Teaching Tools

Add-on for Google Docs

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:44:00 +0000

JoeZoo is one of the newest add-ons for Google Docs. While there might be a few "bugs," for the most part, it does as it is claimed. Rather than use the comment feature of Docs, use JoeZoo's feedback writer.
Feedback Writer in JoeZoo has 5 categories: mechanics, grammar, formatting, punctuation, and structure. You simply open the add-on JoeZoo, highlight the section you wish to score and click on either give feedback (write your own) or MonkeyChecker (auto check). I love the MonkeyChecker because it picks up on things I might miss.
Rubric Builder - one is able to create a rubric for scoring in about 5 clicks! Then JoeZoo will insert the rubric into the document. Easy to use and easy to re-use.
Grading tool - stay in Google Docs to score assignments. No more jostling back and forth into another program. "When viewing your student’s doc, open our add-on, select any rubric you’ve created using our Rubric Builder tool and click the grades you want to give them. That’s it! Our add-on even calculates a final grade for you, and gives you the ability to override it if you wish."
https://getjoezoo.com/

Reviving the Technology Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 19:11:00 +0000

Technology. I am really reluctant to use the word in the title of this post. The reason I dislike using the word is that I feel the use of technology in the classroom is the same as the use of paper and pencil, essential. At least using technology should be considered the same as any other tool used for learning in the classroom.

More Calendars...

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 00:29:00 +0000

Create another calendar You can create any number of secondary calendars. For example, you can set up a calendar for your work group or team to share. Each calendar you create appears in your list under My Calendars.

*Open Google Calendar.

*Click the down arrow next to My calendars, and select Create new calendar from the drop-down.

*In the Create New Calendar window, enter a name for the calendar. You can also enter a description and location, select a time zone and sharing options for the calendar.

*When you're finished setting up the calendar, click Create Calendar.

To add a Picasa Web Albums slide-show of images, open the page where you would like the album to appear. >Click on Insert in the top menu bar. Choose Picasa Web slideshow and paste the URL of the PicasaWeb album that you want to be shown in your page. Options available are choosing the slideshow size, creating an Autoplay both with and without captions and title inclusion. >Click Save and your image slideshow will now be embedded in the web page. Add a countdown to your sidebar. Click Edit sidebar (at the bottom of your sidebar) > Add a sidebar item, and scroll down to ‘Countdown’ to click Add. Add a horizontal line to help separate content. Click Edit > Insert > Horizontal Line. View the site’s revision history. Click More > Revision History.

Google Calendar, How to

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 01:07:00 +0000

When embedding a calendar into your teacher site, remember to keep your teacher schedule private...especially if you are saving parent conferences events to your Google Calendar.

Keep student information off your calendar by creating an additional calendar that you do not include on your site. Just go to calendar.google.com, make sure you are signed in, click the drop-down arrow to the right of where it says My Calendars. Then click Create a new calendar. Do not share this calendar. I named my personal calendar Thornton's Schedule.

To view both calendars at the same time, go to calendar.google.com, make sure you are signed in, and click the calendars in the left-hand navigation bar that you wish to layer. One can toggle calendars on and off by clicking the name of the calendar

Set a reminder for your event

*Open your event.

*Under Reminders, choose the type of reminder you want (pop-up or email message) and when you want to receive it.

*To add more reminders, click Add a reminder.

*Remember to click the Save button.

Set up a recurring event

*Go to the event details page.

*Check the box to the left of Repeat.

*In the Repeat pop-up, select an option from the Repeats drop-down.

*Depending on your selection from the Repeats drop-down, further define how the event recurs, including specifying start and end dates (if applicable).

*Finish creating your event as usual.

http://youtu.be/TYNjKfXwTvk adding events

http://youtu.be/DmU02MRdXtk sharing calendar

I’m not sure about you, but I need reminders for events on my calendar. To set this up in Calendar, hover over your personal calendar, click the down arrow, and select Reminders and notifications. In the Event reminders section of the Reminders and notifications page, select your preferred reminder method from the drop-down menu. If you've set up mobile reminders using the Set up your mobile phone to receive notifications link at the bottom of the Reminders and notifications page, you will also see an option for SMS reminders in this menu. Optionally, add additional default reminders using the Add a reminder link. http://youtu.be/4z_mPT_OqwY

When finished, click Save.

