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Hyperdoc Happiness: Transform Teacher Inservice

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready for start-of-the-year professional development? Inservice workshops may prompt a groan or two. That may be from the unforgiving cafeterias seats, the less-than-exciting lectures, or the lack of choice. That last item can be the most stifling for educators. After all, one of our most cherished values is the freedom to choose. In this blog entry, I’ll share some ways to get hyperdoc happiness going in your teacher inservice.

hyperdoc

Created by Rachel Marker (@rachelmarker)

Freedom to Choose

The freedom to choose, or the “pursuit of happiness,” is a regular casualty. Our expectations for adult learners may sometimes include “Learn what I have to teach you, even if you find it boring.” And educators seldom have the opportunity to choose how they learn. Not only do they have to sit through inservice trainings, they are often constrained by 20th century technologies. K-12 students, though, can exercise their options about the learning they are interested in.

Consider Dr. Chris Moersch’s H.E.A.T framework. Let’s take a look at each of the main components:

  • Higher-Order Thinking: Students learn/question at the Evaluating/Creating levels.
  • Engaged Learning: Students collaborate to define the task, the process, and/or the solution. Collaboration extends beyond the classroom.
  • Authentic Connections: The learning experience is relevant to students. It involves creating a product that has a purpose beyond the classroom. This purpose has a direct impact on students.
  • Technology Use: Task completion centers around student-directed technology (classroom or BYOD) use. It involves new and different ways of learning.

As you can see from the H.E.A.T. framework, what we are looking for is self-directed, relevant learning. This description of learning experiences, however, does not describe or define most teacher professional development.

How can we overcome that? How could we get closer to the potential of engagement and authentic connections? One approach might involve the use of a hyperdoc. Check out the excitement radiating from Kendra’s tweet below. Wouldn’t you like that excitement flowing from your inservice workshop?

hyperdoc happiness

Hyperdocs for Professional Learning

How could we get teachers evaluating and creating useful ideas about required school inservice content? This involves a level of engagement that grants teachers autonomy in how and what they use to create, and it offers teachers the opportunity to create useful content. Creating a digital, or even virtual, make-and-take session empowers teachers to design what their classroom needs most. Hyperdocs provide one way of accomplishing that, testifying to their popularity.

hyperdoc happiness

This is only a portion of Nadine Gilkison’s hyperdoc collection; see more. Follow @NadineGilkison on Twitter.

Explore the ISTE Standards via the EduQuest Hyperdoc

Curious about a hyperdoc to introduce teachers to the ISTE Educator Standards? Give this EduQuest Adventure a whirl. Grab a copy of the EduQuest Hyperdoc and modify it for your needs.

Get Started Now

Hyperdoc Happiness: Transform Teacher Inservice

As you gear up for teacher inservice this year, consider how easy it is to create hyperdocs. You have a wealth of resources and materials to draw upon. Nadine Gilkison’s hyperdoc collection is only one of many available. Here are a few examples Lisa Highfill, hyperdoc creator, has curated in her Back to School collection. Teachers will relish the opportunity to create content relevant to their work. If you’re worried that teachers lack the technical skills to build hyperdocs, make sure to set them up for success. Why not invite TCEA to facilitate our Google Educator Level 1 certification classes?

Photo: Mein Deal

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hacks for Google Slides
ChromebooksGoogle Tips and Tricks

Five Hacks for Google Slides

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“What’s my favorite G Suite for Education tool?” asked a Google Educator Level 1 session participant. “Google Slides. You can do so much with it!” said another. Slides offers many exciting features that make it a versatile assistant for educators. In this blog entry,  let’s take a look at five Google Slides hacks you may find useful. These may deepen your appreciation for Google Slides and increase your productivity.

Note: Curious about what else TCEA bloggers have shared about Google Slides? Explore this rich collection of suggestions, handy tips, and more.

Jumpin’ Jack Slides

“I’m so tired, today felt like being stuck in a crossfire hurricane,” said a friend. At the time, I missed the reference. Classrooms can be tumultuous. The right slide deck can dazzle, amaze, and engage learners of any age. Many agree that a potent message is key. The TED Talks blog lists ten tips worth reviewing. The fifth tip from that list provides our first hack.

Hack #1 – Enhance with Pictures

“Use photos that enhance meaning,” says Aaron Weyenberg (Director,  TED). That seems obvious, right? Aaron encourages us to focus on message first, then to select images that enhance. When I create my Google Slides, I find myself crafting my message and looking for images at the same time. Aaron’s more measured approach involves finding images AFTER the message.

Let’s say that you have gathered your images into a folder. Now you have ahead of you the repetitive task of inserting those images and adding words. What if there was an easier way?

Matt Miller and Alice Keeler suggest there is. Use the Drive Slides Chrome extension. This extension makes it easy to create a Google Slides presentation. Here’s how:

  1. Store images for an upcoming presentation in your Google Drive folder in JPG, PNG, or GIF format.
  2. Open your images folder in Google Drive.
  3. Click the DriveSlides icon. You will see several prompts to click through (most about permissions).
  4. DriveSlides will create a Google Slides slidedeck, inserting your images for you.
  5. Customize your Slides slide deck theme, shuffling slides with pre-loaded images around.

One observation I made while DriveSlides worked: I had named each image (e.g. Slide 1, Slide 2) with a vague hope. The hope was that DriveSlides would place the images in the order I wanted. That’s not the way it worked. The image placement on slides appeared random. One of the creators (Alice Keeler and Matt Miller) of Drive Slides has made a video walkthrough. Check it out.

