Teaching with Technology

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

Looking Ahead – 3 Ideas for Classroom Technology

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Hello, all! I hope your summer is off to a great start and, if your school is still in session, or if you’re teaching summer school like me, I hope you’re having a blast doing what you love! Like many of you, I find myself thinking ahead to the upcoming school year before the current school year even ends, and as ideas were popping into my head during the last few weeks, I frantically told Siri to put them in my Reminders! I have a few ideas jumping around about different procedural changes and instructional practices that I plan to implement in the 2018-2019 school year, and I just had to share! Here are three ideas for classroom technology that I’m toying with right now!

Courtesy Mode 
I am a huge proponent of allowing students to use devices in my classroom – Chromebooks, iPads, cell phones, etc. Using devices has become a part of the fabric of our culture, and mobile Internet browsers, social media, YouTube and the like are not going away! However, I am going to implement a “courtesy mode” policy in my classes next year that encourages students to use their devices respectfully. In creating this policy, I’m not necessarily trying to restrict any device freedom that they think they have or should have. Rather, I’m trying to prepare them for respectful device use outside of my classroom, in college, and in their future careers. The policy is still in the works but will include: FaceDown (instead of FaceTime – get it?!) and earbuds out – still coming up with a “punny” phrase for that!

Show What You Know Websites 
One of my goals for the 2017-2018 school year was to offer my students more choice when it comes to showing what they’ve learned. My Show What You Know bingo cards encourage students to create games, essays, videos, graphic organizers, infographics, conversations, etc., but, given the user-friendly nature of the new Google Sites, I’ll add creating a website to the list of options. I’m imagining a digital portfolio that demonstrates their understanding of course concepts. It could be a beautiful thing to behold!

Flipgrid Freakout 
To say Flipgrid is an awesome tool would be a vast understatement. However, I feel like I “underuse” it in my classroom. Next year, I will remedy that problem and encourage students to reflect through Flipgrid more often! Right now, I offer a Flipgrid contemporary issues bonus opportunity through which students can share their ideas and opinions of current events in a grid. Next year, I hope to expand my use of Flipgrid to include reflections on what they’ve learned through instructional videos, video explanations of landmark cases, as well as the current events bonus opportunities. Sounds like fun, right?!

What are you planning for the 2018-2019 school year?

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Thanks for reading 🙂

Hosting Digital Study Session with Padlet and Remind

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Good morning and happy Friday! My dual credit American History students are taking their first assessment today and many are freaking out. You remember those days, right? The first time you took a test in a class and weren’t quite sure what to expect? I certainly remember the anxiety that came with the first test — basically, all of the tests — so I wanted to create a study tool for my students to ease their fears. Since this idea popped into my head at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, creating a digital tool was the only option available! Thank goodness for Padlet and Remind! Here’s what I did …

 

Create a Padlet Wall
If you’ve read any of my posts over the past 4 years (thank you!), you know that I absolutely love Padlet. It’s easy to use and share and the kind people at Padlet have added so many fabulous new features! To create a digital study session, simply create a new Padlet wall and TURN ON the commenting feature in the settings. This is extremely important because it allows students to not only post their questions but also comment on their classmates’ posts to offer help. Collaboration among students is so fantastic to behold!

Share the Padlet through Remind
Remind has really been a gamechanger for my classroom. A few years ago, I started using Remind to send out … wait for it … REMINDers to my students about tests, assignments, etc. Now, my students can send me direct messages through Remind and we can have conversations in a documented environment outside the walls of the classroom. My students know that when I’m out of the classroom for any reason, they can send me a message and I’ll respond just as quickly as possible. Remind is AWESOME! To jumpstart the digital study session, I shared the link to the Padlet through Remind. All of my students signed up for Remind, and all of them received the digital study session!

The response from my students was FABULOUS and is most definitely something that I will do again – in all of my classes! I feel like I’m gushing, but the collaboration that I observed was absolutely fantastic.

Thanks for reading 🙂

EdTech in My Classroom: Google Cast for Education

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Well, friends. I did it. Yesterday, I turned in my Apple TV – my beloved Apple TV that I used during every class period, every day about 5 years ago. I loved being able to use my iPad with my Apple TV to move around the classroom, display fabulous apps like Google Earth, and sketch out concepts and examples for my students. Two Google tools, however, have made my Apple TV an unnecessary tool for my classroom: my new touchscreen Chromebook and Google Cast for Education.

These tools are not brand-spanking new products to the EdTech scene. Google Cast for Education debuted as a Chrome app in 2016, and was updated in July of this year to function as an extension instead of an app.

I played around with the original Google Cast for Education app in 2016 and, while I thought the premise was fabulous -> allowing students to share work with their peers and allowing me to cast information for the class from anywhere in the room -> it was far too clunky for me to use in my classroom. We know that this is the case with many tools … thankfully, many of them improve over time. Google Cast for Education, in its original Chrome app form, just didn’t past the test for me to use in my classroom.

The update for Google Cast for Education is fantastic! It’s an extension – you know I LOVE extensions – and super-easy to use. To get started with Google Cast for Education …
1. Check with your Google admin to make sure you’re good to go!2. Teachers download the Google Cast for Education extension
3. Name the device your students (and you with your Chromebook) will cast to … I named mine “Mrs. Petty’s Desktop”

When you’re ready to share a resource from your Chromebook …
1. Access your Chrome browser settings (three little dots in the top right corner of the screen)
2. Select “cast”
3. You’ll be greeted with a welcome message … just click “ok, got it” … and will be asked what you would like to cast -> your tab or desktop
4. Next, you’ll choose the location you’ll be casting to
5. Voila! You’re casting your Chromebook screen to your projector with no wires!

