Digital learning problems - G is for Group Work

Good morning, colleagues! A year ago I posted a popular column titled "The A-Z problems of digital learning." One thing that I thought would be effective this year is to break down solutions for each of these issues. This week, I'm going to talk about "G": group work.

Group work can be a challenge when students are working digitally. You have to ensure that your students are working equally in groups, your students are actively participating, you are meeting the needs of all of your students, students are compromising and agreeing, and all students are meeting your lesson objectives.

What can you do to make sure this happens in your digital classroom?

1. Use Apple Classroom (or a corresponding application) to watch your students on their devices. Our building utilizes iPads through school carts and 1:1 classrooms. Apple Classroom has been a game changer the last two years. We connect our students to our "classrooms" using Bluetooth, and then we can see their screens. We can also force them in specific apps (if they go elsewhere) or we can lock them out of their iPads (if they need a break). Apple Classroom helps ensure that students are actively participating in class. I can walk around my room with Apple Classroom on my iPad while observing how students are collaborating. I can also see digitally what they're doing as well. It gives me four eyes to their work instead of just two.

2. Assign tasks/jobs for all of your students. Ensure the work is equitable over the various multiple intelligences. Many teachers who use collaborative work in their classrooms routinely assign students specific tasks. This should also be done with students working digitally, especially if they all have 1:1 devices. Depending on the assignment, have one student be a researcher. That is the only student who is searching the web. One student might be the citation maker in that they have to find the information on the website to be cited. A third student might be a note taker. That student writes down notes into a shared document in their own words (as the researcher talks to the group). And the last student can be the formatter. Their job is to take the notes and write them out into a paragraph or essay. These are four examples that work for a Language Arts or Social Studies classroom, but as long as every student has something to keep them busy, talking, thinking, and working, it's powerful. As a side note, I have found it effective in my broadcasting class to spell out what each job actually does on a rubric, and I have my students rate each other (using a Google Form) on how each kid did at their job. I do give group grades on a project, but individual grades on how their work. Usually I use the same total score for both group and individual grades.

3. Use collaborative friendly apps such as... 

• Google Docs: I like using Google Docs with my students because a) the Doc is collaborative, so all students are working on the same document. b) I can obtain the revision history and see who accessed the doc, when they worked, and what they completed on the assignment. c) I assign students in groups a color, so when they work on a task together, I can visually see who typed what. Students will rat each other out if someone changes the text color to "show" work that isn't theirs.
• GooseChase EDU: Do you need your students to have a fun, silly day? Do you want your students to learn important group work skills while doing a scavenger hunt? Check out GooseChase. It's an awesome, collaborative tool to use with your kids! 
• Padlet: I think Padlet is a great tool to use as a whole class, but it can be used quite effectively in small groups. Set up a digital "corkboard" for each group to use. Give them one class period to put resources on their board (notes, videos, pictures, resources, etc). The next day, the only information they can use is on the board. This forces students to divide and conquer on day one to get everything they need. They have to communicate and collaborate to be successful. It's amazing what happens when students work on a deadline!
• Explain Everything: Though EE is not a true collaborative tool (like G Suite apps), students can still work together on one device. One student can draw or type while another student talks. Students can work together to build the script ahead of time. Having students work on one device forces them to build a presentation together. Combined with assigned tasks, one student cannot complete the whole project (especially if the devices are not 1:1 or if the assignment is due at the end of one class period). 

What all of this boils down to is that you have to build a community in your classroom in order for group work to happen. Students need to trust each other and you (plus you have to trust your students). When the community is real, management issues are quite minimal. You can then address what you need to on a 1:1 basis because other issues are addressed among the students. This does not matter in a digital or tech-free classroom!

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Digital learning problems - F is for Feedback

Good morning, colleagues! A year ago I posted a popular column titled "The A-Z problems of digital learning." One thing that I thought would be effective this year is to break down solutions for each of these issues. This week, I'm going to talk about "F": Feedback.

With everything else going on, it can be tough to provide timely feedback. But you need to ask yourself this question, what is a better use of your time... discussing feedback with your students in class (either in person or digitally) or handing back an assignment with feedback that they'll never look at? There are some great ways to provide timely feedback that require a little bit of upfront work from you, but it saves you so much time later!

