Argumentation Template: March Madness!!

 We love a good competition. The largest one that takes place around this time of year as the flowers begin to bloom is the NCAA Basketball Tournament. If you don't know what this is, ask a student of yours. Now, not all are fans, this I know, but a number of our students are. I like to incorporate as many student interests in my curriculum as much as I can, regardless of my feelings of them. Side Note: Never try to have your students recreate the story of American Imperialism using the "Twilight" series as inspiration <enter shivering emoji that doesn't exist>

Standards dictate student-writing across the curriculum. And it's not just writing for writing's sake. Different forms of writing need to be taught, practiced, critiqued, honed, and improved upon. Argumentation is one of those forms. Now our students love to argue. But can they argue effectively? Can they communicate their voice effectively in writing?

This activity forces them to take a stance on competing ideas, concepts, individuals, events, or anything else you can think of. The idea is to create a tournament in which students determine the winner by practicing their argumentation and writing skills. I've used this activity in class as a review activity for the Rise of Totalitarianism in the 20s & 30s. The students had to take a stance on certain events and argue which one had greater influence on the rise of dictators and the shift towards isolationism around the globe during the time period. It was well received as students were able to analyze events and movements we'd covered in an in-depth manner. I made it a partnered activity and it was interesting watching pairs argue with each other to place one event over the other.

This is a snapshot of the template I created that you can use and alter as you see fit

If you're interested in creating your own bracket, I've created a document you can make a copy of and alter as you see fit to suit your needs. It's pretty basic so get creative with it. I've included different ideas in the margins of the file for your benefit on how to use the file. If you'd like help with setting up an activity like this, please do not hesitate to ask me. I'd be happy to help.

Download Argumentation Template - March Madness!!

District Shift in Blended Learning: The Case for Full Schoology Implementation from a Skeptic

Being out of the classroom this past year has been an interesting venture. I've worked with so many dedicated, thirsty educators looking to improve their craft and in turn their students' experiences. I'm always asked if I miss teaching. I always correct them, quick to say I'm still teaching. My classroom has changed however. And I miss the traditional classroom experience. Immensely. I look at, dissect, play with, and analyse all sorts of different EdTech tools all the time. I send out tips and updates twice a week to you on things I would love to use in the classroom!! Actively Learn? Man I would love to use that!! Digital BreakoutEDU? I would use that all the time! Google Sites? All my students would have their own! But these things flow with my style in the classroom and I feel comfortable using them....which with anything takes time. But this is an era of booming educational technology that I would take advantage of for classroom efficiency, student agency, student engagement, and to help give our students an authentic voice. We all have one bit of technology at our fingertips that is grossly underused in our district that can help in these areas. It's high time we commit to it.

The purpose of this post is to persuade, not to teach. I believe all teachers should have a Schoology presence in their classroom curriculum starting next year. This may be scary for some. Those that know me well, know I was a Schoology resister. I believe it would benefit our student population, our interactions with parents, and help get students "College and Career Ready." Future posts on Schoology will be more geared towards teaching.

Student Engagement
Our students need to be engaged in their learning. This takes on many forms in the context of a given year, unit, or even lesson. There isn't one way to truly engage all learners. The only way we can drive towards near full engagement is through innovative and inspired lesson design. It's you as an expert in your subject and craft developing lessons that challenge and push your students' understanding of the material. Shifting towards a Schoology delivery system will not instantly make your lessons more engaging but it will get you creating and sharing new ideas on how to innovate your curriculum. Once comfortable in a Blended Learning environment, the educator, ever the big picture thinker, starts to see possibilities of innovation. They start to ask "what can I do with this?" That is when students become engaged. When we as educators continually keep things fresh. When we inspire our students to be innovative thinkers through our own.

Interactions with Parents
Study after study shows a growing need for parents to be connected to the classroom to encourage student success. Schoology automates this process as they have access to student performance, they're able to see what goes on a daily basis, and individual or group communication becomes a snap. Because parents "sign in" as a parent to your class their information is there and at the ready for you to easily connect with them. A number of parents have told me they like how easy it is for them to know what is happening in the classroom and that it cuts down on the "How's my kid doing?" emails and phone calls. We have a problem with "system overload" for parents. Teachers have various  avenues of reporting information to parents (websites, eSchools, Schoology, other apps and services, etc ). All are excellent means of communication but for a parent, sometimes even for the tech savviest of them all, this proves both a challenge and a frustration to get a clear picture of how their student is doing. Through uniformity of processes, we can solve this problem if we commit to using Schoology as our chief source of communication with parents through curriculum delivery, parent communication, and timely grade updates.

College and Career Ready
College and Career readiness is not just about content preparation and academic skill development. We've been told for years that we are preparing students for jobs that don't exist yet. I'd say we're doing quite well considering that's like trying to unlock a door in a room full of doors in darkness. However, that's not an apt metaphor. We do know that the world economy is trending towards greater automation and using systems (no matter the career) to manipulate or use data to solve problems. In order to prepare our students we must model this through the delivery of curriculum via a system that allows them to organize and track data, to manage their workflow, and to learn how to solve problems efficiently and collaboratively. This was one of the reasons for the 1:1 initiative - for students to become familiar and proficient in a 21st century environment. I'm not sure the worksheet system is one that prepares our students for future careers. Using an LMS in the classroom will get them familiar with systems they will find themselves learning in as they extend their formal education and when they enter into their chosen careers. The LMS you have at your disposal is Schoology. And it's a pretty good one.

