Google Forms - Quizzes

I have learned that there are so many ways that you can use Google Forms, so I am going to do a little series on Google Forms in the next few weeks.

First, did you know that Google Forms now has a quiz function? Previously you could use Google Forms as a quiz, but you had to use data validation or an extension to help you with grading. Now you can change your Google Form to a quiz that will provide students with immediate results by the click of a button. Create your Form quiz in the same way, but now add an answer key, and you have a quiz that will give students immediate results. You also have the option of adding feedback to your answer key and giving points to the questions in your quiz. 

(Also, as an aside, another new feature in Google Forms is the ability to use pictures as answer choices.)

After the students take the quiz, you can view the data immediately in different ways.  View the data of the entire class or each individual student.

During the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with Google Forms quizzes in the classes I have visited.  I have had the opportunity to use a Google Form Quiz in grades 2-5, but I'm confident that kindergarteners and first graders could successfully navigate a Google Form quiz as well, especially with the ability to add picture responses. 

Google Forms Quizzes are very easy to implement, and the students get really excited taking an online quiz that gives a score immediately.

To better explain how to change a Google Form into a quiz, I have created a screencast for you.

Google Apps Training Club Anyone?

On Saturday, I attended Edcamp San Diego. An Edcamp is not like a traditional ed tech conference.  The sessions are not preplanned, but are planned the morning of the conference. After you check in to this free event, you fill out a card with what you would like to learn.  Then all of the cards are organized and categorized and sessions are created.

So at Edcamp, I learned some cool add-ons for Google Docs, how to create your own master slide in Google Slides, and a few tools and strategies for implementing inquiry in the classroom. But what excited me the most is talking about Google Certifications. 

Did you know that you can become a Google Certified Educator? One of the educators in the session shared that she was going to start a club on the same lines as a book club only the club members would learn all the different Google Apps together, study the lessons in the Google Training Center, and ultimately take one of the leveled certification tests. This idea really got me excited, and I would really like to start a Google Apps training club only I would like to make it a little more fun. My idea is to have the meetings at one of the many microbreweries located on Hops Highway (78). Just think! We could hang out at a different place for each meeting, (say once a month), have a beer, and learn an app or study a lesson. We'd just have to make sure the place we choose has wifi.

I would seriously love to start a tech club, so if you are interested in this idea, please contact me and let me know! (Even if you don't live in my area, you could attend by a Google Hangout! Or you could start a club in your area!)

Adobe Spark

Over the summer, I took an online course from Adobe called Train the Trainer. In this course, I learned how to foster creativity in the classroom, while at the same time I was exposed to some of the many awesome tech tools that Adobe has. When I began taking photography classes, I was required to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. These programs are not free, but I was able to get an educator's discount. The account I have now is called the Creative Cloud, and I pay a monthly fee to use almost all of Adobe's numerous products. Additionally, I have access to the Adobe Education Exchange, and I can take free Adobe online courses.

One tool that I want to share with you that is totally FREE is called Adobe Spark.  I am really excited about Adobe Spark because you can create some really nice-looking projects, and it is very easy to use.  You will have to create an Adobe account to use Adobe Spark, so students under the age of 13 will not be able to create accounts. Adobe Spark is recommended for students 12+. This USER GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS gives a good overview of what Adobe Spark is as well as suggested ideas for use in the classroom.

Adobe Spark can be used by teachers in many ways. You can create lessons, videos, and webpages very easily. Spark provides a large bank of free-to-use photos and icons that you can use, and you can also use your own as well.  Adobe Spark can be used across devices too.  You can access Adobe Spark on your computer, laptop, iPad, or any mobile device.  You can create three types of content in Spark, a PAGE, a VIDEO, and a POST.  I will provide you an example of each one.

First, here is an example of a Spark Page.  I created a lesson overview on how to write a personal narrative. All of the photos I used in the Page came from within the Page creation tool. In this lesson, I also added a screencast of my own personal narrative, and at the end of the lesson, I added a button for students to click to take them to a Google Doc to begin creating their own personal narrative. You have the ability to make your Spark Page interactive.




As you can see, Spark projects can be embedded into your blogs or webpages.  You can also share your Spark projects by a link or on social media.

The next example is a Spark Video. To create a video, you select your theme and music. Then you create your slides. To record, you simply press and hold down the microphone button and talk. It is that simple. It only took me about 15 minutes to create this video. Once again, in this video, all of the icons you see came straight from the Spark bank of icons.