Hack #2 – Use Speaker Notes

“Why don’t you attend Dale Carnegie’s public speaking workshop?” suggested my dad. He had seen my last presentation, one where I felt compelled to read from my notes. A short time later, at seventeen, I put Dale Carnegie’s presentation strategies to work. With those strategies in mind, I thought I had to present without notes. Of course, I was wrong. In time, I learned to rely on slide notes. You can, too.

When presenting now, I use a combination of engaging images that trigger my memory. Slide notes assist me when trying to remember key facts, research, and details. Use slide notes in Google Slides to assist your memory.

Take advantage of a few Chrome extensions to enrich the Slide Notes experience. For example:

  • SlideSpeech: It converts your slide notes into audio narration for each of the slides. This narrated slide show is available for viewing via the SlideSpeech mobile apps.
  • Auto Resize Speaker Notes: Allows you to resize the slide previews. To do this, resize the Speaker Notes or selec a size via the sidebar. See the effect of auto resize in the image below.

slides hacks

Explore how you can use speaker notes to provide instructions to students.

Hack #3 – Type with Your Voice

Did you know you can dictate text into Slides’ speaker notes section? This could be a time saver for you rather than typing up everything you know.

slides hacks

To do this, follow these simple instructions for English dictation:

  • Turn on your microphone.
  • Use voice typing (Go to Tools then select Voice type speaker notes).
  • Use voice commands to edit and format your text.

Adding speaker notes has never been easier. Give it a try!

Hack #4 – Create a Hyperlinked Slide Deck

Did you know you could create a hyperlinked slideshow? This is a slideshow for which you have created some form of navigation. Navigation might appear as a table of contents that you click on to jump around the slide deck.

Eric Curts (@ericcurts), Control-Alt-Achieve Blog, shares a rich variety of examples. You can find my curated list online. Want some different examples? Check out Rex Threatt’s interactive worksheets video tutorial.

Hoping for a classroom application? Aside from choose your own adventure or interactive worksheets, consider the use of hyperlinked slides as an easy way to create self-guided presentations a la hyperdocs. Find more ideas.

Hack #5 – Add Audio to Your Slides

One of my favorite PowerPoint features enables me to insert audio recordings. In Google Slides, the only way to put audio in was to insert a YouTube video.

With the Audio Player for Slides, you can insert audio per slide. As you can see from the screen shots below, you can add audio to each slide. Put your audio files in MP3 format in Google Drive.

A quick classroom application? Ask students to add audio reflections that explain a slide; this can boost classroom learning.

Five Hacks for Google Slides

These Google Slides hacks depend on a few Chrome extensions. Give these a try to make how you use Google Slides more engaging. And, since you’ve stuck this long with this blog entry, why don’t you give the Insert icons for Slides add-on a try? You get 1800+ free icons you can use in Google Slides.

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Detour sign against a cityscape
Educational TrendsGood TeachingProfessional Learning

Detours Around Blended Learning Roadblocks

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Would you be available to help with a short webinar on blended learning?” asked a local district technology director. In the webinar, I explored the gap between expectation and reality. Our goal was to resolve critical roadblocks to blended learning implementation. In this blog entry, I’ll share some of the roadblocks and detours around them.

Blended Learning Roadblocks

In my webinar, I shared how to overcome three challenges, or roadblocks. Those included the following:

  • Disengaged learning
  • Old content formats
  • Siloed learning

As you review that list of roadblocks, what detours come to mind?

Roadblock #1 – Disengaged Learning

“We need an educational system that encourages self-direction,” shares Ken Kay. Ken is the CEO of EdLeader21. How do we do this given all the new tools available?  One detour I offer is to use project creation stations.

Detour #1? Project creation stations.

These stations have a simple purpose. The purpose is to introduce learners to content creation and curation tools. They make this happen via a variety of mini-lessons. These mini-lessons follow a formula. May I share it with you?

Project Creation Station Mini-Lesson Formula

The formula is as follows:

  • Present a real-life problem through a work of creative non-fiction. You can do this with a video, audio, or textual narrative. Stories that present a problem are best.
  • From the problem, a task of appears. This is a task that becomes obvious as learners read the problem.
  • Share relevant background knowledge or information. Include digital (or physical, as appropriate) tools that learners will use to create. Don’t be afraid to craft activities that focus on knowledge building. One example could be student-authored ebooks, videos, websites, presentations, hyperdocs.

These stations are self-directed and groups of learners can use them in tandem. Some examples:

Explore more PBL and 5E Model Enhanced Lessons.

Roadblock #2- Old Content Formats

Did you know that the average attention span of a Generation Z learner is about 8 seconds? Information expressed in long, flowing text passages is, well, less effective. This raises the question, what works better?

Detour #2? Create munchable learning opportunities.

These are short, “munchable,” modules. This “snackable learning”  is bite-sized and intended for quick consumption. It can include images, infographics, short videos,  memes, and quotes. Assign activities that provide choice and that are device neutral.

Some ways to create munch able modules include:

Roadblock #3 – Journals, Conferences…Inadequate

“Break your own mold. It can make you stronger, more confident,” says Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo. What’s more, she says that it will enable you to “reach higher levels in your life.” How do you make that happen? Follow Thomas Oppong’s suggestion.

“Seek out discomfort. Be deliberate about doing things that push your limits magnificently. Difficulty helps you to grow.” (Source)

From personal experience, I know how hard this can be. Every time I know I am seeking out discomfort, something comes along that kicks me in the teeth. Then, I realize that I wasn’t pushing hard enough. I find I am not creating new perspectives, acquiring new skills, and pushing my boundaries.

What might this mean for you? Ask yourself, “Am I feeling uncomfortable about the pace of my learning? Am I feeling uncomfortable about anything?” If yes, in a paradoxical way, you may be doing better than someone who says, “Yes, I’ve arrived! I’ve got it together, baby!”

