Socrative-- Free and Easy

Introduction:

How do I know they know it? Socrative is here to help! Socrative is a free online forum for quick responses and increased engagement in the classroom. The mobile device app for the teacher and the student is available for free in the Apple App Store AND the Android Market. Once the application is downloaded, the student simply puts in the room number established by the teacher. Easy as 1, 2, 3. 

The teacher application has several options to choose from: multiple choice, true/false, short answer, exit ticket, and space race. Feedback is automatic and very informative. I recommend this app for ANY teacher looking to increase engagement and use technology in their classroom!

Classroom Application: 

• Oral Quizzing/Discussions:  Every teacher asks questions, but usually we get a response from a single student with their hand raised. Of course the student with their HAND RAISED knows the answer! What about Billy in the back? Socrative forces all students to become involved in the lesson and contribute to the discussion. The program shows how many students have responded and HOW they have responded. 

• Progress Monitoring: Ask students questions that will be in the lesson before instruction. Then, ask the same questions at the end of the lesson. Let the students see the progress they have made by displaying the charts created in Socrative on your projector. 
• Bell Ringer Work: All good teachers have a bell ringer that they use in their classroom. Many times these bell ringers are checked at the end of the week. Why not check them right away and provide on the spot feedback for the students? The key to feedback is quick and specific. Let the students post their response or answers to the bell ringer on Socrative. Then, have a classroom discussion about the mistakes that created the wrong answers and the process in finding the RIGHT one.

Journaling before Assessing

Introduction: 

We've all been there. The dizzy, ill-equipped, self-loathing, self-esteem destroying, tunnel-vision before taking a test. My experience with test anxiety occurred for the first time in college, but many of my students at the middle level are already experiencing this feeling of dread with the adoption of state mandated tests in reading, math, science, and writing. 

Today I read a study where a group of researchers allowed students with test anxiety to journal for 10 minutes prior to an exam. Research indicated that students improved their score by one grade point when they were allowed to journal. 

This "unloading" exercise was shown to help students focus on the content and not on the anxious feelings that welling up inside of them while taking the test. What if a student was allowed to journal prior to the exam about the information that they DID know instead of worrying about what information the teacher picked and selected from the unit? How could the experience of "showing what you know" improve students' outlook on testing? 

Classroom Application: 

• Journaling: Incorporate 2-5 minutes of reflection into every day.  Provide a handout with Monday-Friday listed as well as the week. Have the students sum up the day's events in 12 words or less, draw a picture, or write a definition they learned. On Friday, pick up the weekly reflection. When you begin to prepare for tests or other various assessments, hand the reflections back to the students. This should give them a good idea about what is going to be on the assessment and lessen their anxiety. 
• Take it one step further....Non-Testing Assessment: One of my college professors never ceased to amaze me. His testing style was unique to say the least. He simply gave us a lined piece of paper with the topic printed on the top and told us to "show what we know." Those of us that studied did very well. We were given extra credit for using metaphors, similes, and pictures  to explain our thinking or abstract concepts. Grading was done by a simple checklist of common themes that were discussed during class. He looked for terms, patterns, and connections. What type of test do YOU think "Shows what you know": a multiple choice answer, or a grand essay of all of the thoughts and connections that you brought to the classroom? I know this type of assessment may not fit into all classrooms or all units of study, but shouldn't it have a PLACE in the classroom, even if it is merely formative in nature? 

Using Comics to Teach Concepts

Introduction: 

If you are a teacher at the middle level you know that every day is a struggle to engage students. I teach 7th grade language arts. Needless to say, I get the pleasure of teaching 7th graders their parts of speech..again for a district wide common assessment. I was faced with having to review concepts the students had already had prior knowledge of, but they had not mastered the concepts yet. How do I get my students engaged in a topic that is staler than a crusty crouton? Well I have discovered the Comic Book app for the ipad/ipod and have fallen in LOVE with it. The students are engaged and are having FUN explaining the various parts of speech to their classmates! 

