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Two Days Only: Free TCEA Membership! 

by Robert Bennett
written by Robert Bennett

TCEA members now get automatic, free renewal for their membership every year. But this Teacher Appreciation Week, you can pay it forward to your non-member colleagues and friends by letting them know: TCEA will be offering free membership this Monday and Tuesday, May 2-3 for anyone and everyone! Remember, it’s not just for Texas educators. We have TCEA members from around the globe.

free membership May 2-3

As a TCEA member, you’ll get access to:

Be sure to share this with your friends who aren’t yet TCEA members! Encourage them to join today (or tomorrow!)- because all TCEA members will get access to our Teacher Appreciation Week session with Pernille Ripp, taking place Wednesday, May 4! Attendees will walk away with ready-to-implement ideas and strategies for embedding choice and voice and guiding students in driving their own academic achievement and growth.

And one more thing: Join or restart your membership for free this week, and TCEA will send you a free copy of our curated list of more than 1,500 Jamboard templates. These are for all grade levels and subject areas, allowing you to save time and make your classroom more engaging. 

Don’t hesitate – you’ll need to join today or tomorrow to access these offerings!

JOIN NOW FOR FREE

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Good Teaching

Three Ideas for Retrieval Practice

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Retrieval practice is a learning strategy that focuses on recalling facts or concepts from your memory in order to enhance learning. By recalling information, we are forced to pull our knowledge out and examine what we know. Many times, in the classroom, retrieval practice is confused as an assessment strategy, which it is not. It is a learning strategy that can include any activity that has students retrieve what they have learned from their memory.

Research on Retrieval Practice

According to Pooja Agarwal, Ph.D., founder of RetrievalPractice.org, retrieval practice boosts learning by pulling information out of students’ heads rather than cramming information into students’ heads. Based on more than 100 years of research, simply retrieving what you’ve already learned further boosts your long-term learning. There is a lot of additional interesting research on retrieval practice that is worthy of exploration.

Ways to Use Retrieval Practice in the Classroom

There are many ways to use retrieval practice in your instruction. Below are a few ideas:

Brain Dump

Ask students to write down everything they know about a certain topic. They should not use any assistance while completing this. Give them a couple of minutes to complete the task. Then, students can compare what they wrote down with other students or in small groups. They can discuss similarities, differences, or any misconceptions. Lastly, a whole-class discussion can be held around the topic or concept that was originally presented.

retrieval practice

Flashcards

A classic example of retrieval practice is using flashcards. These are tasks where cards are displayed containing a word or a picture. Then, students are asked to retrieve their knowledge of what they are shown, recalling facts they know. Students should go through the flashcards multiple times and say as much of the information as possible out loud before flipping the card.

Low-Stake Quizzes

Frequent low-stakes quizzes are an easy way to incorporate retrieval practice. Quizzes can be free response, multiple choice, or another format. Also, polling students works well for low-stakes assessments. With digital tools like Google Forms, getting feedback is automatic and quick. Remind students that the quizzes are not for a grade but more for showing what they know.

For more information on retrieval practice, check out the resources below:

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ChromebooksGoogle Tips and TricksTechnical Support

Repurpose That PC: Introducing Chrome OS Flex

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Coming soon to a computer near you is Chrome OS Flex. Although still in the “dev channel” (developmental mode), Google is offering an installation guide. So what if you “experience some instability,” like it says on the website, after filling out the required form?

The real question is, “Are you ready to turn your old Windows computer or laptop into a device like a Chromebook?” Many in school districts and private schools are looking for a way to do just that. Before we look at how, let’s learn a bit more about the issue.

Chrome OS Flex
Photo by author

Is Chrome OS Flex Brand New?

If you’re asking if Flex is new, that’s like asking if Google Docs was new before Google acquired Writely in 2006. Or how Google Sites was new before Google purchased JotSpot (also purchased in 2006). Chrome OS Flex, like Google Docs and Sites, began as another creation. That creation is one known to technology directors as CloudReady.

CloudReady, still available while Flex is in development, is advertised to:

Accelerate and expand your Chrome OS deployment. It does this by repurposing PC or Mac devices your business or school already owns.

Some of the neat features of CloudReady:

Although Chrome OS Flex is like CloudReady, it’s not the same.

How Does Chrome OS Flex Stand Apart?

