Yesterday we talked about setting up your digital classroom. Today we will discuss something else all teachers should do to prepare for next school year:
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You can explore a new technology tool.

So if you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a super techie. I LOVE trying out new technology tools and playing with new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. However, I fought trying new things during my 6 weeks of distance learning instruction. Our time with distance learning was so short that by the time the student and I adjusted and were ready to try new tech tools, our time was about up.

However, I did try one new tool during the last week of instruction. I started using Whiteboard.fi with my class while I was doing "live lesson" Google Meets.  As soon as I started using it, I wished I had been using it the whole time. It was such a beneficial tool during our Google Meet classes because I could see what each kiddo was doing and knew who was stuck and who was ready to move on. I could create a template and send it to all of my students. I could actually feel like I was teaching instead of just talking at my kiddos.

Of course, as soon as I started playing with this new technology tool, I thought of ways to use this in a brick and mortar school. Students could have an assignment pushed to them that they could work on as they rotate through a computer center. Then we could look at everyone's work all together. It could be used in small groups to save paper and practice computer skills. In a one to one device situation students could work out math problems, circle parts of words or even draw visualization pictures of a read aloud. Then we can review whole group and be able to see each and every students' thinking.​

Learning Technology Tools Takes Time

So why did I start using this technology tool so late into the process? Because I was overwhelmed with trying to learn how to use these other technology tools. Each new tool that we use has to be learned, played with and tried out. What better time to explore and find new technology tools than when we are staying at home trying to prepare for next year. If we end up back in our classrooms next year, then we will have great new tools for presentation, extension and technology integration. If we end up doing distance learning, we will have some new important ways to teach from far away. Either way, it's a win/win!
Looking for some technology tools to check out? I suggest checking out these blog posts:
Top Tech Tools for Teachers
Technology Infused Math Lessons
Creating Collaborative Slide Shows
Using Voice Recording Software

You also might want to check out these specific tech tools:  
Whiteboard.fi
Prezi
Powtoon
Classroom Screen
PearDeck
Near Pod
Smart Learning Suite.

FREE Resources for Your Classroom

As you take some time to explore new tech tools this summer, here are some free resources which may help you out:

Earth Day Video Creation Project -  This video creation project guides you and your students through the creation of a video about the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Online Book Report - This resource helps students create a digital book report about any book that they have read.

June Digital Learning Resource Bundle Giveaway

Now time for our giveaway!!! With today's giveaway entry form, you will be entering to win my 5th Grade Internet Scavenger Hunt Bundle. This bundle includes: 8 different internet scavenger hunts. Each scavenger hunt comes with 4 different formats: .doc format that allows students to type on them, a .pdf that allows students to click the links, a QR code version that allows students to scan QR codes and a Google Classroom version that includes a Google Doc and a Google Form. Enter to win this Internet Scavenger Hunt Bundle, by completing the June Giveaway Entry Form #2.  

All winners will be chosen on July 1st.  Winners will receive the bundle directly to the provided email. All those who enter will also receive my monthly Raki's Rad Resources News Releases.
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Interested in more tips on how to prepare for the unpreparable 2020/2021 school year? Come back tomorrow for tip #3!

Missed a day? This blog post contains the entire list of 10 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Next School Year.

Today we will begin with the first thing all teachers should do to prepare for next school year:

You can prepare a digital classroom.

My current school uses Google Classroom for our digital classrooms. However, digital classrooms can also be created using Edmodo, Schoology, Seesaw, Otus, Kiddom, Canvas, and many other platforms. Technically, you could build a digital classroom out of any website with forums, if you had enough coding experience. Personally, I like using a program like Google Classroom or Edmodo, where someone else has done the heavy lifting and all I have to do is create assignments.

