6 Reasons I Love ClassFlow

It's official....summer is over for students and teachers in East Texas!  We are headed back to school tomorrow with new friends to meet and fresh opportunities to make a lasting difference.  In preparation for the new year, I have hit the Target Dollar Spot more than one should, bought my Heidi Swapp light box, and taken a deep dive into Promethean's ClassFlow.

For me, ClassFlow is a keeper (and not just because I saw my favorite teacher, Ron Clark, using it at ISTE 2016)!  It is truly an all-in-one solution.  From presentation station to interactive student response cards, ClassFlow has it all.  I've practiced using it this summer alongside a few of my teacher besties and we all agree...we have a serious case of #ClassFlowLuv!!!

Here are a few of the things that I love most:
1.  It is possible to have both teacher AND student cards.  So, one card can be displayed on the board and another card can be sent directly to the student device.  This allows students to refer to the image displayed by the teacher while interacting with information unique to the device that they are using.  So, in my STEM Nametag Challenge lesson, I was able to explain the engineering design process while students thought through how they would complete the design process template.

2.  And when I say unique, I mean that you can literally differentiate student assignments using ClassFlow.  Groups can be pre-set and when student cards are distributed during the presentation of the lesson, assignments that have been selected based upon student needs are sent directly to participants.  Since it is digital, you have electronic documentation of differentiation for all students.

3. ClassFlow makes it easy to consistently monitor the quality of student participation and performance with real time polling options available.  Simply with a click of a button you can ask students different types of questions like true/false, Likert scale, text or number answers, and even creative response allowing students to draw or capture an image!!!!

4.  Whether using a poll on the fly or integrating planned assessments within the web tool, ClassFlow allows you to systematically gather input from students to monitor comprehension and adjust instruction as needed.  No more going 50+ places to provided varied student assessments. With ClassFlow, it is all available in one spot!

5.  Since ClassFlow is web-based, teachers and students can be anywhere and still access instruction. Just this morning, I sat in a McDonald's in Louisiana and tutored a student in Texas using ClassFlow!!! We saw the same images.  I got real-time feedback.  I was able to help as needed and guide him through tough concepts...while working 212 miles away.  I love this, because I have struggled for years with being able to teach multiple students who were out with prolonged absences due to medical issues.  I could figure out how to present one sided lessons, but other than utilizing the speaker on my phone or a service for which I had to pay, I couldn't figure out how to get real-time feedback from my students.  With ClassFlow...problem solved!

6.  Finally, I like that ClassFlow has a Marketplace with a plethora of awesome lessons searchable by topic or standard making it unnecessary to reinvent the wheel as we give ClassFlow a try!

Evernote 101: Tagging and Emailing Into an Evernote Notebook

Last weekend, I began my crash course into Evernote inspired by Twitter friends on a Saturday morning chat. The purpose: figure out how to utilize Evernote at school.  On my first weekend, I learned how to Share Evernote Notes and Publish My Notes to a Blog.  This week I happened to be reading others' blogs and there were several I wanted to save to review again later.  So I did what I normally do...I emailed it, but this time not to my own inbox (which always seems to be overflowing with articles I want to save)...for this article, I mailed it to Evernote!  I am happy to say that I even learned how to file it in a specific notebook and give it a tag!!! I am thrilled with my accomplishment:)

Here's what I did:

To start, I needed to get my personal email upload address from Evernote, so I opened my app and clicked on my name in the upper left corner.

It opened the "Settings" and I scrolled down to  "Evernote Email Address".

When I opened the tab, I chose to copy the address to my clipboard (now, I wonder if I couldn't have just chosen the top option...not sure).

After pasting it in the first time, all I have to do now is type an "e" and Evernote Upload pops up in my address bar.

Now, when I want to send an article to Evernote, I can email the note directly into a specific notebook complete with a tag and a reminder.

How?  When I find an article I want to save, I choose to share it

via email.

After typing the title, I can put the note in a specific notebook by using the @ symbol.  To give it a tag, I use the "#" sign. 

Once I hit send, I can my note in the specified notebook

or when searching by the designated tag.

My UltiMaTe BiG QueSTioN and reason behind my exploration: How do I use Evernote with students and teachers at school? 

