Teaching with Technology

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

Remembering My Why – Teaching with Technology

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Happy Saturday, friends!! You made it to the end of the week! I’m writing to you today from my kitchen counter, feeling so glad to finally be home after a whirlwind week of speaking at seminars throughout the eastern part of the United States. When I say whirlwind, I really mean WHIRLWIND week! I flew from STL to Chicago and then to Rhode Island on Sunday, presented an all-day session in Providence then rode to Bristol, Connecticut. I presented an all-day session there on Tuesday, then hopped on a plane to Indy … we arrived super late Tuesday night – or super early Wednesday morning! – and I presented my session there. Then, I rode to Columbus, Ohio Wednesday night, and presented my session there on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, I rode to Cincinnati, delivered my presentation on using technology in the Social Studies classroom, rode to the airport, flew to STL where my husband and daughters picked me up for the ride home!

WHEW! What a week! I’ve been SO incredibly blessed by this opportunity and am absolutely ecstatic about the fact that I’ve been able to spend my spring break week sharing something I’m passionate about – using technology to enhance Social Studies instruction.

Check out the basics of what I shared this week …

  • Using technology like Nearpod and Edpuzzle (along with their Chrome extensions) to enhance learning in the classroom
  • Getting the most out of Google Classroom in the Social Studies classroom
  • Time-saving tips for using Chrome including extensions, bookmarks, right-click options, and keyboard shortcuts
  • Tips and tools for encouraging students to create representations of what they’ve learned
  • Fun and effective formative assessment
  • Strategies to easily implement effective assessment capable learning practices
  • Tools and resources for using and creating BreakoutEDU activities for your classroom

It. Was. AWESOME!

I’m so fortunate to have been able to share these presentations with so many amazing educators, and I can’t wait to do it again! Even though I’m absolutely exhausted, I feel rejuvenated at the same time to go back into my classroom on Monday and try to continue designing an engaging learning environment for my students. Being with these great educators helped me remember my “why” for becoming a teacher. It’s not the money or the fame – we all know that, though – ha! It’s because I want to have a positive impact on the future through each of my students. Here’s a quick video that I share at the end of my presentations to help teachers remember their “why” and also see why knowing their “why” (sorry for the “why” redundancy!) is so important.

As you’re watching this video, pay attention to how the people around the man singing respond when he knows his “why.” Look at the impact he has on those around him when he knows and feels his “why.” How awesome is that?!  When we know and remember why we do what we do, we have a greater impact on those we serve, whatever our path.

What’s your why?

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Create Smartphone Apps with Google Sheets

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Hello, friends! Do you ever stumble upon an app, site, or tool and have no earthly clue how you got there, but are totally thrilled that you did? That is 100% what I’m feeling right now as I write to you today about Glide – a super fantastic tool that lets ANYONE create smartphone apps with Google Sheets WITHOUT CODING. That’s right. Create an app without coding. YAY!!!

Here’s how it works:

  1. Go to glideapps.com and sign in with a Google account. Since your new apps will be made from an existing Google Spreadsheet, you’ll need to be signed into a Google account.
  2. Select your Google Spreadsheet, and Glide will import the data, creating a default app that you can manage.

Each sheet in your Spreadsheet will be a different tab on your app. You’ll notice in the screenshot below that my Spreadsheet has three sheets, which means my app has three tabs.

Next, you’ll be able to customize your app by selecting “edit sheet” on the left, or by clicking on an icon on your home screen and choosing “add component” in the top right corner of your screen. Add the option to comment, take notes, send an email, or link a URL to a button.

Each column of your spreadsheet will be a different property of your app. The sheet of the app listed below shows two columns on the “unit” tab of my app. When users see the Foundations and Formations of Government unit on the app, they’ll see the Bitmoji image I included as a link on my spreadsheet. Awesome, right?!

When you’re ready to launch your app, simply click “open app” at the bottom of your app creation screen. You’ll see the option to share the app or open it on your device by scanning the QR Code.

When you scan the QR Code, you’ll see a pop-up with directions on how to add your new app to the home screen of your smartphone.

That’s it! You’ve created an app using a Google Spreadsheet with NO CODING. You won’t be able to download the app from your App Store unless you opt for one of the premium account options that Glide offers. I’m a teacher, so I chose the freebie!

Any time you need to update your app, just log into your Glide account, click on your created app and then “Edit Spreadsheet.” Back on your Glide screen, you’ll be asked to reload your Spreadsheet which lets Glide add your updates to your app.

It’s that simple!

I’m excited to add “create your own app” to the options on our Apply HyperDoc page! Since Glide works with a Google Spreadsheet, our students can also collaborate with their peers on app creation – again, with NO CODING required! Super cool!!

