Teaching with Technology

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

Technology in the Classroom: Teacher Goals 2018-2019 Edition

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Hello, and happy Wednesday! Today was an emotional day for me – our daughters went back to school, and we now have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartener. Ohhhhh the emotions! I made it worse last night by looking through my girls’ baby pictures, watching videos of when they learned to walk and talk … the waterworks were in full force! However, I did NOT cry today as we walked them to their classroom and both girls had an amazing first day of school. We’re going to have an awesome year! My school year officially starts tomorrow – I don’t really count the before school meetings as “back to school” because my students aren’t there – and I’m experiencing the same feelings I have the night before school starts that I have every year since I started teaching. I’m nervous and excited to start year ELEVEN – that doesn’t seem possible – and am excited to share some of my teacher goals with you for this school year!

Intentional Tech Integration 
As you all know, I am a HUGE proponent of intentional and purposeful technology integration in the classroom to enhance learning – hence the name of my blog and the focus of my book 😀 As I emphasize in Illuminate, tech integration should be intentional and meaningful, and the focus should be on how tech can enhance learning. I’m constantly searching for new ways to incorporate technology to enhance learning, and am excited to use InsertLearning this year to encourage my students to connect more with resources and information that we use in class.

Flexible Seating 
I’ve excited about and interested in flexible seating for YEARS but am finally making some strides in that direction. I’m fortunate enough to have 6 bungee chairs in my classroom this year and I am PUMPED! I hope to eventually have a few tall, round bar-height tables and bar height chairs, maybe a couch, a rug, and a few tables to provide my students with more options and choice for where their learning takes place. Fingers crossed!!

 

Make it AWESOME 
This year, I want to continue to focus on creating a learning environment that students actually want to enter, and where they feel like they can learn safely and effectively. I want our classroom to be an inviting space where everyone feels like they’re a valued part of our community and my students know that I’m there for them – to help them learn, to challenge them to understand and apply a concept at a deeper level and to encourage and motivate them to be successful.

Thanks for reading 🙂

P.S. –> I’m adding a new option to my Hashtags through History extension activities! Download your copy of “If we had Twitter when …” today!

Back to School Planning Series: Google Classroom Updates

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Hello, and happy Tuesday! In case you missed it, Google announced today that they’ve made some great improvements to Classroom, hopefully making it more user-friendly and efficient for teachers and students! Let’s dive right into the updates to Google Classroom.

Separate Stream and Classwork Tabs
Do you ever look at an update from a tool that you love using in your classroom and think, “YAASSS! This is going to be so much better!” That’s exactly the response I had when I noticed this change in Classroom. One of the chief complaints that my students have while working in Classroom is that everything is too “smushed” or “jumbled” because assignments, announcements, questions, etc., are all in the same spot. And, prior to this update, I totally agreed with them. Yes, I used the “topics” feature to make locating resources, assignments, etc., easier, but the fact that everything was on the Stream was just a bit too much. Now, Stream and a new tab “Classwork” are two separate entities within the Classroom section, allowing for teachers to create assignments (and soon, locked quizzes!), questions, and topics (used for units) on the Coursework tab and announcements on the Stream tab. Woohoo!

New and Improved Grading/Feedback
Perhaps my favorite update to Classroom is the grading feature. Teachers can now open student work through Classroom and toggle back and forth between student submissions without opening new windows for each individual student submission. As you can see in this article from Google, teachers will be able to open a student submission, add comments (and even quickly add often-used comments!), and move to another student’s work without opening a new tab. WOOHOO!!!

Topics 
Ok, so I know I just said that the grading/feedback option was my favorite, but the new Topics option is a close second … maybe tied for the favorite spot. The Topics feature has been around for quite some time in Google Classroom and has done wonders for “cleaning up” the sometimes messy Stream. NOW teachers can use Topics to create units in the Classwork section – almost like folders where students can easily access all of their work and information for a given unit. WOWZERS! Check out this GIF for more details.

Long story short – I am PUMPED about the new features that have been added to Google Classroom. Soon, teachers will also be able to assign a Google Form as a quiz through Classroom (on managed Chromebooks) in “locked” mode – I can’t wait to see how this works!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Back to School Planning: Kahoot Update

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Happy Sunday, all! I’m continuing today with my back to school planning series, and focusing on one of my favorite tools – I know I say that a lot! – Kahoot! The great people at Kahoot introduced a new game option on Twitter last week, and teachers around the world will love it!