Well for me, Way #3:  I would definitely share this feature with students completing research projects. What an easy way to CuRAtE INfOrmATioN pertinent to a project! 

Top 10 Most Read Blog Posts and How to Know

This is officially my 100th post.  I knew it was coming all week...today on #MyFavFriday if I kept up with my commitment to write daily in July. For me, it is momentous (I am not a writer. I am a math teacher.) So, as I begin this post, I hear little trumpets and see paper streamers sailing down from the heavens.  I did it!  I did it!  I actually strung together enough words to form paragraphs to generate 100 posts.

I admit it:  I searched other blogs to see what one was supposed to write on this special occasion.  There was a lot of looking back and highlighting best posts.  When I reflected back on how it all began, I chuckled...my posts have changed, my style has changed, but my purpose has stayed the same: share good stuff about school - you know, ideas to positively impact teaching and learning.

My top 10 most read posts of all time are a reflection of my purpose.  So, in true 100th posts fashion, here they are:

1.   Ideas for Interactive Student Notebooks

 

2.  Bulletin Board Update (QR Codes on College Logos for Junior and  Senior Level Students)

3.  Entering Equations in Edmodo

4.   Splat! (Review Game)

 5.  Teacher Binder Printable

6.  Equipment Tracking with QR Codes

 7.  Creating a Time Capsule (For Students, By Students)

8.  QR Code Scavenger Hunt

9.  Top Take-aways from ISTE

10.  Scratch Off Cards

How do I know this you may be wondering, well honestly my little Blogger bar told me, but I am committed to getting better at understanding the blog-o-sphere for my next 100 posts.  No, really, I am.  Here's what I am doing...after accepting this month's #July2014Challenge, I decided to learn more about blogging (6 years after I started) and I found Renee Gorskreutz's podcast and blog.

She had so many tips including a recommended reading of @ProBlogger's book: 31 Days to a Better Blog (available in hard copy and digital).  After downloading and reading the entries for the first few days, I stumbled upon #MyFavFriday: Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is totally new to me (and I am certain that I still do not understand all that there is to know about it), but apparently it will help one's blogging by generating data for review (a math teacher's dream).  

Could this be a class project in the making???  Just maybe...but that will be a lot closer to post #125 :D

S'more Smores Please

This is Week 3 of #ptcamp for me, an online book study of Beyond the Bake Sale which is focused on building quality partnerships between schools and families. This week's topic: link everything to learn, even communications home. What I was reading seemed to go hand in hand with what I was hearing from Theresa Stager via #RSCON5 on Branding Your School.  She shared lots of great tips including ideas to get your message out to the community.  In the book study, we are talking about partnerships (not brands), but part of building partnerships involves communication.  We have brainstormed topics of what to communicate, but I am interested in how to communicate.

So first let me say, I've started and stopped this post several times and here I am again...this time to finish.  I hesitated to share this webtool, because it has been around for some time (in fact, I even blogged about it back in December).  But it is a unusually cool evening in July, a perfect time for a Smore.

Logo for Smore

No not that kind...this kind!

My Creation from Christmas in Response to Andrea Keller's Challenge

The one that let's you create beautiful flyers and newsletters for your students and their families in just 3 easy steps:)  

I am stealing this idea from Jay Posick, a school principal for students in grades 4-8.  In the #ptcamp online chat, he shared that each week, he sends out a Smore newsletter, all archived on the school website and view-able online.  

Principal Posick's Weekly Newsletter

You can add almost any feature you want to connect families to what is happening at school.  Can you image embedding a video showing how to complete an assignment or help prep for a test?  Maybe include an audio file of a student sharing their genius with classmates.  

The ideas are endless and so are they ways that you can communicate via Smore.  Thanks Jay for sharing the idea!

Evernote 101: Publish To A Blog

Evernote, Evernote, Evernote!  Every where I turn someone seems to be talking about Evernote, but why? Yesterday was the day that I started my quest to figure it out and answer my UltiMaTe BiG QueSTioN: How do I use Evernote with students and teachers at school?

