Teaching with Technology

Using educational technology to enhance the learning environment and increase student engagement!

Back-to-School 2019: My Plan for the First Day

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Heeeyyyy! Happy Thursday! As I’m gearing up for year 12 (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!) and reviewing my first day of school activities, I thought I’d share them with you! If you’re on Twitter (give me a follow @Bethany_Petty) then you know back-to-school activities and what you do on the first day has been the subject of MUCH debate. Do you dive in with procedures? Start with the syllabus? Do a “get to know you” activity? Join Google Classroom and bookmark other websites? Here’s my plan for the first day of school this year – which is today 🙂

First, a little backstory … I teach American Government, Advanced American Government, and dual credit high school Social Studies classes that are made up of juniors and seniors. My Advanced Government class is a semester and coupled with college American Political Systems (College Government) the second semester. American Government classes are a full year and my dual credit classes are each a semester in length. (I also teach Educational Technology online for our local junior college – I have ALL the preps, and I love it!)

Our first day of school bell schedule is pretty interesting. During first hour, our administration meets with the juniors and seniors for about 45 minutes, then those students go to their first hour and our freshmen and sophomores meet with our admin for the same amount of time. First hour, this probably goes without saying, is extended on the first day. Second through fourth hours are abbreviated in length (about 30 minutes) and fifth through seventh hours are the normal 47-48 minutes long. This is the ONE day during the year that I am totally fine with having first-hour prep!

So, if you’re like me and have multiple sections of the same class at various times throughout the day, planning for the first day can be a tad on the interesting side. Instead of diving right into joining Google Classroom, bookmarking websites, and discussing the syllabus, we’re playing a “get to know you” game, which is more for my benefit than it is for my students!

Students will work with a partner to scan QR Codes placed around the room and answer the prompt it poses. One QR Code, for example, says “find someone who is in Band.” My students most likely know who in their class is in Band, but I have no idea! So, as they’re scanning and asking their classmates questions, I’m walking the classroom getting to know my students and having conversations with them. I also volunteer myself as a source for QR Code responses. It’s a fun way to get to know my students on the first day!

If you’d like to use this activity, go for it! Click here to access the QR Code list and create a Google Form with 16 short answer questions, or have your students use a piece of paper!

Happy Back-to-School Season! Thanks for reading 🙂

 

5 Top Tips for Using Google Classroom – Tip #2

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Happy Sunday! How are you soaking up the last few days of your summer break? The online classes that I taught for our local junior college officially ended on Tuesday last week, so I’ve spent a few days away from my computer, reflecting on the school year that was and the school year that is to come, and embracing the last few days of my afternoon naps 🙂 If you’re a parent of older kids, you probably understand how amazing it is to say, “ok, we’re going to rest for a bit and watch a movie, and Mommy might shut her eyes for a few minutes,” and not have to worry about them falling down the steps, choking on a toy, or standing up in their crib. I love the raising babies stage of parenting, but I’m also digging the independence that my daughters have! As I’m coming back to my computer and setting up my sections in Google Classroom, I thought I should share another top tip for using Classroom this school year! Here comes tip #2!

TOPICS – USE THEM!
When Classroom was first unveiled a few years ago, it seriously stressed me out. Like for real. It was a basic platform which was part of the beauty of Classroom, but I missed the option to organize my posts and assignments. My students were used to working in Edmodo or Schoology, and craved the folders that those programs offered. When I would assign something on Classroom, my students would see it at first but, as more information was added, they resorted to “CTRL+F” to find their assignment — first world problems, right? 😉

Topics have completely fixed that problem for my students and their dear teacher. When adding a new assignment, material, announcement or question for your students, simply add to or create a topic that will be attached to whatever you’re sending out. Students will be able to click on the topic on the left side of the screen and immediately see all information attached to it. WOOHOO!

Google made a great update to Classroom last school year that lists newly added information at the top of the stream. AND teachers can now drag assignments within Topics AND drag Topics to different locations on the stream. YAYAYAY!

How do you use Topics in Google Classroom? I create a topic for each unit and also create a “bonus Topic” with extension activities for students to access throughout the year. When we’ve completed a unit, I typically update the Topic for those unit assignments to “Completed” or “First Quarter,” etc., to clear up their stream even more. I’d love to hear how you use Topics, too!

I hope you enjoy the last few days of your summer break! Thanks for reading 🙂

Reflection and Planning for 2019 – Changes for the New School Year

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Hey, all! The end of July is upon us! After the 4th of July, something magical happens in my teacher-brain and it slowly switches from summer, naps, and Netflix, to what am I going to change for next year to enhance student learning? Planning for 2019 has officially commenced! Check out a few changes I’m making in my classes for the new school year!

HyperDocs
Holy moly. When I stumbled upon the HyperDoc Handbook a few years ago, it was quite literally a gamechanger for me as a teacher. HyperDocs have allowed me to step back and focus on intentional lesson design using technology in a meaningful way, to enhance student learning. HyperDocs are a perfect fit for my in-class flipped classroom because I’m able to provide my students with intentional instruction through videos (assigned with Edpuzzle) AND give them opportunities to apply and assess their learning. It’s great! I’m making a change this year on my Apply page of my HyperDoc. Typically this is where my students choose a product to create that demonstrates their understanding. This year, my students will complete an ELF (evidence of learning form) for videos they complete that are tied to our learning targets. Then, they will have a quarterly “CREATE” assignment, which requires them to choose a path to show what they have learned. They can also complete a CREATE assignment for bonus points during each unit.

