Sunday, June 18, 2017

Some Split Screen Tips

Today I learned about a couple of tips when you want to split your computer screen and do work side by side. I have been using the Chrome extensions Tab Scissors and Tab Glue to split my screen and then put it back together, and while those extensions work fine in most cases I was exploring other options.

I came across this post by The Techie Teacher and found some valuable information. I especially like the Toggle Slide Panel bookmarklet tool. She credited James Malcolm for it and you can read more about it here.

Why would you want to hide the slide panel in Google Slides? Well, as you probably know, when working in split screen, you can not present slides, because the second you click on the Present button the split screen stops and your whole computer screen is taken over by the slide.

In order for the slides to be given more real estate on the split screen. First, click on Toggle Slide Panel bookmarklet (which eliminates the thumbnails of the slides), then split your screen. See the difference in the two screenshots below.

Screenshot 2017-06-18 12.51.50.png

And here is a screenshot after using the Toggle Slide Panel Bookmarklet.

Screenshot 2017-06-18 13.00.07.png

You can definitely see how nice it is with the slide panel gone. Best of all you can still advance the slides by clicking on the side of the screen that contains your slide deck and using the left and right arrows on your keyboard.

Some things to keep in mind before you start doing this neat little trick.

  1. The Toggle Slide Panel bookmarklet doesn’t show in split screen mode, so use it to remove the slide panel before you split the screen.
  2. When in full-screen mode you can just click the bookmarklet to bring back the slide thumbnails.
  3. Drag the Split Tabs extension icon closer to your omnibox. When I first installed it, I had so many other extensions enabled that it didn’t show up on my split screen mode. Luckily my Tab Glue icon was showing and it put my split screen back together.
  4. I soon realized that I had to click on the Split Tabs extension icon and click on the undo button to end the split screen.

I often use split screen and so do my students, so I love being able to do so quickly and easily.

Do you have any other split screen tips? Please add them in the comments.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

My Summer of Learning - 2016

My summer is rapidly coming to an end, but it has been a great one. I have presented many times both in person and virtually. I also attended many conferences and training opportunities.

School ended for me the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, so I took off and spent a few days to relax and revitalize in Bioxli, with one of my travel buddies, Janet Keller.

