Category: Classroom management

If I’m trying to get from Los Angeles, California to Minot, North Dakota, I start with a map. I build a route that includes the sights I’d like to visit, shows me the connecting roadways, and gives me a rough idea of how long it’ll take.

The same is true with teaching a class. I need a map to show how best to blend my curriculum and the school’s standards, scaffold skills on each other, and connect to all stakeholders involved. In education, that’s called a Curriculum Map.

What is a Curriculum Map?

According to Education World, a Curriculum Map is…

…a process for collecting and recording curriculum-related data that identifies core skills and content taught, processes employed, and assessments used for each subject area and grade level.

 —Education World: Virtual Workshop: Curriculum Mapping

A Curriculum Map first and foremost is a planning tool, a procedure for examining and organizing curriculum that allows educators to determine how content, skills and assessments will unfold over the course of the year. It is an in-depth view of topics teachers will instruct over the school year, their pacing, and how they blend with other subjects. In an IB school, that includes the learner profiles that are satisfied. In a Common Core school, that covers the math and literacy standards addressed. In other states, it’ll be how lesson plans meet their unique state standards.

In general terms, a Curriculum Map includes:

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AATT contributor, Krista Albrecht, has a balanced evaluation of Chromebooks in the classroom I think you’ll find useful. Krista is a NY State certified Instructional Technology Specialist working in public education on Long Island, NY.  She has over 15 years experience in the field ranging from classroom teacher to tech teacher, to Professional Developer, to 1:1 integration specialist.

Chromebooks in the Classrooms… Friend or Foe?

Chromebooks…those little computers that everyone is talking about.  Everywhere you look in education people are talking about Chromebooks, Google Apps for Education, Chrome Apps, etc.  So what’s the big deal with these things? Are they really useful in the classroom to help your students achieve greater understanding?  In my opinion, yes, but like any other piece of technology they do have their own list of pros and cons. So here’s one Instructional Technology Specialist’s (this girl, right here) attempt at laying out what I see to be the pros and cons of Chromebooks in the classroom.  Hopefully, after reading this article, you will have a better idea of how these devices fit in your educational setting.

What is this Chromebook you speak of?

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As a tech educator, it’s difficult to find a substitute teacher who is comfortable delivering my tech-infused lesson plans to students. Even if the sub is knowledgeable in the subject matter, s/he doesn’t have intimate knowledge of what this particular student group knows about software, websites, problem solving, and more, which can be scaffolded for the current lesson. Nor does she know my organic expectations of students such as the level of independence and self-direction I expect during class. When I started teaching tech, my generic sub lesson plan looked like this:

• practice keyboarding for fifteen minutes
• visit inquiry-themed websites

That was fine–don’t get me wrong; it promotes student learning while avoiding a meltdown by the teacher–but I now have better options that keep momentum going while I am away for PD or recovering from an unexpected illness. This collection of six stand-alone lesson plans are designed to complete important techie learning tasks, assess existing knowledge, or integrate technology rigor into class inquiry. They require little domain-specific knowledge on the part of the sub, asking primarily that s/he supervise activities and encourage critical thinking, problem solving, and transfer of knowledge on the part of students. Next time you need an emergency lesson plan, try one of these:

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TurboScan

Scanning app

A teacher friend is already stressed–and the year is only half over. Her school is putting together digital portfolios for every student which will include representative work monthly in each subject. That means posters, math papers, art projects, tests, summatives must be scanned into the server and filed in each student’s digital portfolio. Not so bad if there are enough scanners and computers to get it done. Which there aren’t. My friend has to wait in line, squeeze this work into breaks, or stay late or come early to try to get her portion of the work done.

One $2.99 iPad/iPHone/Android app would take care of the problem. It’s called TurboScan. Using the iPad (or Smartphone) camera, you take one-three pictures of a single- or multi-page document, tweak it so it’s the way you want it, email it to wherever you need it or save it to the camera roll and transfer it that way. Instead of hours, she’d be done in minutes.