Chrome OS Flex offers some familiar features. Here’s a short list:

  • You will need to create a USB installer. This will allow you to try Chrome OS Flex on the target device (Windows, Mac, or Linux) before installing it.
  • You have a list of certified models Chrome OS Flex will work on.
  • You can see end-of-support dates for features.

Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flex differ in these ways:

  • Chrome OS Flex is similar but differs from Chrome OS. The latter is only available on Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, and Chromebases.
  • Chrome OS Flex supports Microsoft’s UEFI boot. This is different than the Google security chip in Chrome OS devices.
  • Chrome OS Flex devices do not manage and/or automatically update their BIOS or UEFI firmware. The device administrator will need to update it.
  • Chrome OS and Chrome OS Flex encrypt user data. On Chrome OS Flex devices without Trusted Platform Module (TPM), encrypted data may be more vulnerable to attack. Flex only supports certain TPM 1.2 and 2.0 chipsets, although Google will add more over time.
  • Keyboards may be different or work differently than on Chrome OS.
Chrome OS Flex
Image Source

If you are hoping to use Google Play (Android apps) Parallels Desktop, then you are out of luck with Chrome OS Flex. Finally, a lot of unsupported ports and features could include CD/DVD drives and more. Get the complete list online.

Giving Flex a Spin

First, I checked to see if the Lenovo 540 was on the list of approved devices. My model (w540) didn’t appear exactly, but the 540 designation did. The chart suggested there might be minor issues expected.

Chrome OS Flex
Screenshot by author

The next step I took was turning on the Chrome Recovery Utility extension for your Chrome browser. To be transparent, I loaded it on Microsoft Edge (a Chromium browser) first. It did NOT work. Then, I installed Google Chrome, and it worked fine.

Chrome OS Flex
Screenshot by author

I selected Google Chrome OS Flex as my choice when identifying my Chromebook:

Chrome OS Flex
Screenshot by author

Then, I inserted my USB flash drive (a 16GB Lexar drive I had handy). All you need is an 8GB USB drive. You can get those for $4.99 each or less online (or get a 5 – 10 pack).

You can see a few screenshots of the process in this Wakelet collection:

Chrome OS Flex
Screenshot by author

Repurpose That PC

Don’t let old hardware sit around, repurpose it with Chrome OS Flex. Remember that Chrome OS Flex remains “in dev” or developmental mode. But you can try it out now and be ready when it moves into production mode. Begin your adventure now.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author

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iPads
Educational Research

TCEA Responds: Student and Classroom Response Systems

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

Are there apps that have students respond to a teacher’s multiple-choice questions? I need it to show the results in real-time in the form of a graph.

Thank you, Cindy

Dear Cindy,

Thanks for your question. This question recently came up in one of the Facebook groups I visited. Please allow me to share some of the classroom response systems mentioned.

Before I do, though, I have to share some of the qualities most of these systems share. Those include:

  • Support for various question types
  • Instant feedback
  • Automatic grading and reporting
  • Work on radio frequency or via WiFi
  • May need a device for students or run as an app on a student-owned device, or no device at all

These can be costly systems to put in place. As a technology director, I often encouraged more in-depth learning activities. That said, teachers can use classroom response systems for low-stakes, practice testing. Why is practice testing important?

How the Brain Works

In his book, “The Fundamentals of Teaching,” Mike Bell makes this point:

When repetition leads to long-term memories, there are physical changes in the brain. Brain memories disappear very quickly unless they are repeated. Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells or neurons, all connected together. We form memories when some of these pathways become strengthened by being repeatedly used.

How do you strengthen these pathways? Through repetition. Repetition leads to what Bell describes as “long-term potentiation.” This isn’t just his label, though. Consider this:

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a process involving persistent strengthening of synapses that leads to a long-lasting increase in signal transmission between neurons. It is an important process in the context of synaptic plasticity. LTP recording is widely recognized as a cellular model for the study of memory. (Source: Science Direct)

To Teach is to Learn Twice

When I read Mike Bell’s book, I had already read Zaretta Hammond’s book. In her book, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain,” Zaretta Hammond expands on this idea. She writes:

When the brain is learning something new, it clusters neurons together to create a neural pathway…when we go back and forth along this pathway, it helps drive new learning deeper into long-term memory until it becomes automatic or deeply understood.