The essence of a digital classroom is that it provides you with an online place to: give students access to website links, videos, digital documents, etc. Then the students have a place to complete assignments, ask and answer questions and post what they have completed. This can look very different from class to to class depending on the age of the students and the subject area(s) being studied. Personally, I spend time each year organizing my digital classroom similarly to how I organize my bricks and mortar classroom. In my Google Classroom, I create "topics" with each subject area so that kiddos can go and find everything they need for that topic. To me this is the same as putting all of the math manipulatives in one cabinet and the ELA materials in another. It helps me, AND THE KIDS, know where to get the learning materials needed.

Digital Classrooms work in Traditional Classrooms Too

Digital classrooms are not only helpful when you are doing distance learning. Having a digital classroom when you are in a brick and mortar school gives you a way to give students website links, videos and activities in an organized and easy to access way.  This is much easier than having students type in links, often incorrectly, wasting learning time with technology issues. Within the classroom, students can use the digital classroom when they are at a computer center, in the computer lab, or any other time they are working on a device (Chromebook, iPad, laptop, etc.) in your classroom. 

Digital classrooms also allow students to continue working on these assignments at home, which is a good feature for distance learning, but is also helpful when we are in a brick and mortar school and students want or need extension and remediation activities at home. I have used digital classrooms to post videos that help students through homework assignments and family projects. I have used digital classroom to help students remember links and passwords to websites we use in class - like Zearn, Freckle, Duolingo, etc. My students also have access to all of the videos we use in class (skip counting videos, background knowledge videos, teaching videos etc.) at home. So if they miss a day or they need to review what we did, they have access to everything everywhere.
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If we are back to "normal" come fall, having a digital classroom will be beneficial. If we are doing "distance learning" or any kind of "hybrid learning" situation, having a digital classroom will be a necessity.  So basically, working on a digital classroom will be a win/win activity for all teachers to work on this summer.

At each school I have taught at there has been a need to use interventions with certain students, and to track the effectiveness of these interventions using data. This intervention process often has a different name depending on where you teach. The two most common that I have come across are: Response to Intervention (RTI) and Student Assistance Team (SAT). However, I've also seen it called (SST) Student Support Team, and even (Triple I) Immediate Intensive Intervention. Whatever it's called at your school, it means finding interventions that will close gaps for students to give them the best chance at success. And whatever you call it, in order to do it successfully, you must have a way of knowing if what you're doing is helping our students. This means you have to collect data.

Unfortunately, this often means more class time needed to collect that data, which we don't always have. So this year I have worked hard on using technology to help me collect some of that data. Saves class time, and teacher sanity! Here are the tech tools I've used:

1.) Google Forms - Using Google Forms is a great way to create a simple, pinpointed quiz for any topic that your students are struggling with. For reading, this could be a comprehension quiz. For phonics, you could insert a picture and ask students to choose the correctly written word. For math, it could be a few questions on a specific topic. 

Any multiple choice questions assigned through Google Forms will be graded for you, with only open ended questions left for you to grade. You also have the choice of students taking the quiz once, or multiple times. You can release the "correct answers" to your students, or choose not to.  You can assign the test to one student or to your whole class. The options are so limitless!

For intervention students, I use Google Forms in 2 ways. First, I pull data from the weekly quizzes I give to all of my students in order to see if my kiddos are applying what they're learning in small group with me to their "mainstream" activities. Secondly, I have a few quizzes for common skills that I give only to my students working on those skills. I make a copy just for them and have them take the same quiz multiple times (every 2 weeks for so) so that I can track how they are achieving on that specific skill. 

2.) XtraMath - Basic math fact fluency is often one of my student's intervention goals. Increasing understanding of how numbers go together and increasing speed of retrieving facts are also both vital for students working on more complex math standards - like problem solving. Working on math fact fluency in small group is easy, right? You work on patterns, songs, flash cards, games, etc. However, collecting the data can be more complex. 
For a long time, I used my Math Fact Quizzes because I could easily have students date them and use them to keep track of fact fluency data. However, we are now restricted on the number of copies we can make because administration wants us using our Chromebooks to their full capacity. So now I use the website XtraMath. Students work on it for 10 - 15 minutes a day and I get a full report of what problems they attempted, what problems they mastered and what problems they maintained. 