Google Forms + Autocrat: My absolute favorite way to provide feedback for students is through Google Forms and the Google Sheets extension Autocrat. I use this with my students every week as they watch the broadcast. I design a feedback form in Google Forms (the skeleton is there, but not all of the details) which I then make a copy for each week (and update it as necessary with further information for the week). As students watch the broadcast, they fill out the feedback form. I also designed a handout that will get sent back to the students. The handout is designed to collect the information that I want students to see. I run Autocrat after students have finished, and their answers populate where the <<question>> marks are located. Once the document is created, I link the report to the students' hyperdoc for the week. You can also share the document directly from Autocrat. It's SLICK once you figure out the intricacies.

Google Forms, Schoology Quizzes, Socrative: These three programs are perfect for multiple choice quizzes, short answer responses, polls, and discussions. You can add in your m.c. and t/f answers so that these programs auto-grade for you. You can also add feedback if students get a response wrong. The Schoology discussions are helpful because you can reply back to the students, or have the students respond to each other. You can also hide the answers from the students so they can see which questions they got wrong, but need to spend time finding the right solution. Let the technology take the bulk of the work from you!

Screencastify: Screencastify is a free screencasting tool that I've raved about for quite some time. I use it to create video directions for students or how-to videos. But I've also used it to provide feedback for students. It can be a challenge to have a 1:1 conversation with students, so I found it sufficient to have my 1:1 conversation digitally. Students could watch my video as many times as they needed to make the changes necessary on a rough draft, project, or presentation.

ShowMe: I never used ShowMe with my Social Studies classes, but it seems like something great to use with your students. It allows you to write over your students’ work while recording your voice. I also read that even if they gave you a hard copy of their work, you can still take a photo of it and then add your comments. It's another way for students to have the opportunity to watch the video as many times as they needed to make changes. You could also do this with Explain Everything if you have iPads.

Google Docs: When students had a day where they spent the entire class writing, I found it useful to Airplay one student's work and "make suggestions" on their work. For the student whose assignment I was editing, they got feedback from me. The other students saw what I was correcting (writing out numbers under 100, adding citations, remove contractions, etc.) and made those changes to their own assignments. And I only had to open one document, not thirty! Catlin Tucker takes this a step further on her blog. She talks a lot about station rotations with helpful tips and tricks to use technology to provide great instant feedback for students!

Wordle (or any word cloud app): I never actually did this with my students, but saw this idea out there elsewhere. As you read through an assignment, type in the Wordle box all of the "issues" of "fixes" you want the students to see. By the end, you'll have a feedback word cloud for the student for their assignment. You don't even have to markup the activity - have the student check their document with the word cloud in their hand.

As always, I hope I provided you with some helpful ideas regarding feedback. The most instant the information, the more useful it is for students. Isn't that what we're always trying to do? Make our students better?

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Digital learning problems - E is for Engagement

Good morning, colleagues! I apologize that I didn't post this blog last weekend. We had PTC Thursday night and Friday, and then I just thoroughly enjoyed my three-day weekend. This weekend, however, I am back to business! A year ago I posted a popular column titled "The A-Z problems of digital learning." One thing that I thought would be effective this year is to break down solutions for each of these issues. This week, I'm going to talk about "E": Engagement.

One thing I often talk to teachers about is that a digital device is JUST A TOOL! It's the same thing as using a pencil and paper. Is a digital device more inviting? Sure, but remember that "D" is for distractions. I mentioned in my last post that you have to engage your students in your classroom. You have to find a way to make your content appealing and authentic for your students. That will hopefully keep students involved in your class and free of distractions.

There are THE four Cs 21st century skills, but there are other skills that students should be learning. Utilizing skills will help with engagement as you can focus on teaching students "things" that they'll use in the future!

Collaboration and teamwork: Get your students talking to each other! The easiest thing to do in your classroom is to stop talking AT your kids, get them out of their chairs, move them around the room, and let them chat. I'm not saying don't lecture or let your students talk about anything all of the time, but don't let your students sit in their chairs for 65 minutes silently. That might be what they get in college, but I'm guessing if you're reading this blog, that you are NOT a college professor! When students are talking to each other, they aren't spending their time staring at the clock. If you ask students to discuss engaging content information, they will learn those face to face conversation skills that they need to be a well-rounded adult.

