Google Classroom.

  Last week, I attended a technology conference where I spent a whole day on google classroom.  I've been thinking about what the presenter said and it made sense.

I have students who are gone traveling for sports, 2 to 3 days a week.  They often miss a lot of material when they are out of the classroom.  I decided that google classroom is a good tool so I can list all the warm-ups, assignments, up coming tests, etc and they can check it out while they are gone.

I've already discovered I can create a quick question for students to answer.  When they turn in their answer, I can reply and grade in a short time. I am able to list assignments, due dates, start discussions, etc with no problem.  If students get stuck while traveling, they can post questions to me via private conversation.

Our school is set up as a google education school which is one reason I chose it.  I've already been posting links for videos so if a student gets stuck, they can watch the video as many times as needed to help finish work.   I have assigned a project to my geometry class with all the information and due date so students can check and recheck it.

I still give out actual papers with work on it but as soon as I have them adjusted to using google classroom, I'll start telling them to answer 5 problems but they have to show all their work and explain what they did and why they did it to show me their understanding.

My first period is doing well adjusting to it.  They come in, sign in, and start on their warm-ups.  In fact, several students made the suggestion I label all questions as a warm-up to  make it easier for them to find and complete.  I love the suggestions.

My next step is to have the google apps put on my iPads to open up more opportunities for student work.  Eventually, I would like to have it so students use little if any paper, otherwise they loose everything including their calendars, notebooks, and homework.  I want to make life a bit easier.

So far I am enjoying this tool.  It does not take me long to grade warm-ups, set up work for the next day, or make announcements.  Yes. I am moving into the 21st century.

A web site with quizzes.

The problem with using online quiz or practice sites, is that many sites use java or flash and cannot be used on the iPads.  Today, I had two different classes use http://www.ixl.com/math/ to practice.  One class used it to practice identifying congruent triangles using SSS and SAS, while the others class worked on writing an equation using the point slope form.  Both worked really well.  The only issue is that students are only allowed a certain number of practice problems each day before you are told that you need to join.  I liked using the website because if the students missed the problem, they were told exactly what they did wrong and how they should have done it.  The kids enjoyed working and learned the material.  I plan to use this website again.
On the other hand, we are still having issues with google.  I know the tech dept is working on getting us set up with google docs but that won't be for a while.  Up to recently, the head of the tech dept has said no to google docs.  We are not allowed to use Dropbox and we are trying to get the ability to use youtube videos without out getting preapproval through the tech dept to get the one video unblocked for the day.  Life is always a challenge.

google and Schoology

Due to reasons beyond anyone's control, we cannot access any portion of google at work.  This is making it much harder because I can't access any google docs, the community, not even my blog.  So until they get that fixed, I have to wait till I get home.
Another teacher showed me something I didn't realize was in Schoology.  As I mentioned earlier, I am learning to use the app and getting my students used to checking it for assignments.  Today another teacher showed me that within the quiz/test option is a way of attaching common core standards. That is cool.  I also created my first quiz. Six questions were short answer and four were multiple choice. I want students to identify the slope and y-intercept in equations in the slope intercept form.  I choose the short answer questions although I now realize that I could have used the fill in the blank type questions.  I am going to keep that in mind. Little by little, I am learning to use the program and in the process I am working on getting students to check it for grades.