Grammar Interactively!

Several times over the last week I have seen Tweets and posts about the site Quill.  I finally have had some time to look it over and I am pretty excited about it.  This site, with a portal for student or teacher, provides students with work in learning english grammar skills in an interactive format.  The set up and use of the site is pretty intuitive but I will walk through the basics:

1. Once a teacher creates a class, Common Core aligned lessons appear of which the teacher can select.  You can view each lesson and the CC standards of which it applies.
2. Upon selecting a lesson, a due date can be decided upon.  Lessons can be assigned to the whole class or not.  
3. Once lessons are determined, the teacher can either manually add the students or a class code can be offered to the students.
4. Teachers can edit student accounts as well

Quill has an introductory video with student reactions and an great explanation on how the program works on the student side.  It is very complete and definitely worth watching.  It can be found here:

NoteOn Extension for Chrome

(A SMARTER Balanced Testing Toolkit Post!)

I have been looking around for a good extension that could be added to student accounts ahead of SMARTER Balanced or research projects that would allow students better practice in the process of taking notes digitally with a mini-window while viewing content on another window.  This is a task students will see more and more with testing and in digital work.
Practicing the concept of taking notes, capturing the main idea, collecting data and information from various text, graphs, and online sources is an incredibly difficult but useful skill kids need to learn. In my search for a good app or extension, I have come across many different resources, although NoteOn seems to be the best one thus far.  What I like about the NoteOn extension is that the extension icon (as shown):

 is obviously a note app.    Students can title the note, carry the note from different pages, and they can organize the saved notes by color scheme.  Best of all: it auto saves!

Just a few great uses for NoteOn in the classroom might include:

• A research tool for organizing notes as students navigate around the web.
• A place to store citations, websites, etc. on a different topic as students explore a specific topic.
• Using the colors assigned to notes, help students assign a color scheme to the types of notes (dates, main idea, famous people, etc.) and/or areas of research within a larger topic.

10 Productivity and Practice Ideas with Tab Glue and Scissors

(A SMARTER Balanced Testing Toolkit Post!)

Helping students be more productive using technology tools is a great thing.  What's even better is when that same tool supports learning as well.  What is beyond better (epic?) is when a tool also support students in preparing for activities they will be asked to do on state testing, in Wisconsin the SMARTER Balanced Assessment.  Tab Scissors and Tab Glue are two Google Chrome Web Store Extensions that I have used all year as a productivity tool, but one that I recommend teachers work with students to use in the classroom.
Tab Glue and Tab Scissors are extensions so they will sit in the space to the left of the OmniBox of your browser (the URL address bar).  When you add them, through the Chrome Web Store, they will look like this:

As we are not working within Google Apps for Education so much of our work including preparation of presentations, work processing, etc. happens in a browser between many tabs. Sometimes you find yourself frequently switching between tabs.  While it would be convenient if we all had a second monitor to place one window on each monitor while we work, that is often not the case.   Tab Scissors allows you to split your browser window into two separated windows  at the tabs you indicate.  Simply click the tab of which you want Tab Scissors to split the browser window, click on the Tab Scissor icon, and your page will refresh as two perfectly split pages allowing you to see both tabs simultaneously.  Tab Glue, when clicked, will paste these tabs back together as one.  

See the image for an example:

Working between two tabs

Using Tab Scissors to split the window:

Split window notes

So what does this mean in the classroom and how can it help my students? 

As our students are becoming more and more proficient with taking notes, identifying important information, paraphrasing content, and talking in multiple visual cues, we need to find ways to incorporate those skills into everyday teaching.  The SMARTER Balanced Assessment had students working with a split screen throughout the entire testing situation.  The content on wither side of the window can change, but if they are not practiced at attending and using both windows, they will struggle there and in other areas of digital literacy.  Why not practice this concepts with our current content so it does not seem so foreign as we go into testing situations?  Here a few suggestions for learning experiences that might help our students become proficient in using side-by-side windows.

