Turn any video into an assignment

Edpuzzle is a website that you can use to take any video and turn it into an assignment.  This is especially useful if you are using the flipped classroom model.  In a nutshell, Edpuzzle lets you embed questions, audio and notes into the video.  You then assign the video to your class and you get a ton of analytics such as who watched the video and who struggled or did well.  Students can re-watch the video as many times as they need at their own pace, while you can easily check their progress from your account.

Edpuzzle offers free online courses to not only help you understand how to best use Edpuzzle in your classroom, but also includes topics such as the flipped classroom, gamification, project based learning, twenty-first century learning and much more.  What's even better is that they are offered on the Edpuzzle platform so you can experience what your students will. 

How to play Quizlet Live

Quizlet Live launched several years ago, but it's still one of my favorite games to play with my students.  Basically it takes a Quizlet set and turns it into a collaborative game.  Once you open the set that you want to use and select the live option a website and code are presented to students.  Students are assigned to teams and then they they need to work together to answer the questions.  Each student will have a possible response on his/her device, but only one person on the team will have the correct answer.  This means that students need to talk with one another to make sure that the wrong answer isn't selected.  If it is, the team's score resets itself.

When I really want to challenge my students, I don't let them sit with their teams.  This means they really need to know their stuff as they won't be able to talk with their team.  Students run the risk of having the correct answer, but not knowing it or thinking they know the answer when it's actually wrong.

What are some of your favorite review games?

5 Ed-Techs Tips to make your time in the classroom easier!

Thank you to Alexis for this guest post!

Hello! Alexis from Science Beans here! I wanted to talk about some technology resources that all teachers can use to make your time in the classroom easier (and a little more fun!). Technology has changed my classroom in amazing ways. Here are some tools I use in the classroom that have transformed learning and saved me time ;)

Common Curriculum (CC)

Common Curriculum has saved me a tremendous amount of time when it comes to lesson planning. I wanted to find a way to make lesson planning easier and completely online rather than creating word documents for my weekly plans. It was getting tedious and very annoying having to type and retype the plans to place them in my lesson plan binder! I did a little research and after testing some online lesson planning sites out I fell in love with CC. The service is FREE for teachers but of course has upgrade options as well. The site gives you the option to plan for multiple classes in whatever format or template you like. One of my favorite options is being able to collaborate with colleagues making common planning time a piece of cake! The PRO version is completely worth it because you can plan by units, track standards in your lesson plans, export your plans as PDFs in different formats, and have a class website! No matter what version you decide to use, the lesson plans are all saved online. If someone needs to see my lesson plans, I share them (email, pdf, etc.) no need to print! For more info, see my previous blog post here.

This is what the lesson plan page looks like & the standards listing:

Edmodo

This for me is not only fun but extremely useful! I am pretty obsessed with it (I even have an Edmodo cape that I won at an online seminar – nerd alert!) Edmodo looks like Facebook but for schools and classrooms. The transformation of Edmodo over the years has been incredible. There is so much you can do and learn about on Edmodo that different PD’s and Seminars are given to teach you the various tools. Put simple, you make a class page, the kids sign up, and you get to collaborate! You can post notes, create assignments, create quizzes, you can create a poll, or use a ‘Snapshot’ (series of benchmark questions in math and reading that will show you which standards students need help in). I like to use mine as an online classroom platform.
All of the notes, assignments, handouts, you name it, are in folders on the class sections. One of the best additions to Edmodo has been the linking of your Google Drive or Office 365. It’s not only good for students but a great way to collaborate between teachers locally or around the world. I can probably write a book on everything you can do on Edmodo, trust me it’s awesome! Check it out!





Remind

This is a cool site/app that allows you to send out text message reminders to students. When I first started using remind (when it was remind101) it was simple. You received a unique phone number, the kids would subscribe to the text messaging service with a class code you created, and voila! They would receive text reminders every time you sent out a message. They could not answer and did not have access to your personal information. Over the years, the site/app has changed its name to Remind and has some amazing features. Now you can:

The number to sign up is the same for all teachers (81010) and the class code is the only thing that changes or is unique

• set office hours where students can respond back to questions
• students can “stamp” messages using the app
• Add pictures, sounds, links, to messages or set the delivery time
• receive the messages by email
• post a widget on your school website for the messages to be displayed
• send messages to a small group of students in a class
• download a pdf of your message history in any class…..

…..and so much more! Parents have signed up and love knowing what the students should be working on. My school has also moved to using a school wide remind where school announcements are sent out.



Kahoot & Quizlet

I don’t know about you, but my students love to play games (and so do I). No matter what the age or grade level, turning an assignment into any form of competition is usually a good idea. Kahoot is a free site that creates a game out of a set of questions created by the teacher. Once the game or ‘Kahoot’ is made, students answer the questions on their own devices. The question and answer choices are displayed on the screen in the front of the class and the students can choose their answer on their devices. It tracks the points and gives you data at the end with the questions the students did well on and what they need help with! Real time data! There are tons of way to use this resource: pretest style to see what they know, review game, bellringer, as a brain break, etc. Pressed for time? Many Kahoots are shared and you can use games created by others around the world. You can also create a discussion Kahoot and a survey version.

A similar option is Quizlet where you can make flashcards virtually, which seems cool enough, but it’s not just about the creation of the cards that’s awesome, it’s what you can do with them! Students can again play games using the cards and one of my favorites is Quizlet live. Students are placed on random teams and asked questions that match a set of cards. They need to figure out who on their team has the correct answer in order to win the race! Check out the video of students playing.