The last example is a Spark Post. Posts are most likely going to be used to share on social media, but they can also be used to create posters. I made this post using the Spark app on my iPhone. I had someone take my photo in a museum, and I added the words to the photo and posted it on social media.  To use the Post here in this blog post, I downloaded it as a JPG and added it.

I highly recommend Adobe Spark! You can easily create professionally looking Pages and Videos with this FREE tool.

Word Sorts with Google Drawings

INTERACTIVE WORD SORT LINK

Word sorts are great hands-on activities for students to work with words. There are many ways you can use word sorts with your students. The most common way is shown in the example above. This is called a closed word sort where the student is provided with the categories (noun, verb) and the words are sorted accordingly. There are also open word sorts that are more analytic in nature where the student is only given words, and they have to use critical thinking to sort the words into their own categories.

I like doing word sorts in my classroom, but I don't like the preparation. First, I have to copy a class set of word sort sheets. Then I have to have them passed out to the class along with scissors.  Then it takes an inordinate amount of time for the students to cut out the words and clean up the scraps.  Then while interacting with the word sorts in class, ultimately a few students lose words on the floor or end up with two of the same words having accidentally mixed up their words with another student's words. Then after we are finished with the paper word sorts, they may be crushed in the back of a student's desk or put in a plastic sandwich bag and never used again.

Well, creating word sorts in a Google Drawing may be a better alternative for you.  A Google Drawing word sort still has all of the same learning benefits as paper word sorts only better.  Once created and shared with students, they are ready to go!  You won't lose the words and they can be used over and over again.

For a tutorial on how to create a word sort in a Google Drawing, I have created this tutorial for you.

Using Keywords to Search

 

The beginning of the school year is a great time to teach your students how to search for information on the Internet. A good starting place is teaching students how to use keywords to find pertinent information in a timely and efficient manner. 

Common Sense Media has good lessons on this topic.  The first lesson, Using Keywords, is geared toward K-2. In this lesson, students are given the scenario that they want to get a new pet, and in order for their parents to be more inclined to let them have a pet, they will do all the research on how to take care of a pet. 

In this lesson, students are guided to come up with research questions and decide what the keywords are in these questions. Then they are given a safe search engine, such as kidrex.org, and guided on how to search with the keywords and analyze the results. The students are also taught that one source of information is not sufficient, that information you find on the Internet is not always accurate, and they have to find at least two sources of information for their topic and cite the sources.

The other lesson, The Key to Keywords,  is geared towards students in grades 3-5. This higher-level lesson has students practice searching questions about dogs using keywords. Additionally, this lesson teaches students how to use quotation marks in searches to search for exact phrases.

There are quite a few good student-friendly search engines for students to use.  My favorite is kidrex.org.  Other student-friendly search engines are sweetsearch.com, kidsclick.org, infotopia.info, and safesearchkids.org.

It might be a good idea to give students daily or weekly search practice by providing a question or two where they have to choose keywords, search for answers, and cite the sources. For more information about teaching students search strategies, contact your Ed Tech Specialist.

BreakoutEDU - Teamwork!

Have you ever been a part of an Escape Room game?  This fun activity, where adults work together to solve clues that enable them to escape from locked rooms, has become popular in cities everywhere.   And now these escape room activities have come to the classroom thanks to James Sanders, the creator of BreakoutEDU. BreakoutEDU is a fantastic critical-thinking activity for students, and it is gaining momentum in classrooms across the US.

Students are given a set of clues and problems to solve (usually based on a theme) in order to unlock a box with multiple locks. After basic directions, students receive no assistance from the teacher!  BreakoutEDU is meant to get students thinking critically, problem solving, working collaboratively, and using teamwork to unlock the box.  BreakoutEDU is meant to be challenging for students as they only have 45 minutes to unlock the box. The clues should be challenging enough to have students reading and rereading,thinking, discussing, and working together as a team. The only help given by the teacher is the opportunity for the class to use two class hint cards that should only be used after a majority of the class has tried to solve the problems.

Watch this short movie trailer I created after conducting a Breakout session in a fourth-grade classroom:

BreakoutEDU is becoming very popular, and the students love everything about it! It’s not what’s inside the box that is the fun; the students will agree that it is the challenge of getting the box open!

When BreakoutEDU is presented to the class, the students get very excited for the challenge when they see the locked box, and they are very motivated about problem-solving. Teachers have commented that they see their students in a different light when they are actively involved in the breakout session.  

