Prioritized Makerspace Wish List

So much of this week was discussion of the idea that a makerspace isn't about the stuff that's in it, but instead it's about the work, facilitation, and ideas that develop in the space. That being said, I've found quite a few items through my work this week that would really help with workflow, organization, and productivity in the space.

1. Industrial kitchen storage rack for projects in progress
2. Cafeteria trays for smaller works in progress
3. Aluminum pans for larger works in progress
4. Pegboard and accessories
5. Power strips
6. Laser printer - Although with this one, I'm debating if it's worth waiting until the one with the built in ventilation system is worth waiting for (Glowforge is set to release it in November)
7. Some more flexible seating options - perhaps bar height counter big enough for a chromebook on knee wall and some stools
8. Shelves with tubs or some other type of "material" storage for cardboard, wood, other recyclables
9. Chibitronics sets

I'm at a point where we kept hearing over and over that it's not about the stuff, and I just kept thinking back to all the research and discussion and work we put into thinking about the makerspace this past school year. I'm in a place right now where I just want to jump in, organize what we have, and get to a point where we have a designated space to start with. This week reminded me and pushed me to be ok with not having all the great things I imagine there can be. It's a work in progress and will always be a work in progress. 

That being said, my goal is to get it set up to feel like a different space than it did last year so that we can hold a "grand opening" on the first day of school during student orientation. Hoping I can get others on board with this idea and encourage them to pull different things into their projects. Also going to start looking for available grants and funding to keep adding to meet some current needs, but also bring in some new tools I learned about this week that I think have great potential to impact students projects, student interest, and student learning. 

Here are some pictures of the MILL at the IU School of Education to serve as a reminder and inspiration. 

Maker Bootcamp: Takeaways for Student Orientation

So I don't feel ready yet to reflect on my work today as it still feels a bit scattered and incomplete. I do however want to latch on and spend a few minutes expressing my excitement of two, small maker projects that I definitely want to make happen during the first three days of school and student orientation.

I think both ideas fit our "Community" theme very nicely and they're a small, sweet introduction to the maker movement. They both encourage creativity but also help students make connections with each other, reconnect as a school community, and even make some connections with facilitators and those outside our building.

RULES BASED ART PROJECT

I think this one is so cool and really simple to setup ahead of time. It is also something that could

potentially remain on display for a good portion of the school year. The rules are fairly simple. Pick a shape from the sheet of pre-cut vinyl shapes and connect it to an existing line. That's it. You can take the line any direction you'd like. The line can cross over itself, backtrack, go up or down, as long as you're connecting your piece with a piece someone previously connected. I think there is some great debriefing that could go on with this activity and it could be done in individual advisory houses OR as an entire school. Right now I think I'm leaning towards doing this one as an entire school with a brief reflection in advisory houses if that fits into the orientation schedule during lunch.

This project seems to stem from a style of art called "Generative Art" or "Rules-Based Art". I really think there is something to be said about the idea of choosing a piece that speaks to you, allowing some individuality and choice in color and shape, while also giving you the parameters of connecting and collaborating with others in the community in order to make something interesting, beautiful and ever changing. Can't wait to see how ours turns out at orientation. Here are a few more photos of the process of creating the one from our Pathfinders MEC Bootcamp group.

MAKING CONNECTIONS "NEURON MAP" 

So this one came up in the Advanced Assessment Session elective today. Again, I think it is a perfect fit for the "Community" theme of orientation, but this one is also something that we could keep building on throughout the school year, especially if we set it up right from the beginning. I really want to talk this one out with some other facilitators to try to figure out how we can do it on something more permanent like wood, nails, and yarn rather than something temporary like poster paper, stickers, and markers. I think either material would work, but I really like the idea of it being able to withstand the test of time throughout the year and serve as a continuous art piece that is visible to students, visitors, and community members. 

So the way I'm thinking it could work is this: 

1. In advisory houses, students are given something with their name pre-printed on it (I'm thinking labels). Each advisory house has a piece of wood, maybe 18" x 18". They find a place for their name and stick it on the board (and maybe a little decor with markers or something to personalize it). 
2. Students then pound a small picture hanging nail into a spot on top of their label. Anywhere is fine as long as it is clear that it's associated with their name
3. Then they take a colored piece of string and make a connection with someone else in the class (friendship, advisory house members, siblings, coworkers, etc.) 
4. Next, in advisory house they're encouraged to make ONE new connection or make a connection with someone who is a "twice removed" connection or a "friend of a friend". Then they add a string.
5. Once we're finished in advisory houses, I'd love to have them hung up somewhere (hallway, commons, etc) so that students can then go out and make a connection with someone outside of their advisory house
6. I would also love to give all of our community members coming in for orientation as well as our community service sites a sticker and nail on other boards. As students connect with community members though sessions and service, they can add a string. 

I really love the idea of students not only recognizing the connections they have in our building, but also recognizing the importance of making new connections and connecting with community members and organizations. I think it is also a great way for us to welcome community members who come in to work with our students and recognize that they are now intertwined as a permanent part of our community. 

Prototype Project & Process Reflection [Frustration]

I'm crazy frustrated with things right now. I need to get a reflection out there so that I can remember three months from now when my students are ticked off and frustrated with me what this really felt like.

