I hadn't ever heard of Buncee until a week ago when I saw a picture of someones computer who was showing off all of their new stickers they got at a conference. I decided to investigate, and I'm glad I did. Overall it is a pretty inexpensive application. It looks to be $10 a month. I have not yet jumped in and purchased it and am only using the 1 month free trial, but I did provide my students their very first chance to play with it today. That's kind of the way I roll. I see something I want to try, and I do, even if I'm not an expert myself. Usually I am not an expert, just excited. I guess part of my feeling is if the tool is too complex for a student to figure out, it probably isn't worth my time. Students are pretty impressive when you give them a chance to explore and try new things. So what is it? I kind of described it as a souped up Google Drawing. As much as I love Google Drawing, I was excited to see what this web tool had to offer. My students had 30 minutes to create a visual to show what the learned about collisions after our PLTW crash testing. Buncee's features made it easy for students to quickly create, CREATE!, digital products to show their knowledge. I loved that this was entirely them creating innovative projects, not me. My only parameters were 1.Show me a collision, 2. Show me what you learned about what happens in collisions. Buncee made it easy after that. Students picked backgrounds, stickers, drawings and words and set off to work. I can't wait to see what other products my students will create to show their learning. How can your students be innovative to show theirs?
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I took a blogging break, but I'm back to share my journey to move students from consumers of innovative products, to creators of innovative products. I'll write about both the innovative products I provide to support their learning as well as the projects they create to show case their knowledge. This past week, I revisited Nearpod and explored it for math. Nearpod is a wonderful application that allows you to create presentations or to take a Google Slides presentation and turn it into an interactive presentation. Nearpod allows you to add:
There are two versions of Nearpod, free and paid. The paid version allows you to have presentations that are 'student-paced'. This is a great feature where you can collect the data from the students work but students can work through at their own pace. What I loved about the free version with the 'live lesson', is that I could share students work. This way we could talk about the way a student solved the problem. I couldn't figure out a way to share student work during the 'student-paced' version. The outcomeI utilized the Draw It and Free Response slides for my first lesson. Draw It, allows students to draw their answers. I used this to allow students to draw their tape diagrams while solving word problems. Draw it also allows students to upload a picture for their answer. I was impressed with the ease of taking and adding photographs. Students figure it out so quickly. I loved being able to check their tape diagram and discus students thinking as they solved them. The free response simply allows students to write in their answer. I love how students were involved in collaboration and tackling challenging word problems all while I could keep a close eye on the progress and share students thinking quickly and easily. Can't just you see their concentration and hard work! How have you use Nearpod in the classroom? What an amazing tool for formative assessments.
Do you work with base ten blocks to help with introducing multiplication, or with decimals? Or anything else in math? I loed in their learning because they are manipulating the pieces. I love to use them to differentiated for my variety of learners and I love watch students figure out the math as a result. I hate the time it takes to pass them out and pack back up, I hate the noise the make as kids whack them together. I hate that they get fall to the floor and I keep finding the pieces for several days. I hate that the kids get distract by building towers with them. So when I found an alternative that still did everything I love about base ten blocks, I was in a bit of disbelief. It’s true though, there is an alternative. Number Pieces is a google extension that allows students to use base ten blocks without the mess, the wasted time, the noise, or the tower building. Number Pieces can be found by visiting the Chrome Web Store, simply search for it by name. They also have a Money Pieces version that would be great for primary. Once installed on students’ accounts it’ll be easy to open from their chrome menu. This app is also available from the iTunes store so it is iPad friendly! We actually started using it through the iPads. To use students simply pull the base ten blocks from the left and drag them into their screen. They can also write on the screen using the pencil icon. One issue I have with this, is that the writing disappears as soon as you put the pencil away. I wish it would stay visible as you used the base ten blocks, but overall this app has been a real time saver. The students are still engaged and are working on the conceptual understanding behind the mathematical practices. Take a look at some of the work kids can do with Number Pieces. My students have used it to model multiplication problems and to represent decimals. How else could you utilize Number Blocks? Have you used Google Tools to substituted for manipulatives that you love, but hate? Jenny and I worked together to create a Google Fusion project during our Google 1 Class through the district. We struggled a bit with this because Google and technology were already such a part of our teaching. It What we started realize when we thought about it, was that we were frustrated that our students were still asking us how to do things in the Google world. Things that we expected them to know. For example, how to find assignments in classroom, how to format their Google Doc or how to respond to comments. So with the help of our instructors in the class, we came up with the idea to do a Google version of The Amazing Race. We had done a similar activity in our Google 1 Class. This ended up being a great activity. First, we came up with a list of technology skills we thought our 4th graders in a 1 to 1 school should know how to do. We came up with the following:
Once the slides were created, Jenny and I were done working. All we had to do was post the slides in our Google Classroom and the students went to work. I divide the kids into groups and set back and let them support each other through the tasks. They loved it! They were busy, engaged and competitive! I started by posting only the first task, as soon as the first group completed the task I made a big deal of the completion, and posted the second. As each group completed the first I celebrated their success with some good whooping and hollering and told them to move on to the next task. As cliche as it is, they hardly noticed they were learning and I had very few behavior issues pop up. I think I’ll stick with this fun way to learn new technology skills. I could easily add a new task to teach a new website or app. They learn so much better when I’m not the one teaching them how to use a tool! What technology skills do you want your students to have? How could you hold them accountable for learning and using those skills? Give an Amazing Race a try!Today, after much troubleshooting and support from my other techy friends, I was able to successfully use the Goobric for Students extension. I have been using Goobric for over a year now and it has been so helpful. I enjoy the fact that I don’t need to take loads of papers home to grade. I love that I can quickly give feedback to students by attaching a rubric and making comments on an electronic document. Students could then use that feedback to revise their work and/or apply to future assignments. I also, like the fact that students, teachers, and parents can easily access their grading through Google Classroom or Google Docs. As a teacher, we always explicitly state the expectations for the assignments so that students are clear what targets they need to reach and demonstrate through a given task. So what better way to hold them accountable than through self-assessment?! Once students installed the app, students opened their informative writing piece. Students who were completed with their piece were now about to self assess using the rubric that I will later evaluate their work with. It was very user friendly and students were able to do this successfully. When students open their Google Doc, they will receive a notification every time they open this document telling them that there is a rubric attach. They can their “Assess this doc” or click “cancel.” Once students were finished with their writing assignment, students clicked on “Assess this doc.” A new window would open and it would show the rubric. Student could enter their score by just clicking on the box and then it would turn gray or they could type their score into the small white box on the left column. After the students self-assessed, I would receive a notification when I open the doc. This is signaled by the red circle with a “1” in it in the top right corner. If I click on the “1,” a new window will open that shows how they rated themselves. To the left of that red circle is a gray box that shows “Assess as teacher.” When I click that box, a new window opens and now I can assess this document using Goobric. This new feature was super easy to use and beneficial for my students. One thing my principal always ask when we meet is what are you doing to get the students involved in assessment. When ever she asks this, my heart stops for a second. What a daunting task! Mind starts running, does she mean students should write the questions for tests? Does she mean students should self-grade assessments? Does she means students should self assess on rubrics? Does she mean they should reflect on the assessment after completion? This question always worries me, but I tend to feel better the more I think about what I do. Google is one way that I can involve students in assessments. I know, you are impressed, another way Google can help you make life easier. Have you tried Goobric? If not, get yourself over to the Google Web Store and install Goobric, now! Read my Goobric blog to find out more about it. Well, recently Goobric got even better. They now allow students to self assess using the rubric you attached to the assignment. Now with a few simple clicks, students can be involved in their own assessment. Take that mini panic attack! Scary question no more. I’ll run you through how it works so you can wow your principal as well. I will proceed through this assuming you have Goobric, if not, please read the blog entry called Goobric first. Goobric for Students can, unfortunately, not be done on a iPad. It is worth a trip to the computer lab if you have no other options though. Goobric provides a link for you to share in classroom, when students click on their link it’ll take them right to the store to download the extension. They simply click on the blue “Add to Chrome” button and after a few affirming clicks the little eyeball > will appear by their address bar. From now on whenever they open a document that you have already attached a rubric to, a message will pop up telling them that their is a rubric attached. They will get either choose “Assess This Doc” or “Cancel”. I love that this pops up every time, this way students can’t ‘forget’ to assess. Involving students in assessment in this way helps them to be aware of where their strengths and weaknesses are. It also helps them to see how to improve in future assignments. I also love that it lets them compare their understanding of their skills with mine. This will help them bridge the gap between what they think they can do and what they are doing. I am looking forward to trying this with partners. I want to have students score each other on the rubric. I am excited about the learning possibilities that will create! Pair that with giving each other revision comments, and wow, powerful. How have you use Google to help students participate in assessments? One of things Jenny and I have worked really hard to do is to create a strong guided reading group structure at the intermediate level. We created a structure we call literacy groups. We have avoided the term guided reading because we believe what we do is different. I’ll give you a brief run down and then explain how I use Google to make them run even smoother. Day 1-2 of literacy groups: Students closely read a text, they annotate the text with words they don’t know, questions they have any other thinking along with summary sentences. Day 3 of literacy groups: They take a comprehension quiz. I explain to my students that before moving on to the deeper level thinking about a text, they have to have the basic comprehension of the text. Day 4 of literacy groups: They prepare for a seminar revolving around a target question. Their prep sheet asks them 4-5 questions that helps them prepare their thinking for day 5. Day 5 of literacy groups: Seminar |
At the beginning of the school year, my grade level team participated in a book study on the book, Making Number Talks Matter. The focus of the book was to help students strengthen their math fluency. Through this book study, I learned that “fluency” is so much more than just speed and accurately computing. Fluency is one’s ability to compute accurately, efficiently and think about numbers flexibly. More importantly, through number talks students are doing all of those things mentally.
