Google Education

In my paperless high school Geometry classroom, I have found a love for using all things Google.  I think on the best things I have discovered is that seamless way that everything works so well together.  One of the things I would like my students to learn is to how to become tech savvy with all things, life skills, Geometry and being productive.  I believe that every person has a positives to add to a topic, for example some teachers are excellent at classroom management, some are excellent at their content, and the same is true for students.  One a month in my classroom, I take a few minutes and talk to my students about what they do in their spare time.  As my students take time to share sometimes I share one of them with my students which may not have to do with my content that day. Google Extensions are often a hot topic in my class, bc we use Google Classroom so much.  One of the the best Google Extensions I discovered has been "read & write for Google Chrome".  I have several students that have a hard time reading or reading on grade level.  Many of my students have 504 plans which allow content to be read to them. I do not have a co teach, which means I have to make sure they get the material read to them as they would on the State Assessment.  I can not read it for everyone in my class, so my solution is Read & Write for Google Chrome.

This extension has been an amazing thing for my students that can have the state test read to them.  It means they are not singled out by having to leave the room for testing, but they get their accommodations for every single assignment. 

XOXO, 

Lynda

Organizing Google Drive with Color and Emojis

I think that this is a super cool trick that I learned.  As my google drive has grown, it has become harder to keep organized.  I think that emojis and colored folders can help you find your favorite folders.

I use this website to copy emojis and then I can paste them into renaming the folder.  I am busy now trying to re name and make the google drive very user friendly so that I do not waste time searching for material that I need.  I think that the more organized you are the more efficient you can be while working on projects.  It seems crazy to me to think about how just a few short years ago everyone was about a Flash Drive, and now the Drive saves everything and you can access it on all devices anywhere you need it.  We do not have to keep up with the flash drives or external hard drives or anything like that.  I am so thankful that I get to experience all the technology that has happened in my lifetime.  To be fair, I learned to type on a Typewriter why before there home computers, laptops and smart phones.

XOXO,
Lynda

Grouping Students

I have been working on doing more station type activities, and while we all love to do things outside of the box time is an issue. I sometimes which that were 12 more hours in each day so I could get all things done.  Planning time is something that is needed for something like stations.  I use to be the teacher that would stand at the door with several different colored sticky notes and that would be my station assignments for the first grouping......UNTIL NOW.....I recently discovered a Google Sheets add on for grouping students it is called Flippity and I am IN LOVE with it and how easy it is for me to group my students.

I actually have it placed in the About Section in my Google Classroom for easy access.  It have used it many many times and not just for grouping my students.  I have started asking questions at the very end of my class every day as my students are placing their Chromebooks up, Spin this and ask the random student a question from our class in review.

Even my high school students like the spinner and the watch it to see if their name comes up.  I know there are many random name selectors out there and this was not the purpose of Flippity for me, however I do enjoy it.  I set the stations or groups in my classroom on the Promethean Board, as my students come in they are directed by color of their group.  I have found for classroom management it is a great tool for my students to find their correct seat and begin work instantly.  I group them differently each time and the students have no idea as to why they are working with the teacher assigned groups.

Here is an example of triples in a group and I often change the number of students in stations or groups depending on the activity at hand. Here is an example of more grouping options from Flippity.

If you decide to use this, or if you have been using it for a longer time that I have please share with me the ways the you have used it.   I also know that there are tons of other things that can be done with this extension but this one is so far my favorite.

XOXO

Lynda

Ga ETC Conference

I was fortunate to have attended the Ga ETC conference in Atlanta Nov 8-10, and it did not disappoint.  I have been still learning even after a week of being at home, the presenters and the sessions were amazing.  I was lucky enough to attend a few years ago after writing a grant, but my oh my has technology changed since my first visit.

I feel like the three days should have been ten days...there are so many great ideas for the classroom out there.  I had a few HUGE take ways that I will be sharing in the next few days.   I know that this blog is my quiet little piece of putting my ideas down mainly for myself,  but if you have not had the opportunity to see Leslie Fisher, Tony Vincent, Christoper Craft you certainly should look for them.  I am a huge fan of Social Media, my least favorite for personal use is Twitter, however professional, I have found that Twitter is like your own personal conference in your PJ's on the couch with your Mac.  I have learned so much from these three and so many more by just following on Twitter.  I encourage you to have a professional Twitter account, I learn more than I post, @lyndamoore209 is my twitter so follow me and show me what you are doing in your classrooms.

xoxo

Lynda 

2 Truths & Lie

Today I was working on my Lessons for my Geometry students, I found myself trying to come up with better ways to show their knowledge.  I have used 2 truths and a lie as a get to know you activity before in the beginning of the school year, but today was the first time I thought about doing that concept in my lesson.  I am a paperless classroom but I believe that students sharing and discussing is very important to their success. I use Google Slides to present my material to my students and below you will see the template that I made today.

While making the template I was thinking about the ways I would be able to use it with many different units.   My students are about to be working with Similar Polygons, so I decided to add the template to the lesson that I was working on tonight.  I decided I would teach them the concept of 2 truths and lie with a pretty simple yet important concept.  Here is what I came up with:

I think that the Screen shot explains that I added it to my lessons before the Ticket for Understanding bc I want to make sure that my students are efficient in similarity.  After doing this tonight, I have gotten the idea that in all of the lessons I am going to add something similar to this maybe a template for finding an error in a problem and correcting it, some like be the teacher.  Stay Tune....

