I can't believe it! My last blog post for grad school. I never thought I would be a blogger. Well that changed and I have actually enjoyed blogging. It is so reflective. I enjoy reviewing what I have learned each week and sharing tips that may help other educators. That's another thing. I never thought that anyone would want to read my blog aside from my instructor (because she assigned it) and my mom (because she's my mom). Well, with a little motivation I put myself out there and shared my blog on social media. It is exciting to see more people read my blog. I hope that others have learned some helpful tips to try in their classrooms. Who knows, maybe I'll keep blogging because I'll have all the time in the world next year since I won't be in grad school! (I am jumping up and down right now, fist bumping the air in excitement.)
This week I focused on quite a few tricks to search the internet. Google has so many special search tips. Here are a few:
Probably my favorite search tip is that you can search by filetype. This has saved me so much time. When I need a worksheet or some extra practice problems, I search the topic I am teaching and then filetype: pdf.
If you want to learn more, read my "Google Search Tips" post from January.
This week I explored searching Google as a news source. Google has its own news app. You can personalize your news feed to be about what you want to read. You can select which edition of news you want to read. This could be helpful if you are studying about another country. Searches can be customized by top stories or you can choose to let Google recommend news for you based on your location and interest. Learn more about Google News here.
Another cool search tip I learned this week was how too find images that are not tied to copyright licences.
After doing a Google image search, select Search tools, and then Usage rights. You can narrow your search to images for your classroom that do not break copyright rules. If you are in a Google Doc, you can do a Google image search within your document. All images that are brought up are labeled for commercial reuse with modification. You can set specifications if you want to search Google images, Life images, or Stock images. Images can be sorted by type and color.
(The more I learn about Google and its features, the more I love it! I mean these these are pretty nifty tips for every day use, but they open up so many options for education.)
Learning internet search tips is very useful. When I have a question that I don't know the answer to, I usually Google it. Well this week I was introduced to Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha does more than just find websites that pertain to your topic or question. Wolfram Alpha compiles a vast quantity of data that may be helpful in answering a question. Let's consider a math question for example. I asked my Honor's Algebra 2 students the following question:
Once they had an answer, I wanted to be able to show my students a correct version of this graph. The only problem was that the window on their graphing calculators were too small. Wolfram Alpha provided me with the following graph:
Aside from the graph, Wolfram Alpha also gave the roots of the equation, the domain and range, and other possible forms of the equation. Check it out here. Well math may not be your thing. Watch this short YouTube and consider what Wolfram Alpha has to offer you and your classroom.
Hopefully you have learned some great internet searching tips. Sometimes things are just lost because we don't know how to search for them. Well feel empowered. Use some of my Google search tips and give Wolfram Alpha a try. I hope that your internet searching will lead you to find some great things for your classroom.
Everyone uses social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and probably a whole lot more that I don't even know about about. Some people use social media as a way to stay connected with old and current friends. Others use it as a form of news. Overall social media is used as a way to network, share ideas and stay up to date. So the question becomes, should social media be used in the school setting?
There are quite a few positives and negatives to incorporating social media sites in the school setting. Before one jumps completely on board, I think that it is important for them to consider possible dangers such as cyberbullying or the fact that social media can distract students. On the other hand, there are many ways to advance education through social media that one should not eliminate it completely. Students make connections online through social media sites. Social media can aid students in collaborating on projects outside of the classroom. Social media also provides a platform to communicate which can encourage quiet or introverted students to contribute.
In my classroom I have tried to incorporate technology that mimics the pros of social media without taking on all of the downsides. I encourage my students to use Google Drive apps when completing group projects to assist student interaction outside of class. I have used a website called Today's Meet to give all students a voice as I propose questions in class. Remind is a great tool for one-way communication with students and athletes. By using this app I am able to sent text reminders to my athletes.
Some would argue that my incorporation of technology is not the same as incorporating social media. Although this is true, I looked at what were the benefits of social media and tried to find a way that I was comfortable incorporating it into my classroom. Others may choose to use social media in their classrooms and that is fine. My district has stricter restrictions on social media preventing me from doing so. If someone were to ask me if they should incorporate social media in their classroom, I would say that they should look at both sides of the issue. If a teacher feels prepared to overcome the difficulties that go along with social media, then I say go for it. I do not think that a school district should set the rule on social media, but that individual teachers should think about what their goals are and if social media would aid in that endeavor.
But wait!
Regardless of what you decide about using social media in your classroom, you should definitely consider using social media for your own professional use. Think about all of the connections you could make with other educators. Trends in education are investigated on social media and teachers post great ideas that they have. One of my favorite forms of social media for education is Twitter. (If you want to to learn more about Twitter as a professional learning network, read my "Connections" post from May.) This week let me introduce you to two new forms of social media that are great for sharing ideas and websites.
Pinterest is a great tool for "pinning" ideas, websites, videos, or lessons. Start by creating boards to organize your resources. Here are a couple of my boards:
As I search through Pinterest or browse the internet and find things that I like, I pin them to one of my boards so that I can easily find them again. I have used Pinterest as a way to get inspiration on how to collect student work or new class activities. Pinterest has a "wall" like Facebook. When I first login, I can view pins from boards or pinners that I follow. If you are a creative or visual person, Pinterest is the thing for you. To learn more, watch this YouTube about Pinterest for Education.