Comic Book allows you to take pictures from your library, or take pictures instantaneously and place them in a comic strip format. Then, very easily you can upload stickers and text bubbles to the comic. In less than 5 minutes you have a presentation worthy comic ready for the classroom! 

Classroom Application: 

• Explanations:  It is universally known that if a student can explain and simplify a concept they have mastered the concept/standard. What better way to see if a student has mastered the idea than to create a cartoon for a student in a younger grade? Go one step further, bind the cartoons and give them to a teacher that teaches at a lower grade level. The students will benefit from a real-world applications of their work.

• Responding to Literature: Have students summarize the text, passage, or unit in cartoon form. Give students parameters of what is expected from the cartoon. I have used this assignment in my own classroom. For the third quarter, my students need to read a book from the historical fiction genre. This quarter I gave the students three choices: create an imovie, write a script, or create a graphic novel. I am anxious to see what the student gravitate to!

Good Reads

Sorry it has been so long! School, grades, and projects have taken the focus away from this little project. My apologies. I had to wait for something good to write about once again! 

Good Reads is an online forum to share, rate, and get recommendations for books. Book discussions can blossom on this website between the many users. Friends can be uploaded from Facebook or by email. Imagine having a classroom discussion online, classmates sharing book recommendations, and having a classroom recommendation list that is not from the teacher, but rather from the students.



I discovered Good Reads this past July, but it wasn't until one of my students added me as a friend on Good Reads that I began to think of the classroom possibilities. Because of this site, the student and I have had a much richer relationship. It helps me recommend books to her based upon the books that she has read and the kicker is SHE is now recommending books for me!

Classroom Applications
Some features that I find useful as a teacher are the updates, shelving system, and barcode scanner (available for android/apple mobile devices).

• Updates allow the viewers to see progress through a book, reflections while reading, and comment on their progress. 
• Multiple shelving systems help users to sort through the different books. The standard sorting system is read, reading now, and want-to-read, but I have added a fourth, Student Recommendations. 
• The barcode scanner for mobile devices allows users to quickly upload books. Imagine wandering through a bookstore and scanning the barcodes of any books that you would like to read, then, after uploading them to Good Reads, being able to find them in the public library without writing down a single ISBN number. Where was this when I was in college! 

I hope next year to set up accounts for all of my students in order to provide them with a real-world online book discussion!

Today's Meet

Introduction: 

Today's Meet is an online forum to connect and gain feedback from your audience in real time. The site is simplistic and easy to use for even younger learners. When you enter Today's Meet you are prompted to name your "room" and create a deadline for the room to be deleted. This deadline can be set anywhere from 2 hours to one year. The name of the room is then transformed into a simple URL for students to access. Once in the "Room" students create a name for themselves and begin "talking" in the teacher-created room by typing questions, comments, and connections to the presentation. This allows students, in real time, to interact with the presentation. I have created a room for this blog to experiment with. You can comment on any posting on this blog for the next year in this room at Today's Meet. 

Classroom Application: 

• Exit Tickets: As an exit ticket assignment each day, have students summarize the lesson in the Today's Meet Room. Students only have 140 characters (including spaces) so they will need to reflect back on the lesson with precision and accuracy. The next day in class as a bell ringer, pull up the room and review the summaries. In the spirit of healthy competition, give a prize to the person with the best summary. If your students are like mine they will take on the challenge. 
• Comments, Questions, and Feedback: At times it is very hard to make sure that students are participating in a presentation, understanding the material, and getting their questions answered. Today's Meet is a presenter's dream! Imagine you are giving a presentation. As students have questions, comments, and connections they simple type them into the box. At the end of the presentation, you, the teacher, can review your "Today's Meet" room, make sure you answer everyone's questions, share connections that the students made, and review any disconnections or miscues you notice. 

• Responding to Literature: While reading I often stop to have students reflect on a piece of text, focus on a specific literature device such as a simile or metaphor, or target a particularly difficult passage. Many times I see that a strong student, let's call him Johnny, has a strong response. Today's Meet allows all of the students in the classroom to see each other's responses allowing them to grown and collaboratively learn from one another through this simple forum. 

