Notes on Google Slides

February 1, 2017February 1, 2017Admin1 Comment

Earlier this week my students started on a group project – Road to the Revolution. I had given them a Hyperdoc with the information on the French and Indian War. I gave them very specific guidelines and some questions to answer. The end product is an Animoto video. As I was walking around and helping, I noticed that a group of students had Google Slides open. I got worried. It took a long time for me to get my students out of the habit of wanting to create a slideshow for presentations. So I stopped and asked why Slides was open and “Please don’t tell me you’re creating a slideshow.” I was so relieved when one of the girls explained that they were using it to take notes! I didn’t even show them this trick. Yeah, proud teacher moment.
download One of the girls created and shared the slides with the rest of the group. Each person in the group had their own slide to take notes. I know this isn’t the first time this has been done, but I was really proud of my students for thinking of this. It is so much easier to take shared notes on Slides as opposed to Docs.

I LOVE it when students take learning into their own hands and make it work for them. Go Innovators!

Just another great example of what students will do when we give them the freedom to own their learning.

Homework: We STILL Hate It

July 7, 2016September 10, 2016Admin2 Comments

[url=https://flic.kr/p/r6shHf][img]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8610/16470630808_ff856fd3bc_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/r6shHf]”I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Author Unknown[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/life-long-learners/]Brian Metcalfe[/url], on Flickr

I’ve been thinking more about Homework and why I hate it so much. Then, I began to look at it from different standpoints: teacher, student, parent.

Why Teachers Hate Homework

No, I do NOT speak for all teachers. In fact, I know several teachers who advocate homework. This is a collection of reasons I have heard several teachers make:

The parents end up doing it for the kids.
We have to take time out of our learning day to correct it.
The same kids consistently DON’T complete the homework. It becomes a (losing) battle.
If we don’t correct it together, I have to take time out to do this menial task.
[at middle school] One kid does the homework and their friends copy it before school starts.
[at middle school] The kids stopped hiding the fact that they copy it.
The kids who need the practice either don’t do it or do it wrong.
The kids who don’t need the practice do it – what a waste of time for them.

Why Students Hate Homework

Yes, there are some students who like homework.

It’s boring
Who wants to do a worksheet?
It’s too hard and there is no one at home to help them.
They are in charge of younger siblings.
They may have several responsibilities to do once they get home.
They’d rather be playing (wouldn’t we all?)
It’s not meaningful.

Some other points I thought of:

Not all students have a home to complete their work.
Not all homes have a quiet space to complete work.
This is an intrusion on family time. As a teacher, I get upset when a parent tries to intrude in my area (classroom).
If I were to work all day, like the students do, and then were asked to go home and do more work on my time, I’d be a bit put-out.

Why Parents Hate Homework

Yes, there are some parents who request more (and I have my own thoughts on that).

It becomes a nightly battle.
There is yelling, screaming, and crying. Who wants that in their home?
It can take ‘forever’
Everyone is tired when they get home.
You have to find the ‘right’ time to do homework.
There is always something to do – ballet, baseball, etc.
It’s frustrating
The higher kids get more homework

Thank you to Amy (Jenkins) Shwartzhoff for her insight from the parent perspective.

Movie Premiere

June 16, 2016June 16, 2016AdminLeave a comment

I have been doing much reflecting, as most teachers do, upon this past school year. To say that there were many ups and downs would be an understatement. However, one of the best – if not THE BEST – thing I did this year was to have my students write, direct, act, and produce their own movie. With a full-fledged Red Carpet Event!

Thanks to Dominic and his efforts in A Tale Unfolds my students were able to have an incredibly memorable 5th-grade experience. This was, by far, one of the most fun and rewarding experiences in my teaching career. And I can’t wait to do it again! Throughout the process, I had been writing about this (A Tale Unfolds: Part 1, A Tale Unfolds & Writing, Writing and the CAASPP) and aligning it to 5th-Grade CCSS ELA. And here are the results of their efforts:

Red Carpet Event:

Cast Interviews:

Movie:

Once again, thank you, Dominic, for creating a high quality, rigorous program.

Makeshift Keyboards

April 27, 2016April 27, 2016AdminLeave a comment

Recently I received a new student in my 5th-grade class. Great kid from India. He has some English, enough to tell me he wants a Punjabi Keyboard. So, we created a Punjabi keyboard for him. First, we selected the correct keyboard on his Chromebook. Then, he pointed out that the physical keyboard was still in English. So then we looked up a Punjabi Keyboard online and I printed it out. Using Google Translate, we affixed them on the correct keys. We used tape. We were in business! Things were going great. Score 1 for me.

This victory didn’t last long. He then came to me telling me that the paper was bugging his fingers and I needed to tape the tops too. I explained that the keys would then all stick down to the board. So then, I had another brilliant idea: Saran Wrap, poor man’s keyboard cover. Yet another score for me.

Yes! This worked. He was happy. Until…. He wanted it all off. Yup, it wasn’t working for him. He wanted to continue with the English Keyboard…

(Sigh) You win some, you lose some.

Point of View

April 9, 2016April 9, 2016AdminLeave a comment

In Social Studies, my 5th graders have been learning about the causes of the American Revolution. Recently, they were researching ‘The Boston Massacre’. Being that we are in the US, the texts that we have, have a colonist/American point of view. This lead to; what was the British take on it? This lead us to a Google Search. However, we didn’t want to view anything that was written in the US, we wanted information from the UK. So how did we find out the UK point of view?

We navigated to a new tab, which brought up Google. While being logged in, we typed our query ‘Boston Massacre’. Now to filter our results for information from the UK. Located on the upper right side is a ‘gear’. Choosing it brings up a drop down menu. From this, click on ‘Advanced search’.