As time is running out and there are only a few locks left to be opened, the tension builds in the classroom, and there is a great sense of accomplishment if the box is opened. After each session, a class debrief is held where students reflect on what went well and what they would do differently if given this challenging task again. If all of the locks are not opened, discuss what could be done differently next time and try another breakout session on another day.

To get started, the BreakoutEDU.com website has many published games to choose from, and there are also many games in the sandbox that are awaiting publication. These games are free to use. You can also purchase the Breakout box and kit from the website, or you can also choose to make your own.

The BreakoutEDU.com site contains all of the information you need to get started.  After you navigate to the site, you can watch a little intro video.  To get access to the games, click on “Get Started.”  Step 1 explains how to obtain a BreakoutEDU kit, but to have access to the BreakoutEDU games already created, go to Step 2 “Complete the Beta Form.”  Once you submit the form, you will be given the password to access all of the BreakoutEDU games. Step 3 gives you a link to go to the games.  If you choose “Search All Games,” after entering the password, you can use the search engine and use filters to narrow your search, such as content focus, age range, and group size.

Another useful link on the games page is the “Facilitation Presentation.” This link gives a little explanation of how to host a game in your classroom. Sometimes it is easier to see a BreakoutEDU game in action, so if you are intrigued about BreakoutEDU and would like to see a game in your classroom, contact your EdTech TOSA to set up a date and time for a BreakoutEDU session.

Additionally, there is a very active Facebook Community Group that you can join. There are numerous posts from teachers just getting started and teachers who are quite savvy with BreakoutEDU. This community is a great resource for tips and tricks about Breakout EDU.

BreakoutEDU is well worth the effort to investigate.

Library Thing

Have you ever read a few pages of a book only to remember that you already read it?  Or how about a book series you like so much you want to make sure you read every one? And classroom teachers, would you like to easily catalog all of your classroom library books? 

Well, LibraryThing is a great tool for doing all of the above.  You can sign up for a free account and easily add the books that you read by searching the title, author, or ISBN of the book.  The LibraryThing search engine uses Amazon as its main source.  Your search results will more than likely show more than one result for your search.  If you find the book you've read, just click on it, and it is automatically added to your library and catalogued in many ways.  From there, you can add your own tags, give the book your own personal rating, and add a review. You can see book reviews and ratings written by other readers, you can view the author's page, and you can see other works by the same authors.  If the book is part of a series, you can also view the series page, and every book that you have read in the series will automatically have a checkmark placed next to it.  Additionally, LibraryThing will also give you a list of other suggested books to read.  According to LibraryThing, they describe this tool as a "Book Geekery."

There is also a free app that enables you to add books to your library in the same way, but it also allows you to scan the bar codes on books and have them automatically added and catalogued into your library.  Cool, isn't it?

LibraryThing is free to catalogue your first 200 books.  After that, it is $10 a year or $25 for a lifetime membership.  I was introduced to LibraryThing by another teacher, and she uses LibraryThing to catalogue her extensive classroom library.  I use LibraryThing for keeping track of the books I read, and I especially like keeping track of the books in a series I have read.  I also like to use LibraryThing to see what other books my favorite authors have written. Within LibraryThing, you can join online book groups for some social networking if you'd like to do that too. 

I have been a member since the summer of 2011, and so far I have read and catalogued almost 300 books! There are many other ways people use LibraryThing, and you can read about those ways on the site. You are probably thinking about the different ways you can use LibraryThing right now as you are reading this!

Canva

Canva is a great graphic design tech tool that anyone can use. Use Canva for creating presentations, posters, infographics, and social media posts.  Canva is easy to use, free, and lots of fun!  Choose your template, add designs, icons, shapes, and/or charts and change their colors and formats.  Add your own photos or those already loaded into Canva - there are many free photos, or choose one for $1 - then publish and share your work!

Here is a quick You Tube Video Tutorial on Canva. Have fun being creative!  Just think of the many ways you can use Canva for your classroom!

Pi Day

Monday, March 14th, is Pi Day, 3.14.  March 14th is also Albert Einstein's birthday! It just doesn't get mathematically better than that!

What is Pi (π)? "Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159."  Here is a website dedicated solely to Pi (π) - piday.org.  This website contains videos and activities you and your class can participate in on Pi Day. Here is a webquest on Pi Day, and here is one more resource from Education World. 

An idea that I came up with that students could engage in on Pi Day is having them learn and practice Google Drawings. Here is a simple drawing I made.  I inserted a circle shape and labeled the circumference and diameter.  Using the special characters, you can also add the π symbol.

I hope these resources are helpful to you, and that you have a fun time participating in Pi Day on Monday!