 Yesterday I was overwhelmed, but hopeful. Today I am frustrated with what we're being asked to do. I love jumping in and applying what we've learned as much as the next person; however, I feel like the WHY for our current task is unclear or even misdirected. I understand the goal is to encourage us to make and think about how to bring the maker mindset into our classroom, but some of the parameters of how and why we're doing that are conflicting with my values.

My first elective I did today had to do Visible Thinking Routines (which was amazing by the way), so I thought maybe I'd try that to try to dig into why I'm so frustrated with this current Prototype Project right now.

Initially I was thinking my frustration was with my group members, and while I think that's a barrier I don't think that is the source. Then I was thinking that my frustration was because I wasn't working in my content area, but that can't be it because the PBL Chopped Competition we did for NTAC was rooted in the idea of thinking outside the box and crossing content areas. I think some of the issues come from my being a "North" on the compass points, meaning I want to jump in and get things done the most efficient way possible, and with the short timeline we're on it's adding pressure to develop something solid in a short amount of time. I'm struggling with the way my group members are wandering in a lot of directions that seem incohesive right now, and I fear that we don't have the time to bring everything back together before the gallery walk tonight. 

Lastly, I think my biggest frustration, and the stem of it all really, comes from the very last entry in the care column. I want what I create to be useful. What my current group is creating is interesting, but not super usefull to me immediately upon my return to school. Also, I'm not sold that the final audience (high school camp students), is willing or useful to our goals. Why not pitch to each other for a CFG  or TUning Protocol? I just keep thinking the high school students are going to be EXHAUSTED, not invested, and just saying "Oh, that's a cool thing you made - cool story bro!". Then they're going to go on their merry way, and I'm not going to have anything productive or useful to implement in my school. 

p.s. What do you think of the cool makerspace logo I created this morning? #winoftheday

Designing the Space & Digital Fabrication

Today is Core Block 3: Digital Fabrication and Core Block 4: Digital Design Lab. We also had a lecture at the beginning of the day that included a panel of facilitators talking about their own makerspaces, which was awesome! That is where I'm thinking I want to spend some of my time today - developing layout, storage, and agreements for the space. I also want to develop some kind of curriculum piece that we can implemented during orientation or I can implement during one of my early projects. For example, the implemeneted a sticker task after the opening session today where we have to take a random sheet of vinyl stickers and apply them to a glass window on the lab. We have to...

1. Pick a random shape from our sticker set
2. Join the individual shape to the existing ones until we create a continuous line across windows

I love this idea, and I think I'm going to try to figure out how to implement this as a part of orientation in August because I think it fits really well with our community theme and can serve as a cool art piece for the rest of the year.

.....................

CORE BLOCK 3: DIGITAL FABRICATION

This session was pretty interesting, but a bit overwhelming with the number of steps I would have to take students through. Although, I think the concept of having students hand draw pieces (or even design them in Google Drawings) in order to cut them out on the Cricut machine IS feasible as far as price and ease of use. I could see our Spanish facilitator encouraging students to use this and/or even the history teachers having students do some of this to 3D model different timelines and scenes for gallery walk displays. By using the Cricut to cut the pieces, it simplifies the number of steps we'd have to do on the laser cutter.

Through this activity, I started questioning what the Cricut can do that I haven't explored yet. I know the software is pretty limited, but this activity opened up some 3D possibilities that I hadn't thought of before. After some exploration I found this other blog post from "Hey, Let's Make Stuff" that shows the different materials that a Cricut can cut.

CORE BLOCK 4: DIGITAL DESIGN LAB

In this core block we explored our different options for designing including CNC machines, vinyl cutters, laser cutters, and 3D printers. This is the expensive stuff (mostly). Since we already have  a CNC lathe, I'd like to focus on how to make that more usable because it cannot be used in its current space because of noise and ventilation. We also have two 3D printers, but again these are going to be about relocation and that is in another colleague's wheelhouse anyway. I think a regular Cricut would meet the majority of our needs. I'm mostly interested in the laser cutter machines. I think they have a lot of potential to be useful in project design across multiple content areas for both cutting and burning wood and different types of materials. I could see multiple applications with Future Con, the combined history/humanities classes, and science. I think that the laser cutter would even connect with the Rube Goldberg machines we latched onto yesterday, which crossed multiple disciplines. My struggle right now is whether or not the initial cost of the machine ($3500 at the lowest end), plus the cost of materials is really worth it. I am also unsure at this time what programs/software are needed. I'm intrigued, but some need to knows I still have are...

1. Can we use CAD? 
2. Can we use Illustrator? 
3. What file types does it print? 
4. How does it get from my device to the machine? 
5. How precise would it need to be (because the cheaper ones aren't super precise) in order to do some of the building of gears and other functions? 

.....................

MAKECODE ROTATIONS

Makecode is very similar to Scratch but also has a handwriting ability using JavaScript. I'm interested in this, but after one session with the MicroBits, I was overwhelmed. I'm a little happy that I did not do any of the coding tracks this week because I don't know if my brain would have been able to keep up.

I actually ducked out and sat to work on reflection during the second rotation, but I'm hoping that is enough of a brain rest to jump back in to the third one with Chibitronics.

At this point, I'm extremely overwhelmed. I'm not panicking, but I'm at my limit. My brain is flooded. I feel so scattered that I just really can't even latch on to any one idea to begin to develop because my thoughts are all over the place.

I'm hoping to get some clarification on the Passion Project/Prototype thing we're supposed to do over the next few days. I'm really hoping I can do one if not two things...

