Make the most of your data

You probably collect so much data in your classroom and you don't even realize it.  It could simply be assignments grades or surveys that you have students fill out or something more complex.  If you do any of this electronically you will most likely have an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet.  When you have data in this file type there is so much you can do with it!  I think that Excel is one of the least understood program out there and it can really do so much (I'm trying to convince my students of this now!).

One of the great things you can do with a spreadsheet is to use conditional formatting.  This allows you to change the look (formatting) of a cell based on its content.  One easy way to use this is to color code your gradebook.  I set up conditional formatting in my gradebook so that all kids who were failing would show up in red, those one the boarder line (which I determined to be 65-75) show up in yellow and those doing fine (over 75) to show up in green.  There are so many different ways to use conditional formatting.  What's one way you think you can use it in your classroom?

If you want see more details on how to do this, check out this blog post by Alice Keeler.

Online planning just got easier

I have talked before about different websites that have online planbooks, but I just came across another site and I love it!  The first reason I love it is the it's FREE!  Plus, it's very simple to use, looks appealing and makes it very easy to adjust plans and move them in case of events like snow days or sick days and lastly allows you to copy over plans from previous years.  Did I mention that it's free?!?  To me, it reminds me of PlanbookEdu, but the premium features you have to pay for with them are free with this site.  What is this site you ask?  It's called Planboard.

Honestly, the best thing that you can do is to play around with it yourself, but just so you know a few things about it let me share some for you.

• Set your rotation schedule from daily up to six day cycles
• Create a timetable (that is color coded) for the various classes that you teach and the sections of each
• Lesson templates can be set up so that every time you go to type in a lesson a template is already there for you to fill out
• You can easily collaborate with colleagues to share plans
• It is easy to add in off days for school holidays and vacations
• You can easily shift plans forward a day for things like snow days.  Nothing gets lost, everything just moves a day forward
• Attach documents from your computer or Google Drive
• Copy some or all of your plans over to the following year
• Attach standards

What do you like to use for your planning?  Do you think you'll check out Planboard? 

Random Group Generator and Student Selector

This year I decided that I didn’t want to assign lab groups for my students, but rather, I would random assign them into pairs or groups depending on the activity. As one to try to do most things digitally, I wanted something better than Popsicle sticks. I came across a few sites that did what I wanted.

 The first is Random Group Creator. It’s a very basic page, but it does the job. You can choose the maximum size or the group or the maxim number of groups that you want. Then you just paste in a list of names (one per line) and click submit. While the site looks like it gives you an option to save and load lists, that feature doesn’t seem to work. I would keep a word or excel file with the names in it that you can copy and paste from each time you want to use that list. 

 The next is another simple one called Random Team Generator. You paste in the list of names and choose how many groups you want. Press the refresh button and your groups will be made for you.

Group Maker Tool is another generator and its part of the Super Teacher Tools site. What I like about

this one is that you create a sort of makeshift account, but all of your student names are saved there and you don’t need to copy and paste them into a site each time. If you do have the student names in a list, you can copy and paste them into the bulk upload section to add them in all at one. If not, you can type in the names one by one. Once you do that all of your student names are in the systems and you can use this list to not only make groups, but it can also be used as a random picker and a seating chart generator. The group maker allows you to choose how many in a group or how many groups you want. 

Team Maker is another really simple generator. Once again you will need to paste in a list of names. You then choose some team names (you don’t have to use them, but there are there if you want). Then you choose the number of teams you want, press Generate Teams and you groups are made! If you like the groups that are made you can download the list as a CSV file (a type of file that opens in Excel). 

 The last option I have for you is Random Student Generator. This one requires you to type in the names (you can’t copy and paste from a list), but then you can save that list. Once your list is in you can use that list to randomly select a student as well arrange students into a number of different size groups. The one downside to this site is that it can only save one class list. If you have more than one list, you’ll have to pay for their upgraded version (and it’s expensive and not worth it).

8 Keyboard Shortcuts Everyone Should Know

Keyboard shortcuts are a great way to save time when using the computer.  Here are a few of my favorites and some others that I was reintroduced to.

Control & C or Command & C (mac) is the shortcut to copy a picture or a selection of text.

Now that you copied this text, use Control & V or Command & V (mac) to paste the image of text.

Searching for something in a document or on a webpage?  To do this you use Control & F or Command & F (mac)

While you are searching you may want to easy move up and down the webpage and not have to scroll.  All you need to do is press the spacebar and you will jump down the webpage a chunk at a time.  If you want to move back up, simple use shift and the spacebar and that will bring you back up.

While you are searching the web you may want to open up a new tab.  You can easily do that my pressing Control & T or Command & T (mac).

You may also be clicking on links on these webpage.  If you don't have a setting that automatically opens up links in a new tab you can Control or Command (mac) before you click on the link and it will open up the link in a new tab.

Lastly to quickly close a tab all you need to do is Control & W or Command & W (mac)



I hope these were helpful!  As always, let me know with a comment if there is anything that you are looking to learn about!

Edmodo is more than just for your students - it can be professional development as well.

Some of you may have heard of Edmodo and might even be using it in your classes.  Those of you who aren't using it probably think that it's just for your students.  Edmodo is so much for than that and can actually be a great tool for professional development.  You can join groups for things like middle school science or technology in the classroom.
Of course you can also create classroom groups to assign homework, quizzes, track performances and award badges.

Getting Organized with a Planner

I always feel like I have a million things going on and I have trouble focusing on what needs to get done and what is just fun to do.  I now have two planners: one I use for personal stuff that I carry around with me and another I use for school related stuff that stays on my desk at school.  I have recently started decorating my personal planner with some functional stickers that help me organize my thoughts.  I was contacted by the great people at Oh Hello Co about doing a blog post about how I could use their stickers in a school planner.  I love their stickers and use them in my personal planner so I decided that they would be great in my school planner as well.  Below is a quick video on how I plan a week in my school planner.  If you are interested in checking out these stickers, click on this affiliate link that will take you to their shop.  As a thank you, you will get $5 off your first order.

What do you do to stay organized? 

Disclaimer: Links used in this post are afflilate links.