Zaption... the power to engage through media!

Zaption... The power to engage through media!

What is Zaption?  Zaption is a powerful and easy to use tool that takes videos you want to show to your class and turns them into an engaging learning experience.  Imagine taking the best short videos available on the internet and easily turning them into powerful learning experiences for your students.  Zaption is an awesome combination of video sharing resource and interactive learning tool.  The best way to experience it is to use it.  Here is a brief video introduction to zaption, that happens to be built with Zaption:

Not Sold?
Here are a few of the key features you can add to any video:

• Host a discussion within the video you are watching with your class.  Imagine an important point in a video where students might debate a topic.  You can create a discussion board to allow students to debate in real time over the content in the video you are watching.
• Draw on the video.  If there is an important diagram within a video you want your students to analyze, you can set it up so the video pauses and students all have the opportunity to draw on the actual video screen.  As a teacher, you can compare answers and use the drawings as a launching point into a great discussion.
• Ask multiple choice or short answer questions at important points within the video.  Get instant results (and results you can analyze) to determine who needs your help.
• Assign videos as homework and instantly see student answers as they complete the work.  This is a great way to ensure students are engaging with material you want them to review at home.
• Trim down or combine videos from multiple sources.  This is a great way to customize the content from videos your students view.
• Utilize Zaption Tours related to the topics you teach that are already created!  You can even customize them to suit the needs of your class!  These tools are simply a search away.

Awesome.  How do I make one?

Here are a few tools that will allow you to get started.  you will be up and running in no time!

• Five tips to create an effective zaption tour
• Getting started with zaption
• Watch this great video tutorial:  

For support with this please contact your Innovative Learning Coaches!  We would love to help you and your department get rolling with this tool!  We think it could be great for your students!

Unleash your inner graphic designer. 

Better yet, let your students unleash theirs!

Check out Canva and Piktochart!

What are these tools?
These tools are wonderful (and free) tools that can be used to create digital media.  There is no doubt that students love creating.  As teachers, we love giving our students a chance to share their ideas in a new way.  These tools are easy to use and very powerful when it comes to allowing students to share their thoughts.  Students can use these tools to create infographics, quick visual representations of their learning, or any variety of images you might want them to make in class.  Check out these videos for more information:

Piktochart Guide

Canva Guide

Special Schoology Meeting

Schoology: Superpowers for your classroom!

Our special meeting this month is focused on schoology.  Schoology is going to be our learning management system.  IT... IS... POWERFUL.

The goal of this monthly meeting is simply to show the power that schoology has to transform your classroom. Due to the high demand of this topic, we will be offering two sessions for teachers to attend. 

I know many people are excited, curious, or even nervous about replacing edline with schoology.  Our district is finally in a position to allow for staff to begin investigating the AMAZING opportunities that come with this new learning management system.  The focus of our TDC meeting this month will be Schoology.  

This is not a part of the formal training all staff will receive, but is instead an opportunity to get a sneak peak at a learning platform that can MAKE YOUR LIFE WAY EASIER.  After using this for the past 6 months in my class I can honestly say that it is easier than edline, more powerful than edline, and the gradebook features will SAVE YOU HOURS OF WORK throughout the course of the year. 

If you want to come see this in an informal way, please add your name to this list so we have an idea of how many people to expect!  If you cannot make the meeting, but want to hear more about schoology, please add your name and a day of the week you could attend a meeting to the column on the far right and I will be in touch with you. 

Meeting time: Right After School

Meeting Date: 5/11 (Wednesday)

Secondary Date: 5/17 (Tuesday)

Meeting Location: MMS Library

Meeting Goal: Introduce an amazing learning tool!

Quizlet Live... Get your students to love vocabulary!

Quizlet Live... The most fun a person can have with vocabulary!  We mean that in a good way.

Quizlet Live is an incredible tool for your classroom.  It is great way to get students on their feet and moving around the classroom.  It also encourages teamwork and DEMANDS that all students get involved in the learning.  What is quizlet live? It is a fantastic and powerful tool for assessing student understanding.  It is designed to be used with vocabulary, but can be used in many more creative ways.  Watch this quick video to learn more!

If you want help starting a quizlet live game, please feel free to contact Dan Little or Lauren Richardson.  This is such a fun way to engage students and review concepts associated with your classroom.  The best thing about this game is there are so many concepts already available on quizlet you can use for learning.  Easy to implement... engaging for students.  Collaboration, engagement, quizlet live!