1. Start laying out a document and Google Site with the basics of the makerspace
1. What do we have? 
2. How do people check things out? 
3. How can/should the space be used? 
4. Basic tutorials (written and video) for what we have
5. Resources for what we have
6. Room layout/arrangement/organization
7. Grant ideas for funding for most immediate needs
   
2. How can I use the Rube Goldberg machines as a possible final deliverable for the Dystopian Book Study portion of Future Con. I think this is a big one I want to develop because I think students would be particularly interested in it. We could incorporate a lot of basic plot information into the machines, but I also think there has to be a way to have students incorporate theme and characterization as well - maybe through an oral comm presentation piece. I also love the idea of making the students connect their machines to show how all the books are interconnected or similar somehow. 

.....................

Spent the evening enjoying Bloomington and campus. I graduated from IU in 2010 so it's awesome being able to walk around campus and go to some of my favorite food place. After dinner at Mother Bears and a 25 minute walk to Baked for fresh cookies, my mind felt fairly refreshed. My roommate and I also met up with someone else from our district as well as two people from our class. I even brainstormed ideas for my Prototype Project! Hoping tomorrow is going to feel more productive!

PD Palooza - Is it really only Monday?

It's day 6 of my Professional Development Palooza. Last week I spend five wonderfully, awesome days with my fellow facilitators. I haven't even mentally come down from that high or had the chance to quietly debrief so I'm a bit overwhelmed today. I will do a more in depth debrief on NTAC sometime this week, but overall there was a lot of learning about my fellow facilitators as collaborators, as learners, and as colleagues - especially the PBL Chopped Team.

But that's for another day.

Today is the end of my first day at the Infosys Pathfinders Maker Educator Bootcamp at Indiana University. I have been so excited about this workshop since I was accepted back in March; however, I'm mentally drained.

....

So after stepping away for a bit and coming back to my notes, I've had a few revelations.

THE PRODUCTS AREN'T THE MOST IMPORTANT PART

I found myself saying this a lot this past trimester -- PROCESS OVER PRODUCTS. One of the facilitators shared the quote, "It's not about the stuff that we make, it's the meaning we make" - Jay Silver, CEO Makey Makey. I firmly believe that students learn more throughout the process than they do with creating a perfect product, but I'd not connected this with making and the makerspace. The idea that it's not about the final product someone makes, but instead what they take away from the process (fails, struggles, inquiry, learning) is far more important.

CONTENT INTEGRATION IS KEY

I was so excited to walk away with a great variety of ideas and ways to integrate the content with the making. I've listed a few examples of what I heard today below. The "ah-ha" piece here was the fact that quite a few of the ideas have to do with storytelling.

Rube Goldberg machines (LOTS HERE) 

Math: Have a group collaborate to create a Rube Goldberg machine. You can direct what it needs to do or you can let them be creative. Set guidelines. Then, using content specific technical writing, they have to write step by step process instructions for another group (measurements, angles, etc.) When they're finished they disassemble it and trade with another group, who then has to build the same thing using only the group's directions.

Science: This would work with the ecosystem project we created for the PBL Chopped Competition. Students learning about invasive species and their effect on ecosystem's health could create a Rube Goldberg machine to show the process/effects.

Social Studies: Works great for anything chronological (Wars, Presidential Elections, etc.)

ELA: Use to follow plot lines/arcs in a story, illustrate theme, and even compare/connect multiple texts.

Found Poetry

(Blackout poems, six word memoirs, magnet poetry)

Individual - describe characters in a book, outline theme in a book, write original poetry, teach parts of speech

Collaborative - have students complete a piece individually then ask them to rotate (similar to a Chalk Talk) and add on to the previous student's work. Or you could also have groups create a piece and then tell them that they have to integrate and connect all the group's pieces together into one large class display

Memes

These are great for reflection, temperature checks, exit tickets, character profiles/traits, analyzing different perspectives in stories

WONDERS, QUESTIONS, & NEED TO KNOWS

I wonder how some of the work will be "authentic". How will students connect to a real world audience or do real world work? I think the latter is going to be easier or better connected to making that the first, although my film literature project is a prime example of a project that meets both expectations. I just wonder that if students build a Rube Goldberg machine how it will go beyond simply "a cool thing they do and turn in to the teacher". Something I want to explore further over the next few days.

FINAL THOUGHTS

At this point I'm tired and slightly frustrated. Looking over the schedule tomorrow, I'm overwhelmed with how little processing time we get. There is almost no time to reflect on what we're doing or time to really dig into next steps for our maker space, culture, processes, etc. We're making something for the "Passion Project", but I have yet to really clearly see what that is (a product? a project?) and what kind of feedback I should expect from the visiting students.

Using Google Drive to write, review, revise, repeat

Phew! I feel like I've been running a marathon for the past week and here we are back at Monday already. My students are about 1/2 way through our largest project of the trimester (it's morphed into something a bit bigger than planned because of testing interruptions and delay days), and I think it's going well. Students are in my favorite, and sometimes the most frustrating, phase of the project. The review & revision phase. I haven't posted in a week and half so I've been trying to think about how to write an update on our current project and it hit me.

Think about the process. How did we get to where we're at right now, technologically speaking. In other words, how has tech, specifically Google Drive, helped move the curriculum, collaboration, and student work along?