Students can cast to their teachers desktop as well …
1. Teachers can grant access to groups of students or individual students through Google Classroom or by email
2. When granting access to a group, you’ll be asked how that group will be able to access your casting device -> choose “can request”
3. When students are ready to share their screen, they follow the same steps as the teacher – Chrome settings – cast – select the teacher’s desktop.
4. Voila!

I love using Google Cast for Education with my touchscreen Chromebook because I’m still able to get the feel of writing on my iPad and sharing it with my students. Now, my students can do the same thing!

Download the Google Cast for Education extension and try it out in your classroom!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Rug-Ed ProLOCK iPad Case – Product Review

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*In exchange for a review, I was provided with one Rug-Ed ProLOCK iPad case and an iPad Air*

Even though my building uses Chromebooks, I LOVE to use my iPad for instructional purposes in my 1:1 classroom! While my students are working on HyperDocs or flipped videos, I’m walking around with my iPad, answering questions, drawing demonstrations, showing additional resources, etc. I also use my iPad during lectures with my dual credit classes to manage my Nearpod presentations! I LOVE using my iPad!

My most important job in life, however, is not a teacher. I love my career and my students, but being a mommy is pretty much the best role in the world! My daughters, ages 5 and 6, each use an iPad at home for educational purposes and, of course, for fun 🙂 Sometimes I wish they would be as excited about cleaning their rooms as they are about watching someone unwrap a chocolate egg on YouTube to see what’s inside …

When Rug-Ed contacted me about reviewing their ProLOCK iPad case, I knew I could offer a thorough review from two perspectives – that of a teacher AND a mommy!

One of the first features of the ProLOCK iPad case that I noticed is that it is LIGHTWEIGHT! I’m not lugging it around my classroom as I help students with content. It also fits well in my purse, which is awesome 🙂 I like the options provided by the stand/cover to display or type.

The ProLOCK case also allows easy access to the charging ports and provides an unobstructed camera view.

The handle … oh, the handle! I love the sleek handle! I never feel like I’m going to drop my iPad!

My daughters also like the ProLOCK case and are already asking when they can have one for their iPads 🙂 Earlier this week, my oldest daughter, Hanna, was working on her book blog – she’s only 6! She loves reading Katie Woo books and is so excited that the Epic app has dozens of Katie Woo books! Of course, she wanted to read a book that we don’t physically have at home, and her iPad was dead. (This, friends, is a cause of major meltdown in the Petty household – when one OR BOTH iPads are dead!) She asked if she could use my iPad to access the Epic app and I happily obliged. If my kids are asking to read … I’m almost never going to say no! She grabbed my iPad and said, “oooh this isn’t heavy and it has a handle!” After she finished her book, our daughter, Molly asked if she could use it to “do ABC Mouse” and, after much persuasion, Hanna reluctantly gave the iPad to her sissy.

This, friends is why I typically get two of everything 🙂

This iPad case is awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great case! The great people at Rug-Ed products are offering one lucky Teaching with Technology reader their own Rug-Ed ProLOCK iPad case! Register for the giveaway by completing the form below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

 

 

Homework – A few reasons why I don’t assign it

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Hello, friends! I hope your school year is off to a fabulous start! For many of you, this is probably your first day back in the classroom. For others, myself included, the school year is already in full swing! I’ve been meaning to share this post for a few months now. Since we’re back to school I figured this was the perfect time to talk about my changing views of homework, and why I no longer assign it.

Here are the main reasons I don’t assign homework in my classes:

  1. My In-Class Flip –> A few years ago, I flipped my classroom and required all of my students to view instructional videos that I created for them at home. I found that students who completed the video assignments as homework were well-prepared for the class activities while those who didn’t, surprise surprise, were not ready to work when they came into the classroom. Instead of relying on many variables falling into place at home (more about this in point 2!), I decided to restructure my class time to include time for students to complete their instructional video and accompanying assignment. This is FANTASTIC for many reasons, but mainly because the students have multiple resources available to help them with content they may not understand from the video – their classmates and ME. Already this year I’ve found that I’m able to provide more personalized and individualized instruction for my students as they’re completing their flipped video assignments in class. I have tables organized into pods in my high school Social Studies classroom. While students are engaging in video assignments, I walk from table to table with my iPad or Chromebook and re-explain certain concepts, draw out examples, etc. It’s awesome to be able to engage with my students in a more individualized setting! I’ve even heard from students, “I feel like I’m actually learning something this year, and it’s only the 2nd week of school!” Score!
  2. I use A LOT of technology –> Instructional technology tools are fantastic and, used properly, can greatly enhance the classroom learning environment. However, along with using classroom technology comes relying on steady internet access. When I originally flipped my classroom and required students to complete videos at home, many students who didn’t complete their assignment at home had limited, if any, internet connectivity at home. How could I justify penalizing students for not completing an assignment if they didn’t have the tools outside of the classroom to do so? I couldn’t … and wouldn’t!

Basically, outside the walls of my classroom, I’m not in charge. I’m not in charge of the home environment of my students. I’m not in charge of whether or not my students work until 11:00 at night or if they have sports practices or games in another town.

I introduced this concept to parents and students at Open House this year. I told the parents and students present that I will not assign homework this year. I clarified my statement to specify that the only homework my students will have is what they don’t finish in class. AND … based on how my class is set up, if they have homework, they probably aren’t using their class time well 🙂

What’s your homework policy?

Thanks for reading 🙂

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