 

When launching a Kahoot activity, teachers have the option to use “classic” or “team mode” as well as the following:

You’ll notice that “enable 2-step join” is listed as a game option. Turning this feature on will require students to jump through an extra hoop when they join a Kahoot game which will prevent (or at least drastically reduce the chances) random people from popping in your class activity!

I’m not saying that my students have suddenly appeared in another Kahoot game by typing random numbers as a game pin, and I’m not saying that they haven’t 🙂

As for the other game options – here’s a quick rundown of the features we use in my classroom:

–> Answer Streak Bonus — use it and love it!
–> Name Generator — we tried it once and my students much prefer to enter their own gamer tags (Check out Chapter 8 of Illuminate for more info on gamer tags!)
–> Podium — yup!
–> Randomize order of questions — we definitely use this option because we review content frequently in my classroom, and I don’t recreate a Kahoot every time we review that content!
–> Randomize order of answers — same as above 🙂 The point of reviewing the content we learn frequently is not to determine whether or not students can memorize which color goes with each answer option!
–> Enable 2-step join — super pumped about this one!
–> Display game pin throughout — most definitely! This is especially helpful for students who have wifi difficulty or come to class late
–> Show minimized intro instructions — nah. My students are QUITE familiar with the ins and outs of Kahoot
–> Automatically move through questions — nope. I do not use this feature because, depending on the responses from my students, I may spend more time discussing the content of specific questions to ensure understanding before we proceed.
–> Require players to rejoin after each Kahoot — nope. I’d rather not focus on “hey what was the pin again?” as we proceed through the class period!

What Kahoot game options do you use in your classroom?

Thanks for reading 🙂

Back to School Planning: Edpuzzle in the Classroom

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Hello, and happy Saturday! I hope you’re having a great week and are enjoying the last few days of summer vacation. If you’re like me, you probably aren’t quite sure what day of the week it is, but you know that it’s most likely not August – #teachersummer – am I right?! In keeping with my back to school planning series, I’m sharing one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE tools today – Edpuzzle. If you’ve read my blog over the last few years (thanks!) you know that I’m a huge fan of Edpuzzle and use it daily in my modified flipped classroom. Edpuzzle has recently enjoyed a makeover and you may find yourself searching for some necessary features – like the assign button! No worries, you can still assign videos – multiple videos at once – through the sleek, redesigned Edpuzzle page.

Check out the video below that details Edpuzzle’s new look – and please ignore the sound of my children playing and cackling in the background 🙂

As I’ve shared before, my students use this great tool daily in our classroom to view and interact with instructional videos. I love the fact that I can not only monitor their progress individually and as a class on each video, but can also provide quick and effective feedback on embedded formative assessment throughout the video. This allows me to provide more individualized help and instruction to my students – it’s awesome!

Learn more about using Edpuzzle in Chapter 1 of Illuminate!

Be sure to sign up for the Illuminate: Technology Enhanced Learning giveaway! I’ll be giving away a signed copy of Illuminate every 7 days through August 18 … click here for more details.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Back to School Planning: Using InsertLearning

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Happy Sunday, friends! A few weeks ago, I tumbled down the Edu-Twitter rabbit hole and found an amazing digital tool – InsertLearning! After a few minutes of digging, I realized that this is a fantastic tool that will help me design lessons around digital resources that easily integrate with platforms I already use, including Google Classroom and the fabulous Edpuzzle. What is this great tool and why am I so excited about it? I’m so glad you asked!

InsertLearning allows teachers to embed resources, discussions, and questions in any digital source using their Chrome extension.

Here’s how it works.

–> Access the site
–> Select “Log In”
–> Sign in with Google
–> Select your role in education
–> Add the InsertLearning extension to your browser

–> Choose a digital resource (Google Docs, website, etc) that you’d like your studets to use
–> Embed questions, discussions, videos (video lessons from Edpuzzle!!), and highlight text with the InsertLearning menu (There are DOZENS of additional embed options as well!)

–> Assign the resource to your students by either creating a class section within the site or by exporting your Google Classroom sections.

That’s it! Teachers can monitor student progress and provide feedback from within the InsertLearning dashboard. I have soooo many ideas swirling around in my head that involve using this tool to illuminate learning. Do you use HyperDocs in your classroom? Think about how you could use InsertLearning as part of a HyperDoc! I can’t wait to use this with primary and secondary readings in my high school Social Studies classroom!! Did I mention that you can also share your InsertLearning activities with other teachers? Hello, collaboration! 