Detour #3? Build your professional learning network and a community of co-learners.

If you already have an active PLN, then start your own webcast using a free tool like Zoom.us, Appear.in, or Facebook Live. Start a district twitter chat. Each approach can assist you in getting access to new information. If writing a blog seems insurmountable, begin one. If interviewing instructional leaders in your district is frightening, do it. What have you to lose? The opportunity to grow is like a kite rising against the wind.

Working on your own? Consider these sources of potential learning (besides TCEA):

  • Microsoft’s Educator Community: This online community provides access to free, online professional learning courses.  You can get started using your free Microsoft account (go to login.live.com if you don’t have one yet)
  • G Suites Learning Center: This website provides access to various facets of Google Suites for Education. Definitely explore it to develop your learning.
  • YouTube: Many millennials and Gen Z’ers grow up learning and doing on their own. How? They watch YouTube. Search online. Find a topic and learn (e.g. take notes, make a mneumonic song, wrestle with ideas). Apply what you watch.

Detours to Blended Learning Roadblocks

Finding detours around roadblocks is easy. Look for the signs. To grow and become more than you are, make your own detours.

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guide signs with japanese writing on them
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Five Guideposts for Making Learning Connections

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you connect your own learning with others? One way that I create learning connections involves blogging. It translates into reflecting on my own efforts and setting loose learning goals. These flexible goals allow me to learn at my own pace as I move forward towards measurable growth. But I did not always approach learning this way. It began when I decided to blog for a global audience. In this blog entry, let’s explore what it means to be a learner in a hyper-connected world.

ISTE Standards for Educators: Learner

Though there are seven ISTE standards for Educators, the Learner begins with you. It puts the focus on you and how you can learn from others. The how involves taking specific steps that make you a student. In this way, you, as learner, are able to leverage technology to improve student learning. Here’s how you do that:

  • Set personal, professional learning goals to explore.
  • Apply pedagogical approaches that technology makes possible.
  • Reflect on the effectiveness of these tech-enhanced, pedagogical approaches.
  • Pursue professional interests.
  • Create and be an active participant in local and global learning networks.
  • Stay current with research that supports student learning outcomes.

Wondering how to start your journey? Let’s walk through a road map of steps to start.

Guidepost #1 – Set Professional Learning Goals

Not sure where to begin, where to sink your shovel in? Your goals need to be flexible and reflect who you are and where you are in your career. Teachers have to be able to set their learning goals before beginning any training cycle. For early to mid-career educators, learning goals tend towards curriculum and instruction. For late-career educators, extra-curricular tasks and innovations are more relevant (source).

From a coaching perspective, assist others in this process. Help them set meaningful goals and clarify steps to achieving those goals. Learn more about coaching others in setting goals.

Action Steps: Get a coach that can assist you in setting learning goals. Pick three technology-enhanced actions that you can start with.

Guidepost #2 – Apply Pedagogy That Technology Makes Possible

Making learning and collaboration at a distance serves as one example of this type. Dr. Judi Harris (September, 1998) described activity structures as design tools. These tools assist teachers in using the internet to achieve curriculum-related learning goals. Dr. Bernie Dodge and Tom March (1995) employed activity formats in the same way. In 2017, Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis came together and their work resulted in inquiry-based learning and self-paced student-centric opportunities known as hyperdocs. From subject samplers to hyperdocs, technology-enhanced pedagogy has been around for many years. These approaches are inquiry-based, collaborative, and involve self-directed learning. Project-based, or problem-based, students must solve a problem using materials at hand.

Use Dr. Chris Moersch’s H.E.A.T. observational framework to describe students’ efforts. In the best ways, students engage in:

  • Learning or questioning at evaluating/creating levels of Bloom’s
  • Collaborating to define the task, the process. The solution extends beyond the classroom walls.
  • Creating a product with a real-world purpose beyond the classroom that impacts students

Projects and technology work well together. Well-implemented PBL develops students’ critical thinking skills, improves long-term retention of content learned. What’s more, it increases students’ and teachers’ satisfaction with learning experiences (source). How does the teacher gauge success?

Action Step: Embrace PBL, design thinking, engineering design process, or the 5E Model. Then blend in simple technologies where appropriate. Don’t be afraid to try DIY activities.

Did You Know?

A team of trained professionals is available to perform a technology audit. Whatever size your district is, our educational auditors can help. They will provide insights that can help you grow. TCEA is a non-profit association. The cost of the audit will be less than if a commercial entity did it for you. The team of TCEA Technology Auditors is ready to assist you. Make contact now.

Guidepost #3 – Reflect on Success

The HEAT observational framework provides some insight. In activity-rich environments like classrooms, approaches may not impact learning. That is why reflecting on an activity remains important. In these projects, students self-select technology. When designing lessons, teachers can use this simple reflection-on-action checklist:

  • Did students use tech to create something and then test to see if it worked? (Rapid prototyping)
  • How did students use technology to focus their work, how they went about it? Did students use technology to collaborate on a solution extending beyond the classroom?
  • When did students engage in a real-world, real-life problem solving opportunity?

Whether it’s a blog, an audiolog, or vidcast, make the effort to reflect on teaching and learning. Assume the stance of a community member peering into your classroom. What would they see? Without this reflection, we miss the power of transformation. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Alaniz suggest reflection must be active and persistent. How persistent is your reflection?

Action Step: Use a blog to keep track of your reflections. Share what you expected to see and what you observed. Explore the gap between the two.

Guidepost #4 – Be a Global Connector

Ready to get started with social media? You may have a Twitter or Facebook account. How do you move into the role of being a global connector with a worldwide reach? Embrace the power of ideas and change in your life. Find ideas that align to your efforts. Apply new concepts to your work. Share that online via a blog, audiolog, or vidcast. It’s that simple. You build your professional learning network (PLN) one step at a time, one person at a time.