The brain helps neurons talk to each other faster along these neural pathways through the process of myelination, where it wraps the body of the neuron with layers of a fatty substance called myelin. Myelination makes it easier for the brain to do more complex work because the fat allow the chemical and electrical impulses to travel across the neuron faster.

“When we don’t practice or use new dendrites shortly after learning,” Hammond says, “our brain prunes them.” Imagine your brain saving resources, reabsorbing unused dendrites.

By sharing these two descriptions that underscore repetition for long-term information retention,  I hope to strengthen my own neural pathways. Doesn’t this give Joseph Joubert’s quote a whole new meaning?

“To teach is to learn twice.”

 

Team Competition and the Rehearsal Strategy

Rehearsal is a concept I’ve described before. It is a high-effect size strategy (d=0.73) that accelerates student learning. It refers to mental techniques designed to help us remember information. It includes memorizing information through repetition. It can also involve repeating information upon seeing a visual cue (like images, flashcards).

For the purposes of this blog entry, team competition as a rehearsal strategy works. That is, the teacher asks questions requiring rehearsed information. Students answer on their own to gain points for their team.

Classroom response systems can facilitate point collection for their team.

Student vs Classroom Systems

Curious about what classroom response systems may be available for use? Before we get to those, let’s review a related category, Student Response Systems. Student Response Systems often work as part of another solution. This means you’re not relying on a “clicker” device from the vendor. Instead, you use a smartphone, Chromebook, and/or iPad.

tcea responds

What’s more, these tools work great with other high-effect size strategies, including our focus rehearsal through team competition.

Some popular ones include:

Want to learn about more or similar tools? Explore these TCEA TechNotes blog entries. Many tools (Kahoot, Quizziz) are also relied on for quick low-stakes assessments. Now, let’s take a look at Classroom Response Systems.

Classroom Response Systems

Here’s a shortlist of Classroom Response Systems. These systems often come with their own student device. They connect to each other via radio frequency or infrared beam. Rather than work with your existing technology, students get a clicker.

Since Classroom and Student Response systems are often confused, let’s define them for clarification. If there is a clicker device running on radio frequency, it’s a classroom response system. If the clicking happens in a browser or app, it’s a student response system.

Remember, the key difference between the previous list and the one below is simple. Classroom Response Systems are not app or browser-based.

Here are a few you can use:

Thanks for your question, Cindy. As you can see, there are many different types of response systems available to you. A few I didn’t mention here are included in another TechNotes blog entry, Buzz Me In: Remote Learning Buzzers and Scoreboards.

Finally, here’s a quick summary of educational research and a digital tool recommendation.

tcea responds
View or get a copy of this Google Slides document

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Chromebook image
ChromebooksGood Teaching

Enjoy Your Chromebook More with These Tips

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Can you believe that Chromebooks have been around for so long? The first Chromebook shipped in June 2011. And in 2020, Chromebooks outsold Apple’s Macbooks for the first time. Last year, they accounted for almost 20% of the market share. With more functionality, a stable OS, and plenty of features for the average user, it isn’t a surprise that Chromebooks continue to grow in popularity. But even if you and your students use Chromebooks, are you making the most of them? Here are some tips and tricks to help you enjoy them even more.

How Can I Decorate My Chromebook?

Who doesn’t enjoy decorating their Chromebook to make it more personalized? But if your Chromebook belongs to the school district, they may frown on decorating with stickers. This tip may let you personalize without reprimands or damaging it. In 6 Ways Your Make Your School Chromebook Stand Out!, Dave Carty shares that you can cover the Chromebook lid with clear contact paper. If the Chromebook has to be turned in at the end of the year, the contact paper can be peeled off without any harsh sticky residue. Just be sure to add your stickers on top of the contact paper, not underneath it!

If you do this, then why not use stickers as a method to motivate your students? Kind of like earning badges, they can pick a sticker for achieving or completing certain activities in your class. While you can create your own stickers using sites such as Sticker Mule, why not get a variety of stickers that are a lot cheaper and more fun. Amazon offers several options, such as these 300 stickers for $14, 100 funny meme stickers for $7, or a set of 100 inspirational words stickers for $8. Note that the links for these stickers use Amazon Smile. When you designate TCEA as your charity of choice, Amazon will share a small percentage of its profit with TCEA without charging you extra. You get stickers, and TCEA receives a tap on the shoulder that says you love us. It’s a win-win!

