Tech Bytes

I am so excited. So excited, that I am carving out time to write a blog post; something I haven’t done in quite a while. I was texted a blog post: Cult of Pedagogy - 6 Ed Tech Tools to try in 2018 by the middle school principal. Let me just say, I haven’t been this excited about a new tech tool since I was introduced to Flipgrid. Are you curious yet about the tool? How about now? InsertLearning.com I am just going to call it a game changer for literacy! At least in my humble view. “How does it work”, I can hear you thinking. You can take any article from the internet, add questions (multiple choice and discussion), highlight important text, leave notes, and add YouTube videos and images. You can also record yourself reading. Then, you can assign the article through your Google Classroom. Not only is this an excellent resource for teachers to create documents for their students, this is an excellent way for students to read and process text. Students can re...

I attended a workshop hosted by Region 13 with guest speaker Ian Byrd. It was an excellent workshop. Below you will find some of my favorite takeaways.

One of my high school English teachers needed an idea for a unit. I worked up A Life in Music . It allows students to focus on their life events that have shaped them to this point and then select a song that represents that moment. When they are finished, they write a poem/story using the titles of the songs. If you are looking for a song that is a perfect example of this form of writing, check out Kyle Parks’ Fit for the King . Background for those of you who are not from Texas, Mr. Park used the titles or lyrics of all of his favorite George Strait (The King of Country) songs to write his song. The lesson outline: Brainstorm up to 10 major events in your life: Can be done as whole class or small group For each event write a short description or related keywords. Narrow the list to 5 events (optional) Pick 5 songs that are related in some way to your event. The songs must be appropriate: No inappropriate language or derogatory remarks about any group ...

Getting our students to use content vocabulary and talk about what they have been learning not only improves their verbal skills but it also creates engagement and increases retention of knowledge. It is difficult in 45 minutes for all of our students to have the opportunity to express themselves. Once again, technology is coming to the rescue. One of the resources I have been introduced to is Flipgrid. https://info.flipgrid.com/ This is an easy to use tool, so easy to use, you could launch it tomorrow in your classroom. A few suggestions for how to use follow: English Students complete the required reading for their chapter and then answer questions. What do you think will happen next? What would happen if...? Why is ________ important to the story? How would the story change if the character was removed? What do you think a good solution to the problem in the story would be? Math How did you solve problem #...? What would happen if you changed ____ to ____? T...

I was looking through my blog posts and was surprised to find that I had not shared my favorite tool. Using this tool can revolutionize your classroom.   How many of you would love to know if what students were supposed to learn today was actually learned? How many of you would love to know if students actually read the assigned reading the night before? How many of you would love to know if students are actually listening while you are talking? Well, I have a way for you to gather that information.   Gradecam.com is an excellent resource for the classroom teacher. The free version allows teachers up to 10 question choices.   This video from Gradecam gives you an overview of how the product works. Below the video, you will find suggestions and ideas for ways to use Gradecam in your classroom.   Teachers Have the Power with GradeCam from GradeCam on Vimeo .   Gradecam Suggestions: Exit Tickets At the end of class, have prepared questio...

While at TCEA 2017, I discovered Google Slides has begun to offer a Q&A feature. This is an interesting tool for presentations. By using Slides Q&A, a presenter has the ability to collect real time feedback from audience members. Audience members can post questions or comments and other members can like the question or post letting the presenter know what audience members would be interested in hearing more about.   **An important point for teachers, there is the ability to check anonymous when posting. Teachers will want to be sure they have a protocol set for their students.

