiki-toki.com/) has the potential through novelty to make the presentation more engaging.


2. Commenting/Backchanneling
   Students could backchannel during the presentation (https://todaysmeet.com/‎) to offer feedback, what they found most interesting, what they would like to know more about, what they will take away from the presentation. If the class used Google Presentation, you may consider allowing students to use the chat function during the presentation to express their thoughts. The same could be done with TweetDeck and Twitter.
   
   
   

   

   Rosaura Ochoa / Foter.com / CC BY

3. Presenter-created Polls/Quizzes
   You could require each presentation individual/group to create a mini-quiz using Google Forms or PollEverywhere to gauge the audience's grasp of key concepts. Both these tools I mention could be displayed as the audience answers questions, thereby adding engagement to the process.


4. Peer-reviewing/Critiquing
   A few students for each presentation could evaluate the presenter's presentation using the presentation rubric (works especially well if students have helped in creating the presentation's rubric). This task could rotate through the class with each presentation. Similarly, if you would like to avoid the critique aspect of this activity, instead have a rotating group of students take "class notes" for anyone who missed the presentations, or in the event of a teacher assessment pulled from the student presentations.

I am sure I have missed some ideas. Let me know your thoughts by commenting on this post. Thank you.

Using Blubbr to turn youtube videos into quizzes

This app has potential, although its features are not as great as they could be. First, an explanation. Blubbr allows you to take a youtube video and add multiple choice questions to twenty-second-or-less segments of the video. The question added videos are called Trivs. Only those parts of the video that you segment end up in the final product. Students earn points for answering the multiple choice questions correctly, although they only have twenty seconds to answer each question. Additionally, a buzzer sounds if the student gets the question wrong.

Click here to play the triv I created regarding the second Blogger tutorial.

It is a lengthy process to take a two-plus minute video and segment it down to twenty-second spurts. One option around this is to show the entire video then have picked out a few twenty-second or less of the most important segments to quiz the students.

Currently, there is no way to see how your students performed on the quiz unless you ask them. At the same time, adding these questions is less about "getting the students" and more about creating some interaction with the passiveness of the video, as well as helping the metacognitive workings of the student.

If are interested in how these might be able to work in your classroom, please contact me for a conference.

Keep up the good work,

MW

Sixth grade students share their thoughts on all things Google

Enjoy!

An automated system for tracking student progress using Google

Although not necessarily entirely involved in the conversations regarding homework at either Division meeting, I appreciate the focus and thoughtfulness put forth in thinking about the type, length, purpose, and outcomes of the work we want students to complete for class. To spoil the rest of my blog post, I am not going to go into great detail about what I think about homework, but I do wish to put in a word about the overall mechanisms for how we assess student success.

To me those mechanisms need to include process, product, and progress. The first two are common in most classrooms. The degree to which and how they are measured lend themselves to much debate, but it is the third, progress, that I will focus.

Progress is growth. At the beginning of the year I would explain to my eighth graders one overarching goal: to grow as writers. Little did they know that to do this requires insight and practice in six complex facets of writing that only become more complex the greater writing ability you gain, especially if you are like Julie Ball, and you earn your poetic license, which in math terms must equal something similar to an imagery number. I landed upon this singular concept when I was thinking about what I really wanted my students to take away from my class - a desire to learn beyond the classroom, a budding knowledge of what makes good writing, moments where they thought school might actually be okay - and how could I fit these into one or two course goals? Growth.

Keep in mind this is an eighth grade class; I did not need to remedy an AP exam or exposure to a certain number of concepts or any other end of the year force that prompted me to have covered a certain percentage of criteria. So, what I wanted was real growth. Growth where students would have a reliable expectation and a self-knowledge regarding what they knew about writing. Of course, even this is ideal because I have seen students in my tech office who still do not remember/recall many of the things I thought for sure they had taken away from the course. Additionally, with growth comes the necessity to measure and reflect on growth. First, how do I as the teacher know that the student is making progress? And second, how does the student know that he or she is making progress? In the past this used to require mounds of paper and binders, not to mention the time needed to categorize and sort notes then align them with the student work.

Enter technology. It is a beautiful thing when classroom processes can be automated, and what I am sharing with you today is something, that although in its current form is best suited for an English classroom, truly has remarkable capabilities. I present the Writer's Conference Tracking Form - a system that automates, categorizes and shares notes, tracks conference content, and tracks the number of student-teacher conferences you have had with each student. See below for a better break down. (I have also included a video for those who prefer the audio/visual method.)

