Teaching with Technology

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Use Remind Chat in Your Classroom

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Remind (formerly Remind 101) has recently made some FANTASTIC updates to their already amazing program.

Remind Chat allows teachers and students to initiate safe, two-way text based conversations that are DOCUMENTED without showing either party’s phone number.

Remind Chat is wonderful for so many reasons, but the ability to communicate quickly and efficiently with students while I AM ABSENT from the classroom is by far the most amazing feature.

This year has been unique in that I have had to be out of my classroom much more than usual.

My oldest daughter started Pre-Kindergarten…I had to take the morning off to take her to her classroom, and also to recover from the fact that my first baby started school!!

I had an emergency root canal, which didn’t go well, and I had to miss half a day.

I got sick…more severe than my typical back to school cold.

I attended a conference.

My youngest daughter was sick and needed her mommy time.

Needless to say, it’s been quite crazy. However, without Remind Chat it is safe to say that my classroom, content, and communication with my students would have gone down the tubes.

My students know that I will respond to email as quickly as possible, especially when I’m out of the classroom. They’ve quickly figured out, though, that I’ll respond much quicker if they start a Remind Chat with me.

Many issues have been averted because of Remind Chat. Questions about the day’s activities, projects, due dates, group members, and once in a while…a reminder to ME to post the day’s task list on Google Classroom.

Teachers never forget things, right? 😉

I have also been able to communicate directly with students who haven’t completed activities, who are struggling, or who are knocking activities out of the park. It has seriously been fantastic!

Teachers can set “office hours” during which students can expect a quick response, and can also limit who can initiate conversations in Remind Chat. If you are uncomfortable with students beginning a conversation, simply turn off that feature.

How

Remind has really tapped into a huge need in the classroom. Remind Chat allows teachers and students to communicate even outside the four walls of the classroom in a safe, secure, and efficient manner.

Give it a try! It’s free!

Thanks for reading 🙂

How to Expand Your Summer Learning with Twitter

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Teachers, have you joined Twitter?

If you, like my own momma, haven’t joined Twitter yet, please jump on the bandwagon! It’s free! It’s easy to use! It’s an AMAZING resource for teachers!

If you’ve read my blog before 🙂 then you know I was originally anti-Twitter. If you would have asked me two years ago why I wasn’t on Twitter, I would have told you that I simply didn’t have time to read ridiculous posts about what people were having for breakfast or spend that time trying to decipher hashtags…what they are and how to use them.

Why I joined

If that sounds like you, heed my advice! Twitter is so much more than this! The solution to the aforementioned problems? Don’t follow people who post pictures of their breakfast or include #hashtagforthesakeofhashtagging!

Simple, right?

Still need convincing?

Allow me to tell you about a recent conversation I had in the Twitterverse.

As you know, I tried my hand at gamification in the classroom at the end of last school year. My students’ motivation to be at school, must less be productive, was at an all time low. I simply had to do something to increase their desire to learn. Since many of my students were “gamers” in some sense, gamification seemed like the perfect option.

My gamification experiment was wonderfully received by my students, with many of them begging to do the activity again. So, I immediately added it to my never ending list of things to accomplish over the summer.

Currently, however, I am juggling off-season coaching responsibilities and teaching summer school with my most important roles of being a mommy and a wife. This means that my time for researching and planning for my classroom is largely confined to when I’m cooking supper or right before bed.

Needless to say, my time (like yours) is precious.

Last week while I was cooking supper, I decided to do some research for my year long “game” while cooking supper. After all, my students might have been gamers, but I most certainly am NOT. I got into Trivia Crack for about a week and jumped on the Ruzzle bandwagon for a few days, but that was the extent of it.

–Unless we’re talking about Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo, then I’m a hardcore gamer. Or, at least I was in the 90’s 🙂 —

Instead of turning to Google, I turned to Twitter.

Why, you ask?

Simple. I was able to start a conversation about a trending topic in education, ask questions and learn from a gamification guru, and expand that conversation, sharing our ideas with so many people.

I can’t do that well with a search engine, folks..

Through my Twitter conversation, I was able to view gamification in a totally different way…I had an “aha!” moment, so to speak.

What I learned on Twitter definitely allowed me to have a better understanding of how gamification works, especially in the year long setting, and how to manage this motivating tool in my classroom.

I learned all of this in about 15 minutes. Sifting through page after page of Google search results to find valuable information would have taken MUCH longer!

I hope my example has at least made you think about joining Twitter. Seriously, we should all earn professional development/continuing education credits for Twittering!! (And Pinteresting, of course!!)

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @Bethany_Petty!

Thanks for reading 🙂

OUTDOOR GEAR

 

 

 

Great Tool for your Flipped Classroom

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I’ve talked before about the amazing potential and uses of EDpuzzle in the flipped classroom…

  • utilize instructional videos from a wealth of Internet resources and upload teacher created flipped videos
  • crop videos
  • add voice instructions to videos
  • embed questions in the video
  • share video lesson with students via link or email 
  • embed video into blog or class website
Today, I was finally able to use EDpuzzle with my students and the result was …………
OUTSTANDING!
Below are some comments I received from my students..
  • “I like this much better than doing a quiz after watching the video!”
  • “I can rewatch the parts I don’t understand so I can get the question right!”
  • “The questions just pop up!”
I like this tool for many reasons, but mainly because it is user friendly..which is important for high schoolers 🙂
During the first week of school, I took my students to the computer lab to set up their accounts that they would need for my class. Which meant that no sign ups or account creation were needed to get started today.
Since this was the first time I used EDpuzzle in my class, I allowed the students time in class to complete the video and accompanying questions, simply to ensure that they could navigate the website, view the video, and answer the questions easily. And, they did extremely well!

