Designing with Passion Part 2

Designing with Passion Part 2

Now that I have almost all of my CASAS 83-84 materials and quizzes converted to Google Docs, I am looking for a simple way to give students access to the materials. I would like them to be able to go to whatever materials they need to review and support their learning on specific content they need to work on.

I would prefer something within Google so that they don’t have to log in to a different site. Any ideas?

I’m thinking a grid of some kind – maybe a la blendspace — something very visual but that gives them direct access to the materials they need.

More ideas – gleaned from Hacking Literacy Voxer group – our school is just two blocks from our town’s public library. It’s time to get everyone a library card and show them how to find books on their own!

Designing with Passion Project

Designing with Passion Doc

Many many thanks to my amazing colleague and friend Sarah Thomas @sarahdateechur for inviting us to participate in her Designing with Passion project for educators.  In the space of about 20 minutes, the ideas that had been swirling around in my head became visible to me in this doc. My project, which I have been “unknowingly” working on for the last nearly five years, is to create dynamic interactive ESL and math literacy materials for adult immigrants with no previous education in their L1. Another part of the project, or perhaps a different project, but at this point they dovetail very easily, is to infuse appropriate digital learning materials throughout all levels of my ESL class (I teach all levels 1 – 6).

So the transition is from almost “0” learning materials for the very low literacy students to abundant print AND digital materials. And for the more literate students – to transform the curriculum so that it doesn’t look at all like a book based class, but rather a digital AND print class.

 

There are so many elements – I have started by creating a foundation with Google Docs. Students now follow our class notes (I use Google Docs as a whiteboard) on their tablets. They can interact with the google doc at any time during the class.

MaterialsFound a homeschool store near by. Will explore for hands-on materials that might be available to purchase for cheap.

 

 

Capstone 8-14

 

Vocabulary Mastery – CASAS 81X using Quizlet

 Goals: As a result of this unit, students will be able to: 

1. Create their own  flashcards using the free version of Quizlet either on a computer or their own device (BYOD)
2. Find pictures for the designated vocabulary within Quizlet.
3. Read, correctly pronounce, and understand what the words mean.

Activities

Students will use technology to learn vocabulary related to CASAS 81X and 82X standardized test. They will:

1.  Create their own illustrated vocabulary cards using images from Quizlet’s free version. 
2. Practice the vocabulary using Quizlet’s study tools.
3. Share their set with others in the class.

 

Time Frame: 3 to 5  1-hour periods – depends on skill level of student

Teacher Resources:

1. Computer, devices
2. Google Drive and Google Docs
3. Projector
4. CASAS Vocabulary List
5. Quizlet

Student Resources

1. CASAS Vocabulary List
2. Translator app (if needed)
3. Computer or handheld device of their choice
4. Quizlet account

Teacher Preparation

1. Vocabulary lists
2. Set Quizlet parameters
3. Instruction sheets for volunteers
4. Screencasts for volunteers and students

Teacher Directions For Lesson

1. Give typed vocabulary sheets to students.
2. Show Screencasts:  How to Set Up a Quizlet  and How to Use Quizlet Flashcards.
3. Provide time for students to practice using Quizlet. 
4. Observe, provide assistance and make adjustments as needed. 

ISTE 2: Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments

 

 

15-PLN

1. Build your PLN via a social network. My current “go to” PLN is my Edumatch Voxer group. This group knows about every EdCamp and EdTech conference in the country, as well as other related events. Anytime I have a question about apps or materials, I put it out there and someone (usually more than one person) has solutions. For example I had been using EdPuzzle to divide a video into short segments but EdPuzzle lacked some features I needed, so I put the question out there and within a few minutes people had suggested  3 or 4 alternatives. There is always ongoing discussion about various education issues, topics and ideas for implementation. They are also active on Twitter with a Twitter chat called “Tweet n Talk” every Sunday at 6PM. There is a MichEd group which I also belong to.

2. Follow the 21Things for Teachers Twitter Network #21things4

3. Build PLN via educational organization: MACUL

a. SIG – I tried to join several SIG Google groups, both by clicking the links provided and using the QR codes. I always got the message “…no group named “_____” so I tried following on Twitter. I am following  @SIGMM_MACUL and finding some very good resources including many tweets from Ruston Hurley’s keynote at MACUL 2016. Lots of good stuff in that keynote. I’m not a big fan of the Twitter format – I find it cluttered, but I do like the networking and sharing of resources that the Twitter platform makes possible.

b. MACUL Journal article – Individualizing Instruction

This article targeted three free tools that I’ve been playing with – Blendspace, Screencastify and EdPuzzle but I hadn’t taken the next step to create individualized lessons. After reading this article, I have a framework for creating my first individualized lesson. I can use Google Forms to create the pre and post tests, put them as well as video and other resources into Blendspace, use EdPuzzle to segment any videos I add and Screencastify to record any instructions or additional resources.

4.  Use an Educational Organization’s Resources: REMC projects page > Connected Educators 

On the REMC projects page I found several Connected Educator Videos. I chose one on Livebinder because I want to learn how to use it better. Getting Organized Digitally. It was out-of-date (2013) and although some of the features are still current, several have changed and it was confusing trying to follow along. The tutorials on LiveBinder are more current.

ISTE 5a, c, d

9-Be Legal and Fair

Copyright Quiz – Very interesting quiz – I took it twice, a pre-and post-test, one before reading through the material and then again after. I am happy to say that I did quite well the first time through and the few questions I didn’t know, I was able to understand after reviewing the course material.

 

Reflection about copyright – to my knowledge I have never knowingly or unknowingly broken text copyright laws I guess because I have been aware of them since as long as I can remember. In elementary school we were taught to quote and cite whenever we did a research paper.  These days I don’t write research papers, but I do create many custom handouts using graphics to help my students with reading and vocabulary. Until I knew about image usage rights I freely downloaded images from Google, but strictly for use within my class. Even though Fair Use may apply here, since I learned about usage rights and creative commons licensing, I use only images from open source/CC sites.

Creative Commons Website License – Here is the license for my  Grand Haven ESL site. 

This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Plagiarism Checkers: For this assignment, I used two different text passages:

1. The first paragraph from Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship showed up as plagiarized with three different checkers ( Dupli Checker,  Plag Tracker, and PaperRater. Here are example screenshots:

 

2. To compare, I tried something a student wrote. Both sites detected no plagiarism.

This tool can be really useful, but would be pricey for an individual teacher, since the free versions are quite limited.

4-Dropbox

I have used Dropbox extensively for several years. I had tried several online services and  it was the easiest and most reliable at the time. Now there is Google Drive and I use it to store all my class notes, handouts and everything I do in Google, but Dropbox is still my go-to backup service because it has always worked well for me and continues to be easy, convenient and quick (except for videos).  Here are three examples:

Citizenship

Bingo Excel

Emergency

2-Face of the Classroom

Here are links to the two sites I have created for my class:

http://newfkid.wix.com/grandhavenesl#!home/mainPage

https://sites.google.com/site/grandhaveneslclass/home