Here's a brief overview of the project:

• Driving Question learners will strive to answer - "How can we make America great?"
  *Disclaimer: This is in no way based on Donald Trumps campaign. It actually came out of the video we used for our Entry Event from the pilot episode of the TV show Newsroom ("America Isn't the Greatest").
• Objectives - Students will...
• Improve research skills as they enter into the initial inquiry process and research the topic of their choice
• Analyze the issue of their choice and attempt to figure out why it's an issue and what can/should be done about it based on past, present, and future facts
• Work towards understanding how to form a strong argument based on credible support
• Integrate support throughout an argument in order to persuade their audience of "Appropriate Decision Makers"?
• Review business letter format including layout and tone while considering their audience

This project was organized into three phases including research, writing/revision, and oral communication. As of today we're in the midst of the messy writing and revision phase which is both my favorite and least favorite part.

This, however is where I want to focus my post. As a part of the tech integration specialist team in my district we often hear people looking for the latest greatest websites and apps to bring into their classroom. While being innovative is all well and good, I'm constantly telling other facilitators, "Less is more". In my classroom, I will occasionally bring in a cool website or app or I'll suggest an extension to a student if I think it will be useful. However, the tech I most commonly rely on day in and day out is Google Drive.

For the writing/revision part of the project, the use of Google Drive was especially important for planning, feedback, and revision (over and over).

 

Top: Sample of a bullet outline created in Google Docs.
Bottom: Sample of a visual (flow chart) outline created
in Google Drawings. 

Planning

Students started the transition from research by creating an outline of their argument. Based off a previous reading they had to have claims/subclaims, counter claims, a proposition, and credible support. They did this one of two ways - through Google Documents in a bullet style outline or in Google Drawings through a flow chart style outline. Students were given an example of both the bullet outline and the flow chart outline to demonstrate what each looked like.

I did, however, need to clarify with students that those were meant as examples only and they weren't meant to be copied (ie-"Make a Copy" function in Google Drive). The visual outline posed an issue I didn't even think about. Students were copying the sample and then trying to make their arguments fit within that sample (2 claims, 1 counterclaim, 4 subclaims, etc.). I had to clarify the next day that they were to break from that and do what worked for their arguments (see visual outline sample 2 at the end of this post).

Writing First Draft

When, and only when, their outline had been reviewed and edited if needed, students could move on to the writing process. We talked about making sure they understood their direction before they just jumped into their writing. So often students just start typing on the keyboard and when they're done they've really said nothing, or it's just so unorganized that it seems like they've said nothing. This project also has the added difficulty of writing a letter as a group of three to four.

First drafts had to be formatted in proper block business letter format and when submitted needed to look like a full, complete letter (no more than 2 pages).

Give Feedback

At this point, I gave students feedback via Google Document's comment function. I did very little with the "suggesting" function at this point and tried to avoid simply "editing". I wanted to look for big ideas - claims, subclaims, counterclaims, and credible support. By commenting in Google Docs students were able o walk into class and get their feedback instantly, and the majority of students started discussing the feedback as a group and making revisions right away. I also LOVE that I have a history in both past comments and whether or not they accepted/rejected suggestions.

Check out the table below for different ways to give feedback in Google Docs.

Click to view the original in Google Drawings. 

Revise

Now, after they received their first round of feedback students went into revision mode. Something I like to use to track revision is the Draftback Add-On. While the revision history (Shift + Alt + Ctrl + H) is nice, Draftback provides much more data that revision history doesn't including when the students worked on the document and how long the writing session lasted. My students seem to push  themselves more when they can see that small Draftback revision number staring them in the face, and some even turn it into a competition.

Repeat

As we continue through 3-4 drafts and into the final draft, students will continue to receive feedback both from me and their peers. When we're ready for final drafts students must change the document name to "final draft", and they must resolve any comments and either accept or reject any suggestions to submit a "clean copy" of their document.

To view more samples check out the project folder in Google Drive!

YouTube Closed Captions - Uploading a Transcript

In a previous post, I talked about adding closed captions to flipped instruction videos. I said, "I will tell you that ideally you should write script before you record your video. You should do this whether or not you have to add captions, but I'm telling you it will save you a lot of headache if you have to put closed captions on your videos."

Today, I did just that.

This was not my first time writing a script, but it was my first time writing it with the intention of uploading for closed captions. It took me a few more tries when I started recording as I really like to ad lib or go off on a tangent. Having the script actually helped me stay focused on only the necessary information and kept my video short!

Here are the steps I went through before uploading to YouTube. They're very similar to what I outlined on my previous post.

1. Outline what I want learners to take away from the video
2. Write out the transcript
3. Practice a few times before recording, make adjustments to the script - KNOW what I'm going to click on and when
4. Start recording
5. Make any changes/adjustments to the transcript
   NOTE: This will be uploaded and added to the video exactly how it's written so if you change any words or add any information off the cuff, you need to add it to the transcript! 
6. Upload the video to your YouTube channel - if you used Screencastify you can simply click the "share" button a the top of the screen
7. Save the transcript as a Plain Text (.txt) file
   In Google Drive - click "Download as..."

The video below will explain the process of adding the captions to the video from your YouTube account.

Critical Reading Strategy: Central Question Diagram [With Graphic Organizer]

This trimester I'm currently teaching a class called Critical Thinking & Argumentation. The class is primarily juniors, and I knew I wanted the course to focus on research skills, critical reading skills, and written and verbal argument skills.

