Google Form- Self graded quizzes

In the past, you could use Google Forms to give students quizzes, but you needed to use an external add-on called Flubaroo to grade it. At the end of last year, Google updated their forms, so you can now turn them into a quiz and have it automatically graded and give feedback to students without a third party tool. I don't know about anyone else, but I always like finding tricks that will save me time from marking!Another reason I appreciate using Google forms for quizzes is that it allows students to use an add-on that will read them the questions (Select and Speak is the one we use)- great for accessibility for our lower level readers! 

Here is a quick overview of how to create a quiz using forms:

When you have your form open (In Drive--> New--> Google Form), you will want to go to settings (the little gear icon in the top right-hand corner). Then you will want to click where it says "Quizzes", and then slide the little bar that says "make this a quiz". There are also a few settings here you can change as well. I like to allow my students to see their grades after they finish so they can see their mistakes and read the answer feedback on the questions they may have gotten incorrect.  

Next, you will start to type up a question. Once you have it entered, you will click where it says "Answer Key"

 Then it will flip your question over, and you can select the correct answer, and give it a point total. You can also add answer feedback. 

Once students begin to submit, you will be able to get their responses by clicking on the responses button on the top of your form 

You can then choose to view it in a spreadsheet or see the visual created by forms. **You will have to mark long answer questions by yourself**

Also, one extension for Chrome that I have loved this year is called 'NIMBUS SCREENSHOT AND VIDEO RECORDER". It is what I used to capture and annotate all my images. If you are looking for a tool to take screenshots, Nimbus has a lot of useful features and is really user-friendly. 

Math Opener--Splat!

One of the starters we learned about at the Dr. Nicki Newton's Guided Math PD was called Splat! created by Steve Wyborney.  It can be used at all levels.  It links with many number concepts and can be used to build equations, etc.  

When looking at Steve Wyborney's blog, he has many different activities to use in the classroom.  It will be fun to experiment with them.  The link to his blog and to the Splat! activities are below.

Steve Wyborney's Blog

Splat!

Guided Math

On Monday, several of us had an opportunity to go see Dr. Nicki Newton present about Guided Math.  This was a phenomenal PD opportunity and what we learned will definitely change my practice in math.

Below is a link to Dr. Nicki's blog.  I would encourage you to check out her math running records, games and various videos about work stations, etc.  Over time, as we try different elements of her program, we will try to share specific activities and ways to implement guided math in your classroom.

Dr. Nicki Newton's Math Blog

Google Updates

Google has some new and notable updates that I thought would be helpful to share :) 

Google Sheets now has add-ons! 

Docs have had this feature for a long time, but Slides just updated to have them this past week. If anyone has ever used Peardeck (which allows you to add fun interactive questions to your presentations), it now has an add-on. It makes utilizing this engaging tool super simple! I would highly recommend checking it out. It also ties nicely into the idea of exit tickets we discussed at our PLC meeting the other day at lunch. There is a whole post I wrote on Pear Deck on the blog if you want to read more about it.  Another add-on that seems like it has good potential is Unsplash photos (Free stock photos to use as backgrounds), or the noun project (free icons to add to your presentations). Since its a new feature, there is only a limited number created right now, but I'm sure there will be more to come!

Digital Tools to Engage Learners

Here is some Monday morning Tech inspiration :) 

This morning as I was driving to work listening to my Monday podcast from Google Teacher Tribe (Kasey Bell & Matt Miller), they were speaking about practical  & engaging ways to use Google drawing in the classrooms. I love Google drawings for things like graphic organizers, digital posters, etc. It is nice because the students can interact with them, they can be saved as an image and inserted into Google Slides (think background you can't move for story maps or other graphic organizers that kids can add text over top), and it is a tool that is really easy to navigate and use. By editing the page size, you can make them printable as well on a regular sheet of paper. Below is a link to a really good list of ways to use Google Drawings in the classroom if anyone is looking for some inspiration: 

Google Drawing Manifesto

Also, the same author (Matt Miller) wrote a really great e-book called "The Digital Pirate: Adding Techno-Wizadry to Teaching with Passion and Engagement" which has some really amazing ideas for integrating different tech tools meaningfully in the classroom. I have attached the link below to that as well.