Layering Google Calendars can be useful because you can see others’ calendars along with your own calendar. Let’s say I have my personal family calendar that I added to my work Google Calendar account for convenience, and my school calendar. By clicking on each calendar’s name, I can view an integrated calendar that has both school and personal events. This will make it a snap to schedule family vacations that do not interfere with school. To unlayer, click on the calendar you wish to hide.

Limited calendar view: free/busy information

Sometimes you want people to be able to check your schedule and see only the times you're busy. In the free/busy view, someone will only see blocks of time marked as busy for times when you have entries in your calendar. They will not be able to see the name of the event or any of the event details.

Web 2.0 Tools Every Educator should use:

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 21:52:00 +0000

There are some basic tools every educator should be using both personally and with their students.

1. Some sort of bookmarking site such as:

Diigo.com

Delicious.com

Symbaloo.com

2. Collaborative Word Processing

Google Docs/Drive

Evernote

3. Collaborative Calendar

Google Calendar

4. Email...Sort through All Email Daily.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 02:39:00 +0000

It is time for a major change. Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards, both demand inquiry. True inquiry does not come from prescribed labs. It comes from the students. In order to get students to begin asking questions and exploring they will need to know how to do so. Front loading will be the name of the game. Flipping? Yes, some flipping will occur, but not to the extent I attempted during the last school year. My students were not ready, had no experience with taking the responsibility of their own learning. Here's to hoping for a new beginning.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:09:00 +0000

Each day this week I have been exhausted by the time I get home. Not from stress, or from illness, but from really teaching! I am so thrilled with how flipping is going. I feel almost like a new teacher learning how to pace and manage a classroom. Actually, this is exactly what is happening. I am learning a new way to teach. This week I have asked the students to open their SWOOSH notebooks to the assignments list I provided for science. We went through their science notebooks and matched assignments with those on the list, then checked off the assignments. The students are much more organized with the assignment list. They now know what they have to do and when they have to do it. The video issues have almost disappeared. I am now using United Streaming to upload my video content. Each video must be embedded into edmodo, or the site will ask the student for a password. Time to begin working on an assignment list for next quarter!

This week has been nothing short of awesome. My students are having fun learning about plants. We had 4 labs going on in class yesterday. There were also students turning in assignments on edmodo and still others working on guided reading assignments, but each student was engaged in something. The flower dissection seems to have been the favorite of most students. I heard "look at that, I see the eggs" and "there is the anther, I see pollen coming off it."

An experiment on gravitropism has captured the attention of everyone. Some wanted to watch the plant turn upward, but decided they might have to sit and wait far too long.

Still another experiment. This one is Do Seeds Need Air to Germinate?

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:36:00 +0000

The first 3 weeks have been a bit rocky as I work out which file type to use. I think I have found the perfect solution for us: Vimeo. Vimeo has a free account, and is much like YouTube without the ads and nasty comments often associated with some video clips. Even though I am not allowing comments on the videos I am making, on YouTube there are always other suggested videos and some of those are not always appropriate. With Vimeo there are no worries about a student coming across something inappropriate.
The second day of school I had my students in the computer lab joining their classes and receiving a parent letter with a special code for each parent. With the students barely entering middle school, they were so quiet and attentive.
The students took their first test today. I suppose this is a wake-up call to both myself and my students. The test was bombed by about 80% of the students. Ouch. My plan is to go back to the beginning and show them how to watch an instructional video and how to take away what is important from the video. It will take time, but I think it will be worth it. This time, I think they realize it is up to them to learn the material and it is not up to me to pour it into their heads. The activities we are doing in the classroom support the information in the videos. The first topics were a bit boring for the students, characteristics of life and classification. Next are plant and animal structures, behaviors used for survival. The students usually enjoy these topics. I am hoping they will learn to grasp the information they need to know through more interesting topics.
Even though there have only been two videos so far that the students were supposed to watch as homework, I think they still do not understand their responsibility in their own learning. While the students were doing their tests today, I checked their science notebooks where they were supposed to write their notes and understandings from the videos. Far too many only wrote the title of the video an maybe a definition or two.
Something else I hope to do to help students understand their responsibility is to have them make their own video based on my video. I am thinking they will do this in pairs. The requirements are that the same information contained in my video also must be in their videos. We have 8 Flip cameras we can use. This will be interesting.