Creativity and imagination: I know that we have all standards and a curriculum that we need to get through, but as the teacher, you honestly can't decide exactly what your students focus on. You should find a way to provide your students with a voice and a choice. Give them a tic-tac-toe choice board where they can choose content pieces and options for projects.  Colorado's Social Studies standards are relatively open-ended, so I knew that I was having students meet a state standard even if they were covering a different topic than another peer. Students will buy in more if they have a say in their learning. They take ownership!

Critical thinking: One thing that surprised me the longer that I've taught is how willing students are to give their opinion. I was somewhat shy and introverted, so I never assumed anyone wanted to hear what I had to say. Surprise! Most people willingly give their opinion, and other people DO care! It's why critical thinking is crucial to every classroom. Students should have (and share) their ideas, but they also need to think critically about why they believe things to be true, where did they learn that knowledge, and what factual information supports those views? Because they're "essentially" talking about themselves, they are engaged in those tasks.

Flexibility and adaptability: When I taught Social Studies, I heard all of the time, "Is this for a grade?" If I said yes, students would often reply with, "But this is so hard!" I've realized that students need to be able to take risks without failing or punishment. You, the teacher, need to be flexible with due dates and be adaptable to your students' needs. Yet students also need to be adaptable when it comes to trying new types of assignments in the classroom. In broadcasting, students know that it is difficult to fail while also understanding that they can take risks as long as it meets the proficient criteria for the segment. I never hear "Is this for a grade" anymore! My students know that I am willing to listen and learn right along with them.

Social responsibility and ethics: A lot is going on in the world right now. It's so important to connect your curriculum to current events. We need our students to be well-rounded adults, and to do that, students must know what is happening, form opinions, and support their views with evidence. Don't we want students to think about their place in the world? I know that I want my students to be aware of what's around them, in Colorado Springs, the US, and the world. Awareness leads to empathy. Ignorance is "bliss." But I've also seen that students are more engaged with content when they make connections with their current world.

Technology literacy: WIth all this chatter about "digital natives," I've realized that students are not this. Technology literacy is the ability to use technology, EFFECTIVELY, to access, evaluate, integrate, create and communicate information to enhance the learning process through problem-solving and critical thinking. Students should learn what a valuable website looks like. Students should evaluate why a source is or is not reliable. Students should also be able to communicate with professionals in their field and receive advice to improve an assignment or project. Students shouldn't steal an image from Google Images but instead should learn how to find Creative Commons sourced work.

Again, these are just a few ideas to get your students engaged. You know your students best, so what stands out? Meet your kids where they are, then push them beyond their (and your) expectations. Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Digital learning problems - D is for Distractions

Good morning, colleagues! A year ago I posted a popular column titled "The A-Z problems of digital learning." One thing that I thought would be effective this year is to break down solutions for each of these issues. This week, I'm going to talk about "D": Distractions.

Have you ever gave a whole list of directions only to have your student look up and you and ask, "What did you say?" Digital devices have completely changed our lives and our students' lives.

Provide clear digital rules: Is technology going away? No, it's not. So we can't ban tech in our classrooms, but students don't have to be on their devices all of the time. Make sure you set rules in place and let students know WHEN they can use technology in their classroom. Are you direct instructing your students? Then no, students should not be on their devices. They should be taking notes (sketchnoting?) or answering questions. Are students researching? Let them use their phones to research (while providing them with "Googling" tips). Need to review? Use Kahoot (and students can use their devices as "clickers"). Need students to discuss and answer questions? Have them access Socrative! Students, though they may be "digital natives," they do not know how to use technology professionally. They can scroll Instagram and check Whatsapp, but they don't know about the educational purposes of their devices.

Hide the notifications: Most students think of their device as an extension of their body so it can be hard for students to put their devices away where they cannot see them. To remove the distractions, however, you don't have to have students put their devices away (or if you have a hanging sleeve "phone jail"). One effective way to get students less distracted is to have them put their device in airplane mode. At first, students will continually check their device (it's just habit), but if there are no notifications on the screen, the habitually checking will subside. Over time, eventually, students should put their devices away as studies have shown that just having their phone out IS a distraction. But teenagers are also teenagers... we have to respect that.