Have a fantastic rest of the week and thanks for reading 🙂

 

 

Turn OFF Desktop Notifications for Padlet

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Hey, all! Four of my six high school classes are currently working with Padlet in some capacity this week, and both of my online classes are collaborating on a Padlet as well. If you haven’t noticed – I LOVE THIS TOOL! Yes, I know they changed their free option last year – I remember the sheer panic that occurred on Twitter – but I’ve dealt with it and have cleaned up my old/under/unused padlets in order to make room for the new. Thank goodness!

I’ve gushed about Padlet before, but here’s the real reason for this post…

I’m sure I’m not the only one that has clicked “accept” at some point in time when a dialogue box pops up on my screen while I’m frantically trying to create something to use as part of a lesson, right?

Don’t lie, you know you’ve been there, too 🙂

At some point in time, I seem to have enabled desktop notifications for Padlet, no doubt thinking it would be fantastic. It does sound great, right? I’m immediately notified when someone updates or adds to a padlet wall that we’re using.

Except …

I’M IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED WHEN SOMEONE UPDATES OR ADDS TO A PADLET WALL THAT WE’RE USING.

Seriously. My dual credit students were viewing a presidential documentary prior to beginning our unit on American imperialism and BAM. We hear near constant “dings” and see messages appear in the bottom of the screen because students in my online EdTech class were adding resources to their class padlets.

I mean, hooray that my students are collaborating and sharing!

But, holy moly. If I heard one more ding over the voice of a historian discussing the influence of William McKinley’s presidency, I was probably going to lose my mind.

If you’ve found yourself in the same boat, here’s how to fix it.

Simply open the Padlet and click on the “lock” icon on the address bar. You’ll see a list of options appear – click on the notifications dropdown menu and click “BLOCK.”

You won’t regret it.

Maybe you’ll need to set a reminder on your phone so you remember to go back and check on the responses to the padlets you’re using in class. Maybe, you’ll go back when your class is finished viewing the documentary and adjust the settings so you are notified of any changes to the padlets. Maybe you won’t 🙂

I hope you’re having a great week and you can use this trick to save your sanity!

Thanks for reading 🙂

March Mystery Post – Teaching with Technology

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Happy March! I don’t know about the weather in your neck of the woods, but here in Southeast Missouri, March is coming in like a LION! Thursday and Friday of last week were ice days for us, and we’re expecting 4-6 inches+ of snow tonight into tomorrow morning. I love snow days and we’ve definitely had our share this year! In keeping with the tradition of the last 6 months, here is the monthly mystery post from Teaching with Technology!

Throughout the last few months, we’ve looked at formative assessment, QR codes, the flipped classroom, teacher self-care, and more great topics. What, oh what, will our topic be for March???

Hmmmm…

DRUMROLL, PLEASE …

The March Mystery post topic from Teaching with Technology is …

GOOGLE FORMS!

That’s right, Google Forms are absolutely amazing. As I say in my book, Illuminate, Google really hit a home run when they introduced Forms. They’re so versatile, can be used for just about anything, and are a fantastic way to intentionally use technology to illuminate learning.

One of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the school year was to use pre and post-assessments for every unit to get a clearer picture of student growth in relation to our learning goals. Of course, I used Google Forms to administer the assessments, but instead of only gathering the data on the Google Sheet that collects the responses, I decided to create a spreadsheet for my students to collect evidence of learning and progress. Check out how we chart learning targets here using available technology.

I also love using Forms for summative assessment and probably will begin to shift my assessments from my LMS to Google Forms soon. Why? Because of the ability to lock students into the Form when it’s assigned from Google Classroom (and when they’re on a school Chromebook)!! That’s right! Locked Forms is currently in beta testing, but when assigning a Form (using the quiz feature) in Classroom, teachers can toggle a lovely little button to turn on “locked mode.” When students begin the quiz, their screen completely locks and will not allow them to exit until they submit or close the quiz. The response from my students has been hilarious – “wait, it just locks us out of everything?!” and “hang on, let me figure out how to destroy this, Mrs. Petty.” To date, they have not been able to “destroy” the locked form which is absolutely fantastic.

How do you use Google Forms in your classroom? Check out these posts for more ideas!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Social Media Book Study – Teacher Resources

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Happy Monday! We’re one week into the “Illuminating” social media book study, and I’m having a blast keeping up with all of the great resources and ideas that our teacher group is sharing on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Here’s a quick rundown of what was shared last week …

On Monday, our study began and our teacher group shared a few “must follow” educators across social media. Who would you add to these suggestions?

