Checking for Understanding: Five Ways to Collect Data and Allow Students to Have Fun While Doing So

Checking for Understanding: Five Ways to Collect Data and Allow Students to Have Fun While Doing So

Checking for understanding is something that we as teachers do on a daily basis and multiple times during that day. Since checking for understanding, also known as formative assessments, is something we do on the regular, we can get overwhelmed with paperwork and data. Since checking for understanding is something that we do so often, it can sometimes become, dare I say, boring. Not only for us as teachers, but also for our students. In this post, we are going to look at five ways you can check for understanding, collect data, and your students will have a blast while doing so! They might have so much fun, they won't even realize they are completing a "formative assessment".

Quizizz

 Quizizz is a web-based program where you can quickly create quizzes. These quizzes are in the form of a game. Students can access the game/quiz on any device that has access to the internet. As a teacher accessing Quizizz, you can search for premade quizzes, create your own quiz either from scratch or pull questions from quizzes that are already made. From there you can create collections or store and organize your quizzes. If you know other teachers are using Quizizz, you can share your quiz with them.

Once you have your quiz create and are ready to administer it, there are a few ways that you can do that:

1. Live Game: This is when you have all of your students in the classroom and everyone is taking the quiz at the same time. Even though all students are taking the quiz at the same time,  they go at their own individual pace.

2. Homework: In this mode, teachers can assign a Quizizz quiz as homework whether it be by giving the students the direct link to the quiz, or you can assign it through Google Classroom. With the Homework option, you have the ability to set the closing date and time. Just like in Live Mode, you can shuffle questions, shuffle answer options, give the ability to show answers after questions, and show quiz review which shows students all the questions after the game. You also have the ability to show the leaderboard, question timer, play music, and the part the students really get excited about show memes after each question. The memes change depending on if they get the question correct or not.

Once students have started taking the quiz, you can track their progress in real time. Once the class is finished, you are able to see the results of the quiz either by student or by question. Looking at the results by question is a great way to get a quick overview of how the class did and if there are any areas that you need to focus on. Results can either be downloaded or if the quiz was assigned through Google Classroom, the grades can be automatically imported into Google Classroom.

Quizlet Live

Quizlet Live is a cool way to not only get some good data back from your students but also get them communicating and collaborating. With Quizlet Live, you can create your own Quizlet or you can find premade Quizlets. Once you have your Quizlet all set up, you can assign it to your class. Once assigned, students are put into groups. Students then go through questions, with each student have the same question on their screen and answer choices. The kicker is only one student in the group has the correct answer. This then requires the students to communicate and collaborate to get to the correct answer. The teacher can project the teams progress so everyone in the class can see where they are compared to other groups. The first group to make it to the finish line wins.

Upgrading your Quizlet account allows you to gain valuable insight into your classes performance. Upgrading to Quizlet Teacher account allows you to track student progress, see the most missed questions, and view progress over time.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is all about amplifying student voice! Flipgrid allows you to create Grids (classes) and within those grids, you can create Topics. Students then can access the topics and reply to the prompts within each topic. These responses are all done via video. As a teacher, you can control the length of the video from as short as 15 seconds to 5 minutes in length.

Students take pride in their responses due to the fact that they are posting a video of themselves. Teachers can watch each student video and provide them feedback. Teachers can also attach a rubric to students videos. Not only can teachers provide feedback, but students can reply to each other's videos. Teachers also have the ability to moderate video posts so videos have to be approved before being posted to the grid.

Teachers can use Flipgrid to ensure student understanding of topics covered in class or quick exit ticket. This is great for teachers because they get to hear from every student in their class. Teachers can quickly view their students videos and get a grasp on student understanding.

Seesaw

Seesaw is a digital portfolio that empowers students to be able to document what they are learning. Students can document what they are learning through video, photo, voice, drawing, notes, or adding a file from their Google Drive.

Like many other services, teachers can create their own activities or search from a library of other pre-made activities to use with their students. Teachers can set up classes where students can see their classmates work or where work is only seen by the student and the teacher. 

Not only can students document their learning associated with an assignment the teacher posts in the classroom, but students can also freely add video, notes, photos to their "journal" in Seesaw. Students then can receive feedback from their teacher on items posted in their journal.

Another great feature of Seesaw is it has a parent link. This link allows parents to see the work that is being posted in Seesaw by their student.

Edpuzzle

Edpuzzle is a platform where you as the teacher can assign videos for your students to watch. Teachers call either upload videos that they have created or pull videos from platforms such as YouTube, Khan Academy, National Geographic, and much more. Not only do your students get to learn from the videos you assign to them, but you as a teacher get to see how your students are understanding the content that is being presented in the video. 