June

  1. I met with my EdcampNOLA co-founders and organizers to plan our upcoming edcamp. We decided on October 29th for this year and our venue is the ReNEW McDonough City Park Academy in New Orleans. 
  2. I presented for SimpleK12 twice during June. Once on Impromptu Skype Calls and the other was on Using Google Hangouts to Connect with Other Classes. 
  3. I attended several OK2Ask webinars and another one by my friend and fellow LACUE board member, Desiree Alexander
  4. The LACUE Tech Leadership Summit took place in Baton Rouge in the middle of June and I both presented and attended many sessions. 
  5. One of my team members, Elisa Western, and I met several times to do some cross-curricular 4th-grade planning. Our principal, Audrey Easley, even joined us for one of these meetings. 
  6. At the end of the month, I flew out to Denver to spend a week at ISTE Unplugged and ISTE2016, which is always the highlight of my summer. I got to spend time with members of my PLN from around the world who gathered for ISTE. It was especially nice this summer since I had to miss last year due to having surgery. 
July 
  1. I spent the 4th of July weekend in Natchez, MS, with my dear friend, Janet Keller, and helped celebrate our friend, Mr. Bob's, 95th birthday. 
  2. I did three more online presentations for Simple K12.
  3. Twice I did a Google Hangout (GHO) with Amy Shah from Peekapak, which is a new social/emotional online program I will be using this year with my students. I met Amy while attending ISTE and agreed to work with her and her company during the year. 
  4. Our #4thchat moderators, Nancy Carroll, Jennifer Regruth, and myself,  got together in a GHO and planned out our chat topics for the first half of the 2016-2017 school year. 
  5. I presented to Tammy Seneca's teachers in West Baton Rouge via GHO and talked about how I use GHO to connect with other classes and different collaborative projects I'm part of. 
  6. Elisa, Audrey, and I had another 4th-grade planning meeting.  
  7. Next, I attended and presented four sessions on BreakoutEDU at the LACUE Region 4 LETA conference in Lafayette, LA. 
  8. My learning was extended with even more OK2Ask webinars. 
  9. EdcampNOLA organizers met again to do even more planning and help me prepare questions we wanted addressed when I attended the Edcamp Organizers Summit.
  10. I finally got to meet Dave Burgess in person, when he presented in Baton Rouge. Dave is the author of Teach Like a Pirate and is a very inspiring member of my PLN. 
  11. My cohort from when I did my Masters program at SELU got together for coffee and catching up time. 
  12. I attended the Edcamp Organizer Summit in Atlanta with #edcampCenLa founder, Emily Swenson, #edcampLafayette QT founder, Natalie Chustz, and over 100 other edcamp founders/organizers mostly from the southeast region of the United States. 
I'm sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight home from #EdcampOSAtl16. I decided to write this post as I waited. Here is want I have planned for August before school starts for me on August 8. 
  1. I'm presenting about Chrome Extensions tomorrow for Simple K12. Also, I will be presenting in person a 90-minute Breakout EDU session and a concurrent session on Mystery Location Calls via GHO at the Mini LACUE Region 3 Conference in St. John Parish. 
  2. Friday I will be presenting a one-hour webinar for LACUE on No Email, No Problem - Great Sites To Use that Require No Registration. 
  3. Saturday I will be doing a GHO with Heidi Samuelson(@swampfrogfirst) to discuss some collaborative projects we hope to do during the 2016-2017 school year. 
  4. During the first week of August, I will be "hanging out" with the #4thchat moderators again to do even more planning for our weekly chats. I will attend EdmodoCon2016, an all day online conference, and a Remind Train the Trainer online session. I will end the week by attending some PD sessions at my school and getting my classroom ready for the new school year. 
My summer break consists of exactly 41 weekdays and I think I used them well. I have been very busy, but extremely happy during this summer and am looking forward to a wonderful school year as I begin my 41st year of teaching. 


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

I’m Ditching Homework! Opting for Family Time Instead


Fuck homework(parody of fuck ...
Image source: http://bit.ly/29MUFuo 

Instead of fighting the homework battle as I have done for the past 40 years, I'm ditching homework this year. Instead, I will be sending home Family Time activities which my students and their parents can choose to participate in or not. The choice will be theirs. There will be no tracking to see who is doing the activities, and no punishment if the student and his/her family do not do it.


Each week I will send out a Remind notice to the parents of my students with a suggested list of Family Time activities they can do instead of traditional homework. Since I am an ELA teacher one of the activities will always be read to siblings, parents, pet, or self. This has been a homework assignment for years, but since I don’t require reading logs, I never knew if my students read at home each night or not. I want to help my students because lovers of reading, but I feel that making them read each night at home doesn’t really help foster a love of reading. Doing daily read alouds, having robust book discussions as a class or in groups, and making my reading lessons fun and engaging will do a much better job of helping my students realize how much fun reading can be.


Other activities I plan on including will range from playing a game that uses math, creating and doing challenges with your family, watching a TV show or movie and critiquing it as a tweet, making a dish and sharing the recipes with your class, or exploring a hobby or passion. I plan a having a suggestion jar where my students can add ideas for Family Time activities that can be included in my weekly notices. (Label for my jar)


This places a burden on me to make sure that my students have enough time at school to properly prepare and learn for the assessments that I must give without relying on any time at home for studying. How will this be accomplished? I will build into my class schedule each day time for my students to use Kahoot, Quizizz, or Quizlet to review vocabulary and concepts that are included in our daily lessons. Playing these games in class will allow me to know that my students are reviewing (studying) each and every day. Each platform provides me with data so I will be able to track how my students are doing.


I am feeling so relieved that the homework battle will not be a part of my life this school year. I plan on using the #familytime hashtag to promote what I am doing and to share out awesome ideas to send home instead of traditional homework. Please consider joining me!

What are your thoughts? Are you ready to ditch homework this year?

