IHMS Tech Tips

Are any of your students NOT on social media? Didn't think so.  Instagram, Snapchat, and what I've been told is social media for old people (Facebook and Twitter), are tantalizing, mesmerizing, and distracting for today's students.  But perhaps we can re-harness this obsession to be not only positive for their digital footprints, but also integrated into your classroom. How many of your students do you think were actually trained on how and what to post on their social media?  They learn by observation and that's not always a great thing.  By using social media in your classroom, YOU are setting the example and becoming a role model for their future digital self.  Social media etiquette is rarely discussed as a preventative measure but instead as a result of poor choices.  We can empower our students to utilize their social media platform for good, not for evil. Why should your classroom jump on board? There is great value to having your studen ts share their work

" Edulastic 's formative assessment tools automatically grade while students work on the assignment, giving you immediate feedback. So you can clear up misconceptions, decide what to teach next and differentiate instruction. Track progress, growth and mastery learning over time and download everything for your gradebook, saving even more time!" The site syncs seamlessly with Google Classroom, so once you have created or chose an assessment, you can post it to your class from the site.  Making an account is free and also uses your Google log-in information.  The dashboard should also look familiar. There are tens of thousands of free questions already created for you that you can search by standard, subject area, grade level, etc.  You can also create your own questions.  Edulastic has over 30 question types from mix and match, to labeling, to graphing, and more to help assess student learning. Teachers can create common assessments and then share with other bu

If you are in need of a new class discussion technique, try the Fishbowl!  I watched two weeks ago as Mrs. Biggs conducted one in her classroom for the first time.  The concept is simple: Five seats are placed, in a circle, in the center of the room. All other seats a pushed to the walls for seating for non-participants. There are four students and one empty chair in the circle, the fishbowl, and they are the only ones allowed to speak in the room. There is to be no conversation outside of the circle. The teacher chooses the first students in the circle, at random. The students engage in debate on an issue presented as an open-ended question, by the teacher. When someone wants to enter the circle/conversation, they bring their computer and take the empty seat and a previous member of the circle has to leave. This should be a fluid as the conversation gets under way. The teacher does not participate in the discussion except to provide a new question or to terminate an irreleva

Many of you are still using Scantrons for summative assessment, but did you know that you can save yourself some mileage to the Scantron machine (and paper!) by using Flubaroo or other Google add-ons?  I previously mentioned how to use Skyward to test and grade your students, but there are also add-ons for Google Forms that can simplify your grading.  One such example is Flubaroo.  With this add-on you can: Grade assignments and assessments in under a minute! Get reporting and analysis on student performance. Quickly send scores to students. It's really simple to use.  To get an add-on for your Google spreadsheet, first make sure that your Google form has created a spreadsheet.   Next, from the Google Sheets Add-ons menu, choose "Get add-ons."  Search for Flubaroo from the Add-ons store.  You will only have to do this once. Now that Flubaroo has been added, you can follow the prompts as shown in the below video to grade your assessment.  This add-on w

Flippity is a site that allows you to create a variety of classroom items from your Google Sheets. Some examples of templates are: Flash cards Quiz show Spelling words Random name picker Mix & match Certificate Badge tracker Progress indicator MadLibs How does it work?  It's really easy! Think about using Flippity for forming groups, calling on students, tracking progress (pages/minutes read, words per minute, fluency, etc.)

Group outings to Escape Room, BreakoutKC, EscapeKC are very popular right now.  They are the ultimate team-building, problem-solving, and critical thinking challenge, as groups try to solve a riddle or puzzle that correlates to a story. BreakoutEDU has brought this same concept into the classroom.  Instead of being in a specific place to complete the problem-solving, this company has put everything you need into one wooden box. They are $99/piece, but did you know that IH has four of these boxes already?! "Breakout EDU creates ultra-engaging learning games for people of all ages. Games (Breakouts) teach teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and troubleshooting by presenting participants with challenges that ignite their natural drive to problem-solve." Each box comes with the following items, and the open source lessons show you where to place and how to use each item. Here's how it works: The site has lots of games already cre

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks are a popular way for people to share their knowledge and ideas on any given topic.  The Talks are 18 minutes or less and consist of one person on a stage, sharing their thoughts.  Using TED Talks in the classroom is a great way to spark conversation among students.  " Talks work best when teachers use them to give perspective and to generate discussion around difficult topics.  TED Talks make us pause and listen to the percolation of ideas—art, engineering, technology, the humanities, spoken word and more. TED Talks aren’t like Wikipedia articles—yes, they contain information, but at their best, they actually spark a conversation. They can be used to bring diverse voices, questions, and even conflict into classroom  discussions ”   (Cucinotta). TED-Ed is a valuable resource if you want to start integrating Ted into your classroom.  You can filter your search query in a variety of ways and find something that works with your t

If you are like me, you have files upon files of handouts.  Whether they are for student use, or given to you at a meeting, there are just some you need to keep.  And we are trying to go paperless, so enter Google Keep . Google Keep is digital post-it notes that are associated with your Google account.  You can log into your account from any device and retrieve them, and there is a search function to speed up this process. Google Keep also allows for: making lists color coding labeling digitizing paper handouts audio notes image notes capture web/app content You can take a picture of a handout/paper that you want to incorporate into Google Keep.  Google then extracts the text and imports it as a new note, which you can then copy and paste into a Google Doc if you wish. If you are at a conference, staff meeting, or other event, instead of trying to keep track of a variety of digital handouts, copy and paste the link into Google Keep, then color code and label your no