Writer's Conference Tracking Form's Capabilities

1. As you conference with a student, you take notes in a pre-created form that tracks specific criteria you hope to track for your semester or year long course - think of the elements that you really want your students to walk away from your course knowing.
   
2. After you submit the form, the spreadsheet takes the notes from the conference and does several things:
   
1. It combines the notes and associates them with the student. Each successive conference's notes are mapped horizontally, attributed to that same student.
2. It logs the conference notes under the specific conference target area (year-long goals).
3. One of the selections in the form asks whether or not this conference should be a whole-class mini-lesson. A specific sheet tracks whether or not you have presented that particular topic to the class.
4. The last two sheets track how many conferences each student has had, as well as arranging those students who have not conferenced into a column for easy reference.
   
3. Finally, the google script associated with the form looks through your Google Drive to determine if you have a folder labeled "Writing Conference Notes." If it does exist, a Google Doc of the notes is placed in it, the student is added as an editor, and the Doc is removed from your My Drive so that it only exists in the folder, and if the folder does not exist, same process, but the script first creates the "Writing Conference Notes" folder. As an added reminder, a pdf of the Google Doc with the notes on it is emailed to the student.
   
4. Think about the possibilities - many teachers move around the room and guide students through skill-acquisition, inquiry, understanding concepts, etc. It used to be impossible to track that, but imagine with the ease of a bookmarked form, how you will now be able to track the conversations you have with students and have a record of the conversation for both them and you to look back on.

Here is the video:




I hope that you give this some thought because the possibilities really are significant, particularly if you do track progress. Additionally, I would be more than happy to help or guide you through the process of manipulating this system so that it fits your own classroom needs.

To access the template for this system so that you can copy it into your own Drive, go to Marshall School's Drive Template Gallery -- you can access it by clicking here -- search Writer's Conference -- the template for this system will appear. Once you have opened it, you can rename it whatever you would like and then being to modify it / add student names and emails.

Keep up the good work!

Matt

"The Pop In"

I have been able to talk with many of you, but I still have a long list of teachers that I want to get in touch with, and I am changing my approach to be able to cut out some of the hassle on your end.

My new approach is two-fold:

1. "The Pop In"

Although I would not consider myself a huge Seinfeld aficionado, I do remember many evenings watching the show with my mother, and this clip of apartment neighbors coincides perfectly with my new approach for better supporting you with technology and curriculum.

So with no further ado, "The Pop In."



At the beginning of the day I will do my best to email a few teachers whose classrooms I hope to stop by during class to observe for about 20-30 minutes. Afterward I will send an email with my thoughts and invite you to setup a conference if you would like. Keep in mind that I am not an administrator, and I am in no way going to judge what you are doing. Additionally, do not worry if you are not doing a bit of tech. I am also looking to get an understanding of what you are doing and how tech might make things easier, more efficient, and/or incorporating 21st Century skills and learning.

2. Appointment slots to schedule tech integration conferences with teachers

Speaking of scheduling an optional conference with me, I have created a google calendar with appointment slots. To setup a conference with me, click here to go to a calendar with available 30-minute time slots. To schedule a conference, write your name in one of the blank slots. By doing this, you will add the time slot to your and my calendar. (See the screenshots below to get a better idea of what I am talking about.)

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

See you soon!

Matt

Who's got the pacifier?

2:00 a.m. last night I was bent over our pack-n-play in the middle of attempting to lay my 11-month-old son to sleep. After having rocked him for a count of 150 past his last movement, I ever-so-slowly stood up, switched his head from arm to arm, and leaned over to gently lay him to rest. I hovered my hand on his back; I softly rocked him from side to side; and again, ever-so-slowly I lifted my hand off his back.

This is not the first time I have run into deep frustrations attempting "the switch." As a younger non-sleeper, he at least readily accepted his nook (pacifier). Now, it largely remains on my pinkie away from his protesting mouth while we rock. But tonight, predicting failure, I must have moved the nook to my mouth, and as I rocked him and tried to perform my best disappearing act, the inevitable occurred: I stood to creep away; he flinched and the gig was up.