Is Schoology perfect? No way. Teachers have legitimate problems with the system with respect to its integration with 3rd party services (namely eSchools and TurnItIn). Some teachers haven't had enough experience in the environment to understand how it can benefit them and their students - I was certainly that teacher when we purchased the product years ago. I also know that a number of teachers need a lot of tech training in general to feel comfortable to take the leap. I sympathize with those concerns. I also believe that those fears and concerns could dissipate through time with a full commitment to make it work better for teachers, better for students, and better for parents. Take time looking into Schoology this summer (only a few months away) if not sooner and think about what is possible. I'm here to assist those that want to make that shift. I'm hoping everyone will if you haven't already.

Voice & Choice Activity: Show Me What You Know!

Student engagement is key in the 21st century classroom. Technology can help engage students but nothing beats sound lesson design and flow that piques and quenches a student's thirst for understanding the world around them.

Students invariably want greater control of their learning experiences. It's a lot more than just "What" they learn. Providing opportunities for students to express their voice and choose the method in which they express it is just one of the ways students get engaged in any classroom.

One easy-to-implement strategy that addresses this need for engagement and allows students to take control of their learning is through the old "menu option" assignment. Although not a new idea, its a powerful one and with technology the opportunities for student creativity goes beyond the traditional paper-and-pen method.

An example of this is the document embedded below from a group of teachers in the UK who literally took the "menu option" idea and used a popular restaurant amongst British teenagers as the basis for their choices.

If you'd like a copy of this doc, grab it here: Cheeky Nandos Copy

Utilizing the menu options giving students 'voice" and "choice" is an easy way to substitute assessment ideas using technology. The students will feel empowered to produce their best work if they feel they had some control over their choice. Especially when they publish their work for you and their peers to see....the focus of this post.

Show Me What You Know!
This idea comes from one of the creators of the Hyperdoc movement, Lisa Highfill. The idea is pretty straight forward - when appropriate in the curriculum, allow students to choose how they showcase their knowledge and understanding of what they have learned in order to demonstrate mastery.

If you would like to see other examples of this idea, visit her site here and while you're there poke around some of the other areas where she provides rich ideas for the classroom.

I've created one below as a Google Slides template for you all to have copies of. You will have to edit it to change elements on the file including: how students turn in their work to you, some of the resources you want to give them a choice to explore, or anything you'd like to add to personalize the assignment. After you edit it, simply copy and paste it into an already existing Slide deck, publish it to the web, or embed it in your Schoology course or on your website.

Get your copy of the above file HERE.

Give this a go and see what you get from students. Encourage them to explain themselves in a rich manner. Push them to produce their best and most creative work. Publish their work to the class, to other classes, to parents, to the world. Don't be scared you might not be an expert in any of these technologies. In fact, its best you aren't. Encourage your kids to be the experts. Learn with them. They may surprise you how much ownership they take on knowing you can help them only so far.

If you need help implementing this (or similar ideas like it) please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

Reading Comprehension Task: Black Out Text

Going through Twitter # searches for EdTech ideas is a daunting but exciting task. Exciting because there are countless innovative and inspiring teachers in the world harnessing and leveraging technology to help students become better humans. Daunting because there is so much content out there that sometimes I go numb just looking at it. I have however found a number of educators and organizations that I lean on to get some amazing ideas and resources.

A view of my Tweetdeck - feel like a day trader sometimes watching this thing

Eric Curts, of Control Alt Achieve is one of my favourite go-to resources for new trends, tips, and resources. A while ago he posted on his blog a reading comprehension technique geared towards the use of Google Docs and a 1:1 environment. It was a techno-twist on an existing strategy called "Text Reduction Strategy" where students would identify the main ideas and points of articles or a given text and "black out" the irrelevant information using the highlighting or paint rolling format tools in Google Docs. Students use their critical thinking skills individually or collaboratively to identify what is essential versus non-essential information. Instead of having to summarize the text, they have virtually created one with the text's own words. The full detailed blog post is here but I will give you a snapshot of how it works.

Black Out Text Reading Comprehension Activity:
Step 1: Locate and copy text you would like your students to use on the Internet or other web resources
Step 2: Paste the text in a Google Document and set up the activity with directions at the top
Step 3: Push the assignment out to students via Schoology, your website, or other means
Step 4: Model the process for them - show them how they can access the highlighter or paint rolling tools in Google Docs and demonstrate how they are used.
Step 5: Allow time for students to complete the activity
Step 6: Analysis and Debrief - depending on your style, you can hold a discussion, a competition, have them create a visual or auditory product, run a Kahoot, Quizizz, or Quizlet Live activity

This method can be employed in any class that asks students to make sense of complex text sets. I like the idea of allowing students to collaborate as well - whether they are working on the same document simultaneously or they are comparing and contrasting and building consensus at the end.

If you give this strategy a shot in your classroom, let me know how it works out for you and your students. If you need some assistance with implementing this strategy or any others related to EdTech, hit me up and I'll help you out!