Here’s what you do. Open the app. Select either SureScan for documents or Camera for a picture (top of next image):

Follow the directions:

After the first picture, the app prompts you to attach more pages or click ‘done’. When you’re done, the app helps you adjust it for quality, then you send it out as an text message, email:

I will say, the word ‘scan’ is somewhat misleading. The app has two options: 1) take a picture that is saved to the camera roll, or 2) take three pictures of a document and the app merges them as a mash-up. Once the image is settled, you select lightness for ease of reading and decide where to publish it. Admittedly, the result isn’t as good as my flatbed scanner, but it’s always good enough. I’ve used it for legal documents like W9s and contractual agreements (with a signature) without a problem.

How to use it in your classroom:

Even without the requirement for digital portfolios, this is a useful app for teachers. Consider how much classwork is still done with pencil and paper–tests, posters, reports, pop quizzes. Simply scan these in, store them in the student digital portfolio, and never again worry about losing them. Think of the art teacher: Scan pictures of student work directly to the computer where it’s easily accessed by any stakeholder and preserved for eternity. Kind of a digital refrigerator.

Good idea: Assign this task to students. Make it their responsibility to scan their work into their digital portfolio with the class iPad. They’ll think that’s fun while you’d see it as hours added to your day.

One change I would make: While TurboScan is easy to learn, getting an authentic-looking image takes some effort and maybe a few retakes. I’d like an auto-focus widget, similar to what cameras have because no one can hold a camera steady for more than a nanosecond.

Overall: TurboScan is a huge plus in every classroom. It turns any student work into a digital document (even audio recordings), which means it can be available online, in class blogs and websites, or emailed and texted to stakeholders.

More classroom management apps:

3 Classroom Management Apps You’ll Love

252 Favorite IPad Apps for your Classroom

5 Apps to Help You Reach Your Zen

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor/author of dozens of tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and dozens of books on how to integrate technology into education. She is webmaster for six blogs, CSG Master Teacher, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, a tech ed columnist for Examiner.com, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

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I got a lot of suggestions based on my post, What to do When the Computers Are Down in January. Here are ideas that came in from my PLN:

• Find a DVD player and get a copy of Magic Schoolbus Gets Programmed.

• Do you have Laptops or iPads. Even without internet access, if you had Laptops, they could create Documents using Microsoft Word. If you have iPads, you can use the Apps that have been downloaded.
• I know there are stories (Arthur’s Computer Disaster, The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed) that you could read to the students. Both have Videos as well. I know that Arthur’s Computer Disaster has worksheets that go along with the book. Worksheets can be found here http://www.abcteach.com/free/b/book_arthur_compdisaster_prim.pdf. I have also heard of the book The Computer Teacher from the Black Lagoon but I have never read it.
• I do not have any access to laptops.  Our school moved and our laptops were reformatted and our servers were taken apart.  The only computer I have access to is my own personal laptop 🙁
• If your school subscribes to Discovery Streaming you could record the video at home.
• If you search on the forums for no computers or no power, there are quite a few discussions about what do to in situations like this
  • Do some paper blogging – http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2010/09/learning-to-blog-using-pape…
  • Do some activities from Computer Science Unplugged – http://csunplugged.org/
• Digital Citizenship Lessons – Lots of them at Common Sense Media do not require a computer http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence

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These are clever approaches to keeping order among avid learners:

1. Bouncy Balls–balls bounce based on level of noise in the classroom
   
2. Calmness Counter–how noisy is your classroom? Let students see.
3. Class Dojo—class behavior mgmt
4. Class Badges
5. Doodle—schedule meetings, polls
6. Forms—Adobe interactive pdf, collect results
7. Google Safe Search Preferences
8. If This Then That—manage social networks
9. Open Badges
10. Password creator
11. Plagiarism Tracker
12. Random Team Generator
13. Sign-up Genius–organize volunteers, presentations, lists of all sorts
14. Tagible–organize videos from YT, Vimeo, more
15. Teach with IPads
16. Too Noisy--another app to show noise level in classroom (app)
17. Volunteer Spot–organize with free online sign-up sheets

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Let’s start by clearing up a misconception: Rigor isn’t unfriendly. Adding it to your class doesn’t mean you become boring, a techie, or overseer of a fun-free zone. In fact, done right, rigor fills your class with Wow, those epiphanies that bring a smile to student faces and a sense of well-being to their school day. Rigor provides positive experiences, is an emotional high, and engenders a pervasive sense of accomplishment students will carry for years–and use as a template for future events.