Flipboard: The best way to find resources for your class!

Flipboard: The best way to find resources for your class!

What is Flipboard?

It is a wonderful combination of social media and internet news feed.  It allows users to bring content related to a topic of interest into one place.  Users can search their interests and instantly create a magazine that relates to those interests!  For an example, click the link below.  It is a magazine I use to collect interesting Edtech articles.

View the Innovate and Educate Flipboard Magazine to see what is new in education!

Why should I use it?
It is THE BEST way to stay current on changes within educational technology.  Even if you do not use it for class, it is a virtual newspaper that customizes itself to your interest.  It runs on any internet connected device and feeds you the news at your fingertips.  Simply searching "edtech" gives you hundreds of articles from the web that you can flip through like you are reading a magazine.  It can also provide you with articles that relate to whatever it is you teach.

Could I use it in my class?
ABSOLUTELY!  Imagine searching a topic you are studying and bringing every current event or news story related to that topic into one place.  Then imagine if you could select your favorite articles and make them available to your students as a resource.  Well, you can do that with flipboard.  I encourage you to create a FREE account and start using flipboard to explore the internet.  You should also try the app on your phone or tablet.  It makes for amazing reading when you have a few minutes to kill on your phone.

How to catch a "gamer"

As 7th grade teachers are aware, improper use of cell phones is no longer a major issue in our classrooms.  The misuse of Chromebooks has taken the top spot in many classrooms as the distraction of choice.  Recently, I caught a trio of students, who all happened to have seats toward the back of the room, playing games on their devices while we were in the middle of a non-tech whole group activity.  My first clue about their improper behavior was certainly the fact that they had their Chromebooks open at all.  My second clue was that they seemed to be looking at each other's screens and whispering to each other.  Knowing that they would quickly shut their Chromebooks if I even thought about walking toward them, I decided to go with a more innovative approach.  

I simply asked them to bring their Chromebooks to the front of the class.  I know just how quick and clever these students can be, so I suspected that when they handed me their devices, they would all be on a wonderfully educational Spanish-related website or activity.  Guess what?  I was absolutely right!  They confidently walked back to their desks thinking they had pulled one over on this middle-aged middle school teacher.  

Imagine their shock when I quickly pressed CTRL-SHIFT-T on each of their devices revealing their last closed tab.  Madden Football.  Madden Football.  Madden Football.  BINGO!  There were oohs and aahs from the class as it dawned on all of them (even the well-behaved ones) that there truly is no place to hide when it comes to technology.  

While I don't particularly like catching students doing things they aren't supposed to be doing, I think it is a valuable lesson when we remind them that in spite of the freedom that having these devices gives them each day, it still comes down to good choices and bad choices.  And while it may be even more challenging this year to stay one step ahead of them, we do it because we care about their learning.  Put this one in your repertoire and use it as needed.  CTRL-SHIFT-T

Holding the Formatting of Google Form Submissions

Problem:  Google sheets does not stay formatted when new responses come in!!! It is super annoying.  There is a pretty easy work around.  Check out the video to see how you can trick sheets into holding the formatting of your responses.

January Meeting: Backchannel Chat and Today's Meet

January Meeting

Backchannel Chat/ TodaysMeet

When: Wednesday 1/13/15  (From 2:30 to 3:30)
Where: Room 018 @ Mason Middle School
What: We will be looking at "Backchannel Chat" and "TodaysMeet"

Meeting Summary:
Technology gives us the chance to connect our students in ways that we have never been able to before.  With the right tools, we can instantly share materials with students and students can instantly share resources with each other.  We can take a pulse of the class in seconds and we can adjust our instruction as needed. The two tools we will be discussing in our January meeting will both give teachers and students a new way to communicate in the classroom.

Backchannel Chat: This tool is a chat room that can run in class any time the teacher wants students to share ideas or resources.  It is also much more.  Once students are in the chat, the teacher can send out quick polls to gauge understanding.  The teacher can easily send videos, links to documents, images, or any other media that needs to be shared.  With permission from the teacher, students can post and share information.  It works seamlessly and provides students with the opportunity to engage with their classmates in a new way.  Groups share with other groups, students can share with other students, and it is all done in a safe moderated environment.  The chat can even automatically shut down when the teacher leaves.  Check it out by clicking the link below!

BackChannel Chat about Backchannel Chats!