3.) Flipgrid - We all know that the best way to assess knowledge of a subject is to sit one on one with each child. However, time rarely allows for that in the classroom. Instead, I use the website Flipgrid for students to create videos on themselves discussing their thinking.

Math problem solving is a common skill I work on during intervention time. Obviously math word problems is your go-to assessment for if they are able to solve the problem correctly. However, to truly understand how my kiddos are getting to their answers, I need them to explain their thinking. So, I have my students record their thinking into Flipgrid and use those videos to assess their understanding and determine where I need to intervene.

Additionally, reading fluency is super easy to assess using Flipgrid because you can set the timer to create a 1 minute video. Students read their set passage for 1 minute, close the computer and move on. You can then go back and watch the videos, count the words and really get a picture of their fluency. In addition, you can play those videos for parents during their SAT meeting. How much more powerful is a video of their kiddo reading than you telling them "She currently reads 35 words per minute."

Collecting data on students is not my favorite part of the job, but these tech tools have made it so much more manageable. This type of data collection has also made the focus truly on getting better interventions, instead of just on having data to put on forms for meetings. Since our focus should be on kids instead of data, I'd say that is a win, win!

It's happened! A Chromebook cart with a device for each and every student is now housed in my classroom! I'm so excited. I imagine all of the possibilities now that I have chromebooks for my students. It's better than a whole box of classroom supplies, because these little devices can connect us to so many options!
Then I think about how I'm going to manage 22 devices and 22 students. What if they break it? What if they go looking where they're not supposed to? What if, what if, what if...... Instead of thinking about what ifs, I used these chromebook classroom management strategies to keep us on track, and it's made for a great school year so far!

Chromebook Classroom Management

1.) Set up expectations and be prepared to repeat

At the beginning of the school year, I teach students how I expect them to use a notebook, how I want them to sharpen their pencil and how I want them to line up. It's obvious that I would also need to teach them how to use their Chromebooks.

The students rolled their eyes at me as I taught them where the power button was and how to plug in their headphones. But a few of them needed those instructions, and they weren't about to speak up and tell me that they didn't know. I also taught them how to hold the Chromebooks (screen closed, two hands, hugged to body) and how to plug their Chromebook only into the plug next to their number in our cart.

Each classroom's expectations will be different. This is what the expectations look like in my 3rd grade classroom:

2.) Develop procedures for dealing with food and water
Before Chromebooks I encouraged my students to have water bottles at their desks and to eat their snack while working. However, I have no desire to be the person who has to go to my edtech and explain that a Chromebook isn't working because a student spilled water all over it. So as soon as the Chromebooks arrived all water bottles were delegated to the students' supply caddies. Snack is now something that is eaten only when we are NOT at our desks, generally during silent reading or other non-technology reading centers.. And of course we talked about both of these changes and why they were happening. Now my students are the first to remind me if we have food or water near the Chromebooks.

3.) Set up your furniture where you can see MOST screens
I hate rows! Let me say that again, I hate having my desks in rows. They move constantly so that they're not a row and the kids have limited access to the students around them, which hampers those good educational discussions. (Yes, I'm a teacher who likes when my kids talk - mostly!) However, we started the year with rows simply so the kiddos know that I can sit at my table in the back teaching small group and see exactly what everyone is doing on their Chromebooks.
As time has passed, we've fiddled with the arrangement and now we have U shaped desks with the desks facing away from me belonging to my most trusted students. I still get up and move around as much as I can, but if I can't teach small group while students are on the Chromebook, then they are kind of pointless.

