Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Using Educreations as a Formative Assessment Tool

Technology + Formative Assessment = One happy teacher!!  Two things that I love the most are formative assessment and using technology.  When Tech with Jen introduced this as our challenge for the month of February I was head over heals excited!!

We have been studying fractions and I wanted to know just how much my students understood about how to subtract fractions between 1 and 2.  Using Educreations was the perfect way for me do assess their understanding! According to the website, "Educreations is an exciting app that transforms your iPad into a recordable whiteboard.  It records your voice, handwriting and also allows you to insert pictures to produce your own personal video lessons that you and your students can share online."  I have used Educreations to create my own videos for my students, but they have never used it to demonstrate their understanding of a concept.  Well, today was the day!!

I checked out 5 iPads and I introduced my students to Educreations.  I did a very brief tutorial on how to use the tools to create their videos and they were ready to create.  They were very excited from the start because they felt like they were now stepping into the role as the teacher!  How awesome it must be to create videos just like the teacher! Here is a video created by one of my students.  What does this student know about subtracting fractions between 1 & 2?  What other data can you gather about this student from her video?




After reviewing their videos, I have been able to gather so much data on my students' understanding of subtracting fractions between 1 & 2.  This is the greatest piece of any formative assessment you use!  I can now target those students who are still struggling and challenge those students who are ready to move on. I love technology and formative assessment! While watching the videos, I learned that a few of my students (ones that I just knew had it!) still didn't understand the concept of creating equivalent fractions to find the common denominator.  The data that I gathered from these videos was incredible!  Like I mentioned earlier...technology + formative assessment = one happy teacher!


There are multiply ways to use Educreation as a formative assessment tool!  I would love to hear about some ways you've used it or ways that you would like to use it to assess your students!  Thanks Jen for the challenge!  


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Loving Padlet for Student Engagement

Hi All!  Since my passion is integrating technology into my instruction, I decided to take the plunge and join Tech with Jen's VIP Membership.
Tech with Jen
This has been the best thing I have done so far this school year! This is a community of learners who are eager to learn more about implementing technology within their daily instruction.  Each month Jen provides weekly challenges.  For the month of November its all about student engagement and how to use technology to help!  

To complete week one's challenge I decided to use Padlet to engage my students. We are just beginning to study food chains and I wanted to see how much my students actually knew. Padlet was a great tool to use to assess their understanding. Creating my Padlet board was quick and easy.  I literally created this board in just a few seconds!  I just typed in my question and shared the Padlet board with my students.  All they had to do was double click on the board and begin typing!



After we discussed food chains (on day two), I then created another Padlet that allowed students to watch a video and then create a food chain from one of the 5 ecosystems we have studied in class.  This allowed for some great classroom discussion on food chains as some of the food chains students created were incorrect.  My students were able to successfully apply the meaning of omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores during their discussion!! After they created their food chain, students then researched the web for more information on food chains.  Their challenge was to find an image that was close to their food chain and add it to their post on Padlet. I was very impressed with what they produced!  The most important thing was that I had 100% of my students engaged throughout this entire lesson with the help of technology!


What might be some ways you can use Padlet to engage your students? Or how have you used Padlet in your classroom?  I would love to hear your thoughts!  Thanks Jen for the challenge!  I am ready for week two!

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

TpT Seller Challenge Week Two: Dare to Dream

I am a week behind in my TpT Seller's Challenge, but I am determined to get caught up!  This past week has been busy with getting my son back and forth to dance practice in order to prepare for his trip to Las Vegas for the National Dance Awards Competition and preparing for our trip.  Now that we are in Vegas and my son is in his dance class, I can spend some time getting caught up on my TpT Seller's Challenge!


Week two of the challenge is Dare to Dream.  I have so many goals for my TpT store, but I am going to only share my top two goals.

Goal #1: Pay dance tuition!