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Through this number talk process, students are given a problem that the teacher records on the board of in a notebook. Then the students solve the problem mentally using strategies other than standard algorithm. While students are thinking, they will use silent signals to indicate the various strategies that they have come up with. After some time, I give students the opportunity for students to turn and talk to share their answer and how they got it by manipulating the numbers. After students turn and talk, I call on a few students to share their answer. I may get 1 or 2 options at this time. Usually having the opportunity to discuss with a classmate weeds out the incorrect responses. Finally, I call on a few students to defend one the answers that were previously given. I will hear from maybe 3 specific students about the particular strategies they used to solve the problem. But what about the other 22 students? I am not sure if they are able to answer that question accurately. I have no idea whether they have the number sense to decompose the numbers, using other computation facts, or use compensation to make “friendlier numbers.”
This is why I have implemented a new number talk routine within the classroom. When I am focusing on a particular strategy, I will explicitly teach this strategy and give students opportunities to practice it with specifically designed number talk problems. Then, I can assign a number talk as a formative on Google Classroom. From this point students are to create an Explain Everything presentation that allows them to speak and record their screen at the same time. This allows the students to show how they solved the number talk problem, yet also provide explanation as to WHY they are doing the steps they did. Students are successful at creating the videos because they have used this app over the course of the school year for different projects. Attaching it to Google Classroom was something new. Students have to “Add” the file that they “Export” from Explain Everything.
Now, I have access to all 25 of my students thinking and I can assess them on a variety of things such as the use of math vocabulary, accuracy, and efficiency (correct use of strategy).
As of right now, I have only gone through this process about three times. I have shown several examples to the class when I have felt that students did an excellent job demonstrating their math knowledge. This gives the students an idea of what is expected for this assignment. In addition, I would like to create a rubric that can be used to assess the students on their skills and provide them feedback quickly rather than typing private comments.
Here are some examples of number talks made by my students:
This is why I have implemented a new number talk routine within the classroom. When I am focusing on a particular strategy, I will explicitly teach this strategy and give students opportunities to practice it with specifically designed number talk problems. Then, I can assign a number talk as a formative on Google Classroom. From this point students are to create an Explain Everything presentation that allows them to speak and record their screen at the same time. This allows the students to show how they solved the number talk problem, yet also provide explanation as to WHY they are doing the steps they did. Students are successful at creating the videos because they have used this app over the course of the school year for different projects. Attaching it to Google Classroom was something new. Students have to “Add” the file that they “Export” from Explain Everything.
Now, I have access to all 25 of my students thinking and I can assess them on a variety of things such as the use of math vocabulary, accuracy, and efficiency (correct use of strategy).
As of right now, I have only gone through this process about three times. I have shown several examples to the class when I have felt that students did an excellent job demonstrating their math knowledge. This gives the students an idea of what is expected for this assignment. In addition, I would like to create a rubric that can be used to assess the students on their skills and provide them feedback quickly rather than typing private comments.
Here are some examples of number talks made by my students:
What’s more engaging than learning through videos?! Videos always hook learners and are a great way for all students to access information by eliminating reading abilities. In order to hold students accountable for what they are viewing in the videos, I found a Google App, called EdPuzzle, that allows you to build in questions for students to answer while watching.
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I have used the app only a few times and have really enjoyed some of its features. For example, students can sign in very easily if they have a Google account or they can sign in by using a code to join a teacher’s specific class. Once students have joined your class, any of the content that you assign, you will receive feedback on your teacher dashboard. I have not yet used this feature with my students. I have, however, provide them with a link and had them watch the video and answer the questions. I found this to still hold the students accountable, yet I was not collecting data from their scores. I like that students can control the video themselves. If they need to rewatch portions to help them answer the questions, they are able to do so.