February 2017 I have created a resource that includes Google Add-ons, Extensions, & Apps that are beneficial to you and/or your students. Click here: https://www.smore.com/w80p4 Included in the resource are the following tools: g(Math) Easybib (Google Doc add-on) Speech to Text (Google Doc add-on) CloudConvert Text to Speech (Google extension - reads highlighted text)

Cell phones in the classroom can be an extremely useful engagement tool for your students. However, they can be a distraction if not managed properly. I was working with one of my teachers at the high school and she pulled up this really cool idea  that she had found on Pinterest for cell phone management.  I have included a link here  to the original blogger. The teacher behind the idea, Brit Bingold, is a high school English teacher and had several suggestions for the classroom. The first drawer of the tower is for cellphones. The rest can be used for school supplies or books. If you are looking for new ideas for your room, I highly recommend her blog. Get inspired for the upcoming school year.   The first drawer of the tower is for cell phones and the other drawers are for supplies and items needed for class. Learn more by reading Brit's blog.  Click here to read her blog.  Bingold, Brittany. Desk Towers. Digital image. The Bits of Brit...

Do you love Kahoot? Do you love Google Classroom? Do I have a new resource for you! Quizizz is a website that allows the teacher to create multiplayer games that can be played at school (similar to Kahoot), however these games can be played at home as well! The teacher creates the game with any multiple choice questions and then assigns the quiz through Google Classroom. Students click on the link, prompted to choose their Google account, then input their user name. After that is simple game play. Quizizz offers reports with the student name and results. It could be used for formative or informative assessment. It is a great tool to add to your belt of engagement tools. ​If you have any questions or would like to learn more, let me know. I will be happy to help you get started or share ideas for your classroom. ​ Resources: http://quizizz.com/ http://quizizz.com/resources - quick slide show that explains Quizizz and how to use

If you have used Kahoot, you know how competition can increase student engagement in your classroom. Another such tool has been shared with me.   Vocabulary.com is a place for participants to learn vocabulary. It is set up in a game format where participants can earn badges and points by completing activities in the process of learning vocabulary words. Participants can study, participate in a practice activity, and try their hand at the spelling bee. While learning the vocabulary, participants are given the definition of the word, an explanation, as well as the option of hearing the word spoken. Vocabulary.com is an excellent resource for educators as well. Teachers can set up classes, use list which have already been created, or create their own list that relate to their current assignment. Students join the class through the use of a class code. Teachers can then track how much time they are spending on the website and how their learning is progressing. However, the...

Do you have students who need text read to them? If so, there is a Google Add On that can be found in the Chrome Web Store called SpeakIt!.  SpeakIt! allows a student to highlight text while on the Internet and have it read to them. This is a great tool for students who have difficulty with reading comprehension, who may be slow readers, or students who have dyslexia. This tool is a quick way for your student to help themselves instead of waiting on someone else to solve the problem, or worse yet, don't complete an assignment due to their reading difficulty. If you are a Google school or if your students have a personal Google account, they can use this Add On.  Watch the instructional video to learn how to add this to Google Chrome.

As many of you have begun to try new and creative ways to engage your students with your curriculum by using technology, I wanted to offer encouragement. There will be times when lessons fail: because the technology doesn’t work, because the lesson wasn’t completely thought out, because the idea was good, but the execution left something to be desired. Whatever the case may be, when you are being creative and takings risks, failure will happen. Robert F. Kennedy said “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”. He wasn’t saying we should embrace failure, rather embrace the purpose of failure, which is to learn from it. I came across a three part article written by Michal Eynon-Lynch, the second of which is titled, “ Failing Toward Success ”. In this article, she address how as educators, we should respond to students work, especially when they do not reach the standard set. However, I also think the article relates to how we should respond to our own teaching m...

I discovered yesterday, that NASA is having a container design contest for students age 5 to 19. I have introduced the contest to my students and shared the information with a few others. I am including a link here for anyone who would like more information. NASA Challenges Students to Design 3-D Space Containers In my class, students will be using SketchUp Pro to create their 3-D drawings. We have just started using this software at my school and the students really seem to enjoy it. I will be working with the math and science teachers in the Fall of 2015 to implement 3-D drawings in their classes. I can't wait to see what we can create! As a public school, the company provided us the software free of charge. There was some paperwork to fill out but it was a simple process. So far, the students have created houses, golf courses, tanks, and boats. For more information about SketchUp Pro, simply click here. 