Action Step: Connect with others online, pursuing your professional interests as an educator. Become a hashtag hero. Accept the #OBSERVEME challenge. Start a district Twitter chat. Make connections beyond your current experience.

Guidepost #5 – Curate Content for Yourself and Others

Are you ready to keep up to date with research on what works and what doesn’t in the classroom? You need to make it easy to keep up with learning new things. Building a global professional learning network is step one. Step two involves finding a way to manage the torrent of data and ideas coming at you. To do that, learn to curate content in ways that make sharing it easy.

Action Step: Adopt a content curation tool you can use to save and organize online content any way you want. Learn to automate sharing of content. Align your social media to your learning needs.

References

Feature image. Available online

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napkin pd
Google Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

Napkin PD: G Suite-Powered Learning Activities

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to make G Suite-powered learning a reality in your district’s classrooms? It’s easy to start with a how-to about the G Suite tools. What if you could introduce them to inquiry-based learning as they learn the how-to? One approach that works is the use of hyperdocs. In my workshop session, G Suite Powered Learning, here are some activities I rely on to introduce teachers to ideas.

Activity #1: Multimedia Text Set (MMTS)

After ten minutes of introducing Google Classroom, teachers often look for a way to explore it on their own. One way to focus their efforts involves using a multimedia text set, like the one below. The following MMTS was adapted from one a colleague shared with me.

(View Link | Make a Copy for Your Own Use)

In using this activity with teachers, I have found them captivated. Some educators may prefer a more lengthy activity set.

Activity #2: Google Quest Hyperdoc

This hyperdoc quest has multiple phases. Each phase allows educators to plan their use of Google Suites tools in their classroom.

  • Phase 1: Introduce student to an intro video of Google Classroom. After watching it, they formulate a question as to how they would use Google Classroom in their situation. With a partner, participants discuss their answer.
  • Phase 2: In this phase, participants explore resources from the amazing Alice Keeler. Participants are challenged to find other resources that showcase the use of Google Classroom.
  • Phase 3: Participants view different sections of Google Classroom. Each participant shares how he uses Google Classroom, or how he has seen other teachers using it. They discuss their concerns about Google Classroom while a mentor provides solutions/suggestions as needed to problems. The mentor also discusses the basics of getting Classroom up and running.

Explore additional phases in the linked hyperdoc (click the link to get your own copy of the hyperdoc).

Activity #3: Google Sheets

In this set of activities, participants explore how Google Sheets add-ons can make email merges a cinch, as well as many other exciting possibilities.

Google Sheets brings a host of powerful features to users. But you can enhance Google Sheets with a variety of add-ons that automate the repetitive tasks spreadsheets have, including enhancing styles, splitting names, generating QR codes, and much more. Some of my favorites include:

  • FormMule – Allows you to quickly add create information in Google Sheets, then “email merge” it together.
  • Yet Another Mail Merge – Allows you to quickly “spam” or bulk email people.
  • Styles: This add-on allows you to customize the look and feel of your spreadsheet, adding headers, coloring rows in alternating colors (e.g. row 1 is grey, row 2 is white, row 3 is grey, row 4 is white, and so on).
  • QR Code Generator: This is an easy way to generate QR codes for students or to inventory items. This add-on also makes it easy to create a text label for each QR code generated so you are not left guessing as to what you are looking at, or trying to scan it with your smartphone’s cross-platform (e.g. Android, iOS, Blackberry) Inigma QR Code Reader app.
  • Split Names: This is an absolute must-have add-on. Although you can use complex formulas to split names (e.g. “Juan Guhlin” to “Juan” and “Guhlin” in different columns), Split Names makes it a cinch. You are also able to separate out salutations and other elements commonly included.
  • PowerTools: This particular add-on has so much to offer, you probably will want to read the website for it. Some of its best features include making the process of dealing with extra spaces, formulas and data in the wrong format, inserting or deleting cells and shifting adjacent data, changing case, or swapping values easier.

Find more online at my Google Sheets Magic page.

Napkin PD: G Suite-Powered Learning Activities

These are only three activities of all of those available. There are many more that introduce teachers, and students, to G Suite Powered Learning. Remember to have fun when using or redesigning these for your own use.

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Good TeachingMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Turbocharge the 5E Model with Microsoft Office 365

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to blend Microsoft’s Office 365 tools into inquiry-based lessons? Give those lessons a kickstart with Office 365 tools. Take your first steps with blended learning. Turbo-charge the 5E Model with Microsoft Office 365. Make learning more engaging!

Turbo-Charge the 5E Model with Microsoft Office 365

Made of five stages, the model can be better seen with specific examples. Let’s explore these below.

1- Engage

Boredom has a dire effect on learning. Bored students perform less well on tests (Source). In one study, over half of students said school is boring. The 5E Lesson seeks to engage students. This ensures they will retain learning. How can you make this happen with Office 365 tools? One way send students on virtual field trips.

Source: Dance of the Lemurs virtual field trip

Use the new Whiteboard app to speak with others at a distance. Students share ideas and images, having a visual conversation. This can happen, no matter their location (Source).

2- Explore

Empower students to curate content. Creating content on their own or in small groups becomes a natural, next step. Using OneNote Class Notebook, students can investigate aspects of a topic. OneNote makes arranging inputs (e.g. image searches, videos, text) child’s play. Learners can expand on concepts. They learn to pursue interests that deepen knowledge. Cognitive conflict forces students to engage in novel ways of thinking. One way to assist this process is to use digital breakouts. Watch this video by Nico Paphitis. It introduces OneNote Escape Rooms. Create a digital breakout using OneNote. This easy entry to escape rooms captures student interest. Students study details, like pieces of a puzzle. They work in teams, escaping school boredom as they learn.