Images of sticker piles

How Can I Split Screens on My Chromebook?

Image of keyboard with ALT and bracket keys being pressed

If you are fortunate enough to have multiple monitors, you know the luxury (and improved productivity) that comes with having more than one screen. Did you know you can split screens on your Chromebook monitor? Why yes, you can! You can easily split the screen in two so that you have one browser tab showing on the left-hand side and a different tab displaying on the right-hand side. This works great if you are doing research and need to take notes or write. Toggling between windows, which you can do by pressing the ALT key and tapping the TAB key, only brings one window to the front. Sometimes that is what you want. But splitting your screen allows you to see two windows simultaneously, side-by-side. To split your screen, open up two tabs in the browser. Detach one tab by pulling it off the Chrome browser window and making it its own window. With one window in view, hit the ALT key and the [ or ]. The ALT and left square bracket will send the window to the left side of the screen, while the ALT and right square bracket will send the window to the right side.

How Can I Customize My Chromebook Wallpaper?

Finding an Image

Forget the “old school” images you can add as a background. Ask artificial intelligence for some help in livening up a photo by remaking it based on a particular artist’s or painting’s style. Begin by going to Pixabay. You’ll find tons of free photos here that you can edit without copyright issues. If you haven’t used Pixabay before, then follow these steps to find an excellent base photo to use.

  1. Go to http://pixabay.com.
  2. Enter a search word in the search box in the middle of the screen.
  3. Hit Enter to search.
  4. Near the top, click on Images and select Photos. This will remove all clipart and illustrations from your search query.
  5. To get a photo that is similar to the dimensions of your Chromebook screen, click on Orientation and select Horizontal.
  6. Scroll through the results to locate the one that interests you and click on it.
  7. Click the green Free Download button.
  8. Choose a larger image from the options provided, and then click the green Download button.

Editing a Photo

Now that we have a photo that we like let’s get some artificial artistry going on. For our purposes, we’ll use NightCafe. You will need to create a login, but it is free. They make it possible to purchase additional credits to access their AI engine, but you can get five free credits per day. Credits can accumulate, so you can build up as you need. Plus, you get additional credits when you publish your work and make it available to others.

Instead of using the text prompt to create an AI-generated art piece, we’ll use the Style Transfer method. Complete the following to create your AI-assisted masterpiece.

  1. Choose the image you want to use as the foundation piece.
  2. In the Input Image section, click the Choose An Image button and locate the image you downloaded from the Pixabay search above.
  3. Identify the style you want to be used as it reimagines your photo. Click on the Choose a Style button.
  4. Scroll through the style options and click on the one you want. There are more than 64 choices, so it may take a few credits to play around with different styles before you find the one(s) you rely on most.
  5. For two credits, you can have it generate a 10-20 second video of your creation being made. I’ve done a few and don’t think it is as exciting as it sounds, so I usually save my credits.
  6. Click Create. Notice that it lets you know how many credits it will cost you.
  7. The AI engine will go right to work. You can leave the page alone and wait for it to refresh when done or, if you are logged in, it will email you a notification when your artwork is complete.
  8. Download the new image to your Chromebook.

I downloaded a parrot image from Pixabay and used that as the base. I told the AI artist to recreate it in the style of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Here is a “before and after” of what was created for me.

AI generated images via Starry Night AI tool

Setting Your Chromebook Wallpaper

If you completed this process using your Chromebook, locate the image in the Files folder. If you were not using your Chromebook, then you will need to log in to NightCafe using your Chromebook, go to My Creations, and download the artwork to your Files. Once you’ve located the image in your Files folder, right-click and select Set Wallpaper. This will apply your work to the background of your Chromebook.

How Can I Move My Chromebook Shelf?

If you are like me, I sometimes don’t like the shelf (the Chromebook taskbar) at the bottom of the screen. Having it on the left-hand side is more convenient when I’m doing certain tasks. Google makes it easy to move the shelf to three different spots: the left side, bottom, or right side. Just right-click on the shelf and choose Shelf Position. Then, select where you want the shelf to appear. Voilà!

How Can I Pin a Website to My Shelf?