Change things up: I am someone who can spend the whole day on the couch reading. Most people can't do that (and I'll readily admit that I can't do that for more than a couple days). For our students... they can't sit still for more than 20 minutes! One way to prevent distractions in your classroom is to "chunk" your lessons. Sure, we want our students to write for a full hour or spend the whole class researching. Over time, they will get bored which then leads to distractions. If you want your students to write for the full hour, break it up so that you teach a skill and then have the students work on that skill. Do a "brain break" where students take a lap in the hallway and chat about something outside of school. When they get back into your classroom, they should be ready to learn about the next skill you want to teach. It may seem like you're wasting precious class time, but I would caution you to think about how much time is lost because a kid is off task (even when they look like they are focused).

Design engaging lessons: As a former 1:1 teacher (for five years), the most useful thing I found to prevent distractions was to design engaging classroom activities. None of my students wanted to sit and listen to me talk (as I am not a natural storyteller). I made it a curriculum goal to have students consistently speak with each other and move around the room. I never let students get comfortable enough because I switched things up. Think about using Kagan strategies as a starting point and remember to try to tie in what your students are interested in outside of school!

It is not difficult for our students to end up down a rabbit hole when on their digital devices, so I hope some of these ideas provide you with support. It really is essential to help students learn HOW to stay present with a device in your classroom, but it is also essential to be a good role model and stay off your own device. What are you missing when you are not on your personal device? Probably nothing. Facebook and Twitter will still be there when the day is over. So will your games, your to-do list, and your text messages. Model being present and talk to students about why "being present" is so important. They'll thank you in the long run.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and as always, thank you for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Going all in on hyperdocs!

Hello, colleagues! I've been working quite hard this year on streamlining my curriculum through the use of hyperdocs. It is by no means perfected, and I still have more work to do throughout the years, but I feel like what I've created is a great start and can help you in your classroom!

So first off... what is a hyperdoc? Hyperdocs were created by three women in the Bay area: Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. They wanted to provide their students with a way to be curious and explore problems instead of just consuming information. A hyperdoc often looks like a Google Doc with a whole bunch of links, but it is actually so much more! The point of the document is to have students engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect, and extend their learning. Basically, the document covers all of Bloom's Taxonomy or the four depth of knowledge (DOK) levels.

What am I doing with hyperdocs this year? As I said previously, I wanted to streamline my curriculum, clean up my broadcasting I and II curriculum, and also design curriculum for a new class: advanced broadcasting. I use backwards design (Understanding By Design) to plan out my units. I start with the end goal in mind, then plan out all of the steps necessary to get to the end goal. I wanted everything for the unit to be in one location and include all of the objectives that I am using with my students. A unit hyperdoc will look something like this:



How are the Hyperdocs working? I think they're going pretty well! Students are responding well to the documents (not that they know any different), and they are well aware that everything is in one location. Funny enough, they've enjoyed the different colors that I've made them in - I heard a student say, "What color is the document this time?!"

My goal for the year was to have every unit in a hyperdoc (BOY curriculum for broadcasting I and II and all units for advanced broadcasting). I would like to build hyperdocs for each week of broadcasting, but that's a work in progress that may not be accomplished by the end of the year. They're not a priority because I have to make new hyperdocs every week, every semester, every year. I just have to change the links, which is time-consuming, but is also not a priority... not yet.

I also know that my hyperdocs are incredibly basic. They are interactive, but they aren't as engaging as I would like. I need to add images, and I also need to add some extra pieces to make my hyperdocs more:

• Exploratory: students aren't exploring a topic as thoroughly as I'd like. This probably should be done through screencasts, Youtube videos, and readings. 
• Reflection: I have the students fill out a feedback form after watching the broadcast each week, but each of the units also needs to have a part where my students think about their learning. I could do this through Padlet, but I want it to have more meaning instead of just being "another step" in the process.
• Extended learning: I'm not entirely sure what to do here, at least for a broadcasting hyperdoc. Part of the issue is that my classes are only 45 minutes, and we're definitely set to deadlines. It's almost like we don't have time for this piece. Instead, the high schools should take on this piece (or my advanced broadcasting class should). I need to think through THIS step. 
• Critical thinking and problem solving: these two pieces are built into my classes already, but I don't necessarily feel like they are built into the hyperdocs. Once again, I am still thinking through this step... potentially for next year!

So what is the next step beyond just broadcasting? I've been asked to run two teacher "Tech Thursdays" in which I provide training for the staff. I sent out a Google Form to find out what teachers would like training on. I then took the responses and started designing training hyperdocs. They are currently WOEFULLY incomplete, but I'm not presenting until October 25th, so I have time to complete them and make them interactive!