The Digital Pirate

Best Practices

My best practice focuses on 2 of the TQ Standards, i) there are many approaches to teaching and learning and l) the importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of teaching and learning.

I know this is nothing new to any teacher in Ashmont but maybe I use it in a different way than you. Hopefully, you will find something useful.  I have created a Google Classroom for each unit taught in Gr. 2.  Each classroom includes teacher- created presentations using the various resources we utilize, videos and links to games that are at, below and above grade level,  that support the curriculum.  As we begin a new unit, we join another classroom.  The entire unit’s information is available from the beginning of the unit.  

             

Each student and family has access to the classrooms at school and home.  I encourage students to involve their families during learning by showing families what we are learning but also what is coming up.  This gives those students who need pre-teaching / awareness of what’s coming up and gives students and families a chance to go back and review what was already learned.  

Over the last three years, I have noticed an increase of willingness to participate in activities and discussions.  Conversations often include things like, “I saw that in Google Classroom,”  “I watched that at home last night.”  Also, I’ve had students write comments on the links in classrooms.  I’ve received notices from students who’ve commented on certain links on how they enjoyed a video or game in the evening and weekends. :)

Best Practices?

So when I heard grade two would be the first for presenting their best practices this year I was worried as I have barely had three weeks to have any practices let alone any best practices.   Deana pointed out I could use any teaching best practices experiences but… with the rush of the new year and getting used to a new grade I can’t think of anything right now it seems.   So I am going to add two things to this blog.  The first is what I spoke about for my best practices last year… the idea of professional development and different ways teachers can develop themselves without the traditional forms of PD. The second is simply plan that I have for Grade 2 and I hope it turns out well!

Professional Development

I am always interested to find out about new ideas or best practices in education.  As a result, I have found a few different ways to do this…

Educational Journals come in a variety of specialties and I am sure you can find different ones to appeal to your area of focus or interest.  

Two of the journals I have subscribed to include The Reading Teacher and Teaching Children Mathematics.  These are an extra expense but I find the information interesting and informative.  From these journals, I have found a few good lessons I can use as is or ones I can adjust to make work for me and my classroom.  I like the fact that they provide professional information with articles that have been peer-reviewed and usually have quality research behind them.  

I also find good professional development books and information from the ATA Library.  If you follow this link : http://library.teachers.ab.ca/Presto/home/ATADefault.aspx it will take you to the search page.  You may have to contact the ATA librarian to obtain your login information… (it’s been awhile so I don’t remember what I had to do) but once you have it you can search out materials that interest you and have the library mail it to you (home or school… you give them the address).  The materials will come in a box or padded envelope with a return label and it’s as simple as keeping the packaging and popping on the return label when you are done or it’s time to return them.  I’ve received many good books as well as DVDs that pertain to different areas of teaching.  

New Best Practice

Now!  Since I did already use that as my ‘best practice’ last year I suppose I should present something brand new and this is something that I hope to use this year.  It blends a bit of formative assessment as well as hopefully encouraging students to use metacognitive strategies to reflect on their learning.  I have created a data binder for each of my students and included inside some checklists for concepts they need to know.  At this time it includes some sight word identification checklists, some skip counting checklists, and other simple concepts.  I hope to include more as the year goes on including rubrics for projects etc.

I intend to use these with the students to help them fill in the checklists to see what they know and to (hopefully) watch their knowledge grow throughout the year.  I intend to link this to their goal setting and hopefully use these to help them plan smaller goals throughout the year.  At this time the checklists are simple and I have only used them with a few students on sight words so far. Hopefully, I will be able to have a positive update for this blog as the year goes on!