On Tuesday, we talked about awesome formative assessment tools …

On Wednesday, our teacher group geeked out about the flipped classroom concept, which is one of my MOST FAVORITE things to talk about …

Thursday, we talked about virtual reality and virtual field trips …

And on Friday, our teacher group looked outside of the edu realm to reflect on a “non-edu” book that we’re reading or that we’d recommend, and I’m sharing my current obsession … OUTLANDER! I’m on book 6 of the series and want the books to GO ON AND ON!!

I’m having SO much fun with this book study style … have you joined the fun, yet? Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@Bethany_Petty), Instagram (@bethanypetty_educ8), and Facebook (http://facebook.com/usingedtech) to catch our daily topics!
Thanks for reading and joining the discussion!

 

 

Try This Tomorrow Podcast Episode 2: Inquiry Inquiries

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Back to back posts? What the WHAT?! That never happens, but today is your lucky day! As you’ve read, I launched a podcast last month for teachers called, “Try This Tomorrow: Talks with Teachers,” because I wanted to share not only my perspectives on education, but also ideas and strategies from other teachers from around the world. Yesterday, I recorded an episode with MY FIRST GUEST, Trevor MacKenzie to learn about using inquiry in the classroom.

I don’t know about you, but when I first heard about inquiry my mind immediately went to topics like genius hour or 20 time or passion projects – things that are typically supplementary or ancillary to the curriculum. I’m SO GLAD that I talked to Trevor yesterday because he totally cleared up this common misconception that I, along with many other educators, had/have about the use of inquiry in the classroom!

One of my goals in my podcast is sharing applicable, easy-to-implement strategies that teachers can use in their classrooms tomorrow – hence the name of the podcast! I took this idea from the end of the chapters of Illuminate which wraps up the chapter by giving teachers easy-to-implement ideas they can use right away.

I am SO EXCITED for you to hear what Trevor has to say about using inquiry in the classroom and how you can “dive into inquiry” on Monday!

Be sure to check out Trevor’s resources for implementing inquiry as well as both of his books at trevormackenzie.com and listen to the Try This Tomorrow podcast, episode 2!

Thanks for reading & listening 🙂

Google Cast for Education – Update

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Hey, all! Happy Friday! I’ve literally been at work for two days this week, and am ready to go home for a nap 🙂 Between sickness flowing through my house, snow days, and holidays, I haven’t really gotten a good hold on my week, and it’s basically over! When my American Political Systems students were presenting party platforms that they had created in preparation for our mock primary and general elections, I noticed that Google Cast for Education had updated and wanted to be sure to share it with you!

In case you missed my previous post about Google Cast for Education — this extension/setting in Chrome basically eliminated my need (and desire!) to use my AppleTV in my Classroom. This is a huge deal because I used my AppleTV literally on a daily basis to help me regain mobility in my classroom, share and interact with information along with my students, etc. I also love the fact that using Google Cast for Education lets my students easily share their screen during class discussions and presentations.

When my students shared their presentations on Tuesday, we noticed that there was a difference when we launched the presentations. Previously, students would click on the “three dots” in the top right corner of their browser and select “cast.” Then, they would choose what they planned to share (tab or desktop) and then cast to my desktop computer. Then, a blue box would appear over their presentation, or whatever they were sharing, and they’d have to exit out of that dialogue box before entering “present” mode. Tuesday, we noticed that the blue box is gone and they only hvae to click cast on a grey box that appears – I know I’m talking a lot about different colored boxes, but if you use Cast for Education you know exactly what I mean! Here’s a few images to help illustrate the concept 🙂

When students click on the “three dots” on their Chrome browser, they’ll see these options and should click “cast.”
Instead of seeing a blue box, students now see this dialogue box when they ask to cast their screen.

Do you use Google Cast for Education in your classroom? If not, definitely check it out!

Thanks for reading 🙂

How a Chrome Extension Saved My Presentation

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Hello, all! I hope you’re having a fantastic week and are experiencing weather with fewer mood swings than we are in Missouri. Holy moly. My Mom and I went to a conference Tuesday and drove through rain, sleet, brief snow showers, and endured whipping wind. Today, the sun is shining and we are expecting highs in the 50s. Seriously, Missouri. Seriously. Speaking of Tuesday, I have to quickly share with you a story of how a Chrome extension saved my presentation — it was almost a catastrophe!

I’ve been fortunate enough over the last few years to attend the METC conference. This is the largest EdTech conference in the state of Missouri and hosts a variety of awesome national and local speakers. I ALWAYS walk away from this conference with something I can use in my classroom. It’s absolutely fantastic. I love sharing my experiences, learning from other teachers, meeting people in my PLN in real life, and connecting with other teachers. This year, my mom even came with me which was super fun! Check out my IG stories to see pics!