Livescribe Smartpen

Introduction: 

I remember when I was younger, my older brother won a national handwriting contest. The prize you ask? An elegant, hand-crafted pen and letter-opener set worth $50. I remember thinking that a pen was a LAME prize. Well in the 16 years since my brother has been out of the 6th grade pens have come a long...long....long way. 

One month ago I became an Education Ambassador for the Livescribe community. The mission of the Livescribe Educator Ambassador Program (LEAP) is to share with other educators the innovative ideas and accommodations that a Smartpen can provide to the classroom. The program consists of 4,000 teachers nation-wide. Each teacher was given a refurbished Smartpen, a one-subject notebook of "Dot-Paper," and an online subscription to a 101 Course for the Smartpen. While at first I was excited to have a new "toy" in the classroom for my students, it didn't take long to realize how this new form of technology could benefit many different populations of students. I bet you are wondering, "But Jenna, What IS a Smartpen in the first place?" A Smartpen allows the user, when writing on special "Dot Paper" ($7.95 for a 3-subject notebook)  to record his/her voice as well as write notes, record thoughts, hear a play back of the teacher or professor speaking, and so much more. Features of the pen include: 

• A microphone
• Built in speaker that allows automatic play-back of notes/lectures
• Replaceable ink-tip

While these pens sound great you HAVE to see them in action to gain the full effect. I don't know why this form of technology has been kept quiet, but these pens are a must for any classroom (especially in math where there are many step-by-step processes). While previously they seemed very pricy (especially on a teacher's budget) a refurbished Smartpen available at the Livescribe Homepage goes for $49.95 and a new 2GB is priced reasonable at $99.95. 

This year our special education staff is stretched to their limits because of reduced funding and "balancing" the need for staff across the district. This has left many students in an inclusion setting with one teacher to provide modifications. As a second year teacher I have struggled to provide one-on-one support for these individuals while maintaining classroom management and continuing to push my "high-flyers." The Smartpen has allowed me to differentiate, become more hands-on in the classroom, and allowed me freedom to create "Writing Think-Alouds" and "Reading Think-Alouds" which has made previously abstract writing and reading practice concrete and tangible for all students.

Classroom Applications: 

• Pencasting Writing Think-Alouds: Thinking aloud is a research-based approach to education in which a "master" (usually a teacher) engages students in an apprenticeship. The master reader/writer/historian/ scientist/mathematician vocalizes the thought process and explains the process of becoming a master to the novices. While this process is valuable it is also time-consuming, and if you are a newer teacher it can be hard to explain or think through every step along the way. Some things just come naturally and it takes some time and planning to think of just the right word to explain a concept to the impressionable minds in the classroom. If you are like me a Pencast is the way to go. Pencasting allows the user to write down notes or visually show a step-by-step process while also recording vocal cues or notes as well in real time. If you are a tenured teacher you may also find Pencasting handy. If you teach in the secondary realm and are tired of repeating yourself over and over again, record yourself during your first period class and replay the lecture or lesson for the next several classes. This will free up your life to roam the room and pick up miscues that you may have missed if you were stuck at the board writing and directly lecturing. In order to replay your notes in a movie-like format. Download the files from your pen to your desktop and hit the play button. Doesn't get much easier than that. You will notice in my example (at right) that some of the words written are coded green. This means that their is audio attached to that word, phrase, sentence, or even paragraph. These pencasts can easily be emailed, facebooked, or linked to Angel. 
• Classroom Notetaker: Being absent from class is hard enough, but if you miss a lecture or notes, a student feel lost for a week or more. With the Smartpen, teachers can keep everyone on track with the addition of a classroom notetaker. If a student is sick or absent assign a classroom notetaker. Make them comfortable in a special chair in the front. Have the student write notes for the student that is sick. The pen will also record audio so if the notetaker gets a little lazy there is a backup plan in place. Have the student upload the notes to their sick classmates Facebook or shoot them an email with the file as an attachment. When they get back from vacation or their deathbed they will be caught up and ready to move on instead of being left behind. 
• Accommodations Made Easy: An inclusionary setting is best for many students. The social nature of the classroom and peer mentors work wonders in helping students become independent and successful despite their area of improvement or disability. This puts an added stressor on the teacher, especially if there is a lack of support in the room. Many times accommodations for testing include the reading of tests aloud to students. With the help of the Smarpen this accommodation can be easily met. The "Dot Paper" included with the pen is normal (8 1/2 x 11 in.) in size once removed from the binding. This allows the paper to be used in any printer or copier. Once printed, create a system of codes or shapes with the students that signal a vocal cue. Place the shapes on the paper and record your voice reading the directions, answer choices, or clarifying terms. Students only need to tap on the shape once to hear the recording. In a testing situation, students will find it helpful to use the low-key earbuds so that they are the only ones that can hear the vocal reminders or directions. This process allows the student to become completely independent. Independence. The ultimate goal of any student can be achieved with a little help from the Smartpen. 
• What were They THINKING?!: As a teacher you practice, review, and finally it is time for the test, you assume everyone in your class has mastered the material and will perform wonderfully.... BUT you find out that some of your students have bombed the test. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! Well, now, we might be able to get a glimpse into the mind of the students. Using the Smartpen have the students perform their own think-aloud while performing steps in math or writing a piece of text. Have them explain their thinking and why they are making the decisions that they did. When you grade the test and discover the miscue, with the Smartpen, tap on the text that they messed up on and you will hear what was going on in their head as they were making that fateful decision. We finally can see inside the student's mind. Then, we can change their thinking for the better through reteaching and relearning opportunities. 

