Google Classroom.... The beginning of a love affair...sigh

Ugh..... My pile of grading is daunting....

Ha! I make myself giggle sometimes! Seriously, that is my pile of grading. Google Classroom is amazing and fabulous and I'm a school girl in love.
I told the kids that this year I wanted top go "paper light".  All assignments would be in paper form and online. Students could decide how they wanted to complete them. I also have the luxury of 5 old laptops, 2 beautiful macs, and one iPad in the classroom and a study hall time for kids to accomplish assignments.

The kids were hung ho! I spent a whole day doing a tech sign up for the entire middle school (Google Classroom, Engrade, Quizlet, etc.) and showing them how Google Classroom worked. I was fortunate enough to have one of our tech instructionalists from the district join us, because when it comes to tech, an extra set of amazing hands is always welcome.

 The kids fell in love and we have been off without a hitch. I post all my assignments (as well as posting them on Remind... My other love) on Google Classroom. Weekly, I assign a current events article with Common Core close reading questions to support my English Language Arts teachers. This assignment can be "turned in" through Google Drive and they looooove it.

 About 70% hand the assignment in digitally. Interestingly enough, they still prefer to have the reading in paper form but love to do their writing in digital form.

Once we got started, I decided to step up my game. This summer I took a two day conference with EdTech Teachers and... Well.... It was amazing!!! My workshop was all about learning how to use technology to help struggling learners. With my special ed beginnings and my new endeavor in a district with a huge number of students who speak English as a Second Language, I was captivated by the entire two days. Beth Holland, my teacher, wrote a guest blog post for Richard Byrnes about combining Google Drive and Newsela.

 I took some of the suggestions and combined with this blogpost and found liquid gold. The first time I did this I used Junior Scholastic.  Junior Scholastic now offers a lower lexiled article online for teachers.  I then used the summarize tool on the mac to make an even lower lexiled version.

The second week I used Newsela to organize three articles at three different Lexile scores.

 I spoke with my ELA teachers and organized my readings into three levels, created folders in Google Drive for those three levels, and shared them with the students based on their SRI and MCAs scores.

 For bonus, I put reading comprehension questions in the comments based upon the reading level of the article.

 For my lowest level group, I made an audio version of the article, using QuickTime on the computer(something I learned from those crafty EdTech Teachers) and put that in their Google Drive as well. 

Voila! Instant reading groups, leveld discussion, teacher feedback and read alouds to meet every IEP.
Have I reminded you how much I love Google?

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Mind Blown!!!!

First, I need to apologize.... I feel like my blog has become nothing but an ad for my teachers pay teachers store. I've been spending a lot of time on my teachers pay teachers because well.... it's summer. I've been treating it like a part-time job that I work on after the kiddos go to bed and I've been creating some amazing stuff to revamp my beginning of the year units. But I need to get back to blogging!!!!

I have also been doing some amazing things with Ed Tech this summer. First off I took my first grad class since 1998. It was a fast and furious five day tech course and it was great to have a week to just play around with edtech. The coolest tech thing I've done, though, is attend a course I started today. It's given by the Edtech Teachers and if you haven't heard of them you totally need to look into them. I took this amazing two day workshop on how to use tech to meet the needs of all the students and your class as well as struggling learners. The class was the best class I've ever been to my entire career. I learned so many things that I didn't know I could do just with my own computer! I decided to create a list of five things that absolutely just blew my mind. I also included a Blendspace I created at the end of the page to show you everything that I learned.

Mind Blown #1 Did you know that you can organize your Google searches by reading levels? If you Google "Advanced Google Search". You will get a page like this.

You can organize your searches by file type, date published, and other filters. I love that you can organize by reading level. It's not the foolproof but when you choose show "only basic result" very kid friendly searches show up.

Mind Blow #2 I am always looking for new ways to differentiate readings in my class. I was introduced to this amazing website called printfriendly.com. With printfriendly.com you insert the URL of the webpage you would like to read. Once it loads it up, you can actually delete pictures, sidebars, paragraphs, an actual sentences. It saves as a PDF file. This is a fabulous way to take a current event article and make 3 to 5 different versions for the struggling readers in your class.

Mind Blown #3

For those of you that have been reading my blog, you've probably noticed that I've been trying to accommodate readings in my classroom by adding videos, screen casting, and audio. I've been using different apps and trying different websites. What I didn't know is that the fabulous MacBook I have can do it without downloading anything. If you go to your QuickTime player underneath File you can do a new screen recording. I can screen cast right from my computer with no other add-ons whatsoever. Fabulous!

