Thank you Google, but...really?

I love Google and all that it does, but did they really have to finally do the much needed feature update the day after I created a video that is now no longer accurate?

So on Monday, I created this video to show students how to set up a document on Google Drive in the correct MLA format because year after year, they still get it wrong.

 What do I notice the very next day?  That Google has now added the option to have a different header on the first page in contrast to all other pages.  For those that use Microsoft Word, this is something that has been an option for years.  It hasn't been for Google, but now is.

When you go to insert a header, you now have the below option to click on:

The options for page numbers (needed for MLA formatted headers) changed as well to this:

Overall, this is great and students (and myself now for my own papers) can truly and correctly format their papers.  But, I now need to find time to create a new, more updated video.  I mean really?  The day after I create the video?

Project and Padlet Pensiveness

Forgive the title but I love me some alliteration.

My 10th grade Honors students are about to embark on a reading of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club.  Before they read, I assigned a research project.  A small one.  I found the idea online last year and adapted it for my own needs.  Here is a copy of the handout.

The students will choose a topic in pairs or groups to research and create a presentation that incorporates an online tool to share with the class so that everyone gets a little background on Chinese culture before the book.  The students do the presentation together but write their own paper.

Theoretically, the presentations should have only taken a day, but today is day two and we still have some for tomorrow.  In my opinion, these are the possible reasons for the delay:

• Students in my second group were not ready yesterday and only about 3 groups went.  The groups that went today cannot get an A on the presentation due to the fact that they weren't ready yesterday.
• Students didn't have their online tools ready to go.  It ate up a lot of time to log into accounts and bring presentations up.  Next time, I'm going to insist that students provide me a link that I can click on in the assignment on Classroom.
• I insisted that students give feedback on a Padlet wall (more on that below) and that took up some time between each presentation.

Some students got very creative (and one group brought in food) in some of their presentations.  Those that created videos seemed to do the best in engaging the class.  Some students didn't pay attention to the fact that I wanted more than for them to just stand up there and go through their Google Slides (sigh).

In my own graduate work, I was instructed to create or adapt a project that had students collaborating via technology somehow.  I chose to use the research project to fulfill this assignment.  I decided to use Padlet and create a wall for students to leave notes to each group giving their feedback. 

Here is Period 4's.  

I had the wall set to free form at first and that was just a fuster cluck of wading through the notes.  I switched it to grid view and immediately sighed with relief.  As did the students when they saw it the next day (some actually thought I went through and spent the time hand organizing it at first).  I think I'll set it that way automatically next time.

Ultimately, I like Padlet so far, and I think it's a good way to have students give feedback and be mindful of what they are saying because other people can see it.

Have you used Padlet?  Something better?  Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

It is the best of times and the worst of times

February is a month of contradictions, and frustrations.  It is a wonderful month in education because  half the month is spent with four day work weeks due to holidays.  But, in my district, in my school, in my department, it is also the most frustrating and hard to deal with instruction wise.

In hindsight, I should have planned the research project for next month for my 11th graders.

We've spent this week introducing, picking topics, and creating thesis statements for a persuasive research project on a debatable issue (read:  controversial before a parent took umbrage).  This is the assignment of the semester and will make or break the students (and not just mine, but all 11th graders).  It's actually gone very well, and the students are pretty engaged in finding their topics and creating their thesis statements.  It's been kind of cute how they are all asking me to check their thesis statements for them.  So far, this has been a good week (well, not on my feet).  Having the Chromebooks in class has been super helpful with this because I don't have to worry about setting aside time in a computer lab, and I can monitor what my students are doing instead of crossing my fingers and hoping they are doing it at home.

The problem is that next week is a four day week that leads into a four day weekend, that leads into another four day week.  Normally, I love four day weeks.  But, next week is also registration for the 11th graders.  That means, that I only have two instructional days to work with the students on the digital "handout" for evaluating their sources and taking notes on said sources.

I thought it wouldn't be a big deal at first, but then, I realized that the following four day week, I will be pulled out for grading district assessments for two days, again, only leaving me with two days of instructional time with the students to create a preliminary outline and annotated bibliography.  The students would be spending two days with a substitute and there is no way I'm giving the sub and the students access to the Chromebooks for two days while I'm out.  NO WAY.  Ultimately, I don't trust subs, and with good reason since I once had one allow students onto my computer where they changed their grades. However, technology is needed for just about all of the pre-writing process of this project, so I'll have to put that on hold for two days while I'm away and have them do something stand alone.  I know I could just assign it for them to do at home, but I know that most of them won't, and I feel it's best if I'm there to guide them and make sure they are doing it right.  Their future 12th grade teachers can thank me later.