Users have 3 different pricing plans ranging from free to customizable for the size of your school. The individual teacher plan (which I’ll be using) is $40/year HOWEVER, teachers can “earn” free months by sharing this great site with others.

Do you use InsertLearning in your classroom? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Back to School Planning: 3 Reasons to Use Nearpod in Your Classroom

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Hello, all! Is it just me, or does it seem that summer vacation really speeds up after July 4? I feel like the second half of summer goes WAY faster than the first part and I’m quickly realizing that I’m not checking off nearly as many things from my summer to-do list as I wanted! As I’m prepping for the new semester, I’m planning to share how I’m using some of my favorite digital tools in my lessons to increase engagement, illuminate learning, and make learning memorable! As you’ve probably noticed, I’m quite a fan of Nearpod and use it daily in my dual credit classes. While there are definitely more, here are 3 reasons to use Nearpod in your classroom!

Virutal Reality 
Seriously, how awesome is virtual reality? The fact that teachers now have the ability (through multiple tools) to virtually take students to places, past and present, to enrich their learning experience is just amazing! Nearpod allows teachers to embed virtual field trips into their lessons to transport students to amazing places around the world. In our World War II unit, I love taking my students to the Palace of Versailles, Japan after the use of nuclear weapons, the barracks at Auschwitz, and the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When students use their smart phones or tablets, they’re even able to walk through these places. Students using a Chromebook or laptop are able to drag and zoom on the image as they travel to distant places.

Formative Assessment 
Formative assessment is key in any classroom – we need to know what our students know and what they don’t know so we can help them understand what they don’t know and encourage them to apply what they know – you know?! 🙂 When creating Nearpod lessons, teachers can embed a variety of formative assessment questions – include multiple choice, true/false, and one of my favorites: draw it – into their presentation. When the lesson is launched and the class proceeds, students will view the questions on their screen and the teacher can view the results of the class in realtime. Teachers can also add formative assessment questions “on the fly” during their lesson as needed.

Student View 
My students REALLY appreciate the fact that they can log into a Nearpod lesson and view the information on their device without having the crane their necks around the heads of their classmates. They also LOVE that they can interact with virtual and 3D images, simulations, etc., on their own devices. The ability to view the presentation on a variety of devices also offers a great deal of flexibility for my students!

I could really go on and on and ON about the wonderful features of Nearpod! Definitely check out this great digital tool and reach out if you have any questions. I’d love to help you use Nearpod to illuminate learning!

Speaking of illuminating learning — be sure to check out my new book, Illuminate: Technology Enhanced Learning, for great tips and strategies for using great technology, like Nearpod, to enhance the learning environment for your students!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

F.I.E.R.C.E. Teacher Series – Excited and Energetic Teaching

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Hello, friends! I’m writing to you this morning, refreshed and exhausted at the same time after coming back from our week-long beach vacation in Destin. The sand and water were fantastic! I probably could have used a bit more sunscreen … but, oh well. I’m pumped to continue my F.I.E.R.C.E. Teacher Series with the first of the “Es” … let’s talk about being an excited and energetic teacher!

EXCITED
I’m generally an excited person, both inside and outside the classroom. If you’ve ever been to one of my presentations or workshops, you know that I always introduce myself and then give attendees a fair warning that, whenever I talk about something that I really like, I get super excited and start talking really fast. It happens! That’s just how I roll, friends! I’m pretty much the same in my classroom, and it helps that I’m a huge geek about my content area. I realized, however, toward the beginning of my teaching career that everyone doesn’t get quite as hyped about the functions of the branches of government, Constitutional Amendments, and landmark Supreme Court cases as me – weird, right?! 😉 So, in order to engage my students in our content, I need to be excited about the content. Can you imagine walking into a class that you’re not particularly pleased about taking and the teacher is dry, boring, and clearly NOT excited about teaching you? How horrible would that be? So, even on the days that I’m not 100% excited to be out of my jammies and my recliner, I’m making it my mission to be excited about not only what I’m teaching, but the fact that I get to teach – sit back and think about the fact that we GET TO TEACH. We GET to have a direct impact on the future. How cool is that?! In what other professions could we have this kind of influence? Get excited! We get to teach!