I realized the picture was backwards. Obviously, the pacifier does more good in his mouth than mine, but also, I realized I am doing a whole lot of learning about awesome technology use in the classroom (thanks to those teachers I have met with and those who I stay to watch when called in for a little troubleshooting), but this picture is backwards, too. Why am I gaining more than other teachers from my observations and conferences with classroom teachers? The list is long for things I am excited to try when I get back in the classroom (next semester), but I need to do a better job of getting the ideas and creativity from the teachers I observe into the lenses of all teachers.

I came across an article titled "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" in which George Siemens (2005) argues for a new theory to represent the way today's generation of students best comes to know. Whereas various earlier theories approached learning as largely gained through experience, thinking, or internal, individual construction (behaviorism, pragmatism, constructivism), connectivism approaches learning as a social activity rooted in both experience and individual thinking, as well as the thinking and experiences of the group, and in addition, the digital tools that afford social learning within the group.

Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.

Back to my in-class observations, as I said, I am getting a lot of benefit, and humbly, I hope that my insights help further the work of the individual teacher, but at the same time, I know we all can be benefiting from the knowledge and creation occurring in classrooms to adjust to the new ways in which our students gain knowledge.

The first portrait I would like to offer up is of Anita's senior history class this week as they came to understand elements of the Whiskey Rebellion. The overall goal was for two teams to create newspapers for each side of the argument: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Extended Learning: Slideshow from Ms. Lau's Government Course, Los Angeles Unified School District

Federalists vs. Republicans

The students struggled through difficult articles on the rebellion for homework, but in class, when divided into teams, they eagerly approached putting together newspapers that reflected each side. What I love about the way Anita setup the argument lies in the freedom she creates within the structure. She gave the students an expected outcome, told how each member of the group needed to have a role in the final product, but also allowed the freedom of how and where the product would be created totally up to the students. This autonomy of both providing choice to students and creating structure so that each student knew he or she would be held accountable for his or her part in the final product reached even the students who have shown little interest in classroom activities.

Here are two of the end results after a single class period of work:

The Federalists




The Democratic-Republicans



I call this the many paths to the top of the mountain philosophy, and I think it is crucial to engaging students with technology. Within this framework, of course, there has to be a solid foundation of checkpoints, clear guidelines, and clear criteria in which you will be assessing the work, but ultimately, look at the amount of learning that is occurring. Students are no longer the passive sponges of knowledge; they get to get their hands dirty; they get to think about the constructs of our current society and evaluate whether or not they would have fit the values, expectations, practices, and culture of the former - who's to say that in private Jefferson wouldn't have used the word "stupid," particularly if he had a phone to text it. At the same time, look at the skills necessary for navigating not only the analysis of text, but then the potential for the evaluation of resources, critical thinking skills required to bring two text in contrast with one another. All of this cannot be done in a single class period, but with the use of technology, it allows the teacher to spend more time on the genesis and practice of these skills while the technology takes care of the output.

During class, Anita did not need to be at the front of the room, obviously. With the students engaged in the material, she was able to walk around and do what research proves is most effective, working one on one with students, assessing and giving feedback in the moment.

Huxley had already sat up in his pack-n-play by the time I had retreated the two steps to his side. After hoisting him (he is a big boy) I was back in the rocking chair, but cleverly, in his sleepy state, I snuck the nook into his mouth, thereby making the second transfer successful (...until he awoke forty minutes later).

Who has the pacifier? I don't want it to be just me, so I hope that there will be more who will join me in sharing classroom ideas, getting them out there, encouraging each other, motivating, connecting, and feeding off each other to explore new ways in which we can reach students, engage them, and ultimately leave them with something (nay, many things) memorable.

ViewPure: Viewing Youtube Videos Without the Worry of Inappropriate Content

I'll set the scene: it's five-minutes before the high school will be walking through the auditorium doors to view three video trailers. The stage is set, the projector is on, sound works - we're good - until Heather notices a lot of skin on one of the video suggestions that pops up at the end of the trailer -- no longer good.

Fortunately, I remember that Lori had tweeted or emailed something about viewing youtube videos without ads. I did a quick search and came up with ViewPure: this handy feature requires you to simply navigate to the ViewPure webpage, paste in your youtube url, and then it creates a new viewing site where you will no longer have to worry about comments, suggestions, and the annoying/most-likely-inappropriate-related-video-suggestions. Phew.