I do wish that I learned about hyperdocs while I was still teaching Social Studies. I definitely would have designed similar hyperdocs to what I am doing right now. I think it would have provided sufficient context for my students when it came to learning about a) historical information and b) how everything "fit" together.

Thanks for reading! I hope this week's blog gave you a little inspiration to check out hyperdocs and potentially use them in your own classroom! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

"Teach Like a Pirate" book review

Hello to a VERY snowy Saturday at a great coffee shop in Colorado Springs! I was definitely MIA last weekend as I got SLAMMED with a nasty cold. I didn't get the flu (thank goodness), but I did miss three days of school. I spent four days laid up in bed (minus watching the Super Bowl). It was definitely something... But I am well rested, back to getting to the gym, and am drinking some chai tea.

I decided to change it up this week and do my very first book review! I discussed with Mari, a fellow #sunchatblogger, about blogging what we're reading. She's jumped in and created a book-focused blog! I'm not entirely there yet but did want to blog about a book that we're studying for Skyview's mentoring group. (I'm a mentor for another teacher. Have I mentioned that? I still struggle with the fact that I'm helping a new teacher, even if it is the second year of me doing this.)

ANYWAY. We're reading Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. The book is split into three parts. The first part is called "Teach like a PIRATE" (passion, immersion, rapport, ask and analyze, transformation, enthusiasm). Even though he explained that PIRATE was an acronym on the first page, I didn't read closely enough to realize this acronym until I was 3/4th of the way through the book. I kept thinking, "What does this have to do with being a pirate?" Duh Rachel. Get 👏🏻 It 👏🏻Together 👏🏻!

We were tasked with reading the first part before our mentoring meeting this past Wednesday. We were given a handout with discussion questions. As an introvert, I was not very excited to do a full group discussion. I wanted to discuss the book with "my people" in the building because I can easily communicate and collaborate with these people. As our whole group conversation continued, I shut down. I'll admit that I acted like a baby because the conversation did not go as I believed it should. That's a "me" thing that I have to get over.

The meeting did push me to read the rest of the book ASAP. Part two provides "hooks" to engage your students in your classroom. If a teacher doesn't walk away with one, ONE idea to incorporate into their classroom then they have <begin blunt honesty> a fixed, instead of growth, mindset. I legitimately have no other answer than this <end blunt honesty>. Part three is about "building a better pirate" which is just a way to conclude the book by looking at next steps in the classroom.

So what are my thoughts on this book? I'm going to bullet point the list because it's how I think, collaborate, and function :)

• As an introvert, this book makes me uncomfortable (in a healthy way) as it pushes me to be more creative, innovative, and "out there" than I already am. I have to work on being more silly (I don't like looking stupid) and be more humor. On days when I'm crabby, I still need to put on a show. 
• Dave talks about bringing personal passion into your classroom. I started doing that the last two years through sharing good news. I often talked about my photography and shared my pictures with my students. A few asked for my Instagram handle which I gladly shared. This has spilled into my current position as a broadcasting teacher, and now I take pictures of my students working on the broadcasts (and a few of them have asked to post as well!)
• The six words: "It's easy for you. You're creative." BOOM! This spoke to me because I've heard people use these six words against me. Yes, I'm creative, but it's because I practice. It's because I'm not afraid to take risks and try something new. This section made me realize that I need to share more about my failures in the classroom. It's taken a lot of failure and mistakes to get where I am now. The last six years has not always been easy. Turns out I can "fake it until I make it." My colleagues are none the wiser, but they should be... 
• "If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching in an empty room?" When I taught history, I know that some students would show. Teaching broadcast, I've heard on the regular that students come to school for my class. If I ever go back to teaching history, I would really challenge myself to make my social studies class like my broadcasting class. 
• If you don't read the whole book, please check out part two, the "hooks" section. Dave covers thirty-two different thematic hooks with multiple ideas for each. This part is helpful for new teachers, to give them ideas, and for experienced teachers, to encourage them to refresh their curriculum. 

I am quite glad that I finished reading this book. It cemented a lot about what I've already done, and what I currently do, as a classroom teacher. It also pushed me to continue to grow and learn so that I can fulfill my promise that I made in my phone interview for Skyview nine years ago... "I am a good teacher, but someday, I'm going to be a great teacher. You want me on your staff."

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Mind. Blown.