So far, I've discussed the critical reading strategy SQ3R on a previous post. We used that reading strategy at the very beginning of the year to read a chapter from a textbook that serves as the framework for the entire course.

The next reading strategy we used was the Central Question Diagram. I chose this strategy because it set the framework for our project up really well by introducing the students to the idea of a central question.

To introduce our week long research/argument project I chose an article about self-driving vehicles and gave students our central question, "Should research and development of autonomous cars continue?"

Students start at the top of the diagram by filling out the pros and cons with their own ideas or opinions. If students don't know a lot about the topic they may not have muh information in this section. It's OK to make assumptions here. It's not necessarily about the right answer, but about activating background knowledge and creating interest.

Next, students should read the article. I ask students to annotate as they read through the first time and set the diagram aside. Then we discuss any clarifying questions. When I prompt students to do their second read, I tell they they're searching for the pros and cons the author presents. They should list these pros and cons on the central question diagram. I allow either quoting or summarizing, but I do require proper in text citations for each pro/con entry.

For the article we read in class, students quickly realized that the author was very much against autonomous cars and the con side is quite full.

This strategy helps students analyze all sides of an issue before discussing or coming to a conclusion. You can also have students use the diagram to collect info from multiple articles on a single diagram.

Resources:

• Central Question Diagram Template
• Completed Central Question Diagram Example
• Central Question Diagram Step-by-step Video

Check out my Padlet page with other critical reading strategy resources. 

UPDATE: Boolean Search Phrases

Update 9/26 @ 1:06pm -- Just saw a student voluntarially referencing the cheat sheets we created in this workshop!! #teacherwin
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As learners are preparing to jump into the research phase of our next project, we did a workshop on Boolean Search Phrases today. Students, I think understand the big idea behind Boolean Search Phrases and why they should use them, however I think the missing piece was the fact that they don't quite understand what each operator does and why they would use each specific operator. You can read my previous post about the struggle with understanding what I've already taught here. 

Today in class I started by putting one of my research questions on the board (pictured on the right). Then, I created a set of two Boolean Search Phrases, both of which had issues.

I prompted students to take one minute to discuss the phrases with their group. Then we came together, and I asked them what was wrong with the phrases.

The first phrase needed a few adjustments, but the other phrase was not even considered Boolean Search Phrase because it had no Boolean Operators.

I stressed that I have been seeing similar phrases on the test they took last week as well as in their research notes from the last project.

We then corrected the search phrases together and talked about the following reminders:

• Eliminate any small, unnecessary words such as - in, it, as, so, the
• Search phrases MUST have Boolean Operators in them, otherwise it's just a plain phrase and you're not forcing Google to do anything special
• Use quotes carefully!! Anything in quotes means you're telling Google you want those EXACT words in that EXACT order. I also tell the learners they really don't want more than 3-4 words in quotes otherwise they're getting too specific. 
• Boolean Search phrases shouldn't be more than 5-6 words 
• A student suggested looking at the research question and eliminating small, unnecessary words. Others simply make a list of keywords to start their phrase

I also realized that a big problem students were having was that they really didn't understand what the Boolean operators actually DO. Why use AND? Why use "quotation marks"? 

To round out our workshop I asked them to pick one of their research questions, pull out the keywords, and then use operators to turn the keywords into a Boolean Search phrase. I then walked around to discuss each group's search phrase, ask questions, and clarify. 

Once they talked with me, they grabbed a piece of construction paper and listed the research question and Boolean Search Phrase.

Then, I asked them to explain WHY they chose to use the Boolean Operators the way they did. For example, if they put a phrase in quotes, they had to explain why.

I really think this was a huge point of clarification for them. If they can understand, "What are they telling Google to do by using the operators and keywords they choose?" I think they'll be more thoughtful in forming them. 

They jump into full research mode on Monday so we'll see how much of an improvement I see in search phrases.









More examples of their explanations. Now we have a ton of example Boolean Search Phrases along with research questions and explanations of each operator.

"boolean search phrases" AND students AND (confused OR perplexed) -understanding

Google searches. Most of us, including students, do Google searches on a daily basis. However, my students always complain that Google returns lot of junk or that it takes them a really long time to find the information they need, want, or can trust.

I've tried multiple times over the past year to teach students how to use Boolean Operators to create Boolean Search Phrases in order to narrow and improve their search results on Google.

They still don't seem to get it.

It's not that they're not trying. They are. They write long, wordy search phrases and seemingly randomly stick in quotations or parenthesis and sometimes an "AND". But I can tell they still don't quite grasp it.

My mission over the next week is to develop a set of workshops and class activities where we will just hammer how to create Boolean Search Phrases, what the different operators do, and how to put them together in a way that makes for more effective searches.

I'm planning to review the presentation I used previously to introduce operators and how they work, and then I'll have to come up with other activities that might help clarify the process.

If nothing else ask WHO and WHY when evaluating sources

Last week, I continued to work with students on their basic research skills. As juniors, they're mostly aware of the necessity of evaluating the trustworthiness of their sources, however most still lack the skills or motivation to do so.

My current course, Critical Thinking and Argumentation, focuses on evaluating, assessing, and creating arguments. I really wanted to focus on getting students to think about the websites they're choosing to get information from, but I didn't want it to be "yes, the website is good, or no, it's not". Instead, I wanted to focus on possible bias or ulterior motives within websites that may have quality information. It all falls back on author's purpose.