ENERGETIC
My students often say that they have no idea how I have so much energy. My daughters are 5 and 7 and still don’t sleep through the night. When they wake up for milk or a trip to the bathroom, they don’t wake up their dad, but instead, insist on having Mommy help. I’ve asked them why they don’t wake up my husband, and they both reply, “Mommy, Daddy is asleep.” Ohhhh, he has them trained! Being an energetic teacher is hard, especially when we’re tired, don’t feel well, or when the kids don’t want to let us go when we take them to school or the babysitter in the morning. However, I’d much rather be excited about what I teach and energetic in my classroom than, for lack of a better word, “blah.” My students can expect me to “drop mad beats” and “spit bars” about our content if they need help remembering the concept of federalism or the difference between dual and cooperative federalism. They can expect me to stand on tables to make review a bit more fun and do toe touches for moral support before they take a test. How can we be energetic about teaching, even when we aren’t? That’s a million dollar question, isn’t it? As for me, I try to take a “when my feet hit the floor in the morning, it’s go-time” attitude. And God and coffee. Lots of both.

Check back soon for the “Rs” of the F.I.E.R.C.E. Teacher Series! I hope you’re having a fantastic summer!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Hey, Siri! Asking questions and getting answers with technology

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Hello, all and happy Friday! We’re preparing for our week-long beach vacation today and are getting REALLY excited to dip our toes in the ocean on Sunday! As our vacation has been getting closer, our oldest daughter, Hanna, has been really concerned about and interested in the weather in Destin, Florida – our vacation spot. She’s been asking to check my phone to see the weather in Destin which means I’ve had to add Destin to the “places” on my weather app. I noticed yesterday, though, that instead of checking the weather app to see if it’s raining in Destin (her worst nightmare!) she’s been asking Siri to tell her what the weather is like in Destin. We’ve also been asking Siri to tell us what the heat index is in our hometown to help us determine whether or not playing outside is the best idea – it is HOT in Missouri! Our youngest daughter, Molly, was curious yesterday about how to say “ouch” in Spanish. She didn’t even hesitate to yell out, “Hey, Siri! How do you say ouch in Spanish?” It’s so neat to watch my daughters, ages 5 and 7, effectively utilize technology in a positive way, which led me to think about how my classroom has changed (and needs to continually change) to become an environment in which students utilize the available technology in a positive way.

A few weeks ago, I attended and presented at CORE Academy at my alma mater, Southeast Missouri State University, and was able to meet some pretty amazing educators. One of them, Alice Keeler, delivered a keynote that really resonated with me – she discussed how technology like Siri or Alexa has changed the way our kids find information. Alice mentioned that her kids ask Alexa questions daily and that they know that they can “shout questions to the universe” and get an answer. As I was listening, I began to think about the questions that I ask in my classroom – verbal questions, assessment questions, formative assessment questions, etc. – and began assessing myself…are the questions I ask of my students, “Googleable” questions? Are they questions that my students can “shout to the universe” and get the “correct” response? Or, are they questions that make my students think about the content that they’ve learned and apply that knowledge to form a deeper understanding of the topic?

I, like you, am aiming for the latter type of question. I don’t want to focus on “Googleable” questions and answers because they are just that, “Googleable.” In Illuminate, I discuss how the ability to simply recall information, such as the date that the Bill of Rights was ratified, really doesn’t provide students with a deep understanding of the Bill of Rights. Assessing them on when these extremely important amendments were added to the Bill of Rights is not really that important. What is important is that our students understand the rights that they are guaranteed by these amendments and how they have been interpreted throughout our country’s history.

As I’m revamping my curriculum this summer, I’m working on incorporating “application” questions into assessments – both formative and summative. I want my students to think about our content at a deeper level rather than just memorizing facts and dates that, let’s face it, they can ask the universe and get the correct answer.

Thanks for reading 🙂

#ISTE18 — Reflections and Tips from an ISTE First-Timer

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Happy Sunday morning, friends! I’m coming to you today half-way through my second cup of coffee, downing my Vegan Chocolate Shakeology, and still trying to process all of the awesomeness from ISTE18. Though I was only able to attend ISTE on Tuesday, it was such a fabulous experience that I can’t wait to repeat next year, especially since ISTE19 is in Philadelphia — a history nerd’s DREAM! Here are a few reflections and tips from my first ISTE experience – hope you find them helpful!

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! 
As an ISTE newbie, I really had no idea what to expect walking into the convention center Tuesday morning – including where in the convention center I was supposed to be!  Fortunately, a kind fellow ISTE attendee recognized my confused expression and, not only showed me the way to registration but also directed me to a Starbucks with a small line! SCORE! When searching for sessions you hope to attend, pay attention to any registration information – for example, attendees for ADE sessions were lined up outside of the session room at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the session! Also, sessions I attended did not allow people to sit on the floor or stand if there were no more seats. I wasn’t expecting this at all! Other conferences I’ve attended allowed participants to stand or sit on the floor if needed – lesson learned!

BOOK IN ADVANCE! 
I live about 5.5 hours away from Chicago and had every intention of hopping a plane or a train to get to ISTE. I planned to fly from Lambert St. Louis to Chicago Midway which, in all honesty, is an hour flight – tops. I did not, however, realize that flights become more expensive the closer you get to your travel dates! I know — rookie mistake. I don’t fly very often, and when I do, my husband takes care of booking the flight! I’m also very fortunate that my district paid for my hotel and registration, so I didn’t have to worry about getting (and paying for) a hotel room! Since the conference is in Philadelphia next year (and I’m totally stoked about going to a city so PACKED with history!), I’ll be taking my Momma’s advice and planning WAY in advance!

WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES! 
Yes, I’ve gone to conferences before. Yes, I know that I walk a lot at conferences, but HOLY MOLY I was not expecting the crazy amount of walking that was going to happen just inside expo hall! I literally walked for an hour and did not pass the same booth twice. It was an amazing experience to be able to connect with so many great people that I felt like I already knew through Twitter. Let’s just say this — it takes A LOT of walking/exercise to make my legs feel tired and/or sore and I was SORE after ISTE! The fact that I hopped in a car and drove for 7.5 hours (yes, I know I said we were only 5.5 hours away from Chicago, but I traveled with my mom and two young daughters!) didn’t help much. I wore flip flops, like I typically do, to ISTE — next year, I’m wearing Converse or Toms!

I’d love to hear about your ISTE and/or other conference experiences! Be sure to jump in our Twitter chat on Thursday night and share what you’ve learned this summer!

Thanks for reading 🙂

F.I.E.R.C.E. Teacher Series – Innovative and Intentional

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Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a fabulous week and are preparing to enjoy the weekend! After coming back from ISTE earlier this week, and wrapping up one of my summer school classes, I’m starting to embrace the wonderful feeling that comes with not having to set an alarm clock before bed. AHHHHHHH! I hope you’re ready for the second installment in the “F.I.E.R.C.E. Teacher” series because it’s HERE!

 

Like you, I have many goals as a teacher – heck, as a person – that I not only want to accomplish, but also want to embody for my students, young daughters, and others who may look to me as an example – talk about pressure! Let’s talk about being innovative and intentional in our classrooms!

INNOVATIVE 
We hear the word innovative all over the world of education, but what does being “innovative” mean? According to Webster’s dictionary, the term innovative is defined as,

  • introducing or using new ideas or methods

  • having new ideas about how something can be done

I like to think that I’m at least approaching the level of “innovative” in my classroom. I’m constantly seeking out new ways to engage my students in our content, enhance the learning environment, and make learning memorable. However, the definition of innovative includes “introducing or using new ideas or methods” and “having new ideas about how something can be done.” The definition itself implies that, to be innovative, we’re always looking for a new method or strategy to use in circumstances to make something better. Therefore, to achieve my goal of being an innovative educator, I’ll continue to constantly learn about, search for, and attempt to create new and, forgive me, “innovative” ways to make my students’ learning experience awesome. Sometimes, new ideas and strategies may work, while others may be an absolute flop. Part of being innovative is knowing that when you do something a different way, it may not work, which means it’s time to try something else. The point is to continue to try new strategies with the best interest of my students in mind.

INTENTIONAL 
We have such a limited amount of time with our students during a given school year. As a high school teacher, I see my students 50 minutes per day, 5 days a week … most of the time. There are plenty of interruptions that subtract from my instructional time – assemblies, class meetings, field trips, sporting events, and the list goes on. Therefore, it’s my goal to be intentional about our valuable face-to-face time as a class. How do we accomplish the goal of limiting distractions as much as possible in the classroom?

Flipping my classroom has helped me to become more intentional with my class time while reducing the amount of time I stand in front of my classroom talking “at” my students. Through my in-class flip, I’m able to effectively and efficiently deliver necessary content to my students while providing more individualized instruction AND preserving precious face-to-face time. My flip forces me to be intentional when I’m delivering content; intentional when I’m providing help and feedback; intentional when I’m designing lessons. I hope this message also resonates with my students –> I want them to know what is expected in Petty Wap’s class, where they’re going with their learning, and how to get there.

I’d love to hear how you push yourself to be innovative and intentional in your classroom!

Thanks for reading 🙂