Week 7 - Google Drive in the Classroom - Google Forms

Google Drive and Apps in the Classroom - Part 1: Google Forms

I am excited to launch a blog series about how to use Google Drive and Apps in the classroom!

This is the first of ten posts over the next two months. Although I have used Google Drive for personal use over the last several years, I have limited experience using it in class. The district I previously worked in used Microsoft Office 365, for teacher and student collaboration. The local district I moved into, have done a little bit of subbing for, and plan to work in within the next couple of years, uses Google Drive for teachers and students. Needless to say, I have some learning to do.This series is designed to aid my exploration of the potentials in the classroom, help me keep a record of them, and gain feedback from you all as I go.

One of the few ways I have previously used Google Drive in my classroom was using Google Forms. I used these in my reading intervention to gather survey data and to create online reading experiences to try to help transition students to our online form of state testing.

After using a Google Form earlier this summer, I noticed a new feature that did not exist when I originally used these a few years back. There is now a way to create Quizzes and Assessments! This is definitely something I hope to use in the future and am interested in keeping an eye on.

Here is a short tutorial showing all of the new features, enjoy!

Week 7 - Best Teacher Gifts

What are the teacher gifts you most appreciate?

When I first thought of using this topic as a blog post, I almost cringed. This could be perceived as a very selfish type of post. Though, as someone not currently in the classroom, I felt a bit more safe talking about it.

Types of gifts and numbers of gift teachers receive for holidays, teacher appreciation, or end of the year thank yous vary incredibly. A few of my friends that teach elementary school in fairly affluent attendance areas need to make a plan just to deal with all of the loot they can be given for each of the above occasions. My husband taught and coached high school in a lower income area for eight years and could probably count on both hands how many gifts he received his entire time there (and yes, the students did like him).

Move over to Pinterest and there are entire boards devoted to ideas. They range from cutesy crafts to extremely functional school supplies. Baked goods seem to make their way onto teachers' desks every year. Coffee cards can also be a good stand by for some parents.

Of course it is the thought that counts. But practically speaking, if a parent really wanted to know what you, as a teacher, would appreciate the most, what would it be?

Week 6 - Late Work? To accept or not to accept? - Poll Post

One of the ongoing discussions in my previous teaching position was department policy surrounding late work... and whether or not to accept it. Sometimes teachers are able to create their own policy and sometimes they need to adhere to a larger department policy or even a school-wide policy. There are so many discussion points for each side.

For Accepting Late Work:

• Students still gain the learning/skills involved in the assignment, no matter when it is turned in.
• Turning in work late is better than turning in nothing. 
• The "real world" often accepts work and projects even if they are finished beyond the target date. 

Against Accepting Late Work:

• Deadlines teach responsibility.
• Deadlines teach work load and time management.
• Accommodating late work can be a huge time strain on the teacher. 
• Students could potentially miss the current content or not have the skills needed to move forward to the next area of study.

What is your policy on Late Work?

Week 6 - Introducing and Setting Up Cornell Notes - Embedded Video

As a follow-up to my recent post about how I use Cornell Notes, I wanted to include a video to show how to set them up. In my classroom, I used a video clip to show students and then modeled for them step by step. I was reminded of this after some commenting and as someone who is not currently in the classroom, I don't want to forget about those pieces when I return.

In my previous experience teaching Cornell Notes, students had the set up and use down in about 1-2 weeks, depending on the student. I wasn't going it alone, it was a school-wide strategy we had agreed to as a staff, so students in my classroom were also seeing the notes in their other content areas. However, even if tackling Cornell Notes only in your class, I still believe more secondary students would probably pick it up very quickly.

Cornell Notes do not take very long for students to set up. Some even enjoy the folding and marking required for the notes page. When practicing at first, I would often have students make 5-10 pages at a time and make a race out of it.

Use of Cornell Notes can use a lot of paper, but it can always be done with notebook paper, especially once students really have the hang of it. No copying necessary! Though, I usually did keep a stack of pre-made, copied templates in my classroom for students that struggled with the set-up, usually students with IEPs or 504s.

Below is just one example of a video you can use to prep your students, or maybe just yourself prior to your Cornell Notes roll-out. This is a good one because it does show how many different ways the right and left columns can be used.

