Video Use in the Classroom: EdPuzzle & Playposit

Video in the classroom is nothing new. Videos are engaging and spark interest and learning in our students and have a distinct advantage of not being our voice (😝)! The way in which video is delivered however has changed. Gone are the days in which the only was was to wheel in the big TV strapped to the media cart to a place where most can see. Popping in the VCR (remember those?? Whoever has one still....you're amazing!) that documentary you recorded 7 summers ago. Not anymore. Technology has progressed where we can deliver self-paced, engaging video-based curriculum that allows us to assess our students' understanding in real time.

Two resources I love to talk about to achieve these ends are EdPuzzle and Playposit. Both are constructed similarly, have benefits over the other, and are excellent tools to utilize in the 21st century classroom. If you use video in the classroom (whether for classwork or homework) it's not enough to say "watch this video and take notes" - students need direction in order to get the most out of your curated resource.

Check out more after the jump!

Writing Assessment Idea: The Single-Standard Rubric

Assessing writing is always a challenge for any teacher. The age-old hurdle of time keeps teachers from creating an assignment that needs to be assessed and feedback provided in a timely fashion. Problem is we can't let time bar us from developing those literacy skills with our students. Rubrics also pose significant challenges as there is a debate about whether they encourage our student's best work or formulaic writing. Wherever you fall on that debate, providing guidance for student writing is extremely important. There are some writing assignments that work without guidance. But with formal writing, students need a guide of sorts. You'd be crazy not to give that guidance....like dress up as a clown for fun crazy!! ***My apologies to all clowns who may be reading this. Please don't hurt me

With that in mind, below is a simple template you can use and alter in anyway you choose. The Single Standard Rubric is open enough to push the high and low achievers. It provides guidance without the cookie-cutter feel of a traditional rubric. It gives you the flexibility to assess and provide feedback in case the writing doesn't fit neatly in a box. The rubric was one I adapted from English Teacher Aric Foster in Michigan. Please feel free to adapt this one to suit your needs.



Snag your copy here if you'd like one

This rubric can be added to or subtracted from based on your needs and based on the assignment. Again, the idea isn't about using this rubric for each writing assignment. Rather, it is a call for holding all students to the same standards, not allowing them to decide which numbers they want to strive for, giving the educator flexibility in assessing their work, while also providing students a chance for students to find their voice.

You could also digitize it. Why not provide feedback from one single Google Form that you can type directly into? The data is housed on a spreadsheet and you can share that sheet with your students. Or set up a mail merge to send a student an individual report on their feedback. Below is an example of this. If you'd like to snag a copy of it, it is found here.

Infographics: Great Product for Students to Create

I love infographics!! There's info!! And graphics!! What's not to love? They can be an instructional tool for you and a creative outlet for your students. Literacy standards dictate we need to teach reading, writing, researching, and critical analysis skills across the curriculum. There is also a greater emphasis on technical writing as well.

Having students create infographics allows them to not only develop, practice, and hone these skills, but they are creative ventures for them to produce their ideas in a different form and you'll also get more participation in revision and peer editing activities. These types of products certainly should not replace formal essay writing. However, they can be used to help practice skills related to formal essay writing.

And did I mention revision? It is a critical practice in any profession and should be promoted in the classroom. Because of the visual and graphic design component of the activity, students will take great care to ensure their infographic is ready for their peers to get a gander at it. You can even scaffold the peer editing and revision process by having peers focus on a certain aspect of the assignment - supporting data, argumentation, clear and concise statements, visually appealing - to be returned for constant and continuous revision.

Oh yeah...and because they are a graphic, they can easily be published on the web. Students love to publish all sorts of media on a daily basis. This component will give you an opportunity to focus on Digital Citizenship in your classroom. These graphics are great for student portfolios, social media posts, student created websites...drive them to publish to a global audience and they will put their best foot forward. A large number of students already know what this means....they never post their first selfie.

Below are a couple of templates done in Google Drawing of different infographics that you can push out to your students in order for them to make a copy of and own. Once they have their copy, they can adjust everything on the template they see fit to.