Mind Blown # 4

Did you know that if you have a Mac you have the amazing capability of taking any reading and summarizing it quickly? Find an article that you like on the Internet and copy it. Open up notepad on your Mac computer and paste the article into it. Once you do this you can right click and "summarize" is one of the options. There's a bar that you can actually scroll up and down to tell how large how small you want the summary. How unbelievable is this? Now I can take any article and summarize it so I can make different copies forget! Amazing!

Mind Blown #5

Lastly, I just found out that just by clicking the little microphone and my iPad I can dictate. I started in special-education 17 years ago. When we first started we would spend hundreds of dollars on Dragon speech software. I have never seen a more intuitive speech to text app and than what comes right inside this iPad. Actually, this entire blog post was written just using the speech to text app. Again mind blown!

Below, I've included a link to my Blendspace page that incorporates how to videos and websites I described that I learned from that fabulous Edtech teachers conference. Look at the last two links on the page because those go back to the Edtech teachers website which is just amazing within itself.

 

So, are there any amazing things that you were using in your class to accommodate fear struggling learners? I would love to hear from everybody!

 

 

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Holy Textual Evidence Batman!!!!!

So, I'm supposed to be ending my non eventful, non productive, very relaxing vacation tomorrow but winter storm Hercules is on its way and I got the call that I won't have school till Monday.  I might actually catch up with my grading after all!
Since I actually have some time, I wanted to introduce you to a great new website that was introduced to me by a member of my team.  The website is Newsela and it is amazing!!!  I am a huge fan of current events in the classroom and this website not only has AMAZING current event stories, but the articles are Common Core aligned!!!

The website has a huge number of articles to offer as you can see by the menu.  Any article that as an anchor and a number next to it, is actually accompanied by a quiz that meets the CCSS.

This article specifically works on the author's point of view and purpose.  As a teacher you can sign up and assign various articles and lexile levels to your students.

Each article, regardless of whether it has a quiz or not, has multiple versions organized by lexile score.

The quizzes that come with specific articles are also organized by reading level.  My brightest kids are so challenged by these questions because it really focuses on the shift in the CCSS.  I'm getting amazing data out of these quizzes!!!

When you sign up as a teacher, you have the ability to link students as they sign up and thus create a class and a gradebook.  One of my ELA teachers is doing this and loving it.  I'm having difficulty finding the time and access to our computers to launch this so I've decided to go the paper route.

The site offers an awesome print version that has been really successful for me.  I give this out at the beginning of the week and I print and distribute two different versions: 7th and 4th grade.  It's perfect for skills based work and really gives me amazing data on the areas of need for my kiddos.

As a perk, the site just started posting articles with a Pro and Con stance which I find perfect to use for collection of textual evidence and argument writing.  Such gooey CCSS goodness!!!

If you use this, come back and tell me what you think and how you are using it in your classroom.

Just Fun Stuff:)

No, I did not run away or fall off the edge of the planet. For those of you who are already dipping your toes in the pool and sipping margaritas at 4pm, please remember that I live in New England. You know.... That place that had a blizzard this winter and a hurricane in the fall. That means that my kiddos aren't getting out till the 25th and I'll be out somewhere around the 27th. You heard me right.... The 27th of June. Needless to say I have been busy with my Grad Dance, final grading, end of the year evaluations, end of the year hiring and next year's budget.....you get my point. Well, as we speak almost everything is done but the budget and that is so close (over 1000 markers later).

So, now I get to play. Although I've been a bit lazy on documenting lately, I thought I would share some of the fun things I've been doing with the kiddos.

1. About 10 years ago, I had my kiddos keep interactive notebooks and although I loved them desperately, I was too early in my career to figure out how to grade them without ending up in a straight jacket. My department head said she could always tell when I was at the end of a unit because I was in tears and my hair was falling out. This is what happens when you collect all notebooks and grade every page.

Well, I'm older and wiser (and much chubbier) and Pinterest has renewed my interest so I've been doing some activities that are notebook worthy in order to practice.

First, after doing a round robin activity on the major inventions of the Industrial Revolution, we talked about how all regions would benefit from the inventions but one region would benefit most. I gave kids a map with the regions drawn in and pictures of the inventions. I had them number the inventions and write the names at the bottom then we talked it over. The students soon realized that the west was going to boom with the inventions, the north was finally going to prosper and the south was going to become more isolated and dependent on slave labor. We talked about how the south just got a box with combs and major transportation lines actually ran to its north. The kids were able to mark up their pictures however they wanted (I.e. arrows, letters, etc). I used to do this as a class with no artifact, but the kids loved making their own.

