A few months ago, I played around with present.me as a tool for sub plans: record myself teaching a lesson, have the sub press play, and all students receive the same message from me.
I tried to use present.me about a month ago when I took a sick day. It was slow. My powerpoints wouldn't upload. It locked up my computer twice and I was forced to restart twice. I gave up. I left written plans. And my students acted like wild carnivores after a baby gazelle. Not ideal.
In planning this past week to be out for Vertical Team, and in light of the fact that my PLC cohort, Bridget, was sick and practically voiceless, we decided to try a new way of recording lessons: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
(The math department has been using Screencast-o-matic to record lessons for their flipped classroom and we decided to try it. Sidenote: those math folks are so awesomely brave!)
It was so easy!
Within 10 minutes, Bridget and I had watched the introductory video, downloaded the program, and had done a few trial runs. We learned that not only will Screencast-o-matic record your voice and what's happening on the screen, it can also record video of you (which pops up in the corner like picture-in-picture). I decided to record myself in the video because I wanted to gesture to books and make my kids feel like I was in the room with them. Bridget did solely screen/voice because she wasn't feeling well and was recording from her apartment. Either way, it was so easy.
PROS for Screencast-o-matic:
So easy!
Not web-based, so you can do it whenever, wherever.
Can save files (mp4) to your computer/GoogleDrive/etc.
Because you can save, it's easy to share with others without needing a username/password.
Can record anything and everything on the screen.
Can add video of yourself.
CONS for Screencast-o-matic:
Can't edit while you record; must start over (or at least I couldn't figure out how to edit).
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Poll Everywhere
I've tried yet another tech tool to get my students talking and discussing the book they just finished:
Poll Everywhere.
Our school has used Poll Everywhere during faculty meetings as a way to quickly get teacher feedback, but I was hesitant to try it because of my own BYOD fears. But no longer! For my lesson, I wanted to try a similar approach to Poll Everywhere like I did with WallWisher. I wanted to play around with the inside/outside circles for discussion. Inside circle= live talking. Outside circle= electronic communication.
Here's what I like about Poll Everywhere:
1. Students with regular phones can text in responses even if they do not have a Smart Phone.
2. The web address is SUPER easy for students to access if they do use the internet: http://pollev.com. Simple.
3. Responses filter on to the screen in chronological order, so kids' responses can remain more organized.
4. Kids liked it!
5. Many of the kids had tried Poll Everywhere in another class, so I didn't have to pre-teach much in order to use it.
6. Students were engaged!
7. Teachers can just go to www.polleverywhere.com and instantly create a question/prompt to gather responses. No username and password needed!
Here's what I don't like about Poll Everywhere:
1. At a certain point, there is a limit to how many comments can be entered. You need to clear out the comments in order to continue. This limits the ability to go back to earlier posts.
2. Contrasting #7 above, if you don't make a username and password, everything you do in a session is lost when you close the window.
Poll Everywhere.
Our school has used Poll Everywhere during faculty meetings as a way to quickly get teacher feedback, but I was hesitant to try it because of my own BYOD fears. But no longer! For my lesson, I wanted to try a similar approach to Poll Everywhere like I did with WallWisher. I wanted to play around with the inside/outside circles for discussion. Inside circle= live talking. Outside circle= electronic communication.
Here's what I like about Poll Everywhere:
1. Students with regular phones can text in responses even if they do not have a Smart Phone.
2. The web address is SUPER easy for students to access if they do use the internet: http://pollev.com. Simple.
3. Responses filter on to the screen in chronological order, so kids' responses can remain more organized.
4. Kids liked it!
5. Many of the kids had tried Poll Everywhere in another class, so I didn't have to pre-teach much in order to use it.
6. Students were engaged!
7. Teachers can just go to www.polleverywhere.com and instantly create a question/prompt to gather responses. No username and password needed!
Here's what I don't like about Poll Everywhere:
1. At a certain point, there is a limit to how many comments can be entered. You need to clear out the comments in order to continue. This limits the ability to go back to earlier posts.
2. Contrasting #7 above, if you don't make a username and password, everything you do in a session is lost when you close the window.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Using WallWisher for Discussions
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was looking for an additional conversation piece for Socratic seminars and discussions. I often feel that a few students tend to lead discussions, but the majority of kids like to shrink into the background. I wanted a way to keep everyone as involved and engaged as possible. In order to keep this high level of engagement, I tried Socrative and really liked it, but it didn't fulfill what I was looking for. My ideal plan was that an inner circle of students would be talking/discussing/debating while the outer circle of students commented/participated on their own devices.