Happy Sunday, colleagues! This past week I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across a post from Jennifer Gonzales. Of course, the title got my attention, but the article, itself, was even better.

Buzzword Bling: Putting Substance Behind Our Big Words
Guest post by Typhani Harris, Ph.Dhttps://t.co/dZBcykUCmv#teaching #studentchoice #studentengagement #teachingstrategies #wholechild

— Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) January 23, 2018

This blog post is 2 1/2 years old but is still very much relevant. A lot of what is spoken in the blog post directly relates to my classroom and my education philosophy: 21st-century learning, real-world projects, and engagement. The part that blew my mind was the piece about how real-world knowledge is when it is real for students, but not necessarily real for teachers.

When I taught Social Studies, and I heard about making curriculum real-world, I struggled. I was frustrated with trying to explain what I considered "modern day" topics while teaching about what happened in the US 300 years ago. The closest I ever felt I got was the very last unit I developed last year when I had the students study a modern event dealing with racism and connect its lineage back to Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws. I felt so successful, and it was the last US history topic I taught over nine years.

After reading this blog post, I realized that I was unintentionally teaching real-world concepts for the last five years! I was doing so by connecting to their real-world NOW. I knew it was a best teaching practice to provide students opportunities to interact and communicate with each other. For some reason, I never thought about how beneficial it was to produce situations (or simulations) that were similar to their lives right now. Those situations/simulations are real-world for THEM (even if they're not real world for us).

What are some ways to design real-world lessons, projects, or units for our students?

• Even though students can't vote, they are interested in today's politics. If you teach Social Studies, compare and contrast political actions in 1789 with the government today. Compare the Presidents and their agendas. How is the Supreme Court different? How is Congress different? As you continue to teach your curriculum (into the 19th and 20th centuries), discuss where the changes happened. Focus on, How did we get here today? 
• Let students write a blog. Sometimes you can give them prompts, but sometimes, let them free write. Let them blog about what they're reading or have them blog about a recent personal Instagram post. If you want students to comment on each others' posts, have them look at vocabulary. Are there any words that might sound better than what they posted? It's a sneaky activity that expands their vocabulary!
• Students are obsessed with Netflix! Do you want them to write a story? Have the students "pitch" their plotline to Netflix executives. Want to make the lesson even more real world? Have a panel (teachers, students, maybe even local filmmakers?!) that discuss their storylines with them, in person, in front of the class. 
• I'm speaking here as a non-math person, but is it possible for students to study algorithms? Is it possible for them to look at how Facebook's news feed has changed (based on the algorithm)? Could they do a scientific study of how (or how often) they see a person on their Instagram feed now that it is no longer based on time of posting?

My challenge to you, this week, is to find a way to make your content more relevant to students TODAY, whether you update a lesson, add technology, or just listen to what students care about today. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Getting the most from Chromebooks

Good morning on a FINALLY sunny day in Colorado Springs! There are good vibes around me because our school received two new Chromebook carts this week. It's always a good day when new technology shows up in the building!

Half of my job is teaching students about broadcasting, but the other half of my job, being a "technology specialist" is supporting teachers in the use of educational technology. My technology specialist position has been pretty quiet... teachers may be using technology, but they are not asking for support. I keep telling myself that it is the first quarter and this year the teachers are completely inundated and overwhelmed.

I am not the type of teacher who sits idly by and doesn't cherish and use the gift of time that I'm given. So I've been trying to think of new ways to get teachers to use Chromebooks, iPads, and desktop PCs. In my last five years as a 1:1 teacher, I've had many conversations about the use of technology in the classroom. Many teachers shy away from because of a few reasons:

1) They do not know how to use an application and want to learn before the students in order to model while also keeping control of the class. Because they don't have time to learn the technology, they do not use it. I've realized that part of my job is supporting teachers in the use of the application. This can be done through a screencast or YouTube tutorial. 

2)  They do not know how to use an application, and even if it looks cool, they do not know how to apply it to their content. This prevents them from creative insight which helps think outside the box. I started putting together a spreadsheet of ways to use various web applications with the four core contents to help promote innovative thinking. 

This document is still a work in progress (it is woefully incomplete).

Until teachers start using me as a resource, I will use my time to create documents like this to get teachers to use my time! :) I hope that more teachers will come to me to think through their unit and use technology applications. I said this before, but my principal's goal was to have every student access technology once a week. This can happen as long as teachers are bringing Chromebooks and iPads into the classroom (or are going to the lab).