"Pocket Mods" for Education

Introduction: 

Two years ago in an elementary math methods class I was introduced to the idea of creating an eight page book out of one one sheet of paper. Recently I came across the website http://www.pocketmod.com/. This site allows a user to customize the eight page book to meet the needs of the classroom. By folding the piece of paper, students can easily have their notes on-hand at any time in this small pocket size books. "Widgets" allow the user to customize the booklet to the needs of the classroom. Widgets available on the website include:

• Lined paper
• Large, medium, and small grid paper
• Tables 
• Story boards for writing
• Music Staff Sheets 
• Calendars 
• Task lists with check boxes
• Contacts
• Conversions for volume, length, area, mass, temperature (great for math classrooms!) 
• Formulas for geometry 

 When printed the books look like the picture at the right. Follow the easy to follow folding instructions on the site and PRESTO! You have an easily transportable study guide, anticipation guide, evidence of center work, or notes from a lesson.

Classroom Applications: 

• Center Time is usually reserved for the elementary realm of teaching. I love to use this form of learning for reviews where students can independently work and manipulate what they have learned previously from direct teaching. Create six centers, one for each page in the book that focuses on a specific skill or concept that you would like the students to work on. For example this week my students are learning about the elements of fiction: setting, characters, plot, theme, and point of view. For each element I chose a children's book that exemplified that particular trait. At each station the students not only had to identify the setting, characters, plot, theme, or point of view but had to explain what each element was in 12 words or less in kid friendly terms. 
• Anticipation Guide: Anticipation guides are a great way to get students involved and thinking critically about material before a unit has begun. Create an anticipation guide for material using the booklet template. Place a statement (either true OR false) on each page. Have the students mark the statements agree or disagree before the unit. As they learn about the concept have them revise their answers and correct the false statements so that they are true. This allows the students to face their misconceptions and miscues themselves. 
• Give-One-Get-One/Jigsaw Reading: If your classroom requires a lot of non-fiction reading this idea is for you! Jigsaw the reading by dividing your students into six groups. Have each group read a separate section or subheading and summarize the text in 12 words or less. This makes the readers summarize the reading in clear, precise language (every word needs to count!). Have the students roam around the room sharing their summary and what they learned from the section with other students from other groups. They will then write down the new information on one of the pages of the book. This allows them the opportunity to "Give and Get" from others in the classroom. Review the summaries to make sure that all "need to know" information was covered by the summaries. If you are in need of extra incentive to keep the students on track allow the students to use the summary booklet on their next test or quiz.