The art and craft of teaching with technology
This site is made to teach third graders about the different food groups as an introduction to nutrition! Students can explore the site and learn more about each separate food group and then complete an exit ticket to show what they have learned.
featured image:
Image by Lukas Bieri from Pixabay
https://sites.google.com/view/sel2ndgrade/home
This SEL lesson is designed for 2nd grade but could also be used for 1st with aid from the teacher and upper elementary with some supplemental activities. This lesson would be an introductory lesson for the start of a unit about big feelings and calming strategies.
The goal of the lesson is for students to learn about big feelings and how to calm down when they feel them. The site allows for students to interact with online cool-down strategies that they can use in future situations.
Featured image by FoYu / Pixabay
In this week’s class we’ll explore a variety of apps that foster collaboration and creativity: Google Drawing, FigJam, Adobe Express Video, Loom screencasting, EdPuzzle, FlipGrid.
Students will work in a small team to explore and compare apps, come up with a lesson idea, and then share with the class.
Google Drawings provide a “canvas” for users to place a variety of content. Like all Google tools, content can be saved in your Google Drive. Drawings can be used as a browser version or as a Chrome plugin.
FigJam is a collaborative whiteboard app, free for all education users. Start by going to Figma’s Education page and opening an account.
Video Maker– Part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Built in storyboards allow you to integrate images, video, sound. Choose public domain images and soundtrack
Loom is a free screencasting tool that allows users to capture their computer screen and record themselves with their camera. Loom can be used on both Mac and Windows computers. Loom will “host” the video on its server and you can share the screencast or embed in a website. To get Loom open your Chrome browser and get the Loom extension here. Or download a desktop versions here
EdPuzzle. It’s a free web-based tool that you can use to pick a video, add your magical touch and track your students’ understanding. It allows you to add questions, audio and notes to existing videos from Y ouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course and more. If you’d rather record and upload your own video, go for it!
To start, first create a free teacher account at EdPuzzle.
Flip – Flip is a free app from Microsoft where educators create safe, online groups for students to express their ideas asynchronously in short video, text, and audio messages. (Formerly known as FlipGrid
This week, I used Google Forms to create a self-graded assessment and a branching form.
Self-graded Assessments
Creating a self-graded assessment was fairly easy to do and I can see this being an especially helpful tool in the future. Teaching multiple subjects, it can be difficult to stay on top of grading. While I am not saying that using Google Forms will solve that dilemma, I do believe that it could help with minimizing how much time is spent grading summative assessments if you decided to utilize this tool. Not only does it mark whether responses were right or wrong, but it also allows for you to give predetermined feedback based on the correctness of an answer. Additionally, the data from the form can be put directly into Google Sheets, making it easy to read and enter into a grade book. I chose to make my self-graded assessment on foundational chemistry concepts targeted at fifth and sixth grade.
Branching Forms
Branching forms are perfect for “choose your own adventure” type lessons. You can have students complete a series of tasks in the order of their choosing or lead them down a road of their own design depending on which way they go at the forks. You can also have students work in groups to complete an online escape room that incorporates material that they have learned in class. For mine, I decided to turn it into a choose your own adventure through reading for 4th graders. Using books that I remember enjoying in school, as well as books that are brand new to me, I created a series of choices that would lead students to their next reading adventure. I ask students what genre they want to look at, who they want to meet, and what they want to do. I can see this branching form being used throughout the year whenever students need suggestions for books, whether that be an assigned book report or fun reading. A modified version of the form can also be used for picking read-a-loud chapter books.
Feature Image by Gulfer Ergin from Unsplash
Google Forms is definitely one of those applications that I would use more often in my classroom due to the uses that it has. I practiced making a simple Spanish test and then a fun adventure of taking languages in high school, but I would really use google forms for students to practice there spanish. Altough they will be graded, it will be low points which isn’t meant to truly affect the grade that much, it will be used more as participation grades. It would have images to connect with phrases or words that we learned, and translating sentences in english. It is mainly more of a constant form which would be given every week or two weeks as another reinforcer to their spanish learning.