Not as smooth...

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 23:41:00 +0000

Week Two:

What happened? The students began to watch the videos at home and many had difficulties with the file type. I had uploaded screencasts from screencast.com and quickly reached my bandwidth limit. Thus, students received the black screen error message. I did not discover this until today when I attempted to upload another screencast and received a pink error message saying "Your account has reached the bandwidth limit and your content has been disabled. Viewers will no longer be able to access any content in your account." Fortunately I anticipated a few kinks on the technology side and have made allowances for the issue.

One video housing option down the drain. Realizing this would actually cost money to continue using screencast, I thought of Youtube and then Vimeo (hopefully). Edmodo does embed Youtube videos in the content, but I am unsure whether or not it will play at school for students. I prefer a bit more certainty when it comes to being in a computer lab with 30 students needing help with simply signing into their accounts, never mind a tech. problem. For now, I am uploading a third option, a .mov file type of each video. This way, I know the video will play at school (providing the Internet is functional of course). I am presently burning new DVDs for those without Internet and unable to play mp4 files. I think I will include two types of files on the DVDs, .mov and .wmv. A running list of assignments needs to be made into a poster for the room so students can see what is next and what they should have in their science notebooks. I was observed this week...I wonder what he thought when he realized students were rotating on and off the two computers in the back of the room as they "turned in" their video questions. I look forward to seeing the reactions to changes being implemented this weekend. :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 02:09:00 +0000

The first week (Wed.-Fri.) has gone well. I have all my students signed up for their class groups in Edmodo. We watched the Edmodo video in the computer lab as they signed up with their class codes. We did this the 2nd day of school while the kids were still in shock over the sudden switch from summer to fall and thoughts of vacation begin to linger in their minds. Several students have already uploaded a picture to their profiles. We used the video I made for science notebooks to set up their notebooks during class. There have been many positive comments from the students so far.
I had my classes do a seating assignment activity where they came into the room and had instructions on how to seat themselves in order by birth date, or alphabetically by first name. One of my classes completed seating themselves in 10 minutes the first day while the other 3 classes were unable to complete the task. One person in the successful class took charge and told everyone where to sit one by one. The other classes completed the task the following day by asking the successful class how they did it.

WSQ

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 12:49:00 +0000

What is it? Watch, summarize and question. This is the format I wish my students to use in their science notebooks as they watch the videos provided. They will be watching the video, writing notes, and discussing the content the following day in class. Then they will be doing activities and labs that help explain and cement the concepts. This will not come automatically to the students, they will have to be taught how to complete the task. We will spend the first few days watching video lessons in class, summarizing in the notebook and writing questions. The first lesson we will watch is on the science notebook. I am anxious to begin.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Science Notebook Instructions

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:14:00 +0000

This school year should prove to be interesting. In my science classes I will be using a new format for science note-booking, the class management site Edmodo, and the instructional strategy of flipping. Why is it that I always jump right in the deep end instead of just testing the water with one foot? I finished making my parent screencasts on flipping the classroom and one on Edmodo.

Backwards Planning Takes Thinking Ahead | Edutopia

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:43:00 +0000

Backwards Planning Takes Thinking Ahead | Edutopia

PowToon : A new web2.0 tool

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:56:00 +0000

PowToon : Flipping!
I have created a PowToon...This tool is in Beta version so has some rough spots. Transitions cannot be controlled yet and music cannot be faded in/out yet. They are working on these for future use. Looks cool so far and I think students would enjoy the creativity aspect.

I am Flipping!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:49:00 +0000

After a year of no posts, I am back.

What has happened during this past year? Too much. At the end of last year I flipped a few lessons. It was such a huge success I have now decided to flip my whole class. Wow, I am excited, anxious, and am working hard to have the first quarter set up before school begins so that I am able to work on the second quarter. There is so much to think about. Which lessons need to be recorded? Will I use a screencast, or a video camera? How about both? I am changing my science notebook to a more structured format and have made a video on how to set it up. I have uploaded the video, made with a Hue doc cam, to Edmodo. Edmodo is not new to me, I have had an account for 3 years but never used it with students! However, using Edmodo with students will be new. With flipping, Edmodo and the new science notebook, I hope I have not bitten off too much...thus the preparation every waking and free minute.