Unsure of how to begin? View this step by step for math. Other examples abound. A few appear below. You may explore Jeanie Ingram’s ($2.00) tutorial guide. Those guides shown below are free.

Be sure to watch Jill R’s four part video series. You will learn how to craft your own OneNote, digital breakouts.

3- Explain

As learning facilitator, share your expertise with pupils. Scaffold student learning with Microsoft Sway. This can help them analyze aspects of an object, situation or event. A T-Chart makes it easy to compare and contrast ideas. You can create T-charts in Microsoft tools (e.g. Powerpoint, Microsoft Word). Available chart ideas and templates appear online. You can encourage students to make infographics. Use these Powerpoint templates to get you started.

4- Elaborate

Enrich a lesson for gifted students. Extend a lesson for students who need more. Students move at their own pace. Our lessons support them no matter their pace. HyperNotes, adapted from Hyperdocs, offer that opportunity. An excerpt from HyperNotes? Use Hyperdocs with MS Office 365: 

Ready to get hyper about Microsoft Onenote HyperNotes. These activities tap into a student’s sense of independence. They capture the fascination with multimedia. Set students up to create content. Sharing it with other learners is a click away.

5- Evaluate

Ready to measure student learning? Have students use Office 365 tools to create visual representations of their ideas. These creations can take many forms. Creations can be Microsoft Excel graphs of data. They may be live data summaries in Microsoft Forms. For example, students can design digital ebooks with Powerpoint and then export them to ePub ebook format. 5e model office 365

Putting It All Together

You may have read of all these approaches in TCEA TechNotes blog entries. Remember, the 5E Model can be combined with Office 365 tools. It’s easy to imagine any one approach as the only one to use. Blend them to create engaging lessons that showcase student learning.

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Good TeachingMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Lesson Planning: 5E Model + Tech with the ISTE Standards (Part One)

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“How do you blend technology into a 5E Lesson Plan?” The question motivated me to write the blog entry, Lesson Planning: 5E Model + Technology. In conversation with a colleague just this  week, we reflected on the power of collaborative lesson planning. Co-planning lessons, including those that blend technology, enhance the actions and impact on students. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a portion of the 5E Model plus Technology in the context of the ISTE Standards, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and TPACK.

5e model
View this as a Google Slides Infographic Template You can Adapt for Your Own Use

The Value of Co-Planning Lessons

“Lesson planning is too important, challenging, and time-consuming to try to do ALL of it on your own…It’s wonderful to utilize the experience of other teachers and time-tested instructional strategies so you don’t have to spend as long planning out your lessons,” says Angela Watson in her blog entry, 6 Ways to Make Co-Planning Lessons More Efficient.

My first experiences as a first year teacher included trying to figure out how to best introduce a lesson to students. For me, the emotional hook, like the lead of a blog entry, had to be compelling. I often failed my first year. What saved me was taking the time to create a lesson planning template. Today, 5E lessons can take the shape of hyperdocs. If you must plan alone, remember there are many websites that offer suggestions. Let’s check out 5E Model plus technology in the context of the Dust Bowl.

Did You Know?

TCEA offers teams of educators, as well as individuals, certification in the ISTE National Education Technology Standards (NETS).  ISTE Certification is a new competency-based, vendor-agnostic educator certification based on the ISTE Standards for Educators. This digital credential recognizes educators who understand how to use edtech for learning in meaningful and transformative ways. Find out more.

About the Dust Bowl

Not familiar with the Dirty Thirties? This time came to be known as the Dust Bowl due to intensive plowing on the Great Plains that removed the deep-rooted grasses. These grasses trapped moisture in the soil during periods of drought and high winds. When drought plagued American prairies during the 1930’s for eight years, high winds kicked dirt and dust into the air. “The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres,” states a Wikipedia entry.

ISTE NETS

The infographicabove addresses three of the relevant NETS. Those include Innovative Designer, Creative Communicator, and Global Collaborator. The infographic shares activities that address each standard.

5E Lesson Plan

Let’s review some of the main points of the 5E Lesson Plan, as well as explore the technology connections possible. You can find the 5E + Technology Lesson chart in this companion blog entry. You will also find an infographic depicting some of the main ways the ISTE National Education Technology Standards (NETS) are represented in the lesson.

ENGAGE

  1. How? Activities that capture the students’ attention, stimulate their thinking, and help them access prior knowledge.
  2. Technology? PBL component, creation of video/audio explorations of a topic
  3. What Success Looks like?

“Quick, Jennie-girl,” cried Grandma, “cover the beds!” The clouds appeared on the horizons with a thunderous roar. The turbulent dust clouds came in from the North and dumped a fine silt over the land. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and I stayed inside the house. Sheriff Marcus would always come by afterwards–“How you farmers doing?”–to check on us after a dust storm. Each of us wore a handkerchief over our nose and mouth. When Pa went outside, he wore googles over his eyes because the wind was so hard. My job was to plug up all the holes, ripping up cloth and sticking them into cracks in the walls, doors and windows. It didn’t make much of a difference, though. The silt, like Ma’s talcum powder, found its way into everything. During a storm, Ma waved wet gunny sack through the air and tied damp sheets over our beds so the dust wouldn’t settle into our sleeping sheets. Pa’s face was gray; the wheat crop was dead. “Oh,” I cried, “how can we stop this from happening?”