With Edpuzzle, you can insert questions throughout the video. The video will stop and the students answer the question you placed in that point of the video. You as the teacher can also require students to answer the question before moving on and continuing with the video. Teachers can see in their Edpuzzle grade book whether or not students have watched the video, their grade on the video, and when they turned it in. Teachers also get to see an overview of how the class did on each question. Scores are then able to be exported.

These are just a few ways to check for understanding and allow students to have fun while doing so. How do you check for understanding in a way that your students find fun? I'd love to hear about them in the comments section!

Easily Access Comments in Google Classroom Comment Bank

Easily Access Comments in Google Classroom Comment Bank

Whenever I am meeting with teachers, something that always comes up is teachers wishing there was a more effective and more efficient way of providing feedback to students. This is especially true for the secondary teachers I work with. I was so happy to share with them a way that they can do that!

With the updates to Google Classroom, giving students feedback has become so much easier. You can now compile a bank of comments and use them at your disposal by accessing them in the comment bank when opening a student’s document in Google Classroom. 

To quickly access all of your comments in the comment bank, type in # in the comment window and BOOM! your comments from the comment bank with be there. It will show you the first five. Once you start typing, the comments that you are looking for will appear. The great thing is all of your comments stay in your comment bank no matter what application you are in. Whether you are in Google Docs, Slides, etc. your comments are there in your comment bank.

Hopefully, this tip will save you time and make giving feedback to students a more enjoyable endeavor.

Google Slides: More Than Just a Presentation Tool

Google Slides: More Than Just a Presentation Tool

When people think of Google Slides, they usually just think that it is used for creating presentations. While you are sitting at your computer putting together your next Google Slides presentation, have you found yourself wondering, "I know there has to be more that I can do with this amazing tool than this, right?!?!" You are 100% correct! In this post, we are going to talk about all of the ways that you can use Google Slides beyond just a presentation tool.

Student Creation

Digital Magazine

With Google Slides, you can have your students create digital magazines. With Google Slides, you can adjust the page size (File > Page Setup > Custom) to fit the size of a magazine. 

Students can then create their magazine and then it can be converted to a pdf (File > download as > pdf). 

Here are a few links to some magazine templates created by Ryan O'Donnell (@creativeedtech).

Time Magazine

National Geographic

Create Your Own Adventure

If you are like me, I loved reading those create your own adventure books as a kid. You can transfer that excited to your students by having them create their own adventure using Google Slides. With Google Slides, you can add hyperlinks that link to other websites, but did you know you can link to other slides within the document? 

This allows you to create a create your own adventure story by having students set it up where depending on the option that is chosen it will direct them to a specific slide. A link to a Create Your Own Adventure template can be found here.

Student Interactions

Collaborative Groups

With the power of G Suite apps, students can work collaboratively on a doc, slides, sheet, etc. While this is awesome, it can get a little confusing at times to keep track of what slide you are on and make sure you are contributing to the correct slide. Well, Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) has created a great template for collaborative groups. The template can be found here. With this template, groups are assigned a color. Each slide is a different color. Groups can add new slides by clicking the arrow next to the plus sign to add a new slide with their groups color. 

This helps students stay organized. Also, it helps the teacher monitor students to ensure that they are on the correct slide.

Group Collaboration Questions

Another way you can have students collaborate with Google Slides is by having them answer questions collaboratively. With the Group Collaboration Questions template, which can b found here,  Students have a place to insert their answer and then there is a spot of a group consensus answer. You can have the students adjust the color in which they type in their answers so when they compose their group answer, you can easily see which parts of each individual answer helped contribute to the group response.

Brainstorming/Graphic Organizers

Another awesome use of Google Slides is to use it as a collaborative brainstorm/graphic organizer platform. Ryan O'Donell (@creativeedtech) has once again created another gem which can be found here.

I could go on forever here. Google Slides has so many uses beyond just a presentation tool. Is there a way that you have used Google Slides that was not mentioned? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below!

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks

Google Chrome is my browser of choice. This is mainly due to the fact that we utilize G Suite apps in my district so using Chrome works nicely with those integrations. After using Chrome for a while, I have learned some tips and tricks. I am here to share those with you. I find these useful for my everyday use and productivity. 

Removing Bookmark Names

One thing I like to do is just have a website's icon on my bookmark bar. This allows me to have more visible bookmarks. To do this, all you have to do is right-click on a bookmark, choose edit. From there, delete the name of the bookmark. Afterward, click save. Now, you will just have the website icon.

Pulling Tab Out to Create New Window

Another trick I like to use in Chrome is pulling a tab out to create a new window. This is especially useful when you re using a dual monitor setup. You can easily pull a tab out and drag it over to the other monitor. To do so, all you have to do is click an hold on a tab. While still holding down, drag the tab out to create a new window.