Week 6 - Parent/Teacher Communication Interview - Embedded Audio

A brief interview discussing Parent/Teacher Communication:

Varieties of Cornell Notes in a Middle School Social Studies classroom...

In my last teaching position, my school was focusing on common language and strategies across contents. Cornell Notes were the style of notes agreed upon by our school. I loved using them, but was just getting my toes wet. There are so many more ways to use them and in deeper capacity. One of our main goals was to introduce students to the structure

Here are some of the ways I incorporated this style of notes into my middle school classroom:

Research Notes: 

One of the skills heavily focused on in the middle school social studies curriculum was researching. In an attempt to encourage students to focus on one source/website and get as much information out as possible before moving on, we used one page of Cornell Notes per source. Students would fill out the bibliography information in the top margin, write their research question at the top of the notes, fill in information that helped them answer their question in the notes section, and reflected on how that source was helpful at the bottom of the page. This structure helped keep them focus and the reflection helped build their capacity for an annotated bibliography.

Current Event Stories:

When teaching students expectations at the beginning of the year, there can be a lot of scaffolding for any given reading and note-taking activity. I enjoyed using the Cornell Notes for Current Events. I would provide an Essential Question and would often start the year providing the headings, or chunking the article, for the notes section. Students would wrap up the article reading with a summary.

Video Notes:

Even media clips and short videos can create an opportunity to practice note-taking skills. Depending on the type of clip, the headings for the notes section can be added to guide students through the content. I enjoyed used these more than guided notes for media clips.

Week 5 Response - Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

The idea of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, presented by Prensky,  is a hefty one. Do these two groups really exist, and if so, should instruction be modified to adjust to the new normal facing Digital Natives in the classroom? After reading the three articles assigned, I am uncertain how I really feel about the topic, though will do my best to explain my thinking. 

I found myself agreeing with many of Prensky's statements, even though they were harsh. Supported by my own anecdotal evidence from experiences I have had with veteran educators and my experience in the classroom, although broad, I found some truth the claims. I have worked with educators that fit Prensky's Digital Immigrant characteristics remarkably well (printing out emails, turning to the internet for information second, and lack of appreciation for the new skills Digital Natives bring to their classroom, just to name a few). Students in my classroom are used to accessing and getting information fast, they like to and they can multitask, and graphics are one of the best ways to relay information, much like the Digital Natives described by Prensky. 

Although I recognized these generalized characteristics of Prensky's argument, I found myself attributing those differences to a greater scope of influences than just technology. The people I know that fit the Digital Immigrant camp, are few. Not everyone in the pre-new technology falls into the descriptors Prensky uses. There are many that have mastered and become more technology-literate than I am, even though I would technically be a Digital Native according to Prensky. 

I do agree with Prensky that "our students have changed radically" and "are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach," I just think there are deeper, more complex reasons than just the new technology these students encounter on a daily basis. I believe family structures, life style options and choices, and parenting styles contribute just as much, if not more to the characteristics of the crop of students in our education system than just the new technologies. I have not done research on this, I cannot claim this is researched fact, simply my own observations and experiences reacting to the readings. (So McKenzie could pick my meager thoughts apart just as much as she did Prensky.)

Our educational system can appear antiquated as a whole. The 9-5, Monday-Friday jobs are getting fewer, yet we still run our schools in a similar fashion. New technologies are slowly being integrated. Where individual cell phone use is commonplace in our daily lives and workplaces, it struggles to find its place in the classroom. It is important to recognize that there are incredible teachers and entire schools that fight this notion and have found a way to bring meaningful content in relative ways to these new students. 

So, although I agree with parts of Prensky's ideas, there are so many more topics to include in our discussion with colleagues that impact our teaching. 

Assigned Articles:

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants – Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

McKenzie, J. (2007). Digital nativism: Digital delusions and digital deprivation. From Now On, 17(2). Retrieved fromhttp://fno.org/nov07/nativism.html

Reeves, T.C. (2008). Do generational differences matter in instructional design? Online discussion presentation to Instructional Technology Forum from January 22-25, 2008 athttp://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper104/ReevesITForumJan08.pdf