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Check This Out - Edmodo Spotlight


When you need a resource or two to round out your weekly lesson plans where do you go to find some? Well, I think you should start with Edmodo Spotlight. It is a new addition to the Edmodo platform that allows teachers to share resources they have created or sites they recommend for others. Everyone can access Spotlight by going to this address - http://spotlight.edmodo.com.

Using the search filters on the left sidebar, you can search by subject, grade level, type of resources, and price. Yes, some resources being uploaded cost money, but there are so many that are FREE.

While everyone can access Spotlight, you will need an Edmodo account in order to post resources. You access Spotlight by clicking on the first icon to the right of the search bar on your homepage.


Are you a teacherpreneur? You'll want to check out how easy it is to upload your resources to Edmodo. Be sure to check out these three resources to learn even more about Spotlight.

1. About Edmodo Spotlight - FAQs
2. Edmodo Spotlight Best Practices
3. Edmodo Spotlight Code of Conduct

To get an idea of the kind of resources that you find on Spotlight check out Paula Naugle's Spotlight.

I would also like to point you to Christi Collins' Spotlight. I love all of the resources she has uploaded to her Spotlight and they're all free.

What are your thoughts about Edmodo Spotlight? Please share in the comments. 

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Amplify with Adobe Voice

Today on the Classroom 2.0 Live webinar, we were very fortunate to have Rafranz Davis as our guest presenter. Her "Tech Tools to Amplify Your Classroom" introduced me to a new tool to add to my toolbox - Adobe Voice.

I love how easy it is to create a video to share a story with others using Adobe Voice. I downloaded the app to my iPad mini and created my first one in under 10 minutes. I can't wait to show this to my students and see how their digital storytelling shapes up.


Sunday, August 2, 2015

12 Tips for Getting Ready for a New School Year

Each summer as July comes to a close and we head into August, I start getting itchy to get into my classroom and start preparing for the upcoming school year. I have been doing this for 39 summers now, so I think that I have some tips that others can use to get their classroom ready and start the new school year off on the right foot.

1. Start with the arrangement
As I begin prepping my room, I first have to get all of my furniture arranged. As I do this I keep these things in mind:

collaborative seating arrangements                  
large group space
small group area(s)
timeout or individual workspace
classroom library and reading corner
storage of manipulatives
computer stations and cart

                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                             
Two tools that can help you with arrangement are Class Set-Up Tool from Scholastic and Class Architect.

2. Let Go of Your Teacher’s Desk
What? Are you kidding me? Yes, I am completely serious. I did this a couple of years ago and I am so glad I did. I like to have things in my class that add to my students’ learning and can hopefully be used in multiple ways. My desk just wasn’t meeting those requirements. I now have a kidney-shaped table that I also use for meeting with my small groups. It is also used during meetings with my team.

On top of it I have one small basket (containing office type supplies - paper clips, rubber bands, Post-it notes etc,), a stapler, a tape dispenser, an electric pencil sharpen, a can of pencils, pens, and markers, and a basket for students to turn in paperwork.

Since I couldn’t actually put the teacher’s desk out of my room, it became repurposed as a computer station for my students. Several of them can sit at it at a time and use their netbooks to do group work. The drawers now contain office supplies and writing supplies for my students’
use. I let them organize it. It also is used as a station for art projects.

3. The Tech Stuff
What technology tools will you have access to in your classroom? How many computers will you have? Can you bring in a laptop or iPad cart on occasion? Will your computers need to be hard wired or do you have wireless access? If you wheel in a cart, will there be enough room for the kids to access the contents of the cart in a safe manner? Are all cords and connections out of the walkways? Do you have a charging station available if batteries start dying during use? Can the device still be used while plugged into the charging station? Do you have an interactive whiteboard (IWB)? How will you use your IWB during class - for whole group or small group instruction, or both? What other tech hardware do you have?

Whether you are a one-computer classroom or have a tricked-out tech classroom, you have decisions to make regarding how to arrange your space to allow for the best use of the tech you have available. Be very mindful for where your electrical outlets and Internet cables are located in your room. One year I set up my classroom only to discover that I had to flip everything around because of where the ethernet cord dropped into my room.