 

This year my son made the company dance team!  Whoop Whoop!  I was super excited for him because dancing is his passion!  Little did I know the cost is very expensive.  There is monthly tuition and membership fees, costumes which have to be purchased, travel and hotel expenses (like this Las Vegas trip to the Dance Awards National Convention), and the cost of the three dance conventions we attend each year.  Oh, did I mention that there is a cost for each dance piece my son dances in at each convention. Oh yeah, there is also the cost of his weekly private lessons! No, private lessons are not included in the monthly tuition fee!  So as you can see dance is quite expensive. TpT has helped me cover a great deal of my son's dance! I thank God for giving me the ability to create great resources to help supplement my income for my son's dream! 

Goal #2: Help teachers to be successful!

I love helping teachers!  My goal is that TpT will help me to a develop a PLC that will allow me to share various professional development opportunities that will help teachers be successful in the classroom.  For example, I am very big on flipping the classroom.  I would love to create an entire online workshop on flipping the classroom and share it with other teachers.  I want to develop creative resources for teachers to use to help them get started with flipping their classroom as well as resources for students to use within the flipped classroom. This is just one example of the many ideas I have for teacher professional development.


These are just two of my goals for TpT.  My second goal is going to take some time, but just sitting her blogging about it has my mind working overtime!  Off I go to put some things on paper to begin developing the PLC that will help teachers be successful!  Do you have any ideas that would help me get started?  I would love to hear from you!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

TpT Sellers Challenge: Week #1 Makeover Madness

I have taken on the TpT Seller's Challenge hosted by these four amazing bloggers -
 
This challenge came at the perfect time!  One of my goals this summer is to spend more time on my Teachers Pay Teacher store.  The challenge began this week and I have been busy, busy, busy trying to complete the first challenge - Makeover Madness.  The first product that needed a serious makeover is my 13 Formative Assessments to Use With Any Subject.  I have wanted to update this product for the longest!  As a matter of fact my intern was looking through my store and said about this product, "This must have been one of your first products because you would never create anything like this now!" I knew then I had to do a huge makeover! I was going to just update the cover, but then thought to myself - Go for the gusto and update the entire product!

 
As you can see the cover is more pleasing to the eye!  The different fonts make the cover page pop and the graphics add a nice touch.  I have also added the grades which this product is appropriate for and my copyright has also been added to the product.
I have also changed the borders and the graphics on each assessment page, making them a bit bolder. I wanted to give the product a more clean look and feel!  The fonts have also been changed making it much easier to read. Finally, my copyright has been added to each assessment which was not anywhere on the first product!  So, if you already own this product and like the makeover, be sure to head over to 
and download the updated version!

If you like this new look and would like to have it for your class next year, you are in luck! It is currently on sale!  Click here to head over to my store to grab it!  Check out the video for a quick preview of some of the assessments I have included in this product for you and their new makeover!  


Be sure to check back for more product makeovers!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Teensy Tabs: End of School Year Memory Booklet

It is so hard to believe that the end of the school year is here!  We have 14 more days of school left, but whose counting?! :) How many do you have?!  I have many activities planned to help keep my students engaged these last few days of school.  One activity is my Teensy Tabs: End of School Year Memory Booklet.  My students loved completing this end of year activity. This booklet allowed them to share their favorite experiences from this school year.  It also gave them the opportunity to share some of the things they liked about me as their teacher.  I always love this part of any end of the school year memory book!  Once students completed their books they were allowed to share them with their classmates and sign the autograph page at the end of the booklet.



Teensy Tabs is a new concept that I have used this year with my students.  If you like Teensy Tabs: End of School Year Memory Booklet, be sure to check out my World War I and What is Matter Teensy Tab booklets!

  
Teensy Tab booklets can be used as a study tool and as a way to assess student leanring of a particular concept or skill.  I often use them in the place of a quiz! Students especially love this!  Students can also staple their Teensy Tab booklet in their interactive journals so that they will always have them right there at their fingertips!  I absolutely love Teensy Tabs and will be working on more this summer!  What would you like to see in a Teensy Tab booklet?