I decided to try WallWisher. This website allowed me to create blank message boards/walls that students could visit and post comments on by simply double clicking anywhere and typing. I created a different wall for each of my five classes and modified each of the addresses to be something simple to remember (see below).
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer2nd
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer3rd
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer4th
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer5th
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer7th
My hope was that students in the outside circle could post comments tied into the live oral conversation. As the day progressed, I constantly tweaked the procedures I used to get students with devices to comment. The three consistent procedures were that students orally discussing used their homework assignment and their book Night to generate conversation. Also, half way through discussion, the inside and outside circles swapped roles. Finally, each student was required to comment at least twice both orally and with a device.
2nd Hour I had students with devices comment a minimum of two times. I gave suggestions and some sentence starters to get them thinking. I had a few students with technological difficulties, but the one issue I realized most was that the smaller devices (i.e. phones and iPods) placed all the students' comments in one location. They overlapped a lot and created kind of a mess. I later learned that you can scroll within the window and expand the area of the wall.
Later, I tried assigning partners: an inside and an outside circle person together. Students were responsbile for responding to what their inside circle partner said. That made it easier for students to focus on a task, but I think it made them less focused on the conversation as a whole.
I also realized that I didn't always know what the Wallwisher comments referred to. As a class, we decided that students could use tags like Twitter or Facebook and say "@ Sarah" before a response to Sarah's comment.
Overall, I think Wallwisher kept students engaged and interested in the discussion--which was my main goal for students in the outer circle with devices. However, the disorganized manner in which comments posted made me think that there was not a fluid outside circle conversation. However, students enjoyed seeing their own comments appear on screen, and inside circle students enjoyed seeing the comments their discussion generated.
I decided to try WallWisher. This website allowed me to create blank message boards/walls that students could visit and post comments on by simply double clicking anywhere and typing. I created a different wall for each of my five classes and modified each of the addresses to be something simple to remember (see below).
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer2nd
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer3rd
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer4th
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer5th
http://wallwisher.com/wall/Pfeffer7th
My hope was that students in the outside circle could post comments tied into the live oral conversation. As the day progressed, I constantly tweaked the procedures I used to get students with devices to comment. The three consistent procedures were that students orally discussing used their homework assignment and their book Night to generate conversation. Also, half way through discussion, the inside and outside circles swapped roles. Finally, each student was required to comment at least twice both orally and with a device.
2nd Hour I had students with devices comment a minimum of two times. I gave suggestions and some sentence starters to get them thinking. I had a few students with technological difficulties, but the one issue I realized most was that the smaller devices (i.e. phones and iPods) placed all the students' comments in one location. They overlapped a lot and created kind of a mess. I later learned that you can scroll within the window and expand the area of the wall.
Later, I tried assigning partners: an inside and an outside circle person together. Students were responsbile for responding to what their inside circle partner said. That made it easier for students to focus on a task, but I think it made them less focused on the conversation as a whole.
I also realized that I didn't always know what the Wallwisher comments referred to. As a class, we decided that students could use tags like Twitter or Facebook and say "@ Sarah" before a response to Sarah's comment.
Overall, I think Wallwisher kept students engaged and interested in the discussion--which was my main goal for students in the outer circle with devices. However, the disorganized manner in which comments posted made me think that there was not a fluid outside circle conversation. However, students enjoyed seeing their own comments appear on screen, and inside circle students enjoyed seeing the comments their discussion generated.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Results! BYOD and Socrative
Today's BYOD lesson using Socrative went well! I felt like playing around with Socrative over the weekend really paid of when it came to implementing it in class today. And I'm glad I started with just a few small, easy questions with a variety of response types so that I could see the differences as the results came in.
I had about the same numbers of students BYOD in each class as I did last time--about two thirds of all students overall. Students were allowed to share devices and work together or work independently on laptops/classroom computers. This made up for the kids who did not have their own devices.
Almost all students were successful in getting into the Socrative "room" quickly and easily. I posted the web address on my Powerpoint agenda and on the side board so students could easily access the information. Logging on to Socrative was only a problem for two different students, and these individuals were able to easily join with another students to continue working.
I liked my multiple choice self-assessment question because it gave me a very quick idea of who was understanding mood/tone and who needed some reteaching. The bad thing was that I didn't know that information until after they'd submitted the "quiz" and completed the mood/tone questions. I'd rather know first, group appropriately, and then give them the questions. I could easily do two separate quizzes in the future to determine this.