2. One of my favorite things to teach is Manifest Destiny and I love to start it with an analysis of the picture. If you teach it right after the Industrial Revolution, it dovetails brilliantly because the kids can really take in the telegraph lines, Transcontinetal Railroad, steamboats, etc. This year, in my readiness for interactive notebooks, we guided the conversation by making this:

We worked on the definition using this Prezi and then I instructed them to circle three things in the picture that they noticed, wanted to talk about or wanted to question. Underneath the picture they had to make a guess as to what they circled. Once everyone labeled three things, I had students point out things in the picture and we discussed them as a class.

Because I have a long throw projector, I gave the volunteer the "magic paper" and had them isolate the object and then step away from the board about two feet. Voila!!! They loved this and didn't even mind volunteering just to ask a question. They had amazing conversations and our principal even got in on the action. Nothing like a fabulous launch to the unit.

3. Last but not least.... Good old notetaking and foldables. In order to end the year we have toplow through how we acquired the United States from coast to coast. I have the kids read various resources and answer basic comprehension questions. Most of the resources I used were Bentley Boyd's Chester the Crab comics.

My students love these, they come in 5 comic units and even though they are comics, they are challenging enough because they include dialogue, sidebars, etc. Students really need to focus on all aspects of the cartoon to understand what is happening. Using all this information, students created a foldable that they used an an open note assessment.

I so rarely do traditional notetaking, my kids said this assignment was like a "scavenger hunt". Ha!!!! I love when you fool them and make them learn at the same time.

So, do you use an interactive notebook in social studies? I would love to get some suggestions and pointers because come this September(yes, we don't go back till September) I'm all in!

 

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More Classroom Gameification!

So I tried my hand again at my hybrid Gameification/small group instruction activity I call "Leveling Up" it it was successful! I wanted to move through the basal knowledge on Andrew Jackson and try to work in some nice CCSS close reading skills. I was able to find the information I wanted them to read, online (I'll leave out the name of the textbook for copyright reasons) and modified the work activities to meet my needs. I decided to focus on vocabulary, nonnegotiables (words you must use in order to truly understand the passage) and summary. I created my levels and instead of a focusing on content, like I did last time, I focused on those skills.

Students worked on the activities at their own pace and when they wanted to test out or ask a question, they spent time with me at the Leveling Up Station.

When they proved competency they received a badge for completing their level.

Here are my adorable badges that I printed out on colored card stock.

Again, the kids really enjoyed it and let me know (one of the kids walked in, saw the class set up and exclaimed, "Sweet! We're leveling up!"). This time, the students really enjoyed being able to take a vocabulary quiz when they felt they were ready. Two of my colleagues sat in one of my classes and really enjoyed the activity. They are going to be trying it in their own classes and I can't wait to see how it works.
To be brutally honest, it wasn't 100% successful this time. Two of my classes succeeded but my class that struggles with academic and attentional weaknesses didn't fare as well. Don't get me wrong....they loved this activity and kept telling me but after they had focused on the vocabulary portion of the skill set they stalled. For homework, every night, I told them what should be completed for them to be successful and they totally ignored the timeline. Unfortunately, since it was my first time doing this unit this way, I had booked the library to launch our Grand Jury Project (wait till I tell you about it.....it was AMAZING!!!!) and due to other teachers needing the library, I couldn't move my dates. Instead of giving all the kids the one more day they needed in class for this, they got a due date of two days outside of class and of course it was due on the day grades closed. Well..... They didn't do it. Two classes did amazing and one class just blew it. So what can I do to change the outcome next year? For classes that struggle, this was too much work even though it was broken up. I think I would give the vocabulary assignment for homework before I launched the activity. Also, this class needed even more check in than others. My husband suggested a completion chart should be posted that they filled in after they completed each small section. I am usually against public humiliation but I do think they would have benefitted from a little casual competition.
Even though I hit a snag this time, I still absolutely love this activity. I think I need to make sure it isn't too long so the kiddos don't get bored. I polled the kids after and they told me they wished they could do this all the time, so I think that is still a vote for success! As with all education, even this type of activity needs to be differentiated for my varied groups of students.
So, what are you doing to try to work individually with the kids? What do you do to let kids work at their own pace? I really would love to know!!
If you would like to try this in your classroom, here is a link to all the resources.
I linked up with The Fourth Grade Flipper and shared this in Tried it Tuesdays!