Thanks for reading. We go on FALL BREAK next weekend, so I'll see you in three weeks!

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Visual Essays

Greetings colleagues! I am writing to you this week as I'm finishing up my LAST unit of the school year! In fact, it is my LAST unit as a Social Studies teacher (for now). I recently accepted a job as the broadcasting teacher and technology specialist in my school. I'm excited but super overwhelmed. My job is going to look so different next year that I cannot picture it right now. This summer - it's so close!

But I digress. The unit that we just finished up was over Reconstruction in the United States. Yes, the Civil War is quite significant, but Reconstruction certainly changed the United States for a good 90 years or so, plus has lingering consequences today. To get my students to understand its impact, I had them do the DBQ Project's Reconstruction DBQ while also doing a case study on a modern case of racism (within the last five years). I felt it was important for students to see related connections - it also makes history more relevant!

The culmination of each DBQ is a 5-6 paragraph essay. I'll be honest; it's the end of the year, and I definitely didn't want to grade another essay! So I had my students do what I call a "visual" essay. This is when the students follow the same process as creating an essay, but in the end, they take the writing process and create something visual. The best three applications that I've found for creating visual essays are Piktochart, Spark Page, and Canva. For this unit, my students used Piktochart.

We spent four days going over the DBQ packet. The students analyzed four documents to answer the question, "North or South: who killed Reconstruction?" They completed the DBQ packet by filling out an outline in which they responded to the question with their opinion, and used evidence from the documents to support their answer.






They then took their outline and turned it into a Piktochart.

Did this go well? Yes! It was great for the end of the year, the students appreciated learning about something that connected to present-day, and though the Piktochart iPad app is lacking in some usability, they enjoyed trying a new app and liked the creativity and choices that it offered.

This week I'm encouraging you to try something new, maybe fun, and definitely engaging with your students. Think outside the box and get your students to connect to your content!

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Hello, colleagues! Sorry that time has gotten away from me, and it has been a few weeks - I meant to blog last week, but was not feeling well. I'm back to normal, and I'm back on my game! This week was a good week in the middle school world. I did a four-day lesson over the Constitution with some activities that I am excited to share with you.

As someone to teaches middle school American history, it is only fair that I present lessons with a neutral political discourse. My students do not need to know my political leanings, so I present both sides of the story. We are currently studying the Constitution, and in today's political climate, it is incredibly important for students to know what their rights are. They know that they have freedom of speech and the right to bear arms... and that's about it. I know that going through the Constitution bit by bit is incredibly annoying. What I did, instead, was utilize three different programs: Actively Learn, Socrative space race, and Adobe Spark Page.

I wanted the students to study the first three Articles of the Constitution, so I uploaded the Articles to Actively Learn with highlighted portions and questions built in (if you have an Actively Learn account, e-mail me at rbails@d49.org if you want a copy). It was my first time using Actively Learn, and I am now a fan. I've been asking myself why I haven't been using this earlier, especially considering other teachers have been touting how amazing it is. Using Actively Learn isn't any different than having the students read and answer questions, but it's just different. My students were incredibly engaged with the text and were focused during class. The students could not move on to the next question until they answered the previous question, and the students knew that the answer to the question was right above the question. I felt like Actively Learn is a great tool when it comes to primary documents or readings that may be difficult to understand or digest.

I'm not a teacher that needs silence in my classroom, but during Actively Learn, you could hear a pin drop.

The next part of the lesson was to have the students do a "space race" on Socrative. I have done these in the past, and have found that they are better than Kahoot. I would not say the students are more or less excited or engaged, but Socrative forces the students to get the answers correct instead of racing to respond to the question the quickest. I gave the students describing statements about the twenty-seven Amendments of the Constitution, and they had to figure out which Amendment was being described. Again, not a new or super interesting lesson, but the students were figuring out what the Constitution says. The students were engaged with the text and filled out a handout in Notability as they quizzed through Socrative.

The last part of the lesson was to have the students design a Spark Page (my example) about what IS in the Constitution. They took their learning from the previous two lessons and developed a "website" that is visual and compelling. I feel like the students are walking away from this week knowing more about the Constitution than they ever knew previously.