4. An Individual Space or Two
Let’s face it, we all want our students engaging in great collaborative projects, but occasionally there is going to be the need for a time out space or an “On My Own” spot. I have two of these in my room. I never refer to them as “time out” spots with my students so these areas don’t get a negative connotation. I have had to quietly ask a student to move to one of these locations during small group work. I have also had students ask me if they can move to one of these spots to work on something quietly by themselves. When planning your room arrangement please make sure to include an On My Own space or two.

5. Bulletin Boards
I can’t tell you the number of hours it used to take me to create beautiful and perfect bulletin boards. I am somewhat OCD, so my lettering had to be exactly straight and items placed on the board had to be just so. Just covering the board with paper and putting up just the right border took forever.


Well, I would rather use my valuable time creating engaging lessons for my students, so  I now do BB differently. I buy black plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Store and cover my BB with them. They are a snap to put up and stay looking nice all year long. Student work that is displayed against the black background really “pop”. And that is all I do.

When the kids enter on Day 1, they will be in charge of creating our classroom BBs. I make one of their first assignments something they have to create to let the rest of us learn about them and of course their creations go up on a BB immediately as completed (put there by the student). We brainstorm a class nickname and theme for the year and the kids decide how to decorate our classroom to convey our theme. They love having that autonomy!


6. Classroom Library and Reading Corner
I believe that every classroom should have a library that the kids use and a reading corner. This can be as elaborate as you would like or just as simple as a small bookcase and a bean bag chair. Check out these boards on Pinterest for some inspiration.

If you have lots of books and have always wanted a great way to catalog them then you will want to head over to Classroom Organizer. I just discovered this site this summer and plan to have some parent volunteers use it to organize all of my books. (You see, I was a reading teacher for over 25 years before I began teaching math and I have thousands of books.)

7. Storage of Manipulatives
No matter what grade level(s) or subject(s) you teach, you have to consider the best way to arrange and store your classroom manipulatives. These items can include such things as base 10 blocks, science equipment, maps and globes, art supplies, learning games, and much more. Where and how will you store them so that they are easy to access and put back? What type of storage devices will you use and how will you label them? Again you can find lots of ideas on Pinterest.

You have to decide what is easiest for you and within your budget. For years I relied on empty copier paper boxes for my storage containers (easy to get and free) and I just labeled them with a Sharpie marker. As the years passed, I started investing in some large plastic storage containers. More recently I have been purchasing clear plastic shoebox containers for many of my smaller manipulatives and supplies, but for years I just used plastic storage bags. Now I’m using our class theme to make labels for the various containers I use.

I have always bought eight containers to put at the collaborative seating groups (I have eight groups of four desks grouped together) in my classroom for easy student access to supplies. Each group captain is responsible to make sure that the container has enough pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks, etc for the group. If we need a certain supply like dice or index cards for the day’s lesson, I can have each group captain add the item(s) to the containers.

8. Classroom Rules
My school has a set of three rules that are used by all teachers throughout the campus. They are Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful. They are printed on posters and are displayed in every classroom and in every common area of our school.

If you are responsible for establishing your own classroom rules, again I would involve your students in this process. Have them brainstorm a list, come to consensus on a list that contains three to five rules, and have them create the poster.

9. Classroom Procedures
You need to envision your room full of 20-40 lively and energetic students. Now you need to think of all of the reasons why those students will need to get up and move about your space. What will that look like and how will that sound? It can be chaotic or easy-peasy depending on the class procedures you have in place. Here is a great resource from Scholastic to help you with procedures.

Discuss and model your procedures starting on Day 1. Make it fun by having your students role-play each procedure being done properly and being done incorrectly. Reinforce your procedures with positive comments and maybe even rewards.

10. Extra Special Touches
Do you rely just on the bank of overhead lights in your classroom for lighting?  Have you ever thought about adding some task lighting? Check your school policy first to find out if it is okay for you to add some lamps to your classroom. Do you have curtains on your windows or at least valances? I added short valences to my classroom windows and love the effect they create. Do you keep plants in your classroom? Just be careful to add plants that are not toxic and again be aware of your school or district policy regarding plants.