Check out these links for specifics –>
Foundations and Formations of Government HyperDoc
Foundations and Formations of Government Pre-Assessment and ELFs

Schoology to Google Classroom
Google has made some pretty fantastic updates to Classroom since I first started using it many years ago. Now, with the question feature, I can pose a question to my class and give students the opportunity to comment on their classmates’ posts. This allows me to use Classroom for discussion boards! WOOHOO! I’ve tried this with my online educational technology class and it is fantastic! If I don’t have to have assignments in multiple places, I won’t!

With the update to Google Forms that allows teachers to lock browsers – and the simple fact that Forms dumps data into a nice, neat spreadsheet that I can do so many things with, I’m moving my tests from Schoology to Classroom!

What changes are you making for next year?

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

3 Reasons to Read Illuminate Before School Starts

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Hey, all! Happy Tuesday! We’re officially in the second half of summer – if you’re like me, the Fourth of July marks the halfway point. My back to school dreams have started and my wheels have been turning, thinking about changes and updates I’m making in my classroom for the new year! Are you looking for ideas and energy to jumpstart your back to school planning? Illuminate is the book for you! Here are my top three reasons that teachers should read Illuminate before school starts:

1. Motivation (XP, Take What You Need)
A few years ago, I learned about the concept of gamification of learning at a conference and immediately thought, “this seems like a lot of extra work.” I fell into the same motivation slump that my students were experiencing – teacher facepalm moment. When I finally jumped into the gamification pool, the results were awesome! Students love earning XP for completing assignments, “bonus missions,” and winning games. I often find myself “throwing XP around like confetti” to help give my students that extra boost of encouragement. Check out Chapter 8 of Illuminate for a guide to getting started with XP and gamification!

2. Virtual Field Trips (Google Earth, Nearpod)
My students LOVE going on virtual field trips. Heck, I LOVE going on virtual field trips! Really, though … who doesn’t?! It’s fun, educational, and super engaging for students at all grade levels. As a high school Social Studies teacher, we use virtual field trips almost daily to connect with places, people, and concepts we’re learning about. Are you discussing the branches of government? Check out the White House, Supreme Court building, and the Capitol building! Learning about French monarchies? Tour the Palace of Versailles! The possibilities are endless and the result is an engaging component to your lesson, using technology. Interested in learning more about taking your students on virtual tours, but also helping them create their own virtual reality? You’ll love Chapter 2 of Illuminate!

3. Demonstrate Learning with Memes (IMG Flip, Google Drawings)
Memes … they’re EVERYWHERE! We see them, and so do our students. When we can connect pop culture with class content, student engagement can go through the roof! As a year-end activity, my Government students create memes that describe concepts they’ve learned in class. I preface the activity with this: “pretend that you’ve just met someone who only speaks ‘meme’ and you must explain the concept of ________ to them using a meme.” The products that my students create are fantastic! Definitely check out Chapter 3 of Illuminate for more tips on using memes in your classroom, but also how to encourage your students to create representations of what they’ve learned!

Have you read Illuminate, yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading 🙂

5 Top Tips for Using Google Classroom Series – Tip #1

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Hello, all! I’m still here! I’ve taken a brief timeout from blogging, social media-ing, etc., while my family and I were on vacation. We got back from Florida late last night before Tropical Storm Barry made landfall, and we had a great time! I don’t know about you, but I can definitely tell that we’re in the second half of summer vacation because I’ve been having these random ideas pop into my head about different ideas, strategies, and tools to use in my classroom in the fall – I guess it’s in my teacher DNA! If you’ve been keeping up with the Google Classroom updates and additions that have been rolling out over the last few weeks, you’re likely SUPER pumped, especially if you’ve been a Classroom user for a while. The new grade book looks fantastic, the rubrics (for those in beta testing) are fabulous, and it looks like locked mode will be available for GSuite users in August. All of this in addition to the fantastic features of Classroom that we already know and love!

All of these changes and updates can get overwhelming. As I share in Illuminate, with all of the tech available for teachers and students, sometimes we can be tempted to throw up our hands and say, ” I just figured it out! Stop changing!” To combat that urge and share my favorite tips for using Google Classroom, I decided to create this quick guide for teachers. I’ll be sharing a one-pager in the next few days 🙂

Tip #1: Add the Share to Classroom Extension
Holy moly. The Share to Classroom extension is a huge hit in my classroom. When I presented earlier this year (in 4 states over 5 days!) my students biggest piece of advice for me to give was to tell the teachers to add the Share to Classroom extension or, as they call it, “the push thing.” Why? Because it’s easier for them to access resources, games, etc., that I share with them. Yes, I could write the link on the whiteboard. Yes, I could post the link on Classroom. But they just LOVE that I can push the resource directly to them!

How can you use this lovely extension in your classroom? Talk to your Google admin and request the Share to Classroom extension be pushed out to student and teacher Chromebooks. Or, if that route doesn’t work, and your students are able to add extensions on their devices, walk them through the steps of adding an extension.

When you add the extension, you’ll be able to click on the icon on your extension bar and see a list of classes that are associated with the Google account with which you’re signed into Chrome.

Next, access a resource you want to share with your students – websites that I share with my students range from primary and secondary sources, contemporary issues articles, to links to play Kahoot! or Quizizz – yes, the URLs for those websites are super short and easy to type, but if the teacher can just push it to you … ha!

From the Share to Classroom icon, you’ll be able to create an assignment or announcement with the resource, ask a question, or push the resource to students. Select the class section and push! That’s it!

The extension will push the resource to your students and it will “magically appear” in the bottom portion of your student’s screen. After a brief pause (1-3 seconds usually) the resource will open in a new tab on student devices.

WOOHOO!

I love using Share to Classroom when I’m out for the day to encourage my students to remain on task. I open a new Google Doc and push the blank doc to my students. As they appear on the doc, I type “get to work!’ in funky red font. It’s great!

What are your favorite uses for Share to Classroom? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Check back soon for tip #2!

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading 🙂