Tumblr is a web-based social media platform which allows users to post content to a short-form blog. It is a great tool for educators to post course material, assignments, and multimedia resources. Dr. Peter Rice is using Tumblr with his 9th grade Biology class.
Interview with Austin Sansone '16 and Joshua Brooks '16
Please watch a video with Dr. Rice using Tubmlr in his Biology class and an interview with Austin Sansone '16 and Joshua Brooks '16 at http://youtu.be/fSDXjlZXKio
TWT2013 - A Day in the Life: A Sample of Cloud-Based Technology at Work in the Classroom
NYSAIS Teaching with Technology Conference Presentation
Coaching a debate team at a day school presents certain challenges. The first is that 6:00 p.m. is the witching hour, so the window of time during which we can practice together in a physical space is limited. The Team uses technology to overcome some of these limitations. I have a mnemonic device that I teach the kids to help them remember how we are organized technologically. Here's how it goes: In the wake of the recent presidential election, Every Elephant in DCGets Angry. This stands for Evernote Evidence, Dropbox Cases, and Google Administrative.
Debaters save their cases in a shared Dropbox folder, which enables all team members to have access to everyone's case. In addition, I have set up a "Coach's Corner" in Dropbox in which I save samples and ideas. Finally, there is a "Ready for Review" folder into which students place documents when they are ready for me to review them. I use "Track Changes" in Word to review the documents and, when done, I move the documents back into that team's folder.
Evernote enables us to pool research and evidence in a central, shared location, and the "clipper" features allows you to clip articles directly from online into Evernote. Also, importantly, because internet access is prohibited at debate competitions, Evernote permits offline access and searchability, so evidence can be retrieved while a debate is ongoing.
Evernote, the Team's current China Notebook, which contains over 100 articles.
1. Plan and organize your classes with tags - using tags is a great way to organize your classes. For example, if you know that there is certain content that has to be taught during the second week of the school year, then for all related content you can use the tag “week 2″. Once you’ve created this system you can keep adding additional items throughout the year.
2. Professional development - if you use the summer break or vacations to improve your skills or continue your education, keep all your notes, resources, lessons and new ideas learned in Evernote.
3. Classroom templates - if you use templates such as grade sheets or student assessment forms, keep them in Evernote.
4. Prepare for your absence - share a notebook with lesson plans, worksheets, answer keys and examples of completed work with the substitute teacher to keep your class up and running even if you aren’t there.
5. Share a notebook with your class - after you create a public notebook, share the URL with your class.
6. Whiteboard photos - take photographs of the whiteboard or Smart board. You can title or tag each photo based on the class date to make searching for specific photos easier. Also, you can share the photos with students that miss a class, so that they have the day’s notes.
7. Flexibility – you can check their notes on all computers and on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android.
8. Simplify grading - take photographs of graded tests and add them to Evernote (from http://blog.evernote.com).
Monday, February 25, 2013
Jamie Nestor, Dean of Student Life & Latin Teacher
TWT2013-A Day in the Life: A Sample of Cloud-Based Technology at Work in the Classroom
NYSAIS Teaching with Technology Conference Presentation
Our
school manages communication through the Google Apps suite; one of
those applications is Google Sites. Google Sites allows you to easily
create a website with little to no web development experience. It’s
intuitive while allowing for creativity. At the start of the year, I walk my students step by step through how to use the site Here
is a screenshot of my middle school Latin homepage. It’s very basic. I
put up only my contact info on the first screen. They use the sidebar on
the left to navigate the site easily.
.
You
can see up there there’s a link to our assignments page, class docs,
links like news articles or videos, and a link for a flashcard program
that my students use.
One of the most used functions
on the site is my homework calendar. I teach four sections of the same
course, and each meets on different days of the week. Their classes are
differentiated with color. If they’re absent from class, forget to copy
down the work, or have a question about an assignment specific, they
check our assignment calendar. What this actually is a spreadsheet that
I’ve embedded into the site. When I update the spreadsheet, changes are
automatically reflected here. In addition to embedding spreadsheets, you
can do lots of different stuff – embed videos, images, audio, etc.
Another
function of my website is the document repository, aka the “file
cabinet.” Here, I can upload worksheets, photos of notes from the board,
audio files of me singing Latin declensions, etc.
For my upper school classes, I use this site for posting video lectures. You can organize your files by date, file type, whatever you want.
Students
can even comment on each other’s posts – and they often do.
Communicating this constructive way is not only good classroom behavior,
but it’s a great lesson in digital citizenship, as well. Yes, I do talk
to them about what’s appropriate and what’s not before we begin sharing
pieces of our selves on the internet, even if it is a Latin class
website.
If you would like to learn how to use the Google Drive Folders to collect student work, share assignments, and have a paperless classroom, please watch a video with Josina Reaves, Form V Dean and US English Teacher. Ms. Reaves uses the Google Drive Folders with her Forms V and VI students in My Gods and Monsters elective class.
How to Create a New Folder in Google Drive?
Go to faculty.polyprep.org and log into your account. Select My Docs from the Menu.
Select My Drive and click on New folder button.
How to Share the Google Drive Folder?
Click on Share button.
This is a Google Drive Folder for My Gods and Monsters class students.
Students can post their written assignments, view and make comments on each others work, which helps them to participate in a collaborative experience.
Ms. Reaves finds that having student work on Google Drive is fantastic, because the Google Drive folders keep everything together, so she doesn't have to worry about the printer problems or locating files on her hard drive. She can make comments and grade student work directly on the page. Students can click on comments, read them, and contact Ms. Reaves for clarification. The graded papers can be grouped together by selecting different options: "Last edited by me," "Last modified," or "Last opened by me." Google Drive helps Ms. Reaves to keep her class paperless. The Google Drive folder is neat and stores all student documents, so Ms. Reaves doesn't have to walk around with stacks of paper.
It takes Ms. Reaves half a time to grade student work and gives students an opportunity to look at other students' work and get an idea how other people think about the same assignment.
