Scoot Activity in Computers!

I got the idea for a Scoot activity after reading some math blogs, actually. Apparently, some cool math teachers have come up with a "moving" worksheet type activity where you place flashcards or some math problem or activity at each desk and students "scoot" through them at intervals.

This sounded like something fun to try in my computer-based classes. And, in Photoshop, they've just learned selection tools, including how to add and subtract from selection. I thought this might be a fun way to practice. So, I put a folder of images out on a drive. They opened the background image, saved it to their folder, and then began selecting the first item from the folder to bring over to the background. After about 5 minutes, I announced SCOOT! They moved on, regardless of how finished the selection was, and scooted to the next seat. Then, they had to pick up where the previous person left off. When a selection is completed, they were to Refine Edge, bring it over to the background, and rename the layer. After the first long round, I used set intervals.

I used an interval timer online from http://www.intervaltimer.com and set it to no warm up and no cool down and just set a time of 120 seconds for the "high intensity" or work time and 15 seconds for the "low intensity" or scoot time. I'll do this again in my afternoon class and will probably adjust that a bit to 150 seconds of work time and 30 seconds to scoot.

I also threw in few kinks to change it up. A few times, I would announce specific instructions like:

• Double scoot (scoot two seats instead of one)
• Random scoot (like musical chairs, scoot wherever you want)
• Observation even or odd (so, that means if you are at an odd computer and I called Observe Odd instead of Scoot, you stand and just watch people if you are at an odd computer and provide feedback if you see someone doing something ineffectively or just watch and see how others are using tools)

It worked out pretty well. However, I did run across one problem at the end. A few students had NOTHING drug into their main image. So, not sure if someone deleted the selected items or if no one ever drug something over because the selections were never complete. I'll have to monitor that a little better when I try it with the afternoon class. A few of the items were really hard, so I might suggest some of the easier ones to be the first ones they do just to make sure everyone does finish something as part of the composite.

As with most learning activities, I don't take grades so no one was penalized if they got back to their computer and there wasn't much to work with. But, I did give them about 10 minutes back on their home computers at the end of class.

Students seemed to like moving around and the class period zoomed by. We'll see how it goes with some tweaking. But, I'm excited to try this sometime with my Web Design class in a coding exercise!

My Flashcard Preference--StudyStack!

I just wanted to take a minute to give a shout out to a website I love to use for study review for my students. It seems every list of online tools seems to include Quizlet, which is a good tool. I've used it, too. But, my students really prefer StudyStack and here's why:

1. More options for interacting with the cards. Quizlet has only two games and a test module. StudyStack has test, quiz, matching, crossword, hangman, unscramble, chopped and more! There's lots of options.
2. Android app is out now! They plan to release an iOS one soon. But, you don't need an app to use it. It runs just fine in the browser.

Here are a few screenshots. My students love the Hungry Bug game (it gets hard because your bug grows as you answer correctly and the bug cannot run into the sides, into himself, or into the wrong answer!). 

Matching:

Chopped:

So, just sharing. It's a great resource. And, if you want to see, my StudyStacks are located here:
 http://www.studystack.com/users/skindawg

Trying to do "More Google" stuff... #GoogleEdu #teachertools

This summer, I received my Google Certified Educator level 1 certification. As I am working on level 2 now, I am trying to incorporate more "Google things" into my curriculum, either for students or as tools for myself. I saw the other day where someone used a Google Form to collect student submissions for online work (genius!); they post their email, name, URL of project, and comments or a reflection, whatever you need into a simple Google Form so the teacher doesn't have to check emails or have them write down the info.

My students had already uploaded work for grading to SchoolTube, an online video hosting site, in my Multimedia class. And, I was in the middle of moderating their submissions when I wondered if I could just enter their scores and feedback on a Google Sheet and maybe somehow email that information to them. Ideally, I would have had them do the hard work for me and enter in a form, but it was too late for that, so I just typed in their names, plugged in their student emails (only 20 kids so I looked them up quickly), put a Score column and a Notes column and graded away. Then, I hoped I'd find a solution.

I've used Flubaroo before, but I couldn't easily figure out how to mail my score and notes through that. And, after tweeting to Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler), a Google guru, I figured I'd take her advice and try Yet Another Mail Merge, another Google plug-in. Mind you, I don't really read instructions much, so I went poking away trying to figure it out.