For my open ended questions, students were quick to find text support/examples of mood/tone and type them into the space. I wish I would have made my prompts in the questions more specific. Some students were simply recalling (sometimes poorly!) from memory different pieces of text rather than finding specific quotes from the book like I wanted. As the day went on, I realized this and had students get more detailed, specific, and use quotation marks plus page numbers.
I liked that as soon as I clicked "End Activity," I could select "Send Email Report" and the results would come immediately to my email in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. I could save these (which I didn't this time) if I needed to take grades on the assignment. It's also handy that you could set Socrative to GRADE the quiz for you! Since it's in Excel, you can sort and alphabetize or rank/order. So handy! I could also just create a folder in my Inbox and shoot them all over there for later, if needed.
It seems like there are many instructional implications for Socrative without having to do a ton of work on the part of the teacher. EXCELLENT! I would definitely use Socrative again, especially now that the kids are familiar with the process.
I had about the same numbers of students BYOD in each class as I did last time--about two thirds of all students overall. Students were allowed to share devices and work together or work independently on laptops/classroom computers. This made up for the kids who did not have their own devices.
Almost all students were successful in getting into the Socrative "room" quickly and easily. I posted the web address on my Powerpoint agenda and on the side board so students could easily access the information. Logging on to Socrative was only a problem for two different students, and these individuals were able to easily join with another students to continue working.
I liked my multiple choice self-assessment question because it gave me a very quick idea of who was understanding mood/tone and who needed some reteaching. The bad thing was that I didn't know that information until after they'd submitted the "quiz" and completed the mood/tone questions. I'd rather know first, group appropriately, and then give them the questions. I could easily do two separate quizzes in the future to determine this.
For my open ended questions, students were quick to find text support/examples of mood/tone and type them into the space. I wish I would have made my prompts in the questions more specific. Some students were simply recalling (sometimes poorly!) from memory different pieces of text rather than finding specific quotes from the book like I wanted. As the day went on, I realized this and had students get more detailed, specific, and use quotation marks plus page numbers.
I liked that as soon as I clicked "End Activity," I could select "Send Email Report" and the results would come immediately to my email in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. I could save these (which I didn't this time) if I needed to take grades on the assignment. It's also handy that you could set Socrative to GRADE the quiz for you! Since it's in Excel, you can sort and alphabetize or rank/order. So handy! I could also just create a folder in my Inbox and shoot them all over there for later, if needed.
It seems like there are many instructional implications for Socrative without having to do a ton of work on the part of the teacher. EXCELLENT! I would definitely use Socrative again, especially now that the kids are familiar with the process.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
While looking around, I found...
The internet is such a vast place. I blocked out some time to just sit and search. Google topics. Look in familiar places. Search for new ideas. Here's some stuff I found while looking around. All of it connects to using technology in the classroom in some capacity.
1. Steve Fulton's blog "Teaching with Technology in the Middle." I'm now following him on Google Reader (which I love). It's awesome to get updates regularly, especially since I rarely return to blogs independently. This way Reader reminds me that there's great stuff out there. Fulton has some cool ideas about incorporating technology into the writing process.
http://stevefulton.blogspot.com/2011/02/writing-research-in-record-time.html
2. Promethean Planet's pre-made Flipcharts. I searched for resources about the Holocaust, and specifically Night. By using the filters (Night, Holocaust, 6-8, English, and Social Studies), I located a ton of resources. Some of them were terrific introductory pieces (it's too late for me to use these this year) and some were great quizzes to use with clickers (which I can't use quite yet). I like that I can download them and tweak them for my class. I'm not starting from scratch.
3. The survey NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) conducted about technology's influence on writing:
NCTE conducted a survey about 21st century writing and what teachers, parents, and students see changing/remaining the same in writing processes. They call these changes writing "between the lines." I like this phrase. I often think of "reading between the lines" when I talk about making inferences. Writing between the lines, to me, is all the extra "stuff" that can now go into writing. The resources available that you don't see on a written page. The work that goes into a piece that can't be seen in the final product. The revisions that take place "between the lines" that are no longer visible (i.e. comments, interactive revision, etc.). It's a new way of framing writing.
Here is an excerpt from NCTE's survey--
"For the most part, teachers in this poll did not see student technology access as a major barrier to learning. Eightythree percent said that their students had Internet access at home, and 86 percent said that most of their students have daily access to an Internet connection at school that can be used for literacy learning purposes. . . Still, 84 percent of NCTE poll respondents agreed that while their students had excellent command of technology for entertainment purposes, they need to know more about the use of technology for the purposes of creating and understanding texts."
