Mr. Adams' Debate Team: Dropbox, Evernote and Google Spreadsheets

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 
DC Gets Angry. This stands for Evernote Evidence, Dropbox Cases, and Google Administrative.

Read more at NYSAIS Education & Information Technology (NEIT) Wiki or Poly Technology Integration Wiki.

The Debate Team: DropBox, Evernote and Google Spreadsheets

Caspar Arbeeny '16, Daniel Westrich '15, Katie Pazushko '15, Eitan Ezra '16, and Nick Wehbeh '15

DROPBOX

https://www.dropbox.com/

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.



Debaters' Dropbox

The Forensics Team's Dropbox

EVERNOTE

http://www.evernote.com/

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.

Evernote, the Team's Notebooks

Google Spreadsheets

Read about Googel Spreadsheets at Poly Technology Integration Wiki.

Why Evernote?

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).