I have yet to find information on how long the ViewPure link works, but it was so nice to simply be able to plug the newly generated url into my browser and view the youtube video full screen, worry free. No on the spot, red-faced, made-up explanation needed when the students see something you wish they hadn't at the end of the video.

I suppose, in retrospect however, that  at least they were playing attention and observant.

Embed Classroom Google Calendar on Powerschool Student Grade Page

Although I am not a huge proponent of students checking their grades all the time, I do like the idea of getting important information to students in multiple ways. On this front, I did find a way to add a classroom or grade level homework calendar to students' Powerschool grade lookup - to clarify, when you add the homework calendar in your gradebook, each student will be able to see the homework calendar above his or her grades page when he or she clicks on your class in Powerschool.

For those who are not using an online calendar, google makes it straight forward to create a calendar and then add homework, quiz, test, and/or project event due dates. You can also set reminders.

The powerful features of google calendar are that students (and parents) can subscribe to your homework calendar, thereby making it available to them directly from their google calendar app. Further, students can set their own reminders, email and/or SMS.

Hope you enjoy.

Creating a fillable pdf

I must admit that since this summer when I started watching Nate's tutorials on Sophia, I have been trying to replicate how he was able to make fillable text fields in Adobe Reader. Today, after hearing a few questions about fillable forms, it finally struck me that he was using a pro version of Adobe Acrobat.

So, I turned to the all-knowing Google, and I came up with www.pdfescape.com. This is a free online fillable pdf creator.

In addition to Nate's great tutorial, which can be viewed here. I have added a video below specifically about how pdfescape can help you accomplish the outcomes Nate was able to accomplish.

Quickly Collect & Use Student Emails for Effective Document Sharing

Today's post is an overview on a few steps teachers can take to gather student emails using a Google Form, followed by creating a class contact list in gmail based upon the form's submissions. See the video for more of an explanation.

Doctopus (and Goobric) for document sharing, project management, & efficient assessment

Hello again,

Today I wanted to tackle a comprehensive script that allows for a lot of functionality in the classroom: Doctopus. Below is a picture of the doctopus workflow I discuss in the overview video.

Here are a few things the Doctopus script can do for teachers:

1. Efficiently share a single document template (or resource folder with multiple resources) with all students so that all students can either edit, comment, or view only the single document / resource folder. The document types doctopus can handle include drawings, presentations, docs, and spreadsheets.
2. Efficiently deny one user or all users access to the document/folder you shared with them.
3. Allow for quick commenting on all student documents and email those comments automatically to the students.
4. Efficiently share a single document template with the entire class where each student can edit his or her own document, but you maintain ownership of all documents.
5. Efficiently share multiple different document types (one per student) so that you can differentiate the type of work that each student or student group is doing. (See the video I created.)
6. Efficiently share multiple documents (one document template type / group) with multiple groups.
7. Attach a rubric to a doc using the goobric script (through doctopus.)

Overview Video

Doctopus in action




Applying Goobric to Doctopus for quick assessment



Additional resources:

Click Doctopus Script for more information on the script.

More information on the Goobric Script:

Connecting to Marshall's shared server (aka Marshalldata or U drive) without connecting to Students or Secure wifi

MAC instructions first, followed by PC instructions second

MAC Step 1

MAC Step 2

MAC Step 3

PC Step 1

PC Step 2

Using gClass Folders

The gClass Folders script is a great script associated with Google Forms to quickly and easily create View, Edit, and Dropbox folders for your students.

Click here to access the generic template I discussed in the video.

I have created this tutorial to help explain using gClass Folders. You can also click here for further information.




Thanks for your time!

Using Google Forms for assessment

In today's post I am going to explain how to save a little time using the Flubaroo script to autograde close-ended questions a teacher poses to students using Google Forms as the assessment tool.

If you would like to learn more about the Flubaroo script, click here.

PART I

This video explains how to create a quiz using Google Forms.





PART II

This video explains how to install the Flubaroo script.





PART III

This video explains how to use the installed Flubaroo script to autograde selected questions from your Google form.






PART IV

This is an advanced tutorial on how to add script to create an email menu so that you can email comments directly to each student. Note: this script does not send out an email to all students, only the student whose row is active at the time when you click on the email menu.


Below is the javascript code for adding a script to be able to email students information / assessment comments directly from the spreadsheet. I have added a picture below, as well, to help depict the elements of the code I am explaining hereafter.