4.) Train your tech support helpers
One of my favorite classroom jobs is that of "tech support". These are the students whose job it is to go and help others who get stuck using their technology. In past years I had 2 students for the entire class. This year, each group has their own tech support. The students choose their own roles, and I approve them. So the kids with the most actual technology knowledge end up in this role. 
One of the reason that I love having tech support is that they solve 90% of the questions that come up. Another reason is that when we are changing something small in our routine, I train only these 4 students. Then they are able to help their group. Now if we are starting a whole new website or program, I train the whole class. But if I moved the location of a link in Google Classroom, then I just show my tech supports and they pass on the news.

5.) Set up bookmark bars
The first technology skill I taught my students, after logging in, was how to bookmark websites. Then we bookmarked all of the sites we use regularly - Khan Academy, Pearson, Math Magician, Google Classroom, Flipgrid, Storybird, etc. This way they can easily get to their websites WITHOUT retyping it incorrectly nine times. Saves time, saves frustration, and saves a teacher's sanity!

6.) Practice accessing challenging sites
Even with bookmarks, there are certain sites that take a thousand clicks in order to access what you're looking for. The website where we access our curriculum in e-book is like this. It takes, no lie, 9 clicks for my kiddos to get to their books. This takes a lot of practice for students to remember those clicks.
On the first day that we had our Chromebooks, I had took them through all 9 clicks. Then I had them close it all out and do it from scratch. And then I had them repeat the steps 4 more times. The kiddos were not happy with me by that fifth time, but they could all get through the steps on their own. We talked about the importance of practice. Then, we did it again. Now they know that every time we start a new, challenging website, we're going to practice a bunch of times.

7.) Have students log in as soon as they arrive
One of the biggest complaints I hear from my fellow teachers is how much of their lesson time they lose by waiting for kiddos to log into the system. I bypassed this by making logging in one of the steps of their morning routine. They come in, unpack, move their name on the attendance board, grab their Chromebook, log in, and place it in the corner of their desk. Then they go about their morning work routine. 
At first it felt odd for them to have their Chromebooks out if they weren't working on them, but now they know we'll get to them later. And it's much easier to say "jump on this site real quick" if they already have their Chromebooks ready to just be opened and accessed.

8.) Practice a "safe store" situation
Even though we have Chromebooks, the students are not working on them every minute of the day. However, I do not like wasted time in my instructional day, which means that I don't want kids to get their Chromebooks, put them away, and then get them out again. So, once my students get their Chromebooks in the morning, they keep them on their desk for the rest of the day.
In order to have our Chromebooks out all day, we must talk about storing them safely. For my classroom, this means that the Chromebook goes in the upper right corner of your desk, turned to the right. They are closed, and nothing is allowed to be on top of them - not even your arm. This helps students practice protecting the screens of their Chromebooks, by not pressing on the tops. It also gives them plenty of room for other work.

9.) Don't use them just to use them
Just like every other tool we have in our arsenal, chromebooks should be used with a purpose. They should be used to make our lives or our students' lives better, easier and more rewarding. They should not be used just  because we have a new toy.

The ways that I have found to use my chromebooks that help enhance my curriculum are:
 - having paperless assignments using Google forms and websites like Khan Academy and Math Magician that reduce the amount of grading I have to do. This also gives the students more instant feedback on many assignments.

 - using the Chrome extension Snap and Read to allow my struggling readers to have assignments read to them. We've also used audio books on our reading program and voice recognition typing, so that our assignments are more accessible for struggling students. This means they can keep up better and avoid trigger behaviors like frustration.

 - giving my students access to Genius projects, Storybird and Code.org during our intervention block. This engages my students actively, allowing me to pull small groups more successfully.

 - posting video clips directly into Google Classroom instead of showing the video whole group. This allows students who might be out of the room for speech or gifted to not miss out on the video. Also, students listening on their own individual device with their own headphones tend to pay attention better than when they are watching on the big screen, sitting next to their friends.
 
 - using direct links to activities that I want students to participate in, rather than general links to a website. This has been great for specific math games, but it has also been great for guided research, like in my Internet Scavenger Hunts.