Adding some alternative seating such as bean bags, large throw pillows, crate seats and exercise balls is something you might want to consider. Remember that soft surfaced items help absorb noise. I have some pillow pads on individual chairs too. Maybe add an area rug or ask for some old carpet samples from a retailer. These are great  to use when gathering on the floor for large group meetings.

11. Be 100% Ready for Day 1
Classroom set up - check. Plans made for first day and first week - check.  All material prepared and gathered - check.

Here is a checklist I have used for quite a few years to help me get ready for that first day of the new school year. I find that the better I am prepared to begin a new year, the better that year seems to go.

12. Clean Your House, Freeze Some Meals, and Organize Your Wardrobe
One of the best tips I ever read (sorry I can’t remember who to credit) was to clean your house thoroughly from top to bottom before school starts. I know, I know. You have hundreds of other things to do to prepare for your school year, when will you possibly fit this in, or why would you even want to. Well, hear me out.

Picture the first week of school. You probably arrive earlier than usual to make sure everything is ready for the day. You also probably stay later to run off papers, work on lesson plans, and get everything squared away in your classroom. When you finally do get home you will be tired and will probably have things to do to prepare for the next day, the next week, the next month. 

Which front door would you rather open? One that leads into a chaotic, unorganized, cluttered space, or one that opens onto a calm and serene setting where things are where they should be and little is needed from you at that particular moment to make it so. I definitely prefer the later. I can spend time on school work without my guilty conscience voice nagging at me about housework chores that need attention.

Spend some of your last few days of summer vacation stocking up your freezer with some meals for you to grab when cooking  dinner just doesn’t fit into your schedule. (I know I don’t cook much during the first couple of weeks of school.) Check out this post to find out how the blogger spent about four hours to prepare 46 meals.

Since I am definitely not a morning person, I always decide what I’m wearing the next day before I go to bed. At the beginning of the school year, I organize my closet so that my outfits are ready to go for the entire first week of school, right down to the accessories. (Tip - put jewelry in a baggie and add it to the hanger.)

Well, there you have it. My 12 tips for getting ready for the school year. I hope something I shared here is useful to you. I wish each and every one of you a terrific 2015-2016 school year. Make it a great year or not, the choice is yours.

How are your preparations coming along? What would you add to the list?

Photo credits - Classroom by Paula L Naugle
                       Bulletin Board by F. Delventhal CC licensed on Flickr
                       Classroom Library by LizMarie_AK CC licensed on Flickr
Exercise Ball in Classroom by Pam Moran (used with permission)

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Grammarly Chrome Extension

I have added the Grammerly extension to my Chrome Browser. (*I purposely spelled Grammarly wrong in my opening sentence for demonstration purposes.)

Since I am a terrible speller, I love Grammarly's functionality. When I misspelled Grammarly, it was underlined in red and suggestions were made to correct it. As with most programs that try to detect spelling and grammar mistakes, it is not perfect, but it is the best one for me at this time. 

There are several added features that I love also which are not mentioned in the reviews I read. The first one is Grammarly's ability to suggest synonyms for a word based on the word's meaning. All you have to do is double-click on a word, and a pop-up will appear with the definitions and synonyms. 
This is what appeared when I double-clicked on the word unknown is the sentence above.  
Grammarly can also define words for you as you are reading on the web. This is what happens when you're reading an online article and double-click on a word. 


What surprised me the most about Grammarly was the fact that it sends me a weekly email. Here is a screenshot of part of the email. 


The email also includes a summary of overused words. How cool is that!
There is more in the weekly email summary, but these are the two parts of the summary I find most useful. I also need to mention that the email reminds me that there were advanced errors which would have been corrected if I upgraded to the premium version of Grammarly, but I am perfectly satisfied with the free version at this time. 

To learn more about Grammarly, check out this link https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check


Do you use the Grammarly Chrome extension? Please share your thoughts in the comments.