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Text Talk and Nonfiction Summary

For those of you keeping count, I'm on the eve of yet another snow day. The Weather Channel is predicting 8 to 12 inches and the number keeps climbing. Don't forget..... spring is on Wednesday!!!!
Last week I had one of those weeks where I'm just so happy I am a teacher. I launched one of my favorite units on the foreign affairs of America under the first five presidents and again, the kids loved it. To better align myself to state standards, last year I started organizing my curriculum thematically as opposed to chronologically and it has really freed me up to accomplish the things kids really need to be successful. To help me organize myself, I first started to to use the History Alive! Series from TCI. I had the old resources from a teachers pack ( they actually don't offer the plans I use in the newest textbook and resources) and they do a great job of organizing these problems by giving students the information and then asking what they would do if the were the president. The unit focuses on Adams and the XYZ Affair, Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates, Madison and the War of 1812 and Monroe and the Monroe Doctrine. The activites have the kiddos working in groups to negotiate to make a decision much like the presidents. I would totally share the unit with everyone but I use the History Alive! Reading so that would probably be not so legal. This is my second year doing this unit and I have totally gutted it and reworked it to really make it my own. One of the things I need to do, to make the unit run smoothly, is to have students do the background reading at home. I assign the reading daily and have them do a "quick text map" (i.e. circle the names, highlight the vocabulary and box places). I was really trying to think of the best way to have kids come in the next class and summarize what they have read. If you have taught middle school for any length of time, you know that means that one great and ambitious kids summarizes while twenty five kids space out. My last snow day journeys on the Teaching Channel led me to this.


I loooooved the idea of "Text Talk" and knew that I had to modify it for my age group and as a first time activity at an age where they already feel self conscious. I would have loved for them to sit on the floor because I really do think that the desks sometimes create a wall, but my floors are dirty and my kiddos are too cool for school.
I came up with the "Non Negotiables". I went through the text and found the keywords.

I explained the idea of a "Non Negotiable" with the kids and I explained that in order to summarize the sections they had been working on, the HAD to use these words or the summary was incomplete. These were the Non Negotiables. I would show them the words and then put one minute on the timer. Each group was to discuss the summary with the non negotiables. I then took volunteers to give an oral summary. The volunteer received bonus tickets (the currency I use in my class to bribe children) And their groups also received bonus because they were integral to the process.
This was a success! I heard amazing conversations from my kids on how to find the connections between these lists of singular words. I saw a lot of kids use various annotation techniques to mark up their reading for these words. I will definitely add this as part of my repertoire and I am really excited because it is the perfect lead in to an activity called "Keep It or Junk It".

I had planned on using this activity in my class as soon as it made sense and unwittingly I had created the perfect tie in with the non negotiables. My next step will be to have them create the non negotiables and use the Keep It or Junk It activity to come up with the best list of words.
Do you have any great reading techniques for middle schoolers?

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Text Mapping Again and Still Loving It!

So, I am throwing caution to the wind and blogging even though I really have tons of other things to do. I'm in a mood because I get to go to a workshop tomorrow on Common Core for the "other" subjects. I'm really excited to see what they offer in the way of suggestions on how us non core subjects can help support the standards. Also, there is a possibility for a big snow storm here in New England so I have snow brain.
I know I have already been working hard to integrate the CCSS and one of my favorite new things is Text Mapping! (Click to see some great resources that some fabulous Pinners have gathered) I recently implemented it for my second and third time and the honeymoon is not over. The kids still love it and I have found different ways to change it up to keep it fresh.

The above is the work of my amazing paraprofessional. Look how great she is at text mapping!!!!

I did this activity with a section of my textbook, which I don't use. After I have the students do all the work of mapping for nonfiction elements, I finish it with a multiple choice or matching worksheet. Students answer the worksheet as normal, but they have to go back to the reading and highlight where they found the answer and number it, using the number of the question from the worksheet. Every time I have done this, I have seen increased understanding of the text and it makes the kids really slow down and dissect the information.
My next step was integrating this activity into articles to help with text complexity. I found a great article on the Battle of Fallen Timbers and created a guiding activity to help them break down the article on their own.

On the above sheet, when it says box over and over, my kiddos know to use a different color marker for the boxes and then they make a key right on this sheet.

Again.... Very successful! It's one of those activities where the kids know they're doing work but they actually enjoy it. Feel free to hustle on over here and download a copy of my nonfiction worksheet. You can download it as a PDF, a Word Document or straight to Google Drive so you can tailor it to meet your needs, age group and subject.    Click here if you would just like a PDF copy:)I have borrowed from sources all over the web to make it so let's keep the sharing going people! If you do download it, leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. Pray for snow my friends...... Pray for snow:)

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