Google Classroom is a fantastic tool. Once again, I'm not going to get in to everything you can do with this awesome GAFE. I will recommend grabbing a copy of Alice Keeler's 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom if you are looking to embrace the Google Classroom cult I have fallen so in love with. I am going to focus instead though on how I have used Classroom to help my student self asses. As mentioned in my Google Doc post, we often work as a class to create rubrics for the PBL assessments I assign. However, even when students have a say in what goes in to the rubric, it is so hard to get them to refer to that rubric after the PBL has begun. Classroom solved that problem. When I create assignments in classroom that I plan on using as summative assessments, I simply attach the rubric. Each student then gets a copy of the rubric. Before they turn the assignment in, they must assess themselves on the rubric. Sometimes I ask the students to assess along their process as well. This allows them to track their own growth. Its simple; we pick a different color each day and use that to assess our own growth.
Sometimes simple is best. I have always loved jigsaws, after I had a professor that structured her class around them in college. However, at the middle level, it can be nerve racking to allow your students to teach each other in small groups. You know there are going to be gaps in their learning, but don't know how and where they will fall. As a solution to this problem, I modified jigsaws to work in my classroom, while also working to build my students communication skills and create some competition in the class. When I need my students to absorb a lot of information in a short amount of time, we do 1 slide presentations. Students are separated in to expert groups, just like a standard jigsaw. They complete their research and take notes on their topic. Then, instead of preparing to share their info in small groups, the entire expert group must create a 1 slide presentation using Google Slides to relay their information.
I have found a few benefits to this structure. For starters, students are forced to focus on the important details, as they only have 1 slide to communicate the big ideas. It also forced students to collaborate with each other. One group of 5 students works on a single slide. That process can be exhausting for the students, but they quickly learn to prioritize and manage their task. Finally, the challenge of creating 1 slide in a short amount of time (I usually only allow 15 for this entire process to happen) creates a competitive atmosphere in the classroom. Though there is no prize or winner, students race the clock and in the end are always impressed by their own efficiency and abilities. Google Docs is a fantastic tool. The most basic uses are obvious, and not worth listing when so many resources already exist (see here). However, it is worth reviewing the importance of collaboration when using Google Docs. In my own classroom we have used Docs for creating class rubrics, developing procedures for activities with everyone's input, and offering advice and answers on a common sounding board for students, among others. There are a few things to keep in mind when using Docs for collaboration however. Whether sharing the Doc with a small group, allowing an entire class to hold editing rights, or if you dare allowing your entire team or student body to work on one document, it is important to set some ground rules for your students and model responsible behavior. A few things to remember:
Originally posted on wwp1to1.blogspot.com I discovered Google My Maps on my weekly Pinterest binge, and fell in love with it. As a Social Studies teacher, I was so excited to see how my students could use it in the classroom. Our 6th grade class was entering our unit on Ancient Egypt when I introduced the tool to my classroom. I started out with a quick tutorial video. It was created by a high school teacher to guide his students through a particular project, but demonstrated the awesome tools that My Maps offers, in a student friendly manner. Before beginning our My Map assignment all students viewed the video for homework. Students began the My Map assignment by conducting research on Egyptian geography. They also explored culture and life in Egypt. After conducting research through guided materials and leveled readings, the students had a variety of information. They then identified common categories and trends with this information. Students were then presented with the following question: How did geography and climate impact life in Egypt? However, instead of using their research to construct a paragraph response, they utilized their learning to answer the question in a My Map. Their task was to answer the question using the visual map instead of the traditional paragraph. Students spent 2 days in class, then, creating their maps. They were encouraged to translate their categories from the research in to different layers on their My Map (reflecting on the organizational skills we study in writing). There were also invited to use the images and videos from their research to add more visual elements to their maps. In general their goal was to answer our research question in this new medium...and my students did an excellent job. I was so happy with the results of the My Maps, but was more excited by the discussion it allowed us to have as they worked in class. After clicking on the satellite view, students were able to see how drastically the Nile affects vegetation and thus life in Egypt. They used the measurement tools, without my prompting, to consider the distances between various ancient cities and the transportation that was necessary. And most importantly, they wanted (and at times competed) to create more connections, pins, and layers to strengthen their argument. It was fantastic to see. I can’t wait to use it from the start of September next year, where my goal is to have the students create an interactive map of all the units we study in one My Map. The possibilities with such a tool seem endless. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
August 2017
Categories |