Anchor chart that I created
for my classroom that goes
over the basics of evaluating a
source using WHO and WHY!

After finding a blog post that really clarified and simplified website evaluation, I pulled an example website and planned a 15 minute workshop.

I created an anchor chart that encourages students to, if they do no other evaluation, ask two questions -- who and why?

• Who created or wrote the information? 
• Who published the information? 
• Why did they create it? (Intended audience, purpose, and ulterior motives)

Initially, students found the website to be trustworthy, and they thought it contained quality information. They felt the fact that it was a .org and a non-profit organization made the site even more trustworthy. Students also noticed the celebrity endorsement, and they felt Danica Patrck wouldn't endorse something untrustworthy. 

After I asked students for their decision and listened to their feedback we had the following conversation. Keep in mind that I'm summarizing the answers I heard from 3 different classes, so their wording may not match exactly, but I want to convey their overall thinking. 

Q1: What is the purpose of the website?

A1: To teach people about different types of insurance. To educate people about purchasing insurance and choosing insurance companies.

Q2: So they're teaching people what insurance they need out of the goodness of their heart? 

A1: (Usually) Yes. 

I then asked,

Q3: Who is the publisher? 

Screen shot from the Life Happens website
outlining who the organization is and how
they got started. 

A3: Life Happens - the non-profit organization

Q4: Who is in charge of Life Happens? 

A4: Most found the CEOs name, some found that it was started by a group of insurance companies. 

At this point, I directed the students to the About page and ask them to look at the page that says Who We Are. I gave them time to read through the paragraph and then we discus why that might make the website a bias source. If they don't catch on right away, I ask, "What do insurance companies do?" Almost all respond with, "Sell insurance".

Q5: Does the fact that this was started by insurance companies, make them bias?
A5: Most answer yes, but can't explain why. Most still truly believe the purpose of the website is to educate people on insurance options.

If they're still struggling we discuss the meaning of ulterior motives. I give them the example of doing volunteer work out of the goodness of their heart versus doing volunteer work to put it on a resume. Either way they're still doing volunteer work, but the reason behind it is different.

Then I ask,
Q6: What might be this non-profits ulterior motive? Why would they want to educate people about insurance?
Q6: To get people to buy insurance!

I also pointed out that everything on the website explain why I NEED insurance. Nowhere does it give me reasons a particular policy or type of insurance might be unnecessary.

We ended the discussion by explaining that this doesn't mean that the information on this website isn't quality. There might be an article on the site by an insurance expert that is very informative. BUT I use this to show students that you have to think about the author's/publisher's purpose. What do they want you to think/do/say as a reader? 

Students are used to the "assess your sources" conversation. It's something they hear over and over in our building, but they rarely actually do it. I think by narrowing the information they have to look for to the WHO and they WHY makes it a bit easier for students to digest and use. I actually had a colleague come up to me this week and say, "Hey, we're talking about evaluating sources and writing research questions in my Chemistry class and students said that they'd done that in your class already."

Students making cross curricular connections and realizing that sometimes the skills we teach them go beyond a single classroom or assignment.

It' a beautiful thing.

Surviving Sickness with Flipped Instruction

So sickness has hit my household hard this year! My 13-month-old daughter is in a corporate daycare
full time, and she is bringing home sicknesses I have never heard of. After two days out with my own illness she contracted hand, foot, mouth disease, which is terrible. It is also very contagious, and a week later it hit my husband and then me. So three weeks into school, and I've already been out of the classroom for five days, including one professional day for a meeting.

Needless to say it's been a rough start, however I'm happy to say I think the students are still learning something even in my absence.

I have to admit I have the concept of flipped instruction to thank for that. I've been using flipped videos in my classroom for the past few years, but only occasionally. Now, this year I've discovered how helpful they can be when I'm absent or even when students are absent!

In the wake of a new Learning Management System (LMS), new devices, and new course curriculum, AND this sickness, I've had to take advantage of the flipped instruction model more than I have in the past.

I wanted to take some time to share out the different ways I make his work in my classroom including:

• Using Screencastify (free Google Chrome extension)
• Editing in YouTube Editor
• Adding closed captions in YouTube

I won't go into great amounts of step-by-step detail because I have to take advantage of my current sick day to get some grading finished. (Teachers never truly get a sick day, right?)

Screen Recording with Screencastify

First, Screencastify is a fee extension for Google Chrome. If you haven't discovered extensions yet you need to browse the Google Chrome store and see what's available. Extensions are basically magical little buttons that get added to your Google Chrome browser for easy access. What Screencastify does is it allows you to record, up to 10 minutes, of video. It records your computer screen (single tab, multiple tabs, or entire screen) and audio with the option of also recording a video of your smiling face in the bottom right corner of your video. Check out this tutorial for step-by-step instructions on how to use this fantastic extension . 

When it comes to flipping my instruction, I've been using Screencastify to how students how to do various critical reading methods and how to use graphic organizers I've created to go along with the critical reading method. In the past I would sit in the front of the room with my computer and/or a document camera and demo how to do the reading method, however by using flipped instruction I can instead walk around the room and provide one-on-one instruction and/or clarification as needed. This allows students who understand the method faster to get right to work, and those who need a little extra instruction or prodding to access me right away rather than me sitting up front for 20 minutes for everyone. 

I've embedded one of my most recent flipped instruction videos below. 