To culminate the Constitution lesson, next week, the students will be accessing the DBQ Project's document-based question "How did the Constitution guard against tyranny?" I have done this DBQ the past three years, and it is one of the toughest DBQs for the students to comprehend. It will be interesting to see if the students better grasp the essential question because of greater prior knowledge.

I have struggled with the Constitution unit every year that I have taught at Skyview. It just never turns out quite like I want. I feel like what I created this year was strong, and I will keep most of the lessons for next year. I think the students comprehended the ideas that I wanted, and I know that they were engaged with the ideas. I'm not sure I could ask more of teenagers learning about an 18th-century primary document.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :) 

- Rachel
@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

1:1 iPad Classroom Observations

Good morning colleagues!

This past week I was fortunate to visit three middle schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District. Almost the entire district has 1:1 devices (except for class sets in the elementary), encompassing 55 schools with about 32,000 students. All secondary students use iPad minis. I am lucky regardless as I have been a 1:1 iPad teacher for the last five years. The reason why I visited these schools is to see how the devices are utilized in an entire 1:1 school.

What I saw was eye-opening.

1. The district has their act together.  Because they are such a large community, they had to plan for the implementation well before they purchased or even decided what devices to use. The teachers had time to use the devices before they used them in the classroom. The teachers get training from instructional technology coordinators and learning technology coaches. There is a common language among the district, so while visiting three different schools, the teachers and students said very similar things. Posters across the schools were also similar. Most importantly, they have a shared vision. As we visited classrooms, it seemed like every teacher was on board with the vision. It made me realize that District 49 needs to find a cohesive vision that does not change every year. And as we continue to use 1:1 devices, we need to be transparent and get the community on board. I do not feel like there is enough communication about why there are iPad teams at Skyview and how learning with the iPads is supposed to be purposeful and meaningful for the students' current and future education and future occupations. 

2. The three schools were not any more advanced than my classroom. Most of the classrooms that we visited were simple substitution (on the SAMR model). I was disappointed that I did not see "more" - more student choice, more collaboration, more critical thinking. To be fair, we all have days where we have those typical, boring traditional lessons. But it was hard to see so many students listening to a teacher talk when they all have an iPad Mini in front of them. To be fair, I saw limited student disengagement which was exciting. And I think every student that we talked to was excited to have that device in front of them at all times.

3. There is inconsistency in every school. Some classrooms were better than others. At Trail Ridge Middle School, we saw two math classes that collaborate every day during Science class. It was fascinating as the two classes worked together to use both Math and Science concepts to create space shuttles for their space unit. Those students were so engaged that they did not even notice when we walked into the classroom. Then there were classes where the teacher lectured in the front of the room with the lesson on the front screen. The students were "grouped," but there was no discussion between them. There were some lost opportunities in a few rooms.

4. It's important for a student to explain what they know, but... there still has to be a point to what they are learning. I watched some students sit through classes that were not engaging, and when I asked them a question, they would dive into a spiel about their objective and what they were studying (but totally not answering my question). It felt like they had been coached and were not demonstrating learned knowledge and skills.

In the end, I was grateful to visit these classrooms and would love to do more observations in the future. I may also need to be a slight stalker and contact some of these teachers to potentially collaborate. There are exciting prospects on the horizon!

Some other things I pulled from observations:

 I loved this poster from a teacher's classroom. It's letting Ss and Ts know that phones are a part of students' world, and as a teacher, you respect that.

 I thought this was a great checklist handout. I know it's traditional and simple, but I think this would be beneficial for goal setting for the class AND staying on task throughout an extended project. I use checkpoints to keep Ss focused, but this would take it to another level.

 I loved at this 1:1 school that ALL posters in the hallway used QR codes. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it makes it clear to the Ss that the devices will be used. All QR codes let to Google Forms for the students to fill out. Many teachers also had #observeme posters, but they also included a QR code that let to a Google Form for an observer to lead feedback. Brilliant!

 In another classroom, the teacher had the students use post-it notes to put down goals for the day. It was simple but effective. The teacher kept asking the students about their goal and what they still had to do. The Ss had to reflect throughout class which was impressive.

 I loved that a teacher used risers to make one table a standing table. I've been reading about teachers getting rid of their teacher desk, and after seeing this, I think I am going to get rid of mine. My desk is literally full of crap that I rarely use, so why do I have it?! I have been looking at a table from Ikea that I could raise with bed risers. My plan is to use the table as both my teacher desk AND as a great place to converse with Ss. 

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel
@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website