Today's Meet is another useful tool for quick and easy backchannel conversations in the classroom.  It is very limited in terms of features, but can be set up quickly (in about a minute) and used any time you need a quick way for kids to communicate on the computers. Check it out at Todaysmeet.com.

Running Records of Research Period Goals Using DocAppender

This post is pretty wordy...if you are a visual learner or would like help on doing this just ask me!

I have truly loved using Google Forms and the Google Classroom platform to manage my research period class this year.  It has saved me many a headache in following my students' progress toward their goals, collecting evidence from them, and helping them reflect on their progress.  In first semester, I used a simple Google Form (that I adapted from my awesome Google Coach, Kyle Hamilton) to have them record their goals, and then I checked in with them using the Response Sheet that was created.  I added a column to that Google Sheet where I added manually notes on the evidence they showed me each week.  In my class to get a V+ (check plus--I cannot for the life of me figure out how to type that well in a regular doc or spreadsheet) they have to complete the survey and show evidence of working toward or meeting their weekly goal.

You can check out the form here:

https://docs.google.com/a/masonohioschools.com/forms/d/1pRMEh6iwxSLWI32AXl3XKt4jnQaMGBntRur1rn_YZ6Y/viewform?usp=send_form

The problem with that process (it was minor) is that kids often "forgot" their  goal or plan even in the same week that it applied to--let alone from weeks that were in the past.  I had to find a way to give them a hard copy of the response that was automatic and not reliant upon them picking "send me a copy of my responses" to get an email.  ENTER DocAppender...something I had used before but for different reasons.

Notice now that the second question has students select a "Running Record" of their weekly goals.  This is where my new favorite add-on to Forms comes in--docAppender.  I seriously love this add on and have many ways to use it if you want more info (peer reviews, class review games, brainstorming lists done electronically, etc.).

I created the following blank template document (see link below) that I then assigned on Google Classroom choosing the option "make a copy for each student".  That creates a separate doc labeled for each kid in a distinct folder in the Classroom part of your drive.  In order for this to work for you, once you make this and "assign" it on GC, just have kids open and shut the document...they have to do this for their "copy" to show up to you in your drive.

https://docs.google.com/a/masonohioschools.com/document/d/1cRuK1PJukm8q-9it1pl9mlx-SZjVLVGtRx1rkUOSLdQ/edit?usp=sharing

Now, in Google Forms, you open the sidebar for the Add-on called docAppender.  The short explanation of this add-on is that it allows Forms submissions (or several questions on a Form if not the whole form) to be directly imported into target Google Docs.

For this to work you have to make a multiple choice question (and then don't create any "answers").  Notice mine is "Select your Running Record from the list below."

Then run Doc Appender and pick the folder where your Google Classroom Running Record Assignment is located (it is automatically created in the folder for that Google Classroom Class period) to be the target folder for docAppender.

Then select the question you would like to use as the "Doc Picker" question.  This should be the "Select your Running Record from the list below." question.  Hit "save and populate the selected question.  Then magic occurs and your student Docs--all nicely labeled will appear.

Then go through the items on your Google Form and put checkmarks next to the items you would like to show up in the Google Doc.  Then pick "rows in a single horizontal table" as the format and hit save.

Now, every time your students submit the form their responses will import directly within a few moments into their document.  This way they can review their old goals when they cannot do this by just completing the form.

So far I really like the workflow!

I Need a Digital Turn-in Bin!!!

Using Google Forms to Collect Digital Assignments

I need a Digital Turn in Bin!

As we utilize technology more and more in the classroom we can sometimes find our inboxes being slammed with student work that we don't really want in our inboxes.  Students using google docs often "share assignments" directly with their teacher and they move on with their day. Meanwhile, teachers find themselves receiving digital work in ways that can seem difficult to manage.  It is for this reason that I am suggesting the creation of a digital turn in bin!

How to make it happen:

The first step in creating a digital turn in location for your students is to create a simple google form.  The form should match the layout of the image on the right.  It is useful to collect period, name, and assignment name (for your own) sorting purposes.

The second step is teaching your students how to share a link to their work.  See the directions I gave my students to understand how kids could submit the assignments: Link for explanation

Please let me know if you have any questions about how this works as a turn in tool.  It makes grading very easy because all the student work is already in a spreadsheet just waiting for you to add a column for grades.

Let me know if you want help making this happen in your classroom!