Editing Flipped Videos with YouTube Editor

Second, I've learned to avoid hitting the stop button when I mess up recording my videos. It can be really frustrating when you get 3 minutes into your recording and someone comes over the school PA or your classroom phone rings. Take a deep breath, count to five, and start a little before where you got messed up. YouTube actually as a pretty basic editing function that can be helpful in cutting out these little bloopers and saving the edited video to your YouTube channel. Now, Screencastify's default is to save the video to your Google Drive, so obviously if you want to do some editing in YouTube's editor you'll need to first upload your first draft of the video to your YouTube channel. Don't worry, you can upload it with the "Private" setting and no one will be able to see the video with the mistakes. I usually delete the one with all the bloopers after I've finished my editing. 

Adding Closed Captions

Next, I recently had a hearing impaired student join my class and had to scramble to figure out how to add closed captions to my existing videos. I first turned to YouTube and got extremely frustrated with how their captioning worked, however I realized I was in the wrong function/setting and was making it way more difficult than it needed to be. I will tell you that ideally you should write script before you record your video. You should do this whether or not you have to add captions, but I'm telling you it will save you a lot of headache if you have to put closed captions on your videos. Here is the step-by-step document I used when I was trying to figure this out. 

When you get to the point that you have to select a method for how you want to add subtitles, you'll have three options. The first is "Upload a file", which is where having a written script that you followed while recording is helpful. The second option is "Transcribe and auto-sync", which is the method that I had to use with my first closed captioned video. It took a while to transcribe, but YouTube worked out the timing perfectly. The third option is the one that I wasted a lot of time with. Let Google do the timing for you, with option number two. It's actually more accurate than trying to do it yourself. 

My school uses our own LMS provided by New Tech Network to distribute work to students, which is how I get them my flipped videos. Once your videos are on YouTube though you can get the links to students via Google Classroom or even QR codes. If YouTube is blocked in your school, you can download the video from YouTube and place it in your Google Drive. Be aware that if you download the video, you lose your closed captions, however you can always provide the student with the original script. 

Critical Reading Strategy: SQ3R [with graphic organizer template]

A screenshot of my SQ3R notes from the Critical Thinking and 

Argumentation course. Students read an excerpt from the 

academic text, Argumentation & Critical Decision Making by Rieke.

This past week my Critical Reading and Argumentation class was a bit chaotic. I was out sick for two days (yes in the first five days of school), and had to alter my original plans for them a bit. It actually ended up working out pretty well because I was able to integrate an academic reading that I found this summer. I knew that I wanted students to read it because it laid a pretty good foundation about argument structure and gave us some good key terms to work on throughout the rest of the trimester. I hadn't, however, thought about when to use it.

Sick days and sub plans turned out to be a great opportunity.

One of my big goals this year with this course, and all my courses really, is to give the students multiple critical reading strategies that they can add to their "Reading Toolbox". I want to discuss how not all tools I teach them will fit their personal preferences or every reading they read. Students will hopefully realize that the tools we learn and practice will be helpful in their other courses as well.

So, it seemed only fitting since they would be reading an excerpt from an academic textbook that we start out with the SQ3R critical reading strategy. This is one that I learned from a co-teacher a few years back, and I always struggle to remember what the letters stand for so I knew I wanted a way to make it simple for my learners.

Survey - look over the reading and note anything that stands out or seems important (title, author, dates, headings, subheadings, photos, graphics, charts/graphs, captions, etc.

Question - turn each heading and subheading into a question using who, what, when, where, or why. Since you haven't yet read the section, you may be able to form couple questions but only answer one after reading. That's fine. 

Read - this one is obvious. Read the text. I do, however, discuss with students the fact that I cannot read straight through 12 pages of text and pay attention that long. I tell them that I like to read each section then stop and Recite or answer my question for that section. I encourage them to make stopping points for themselves, whether that's every section or every three sections.  

Recite - I mentioned this under read, but this is where students will stop and try to summarize what they read in a section in order to answer the question they wrote.  I encourage students to try to write their answer without looking back at their reading, then double check themselves. I explain that if I'm looking at the reading when I write my answer, I'm more likely to plagiarize and write an answer that is too close to the original text. 

**Note: Students may go back and forth between the Read and Recite steps multiple times. That's perfectly fine!  

Review -  This final phase may come immediately following the reading or later on. I stress to learners that when they're finished they have a great set of notes to use as review before discussion, a quiz, or a test. They now have one page to review with instead of having to re-read the entire reading. 

We're a GAFE school so I decided to make a graphic organizer template in Google Documents. Now, teachers are highly encouraged to go paperless so students typically read on their devices (Lenovo Chromebooks), which have pretty small screens. It's not logical for them to have the graphic organizer pulled up beside the reading. I encouraged them that if they wanted to print the graphic organizer and hand write their notes they could do that if it worked better for them.

After modeling how to use the graphic organizer with my first period class (I had to come in sick for the first hour of school to get sub plans together), I created a flipped instruction video for my afternoon classes.

Then, students went through and Read/annotated the reading while also going through the steps of SQ3R. In the case of this assignment, I actually had students complete the Review step with  partner and compare notes on the second day I was absent. They also used Quizlet to make flashcards for the reading's key terms.

If you have other SQ3R resources or suggestions feel free to share them in the comments section. If any of the links or templates don't work please email me!