Get a copy of the Google Slides version of this infographic

EXPLORE

  1. How? Enable students to explore their ideas, singly and in groups, in the classroom or at a distance. Provide students time to think, plan, investigate, and organize collected information.
  2. Technology? Students are guided through the PBL process, composed of the following steps:
    1. IDENTIFYING HUNCHES: WHAT WE KNOW, WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW
      Ask the following questions and have students work to identify their responses to the following:
      What hunches, or guesses, can we make about the problems, the people in the problem?
      What do we know for certain about the problem? Be sure to explain to students that these are certainly in the text kinds of answers rather than extrapolations based on what they have read.
      What do we need to know in order to help Jennie?

ONLINE ACTIVITY – To get this activity going, use a wiki page (or Google Doc/OneNote/Word Online) for each area with the titles above. Group students and encourage them to fill in this information.

  • IDENTIFY AND EXPLORE STAKEHOLDER ROLES
    Now that we know what we need to know, what stakeholders can we identify in the problem? Some sample stakeholder roles for this problem include the following:
    Farmers
    Local authorities, like police
    Crop buyers
    The government
    Children/Spouses of farmers
    Local business people
    Note: As the lead learner, I would not provide this list to students. They should tease it out of the problem engagement.

TPACK, Anyone?

You can also make TPACK connections for PBL models:

Content: In this lesson in particular, the required content knowledge is science, specifically the causes of weathering. Students need to develop a strong understanding of weathering, identifying what farm practices turned grasslands and wilderness into dirt and dust.

Pedagogical: The required pedagogical knowledge is the best practices for middle school students. PBL research studies at middle school indicate that this approach enhances group dynamics, student collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. It also increases students’ motivation and engagement (Sources: BIE, TFO, ASCD).

Technological: Students work in collaborative teams to develop documentaries that present the Dust Bowl problem from a stakeholder perspective and offer a relevant solution (Model to Follow, NonFiction Documentaries). Students also have the option to re-create physical spaces in virtual space using tools like Minecraft: Education Edition a la Block by Block approach. Students would also be encouraged to explore a variety of creation tools, ranging from WeVideo, Toontastic, or iMovie, and are invited to incorporate green screen technologies.

EXPLAIN

  1. How? Students acquire opportunities to connect their previous experiences with current learning and to make conceptual sense of the main ideas of the topic being studied.
  2. Technology? Giving this a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) spin, consider the following connections possible:
    • Multiple means of representation:
      Encourage students to organize their data gathering–and illustrate through multiple media–about their problem, stakeholders, and solution, as well as plan their documentary video (e.g. traditional or Minecraft-based screencast or blend per student choice). The organizational tool would be Microsoft OneNote, which provides ample ways to students to interact with content. Both students and teacher(s) can create visual guides students can interact with (e.g. semantic webs) with audio/video narration embedded. OneNote would facilitate decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols. Although students are not working with many other languages in this scenario, they could rely on tools like Google/Microsoft Translator apps to promote understanding across languages.
    • Multiple means of action and expression:
      Given a combination of available apps and software tools, students would have the opportunity to rely on multiple tools for construction, composition, and communication. Students could also rely on teacher-created rubrics for virtual space design (e.g. recreating the Dust Bowl situation and factors that led to it in Minecraft: Education Edition). Rubrics would assist student groups in self-monitoring progress.
    • Multiple means of engagement:
      Students will work in collaborative groups self-determined from their interest in stakeholders embedded in the PBL scenario relevant to the Dust Bowl disaster. They will work together to develop problem solutions that consider various demands and resources. The success of their solution development, whether as a documentary or virtual world, will be evident and defined by the rubrics they develop to assess their success.

Wrap-Up

We’ve only covered the first three “Es” of the 5E Model. Elaborate and Evaluate remain to be shared in Part Two (read it now).

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napkin pd
Content AreasiOS Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

Napkin PD: Solving Problems Together

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Creating engaging professional learning sessions that model PBL in a device-agnostic environment can be challenging. Come along as we explore a workshop design that focuses on solving problems together in a BYOD setting. You will also get the chance to see some of our favorite teacher-created products in this one and a half to three hour session.

Essential Elements

Before we jump into the project stations, let’s review a few components common to each. Each project station includes three components:

  • Explore
  • Adapt/Create
  • Share

In the Explore portion, participants are presented with a simulation of a real-life problem. They work to develop background knowledge in the key concept shared. In the Adapt/Create, they make connections between their own experiences as learners. Two ways to accomplish this include adapting an existing work in light of new information. The second way is to create a new product. After they create or adapt, they share that online with a global audience. Sharing is accomplished via a Seesaw Class space.

All project stations are designed to facilitate hands-on learning experiences. You can learn more about the reason why PBL remains a solid hands-on learning strategy to engage learners of any age. Let’s get started.

An example of a fanciful way of removing trash

Project Station #1: Dealing with Trash

In the Explore stage, participants are introduced to a problem. The problem is about communication, and involves learning how to use various iOS apps. In this case, the scenario is simple:

Your editor has just noticed a news story about trash on a small island. The problem involves local trash disposal issues in your hometown. The task involves providing information, raising awareness, and preparing a call to action for this Sunday’s television editorial.

Participants are encouraged to create a product that models various ways to solve the problem or interview experts on how to best get rid of trash on the island and around town. A variety of apps are provided.

Remember you can “app-smash” or combine the products of multiple apps into one. Participants also have access to other resources, as needed:

The goal is to provide time and an incentive to model collaborative problem-solving as learners explore various technologies intended for use on the Apple iPad, a device many districts have available.

Project Station #2: Parking Lot Solution

napkin pd

One example of a teacher-created product

In this project, a problem that takes advantage of drawing and communication tools is presented to participants. The first stage, Explore, includes the following:

In the school parking lot, there was a car accident between two teachers. Both complained that in the parking lot, the spaces were poorly designed and hard to navigate. How could you redesign the parking lot to minimize the likelihood of accidents and maximize the number of parking spaces?