69% of parents agree that technology assists their children and helps them to become better writers because both writing and revising are easier. 59% of students agreed.
I think it's interesting that this survey points out the technological strengths of students in the realm of entertainment, yet their continued need to find ways to turn these skills into valuable ways of contributing to English class.
http://www.ncte.org/topics/betweenlines
1. Steve Fulton's blog "Teaching with Technology in the Middle." I'm now following him on Google Reader (which I love). It's awesome to get updates regularly, especially since I rarely return to blogs independently. This way Reader reminds me that there's great stuff out there. Fulton has some cool ideas about incorporating technology into the writing process.
http://stevefulton.blogspot.com/2011/02/writing-research-in-record-time.html
2. Promethean Planet's pre-made Flipcharts. I searched for resources about the Holocaust, and specifically Night. By using the filters (Night, Holocaust, 6-8, English, and Social Studies), I located a ton of resources. Some of them were terrific introductory pieces (it's too late for me to use these this year) and some were great quizzes to use with clickers (which I can't use quite yet). I like that I can download them and tweak them for my class. I'm not starting from scratch.
3. The survey NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) conducted about technology's influence on writing:
NCTE conducted a survey about 21st century writing and what teachers, parents, and students see changing/remaining the same in writing processes. They call these changes writing "between the lines." I like this phrase. I often think of "reading between the lines" when I talk about making inferences. Writing between the lines, to me, is all the extra "stuff" that can now go into writing. The resources available that you don't see on a written page. The work that goes into a piece that can't be seen in the final product. The revisions that take place "between the lines" that are no longer visible (i.e. comments, interactive revision, etc.). It's a new way of framing writing.
Here is an excerpt from NCTE's survey--
"For the most part, teachers in this poll did not see student technology access as a major barrier to learning. Eightythree percent said that their students had Internet access at home, and 86 percent said that most of their students have daily access to an Internet connection at school that can be used for literacy learning purposes. . . Still, 84 percent of NCTE poll respondents agreed that while their students had excellent command of technology for entertainment purposes, they need to know more about the use of technology for the purposes of creating and understanding texts."
69% of parents agree that technology assists their children and helps them to become better writers because both writing and revising are easier. 59% of students agreed.
I think it's interesting that this survey points out the technological strengths of students in the realm of entertainment, yet their continued need to find ways to turn these skills into valuable ways of contributing to English class.
http://www.ncte.org/topics/betweenlines
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Socrative and BYOD
I recently created a Socrative account.
After listening to Amber talk about it in our last ELITE session, I thought I'd create an account and try it out on my own first: laptop on my left, newly acquired hand-me-down iPhone on my right. And can I just say, it's pretty cool!
Since my students are currently tackling the book Night, a book that I feel can only be used in classrooms if large amounts of discussion are occurring, I have been wanting to use some Socratic seminar techniques. So I thought: Socratic, Socrative. Perfect! But then I logged in to Socrative and realized it was much more quizzy with results coming to the teacher in a spreadsheet. I'd forgotten about that.
So maybe it won't work so much for contributing online to real time discussions as much as I'd hoped, but I totally see the value in other aspects.
So, I created a quick quiz/survey. Something that would be quick and easy for the kids to do on their own devices, but also quick/short enough that they could share a device with a classmate and finish quickly (even if quizzing independently).
The first question, multiple choice:
Do you think Elie Wiesel carefully selects words to convey tone and mood?
a-Yes, absolutely. (this should be the correct answer)
b-No, not really.
c-I'm still confused on Tone and Mood.
Answers to this simple question gives me a great idea of how my students are thinking and reading the text--and who I need to reteach/revisit tone and mood with. And they can be honest with me without having to do so in front of a classmate.
The second and third questions involve responding with examples of words/phrases that support either mood or tone.
I'll be giving this quiz/survey on Monday and will report back.
Again, I'm starting small and will build from there. It's pretty exciting!
After listening to Amber talk about it in our last ELITE session, I thought I'd create an account and try it out on my own first: laptop on my left, newly acquired hand-me-down iPhone on my right. And can I just say, it's pretty cool!
Since my students are currently tackling the book Night, a book that I feel can only be used in classrooms if large amounts of discussion are occurring, I have been wanting to use some Socratic seminar techniques. So I thought: Socratic, Socrative. Perfect! But then I logged in to Socrative and realized it was much more quizzy with results coming to the teacher in a spreadsheet. I'd forgotten about that.
So maybe it won't work so much for contributing online to real time discussions as much as I'd hoped, but I totally see the value in other aspects.
So, I created a quick quiz/survey. Something that would be quick and easy for the kids to do on their own devices, but also quick/short enough that they could share a device with a classmate and finish quickly (even if quizzing independently).
The first question, multiple choice:
Do you think Elie Wiesel carefully selects words to convey tone and mood?
a-Yes, absolutely. (this should be the correct answer)
b-No, not really.
c-I'm still confused on Tone and Mood.
Answers to this simple question gives me a great idea of how my students are thinking and reading the text--and who I need to reteach/revisit tone and mood with. And they can be honest with me without having to do so in front of a classmate.
The second and third questions involve responding with examples of words/phrases that support either mood or tone.
I'll be giving this quiz/survey on Monday and will report back.
Again, I'm starting small and will build from there. It's pretty exciting!
Friday, January 11, 2013
BYOD: Attempt #1
I recently got brave.
I don't know why it took me so long.
I developed/tweaked an assignment that was very loosely structured and allowed for choice, and I encouraged students to bring their own devices. Two days prior to the lesson, I explained to the kids that we could be starting a unit in which research would be very important. If they had their own devices, then they could work independently on reliable technology and easily continue their work at home. I explained that I knew they'd probably received tech-saavy gifts over the holidays, and if their parents would allow them, they could be very useful in the classroom. I also posted reminders on our team Facebook page.
I asked my students to bring their own devices.
And.
They.
DID.
Here are the totals from all of my classes:
2nd Hour: 10/21
3rd Hour: 19/27
4th Hour:12/17
5th Hour: 17/27
7th Hour: 20/27
I was astonished!
In all cases but one, students were able to log on to the internet from their own device. In all cases, students had a device to use on their own OR share with a friend. I had enough classroom computers (4 of my own and 4 borrowed from another teacher on team) to fill the void of students without their own devices or students who didn't want to partner with a friend. No devices crashed. No one was left out.
The activity I created was simple. I started simply on purpose. I didn't want to get stressed out about the activity if the devices weren't a success, and I wanted it to be something kids could easily do at home-- just in case. The task: research and report back on the meanings of 12 terms that deal with the Jewish faith and/or Holocaust OR create a timeline of ten events contributing to the Holocaust. Both of these tasks served as "before you read" activities for the book Night by Elie Wiesel.
I was very excited about how well this went! The kids worked so diligently and so effectively. They helped eachother log on to the internet. They assisted eachother by sharing devices. I didn't see any game playing (but even if they had been, it didn't really matter because they were getting their work finished).
Success!
The first step is always the hardest. Now I'm ready to do it again.
I don't know why it took me so long.
I developed/tweaked an assignment that was very loosely structured and allowed for choice, and I encouraged students to bring their own devices. Two days prior to the lesson, I explained to the kids that we could be starting a unit in which research would be very important. If they had their own devices, then they could work independently on reliable technology and easily continue their work at home. I explained that I knew they'd probably received tech-saavy gifts over the holidays, and if their parents would allow them, they could be very useful in the classroom. I also posted reminders on our team Facebook page.
I asked my students to bring their own devices.
And.
They.
DID.
Here are the totals from all of my classes:
2nd Hour: 10/21
3rd Hour: 19/27
4th Hour:12/17
5th Hour: 17/27
7th Hour: 20/27
I was astonished!
In all cases but one, students were able to log on to the internet from their own device. In all cases, students had a device to use on their own OR share with a friend. I had enough classroom computers (4 of my own and 4 borrowed from another teacher on team) to fill the void of students without their own devices or students who didn't want to partner with a friend. No devices crashed. No one was left out.
The activity I created was simple. I started simply on purpose. I didn't want to get stressed out about the activity if the devices weren't a success, and I wanted it to be something kids could easily do at home-- just in case. The task: research and report back on the meanings of 12 terms that deal with the Jewish faith and/or Holocaust OR create a timeline of ten events contributing to the Holocaust. Both of these tasks served as "before you read" activities for the book Night by Elie Wiesel.
I was very excited about how well this went! The kids worked so diligently and so effectively. They helped eachother log on to the internet. They assisted eachother by sharing devices. I didn't see any game playing (but even if they had been, it didn't really matter because they were getting their work finished).
Success!
The first step is always the hardest. Now I'm ready to do it again.
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