Template I created in Google Drawing
Template in Google Drawing from Ryan O'Donnell out of Rocklin Unified

Google Drawing Templates Here, Here, & Here

Infographic Toolbox - Change and use elements for Infographics

Step-by-step instructions on how to create one in Google Slides

AND, you can empower your students to create beautiful infographics using these services:
Canva
Picktochart
Venngage
Easel.ly


***All linked infographics in the blog post come from the amazing Alex Corbitt, English teacher from New York working in the Bronx. Give him a follow on Twitter

Research Resources: Utilizing EdTech to Work Smarter

Research projects are a cornerstone in any secondary curricula. New standards on Research skills are not merely for ELA or Mathmatics classes. Whatever your subject, we need to teach, model, and allow students to demonstrate mastery of research skills. Educational Technology can assist in this process in numerous ways. Below is a list of various apps, extensions, web services, and resources that you can incorporate into whatever research project you assign next.

Brainstorming & Organization Resources - That all important first phase that puts and keeps students on track

• Make Checklists in Google Docs
• Create a concept Map in Google Drawing
• Google Keep (They already have this) - Create checklists on tasks needed to complete when planning a project, collaborate with other students, and get reminders sent across their devices
• Mindmup - Mindmaps on your Chromebooks
• Popplet - Web and iPad app that allows you to create multi-media mindmaps
• Wunderlist - App & Extension - Create dynamic to-do lists for students to stay on task when planning a project

Note taking Resources - Use to type up ideas and arguments or counter-arguments for tpics raised in the project

• Google Keep - add notes quickly 
• Sticky notes - see my previous post on sticky notes
• Super Simple Highlighter - kinda self explanatory, but students can highlight info on web pages and they stay on the page when they return to them later after closing their tab
• VideoNot.es - synchronize their note taking with any video they are tasked with watching. Notes are saved in Google Drive
• Evernote - Evernote is an excellent educational research for keeping organized on projects. It operates like a Digital Notebook where students have the ability to take notes and clip sites and documents on the web related to their research topic. Web-version, Chromebook App, Extension, and mobile apps for all your devices

Information Collection Resources - Locate and save sources for the project

• Feedly - Curate content from around the web around a single topic or tag. The mobile app allows for syncing with the web account. Students can have the information come to them
• Google Keep - again...this thing is awesome
• Padlet - When students would work on research projects, I'd often have them save evidence from a website that was useful for them. Padlet works well for this as an online, collaborative corkboard of sorts. So if there is a group research project, students can be working on the same Padlet together
• Evernote - Again...powerful tool

Citation Resources - Gotta make sure credit goes to where it belongs

• Chrome Extensions - Cite This For Me and EasyBib will give the proper citation of websites instantly in different styles 
• Citation Machine - Books, Magazines, Websites, Journal, Film? No problem...this free web service can do that for your students in thousands of styles (Turabian? Hmmmmm)
• BibMe - Works like Citation Machine

Presentation Tools - Speaking & Presenting standards need to be met as well

• We Video App - Students create Digital Stories ...think iMovie or Movie Maker only the Chromebook version
• Bunkr - Web presentation software where students can embed a ton of content from code, to interactive graphs, social media posts and more! It looks and presents everything nice and clean 
• Weebly - Students can create their own websites and portfolios in a drag and drop fashion!
• Infographics - these are great products to create depending on the research project ad purpose of the presentation. This would be an excellent presentation option for Technical Writing research projects. The best web resources for this is Easel.ly, Canva, and Piktochart

Chromebook App: Storybird

Looking for different ways for your students to communicate their understanding of concepts covered in class? Want them to get creative with their writing and storytelling? Have some aspiring writers that could use a push in publishing their work? Storybird is a web program that can engage learners in numerous ways and give your students the opportunity to publish their work within the Storybird community.

Often times when asking students that they will write (a story, essay, poetry...whatever it may be), the teenage eye roll isn't too far away. With Storybird, students will enjoy the creation process and develop their literacy abilities while doing so.

For Students: The ability to create and build high-quality and original stories (with images) to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, literacy skills, creativity, and (for the up and coming writer) develop their publishing and marketing abilities. It also has a collaborator feature which allows students to work with peers or even established writers and artists.

For Teachers: You can develop a classroom and assign projects within Storybird. Track their progress as they create and assess their understanding of concepts delivered in class.

I can think of many uses in ELA and the Social Sciences but it could be utilized in many different subject matters. Give it a shot! Below is Storybird's website and Chrome Web Store link if you're interested.

Storybird Website
Chrome Web Store Link