Teachers regularly want to print out student work to display in the hallway. There are a couple ways to manage this. Here is one method for printing a class-full of images that is efficient for you. Get the students to add their images to a Google Slide presentation that you have shared with them via Google Classroom.
This technique can be used for any situation where you want to show off your kiddos’ amazing work by hanging it in the hallway or in your classroom. Rather than print each submission from all 20+ of your kids the images can all be included in one document. Opportunities to use this strategy include:
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The first couple of Tech Team meetings we stress the concept of “team.” We play games to make sure that everyone knows each other’s names. We mix up the seating so they get to know and feel comfortable with their teammates. The next step is to make sure they are ready for the rigors of tech support! First they need to know the basics of the iPad including general settings, split screening, and a Spa Treatment. Then they learn how to give support without being an obnoxious know-it-all. The two key things to remember are:
To make it real Betsy and I created a tech support simulation. Each station had a common iPad problem that the Tech Team members needed to fix. They needed to remain friendly and patient while talking the client through the resolution of their problem. We asked the tech department and several folks from admin to man the stations and pose as people with tech problems. It was a big success! Seesaw is a very versatile app. Within Seesaw students can post photos and videos, use the drawing tool, type a paragraph, share a link, or add a file such as Google Slides, Docs, or a Notability document. The versatility is evident not only in WHAT you and your students can do but HOW you use the app: Share with parents OR Only visible to the class Kids can see each other’s work OR Only between teacher and student Use as a portfolio: post only good stuff OR Use for everyday work Available only to your students OR Share with a class across the hall or across the globe Using Seesaw ActivitiesExplore the Activity Library! (use your Seesaw login) Seesaw now allows teachers to post little assignments called Activities. Teachers can create their own Activities or look through the Seesaw Activity Library. Seesaw has created some Activities but most are created by classroom teachers. You can search through the Activity Library by grade level or topic. Explore the Activity Library! You're almost certain to find something interesting created by an engaged, exciting educator like yourself. If you want to talk it over before trying with your class contact your TIS! Just in! A handy new feature from Seesaw...use Seesaw as a student within your own class.
What Does a TIS Do?
I’m taking an online class this summer through Tony Vincent. Classy Videos: Making Videos Awesome. One of my assignments was "Use Animation in a Movie." Check out my homework! "What Does a TIS Do?"
Trouble With Your Interactive White Board?
Test out the tech in your room before students show up. Does your projector turn on? Can you mirror your iPad using Reflector? Is the printer working okay? If not, contact our tech department via a Help Desk ticket. Maria, Yianni, Sam, and Deb, are ready and willing to help you out!
Institute Day, 8/20
Prepare for a 20-minute hands-on tech session on Institute Day. Bring both your laptop AND your iPad fully charged! Extra credit if your iPad is updated to the latest iOS 11.4.1.
Google Classroom - New FeaturesCheck out the resources that Google For Education provides for Google Classroom. Raz Kids
'I have been working with the tech department to populate the teachers
classes within Raz Kids. If I can ask for your patience while we finalize the details I plan to share more info by next week. We hope it will make the use of Raz Kids more convenient for you! iLEAP - Thursday, 8/16
Mark your calendar for Thursday morning, August 16, at 8:00am! Instructional Tech PD sessions designed with you, yes YOU!, in mind. AND get paid!
If you have not already RSVP'd, click here. Bring yourself and your fully charged laptop and iPad for a morning of useful information. The third through fifth graders with whom I work with are getting pretty adept at the technical aspects of dealing with their iPads. They know how to log in to Google Drive, create a new Slide presentation, write text, and add images. Some students recently discovered how to add animated GIFs, moving pictures, to Slides presentations. They think that is awesome! Frequently, though, the images they choose are irrelevant to the topic. The spinning computer or typing dog are just distractions. I think our students are ready for a more evolved level of image integration. As teachers we ask students to add 2-3 images to a presentation. Now we can explain to them that the images, whether static or animated, need to reflect the text. For instance, when researching the Midwest Region Unit students should find images that directly relate to specifics in their writing: a field of wheat when telling about farming in Kansas or the John Hancock building when writing about architecture in Chicago.