It's just so frustrating to realize that you only have 14 instructional days in a month.  I miss the days when I was in school and we filled out a registration form and turned it in and crossed our fingers until we got our schedule in the summer.

Okay, that was scary but easy.

So, I just dipped my foot into the the world of screencasting.

For my master's program, I had to create a lesson for my students where they had to apply something they learned and create something using an online tool.

I find it is sometimes hard to come up with "real-world application" style projects in English Language Arts.  If I had my students going around and correcting people's grammar, they would probably land in hot water.  So, what I did come up with (and will do if I have time at the end of the year) was a project where the students become the teacher.  They pick a topic or skill we learned during the year, do a little extra research on it, create a lesson that includes an online component, and teach it to their classmates.

One of the required components of my assignment was to create a "student" example using an online tool I'd never used before.  I decided to make a video using Screencast-o-matic on Jane Schaffer's Chunk Paragraphs.  This way, I can actually use the video in class if I need to.

Because I use Chrome for my browser, there was an issue with using the Screencast-o-matic webpage recorder, but there was an option to download a free application to my Mac, which is what I did.  It. Was. So. Easy. 

I could capture any part of my screen, and pause the recording and restart the recording and not have to start all over again from the beginning.

What I'm Working With

I've already blogged about my LMSs and what kind of Chromebooks I'm using.

Here are a couple of other sites that I use, whether a lot or sparingly:

Quizlet is a website that allows teachers and students to make online flashcards and study them.

Quill.org is a site I found that allows students to practice Common Core grammar and conventions.  I have not used this as much as I would like to as when time is short (and it often is), grammar always seems to be the first to go.

Here is a tutorial video for teachers.  And, there is a separate one for students.

Google Apps for Education is what I am using the most (read:  all the time).  With Classroom, it makes going digital too easy.  

One thing I like about moving my 'worksheets' to things such as Google Docs is that I can add things in color, including the student's answers.  My students and I also find that putting the questions in a table with a corresponding column for them to put the answers in is even better (and easier for me to pre-format with the color coding).

Here are some screen shot examples of how I can use color coding in tables.  Before I attach it to Classroom in an assignment, I make sure that I have already set up each box to the color I want.

I really like Schoology.  Apparently, my district is looking into getting a bid for a district-wide LMS.  I'm going to suggest Schoology.  I really like that I can automatically push updates to my school Twitter.

 I also like how all upcoming assignments are in the corner of the page.

But what I like about it most of all is the ability to create discussions and then get analytics on the discussion.  That means that Schoology will keep track of how many times a student responds and the traffic/popularity with dates and times (not that I wouldn't notice since I get an email sent to me each time a student responds).

If anyone has any other useful tools, sites, etc. that you think I should try, let me know in the comments.

I'm not so good at this blogging thing

I know, I suck when it comes to being consistent and timely with getting a blog out.

To follow up on some things touched upon in my previous posts, I have had a full class set of Chromebooks for quite a few months now.  I had posited that once I had them all that digital homework completion would increase.  That hypothesis proved false.  But, this seems to be a problem with paper assignments as well.  This is a really apathetic group of students this year when it comes to completing their work.

One theory I have on why so many students aren't completing their work in a timely manner is that they have gotten so used to a teacher's fear of failing a student (and the repercussions that often come with that), that they rely on that fear to earn at least a D without even trying.  Failure, however, should be a part of the learning process.  So, I've told my kids that I will allow them to fail if they so choose.  And, they really do have to choose to fail in my class (I gave my juniors the opportunity over the winter break to do up to 300 points of extra credit).  I've been encouraging my students to learn from their mistakes for the past few years now.  And, it feels like a I do a good job of modeling that for them (read:  I make a lot of mistakes in front of them).

I really need to create more meaningful assignments and spread them out to keep my grading woes under control.  I don't think I need the 10th graders to answer questions for every chapter.

The test I that I mentioned my juniors took earlier was a difficult test for all the juniors and not just my students struggled.  That made me feel a little better.  It did prompt me to pull back on the amount of time my 11th graders spent on the Chromebooks though, and made me realize that I need to ease the student's into the use of them next year.