I did encounter some trouble with the app, but I am not sure if it’s directly related to the app vs. our district’s network. Since I am working with elementary students, they have limited access to the internet for obvious safety reasons. With that being said, Youtube is blocked for them in all instances, but with EdPuzzle, it makes it possible for students to view these videos independently. Another issue that came up was finding videos that fit the content. In most cases, the link that be put into the search bar and it will pull up the video that were you trying to use or you can even search by topic and browse for something that fits your needs.
Overall, the app is very user-friendly. Below you can see an example of me creating a video using EdPuzzle.
I did encounter some trouble with the app, but I am not sure if it’s directly related to the app vs. our district’s network. Since I am working with elementary students, they have limited access to the internet for obvious safety reasons. With that being said, Youtube is blocked for them in all instances, but with EdPuzzle, it makes it possible for students to view these videos independently. Another issue that came up was finding videos that fit the content. In most cases, the link that be put into the search bar and it will pull up the video that were you trying to use or you can even search by topic and browse for something that fits your needs.
Overall, the app is very user-friendly. Below you can see an example of me creating a video using EdPuzzle.
Click to set custom HTML
Here is an example of a completed assignment for students using "Casey at the Bat."
Jenny spoke to you about about EdPuzzle, I’m going to introduce you to Play Posit, (formerly Educannon). This is a very similar Google App. You really just need to play with them both to see which version you like best. I have found Play Posit to be a really useful tool in the classroom. My students love to watch movies and they are always excited when I pull up a movie to help enforce a concept. I have noticed though that students don’t seem to retain anything from the movie. I think they get lost in the visual appeal. I think they spend so much time vegging out in front of the television that a class movie can have a similar effect. It seems to almost tell their brain to stop paying attention. Play Postit allows me to have students closely read the movie. I can force them to pay attention and require them to walk away retaining information. Play Postit has made videos a useful learning tool.
What I love about this tool is that I can take any YouTube video, or a video I created myself, and I can add questions. I choose places I want the video to stop, and put in a multiple choice, free response, or a reflective pause question. I have never tried the reflective pause questions, but I have used the other two and find both of them extremely useful. My students are actually learning via the videos instead of just watching a video. There are a few features you could access if you upgrade to a premium account, but since I’m not using the app to gather specific data, I don’t find the upgrade needed. I really just love how it helps teach my students that they need to pay attention to the videos.
Take a look at this video I ran through Play Posit.
What I love about this tool is that I can take any YouTube video, or a video I created myself, and I can add questions. I choose places I want the video to stop, and put in a multiple choice, free response, or a reflective pause question. I have never tried the reflective pause questions, but I have used the other two and find both of them extremely useful. My students are actually learning via the videos instead of just watching a video. There are a few features you could access if you upgrade to a premium account, but since I’m not using the app to gather specific data, I don’t find the upgrade needed. I really just love how it helps teach my students that they need to pay attention to the videos.
Take a look at this video I ran through Play Posit.
Have you Nearpodized yet?! This year, for writing instruction we have been using Google Slide presentation to engage our learners in the writing skills being taught. At first, the presentation was just a tool for me to use to easily present the information to the students until I learned about the Google extension, Nearpodize. |
With this extension, you can upload your Google Slide presentation to use with your students. There are two specific features that I have used with my students.
- Students can access the presentation by going to Nearpod.com or opening the app. Then, they click “join” and enter the lesson pin that I have provided to my specific presentation. I get my pin once I click on “live session” on the teacher dashboard.
- Now once students open the presentation, I am the one that controls their ability to move through the lesson.
- I LOVE THIS FEATURE! It is a classroom management tool that keeps students focused on the information that I am specifically talking about and students cannot fall behind or move ahead.
- Once I am done with the presentation, I can give the presentation to students to go through the presentation on their own and go back to the information based on their stage within the lesson. This can be done by assigning the students “homework” on the teacher dashboard. Students will need to enter a different code to gain access with the freedom to control on their own. You also have the option to share on Google Classroom, however, I have not yet tried this.
I know that Nearpod have a lot more to offer such as questions within the presentations to check for understanding. I have not yet tried this, however, it is something that something that I am interested in finding out more about.
How have you used Nearpod or Nearpodize in your classroom?
How have you used Nearpod or Nearpodize in your classroom?
Author
My name is Elizabeth, I am a mother of 3 boys, and a 4th grade teacher of Math and Science. I teach at 1 to 1 Chromebook school and love to innovate in order to reach my students.
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