10.) Be prepared for things to go wrong
I have a lovely new teacher on my team who told me she doesn't want anything to go wrong. I don't think I helped her when I said "Don't worry, they will." But, I spoke the truth. Things are going to go wrong. Computers will break. Logins won't work. Internet goes down. You mess up the way you assign an activity in Google Classroom (or forget to assign it at all). Just like everything else we do in the classroom things will go wrong. That's okay.
We need to be prepared to do our lesson in a completely different way, or to say "You know what guys, we'll try this again tomorrow." I often talk to my kiddos about what our plan was, how the plan is now going to change because of a technology failure, and what my thinking was behind the change. This helps our students to know that we need to have flexibility when dealing with technology. It also builds real life problem solving skills, which is something our kiddos need the most! 

A few weeks ago, a teacher friend of mine shared a technology question on Facebook. She asked "Is it still important for us to teach touch typing in computer class?" She tagged me and a few other friends who are kind of "techy teachers", and the discussion that followed was interesting.

The majority of teacher said, "Yes learning touch typing benefits students." However, the overwhelming majority also said "No, it should not be ALL you learn in a computer class." So I got to thinking about it and realized that touch typing is to technology skills in the same way that handwriting is to creative writing. Important, but not the MOST important.

How is Touch Typing Similar to Handwriting?
Teaching touch typing basics helps students to use a computer more effectively. If students know where the keys are, they can type in anything faster and clearer - whether it's an essay or just their search criteria for YouTube. 
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Having clear and legible handwriting allows students to write a story more effectively. Not only can students proofread their own work better if their writing is clear, but they can receive help from others better. Also, when students are NOT publishing their work on technology (And let's remember student writing only began being published on computer in the 90's.), their neat handwriting allows them to get their ideas out to other people.

Why Do We Need To Teach the Basics?
I often hear "Is it really important to TEACH these touch typing skills? Won't students just pick them up?" Yes, my father can type on a keyboard in that hunt and peck fashion and he can get by. Yes, a students can often look at a letter and draw a similar one on their paper, even if they loop around the circle 3 times before giving the a a tail. Yes the basics can be picked up without direct instruction. But when they are picked up this way, students:

1. teach themselves ineffective strategies (hunting and pecking, incorrect hand grips, etc.)
2. get set in their ways of doing things and have a harder time re-learning the more effective ways 

So it IS important for us to teach students touch typing basics, just like it is important for us to do some handwriting practice. If you're not sure where to start with touch typing - this blog post on Keyboarding Websites will give you some ideas.

What's happening in your classroom? Do you teach typing skills? Do you teach handwriting? If you're not teaching these basic skills, why not? I'd love to hear what's going on in classrooms around the world, so please leave us a comment.
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​Happy Teaching!

My school district sponsored a fantastic technology conference this summer with ideas on technology for teachers and students. I was lucky enough to present at this conference, and you can find a video of my presentation in this past blog post. In addition to being able to share information about using technology in math instruction with other teachers, I was able to attend all of the other sessions. The amount I learned from the other teachers was tremendous. So today I'd like to pay that forward and share some of what I learned with you guys.

​Here are 10 different tech tools that I'd never heard of before this conference. ​

2.) Adobe Spark - Getting students to work on graphic design is always a great way to add to research presentations because it increases engagement and exposes students to methodologies that they can use as grown ups.  With Adobe Spark, students get to use graphic design to create webpages, images (think pinterest infographics), flyers, photo collages or narrated videos. It's almost like Publisher online! I'm going to have my students start out the year by creating a picture collage about themselves WITHOUT using any pictures of themselves.  How could you integrate this?

3.) DeckToys - The big trend at my school for the one-to-one classrooms is hyperdocs. If you haven't checked out hyperdocs yet, they're worth a look and I'll have a blog post coming up shortly that addresses just them. However, at the conference we learned about a took that takes hyperdocs to the next level (and beyond), if you have the time to make them. In a hyperdoc, students use a document with embeded links to guide them through a lesson or a unit (similar to a webquest). With DeckToys, the students do all of the same things, but it feels to the students like they're playing a video game.
From the student side, they see a map with tasks that they have to complete in order to move on to the next task. As a teacher, you can embed videos, create drag and drop games, flash cards and questions as the tasks. It's a fairly straightforward system. I created a game for our first story in a couple of hours. While I probably won't use a DeckToys for every lesson, it's definitely something I want to include in my students' learning. I'd also love to turn the tables and get my kiddos creating their own games for each other!

