Day 26: Introducing Students and Teachers to Google Classroom

Today I had the great pleasure of working with students and staff at Hillsdale Elementary School. My goal was to support teachers and help them gain experience and comfort with Google Classroom.  The two teachers' purpose was to give their students an opportunity to use the online space in an authentic way.

From recent experience, I have learned that the best approach to integrating new technology is to have the students complete a task while using it, yet one that is somewhat more simplified than they might do without the tool.

These were the students' Learning Goals:

We really accomplished a lot in one block of time!  Ideally, you would want to break this down into about 3 or more separate lessons. Think about the fact that the time spent building a strong foundation will pay off in the long run. Here's a quick overview of what we did:

• oral discussion to activate their background knowledge: How do we behave in our regular classroom in order to be successful learners and to help others learn?
• students were given a challenge question to discuss with a partner and then reflected on how well they followed the expectations discussed earlier
• the teachers were taken into Google Classroom and set up a new class, then gave the code to their students who used it to join.
• teachers created a Google doc with a two-column table so students could brainstorm expectations for how they should interact in Google Classroom (Here's a peek at a copy of what they have so far.) The teacher posted it in Google Classroom as an Assignment and chose the option: "Students can edit file" so they could ALL edit that ONE file!
• next, students applied those expectations by participating in a written conversation.  The teacher posted a "Question" in Google Classroom.  This enabled the students to reply to a prompt before getting to see classmates' responses and then could even challenge the thinking of their peers by posing questions or making connections in a reply. Teachers were happy to hear about their ability to assess the student work in this activity
• finally, the teacher created another quick Google doc with one specific question that each student would answer independently.  It was added to an Assignment and posted for the students using the option "Make a copy for each student".  After completing the brief task, students clicked on Turn in.  It was also pointed out to them that they are able to "unsubmit" work

Reflecting back on the lesson, we would advise teachers to be sure that all students were already set up on their Board Google accounts and comfortable using their login and password before beginning these three separate lessons.  Teachers and students will need to revisit and add to the list of Expectations they co-created as the need arises. Posting them in the Google Classroom or on the wall as an anchor chart will emphasize their importance.  Differentiated instruction was achieved by showing some students how to use Voice Typing in their Google Doc and then having it read back to them using a text to speech extension.  Students were very engaged so it will be exciting to see how their skills evolve while they learn through this valuable tool.

Many thanks to Kim, Mac and their students at Hillsdale Elementary School.

Day 23: Using the Writing Process...Digitally

The iOS app called Book Creator (available in the Airwatch catalogue on the board iPads) is an extremely versatile tool that is suitable for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12!  It connects seamlessly with the Writing Process that teachers use with their students.  Here’s a sample lesson with a Grade 3 class as they explored procedural writing.

In keeping with the gradual release approach to balanced literacy, the teacher had already done some modelled and shared procedural writing with her class on chart paper.  The students had a fairly solid understanding of the format that would be used for their own writing.  

We reviewed the anchor charts and brainstormed a list of possible topics they could use for procedural writing.  Next, we did a quick overview of only the most basic features of Book Creator (see this video).  This gave the students some scaffolding without bogging them down with too many details.  

Off they went in pairs to create and discuss a plan for their collaborative procedural writing.  Once they had agreed upon a topic, they were given an iPad and set out to write their “draft”.  The students were engaged in the writing and needed only minimal support to expand their ideas digitally.  Once the ideas were flowing, students were challenged to change the size or colour of the font.  Some explored the ability to add video or audio to their writing.  

It was exciting to discover during the mini-lesson with the whole group, that the students understood the clear distinction between revising and editing.  They were reminded that in order to revise, they needed to re-read their work carefully. During this particular session, most had enough time to use the Speak Selection feature to be able to listen to their text a second time and ask themselves if it “made sense” and “sounded right”.  

During their next lesson, the students will be given more time to finish their writing and move on to the editing stage.  While thinking about whether their text “looks right” they will check for capitals, punctuation and spelling.  

Students will be directed back to their anchor chart to have an opportunity to make any further additions or modifications.  At this stage, self and peer feedback can be used to inspire the co-creation of success criteria to support further exploration of procedural writing. Another exciting feature that teachers can use in an innovative way is to give student feedback using an audio recording.  In this way, teachers add a temporary layer of feedback that is easily understood by the students and placed directly where it’s needed.

It was exciting to see how far some of the students were able to go during just one lesson. Imagine the growth that is sure to follow with more experience, additional feedback and evolving success criteria!  

Here’s one example of a first attempt at procedural writing in Book Creator:

Thanks to Mundy’s Bay Public School teacher Kim Rettinger and her Grade 3 students for learning and sharing with me.