Resizing Omnibox

Another trick I like to use in Chrome is resizing the Omnibox. This is especially useful when you have two windows side-by-side and cannot see the entire URL of a website. To resize the Omnibox, simply move your mouse up to the right side of the Omnibox until you see your mouse change from an arrow to a line with arrows on each end. From there you can simply drag the Omnibox to the right and left to resize it.

Open Chrome to Particular Page(s) on Startup

You can have Chrome open to a particular page(s) when opening Chrome. To do so, simply head on up to the vertical ellipsis (three dots stacked on top of each other) and go to settings. From there, head down to On Startup. From there, you can choose to Open a specific page or sets of pages. You can then add the URLs of whatever page or pages you would like Chrome to open on startup. Personally, I have Chrome open Google Keep and My Drive due to the fact that these are the two programs I tend to use the most throughout the day.

Add Extensions

Extensions are great tools to help enhance your Google Chrome experience. To add an extension to Chrome, head on over to the Chrome Web Store. Once you are in the Web Store, click on Extensions. There you can search for the extension you are looking for and add it to Chrome. Check out our blog post on Useful Google Chrome Extensions to find some useful extensions I use.

Do you have any tips or tricks you use in Chrome not mentioned here? Share them in the comments sections!

Super Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

Super Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

A keyboard is something that we interact with daily, sometimes multiple times a day. The programs that we use have certain functions in them. Did you know that there are keyboard shortcuts that allow you to access those functions quickly? Let's go over some of the keyboard shortcuts I find most useful and ones that I use daily. These keyboard shortcuts are ones that I use while surfing the web with Google Chrome and using a Windows device and a Chromebook.

Cut (Ctrl + X)

Using this keyboard shortcut allows you to cut either text, an object, or an image out of a document. It is now placed on your clipboard. You can now paste the text, object, or image into another place on the document.

Copy (Ctrl + C)

This keyboard shortcut allows you to copy text, an object, or an image in your document. The text, object, or image is now placed on your clipboard. You can now paste the text, object, or image into another place on your document.

Paste (Ctrl + V)

After you have either cut or copied a piece of text, an object, or an image it is placed on your clipboard. To paste what you have placed on your clipboard, simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V.

Undo (Ctrl + Z)

If you are wanting to undo a change you have made on a document, simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z.

Select All (Ctrl + A)

To select everything in a document, simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A.

Lock Screen (Search + L)

If you want to lock your screen, simply click on the spotlight + L (Chromebook) or Windows key + L (Windows). That way, to get back into your computer, you would have to input your password.

Interest a Link (Ctrl + K)

To quickly insert a hyperlink, simply highlight some text, an object, or an image and then use the insert link keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K. This will bring up the options to insert a link to then make the highlighted text, object, or image a hyperlink.

New Window (Ctrl + N)

When using Google Chrome, to open a new window, simply use the new window keyboard shortcut Ctrl + N.

New Tab (Ctrl + T)

To quickly create a new tab in Chrome, simply use the new tab keyboard shortcut Ctrl + T.

Chrome Menu Window (Alt + F)

To quickly bring up Chrome's menu window, simply use the keyboard shortcut Alt + F.

Move Object to the Top (Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow)

When working in Google Slides or Google Drawing, when you are layering objects or images on top of each other, to quickly move one to the top simply use the Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow.

Screenshot on Chromebook

If you are wanting to take a screenshot when using a Chromebook, simply click the spotlight key (the one with the magnifying glass) + all windows key. This will take a screenshot fo your entire screen. You Could also use Ctrl + F5.

If you are wanting to take a partial screenshot, simply click the spotlight + Shift + all windows. You could also use Ctrl + Shift + F5. You will then see that your mouse arrow will now turn into a plus. you can now click and drag over the area of the screen you wish to take a screenshot of. 

Any keyboard shortcuts you use that were not mentioned here? Please share them in the comments!

Super Useful Chrome Extensions

If you are not familiar with extensions, they are these great applications that you can add to your Google Chrome browser. Extensions allow you to add some extra functionality to your Chrome browser. If you were head over to the Chrome Web Store, you will find a plethora of extensions and could easily get overwhelmed. I am going to share some of my favorite extensions and how I use them.

G Suite Training

This extension is a good one for those people who are new to G Suite. With the G Suite Training extension, you have access to simple interactive lessons specific to the Google app you are using. For example, if I am using Google Docs, I can access the G Suite training extension to find lessons specific to Google Docs. You will see the G Suite Training icon in the top right-hand corner of your window. Simply click on it to access the lesson.

Google Keep

 The Google Keep extension allows you to save things you find while surfing Chrome to Google Keep. Whether it be a website, image, or quote all you have to do is, while on the site, simply click the Google Keep extension icon and it will save it to your Kepp notepad. You can add a title and some notes straight from the extension.

Grammarly

Grammarly is a great extension if you want to ensure that your spelling and, you guessed it, grammar are firing on all cylinders. Grammarly makes sure that what you are typing, whether it be on Gmail, social media, or nearly anywhere you write on the web is mistake free. If you register, you will also receive weekly email updates with your performance stats.

Screencastify

Screencastify is a screen recording extension. With Screencastify, you are able to annotate your screen with a pen tool and have a focused spotlight on your mouse. With the premium version, you can crop and trim your recordings. All recordings save directly to your Drive. This is a great tool to use if you are wanting to create demonstration videos for students.

Tab Scissors and Tab Glue

If you have at least two tabs open, Tab Scissors extension will split it into two smaller side-by-side windows. All of the tabs that are open to the left of the selected tab will stay to the left, and the rest of the tabs will stay to the right. The Tab Glue extension brings all of the Chrome tab windows back together into one window.

Google Cast for Education

Google Cast for Education allows you to turn your computer into a wireless projector. Google Cast allows you to share your screen from another device to the device connected to the projector. This is a great tool if you are wanting to quickly share something on a student's device with the class. 

Turn Off the Lights
Turn Off the Lights is a great extension to use in the classroom if you are watching a video on YouTube. With just a single click of the extension, your page will fade to black only showing the video you are wanting to share with your class. By clicking on the extension again, your page will return to normal.

AdBlock
AdBlock is a good extension to have to be able to block ads on YouTube, Facebook and ads everywhere else on the web. On the AdBlock extension, you will see the number of ads that have been blocked on the particular site you are visiting.

Just Read
Just Read is a nice extension to remove distractions from a web page. With just one simple click of the extension, you can quickly remove ads, the pages style, popups, and comments. All you are left with is just the text and images relevant to the article you are reading. With another click of the extension will take you back to the original format of the web page.

OneTab
OneTab is a quick and easy way to convert many tabs into a list. When you need to access those tabs again, you can restore them individually or all at once. Another way this extension can be put to good use is compiling website you want to share with students. You can have the websites you want to share with students open on each tab, activate the OneTab extension, and then you can share the link to the OneTab with students and now they have access to the website you want to share with them.

Share to Classroom
With the Share to Classroom extension, you can quickly push web pages to any of your Classroom classes, so they open instantly on your students' devices.

How to Set Up 2-Step Verification

How to Set Up 2-Step Verification

In this post, we are going to talk about how you can set up 2-step verification on your Google account. What is 2-step verification? 2-Step Verification is an additional layer of protection on your Google account. When you log into your account, you will receive a notification asking if you are indeed the person logging into your account. You can then say yes this is you or no this is not you. You have to take 2 steps to log into your account, hence the name 2-Step verification. Here are the easy steps to enable this extra layer of protection:

1. Head on Over to My Account

The first thing you need to do is head on over to My Account. You can access your account by heading over to myaccount.google.com. Once you are there, click on Sign-in & security.

2. Select 2-Step Verification

After selecting Sign-in & security, scroll down until you see Password & sign-method and click on 2-Step Verification.

After selecting 2-Step Verification, you will be greeted with a brief explanation of 2-Step Verification. Go ahead and click on Get Started.

3. Sign-in to Google Account

It is then going to ask you to sign-in to your Google account. Go ahead and log into your Google account.

4. Choose Your Device and Method of Notification

After signing in to your Google account, you will be asked to choose your device and your method of notification. You can receive a text message with a PIN code that you will enter or you can choose Prompts. Prompts is a notification you will receive from the Google app.

If you decide to use Prompts, you will be asked to select a backup option which is either receiving a text message or phone call.

5. Turn On 2-Step Verification

After setting up the backup option, you are now ready to turn on 2-Step Verification. Go ahead and turn on 2-Step Verification.

You are now all set up to have an extra layer of protection on your Google account. You can find more information about Google's 2-Step Verification by visiting Google's 2-Step Verification.

Change Page Size in Google Slides and Drawings

Changing Page Size in Google Slides and Drawings

Have you ever wondered if there was more you could do with Google Slides besides just using it as a presentation tool? Then this is the blog post for you. Today, we are going to talk about how you can quickly and easily change the page size in Google Slides. Why might you want to change the page size in Google Slides? Here are some ways I have used Google Slides other than a presentation tool:

• Make posters
• Make e-books
• Social media posts
• Meme generator

To change the page size, simply open up Google Slides. From there, head on over to File > Page Setup. By default, Google Slides is set to Widescreen 16:9 ratio. If you click on that, you can change the page size to Widescreen 16:10, Standard 4:3, or custom. Choosing custom allows you to set the page size to whatever dimensions you want. The same steps can be taken in Google Drawings to adjust the page size.

How will you use this in your classroom? Share in the comments section!