Before I launch any further into how to use the code, we need to consider why this code might be useful to a teacher.  This code could be useful if ever a teacher has different items that need to be emailed to multiple students; instead of having to compose multiple different emails, the teacher could compose the text in the spreadsheet and email each individual student out of the spreadsheet. Second (and closer to our purposes for quiz assessment) a teacher may want to consider using the code if that teacher uses Google form quizzes to ask students to fill in short, text answers to questions. Pedagogically, we know that we are not necessarily getting the truest assessment picture of a student if we only ask multiple choice and true/false questions, so one may consider adding the occasional short answer question.

We see from the above videos that the Flubaroo script will automatically grade the multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and/or true/false type questions, but for questions where students have wider liberty in their response, the questions will most likely be ungraded.

This is where the email script can help. Create an answer column for each short answer question, then edit the script below to email each student the comment you have written in the corresponding answer cell. If, for example, I had two short answer questions I wanted to provide feedback for, I could add this code to the script below -- body += "\n\nText you want to appear in email" + sheet.getRange(row, getColIndexByName("Exact text of column you want emailed")).getValue(); -- (Note -- are not part of the script).

So there you have it, a shortcut for being able to provide short answer feedback via email.

If you have further questions, you may find me in the Tech Office or walking the halls. Thanks for your time,

Matt

function getColIndexByName(colName) {
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var numColumns = sheet.getLastColumn();
  var row = sheet.getRange(1, 1, 1, numColumns).getValues();
  for (i in row[0]) {
    var name = row[0][i];
    if (name == colName) {
      return parseInt(i) + 1;
    }
  }
  return -1;
}
function emailStatusUpdates() {
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var row = sheet.getActiveRange().getRowIndex();
  var userEmail = sheet.getRange(row, getColIndexByName("Username")).getValue();
  var subject = "Quiz Comments";
  var body = "Comments from your latest quiz \n\nComments: " + sheet.getRange(row, getColIndexByName("Comments")).getValue();
  body += "\n\nDescribe why the above color is your favorite.(Teacher Corrections): " + sheet.getRange(row, getColIndexByName("Assessment for question 2")).getValue();
  

  MailApp.sendEmail(userEmail, subject, body, {name:"Color Quiz Text Answer Results"});
}

function onOpen() {
  var subMenus = [{name:"Send Status Email", functionName: "emailStatusUpdates"}];
  SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().addMenu("Email Menu", subMenus);
}

Student printing to library printer (PC)

Students can print to the library student printer from either open access or the student network (different than before).

Step 1

Step 2

 Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Printing from a mac to the student printer in the library.

Below are directions for printing to the student printer in the library. Students can find these same directions in the Student Portal on the 1:1 Technology tab (see image below).

And, here are the directions:

 Dear Teachers,

I first wanted to congratulate you for making the opening of our 1:1 launch a success. As each day passes, I have appreciated being a part of the initial setups in many of your classrooms: ensuring student accounts are set, partnering on creating some of the foundational technological tools you will be using in your classroom, and interacting with students to help solve a variety of student computer issues. Each of these arises from your embracing student technological use in your classroom, and I am grateful that I have the opportunity to support your efforts in the 1:1 endeavor.

Second, in support of your classroom work, I also wanted to begin more concretely with my other primary role of working with you to help further your growth in the classroom technology domain. Before October conferences I hope to meet with each one of you to discuss plans, ideas, realities, and solutions for your classroom, as well as have an opportunity to connect with each of you to further the technology networking and collaboration among classrooms that is already taking place. I have created a form for you to schedule a technology conference with me. Please click here to go to live form to schedule conference.

Additionally, I will be maintaining a 1:1 blog through Blogger (http://marshalltechcoordinator.blogspot.com/), which I will embed in the faculty portal and which I will be able to share ideas, tutorials, and inspiration for those looking for an extra boost. I will also post links to this blog on my twitter page: @mattwhittaker_1. As we push for more opportunities for professional growth in teacher-friendly formats, I hope these posts will be yet another venue where we can share and discuss practices and philosophies related to technology, curriculum, and pedagogy. In the meantime, if there is something that I can help you with, help you design or talk through, be there as you set it up with students, etc. please let me know.

Great work, team, and keep it up.

Matt