This sends us to a new page with several search filters. For our Boston Massacre example, we located ‘region’. This allowed us to narrow the region in which the information was published. We chose United Kingdom (this lead to a side conversation about ‘What is the United Kingdom?’). Then clicked the blue Advanced Search button on the lower right side.

This brought up the search results with the filter in place. All results were from the UK.

This, of course, led to an interesting discussion on why the accounts that we had been reading about and the accounts according to the UK were different.It was a great opportunity for my students to experience different points of view, why they exist, practice critical thinking skills, and begin to learn to question what really happened.

Gamification: Here’s the Deal

January 24, 2016January 24, 2016AdminLeave a comment

And what a deal it is! I have written about my use of Mangahigh in my classroom in the past (Gamify My Homework, Math In the Summer, Engage Student With Mangahigh, and Online Homework). I really do like the tool!

Here’s an opportunity to check it out…for FREE (for a limited time). Not only do you get to check out all the features, your class/school can participate in an online challenge! Adding to the gamification fun. Go ahead, sign up for the challenge. What do you have to lose? It’s FREE.

10% Discount

And if you like it and decide to purchase…You can receive a 10% discount and a 30-day FREE trial. See, it just keeps getting better! Email Amber (amber@mangahigh.com) with the code: NOWATECHIE10.

Challenge Details

The challenge will run from February 1st – 15th 2016 for all K-10 students at schools in the US and Canada. It’s completely free to participate and we encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to explore Mangahigh and see the impact digital games-based solutions can have on students’ learning.

During the challenge, you will have full access to all of Mangahigh’s premium features, including 600+ activities aligned to Common Core and other state standards. You can assign specific challenges to support the topic you are currently teaching, or simply allow students to complete challenges independently.

What do we win?

The school that scores the most points during the competition will be crowned the Math Bowl Champion, winning a $500 Amazon voucher, $500 Mangahigh voucher, a trophy plus medals and certificates for their top 10 students.

The 9 runners up with all receive a $100 Amazon voucher, $200 Mangahigh voucher, medals, and certificates for their top 10 students.

Students with 200 points or more will receive a Mangahigh medal!

Who can enter?

The competition is open to all schools in the US and Canada for grades K-10 regardless of school size, location and previous experience with Mangahigh.com. You are welcome to enrol as many teachers and students as you like.

Who will join me?

I’ve already signed up. Who will join in the challenge?

Make It Ourselves!

December 14, 2015AdminLeave a comment

We have been working on division with and without decimals. To help my students gain experience with the computation, I found a game (Four in a Row) in Georgia Math. They enjoy the game, but you always have those few who get board because it’s too easy. And yes, I had some of those. However, these 3 boys didn’t complain. Instead, they asked if they could make their own.

Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 5.22.42 PM — Credit: J-Jey, Julian, and Adan

The boys chose the numbers and did the division to fill in the boxes with the quotient. This week, the rest of the class was able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. It was a hit.

Now, this same group has decided to recreate another game. It was a multiplication board game, also found in Georgia Math. They are pretty excited.

Why was this so important? First of all, we talk about differentiation but aren’t alway great at it. This allowed my more proficient students to be challenged yet work on the same goals as the rest of the class. Secondly, and more importantly, my students took control over their learning and thought of a way to challenge themselves. What a powerful lesson for all.

After-School Tutoring

February 26, 2015AdminLeave a comment

The last few days, I’ve had students contacting me, at home online, to help them with their math homework. The first time, the student contacted me via email and we had a series of emails going back and forth. In class the next day, I mentioned how a student contacted me for help and how awesome that was.

The next day, I received a chat invite via Google Hangouts on my personal GMail account. My students know what the email is, but never (until now) use it. It’s used for web tools sites. She choose to contact me on this account as our district has disabled chat on the student domain. Here is a portion of our conversation:

How #awesomesauce is that? Next, I’m secretly (well not so secretly now) hoping that someone will figure out how to do the video chats and we’ll do a study group hangout.

This is what makes my job so awesome!

Supporting the Beginner

February 3, 2015AdminLeave a comment

A few weeks ago I got together with a first grade teacher at my site. We decided to video tape her students holding high frequency words. The idea was to create a fun way her students could practice their words, at school and home. Needless to say, it has been a big success. The students love it, and the parents love seeing it on our school’s FaceBook Page.

So today when I stopped by to see if she needed another taping session, I was sad to find that she was a little down about the project. She had been so excited about this idea and how well it went, that she shared it with others – in hopes that they would find it as inspiring as she had. This is where she became disappointed. Unfortunately, some that she shared this with, immediately disregarded the idea saying that it would never work [for them].

And this is when I realized that those ‘new’ to technology in the classroom can be fragile. Fragile in the sense that this great new ‘thing’ that they are excited about and finding success with, which is then quickly disregarded by others, can easily break one’s spirit. She was truly disappointed that others had not wanted to try this. However, I quickly reminded her that 2 other teachers were inspired by her and had also taped their students.

It is stories like this, that encourage me to be the cheerleader for those who are willing to try. It is because of this teacher, who is now thinking of other ways to incorporate tech into her classroom, I will do what I can to support all those who dare to try something new. It’s not easy being the ‘Lone Nut’ [Jon Corippo & CUERockStar reference] in your grade level, on your campus, or in your district. But when a bunch of ‘Lone Nuts’ get together, amazing things begin to happen! And for this reason, I am looking forward to working with her with all the crazy ideas we can dream up!

Oh, and did I mention that she is a self proclaimed ‘non-techie’? Yeah, she’s THAT crazy – willing to dive into tech even when it’s outside her comfort zone. Mrs. Bolger, you inspire me!

Check out her kiddos:

Nowa Techie

Lisa M. Nowakowski

students