My thoughts:

First, get into Gmail and type an email that has "mostly" what you want to say. Mine wasn't fancy. I put the assignment name and a box that said Score and Notes/Feedback. Then, I put my name and a smiley.  I didn't send the email from Gmail; it was just a "draft" in my Gmail.  Oh, and you had to put those double chevrons on either side of the "field names" from your Google Sheet. So, I put <<Score>> and <<Notes>> on there where I needed that information merged (like a Word mail merge, mostly). Fortunately, I picked a YAMM template and modified it and it had a note about that. Score.

Second, I went back to the other tab where my Google Sheet was and added the add-in for this mail merge thingy. It popped up and I had to allow some stuff. Then, it was pretty self-explanatory. I picked my "draft" from the list and put the return email and such. I added myself to the spreadsheet before I did this so I could see what the email would look like.

Here is what my students received (of course, mine is perfect, but they had much more detailed feedback on what was missing or needed improvement):

This worked great! Next time, I'll have them enter their info so I don't have to do all the work (or maybe I'll just duplicate this Sheet and use it again). You are limited to 100 emails per day on this YAMM plug-in, but I have so many different classes I teach that none of my classes are more than 50 kids, so as long as I only do one class in a day, I'm good.

I have student portfolios for another class where they submit work, so this might be another easy way to collect direct URLs for those and to easily grade those projects. I know there are other plug-ins that are rubric based, so maybe that will be my next challenge.

Anyway, hope this helps someone! :)

Called an Audible in Computer Apps yesterday... worked great! #busedu #cooplearning

Yesterday, we started Access 3 in my Advanced Computer Apps class. It's not an easy unit; we're getting deep into queries and calculated fields. Fun stuff.

We did two things instead of just diving in. First, I had them go online using the SAM program we have (through Cengage learning, Skills Assessment Manager) and to read the "intro" parts of each assigned task that goes along with our unit. We aren't using a textbook right now, so that's their textbook, so to speak. They have 40 "pages" or tasks that go with this unit. Anyway, I gave them a fill in the blank page and the answers came from those readings. Mind you, I take few grades and this is not for a grade, but rather to introduce them to the vernacular of this unit of Access. It's boring, though. And I thought... hmm... what could we do to make this better? With "worksheet" types of activities, it's very easy for students to just buddy up and share answers, which doesn't really help them learn it. Looking up helps in learning, but asking the neighbor what you got for number 4? Not so much.

So, I called an audible! I announced, as I looked through the readings, that "question #4 on your paper is from SAM #23!" Immediately, everyone zips over to 23 to read the paragraph. I thought, ok, cool. It's kind of like a game now. I threw out another number. Then, I told them that they could probably make friends if they threw out numbers as they found answers and that they had my permission to share numbers, but not answers. And, they did!

It actually worked really well. They were looking up, reading, shouting out page numbers, and people were finding the answers on their own. Gosh, it was almost too simple.

After about a half hour of that, I divided them into four groups and handed out a group activity. I talked briefly about what it means to "query" (defined: ask a question about something) and talked about how people use queries in databases. Then, they were assigned a fictional database with fields and they had to try to determine possible queries that could be run on that data. Here's one of the examples after the students finished brainstorming:

We haven't even got into Access yet to talk about queries, but I feel confident that when I do today, they will be able to understand what's going on. Between already hearing the terminology to doing this short 10 minute group activity, they hopefully will have a little more interest today. And, I can use examples they wrote down as I talk about queries today, so we'll have a connection (like the example above where they queries if the restaurant includes a playground... well, that's not a field so that's not a possible query on this data).

The lesson here? Don't be afraid to just try something new because what you are doing isn't working or is boring or just isn't cutting it by your standards. Sometimes, you will stumble on something that gets the entire class moving and involved. Oh, and GET OUT OF THAT TEXTBOOK! Find ways to pull them together or get them to share. 

