Giving kids what they need within the time frame in which they can actually (and will actually) do something with it is crucial to their learning. In this sense, I would propose that it’s far more important that our feedback be engaging than our “instruction”.
To facilitate keeping good records of contacts I have made with parents, I created a Google Form that I, alone, have access to. This provides an interface on which I can quickly record a summary of my conversation, whom I contacted and the results. All of the information I enter feeds into a Google Sheet for my own documentation and for access at any point later on. The form is set to allow multiple entries. All I have to do is click the eye icon to see the entry interface.
Dearborn Schools teachers are required to have and maintain a Wordpress blog ("iBlog") by posting each week. But juggling a blog and Google Classroom has been a serious concern for many teachers. In a lot of ways, teachers can be duplicating their work. The last thing...
Today, students in Mr. Apple’s class at Woodworth Middle school began their next tech-integrated project for 8th Grade U. S. History: A Civil War Google My Maps group activity. Google My Maps allows students to create and collaborate on a custom map in a familiar way since My Maps works just like a Google Doc or Google Slides presentation.
We were live on Google Hangouts on Air this morning discussing how to set up a Moodle Workshop module (view the recording below). Here’s a glimpse of what Amy and I talk about when we’re not meeting with teachers, and also a tutorial (in full or in part) on how to set up the Workshop module for your own class!
Every endeavor into a new tool or strategy comes at the expense of something else that isn’t being pursued. Every endeavor involves a tradeoff as well as an investment. And if the investment is mostly financial (which is often the case for the most “user-friendly” tools), we can be in for a rude awakening when the funding dries up, the focus shifts, or the vision changes. People who invest time and energy in using a particular tool can find themselves in a quandary when it suddenly goes away or becomes a paid service. So much of what we try to do or use in education simply isn’t sustainable in any sense of the word.