In addition to completing embedded questions through EDpuzzle, my students were also required to take notes on the video on a Google Doc, which they then submitted to Classroom. (If you’d like to see the Google Doc, please click here.)

Since I use many different tools/websites in my class, I was a bit hesitant to use EDpuzzle…not because I was unsure of the benefits of the tool, but because I was concerned about my students navigating multiple websites to complete an assignment.

Google Classroom to the rescue!

I was able to include the EDpuzzle video activity link on the Google Doc which I distributed to my students through Google Classroom. Potential confusion, averted!

I hope your year is off to a great start, and that you give EDpuzzle a whirl in your classroom!

Thanks for reading 🙂

You may also be interested in the following posts…

Create Your Own Professional Development!

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“Don’t wait for someone to create PD for you. Create the PD you deserve.” Jennie Magiera ISTE 2014

This is SO incredibly true. How much do teachers actually retain from sitting in a room with colleagues for hours on end, listening to someone drone on about a new concept or technique? I’m sure I’m not the only person who finds their mind wandering to…grading, lesson planning, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, what’s for supper, I need to go to Walmart, etc. Before long, we are totally sidetracked from whatever the presentation actually is, no matter how riveting the topic. I’ve always heard that teachers are terrible students, and that is extremely obvious in a professional development session!
Sometimes, it takes a professional development session to allow us to see how some of our students feel when we drone on and on…no matter how riveting the topic is to us, our students’ minds may eventually wander to other things!
When I go to conferences and workshops, I rarely have this issue…I call it my Teacher ADD. Why don’t I have trouble focusing on the topic of presentations at conferences and workshops I choose to go to? Simply because I CHOOSE to go to them! Which means I have some interest in the topics being discussed. 
Which type PD do you feel you “get the most from?” The so-called “traditional” PD, or PD in which you choose to participate? Most likely, you are most involved in and most excited about learning WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO LEARN!
So, as Jennie Magiera said at ISTE, “create the PD you deserve.”
Where can you look for great professional development opportunities? 
Twitter! Check out #edtech #edtechchat #flipclass #21stedchat #blendedlearning #ISTE #flipcon14 and more! I learn so much and find tons of cool ideas on Twitter 🙂
Sophia! Check out the professional development for teachers, as well as online courses and webinars!
Google+! Join communities on Google+ and connect with educators all over the world!
Pinterest! Shouldn’t we be able to earn PD hours by “Pinteresting?!” 🙂
Webinars and Virtual Conferences! I “virtually” attending FlipCon14 last week and was able to gain loads of great information about something I am extremely interested in…from the comfort of my own home! Many times, viewing webinars and virtually attending conferences is much cheaper than attending traditional workshops, which is sure to please your administration!
How will you “create the PD you deserve” this summer?
Thanks for reading 🙂

Ready to “Hangout” in Your Classroom?

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Google seems to have taken over the world of education…it is absolutely everywhere…and that’s great!

With the addition of Google+ features to Google Apps for Education accounts (GAFE) came the Google Hangout, which is essentially Google’s pumped up answer to Skype.

So, what exactly is a Google Hangout?

A Google Hangout is a video call, chat, discussion platform crammed into one amazing tool. I was first introduced to Google Hangouts for education earlier this year at a tech conference, and my mind was blown! In order to have a Google Hangout, individuals must simply have a Google account and a webcam enabled device (and Internet connection, of course). That’s it. Hangout attendees do not need special equipment. This point alone makes this a great tool for the classroom.

Google Hangouts can be conducted with up to ten people, whose faces will appear at the bottom of the Hangout screen.

During the Hangout, users can share YouTube videos, documents through Google Drive, and photos. They can also chat with one or all of the participants and include fun accessories on their video, like tiaras, mustaches, and beach backgrounds! Neat!

Here are just a few ideas about how you could use Google Hangouts in the classroom:

  • talk to a student’s family member who can provide a first hand account of an historical event
  • hangout with a student’s family member serving overseas in the military
  • discuss a wide range of topics with a classroom from another city, state, or country
  • watch and review a movie (that is relevant to the curriculum of course) and compare your classroom’s response to those in another state
Just think about the amazing educational experiences we can create for our students with this great tool!
What questions would American students ask of students in Britain? Revolutionary War? War of 1812? Governing structure? Culture? The list goes on and on!
At a time when many districts are eliminating field trips to save money, Google Hangouts can save the day!
Google Connected Classrooms hosts a variety of virtual field trips, taking students to places they would likely never have seen otherwise!
Here are some great resources about using Google Hangouts in your classroom. This is something I will DEFINITELY be using in my classes next year!
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