My school uses HMH Journey's for our reading curriculum. It is divided into 30 weeks. with each week, there is an assessment that allows teachers to gain insight into what students have mastered and/or what needs more practice. One challenge is that these assessments tend to be multiple pages long. That is a lot of paper to use and a lot of time to score all of these assessments. I have only been using pieces of the assessment that I want extra data to inform my instruction. While this cuts down on the paper being used, it is still more than I would like and takes a while to score. This is where the Assist and Quick Key apps come into play. Both apps have websites that allow you to print out bubble sheets. Using these custom sheets, you are able to create an answer key. Students will use the same custom sheet to take their quiz/test. After students have finished, you simply scan your answer key and then start scanning your students' bubble sheets. The tests are instantly scored for you. This greatly reduces the amount of paper I have to use. One score sheet for each student is all I need. I display the assessment via the projector for my students to bubble in their answers. While the assessment for my reading curriculum doesn't match with bubbles that say "A," "B," "C," I am able to write those letters on the board next to the bubbles. Below is a sample of what students would see on the board. Using the displayed question above, students would color in the correct letter on the bubble sheet. Below is an example of the Assist App bubble sheet. Using the displayed question above, students would color in the correct letter on the bubble sheet. Below is an example of the Quick Key app bubble sheet. Bubble SheetsShare This:
2 Comments
Nuts and bolts Have you been invited or nominated for the Blog a Month Challenge? I just got nominated by Caitlin Conroy. I had not idea about this challenge but after reading a little about it, I think it is a great way to get out of your comfort zone and be held accountable for blogging once a month. Here's what to do:
11 Random Facts
11 Questions 1. Do you do the Daily 5 in your classroom? We do a variation of the Daily 5. One of the rotations is with iPads instead of all the true Daily 5 centers. 2. How do you use technology in your classroom? We try to find authentic ways to use tech in our classroom. We Skype, blog, use iPads, laptops and other tools that fit into the curriculum. My goal has been focusing on the SAMR model for integrating tech. 3. What types of technology do you have available in your classroom? I currently have 4 student computers that are hooked up to the internet. I also have 5 iPads. I will be getting a class set of LearnPad tablets to pilot for my school district. We also have a SMARTBoard. 4. Why do you blog? I blog as a tool to catalog my learning as well as share. I have learned so much from others that have been generous enough to share online and feel like giving back. 5. What is favorite twitter chat? For grade specific, I love #1stchat. For a chat to push me out of my comfort zone, I like #iaedchat. 6. What subject do you like teaching best, and why? I would say math but I am starting to like reading more and more. Math there is one answer. In reading, there is so many variations. For example, "read" can have a long "e" sound as well as a short "e" sound depending on sentence context. Get a 1st grader to understand all the variations--#ultimatechallenge 7. What is your favorite classroom management tip? High energy and building relationships. I love goofing off (as long as my kids can handle it). I get to act like a kid all day long in 1st grade. 8. How many years have you been teaching? This is my seventh year teaching. One year in third grade and the rest in 1st grade. 9. What is your favorite educational website? I have many but continue to go back to Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne. 10. What is your favorite educational app? At this point and time it would be Educreations and Kidblog (I know--two apps not one). Both these apps allow us to focus on creation with the iPads vs. consumption only. 11. What is your favorite social media website? I am hooked on Twitter right now but Google+ is growing on me. My 11 Nominations
My 11 Questions for Nominated Bloggers
Share This: As I take part in the 20 Day Blogging Challenge (#bc20), I find myself reflecting on teaching. What can I share that is meaningful? Taking part in this blogging challenge has definitely made me push beyond my regular blogging frequency as well as the content being published. Serving What does serving have to do with teaching? Isn't that something that a waitress or waiter does at the local restaurant? This characteristic is one that has been highlighted in my life recently. I have been reading Tony Dungy's book titled The Mentor Leader. Tony has great advice on being a leader and serving. It is not about the short term results. However, it is about cultivating and building up others around you. It is about building significance into their lives so that they may someday lead the next generation. Wow! Those of you that are teachers may be getting goose bumps or chills knowing that Tony's ideals about leadership resemble what being a teacher is all about. It's not about accolades or getting paid big dollars. It's about serving those in our classrooms, buildings and communities. There isn't a magic formula for manufacturing greatness in our classrooms. What is magical though is the investment, nurturing and love that takes place in classrooms to foster leadership for future generations. While some professions look for