Credits:
Co-Authors: Ashley Eala, Megan Livingston, Rachel Pettey
https://sites.google.com/view/fractionaction/home
Target: 4th Grade Math
Lesson Context: Introduction to Equivalent Fractions
Goal: I can define and compare equivalent fractions.
Citations:
Photo by Clayton Robbins on Unsplash
Co-Authors: Iliana I, Nicole P, Haley V
Target: 3rd grade Science About Butterfly Migration
Lesson Context: Introduction to the unit (lesson one)
Goal: Students can explain what butterfly migration is and why they migrate.
I created this book to introduce students to solstices and equinoxes, which became an idea after I was talking to students about seasons in my student teaching placement. Students understand that there are four different seasons, but they don’t necessarily understand why the seasons occur. Therefore, this book is intended to give them a little bit of background as to how Earth’s tilt and its positioning in relation to the sun affects season changes and why the hemispheres get opposite seasons. My target audience would be 4th grade, but 5th and possibly 3rd later in the year could also use this book.
I found Book Creator to be a relatively easy site to use. I liked how there was a built-in image search and that there were layouts I could choose from for picture layouts and headings. Overall, I enjoyed using Book Creator and think it would be a great resource for students to use as well.
Citations:
Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
Link for the Fraction Quiz: https://forms.gle/z8yHs1R1E24YqzLN7
This quiz is for 5th grade. I increased the difficulty of the questions as it went on. I did not add a description of each answer. I thought that this was fairly easy to make and grade. I would aim this to be in class and students will have a piece of paper to write out their answers and come to me for help. I would not rely on a Google Form quiz to determine if they knew the material or not. Overall, it does take time to adjust the settings to your liking, but it is convenient to use.
Link for the Oregon adventure form: https://forms.gle/HUoUsCR4sLDF1PNH6
This pathway Google Form was far more difficult and took more time. I hope to incorporate this into a 2nd/3rd grade Oregon state unit. My Kindergarten students have learned about the many wonders of Oregon but are a bit too young to understand the purpose of this form. I had a difficult time with creating the sections to correspond with the answers. I was able to get it after some time. However, I hope to integrate this form into a more in-depth writing/research activity. Students will complete this form and then do research about the Oregon adventure they ended up with. A drawing or printed out pictures are allowed, even a map will be great! Overall, I want them to be able to know more about the state of Oregon and its environment and natural wonders!
Google Forms is a great way to create assessments or engaging tasks for students. I think it’s a great tool to use because teachers can format them however they like, such as including different types of media and sections. I thought it was cool that you can format choices to go to specific pages rather than just go in numerical order. I think students would be able to understand how to use Google Forms, and since most of the schools I’ve been in use Google as their search platform, I think students would be able to access it easily.
Citations:
Photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash
Featured image by HalGatewood.com on Unsplash
Our course has been hosted on our WordPress site. But here’s another option to design learning via Google Sites. This is a free tool that is especially useful when you want to showcase more content than what “fits” into a WordPress post.
Google sites are free and become part of your content stored in Google Drive. Sites can easily feature text / images and showcase content you have created using Google docs, slides, forms, Google Drawing, MyMaps or YouTube videos.
Working with a partner (s), design a learning activity that is supported by a multipage Google site. Note: Partners should include their names prominently on start page of Google Site and on the WordPress Post. They can upload one post and notify Peter to make them co-authors.
1. Google site – Start Page (Home Page)
Be sure to include:
2. Google site – At least 3 additional pages that provide resources and activities for the students
Be sure to include:
3. A WordPress post that showcases the site. (this will be a co-post, so notify instructor who are your partners)
Be sure to include:
I am from a place that you can drive around in a single day, where everyone knows everyone from the mountains to the bay. I am from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where beaches are the best spot and the lowest average temperature is still considered hot. I am from an island that people travel to by plane, and where the sun shines even in the pouring rain. I am from a valley. where trade winds roam, many family gatherings are held, and where I’ll always call home.
The app I used was Microsoft Sway. I liked this app because there was an image search feature so I could upload non-copyright images straight through the site. I found it a little difficult to design the images with the text how I wanted them, but there were lots of different suggestions from Sway. Overall, the site was easy to understand and use.