While we are talking about the shelf, why not pin a website to it and make getting there more convenient? To do so, open the webpage in Chrome, and:

  1. Select the More icon (the three dots on top of each other) –> More Tools –> Create Shortcut.
  2. Click on the Launcher icon (in the corner of your screen).
  3. Right-click the shortcut you want to add to the shelf. If you are unable to right-click the shortcut, click in the Launcher’s search field and search for it. Once located, you should be able to right-click it.
  4. Select Pin to Shelf.

If it doesn’t pin the site in the order that you’d like, just click and drag it to your preferred spot on the shelf. And, yes, you can also set Chrome to open with a specific set of pages if you want to keep your shelf tidy.

How Can I Screencast with My Chromebook?

Screenshot of Scrcast screen recorder

There are definitely times when students can demonstrate mastery by creating a screencast video. Or it may be that you want your students to create tutorials that their peers can use. Whatever the assignment, if you need students to make screencast recordings but don’t want them to have to log in to a third-party site, then consider using Scrcast screen recorder. Scrcast is completely free and unlimited. You will also enjoy that features they offer are similar to ones that we love and are “freemium” tools. You’ll notice that it can record the desktop, a particular tab, or focus on the webcam. And you can set the resolution size before recording. When done, just download the video to your device and share it as you normally would.

Plus, this is a GREAT tool that respects student privacy. As a matter of fact, the publisher declares that student information is not:

  • Sold to third parties, outside of the approved use cases.
  • Used or transferred for purposes that are unrelated to the item’s core functionality.
  • Used or transferred to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
bitmoji of author

What Would You Add?

There are so many other tips to be shared. What is one that you would like to add to the conversation? Share with us in the comments below. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day Activities Your Students Will Love

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

When I was teaching elementary school, according to district policy, classes could celebrate with three parties per year. And guess what? Valentine’s Day made the list! We played games, stuffed our faces with cupcakes, and opened up our valentines. It was a good day. And if I was teaching today, here are some activities that would definitely be on my list. 

1. Compare and Contrast

Created by the author

I do like to make resources for holidays, so here is my latest for Valentine’s Day. I created a compare and contrast activity in Google Slides. Match your students up to one of their classmates, and they can find and share four ways they are similar and 4 ways they are different. Or mix it up! Each student could choose a historical figure, celebrity, or their own personal hero for this activity. Make your own copy of my compare and contrast Google Slides deck to use.

TIP: I set up the first slide to automatically jump to each student’s slide when they click on their name. You can easily edit the names by clicking on each name box and selecting the pencil tool to edit the text. The link to each slide will not be lost if you edit the text only. Be sure to check out my colleague Katie’s and my example above. 

2. Paper Heart Sculpture

Screenshot by author

Use paper hearts to make a fun Valentine’s Day craft or a STEAM-building activity! Here is a template with instructions. This article also offers various STEAM challenges for the paper hearts related to structure building. It’s low cost and low prep which is always a plus. The whole activity should take about 30 to 45 minutes.

Materials:

  • Construction paper or cardstock (either pre-cut or available for students to cut)
  • Template
  • Glue sticks, glue dots, or q-tips dipped in glue
  • Scissors

Connections to STEAM

Talk about gravity and how it pulls an object to the earth unless there are supports to hold it in place. Explain the challenge to your students– to make a sculpture out of paper hearts that can stand completely on its own. They will need to make their sculptures balanced or they won’t be able to stand. Students can also make their sculptures as tall as possible without them tipping over. Then, you can measure the heights of each sculpture to see just how tall they are.

Melissa Motta shares, “I had a kinder who engineered hers with hearts upside down and backward at the base to create legs to help it stand.”

Melissa goes on to say how the student noticed her sculpture was too heavy, so it started to fall. Then she understood that she needed to strengthen it on one side.

“It was awesome to see her problem solve and articulate her thinking as she explained her design and what she did to improve it.”

3. Jamboards

Count and Graph Jamboard

Cristina Hutton provides two Valentine’s Day-themed Jamboards for early learners. Her Jamboards can be used for in-person or remote learning. 

Valentine Math Jamboard: This is a two-frame Jamboard that includes a Count and Graph activity and a Valentine Measurement activity.

Would You Rather Jamboard: Here’s another great Jamboard with two frames. The first is a polling frame for whether students would rather eat a cupcake or candy. The second frame is meant to encourage conversation and have students expand on their choice.