During the meet and greet session at the end of the conference yesterday, I was able to deliver an Ignite speech about using Global Collaborations to encourage empathy. If you’ve never heard of an Ignite session – don’t worry, I hadn’t either! – these are basically five-minute power speeches in which the presenter delivers a topic using 20 slides to empower, inspire, and, well, ingnite their audience. I found out, along with my audience, that I cannot talk for only five minutes about global collaborations and empathy in the classroom. Heck, I’m a Social Studies teacher, I can’t talk for only five minutes about anything! Ha!

Of course, when I was preparing to present, my dongle wouldn’t allow my laptop to connect to the projector. Fortunately, the presenter before me offered to let me use her laptop to deliver my presentation. Total life saver! However, my presentation was in my Google Drive and I had to start QUICKLY! No time to log into my Drive or my Chrome browser! What, oh what, was I to do with a room full of people staring at me?!

Enter my bit.ly Chrome extension!

I opened my presentation quickly on my computer, clicked the bit.ly extension, customized the address, and VOILA! I quickly accessed my presentation, delivered it, and received a round of applause from the audience.

Thank you, bit.ly extension! What Chrome extensions are a must for you?

Thanks for reading 🙂

February Mystery Post from Teaching with Technology

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It’s Friday! WOOHOO!! We’ve only had 4 instructional days this week, but it feels to me as though this week was actually about 13 days long. This morning, I did something rare – I took the morning off (weird to take the morning and not the afternoon, especially on a Friday!) to watch my youngest daughter and her class present the chapel service for their school. To fully take advantage of my time off, I also decided to get in a 3 mile run (running keeps me sane – ish) and I did! I set a new personal best time of 26:50. I’m super proud! We’re a few days into the month of February, so that means I’m just a tad late in sharing with you the Teaching with Technology monthly mystery post. What, oh what will it be????

DRUMROLL, PLEASE …

The February Mystery Post topic is …

QR CODES IN THE CLASSROOM!

If you’ve been a reader of Teaching with Technology for a while (thank you!) you know that I’m a HUGE fan of using QR Codes in the classroom. They’re easy to make using a variety of options including Chrome extensions and Google Sheets Add-ons. They’re easy for students to use with a smartphone, tablet, or Chromebook – since the majority of my students have some model of iPhone, using their phone to scan QR Codes is super easy now that they don’t even have to have an app to do it! Just their camera! Teachers can use QR Codes for just about anything in the classroom, but here are a few of my favorites:

  • Application activities – check out the Bill to Law process with QR Codes here
  • Bonus opportunities – check out the Flipgrid bonus opportunity here
  • Review activities – like this

The possibilities for using QR Codes in the classroom are endless! Be sure to check out Chapters 1-2 of Illuminate for even MORE information about QR Codes!

Thanks for reading!

Social Media Book Study – Join the Fun!

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Happy Wednesday, friends! Missouri weather cracks me up – last week at this time, we were in the middle of a polar vortex takeover and were dealing with actual temperatures of 0 and wind chills of -15. Monday, the high temperature was 70 degrees. 70 DEGREES! We went from multiple layers, gloves, and hats to shorts and t-shirts in a matter of days! Holy moly! Last week, I shared the exciting news of our social media book study with my email subscribers, and I realized this morning that I haven’t shared it with you on my blog! OOOPS!

When I’ve hosted book studies in the past, I have so much fun. I love connecting with educators from all over the world and talking about how we can intentionally use technology in the classroom to enhance learning. It just makes me happy! I feel like I’m at the most amazing digital edcamp or education conference and it’s just SO MUCH FUN!

However, sometimes I feel like I’m missing the voices of many educators who would be awesome participants because of the social media platform on which I host the study. Some teachers are Facebook only people, while others stick to Pinterest. Some teachers love Twitter (like me!) while others don’t use it at all. Teachers from all over the world are jumping on Instagram and sharing so much from their lives using #teachersfollowteachers or #teachersofinstagram. It’s fantastic!

My goal with this social media book study is to meet each of you where you are. Every day starting on February 18, I’ll post a question/topic/concept from Illuminate or about education in general to ALL of my social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Respond and share on your platform of choice. Every few days (I would say each day, but I don’t know if I can commit to that with my daughter’s traveling soccer practice starting up again!) I’ll create and share a collage of all of the fantastic contributions from the amazing educators who’ll join our fun!

Be sure to follow my social media channels

  • Facebook –> http://facebook.com/usingedtech
  • Twitter –> @Bethany_Petty
  • Instagram –> @bethanypetty_educ8
  • Pinterest –> http://pinterest.com/bethany133
  • LinkedIn –> https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanypetty/

I’m excited to learn and share with each of you! Please, spread the word to other educators you may know, too! Don’t forget to grab a copy of Illuminate before the book study starts on Monday, February 18. I. Am. PUMPED!

Thanks for reading 🙂