SCHS EdTech Update
A Weekly Communication of All Things Tech Related!
6th Edition: February 5th, 2016
Teacher Spotlight: Casey Page
8th grade students took a basketball test in Schoology this week, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Page. Even on the best days, it's tough to get a signal in the gyms. Instead of giving up on using technology, his solution was to move the class to spaces like the library or lobby so students could use their Chromebooks. The basketball test included multiple choice and short answer questions, and he used Schoology's built-in rubric feature to grade the short answer questions on a 4-point scale. (see picture below)
Casey continues to lead by helping the other PE teachers start using Schoology. Are you curious about Schoology quizzes? We will have a Schoology Quiz Building session at our next personalized learning faculty meeting.
Wizer: Interactive Worksheet Tool
Check out Adam Watson's blog post on this tool. It has so much potential! Those of you using Google Classroom will like its ability to assign the digital worksheets directly to your Classroom.
Curriculet: Interactive Text Tool
This is a new tool for me, but I am already in love with Curriculet! Many of you are looking for meaningful ways to have students interact with digital texts, and this platform is built for that purpose. It's similar to interactive video sites, like EduCannon or EdPuzzle, where you can embed features such as annotation and questions. I'm eager to see what you can do with it!
- Create annotations in the text in the form of text, images, or YouTube videos. What a great way to model good annotating for students and a way to provide supports you anticipate students might need.
- Create questions connected to a highlighted part of the text, which students must answer before being allowed to move forward. The questions can be multiple choice or open ended, giving you some flexibility in the data you collect.
- Create a quiz to generate more than one multiple choice question associated with a section of text. This could be used as a quick formative assessment at the end of a section of reading.
- The reporting feature allows you to see how students scored on questions/quizzes, time time on task, and percent completion for each assignment.
- This site has a wide variety of books and texts already loaded with annotations and questions. Some of the books are free (many classics), and others are available to rent for each student for 2-3 month intervals, at an amazingly low cost. (Range is mostly from $0.99-2.99 per person). This has the potential to be a cost-effective way to bring texts into any classroom. Check out the Curriculet Store to see what's already available.
- You can upload your own documents! You can load documents from your Google drive and add your own annotations and questions. I have tried it with a few pdf and Google doc files, both of which allowed me to select text to define, annotate, or ask questions. A word of caution: it seems like it only loads the text, so docs with images/tables/graphs might not look like you would expect.
- Extras: It has some built-it functions with USA today (with a subscription), ReadWorks, and EngageNY. A few titles in the Curriculet store are also available in Spanish. The Current Events section of the store has articles from sites like NPR, National Geographic, The NewYorker, and the BBC.
Video: A more lengthy introduction to curriculet.
Get started on Curriculet for Back-to-School
Form to reset DURING Rocket Time!
One of the goals of Rocket Time was that teachers would be able to build relationships and coach their Launch Pad students. To help you better fulfill that role, we will reset the Rocket Time form during Rocket Time each Thursday. What does that mean for you?
- You need to check your rosters and take attendance right away during Rocket Time. We will reset the spreadsheet between 11:00 and 11:15, after which that week's data will be moved to an archive (linked in bookmarks folder).
- By 11:15 the form will be reset, so students can begin signing up for the next week. You can play a role in this, helping direct students to sign up for remediation or clubs.
SCHS RocketCast
Don't forget to subscribe or follow the SCHS RocketCast in iTunes or SoundCloud! Episode 2 will feature students talking about their experiences with Chromebooks and technology. Expect to see it soon!
Want to participate? Propose a topic you want to hear about or volunteer as a guest speaker. Reach out to James Wampler, Bart Roettger, or Julie Webb to get involved.