In the Adapt/Create stage, participants are invited to use one of the tools below to redesign the parking lot and create a product they can share with the team.

A popular activity, participants found various ways to showcase their parking lot designs.

Project Station #3: Ghostwriters to the Rescue

In this tragic problem, participants assume the role of ghostwriters, called upon to finish a task.

A celebrated illustrator and author created beautiful picture books. Unfortunately, she died before she could finish. Help her editor and family create an illustrated story. Together, select pictures from the web and develop a story that models story/plot development. Create a short video with the first elements of a story.

Learners are encouraged to use one of the tools included to create a short video.

  • Image Sources
  • Google Slides
  • Screencastify
  • Nimbus Screenrecording

Participants are also invited to add interactive elements by incorporating a variety of media with a MMTS or inquiry-based hyperdoc. Resources include the following:

Creating hyperdocs or multimedia text sets can be engaging, if time-consuming for some participants. Often, working with video serves as a convenient alternative.

 

Watch video. One of my favorite creations. This team’s inventiveness captured the fun of the Elementary Technology Conference.

Project Station #4: Weather Forecast Needed

Ready to put your green screen skills to the test? Consider this scenario:

Congratulations! You have been selected as the new weather forecaster/meteorologist at the local news station. Budget cuts have made it impossible for you to travel to locations in the viewing area. The first weather forecast is coming up at 5:00 p.m. today.

Breaking News: An oil spill has taken place on the Galveston coast in the midst of a water spout.

Working with your team, take advantage of green screen technologies to create a weather forecast report for the local news broadcast. Your end product will be a video that will be run on the evening news.

Participants explore the DoInk Green Screen app (Watch the video ), as well as watch this Jonathan Wylie created sway. Participants are also encouraged to visit the Go Green resource page. It features videos, blog entries, a sketchnote of ten ways to get started with green screen for under $5, and much more.

This has resulted in several inspired creations that are sure to make you smile.

More Project Stations

The session includes two additional project stations focused on encouraging participants to collaborate and create an infographic or digital story of a screen play. In the last project station, participants rely on paper slides to create a presentation to address a serious global problem.

Turn Napkin PD into a Reality

Want to schedule TCEA professional learning for your school district that focuses on project-based learning? Fill out a TCEA logistics form, as well as attend our face-to-face conferences and the annual TCEA Convention. We can help you turn your napkin professional development plans into a reality. And be sure to check out other  “napkin PD” blogs here.

 

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Using Google with the 5e Lesson Plan Model
Content AreasGoogle Tips and Tricks

Google-izing the 5E Lesson Model

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

updated 04/26/19

Ready to blend Google Suites for Education tools into inquiry-based lessons? A wide variety of approaches exist, none more popular than the 5E Model. Let’s see how the 5E Model combines with Google Suites for Education to make learning engaging.

Google-izing the 5E Lesson Plan Model

The 5E Lesson Plan model has five components. Those components appear below. With these, you will see specific examples of Google Suites for Education tools.

1- Engage

Boredom in schools has a dire effect on learning. Bored students perform less well on tests (Source). In one research study, over half of students defined their school experience as boring. The 5E Lesson seeks to engage students so that they will retain learning. How can you accomplish this with G Suite tools?

One approach involves creating virtual field trips. Rather than giving students a textbook map, have them make one. Students can use Google Earth to create an interactive journey. You can check out this guide on how to create an interactive stories or maps here.

Another approach may involve having students craft their own infographics. View this social studies infographic that captures the essence of infographics in schools. You can see many more examples of Tony Vincent’s #classygraphics online.

2- Explore

Once you engage students in learning, make time for independent and group exploration of the topic. This allows them to develop and pursue interests grounded in the topic. Explore topics in such a way that students must figure things out without all the details being filled in for them. In PBL, this is known as presenting students with an ill-structured problem.

When using G Suites for Education tools, use Google Sites to create a digital breakout. Why does this approach work? It challenges students to pay close attention to details that lead them to create their own gestalt of the topic. The mind, psychologists say, has “an innate disposition to perceive patterns.” Not sure how to create your own digital breakout with Google tools? See this list of resources.

Another way to use G Suites is to create a digital choice board. Find ample examples here.

3- Explain

Students have had the chance to be engaged. They have explored the topic in detail, so now you can start to share your expertise with them. One way to scaffold student learning has them creating a T-chart to help them examine two aspects of an object, situation, or event. This allows them to compare diverse ideas.

You can create T-charts in Google Slides, Google Docs, or Google Drawings. In addition, Canva has a free online T-Chart maker. All you have to do is choose a template from the layout library and then customize it. Find other chart templates here.

4- Elaborate

Learners may often need to revisit a topic from a different angle. Using differentiation techniques, you can empower students to dig deeper. The purpose of the focused hyperdoc is to allow students to explore a topic from various angles. For example, elaboration may involve enriching or extending a lesson. For other students, revisiting an activity at a slower pace with more teacher support may be needed.

One simple approach involves a focused hyperdoc. You can create a hyperdoc that either extends, enriches, or scaffolds student learning.

5- Evaluate

Ready to assess? Have students use G Suites tools to create visual representations of their ideas. These creations can take many forms, whether Google Sheets graphs of data or something more creative. For example, students can design digital ebooks with Google Slides and then export them to ePub ebook format.

Putting It All Together

You may have read of all these approaches in TCEA TechNotes blog entries. Remember, the 5E Model can be combined with G Suites tools. It’s easy to imagine any one approach as the only one to use. Blend them to create engaging lessons that showcase student learning.