Let me back up even further...In 2012, I was on my treadmill (yes, that probably WaS the last time...) listening to Classroom 2.0 Live featuring Linda Yollis, a teacher of 3rd grade students in California.  The topic: blogging with students.  Let me state the obvious...she was so phenomenal that I still remember the conversation 2 years later!


Blogging?  In the vodcast, she stated that any class could blog, because blogging provides an opportunity to teach and practice quality writing (great for any content area and any grade level).  Blogging gives students an opportunity to produce quality posts for an authentic audience from around the world helping to build a global community.  By design, it provides

Image from Mrs. Yollis' Blog

opportunities for differentiation and it gets kids reading and writing about things that interest them (my mother-in-law, a retired librarian, says that this is critical).

So, what does this have to do with Evernote? Well, when researching ways to share a note in Evernote , I  found that you can publish from within Evernote to Postach.io, a blogging platform.  This is huge!!! I know of several teachers who have wanted to blog with students for some time, but the logistics of how and with what equipment has stalled the progress of the project.

In my mind this is Evernote to the rescue!!! Since you can use any device to add content to Evernote, students can add content to their blog from a computer, a phone, or anything else loaded with the Evernote app!  I had to give it a try...

So, I signed up for Postach.io and 

linked my Postach.io account to my Evernote account.

Postach.io asked if I was sure that I wanted to give it access.  (Don't worry, I can change my mind later if I decide not to use it.)

And then, poof...I was done!

I headed back to Evernote to tag the notes that I wanted to add to the blog as "published".  It was supposed to automatically publish to my Postach.io site, but...  

I guess I missed something.  So, I headed back to Postach.io and clicked the "pencil" to edit (though now, I wonder if I could have just hit the swirly arrows to sync...not sure.)

I then went to "Sources" and chose the notebook I wanted to share. The man on the video didn't say anything about selecting just one notebook, so I am not sure if it only possible to share from only one notebook in Evernote, but if so, consider naming it "Postach.io" or "Blog Posts", so that it is clear for students.

Final step, I went back to the Postach.io Dashboard and clicked the arrows beside the blog's name to sync.  Once Postach.io and Evernote are set-up, every note that is tagged as "published" will automatically appear on the blog  (without having to click the "swirly arrows")!   

So, Way #2 to use Evernote with students and teachers: PuBLiSH To A BloG!

Opus Math...Favorite Find!!!

I have a new love and his name is Opus...Opus Math.  The best thing about Opus is that he is loaded...loaded with math problems aligned for the Common Core along with handy, dandy answer keys! What more could a girl wish for???

Let me tell you how we met...this year, I have had some trepidation as I was tasked with creating new content aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  As anyone who wants to make sure that they are not leading a class full of students down the wrong path, I searched and researched to verify that what I was teaching was what the authors of the CCSS intended.   My first find was LearnZillion (bless those precious creators for producing quality content to help boost my confidence as I transitioned to the new standards) and then I stumbled upon Saginaw Valley's pacing guides linked to online resources aligned with the Common Core.  Both were fantastic resources for me to ensure that I was explaining the content in the same manner that someone else did, but I wanted to find yet another place to verify that I was assessing student understanding according to the standards.  After much searching, I found Opus Math!

Logo from Opus Math

Opus Math is a beautiful resource.  You can search for assessment items directly if you know the standards that you want to assess...

or you can search from the whole list of standards to find what you need.  If you choose to search standard by standard, you will see a full description pop-up as you scroll across each one.

After you select the standard you want to assess, you can browse through the questions and choose to include "all" or only specific items.

To create your assessment, scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Make Assignment".  You will be prompted to sign in or make an account (if you didn't already) - don't worry, it's free!

Build your assignment to meet your needs: add a title, class period, teacher's name, etc.

Then, your assignment will download to your computer and you can open it using Microsoft Word or in your Google Drive.  You can continue to edit the assessment items or add more questions to the document if needed.

As if that weren't fabulous enough (I know, it sounds like I am selling it, but I am really just this excited), you can download the KeY!!!!!

I know!!!  Can you see why Opus Math is my new favorite find???!!!??  My mind is racing...I could download one question a day on a half sheet of paper for a bellringer, take a screen shot and throw it on my whiteboard for an exit ticket, or have all of my assessments created before school starts.

Opus Math = Love!!!