1. Note taking - As shown above a website on one side, notes or a presentation on the other.
2. Video Notes - While there are some tools for video note taking, this might also be a way to have students view a video and take notes. (Students could even be doing this collaboratively!)
3. Graphics - Interpretation of a graphic or map 
4. Question sets - Create a Google Form with questions to match the media on the other side of the split screens.
5. Resources - provide students with an important resource on the left such as a multiplication table or other reference material as they work.
6. Direction or Steps - Use one screen as a reminder tool for those that need to see directions or steps while they work.
7. Maps - Allow students to have a map as a resource while they watch a video or read resources about a new area of the country.
8. Vocabulary - Provide a vocabulary key or have students develop a vocabulary list as they deal with difficult literature.
9. Review - Have students take a practice test or pretest for a unit of study and capture notes on what they need to study additionally.
10. Back-channel - Have students in small groups collaborate on a shared Google Doc as a Back-channel discussion while working with digital content.  

TextHelp Highlighting Tools - SMARTER Balanced Assessment and Classroom Practice

                                     (A SMARTER Balanced Testing Toolkit Post!)
This past few weeks I have been in many classrooms that are piloting the SMARTER Balanced Assessment.  While I am not a fan of practicing for a test, I do not have any problem with using quality techniques to teach  that will help our students to practice a processes.  Especially if that process includes a solid use of technology integration that will be used in their future as a learner. As I watched students taking the SMARTER Balanced Assessment pilots, I found that I frequently thought to myself, "Wow, I don't think our kids learn in regular classroom processes in that way" or " I bet our students would do better at this is they had some experience taking in information in this way."  Then I got to thinking about how I could provide resources, lessons and or opportunities for teachers to give our students practice in instructional strategies.  This is the first of a series of blog posts to share ideas of how teachers might practice the process that students will encounter in the SMARTER Balanced Assessment.  They are intended to be used with regular curricular activities so that when students encounter them in a testing situation, they don't seem foreign and unusual.

Exit Ticket App for Chrome

Exit Ticket is a Google Chrome App that can be used in the classroom for formative and summative assessment with the digital tools of a Chromebook Classroom but also with any internet device.  The Exit Ticket app has a sign in for both the student and teachers.  This tool has so many great components to it that will allow a teacher to differentiate instruction at all levels.  Teachers can view students progress and performance progression immediately and adjust and personalize learning.  While this apps is aligned to the common core you can also add your own learning targets.  Once you create a free account you will find that there is excellent support in the form of a downloadable pdf guide as well as videos to learn how to make the most out of this powerful tool.

Watch Exit Ticket in action in the video below:

News for Kids - At their Level.

At the SLATE Conference this week I attended a session on Blogging and backchannels in the classroom.  While the presentation was not about literacy specifically, there were a number of resources discussed that encourage digitally literacy.  One in particular that I got excited about was Newsela because it can be used with Google Docs and encourages the use of non-fiction reading strategies while providing literacy at the student's level.  It is like the classroom trifecta!  It is collaborative, literacy based, and naturally integrates the use of technology.
Newsela is an innovative way for students to access relevant non-fiction resources from today's news. As a teacher, you register your class and this resource brings an article at various lexile levels from grade 4 to college-level.  Articles also have assessments that are aligned to common core.  Teachers can assign articles, monitor progress with assessments and track common core mastery.
The presenter shared that he has students send the article to their Google Drive, share it and then make comments on the article as they read.  Their thinking as they read is digitally highlighted, comments are recorded and kids are engaged while learning.  Such a great resource, how will you use it?

Google Docs in the Classroom and Common Core

More and more as I research and prepare for our school distric't use of Google Apps for Education, I am coming across posts that individual teachers write about their experiences using Google Docs in a variety of classroom settings.  Caitlin Tucker, an 9th and 10th  grade Honors English teacher from California, recently published a blog post about her experience using Google Docs with her students in the process of a formal essay assignment   She outlines the process really well in her blog complete with YouTube video of her screen cast  while she was editing with her students to demonstrate the rich, in-depth conversations she had (digitally) while supporting her students in the writing process.  She emphasizes in the blog that this was a lesson completely aligned with Common Core Standards and one that she would not have easily, efficiently or masterfully met without this process:

"I asked students to use the instant chat feature on their document to send me questions or comments as they worked. It was ironic how much individual feedback I was able to give in 90 minutes with 30+ students working quietly at their computers.I successfully edited every paper shared with me 2 times before the final draft was submitted. For those concerned about addressing the Common Core Standard that requires students “develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach,” this is a wonderful way to support students in this process. You are also using “technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others,” which is another writing standard!"

 I encourage you to read her post, Synchronous Editing with Google Docs to Teach the Common Core, about this and get excited about the use of Google Docs in the classroom! RY