It is NOT:

• lots of homework
• lots of projects
• lots of resources
• lots of rules

When those are used to define rigor, the teacher is flailing–thinking quantity is quality. Rigor is not about adding a column of data or remembering the main characters in a Shakespeare novel. It’s seeing how that knowledge connects to life, to circumstances and to daily problems.

Simply put, adding rigor creates an environment where students are:

• expected to learn at high levels
• supported so they can learn at high levels
• cheered on as they demonstrate learning at high levels

It helps students understand how to live life using brain power as the engine. Sure, it will ask them to collect evidence and draw conclusions that may find disagreement among their peers. It will insist they defend a position or adjust it to reflect new information. And it will often move them outside their comfort zone. It will also prepare them to solve the problems they will face in the future.

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Assessments have become a critical piece to education reform. To prepare students well for college and career means they must deeply learn the material and its application to their lives and future learning.That means assessing student knowledge authentically and accountably.

This doesn’t stop with quizzes, tests, and memorizing facts. Those approaches may be prescriptive, but they don’t measure results in a way that leverages learning. Good assessments should verify:

• that students have unpacked a lesson and applied it rigorously
• that students have connected lessons to other learning and applied it to their lives
• that students take responsibility for their learning by embracing deep learning
• that students think creatively with their new information
• that lessons are scalable and dependent upon each child’s learning style
• that students are stakeholders in this effort, not passive consumers

A well-formed assessment achieves these six characteristics constructively. It’s not always measured by a grade, as is common in summative assessments. Sometimes it derives evidence of learning from anecdotal observation, watching students apply prior learning, working in groups, or participating in classroom discussions.

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There’s a secret to teaching kids how to use technology. It’s called ‘delegate’. I don’t mean sluff off the teaching to aides or parents. I’m referring to the importance of empowering students to be their own problem-solvers. Encourage them to be risk-takers and then expect it of them. Here are seven ways to make this happen:

Let students know technology isn’t difficult

OK. I see the disbelief in your eyes, but it’s true. Take it from someone who’s taught thousands of students over a span of fifteen years: Computers are only hard to learn if kids are told they’re hard to learn. They might hear this white lie from parents or friends, but once they cross the threshold of your classroom, tell them the truth. Compare keyboarding to piano–a skill lots of kids feel good about–or another one that relates to your particular group. Anything worth being proud of takes practice. Remove the fear. Make sure skills are age-appropriate with proper scaffolding. Listen to students’ suggestions that achieve your goals in a different way. Don’t put a time table on learning–let students learn at their own pace.

To some students, ‘difficult’ is ‘bad’. This isn’t true. In fact, Merriam Webster defines ‘difficult’ as:

‘Needing much effort or skill to accomplish’

That includes online games, soccer, a musical instrument, reading a good book. If technology is difficult, it’s in good company.

Teach students how to do the twenty tech problems they’ll face half the time

There are twenty to twenty-five problems that make up seventy percent of a students’ down time in technology. These include issues like the monitor doesn’t work, the computer doesn’t work, passwords didn’t work, a webtool wouldn’t work, and a program froze. Expect students to know solutions to these common problems.

Where do you get this list? Ask students, other teachers, the librarian, and parents what problems children face that stop them from completing tech assignments. Skip problems like, ‘I ran out of paper so I couldn’t print’. Collate these into a list on the classroom wall and let students see it every day. It may look something like this:

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Has this happened to you? You spend hours rewriting an old lesson plan, incorporating rich, adventurous tools available on the internet. You test it the evening before, several times, just to be sure. It’s a fun lesson with lots of activities and meandering paths students undoubtedly will adore. And it’s student-centered, self-paced. Technology enables it to differentiate authentically for the diverse group of learners that walk across your threshold daily.

Everyone who previewed it is wowed. You are ready.

Until the day of, the technology that is its foundation fails. Hours of preparation wasted because no one could get far enough to learn a d*** thing. You blame yourself–why didn’t you stick with what you’d always done?  Now, everyone is disappointed.

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