4.) Scratch and Starlogo Nova - Coding! There are so many ways to work on coding with students, but these two sites were presented at the conference. Both allow students to use "puzzle pieces" to create code for a small avatar. This visual model guides students through boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and If....then statements. If only as an "early finisher" activity, these are great sites and every class should get a chance to experience them!

5.) Wordsmyth - Unlike the other websites on this list, this website was not the focus of an entire session. It was one of those websites that came up in conversation, but it's awesome. Wordsmyth is a great online dictionary that includes 3 levels of definition for each word, synonyms, pictures, pronunciation and word parts. I completely plan on using this website within my vocabulary instruction this year!

6.) Quizlet - With this website you can create and share flash card sets with your students. These can be vocabulary words or any other matching activity. Students can practice the flash card set in multiple ways including matching, typing, playing games and even taking a quiz. It's a great way to introduce students to a new topic or to review before a test. Students can even take a turn creating their own quizlets!

7.) Google Keep - This is one of those tools that will truly change the way you organize your time. I have started using it at home, and it's incredibly helpful! But the truth is it's just a virtual form of post it notes. It's funny how the simple ones are always the game changers, right? 
Within Google Keep, you (and your students) can create and share to-do lists or take notes. You can also save specific websites and documents as links into these online post it notes. And you can color code different categories or subject areas.
In the classroom, this means students can take notes on a research topic and share it with their group mates. It means they can create a group to-do list and each check off tasks that get done. It also means YOU can make personalized or group lists and share them with your students. You can then see their progress through the list.
Outside of the classroom, you can create and share lists with your PLC or grade level team. You can use different colors to quickly see school checklists next to at home checklists. I even use it for my grocery list! (It's so satisfying to see items I've purchased disappear from my list!)

8.) Stop Motion Animator - Stop Motion Animator is not actually new to me, but I've only used it on a tablet in the past. I had no idea that there was a Google Chrome Extension that would give you access to the program - as long as your computer has a camera. The presenter who showed us Stop Motion Animator was actually using it with PreK students and the results were amazing. The students used stuffed animals and their Chromebook to create a video re-telling of a story they had read. It was simple to do. They worked in groups, and they showed real understanding of the story. If PreK students can do that, I can't wait to see what my 3rd graders can do when I set them lose on it.

9.) Snap & Read - Another Chromebook Extension that will change the lives of your students, especially your struggling readers. This extension allows your students to have any website or PDF read to them. Read that sentence again - an extension that will read aloud to your students ANY WEBSITE, ANY PDF, ANY DOCUMENT. It also has a feature which will simplify texts, define terms and translate texts into languages. 
Think about how much easier it will be for a student with dyslexia if they can have their exit tickets given to them in PDF format and then have this extension read it to them, as many times as they like. They can do research just like the rest of the class and they won't feel like they're different.  Honestly this is the tool I got the most excited about because I had 4 students this year who could have benefited greatly from this tool. 

10.) Co-Writer - This Chromebook Extension is the opposite of Snap and Read. Instead of reading for your struggling students, it will write for them. Students speak into a microphone and the program writes out the sentences they say. It will read it back to them and allow them to change their spelling and grammar as needed. But the idea is that students can go ahead and write out their essay without stressing out over every single word. 

I know this is a long, somewhat overwhelming list. It's a whole conference full of materials! But please bookmark it so that as the school year begins you can revisit the list and see which of these tech tools will best help your students. Also, feel free to share it with your PLC or teaching team. The more we learn from each other the better we all do for our students!