Discovery Education #SOS – Spotlight On Strategies

I am an extreme science nerd, which means anything Discovery or Discovery channel related is cool to me. I had
the opportunity to spend the last 3 years as a Discovery Education Leader and learn a huge amount of resources to help change the way students learn and how they create things. One of the resources we were taught focused on the use of something known as SOS (spotlight on strategies). Discovery came up with creative ways to use various media sources and formats to engage students in any subject or concept you are teaching. Here’s an example of one known as “take a Walk”. They come in pdf format and give you step by step what you need to do to complete the strategy. I love the last part with more ideas which is one way of extending any lesson. Click the link about to check out the Discovery Blog focused on all of their SOS strategies.




Thanks for having me and I hope you enjoyed these Edtechs!

Multi-Owner Classes in Remind

Multi-Owner Classes in Remind

Remind just launched a new feature that allows for multi-owner classes. This is great for those who coteach classes or who have two advisors or coaches for a sport. If you aren't familiar with Remind it's a way to send text messages and/or e-mails to students in a safe way. There is also a feature, that you can enable, to allow students to send you messages as well.

Here's an overview of Remind, plus some handy quick-start guides and fact sheets -- and this video of a principal talking about how he uses Remind.

Increasing parental engagement and satisfaction:

Principal Adam Welcome uses Remind schoolwide and surveys parents re: engagement and satisfaction: on his last survey, 99% of parents agreed that his Remind messages were helpful and useful. One teacher Remind to ping parents about end-of-year conferences, and had 100% of families show up for the first time ever. See here for a case study.

Chat comes to Remind

You may have read a previous post of mine on Remind.  Today Remind announced a new feature that they are rolling out.  CHAT!!!!  I am so excited about this as this will finally give my students a chance to respond to the messages that I send out.  While some people may not like this feature, the best part is that you can turn it on or off.  In addition, if you choose to turn on chat you can pause the chats at any time.  I was on a hangout with Remind to preview this new feature and it looks great.   I'm really excited for this feature and I hope that you will check it out.  You can go to the Remind website and put yourself on the waiting list to get this feature as soon as it is rolled out.  You can also read some more about this feature.

Do you think this will be useful in your classroom?

DOTGO - search the web only using text messaging

DOTGO is a mobile publishing technology built to serve interactive content through text messaging.

To reach a supported domain that ends in .COM through text messaging, compose a new text message to the phone number DOTCOM (368266), and send the domain name in the body of the message.

For example, text wikipedia.com to the phone number DOTCOM (368266).

To reach a supported domain that ends in .NET through text messaging, send the text message to DOTNET (368638). To reach a supported domain that ends in .ORG through text messaging, send the text message to DOTORG (368674).

Once you have made the domain request to DOTCOM, DOTORG or DOTNET you will receive a one time message (1 msg/request) back with information on the site if the SMS website is available through DOTGO. You'll also receive within the response one time message news or information about the site, including how to opt in to on-going subscription alerts (30 msgs/mo) where available. DOTGO will notify you if the site is not available.

StickR TrackR

I have a lot of technology in the classroom and love to share it with the kids.  They don't always put things back where they are supposed to (and sometimes accidentally walk away with them)

I just learned about a neat little sticker that allows you to track things (similar to find my iPad, but for anything!).  It's called TrackR and you can get on a list to get one for free.

The wireless coin sized StickR TrackR device attaches to commonly misplaced items. Using an iPhone or Android app, you can quickly locate your lost or misplaced items in seconds by causing the item to ring, using the app's hot & cold sensor, or via the last known GPS coordinates. Watch the Video Below to Learn More.

How do you keep track of stuff in your classroom?

Dumbphones in the classroom

Continuing on with the theme of what I learned at the NYSCATE conference I have to share with you a presentation about Dumbphones in the Classroom from the LadyGeeks.  They are two ladies who love learning about technology and sharing what they know.  They are always trying out new apps and tools and sharing their reactions.  I encourage you to check out not only their Dumbphone presentation but to check out their site as well (they often do podcasts talking about various topics.)

Where do you look for teaching ideas?

how to use any phone (including "dumb" phones) to do research

One of the great things that I learned about this past weekend at the NYSCATE conference that I went to was SMIR.CH.  SMIR.CH is a way for students to do research all through texting!  I think this is just so great because while many of my students have cell phones only about 1/3 of them have smartphones.  So even with "dumb phones" student can search sites like Google.

Remind 101 - send text messages to students without sharing your phone number

I've started using Remind101 for the clubs that I lead. It's a great way for me to send messages to the kids without having to have their phone numbers or giving out mine. Below is some information about Remind101.

WHAT IS IT?
Remind101 provides a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents for free. Teachers use remind101.com, the Android app or the iOS app to send texts to students and parents phones without ever having to share their own phone number. Students and parents also never have to share their phone number with teachers. Ever.

HOW MIGHT YOU USE IT?
Field trip reminders, motivational messages, homework, exam reminders, schedule changes, fun facts, and trivia. It’s a great way to communicate information to students and parents safely!

HOW DO STUDENTS OR PARENTS JOIN?
Students and parents sign up by sending a text message or email. They never need to visit the Remind101 site or create an account.

REMIND101 FEATURES
Add your Remind101 messages to your class website or blog with the simple, embeddable, and beautifully designed Remind101 widget. You can also preschedule all your messages to be sent at a later date or time

WHAT MAKES IT SAFE?
Teachers never see their students’ phone numbers. Students never see theirs. Remind101 is a one way broadcast system. Teachers cannot send individual messages to students or parents, and students/parents cannot reply. Remind101 also keeps a log of all message history, which can never be edited or deleted. Teachers never see their students’ phone numbers. Students never see theirs. Remind101 also keeps a log of all message history which can never be edited or deleted.

 How do you communicate with your students?