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Team Try 1 in Computer Class #cooplearning #busedu

Today was a fun Friday in Photoshop. I decided to do a cooperative learning activity--which I termed "Team Try"--since we just learned how to download brushes from websites yesterday and I wanted to get them to do a little exploring and review. So, I created a handout and they worked in pairs to complete it. Seriously, there was 100% student engagement for this. It went beautifully. If you teach Photoshop, you can check it out. It's nothing fancy (the end results is actually quite ugly) but it reviews concepts that we needed to cover.

My rule was that they had to take turns doing the handout. So, partner 1 reads the instruction (partner reading has to stand and cannot pull up a chair... because I guess I'm a control freak). Partner 2 sits and does the instruction. The first partner can assist (verbally, point, etc.) but cannot touch the mouse to help. Then, once that instruction is complete, they switch spots. So, there was lots of moving around.

I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with my "leftover" person (I had an odd number in both hours today). So, that person had to "volunteer as Tribute" (I'm so hip). The Tribute would also have a copy of the exercise and could communicate with me at any time. No one else could communicate with me or with other groups--only the Tribute. So, I did explain this and took volunteers both hours (and had no problems getting someone to volunteer...they got candy). 

It honestly went better than planned. Students worked well together to accomplish a task and my roamer (the Tribute) who went around asking to help or provided feedback felt important. I made them all give him/her a hand at the end of the class period.

Did every group finish? No. Did I take a grade? No. Did people sit around and not work? Um... no! They were right in there trying to do the activity.

Don't be afraid to try this sort of thing in a technology class. It's so easy to just open the book and "do the stuff" in a computer class. I actually don't use real books in my computer classes (most of them) because I feel a system where I lead works better than a book. But, if you haven't tried something like this, I strongly encourage it for ANY computer class. 

Activity Link (DOCX)-- https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=E10A71E92D0A4394!7140&authkey=!AN-BAWu3_mjF7C4

My name is Tonya and I have a rubber band problem. #busedu

This me and my rubber bands. Okay, yes, I buy rubber bands every time to go to Dollar Tree. Some people sew; I make rubber band balls. That one in my hand? We started it just last week and it's bigger than a baseball already. Probably 20 kids have helped make it.

I don't know why I started doing this, but it's become one of those things my students stop by to participate in. We'll grab a ball and just talk and start banding (is that a thing?). I create starters for students who go home and make their own. And, if you're wondering, my balls start as bands. There's nothing else in the middle! I've created bands at the end of wooden rods and created what's affectionately called my stick of power. It's just something I do.

And, this year, it has been my connection to a new student. I have a student who is autistic this year and we connected right away with this simple thing. He comes in wanting to band every day. And, if all of his work is done, I let him.

Sometimes, you just don't know what your strange obsessions will do for your classroom! :) Happy Thursday, friends!

Flubaroo New Thing! Cool Google Stuff! #flubaroo

I've used Google Forms and graded with Flubaroo many times. However, I hadn't used it in the last year due to our school adopting My Big Campus. But, My Big Campus is going away and thus, I am stuck transitioning to other things this year.

So, back to trusty Google Forms I went! Of course, you can't have multiple versions of exams or shuffle responses and stuff like that, but that's okay. My most excited moment today was realizing Flubaroo had updated some things and added AutoGrade. And the best thing? It emails students their scores as they finish! WHAT?!  I hated waiting until everyone was finished to be able to tabulate grades.

I did find a nice blog of theirs that tells about some of the updates (which apparently happened in December, oops!). It's here--> http://www.flubaroo.com/blog

Other fancy changes include setting your email as the return address, changing what your "pass" score is (defaults to 70% and highlights the kiddos that don't do that well), and one that I am sure I will use SOON, which is a new feature that came out in July called "Grade By Hand" that you can set in the grading options so you can very easily look at the questions you want to hand grade, assign a value, AND enter notes for the student that will be emailed back. I'm seriously giddy right now.

The email they get looks something like this and you can choose (as always) to have the answers sent with it if you want them to be able to study. I like to use it for quizzes prior to a "big test" in my class.

So, just sharing! I love Google Forms!

Emoji scoring scale... trying it out!

It was finally time to take a grade in Web Design class now that they've been coding a little bit. I decided to create an Emoji scoring scale for this so they can see where they rank in regards to proper coding. Here's what I came up with! Let's hope they don't hate it tomorrow when they get them back. Fortunately, lots of good grades!