What is flipping? A flipped classroom is one in which the students do their homework during class time and their "lecture" at home during homework time. There are many advantages for both the teacher and the students. The students will be able to watch the video as many times as needed. They can even rewind, pause, or stop the teacher as often as necessary. The teacher will have time during class to help those who need assistance in understanding the content. The teacher will not continue to repeat the lesson. Instead of a 60-minute "let's take notes on this," there will be a 5-10 minute video.

I can't wait.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:13:00 +0000

UTC 2012 Presentation on Prezi:

PowerPoint is Out...Prezi is in... on Prezi

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:51:00 +0000

UTC 2012 Presentation: What's New With Google?

Change?

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:24:00 +0000

One of the largest changes in communication is here. Google+
This medium is not described by Google as a social network. In fact, it does have social networking features, but does and will include other useful mediums. One thing to remember when using + is that everything you post or upload to + is open to the world. In fact, in the privacy statement it even says that Google has the right to publish your content royalty-free. So I am reading professional photographers' are not going to upload their photos. Simple, don't upload anything you wish to make money on.
Next, do not post anything to the public stream you do not wish to be public. Share with individuals, or a specific circle instead.

The main feature of + is Circles. This is where one categorizes people. I have a circle for friends, family, GCTs, London GCTs, business contacts, cycling, following, read later, PBS learners, and PBS folks. I could be more creative and create circles for "never respond to these people," "blabbermouths," or "nobody important." The names of the circles are never shared.
If I want to share photos of my trip to Charleston, I share it with my friends and family circles. If I want to share cycling information, I share it with my cycling circle and my friends and family do not have to be bored with it. One may share with one individual, a circle, or any combination of circles.

The next feature I find interesting is hangout.
I see this as useful with group projects, committee work with members in various locations, committee interviews, any sort of collaboration where ideas need to be voiced. How hangout works is this; one person begins the hangout and 9 more may click on the join hangout button. On one's screen, the person speaking will appear in a streaming video. As others join the hangout, they will appear in a smaller video along the bottom of the screen. I experienced a hangout a couple of days ago where 4 time zones were represented (Germany, England, South Carolina, and California). We were all GCTs and were discussing hangout, circles, use of these features for instructional purposes.

Next, I need to figure out how huddle is different from hangout.

If you would like an invitation to Google +, let me know and I will share.

Creative Commons Kiwi

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:06:00 +0000

Teach Mom How to Set Up a Google Gmail Account

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Google Maps presentation UTC, June 15, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:36:00 +0000

So What Happened to all my Posts?

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:27:00 +0000

Clueless...

Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Registration is open for South Carolina's largest technology conference! People come from all over the state, and from nearby states just to attend this conference. The number of participants may have to be limited this year, so be sure to sign up for this free conference soon. I'll be presenting using Google Maps for lessons, and a couple of other sessions as well. June 14 and 15 are the dates, save them!

Why wouldn't you attend? This conference is for those who wish to find out about how to integrate more technology into classroom activities...go ahead, sign up, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Charlotte Thornton) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:55:00 +0000

What do you teach in your classroom? Do you strictly follow the standards, or do you teach what the students need to know? Do you teach standards from previous years that students need in order for them to understand the content they are to learn for the current year? What about motivational lessons, is there time? Are we testing our kids so much that there is no time to teach? Is it better to teach more thoroughly, or to make sure everything is covered? These are all questions that need to be answered as we go about improving our schools.

Teachers are responsible for their students' learning what the state says they need to learn before leaving that grade. What does a teacher do when previous learning does not "stick" with the student? The student gets placed into the next grade even though they are not ready to be there. Still, what does the current teacher do? I say the current teacher does everything humanly possible to help the student learn as much as they can and to help the student retain the information. After all, why do we teach? What good do we do if the learning isn't remembered? If this means teaching the basics, then we should teach basics. If it means helping Johnny learn to read, then we should help Johnny learn to read. Yes, this takes time. Yes, a couple of the indicators for the standard might be missed. Would we rather Johnny understand concepts and be able to answer application questions about them, or to be able to recognize that we covered the concepts in class? Will Johnny be able to get the answers correct on the big important state test? Even more important, what does the state test mean to Johnny?