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napkin pd
Google Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

Napkin PD: Transform Learning with Google Tools

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Teachers often struggle during professional development sessions, wondering how to make connections between how-to at the workshop and classroom learning. Diana Benner, Peggy Reimers, and I did some napkin PD planning and came up with a solution. Here’s a chance to get hands-on Google experience with six different project stations that offer the opportunity to explore lesser-known Google tools. These tools enhance critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration.

napkinpd

Developing PD on a napkin with Diana Benner, Peggy Reimers, and Miguel Guhlin. Let’s explore these ideas in more detail.

Essential Elements

Before we jump into the project stations, let’s review a few components common to each. Each project station includes three components:

  • Explore
  • Adapt/Create
  • Share

In the Explore portion, participants develop background knowledge in the key concept shared. In the Adapt/Create, they make connections between their own experiences as learners. Two ways to accomplish this include adapting an existing work in light of new information. The second way is to create a new product. After they create or adapt, they share that online with a global audience. An additional component is listing what Google tools will be used.

Project Station #1: Inquiry-Based Learning Developers

In this station, participants will explore inquiry-based learning (IBL). Why continue to introduce IBL in professional learning? IBL creates engagement in both teachers and learners. Research has shown it has several benefits. It can:

  • Boost students’ learning in inter-disciplinary studies
  • Motivate students to learn, developing flexible, real-life, problem-solving strategies
  • Deepen critical thinking skills
  • Use of knowledge in new areas (Source)

Learning to ask the right questions and then finding answers that work remain critical to the work of educators and their students. To that end, it’s important to scaffold the use of IBL in the context of modern tools. Not unlike Dr. Bernie Dodge’s and Tom March’s webquest activity, new approaches adapt IBL for modern technology.

  • Explore: In this station, participants are given twenty minutes.
  • Adapt/Create: Participants, having explored hyperdoc exemplars, rely on a template to develop their own hyperdoc.
  • Share: Participants share their hyperdoc creation or modification with others via a sharing space, such as Google Forms tied into a Google Sheet or link their hyperdoc in an existing Google Doc created for that purpose.
  • Tools: Google Docs, Google Slides

Project Station #2: Research Explorers

One of the first uses of the internet for teachers involves encouraging students to use it for research. It’s important to clarify expectations for research-based activities. While research should be embedded in the context of an inquiry-based learning lesson, some additional expectations can be set. Students can be expected to:

  • Craft a research question
  • Locate and gather appropriate sources
  • Consider and assess the quality of the sources
  • Seek patterns in the data
  • Develop a position about the research

Given that the internet is a deep ocean of information, it’s important to assist students to engage in content curation using frameworks like the Big 6, Super 3, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). While there are many online research tools that could be introduced, one of note is Google Scholar.

“I usually start with Google Scholar or Google just to figure out what the topic is. Once I have a better idea, I’ll go deeper,” says Leslie Harris O’Hanlon. “For example, if it’s a history paper, I’ll use the online library catalog, or sometimes there are e-books online through the university” (Source).

  • Explore: Participants experience the power of Google Scholar as a tool to find journals, save document sources in a personal space, and obtain citations. First, participants go through the process of developing a research question using the infographic from UC San Diego Library as a guide. Then they complete the steps.
  • Adapt/Create: Participants begin with a general topic, then narrow the topic down with How and Why questions, not unlike what is shown in the image below:

  • Share: Once participants have identified a topic using Google Scholar to identify research and information, they can create a Google Slides PDF ebook or Google Docs.
  • Tools: Google Scholar, Google Docs ePub export or Google Slides PDF ebook

Project Station #3: Engaging Experiments

Mix up learning for your students. Create engaging and relevant learning experiences for students with Google’s Art and Culture. Better yet, try out one of the Arts & Culture experiments. You can find gaming experiments that enable students to interact with images, solve puzzles, and more. This map-based approach enables students to organize their research according to location and impact, which is appropriate for various topics. Students combine research, life stories, images, and video to make a compelling case for their research thesis.

  • Explore: Encourage participants to explore existing Arts & Culture experiments and then reflect on how current content in their curriculum goals could be aligned.
  • Adapt/Create: Participants use puzzle maker to create a game puzzle, or cultural crossword puzzle.
  • Share: Once participants have finished it, make it available via a Google Form or common space or backchannel (e.g. Padlet).
  • Tools: Google Arts & Culture puzzle maker

Project Station #4: Toontastic Reporters

Whether you have students synthesizing information from a variety of sources and then reporting it in front of a green screen (read tips about setting up your own inexpensive green screen, as well as see examples) or creating reports with Toontastic, students can learn quite a bit. Putting students in the role of journalists has a powerful impact on their own ability to curate and construct knowledge. Consider the following benefits:

  • Students develop the critical thinking skills needed to be smarter, frequent, transliterate consumers (and creators) of information
  • Students learn to tell between fact and opinion
  • Learners explore how to become better-informed citizens and voters (Source: The News Literacy Project)

One approach to achieve this involves presenting a problem and then inviting students to create a report that presents facts.

Wait, There’s More

Ready to get going with these project stations? Consider adding two more, if time allows. Two more final project stations include casting teachers in the roles of Flipped Learning Creators and Digital Breakout Artists.

In the former, flipped learning is explored. Participants learn to create screencasts, embed assessments with EdPuzzle, or engage in post-reflection activities with Google Forms. In the Digital Breakout Artists project station, participants learn how to create engaging activities that involve clue finding and problem solving.

Turn Napkin PD into a Reality

Want to schedule TCEA professional learning for your school district that focuses on inquiry-based learning? Fill out a TCEA logistics form, as well as attend our face-to-face conferences and the annual TCEA Convention. We can help you turn your napkin professional development plans into a reality.

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