XOXO

Lynda 

Teaching with Bitmojis

Being the mom of two teenagers, I thought Bitmojis were just fun on social media, SnapChatting friends with funny saying.  One thing that I have learned about teaching is that if you let the kids do cool things even if they are doing with Math with them, they will enjoy it.  So I decided to make that my first lesson, we started in class on the first day of school, and the students finished it for homework on the first day of school.  If your homework is making Bitmojis it hardly seems like homework. My colleague and I made a template of emotions that would have to do with learning geometry: frustrated, happy, overwhelmed, proud, confused.  The students were not told why they were making them, so we made a template that included an example from each of us and a place for their bitmoji as well.  We included in the Google Classroom post, the link to the Bitmoji Google Chrome Extension as well as the link to the website Bitmoji.com.   I will attach a copy of the assignment that I placed in Google Classroom and here is a picture of my post.

The Directions of the assignment are shown in the screenshot below and the students had a total of 12 emotions to do.  The teacher examples were meant to be funny but accurate to how someone might feel when doing their geometry.  This assignment was a great opening to my class and how somedays you feel like you are doing well and some days you do not feel like understanding the lesson will ever happen. 

The students feedback about the assignment is important.  During the assignment they do not understand that the Bitmojis will be used for expression about Geometry.  After each lesson,  we include a self assessment for the students to express how they feel about the topic or standard.  I will post some examples of the Self Assessments for a different post.  Over all this is one thing I will keep in my teacher toolbox, it works, it is up to date with the times, the kids seem to enjoy it and it is a great lesson for them to learn how to submit into Google Classroom. 

XOXO

Lynda

Teacher Life

I have good intentions all the time, but teacher time is hard to find in a very busy life.  I started Google Classroom last spring and learned lots.  I made many mistakes but learned so much from them.  I finally got my set of  student chromebooks, and they are so amazing.  Last year I struggled with old laptops but believed in the electronic platform and used them everyday.  Today we have been in school for 2017-1018 school year 9 weeks and the Chromebooks have not been an issue one day.  Well okay, maybe the day I forgot to charge them.  I have transitioned from giving my High School math students sometimes 7 or 8 papers a day to NOT one sheet of paper.  In fact, during the first nine weeks of this year, I gave out a newsletter when I met my students nothing else so far.  I am not doing this to be paperless, I am doing it for it to be AWESOME to my students.  They can literally turn in their assignments from their bed at night.  I am going to make a promise to myself right now that I will try and post weekly and sometimes more depending on what is happening in my class.  Teacher Time often keeps me going along with my two children.  My son is a 20 year old college Jr and my daughter is a 15 year old hs sophomore.  I enjoy learning in fact I like to call myself a Life Long Learner, so I am going to blog about what I learn in my classroom.

XOXO
Lynda

Google Classroom in the beginning

Starting my google classroom experience was amazing.  I teach in a town with one high school and a small private school, we have about 1100 students in our high school.  I have an honors Calculus class, 3 honors GSE Geometry classes, and 2 GSE Geometry.  One of the best things about my job is I get to teach students about math and life.  One of the things I have always loved using in my class is technology.  I have a Promethean Board, and a set of very old laptops.  Today I was promised that my brand new Chrome Books were ordered.  I can not explain the excitement that is happening in my classroom.  I started Google Classroom out very slow, I wanted to get my learners use to the platform, without stressing them with math.  I started with some simple assignments, I took attendance with Google Classroom and just ask them to respond.  Then we started discussion post, and I had my students answer the question and then respond professionally to two of their classmates.  Here are a few screen shots of those interactions:

I like that the students can express themselves as they answer the questions about the math content.  Again I started very simple to get my students warmed up for their experience.  Below is an example of a student answer and another classmate commenting on the post.

I think it is very important that I start building a learning community in my classroom.  I want them to respect their classmates as learners, and be able to be creative, be curious, and collaborate with with each.  I think they can learn a lot from interacting with one another, and build their knowledge of subject as they grow.  I  know that as a mover further on this journey, I want them to be able to work on the same task and collaborate even if they are not together.  Google Classroom allows that!

XOXO

Lynda

KNOW MOORE MATH

I have been thinking a lot about my teaching career and how things have changed since I started teaching 27 years ago.  I was concerned if I had made the right choice when at the end of my first pre-planning day, after my first day of teaching I knew I had!  I taught 5 years at my first school, then went to my second and have been there for 22 years.  Today I am more excited than ever with the possibilities in my classroom.  My county's initiative this year is Google Apps for Education.   After loading up my first few days of lessons, I was disappointed to not be able to start until the end of second nine weeks of school.  HOWEVER....I have started and since January, I have implemented many lessons in Google Classroom.  I am making a huge effort to become more tech savvy, and to learn with my students.  My students literally sleep with Google at night and carry her around with them in their pockets everyday.  As a high school math teacher, I want more engaging ways for my students to master the standards I teach them.  Thank you for following my journey, I want to be able to share resources and ideas.


XOXO
Lynda