This YouTube also shares how to embed your Pinterest Board in a website in case you want to share it with students. Let's see if this works!
I love it when I learn something new . . . especially when it makes me feel like a technology wiz!
For those of you who are more analytical, Pinterest may not be the thing for you. Still wouldn't it be nice to have a way to organize all of your favorite websites and resources? Symbaloo EDU is just the thing for you! Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool. Each square icon can be linked to a website that you or your students frequent. Icons can be grouped under particular topics. I have a list of twenty-five websites and apps that I use frequently in my classroom. I created a symbaloo to organize them. If you hover over the squares grouped by the same background color, you can see how I categorized my websites. Check it out. (I just learned how to embed another tool into my blog!)
Aside from organizing websites, symbaloo is also an excellent way to learn great ideas from other educators. You can search symbaloo for public webmixes. I found some with resources that I will use in the high school math classroom. Take a look for yourself and see if you can find any geared towards your content area.
Well I hope that you are inspired to try some new forms of social media. Get out there and learn from others, but don't forget to share your great ideas!
There is a lot on a teacher's plate: lesson planning, meetings, grading, tutoring, contacting parents, etc. Ugh...I just got a knot in the bottom of my stomach thinking about these things. I still have about two more months of summer before that all comes crashing down in my lap again. Some of you may be spending your summer laying out at the pool or traveling to adventurous places. Well let me encourage you to take a look at some organizational and time saving tools so that you will have more time for the things you love once school starts up again.
Organizational, Time Saving, Classroom Management Tools
Remind is a great tool for communicating with students and athletes. I use Remind with my track athletes. I am able to send them text reminders the night before a track meet to bring their uniform and track gear to school. Advantages of Remind is that I am able to have one way communication with my athletes without exchanging phone numbers. Students can sign up with their phone number or email and receive messages that I send out. Students join "classes" and may receive multiple messages from different coaches or teachers. I like that there is an app I can download on my phone that allows me to send out messages like a text without getting on my computer.
Although Remind is great, some students have experienced difficulty signing up. I have not figured out why, but sometimes students' phones do not work with the 81010 number listed. I wish that all of my athletes could use Remind, but not all of them have cell phones or texting capabilities on their phones. At least there is an email option, but that does not really help students who lack internet connection at home. These are all issues that I face by working in a low socioeconomic school, but they do not reflect on issues with Remind. Using Remind, I am able to communicate with more students than I had in the past.
Doodle is a great tool for polling people. This would be a great tool to use at school when trying to pick a time to meet with multiple people that do not see each other on a regular basis. Since school is out and I wanted to experiment with Doodle, I decided to poll my sisters on when we should go blueberry picking.
Doodle was very easy to set up and invite people. I gave my Doodle a title, picked times that we could go blueberry picking, and then entered emails to send invites to the Doodle. As people respond, a tally is created at the bottom to highlight the favored time. I like that everyone can view each other's responses. Sometimes one may adjust their schedule when they can see that a particular time is best for everyone else. There is also a place on the bottom for comments.
Teachers Pay Teachers is a great website where you can find already made lessons and activities for all grades and subjects. When I was first introduced to Teachers Pay Teachers, I was a little skeptical. I did not want to pay for a resource that I could have created or one that did not fit my objectives exactly. Although I was told there was a "free" section, most of the teachers who raved about it were elementary teachers. I don't hold anything against elementary teachers, but sometimes they just do not understand that there are a lot fewer resources geared towards up level math. Just because something involves math and application does not mean that it follows the standards that I have to teach.
Well if you are an upper level teacher, especially one who teaches math, I hope I haven't lost you yet. I decided to take a break from the pool and give Teachers Pay Teachers another chance. I started by narrowing my search to "free." I was surprised by the many great activities I found! I decided to search for lessons geared towards functions, domain and range, polynomials. etc. These are all concepts that Algebra 2 students struggle with. I was ecstatic to find that there are teachers, who having found success with their students, are excited to share their resources.
Here are a few of my favorite activities that I found:
Teachers Pay Teachers is not the only time saving resource out there. If you use SMART notebook software, check out these websites with lessons and activities: SMART Exchange and Harvey's Homepage.
Online Stopwatch is a helpful tool to keep students and instructors on track. I project this timer when my students are working individually or with a group so that they can pace themselves to finish on time. It also helps me know when to bring the class back together to check for understanding.
Bouncy Balls is a tool that can help monitor noise level. This website utilizes a computer's microphone to assess the noise level in a room. When the noise level is low, there is not a lot of bouncy balls. As the noise level increases, more balls appear and they start to jump very high. It is a visual to help students gauge their noise level.
I'm excited to try some of these tools in my classroom next year. Hopefully you will experiment with some of these organizational, time saving, classroom management tools as well. In the long run, I hope to save time and energy so that I can give my best to my students and still have time for things I love to do outside of school.