The Common Core standards expect that images will "contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story." Integration of Knowledge and Ideas RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting) RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem). Text Types and Purposes W.4.2.A Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. W.5.2.A Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. The Global Read Aloud is, as its name suggests, a global initiative to get students all over the world to experience the same book and have the opportunity to connect with others and discuss their thoughts about the story over the course of six weeks. I had never supported teachers through something like this but was determined to give it a try. Five brave souls, who were also new to the Global Read Aloud, agreed to read the story and connect with other classrooms. Angie Third-grade teacher Angie Levato connected with Jessica Hennelly at Winston Campus Elementary in Palatine. Angie and Jessica used shared Google Docs and set up partners so the students could be pen pals with each other. Having a pen pal provides a truly authentic audience for student writing. The kids WANT to be understood by their pen pals so they make an extra effort to be clear. Maybe for the first time they understand why things like writing conventions and punctuation are important! Writing for clarity and reading for understanding are real life skills. In addition to Google Docs, Angie and Jessica connected their classes via Seesaw. The students created video “selfies” to introduce themselves, discuss the book, and also draw pictures relating to the book. Angie created a new Seesaw class, invited the other teacher to be a co-teacher, then set up each “member” of the class with two names: example Liam/Maddy as one “member” of the class. Either Liam or Maddy could just click on their name to see what their pen pal added to class journal. Angie’s Reflection “My students love the pen pal idea! We plan to invite our new friends to share another book beyond Fenway and Hattie. The hardest part was that the other class didn’t have as much opportunity to use iPads in their building as we do in our shared cart situation. Because of this, my kids sometimes had to wait an extra week to hear back. This is not a travesty, of course, but they were just so excited to hear back from their pen pals. I'd like to be paired with someone who had a similar number of students and the same, consistent access to devices as we do in our class." Kelly Kelly Funk, a fourth-grade teacher connected with Sarah Dime, a third-grade teacher at Jane Addams Elementary in Palatine. All kids had an assigned pen pal with whom they communicated and commented on through Seesaw. The class listened to the story being read through YouTube where a teacher had posted a recording of herself reading the full story. Throughout the time we listened the class stopped and discussed, predicted and questioned the text. Ms. Funk also provided the opportunity for the students to communicate during the reading through a backchannel chat on TodaysMeet.com. Kelly and Sarah coordinated so that the kids did several of the same projects to provide more opportunities for connection and discussion. One STEAM project was making robotic arms (super cool!) and then demonstrating how the mechanism worked while explaining in Seesaw. Classes also built “nests” or homes for Roz and Brightbill, characters in The Wild Robot, and tested the strength of their creations. Ms. Funk’s class also created a graphic novel to summarize the story and share with their third-grade buddies. Finally, the classes met via Google Hangouts as a closing activity. The 4Cs figured prominently throughout this project. Students were able to create through STEAM-based activities and used critical thinking skills to evaluate the effectiveness of their creations. Students were able to communicate and collaborate with each other about different sections in The Wild Robot through writing, video, and literacy skills such as summarizing, visualizing and making connections to the text. Students enjoyed connecting with their “buddy class” and learning more about them. They were excited to respond and build that relationship through sharing literature. Kelly’s Reflection "I really enjoyed the activities we did that were inspired by the the book and the GRA experience. We were able to integrate subject matter and make connections across different content areas. We had a good time learning more about the scientific method, graphing, math skills, simple machines and building/creating. Students were creative, collaborative, had a reason to share their insights, and were more engaged than usual in a read aloud in class. I loved it and think diving deeper into some of the information and topics was so interesting. The students really enjoyed getting to know another group of students and they responded well to the open communication structure of Seesaw. They were able to comment on each other's work and engage in their reading. The book reading schedule was very fast paced. We had many other special events going during those weeks. I would have preferred a more casual or slower pace. In that way we would have more time to dig into the details of the book and explore more of the connections to content areas. Going forward I would like to connect from the start of the year and possibly keep the connection going the rest of the year by continuing to read the same read aloud books together." Laura Fifth-grade teachers Laura Mkrtschjan and Ana Grogan from Baraboo, WI found each other via the GRA page on Edmodo. These classes began their connection by doing a Mystery Google Hangout. The students had to guess each other’s location. This provided a nice way to get to know the other class. Each week, 3-4 questions were posted on Padlet. After writing their original response, the kids were required to reply to two responses from the students in the other class each week. Knowing that students in another class were going to read their responses made the students more motivated and excited to post. The authentic audience gave them a purpose for writing. It also exposed them to perspectives that were different from their own. Laura’s Reflection "Because they had an authentic audience my students were more motivated to write. I noticed that they were paying more attention to punctuation and capitalization. As the weeks went by they started looking for the names of students in the other class that they had responded to in the past. The students also paid more attention to the read aloud because they knew they would be discussing questions with the other class. One thing I would change would be giving each student a “buddy” in the other class. Before starting the Padlet I would have them connect via Seesaw or write a letter back and forth. I think seeing a student in the other class more frequently would have made the experience more fun for the students and also given them a reminder of the authentic audience." Alison's Reflection
I am so glad that these teachers participated in the Global Read Aloud. Reading a common book is a great opportunity for students to have casual discussions about characters and plot. Connecting to the classes outside our district was the real eye opener. Everything that is said about how writing for an authentic audience motivates students proved true. The kids cared more about making sure that their writing was understood. Closer attention was paid when the story was read because they knew they'd be discussing it with their pen pals. I look forward to spreading the word and connecting even more classrooms next year for Global Read Aloud 2018! YouTube is both a blessing and a curse for young people today. There is a ton of helpful, how-to videos on everything from jump starting your car to putting on makeup to making a three-course meal. There are also plenty of videos that can support our curriculum and engage students. With the good comes the bad though. YouTube is filled with videos that are not appropriate for young kids. Even videos that are not inherently bad could cause a HUGE distraction if they were available to students via their 1:1 devices. This is the reason that the main URL for YouTube is blocked by the D23 filters. A workaround is available. SafeYouTube.net. Here's how it works:
Now a caveat: any URLs created by SafeYouTube.net will play on student devices. Be absolutely sure that the "safe" URL that you share with students is the video that you intended them to see. Also, try to keep this trick quiet around students. They could also create "safe" links at home then share with friends at school.
Be safe and enjoy sharing engaging, educational videos with your students! Google listens to feedback from their users. They regularly apply it by updating and improving their products. Here are some of the latest teacher-requested improvements. Display class code: Teachers can now display the class code large enough that everyone in the room can read it.
Single view of student work: Click on the student's name to see all of their work and the status of each of their assignments. Reorder classes: Rearrange your Google Classrooms on your home page. Decimal grading: It's finally possible! Partial credit! Read the full blog post from Google on The Keyword: 10 ways we're making Classroom and Forms easier for teachers this school year. Seesaw is a wonderful tool for sharing and showcasing student work. In the most recent update, students can import files directly from Google Drive to Seesaw. Images and Movies Any photos, screenshots, or Pic Kids that students have made can import directly to Seesaw. Same with any movies created with
Google Docs and Google Slides Docs, Slides, and Sheets can only exist in Google Drive. When these files are imported into Seesaw they will become PDFs. This means that the files will not be editable WITHIN SEESAW. The files will still exist in Google Drive and can be edited there. When the PDF imports to Seesaw students can add a caption or voice recording to the first page of the PDF. They cannot draw or add text labels (yet!).
I encourage you to watch the three-minute tutorial in the Seesaw Help Center to see how to use this new feature for the first time. Want to learn more about the many different ways to use Seesaw in your classroom? Contact me, [email protected]! Great idea to support an important theme Third graders in bilingual teacher Ms. Emily Butts’ class are pretty emoji-savvy! They read Jake Drake: Bully Buster by Andrew Clements as a whole class novel study using Google Classroom. After reading and analyzing the book in many ways the students completed a final project incorporating emoji. The students were very engaged since they had wanted to use emoji throughout the novel study! Emily considered the students' desire to use emoji and created a project where students would retell/summarize the entire book using only emoji. Emily had an image of an iPhone with text bubbles but no words. She shared it with her students via Google Classroom. They took a screenshot and uploaded to Seesaw so that they could put emoji on top of the texting bubbles. Students worked in pairs to encourage discussion about what details were important to include and which emoji best represented the details in the story. Didn’t go smoothly at first Emily’s first thought was to put the iPhone template into a Google Slide presentation and share. Using iPads the students would type emoji into text boxes. We discovered that many of the iPad emoji didn’t show up! This is certainly due to some disconnect between Apple and Google. (Boo!) Emily adapted quickly and discovered that Seesaw worked perfectly. Include speaking fluency After the students retold the story with emoji they recorded themselves explaining the story verbally within Seesaw. Students could now see and hear each other's version of the emoji retell. This, in turn, sparked even more conversation about the theme of Jake Drake: Bully Buster as well as discussion about the retellings. Common Core home run
This project supported many third grade Common Core standards. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.5 Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details. When creating an assignment (or announcement or question) in Google Classroom the default is that ALL students will see the assignment. Teachers can now choose to send an assignment to specific students. In the example above the teacher is only sharing the Google Slides presentation with group recorders, Amy and Hannah. The instructions say, "If you see this post you are the RECORDER for your group. Open the "Science Project" slide presentation then share it with all members of your group. After all of your group's work is completed, you, the RECORDER, are the only one to turn it in." Teachers can also use this feature for differentiation. Give Group A a different assignment than Group B (different novel, different reading level, etc.). If you have used this feature in another situation, let me know! |
Alison MahoneyLearning with third through fifth grade students and teachers! Archives
December 2018
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