Most of you are familiar with Kahoot, a site that uses questions in a game-like format to review material, but have you heard of Blind Kahooting'?  This method of using Kahoot in the classroom actually uses it as an instructional tool, rather than a review/test tool.  We know that students love using Kahoot, so try taking it to another level.  Some are saying this is the way Kahoot was designed to be used and is the most effective. The concept of a Blind Kahoot is "all about building knowledge brick by brick...[they]  are designed to give every learner a chance to feel success and motivation throughout the game, and with long lasting effects.   In a single game, you'll be sparking curiosity about the new topic, laying the foundations for understanding increasingly complex concepts, and giving learners the opportunity to immediately and successfully apply their knowledge." To get started with a Blind Kahoot, you would first ask a question that engages the students,

"In a  2014 article  published in the  International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology , Tiffany P. Hogan and others review the significant amount of research that indicates that “listening comprehension becomes the dominating influence on reading comprehension,” especially as children grow older."   Podcasting is audioblogging or audio broadcasting via the internet.  Students are responding so well to podcasts in the classroom because they are framed in a conversational tone, unlike audio books.   Listenwise is a site that houses shorter podcasts for student listening.  You log in with your Google account, and can search by content area or keyword to find a podcast to fit your curricular needs.  It even has a link where students can test their listening skills via Socrative.  Links to podcasts can also be posted to Google Classroom using the Listenwise feature: The site also has graphic organizers to correlate to each podcast, along with theme connections

Wikipedia has long been stigmatized as the anti-source when it comes to research, but if you're like me, it's the first place you refer to when seeking answers.  And that's okay!  I have long held the belief that Wikipedia is an acceptable starting point when it comes to research.  It should not be the only point, however. First, some background information:  The name Wikipedia is derived from the Hawaiian word "wikiwki" meaning "quick" and the English word "encyclopedia".  The site is exactly that: a free site where anyone can quickly add content on any given topic.  It's understandable why it is FORBIDDEN by so many teachers, but I hope as you read on you might reconsider that.  When Wikipedia first came out in 2001, anyone could put anything on any site, and the pages were often "vandalized" with inaccurate content.  Times have changed, however, and nowadays each page is assigned to multiple editors and those editors are c

A backchannel is a conversation that goes along with the primary lesson, discussion, or activity.  Some of you may already be using a similar tool to support your daily lessons, but for those of you that this is a new concept, read on!  Kahoot is one that most people are familiar with using, Socrative, and Padlet are other backchannel sites.  I will be talking about TodaysMeet. Neither students nor teachers need to have an account to use the site.  To create a backchannel conversation, a teacher would hop on the TodaysMeet site and give their room a name, and then *share their room's URL with the class. Students can then add responses to the room throughout the lesson as they think of them.  You decide when the room closes down, so if you want to keep it open after school hours for homework, you have that option. *Consider using the new Google Tone extension to share the URL.  You can find it in the Chrome Web Store.  Everyone needs to have the extension for it to work, but it

A blendspace is an online tool where multiple digital tools are combined into one interactive lesson.  For example, in one lesson, students would watch a YouTube video, view a slide deck in Google Slides or PowerPoint, complete an online quiz, and answer questions in a Google Doc.  This is an extreme example, but the possibilities are endless! TES Teach with Blendspace is a platform/template that offers these types of lessons.  It's compatible with Google, so signing up for an account is simple- you simply select "log in with Google."  There is already a Lessons Library if you want to dip your toe in with your students with a pre-made lesson, or you can dive right in and create your own. To create a lesson, the process is very seamless.  You can drag and drop into the template or search from any number of sources such as YouTube, Google Drive, Google Images, Dropbox, etc. The lessons you create can then be shared with your students via Google Classroom, email, or y

This is exciting, folks!  Parents finally have some view of Google Classroom.  Here is what it's all about  ( https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6388136 ): Keep track of your student’s classroom progress through guardian email summaries. You can choose the frequency of the emails—daily or weekly—and you can unsubscribe or remove yourself from Classroom at any time. Guardian email summaries include: Missing work —Work that’s late at the time the email was sent Upcoming work —Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or work that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails) Class activity —Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers As a guardian, before you can receive email summaries, you must receive and accept an invitation from your student’s teacher or school.  Here is an example of what a summary looks like. By default, this feature is turned off in your Google Classrooms.  To turn it on, go to the Stude

Welcome back!  As you (hopefully) have heard, this year we are using Skyward as a means to communicate assignments to parents instead of the Google Calendar.  This is less work for you since you are already using Skyward anyway! Instead of reinventing the wheel, I am posting a 3 minute tutorial I found onYouTube that very clearly explains how to post something on the Skyward calendar that is viewable to both students and parents.  There is no need to have any other calendar beyond this point.  Having all teachers post their assignments and classwork in Skyward allows for the students to have everything in one place, so please make sure you are keeping up with this on a weekly basis. Please keep in mind that students will not have access to Skyward until later this week, but after that, they should be logging into their Skyward accounts EVERY DAY!

It's getting to be the end of the year and thus, I'm not going to throw a bunch of new stuff at you.  I'm sure you've heard me try to get you to use Learn360 in the past, and here I am again!  Our district has purchased this streaming service for us so we should put it to good use.  Learn360 has thousands upon thousands of multimedia assets at our fingertips.  If you aren't using it yet, here's how: First, you will need to log in.  I sent the username and password with this week's email so check back for that.  There is a teacher log-in and a student log-in.  Once you've logged in, it can be a bit overwhelming.  You can certainly just search for a topic in the search bar, much like YouTube, but there are many more aspects of this service. When searching, you can search by subject, producer, or even by standard. Next to your search query, you will see the number of results.  Learn360 used to be only video, but not anymore! I did a search for &