Flipped Instruction Video - explains SQ3R and using the graphic organizer template
SQ3R Graphic Organizer Template - created in Google Documents, the link will force you to make a copy of it so the original doesn't get messed up

To check out this and other reading strategies and tools, visit my Padlet page. https://padlet.com/mamason0725/criticalreadingstrategies

What's Happened??

So what's happened since my last [November] blog post??

Some pretty big things...

1. I am now the proud mama of a one-year-old toddler (yikes!)
2. I completed my masters degree in Education and Technology (basically technology integration and curriculum design with tech in mind)
3. I signed on for another year as a technology integration specialist (one of two in my building)
4. I officially made it past the 5 year hump in teaching! (The start to year 6 has been my toughest so far...or at least it seems like it after week one.)

Sharing, evaluating all student work in Google Drive

Students in my classroom are expected to use Google Docs for all creation, Peer editing, feedback from me, as well as final submissions. This goes for all written papers and products. They're also encouraged to use Slides and Drawings for presentations and visual producs, but not required. If they have another piece of tech that works well for them and/or their group, they may choose to use it.

Learner Organization:
On day one, learners must create a folder in their "My Drive" folder. The folder must have four elements (not necessarily in this order).
    • Trimester number
    • Current calendar year
    • Student last name
    • Class Name (abbreviated if needed)
☆For example:
    Mason T2 2015 English 11A

These four elements allow me to keep their folders straight but also enable students to tell the difference in their classes from year to year. By their senior year they'll have all their work saved and organized, especially if you can get the entire department or even the entire teaching staff to enforce this.

The next, important, step is to have students share their folders with you and anyone else who might want access to their student work (ie-special ed. teachers). Follow these steps to share a folder.
1) Right click on the folder
2) Choose "Share"
3) Type in the email of the person/people they want to share it with

They can always go back and add or delete people later.

For the remainder of the course, students create project folders within this class folder. The BEST part of sharing a folder is, because they shared their class folder with me already, I'll be able to see anything created or dropped into that folder  (or folders within that folder).

Students can share project folders with their collaborative group members, just like they did with me, and group members can all work out of one folder. This eliminates the, "Sally is sick today and all our work is on her computer" excuse. Remember: stress that students should create and share a project folder, NOT their overall class folder.

Facilitator Organization:
Once students have shared their folder with me I create two sets of folders in my own Drive. I first create a folder that has the current school year+student folders (ie-2015-16 Student Folders). Then I create a folder for each class including the trimester number and course name (ie-T2 Eng 11A). Then, as students share I go into my "Shared With Me" section and I drag and drop their student folder into the appropriate class. If I have students in more than one class I require them to create a folder for each.

Once the student folders are moved, they'll update automatically. No more huge lists of documents in the "Shared With Me Section". No more digging for that students file. No more email updates that a student has shared a document with me.

So that's it. That's how I'm going attempt to stay sane as I use Google Drive for ALL 70+ students in my 4 English/Journalism courses.

Returning after maternity leave

So tomorrow is my first day back to school after a 2 1/2 month summer and 2 1/2 month maternity leave. I'm nervous to say the least. I'm know it's just like riding a bike, but I have a serious case of the back to school jitters.

As I sit here snuggling my four month old little girl, I'm thinking about how I'm going to integrate technology during my first week back. Sad but true. I figure I'm one of the technology integration specialists now, so I best set a good example.

Looking over my rough plans this week, I know we'll be using our LMS, Echo, as well as lots of Google Drive. I plan on test driving Google Classroom this trimester too, which, frankly, I'm not very excited about.

But, it'll be good to be back in the classroom with my 70 big kids, even though I'm sad to leave my little kid at home with grandma.

Ready or not, here goes nothing.

Screen Capture Extensions for Google

I just wanted to write a quick post to point out a few differences between Screencastify and SnagIt. Both are extensions for Google Chrome that allow the user to capture video and audio of what is on their computer screen.  

I was previously pretty dedicated to Screencastify because of it's simplicity and ease of use, however a colleague recently convinced me to give SnagIt a try. While creating a video for some graduate work this evening I realized a major downside to SnagIt, which was beginning to grow on me. It does not allow a use to capture the screen when a Google Document is open. I was trying to create a screen capture of a Google Document and the SnagIt bar would not pop up. As soon as I switched to a tab that just had the basic Google search page open, SnagIt cooperated.


So after bouncing back and forth I think they each have advantages and disadvantages. Here is the breakdown I've come up with based on how I use them and what is important for me and my students in the classroom.

SnagIt

• Quick, easy Chrome Extension
• Records audio and video of the screen
• Can record multiple tabs in the browser, making switching back and forth easy
• Multiple choices of what can be recorded (tabs, one tab, entire screen, desktop only, etc.)
• Automatically saves to Google Drive
• Also does screen capture images
• Cannot capture Google Drive documents, presentations, etc.

Screencastify

• Quick, easy Chrome Extension
• Records audio and video of the screen
• Can only record one tab at a time (must hit alt+shift+F if you switch) -- it really stinks when you forget this and you keep on talking forgetting viewers cannot see what you see!! 
• Can put a small webcam window with video of you speaking on the bottom
• Can choose whether or not to include the audio on the browser tab you're showing (ie-can choose to turn sound off if you have it on a presentation already but don't want to talk over it)
• Option to save to YouTube
• Automatically saves to Google Drive
• Can capture Google Drive documents, presentations, etc.