the short term return on their investment, a teacher treasures those little moments when a light bulb turns on inside their student's head, regardless if it took months to accomplish. Sometimes I find myself focusing on the short term which leads to negativity and poor execution on my part. I often forget about the greater vision and purpose of being a teacher. Through all the chaos each day, I sometimes feel like I am not getting anything into my students' heads. Stepping back and looking at the long term helps me realize it takes a lot of small stones to build a mountain. Being a teacher is not as easy as most think. Those that do not teach have a skewed view on what all factors into each learning adventure that takes place in the school and classroom. Those that teach know what it is all about. It's about serving in a way that is selfless. It is about being focused on others in an authentic way that builds them up to succeed. It's about the intangibles, the, "I missed you," the, "your the best." Most of all, it is knowing that you instilled something that will ultimately be the foundation for the rest of someone's life. Priceless! Cheers to being a teacher! Share This: I have been using Kidblog the last three years. Their iPad app makes posting and commenting seamless for my first graders. Each one of my first graders has his/her very own blog to share and document learning throughout the school year. It has been my goal to use the iPad as a creative tool. We have been talking about using "is" or "are" in sentences. Students have made the connection that "is" goes with a singular subject while "are" belongs with plural subjects. To create a short assessment and add some fun, we used our iPads and Kidblog to practice our understanding of using "is" and "are" in sentences. Below I explain how we went about this process. It was actually pretty simple and I was very pleased with the results. During our next week of school, students will be commenting on the "is or are" posts with their guesses. is or are assessment I was very pleased with the quality of sentences that my students submitted. This provided a quick assessment for who understands and who does not. The next phase will be students commenting their guesses. This will provide another layer of assessment. The best part is that the students had fun with this. They got to create their own sentences and will get to comment on their friends' posts. One Note I have my blog set up so that any new post and/or comment needs moderated before appearing. When my students begin commenting their guesses, none will show up until I approve them. This is nice because students will not be able to see what others guessed. They will have to decode the sentences on their own and apply what they have been taught. Share This: I was looking through some old Evernote clippings and came across this recommendation for an app. I read a little of the description and then decided it was worth giving a try to see if it lived up to the description. Sure enough, after a little playing, I saw how simple the user interface was as well as how it could be integrated into the PK-1 classrooms. My A-Z app is a FREE iPhone app that works and looks great on the iPad. It comes with one flashcard for each letter of the alphabet. However, students can add their own pictures for each letter of the alphabet. In my mind, this gets beyond the iPad as a consumption tool and moves into a creation tool. Students could go on "alphabet hunts" around the classroom and/or school. When they found a picture for a certain letter, they would simply snap a picture, give it a title and even add their voice recording the picture. The students can continue to build their library of flashcards for each letter of the alphabet. This could be an ongoing project as well as a great way to assess kids with their differentiation between each letter in the alphabet. Check out the pictures below for some screen shots explaining a little about this app. My A-Z app How to Getting back into the groove after winter break can sometimes be a challenge. My first graders are always eager to share all about their presents and trips from break. I learned about a new app called Chatter Pix Kids from Richard Byrne. This app looks like a simple way for students to share their adventures from winter break. I plan to have my students record a short talking picture about their winter break. After they have created their talking pictures, I will have students save them to the camera roll which will allow them to be uploaded to Dropbox. I will then take all the talking pictures and combine them into one video. This final video will be added to the class blog so that all the students/parents can access to learn about winter break adventures. Screen shot directions From the main screen, students are able to select "take photo." When adding a photo, students can snap a picture or access the camera roll to import previously taken pictures. After the image is imported/taken, students will draw a line where the mouth should move to talk. Then hit record to begin the recording. A timer will be displayed when recording to show how much time is left. After the recording has been made, students can then add filters, stickers, a frame and text before exporting their final project. The last step would be saving it to your local "gallery" which is stored within the app on your iPad. You can also choose to save it to your camera roll for easily exporting it to other sites, social networks or even emailing it. Below is a walk through of the app in action. |
Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |