Google Certified Educator

Digital Portfolios

Our school utilizes traditional portfolios that we have called “Learning Logs.” These binders collect data to document the student’s year in school. At the middle level, it is intended for students to have a great deal of ownership, however, I’ve noticed that it’s a big push at the end of the trimester to write a reflection for the semester. I would like to find a more authentic tool that would require students to reflect on a regular basis for their portfolio.

I moved to interactive notebooks in my math and science classes last year which served as a portfolio of sorts because all of their work was included in the notebook. The main considerations for creating a digital portfolio is how can students best demonstrate learning and mastery and create a showcase of their work all in one place. Another consideration is the authentic audience for the portfolio. In past, the portfolios have been designed for the parents and I feel that the portfolio would be a much more authentic demonstration of learning and growth if the audience were the students themselves. They should have a portfolio that they are proud of which will encourage them to do their best work.

Between the courses through this EdTechTeam Online Teacher Leader Certificate and the other professional development sessions I have attended (GAFE summits, Google Bootcamps, Webinars, etc.), I have a wealth of tools to research and investigate as to which will be the most effective digital portfolio tool.

Assessment

The final course for the Ed Tech Team Online Teacher Leader Certificate was assessment. I am also about to embark on a semester course for my master's degree that it all about curriculum and assessment. Because I am pretty much addicted to learning, my puppy, Loki, and I spent about 6 hours yesterday virtually attending a "pd in your pjs" webinar event provided by Simple K12. When I first registered for the event, it hadn't really sunk in that 6 webinar sessions would be a lot on the last weekend before school started. I decided to go ahead and check it out as the sessions were designed around Chromebooks. Our school just adopted Chromebooks for grades 4-8. While I didn't gain much insight on the function and usability of the device, there were several guest presenters who shared a plethora of great digital assessment tools that I can't wait to try.

Authentic assessment is a very important concept for me and I am happy to be working at a school

that values that same philosophy. We are required to give the state and district accountability and growth assessments, but all other assessments are encouraged to help students develop the skills needed to become problem solvers and having a growth mindset. I feel it is important to connect all learning and assessment to real-world applications to ensure that the students truly have the skills and/or knowledge of the concept. It is also important to connect the learning to the outside world because if all my teaching happens from a book, when I put that book back on the shelf, all the learning sits on the shelf on with the book.

In the course, we were directed to explore add-ons and other formative assessment tools. Our school just purchased a Mastery Connect license which is connects with Socrative so I thought I’d give that tool a try. It was very easy to take a quiz from my math curriculum program and import the quiz. I did, however, struggle a bit with writing the math expressions in the spreadsheet. I will have to

explore more in the aspect of importing quizzes with images where I can use the g(Math) for Sheets add-on. I don’t have students yet, but I took the quiz a couple times so I could see what it looks like from the student side, as well as what it looks like live on the teacher side as data is populating live. I will also need to practice the grading options for open-ended questions. As I experimented with the tool, Socrative may not be the best tool for an open-ended math assessment that has one correct answer that isn’t a multiple choice response. Using a form quiz would probably be a better option for that type of assessment. I used the add-on g(Math) for Forms to create the mathematical equations for quiz. I could’ve used the asterisk for the dot in the multiplication problem, but it is important for students to see the math symbols that will actually occur on the high stakes assessments. I also tried Flubaroo for the first time. I had heard much about it, but had never actually used it. Looking for ways that I can use this in addition to Mastery Connect without duplicating my efforts.

I agree with Kohn’s (2014) confusion about “the number of educators who are adamantly opposed to standardized testing yet raise no objection to other practices that share important features with such testing... Here we find the same top-down control and one-size-fits-all mentality that animate standardized testing.” Formative assessment is so critical to really know where my students are in

their learning of concepts. In past, I have taken my students assertions that they “get it” at face value because of the amount of effort it takes to collect paper/pencil documentation of their understanding. I frequently used a hand signal (1-5 or thumbs up/down) to gain a quick check on where students felt they were with the concept. But now, technology makes it easy, efficient and engaging to assess students quickly to gain an affirmation that they have the skills needed to move on in the lesson.

Last year, I used Plickers and Kahoot on a pretty regular basis and the students absolutely loved those games. Plickers takes a little more time with a larger group of students unless they are grouped together in close proximity to me. Kahoot was definitely best for pre-assessing background knowledge and for reviews. Often the students would just click responses to be the fastest in hopes that it was the correct answer. It was also best used at the end of a class period because it was sometimes a challenge to get back on track after the fun. In addition to the tools available with Socrative and Mastery Connect, some other tools I am looking forward to working with this upcoming year are NearPod, Pear Deck, Tally and Roll & Reflect with QR code dice. My goal this year is to know exactly where my students are before we take the final unit tests. In a school that focuses on differentiation, I hope to use some of these digital tools to increase my efficiency of knowing where students are to better meet their needs and drive my instruction.

 Kohn, A. (2014). Why the Best Teachers Don’t Give Tests. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alfie-kohn/why-the-best-teachers-don_b_6077466.html

How is space the third teacher?

Myself in 5th grade
with Mrs. Hayes

When I think back to my own experiences in school, my fondest memories were in classes where I felt welcome and comfortable. I was a total teacher’s pet and LOVED school. My favorite teachers were Mrs. Maguire in first grade, Mrs. Hayes for second grade (pictured to the left), and Ms Moyer in fifth. Beyond my electives courses, I don't have strong memories of middle school or high school. The classes where I struggled or have minimal memories, also often had classrooms that were stark, cluttered, or were set up for students to sit in desks in the traditional rows facing the front. I remember my favorite classrooms had comfortable reading nooks with pillows or bean bags, lots of color (without lots of stuff) and had different areas designed for different purposes (desks, group table, computer station, floor space, etc.). My favorite classes also had learning experiences that happened outside the classroom walls through field trips and outdoor activities. There were definitely other factors that played into my favorite memories of school, but the classroom's physical arrangement was a key component.

I do think that space plays a huge role in learning. As teachers, we have to understand what we want

for the student learning experience and design with that goal in mind. According to Long (2012), we should be “using design to improve the human experience” (p. 17). As a person who shares space with other teachers, I have to find creative ways to redesign and use the space in ways that still allow it to function for teachers who have different teaching styles than I do. “Design thinking combines collaboration, systems thinking and a balance of creative and analytic habits” (Long, 2012, p. 16).

As my classroom will take more detailed planning through the design process to make changes, I will be using the design thinking process as our school looks to build a greenhouse on our campus. I run an after school club that has taken the lead in the process and I was struggling to move forward with specifics. I think the resources available from this unit will give me a great deal of momentum to move forward with the plan.


Long, C. (2012, February). Teach Your Students to Fail Better with Design Thinking. Learning & Leading with Technology, 16-20.

Redesigning the Learning Space

Space has a huge impact on learning. In my work with Quantum Learning, both as a Team Leader for SuperCamp and the three times I’ve attended their teacher training, the first two of their tenets for learning are “Everything Speaks” and “Everything is on Purpose.” This refers to the learning space and even components such as temperature, scents and plants. I think it’s very important for the teacher’s learning goals to be reflected in the space design. Our brain is only able to attend to a finite number of things at a time and when the space around us is distracting or uncomfortable, then those will be the center of our brain’s attention, rather that what is being taught.

My space is set up for cooperative learning science and math work. I have large tables that can be grouped together to create larger work space if needed. I have a Promethean Board at the front with a white board and an ancient chalk board on the right side. I have a small sofa and chair at the front corner and a nonconforming accordion style divider separating our large classroom into two separate rooms. I have several lamps and christmas lights hanging from the ceiling to avoid using the overhead fluorescents as much as possible. I have one medium sized window and a door that opens to the outside. Along the back I have a counter with cabinets (that houses all my science materials) and a sink with a drinking fountain that is more like a bubbling spring.

The main constraint of the space is that it is shared with other teachers. I would like to have more

flexible seating. I also don’t have much flexible wall space to hang content related posters or vocabulary word wall. My space also is relatively small with chairs that take up a great deal of space. There’s also not an easy way for students to use the restroom as they have to go through the adjoining space and interrupt their teaching (the accordion wall is not quiet) or go outside and all the way around the building to enter the front doors (not conducive for quick restroom breaks or during the winter). Depending on the schedule, I may be using a different shared space in the building giving me even less control of the setup without setting up and tearing down before/after each class. I also have to be able to keep the extra chairs in my space as we often open the room and use the whole space for all 54 students.

One change I will make in my classroom is to arrange the tables so that there is flexible sitting space at tables and the floor. I previously had the tables arranged in groups, but I didn’t have a floor space available. I would also like to add a standing bar in the back of the room, but I am not sure yet if I can make that happen.... yet. I will be adding an artificial plant, more lamps and Christmas lights to enhance the ambiance. I also want to label the chairs so that the right number are stacked and put away (instead of by the end of the week having too many chairs out at nonexistent seating places). The biggest goal is to reduce clutter and add ambiance as the basic structure of the room I cannot change significantly because it is a shared space. I have only been at this school for 2 years and I spent a month purging and rearranging before I moved in so this will be more about small changes and modifications.

I don't know, yet, what changes I'll be able to make but I am confident that there will be changes. Stay tuned for an update on the final space!