I have been really focused on integrating technology into the secondary math classroom. I came across this blog post from "talkin heads TECHNOLOGY". I did not realize you could create graphs in this way using Google. Check out their latest entry on "Graphing with Google". Graphing with Google

I like to talk ideas out; it helps me gain a better understanding of what it is I know and what it is I don’t know. Also, when others express their ideas, I am able to learn  and approach an idea from another point of view. When students discuss their ideas and explain their reasoning, they gain insights into their own thinking. Also, by hearing a peers explanation of a topic can increase understanding. I may not fully understand the way a teacher explains a concept with academic language but a peers language may make complete sense to me. Class time is a very limited commodity. One way to include class discussions in your math class is with digital discussion boards. The use of digital discussion boards has many benefits. First, it gives every student in the classroom a voice. Second, student misconceptions can be identified and addressed more quickly as well as allowing students the opportunity to evaluate others’ mathematical thinking. Third, all students are held accountab...

Sometimes as teachers we can feel as if we are walking through a dry desert and the new ideas just won't flow. However, I just returned from the TCEA Conference (Texas Computer Education Association) held in Austin which was like an Oasis. I was introduced to many new things this year and I was inspired to get my blog updated again. We are hearing often in the education field about formative assessment. Often, we get to the end of a unit, we give our unit test, kids aren't successful, and we move on because there is so much to cover before the end of the year. By assessing our students often, we can better gauge if students are learning and if they aren't, we can adjust our teaching. But assessment takes time. As the teacher, you may have to grade up to 175 papers and that doesn't count the time it takes to then break down the results to see what the students know and what they don't know. I have discovered there are resources out there for teachers that can hel...

As a teacher, I am always striving to find new and innovative ways to improve my students learning. The newest innovation is the Flipped Classroom. With this type of learning environment teachers video/record or provide resources for their lessons, the students use the resources on their own time and then come to class to do “homework” and to work with the teacher and other students on what they have learned or did not understand. By teaching in this way students are allowed to learn at their own pace and to receive the help needed.  One way to flip the classroom that I use is to incorporate LiveBinders into my classroom (see earlier blog post for information about Livebinders). I started teaching stop motion/claymation to my students 2 to 3 years ago in the traditional manner. The projects I received from my students were decent. Last year, I decided to try something new. I created a binder in LiveBinders that included resources for every aspect of the claymation process alo...

I have been utilizing my new favorite resource in class - http://www.livebinders.com/. This is an excellent free resource for teachers and trainers. LiveBinders is a website where users gather information into a virtual notebook. The notebook has tabs where internet resources (websites, videos, and blogs) can be added by the user. There is a plethora of notebooks already created that can be used in the classroom. Users can also create their own notebook pages with information they would like to share. Students have been using my LiveBinder to learn how to create Claymation projects.  My favorite aspect of LiveBinders is that I can add all the websites and YouTube videos for my students to my pages. Students have everything they need access to without going to the internet and searching, typing URL’s incorrectly, or getting sidetracked by other things on the internet. LiveBinders also plays the YouTube videos inside the LiveBinder window. By playing the video inside LiveBinders, s...

A blog is defined as "A web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, Observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other web sites" . (reference - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Blog ) Blogs are an excellent resource for any learning environment. Blogs are an outstanding way for instructors to assess learning and have students share their opinions and ideas. Students can access blogs in the classroom, from home, from their phones, and anywhere else there is an internet connection. They can be used in any classroom for any assignment. By blogging students are free to express their complete ideas in a safe non-judgmental setting. One way to use a blog in the classroom is as a discussion board. Teachers can provide questions to student that create critical thinking. Instead of asking yes/no questions, ask students open ended questions, answers that they must defend using vocabulary related to the lesson. For exa...

PowerPoint is a powerful multimedia tool and when used correctly can create more opportunities for learning. I have provided a link to a small final PowerPoint that uses audience interaction, video, and a few notes on creating an engaging learning environment. Be sure you read the notes in the notes pane of the slides. Example PowerPoint Next Blog: Using blogs in a learning environment.