4. Heartfelt Hallway Messages

I found this wonderful idea on Twitter. Use construction paper hearts or heart doilies to leave a message for your principal, nurse, cafeteria staff, office staff, custodians, other teachers, bus drivers, and more. A little message goes a long way and will be remembered forever! 

5. Wordle

Created by author

Use Flippity’s Wordmaster (like Wordle) to enter your words and give a Valentine’s Day spin to this craze. For more Wordle information, check out this blog post. 

Here are a few words to use: candy, heart, party, Cupid, treat, cards, and friend.

6. Physical Movement with Phonics Man

Screenshot by author

I am very excited about this find. Whoever thought you could add jumping jacks and the running man to Valentine’s Day? PhonicsMan Fitness shares a “Would you Rather?” Valentine’s Day Edition Candy Workout. It is a seven-minute video that can be used for a brain break or after your Valentine’s Day class party. 

7. Scratch Lesson

Screenshot by author

Build a “Hearts & Arrows” game for Valentine’s Day. This free lesson from createcodeload.com includes an introduction video and three short, step-by-step animated tutorials. It’s a great way to get students to engage in coding while celebrating.

For even more Valentine’s Day fun, check out my 2021 V-Day blog post. There you will find my three favorite Valentine’s activities: Digital Breakout, Autodraw and Puns, and a Word Search. Do you have any activities that you love to do each year? Leave them in the comments, and happy Valentine’s Day!

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empty desks in a classroom
Educational ResearchGood Teaching

Powerful and Easy Digital Tools for Formative Assessment

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Interwoven into instruction, assessment has many benefits. Its biggest benefit? Aiding students and teachers in closing the learning gap. In the Fall of 2021, I attended TCEA’s Campus Technology Specialist Academy (CTSA). One of the sessions, led by Destiny Wagner and Kristofer Thurston, offered several gems related to using digital tools for formative assessment. These gems became some of my favorite takeaways. But before diving deeper into the tools, let’s take a look at formative assessment.

digital assessment
Reach out to Destiny Wagner (email: edtechdestiny@gmail.com) for more info on their excellent session.

What Is Formative Assessment?

In the Amazing Learning Design Outline (ALDO), I highlight the importance of assessment. Assessment is critical to crafting feedback that closes the learning gap. That gap, of course, is between where the student is now and where they need to be. Did you know that formative assessment can double student learning gains? Formative assessment is an ongoing, low-stakes assessment that provides such feedback to both students and teachers regularly. In other words, to gauge where students are in their learning, they must be assessed before, during, and after learning. And these assessments can tie into a wide variety of strategies.

digital assessment
digital assessment
Step 2 of Amazing Lesson Design Online (ALDO)

It is also important to note that students are active collaborators in closing this gap since they are involved in the formative assessment process. Some have organized a list of assessment criteria teachers can use, and you can read the complete list in this online document (PDF). But today we’ll focus on assessments that I’ve grouped into understanding checks, checklists, and self-assessment tools. 

Get PDF version
Get PDF version – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R4LmCIqn6vuupDer7478Vww0X3tu14j_/view?usp=sharing

When working with students, keep these three tips in mind when providing feedback:

1. Ask the four questions:

  • What can the student do?
  • What can’t the student do?
  • How does the student’s work compare with that of others?
  • How can the student do better?

2. Take advantage of single-point rubrics to convey expectations.

3. Connect the feedback language you use to specific success criteria. One example might be, “How will I know I have learned this?” Be sure to share that feedback at the start of the lesson (adapted from source).

Group 1: Understanding Checks

Checks for understanding are one aspect of formative assessment. ASCD even published a book on the topic. It can be defined as:

The frequent, interactive checking of student progress and understanding. These checks for understanding identify learning needs. They also allow the teacher to track and adjust teaching.

Adapted from Source: Todd Finley’s Dipsticks to Check for Understanding via Edutopia.org

An example of a type of understanding check is the pre-assessment. The goal of pre-assessment is to discover what students know and to identify what they need to learn. Students can use these to set learning goals and also predict how well they will do.

One idea for formative checks for understanding also comes from Dataworks’ TAPPLE concept:

  • (T)each first
  • (A)sk a specific question
  • (P)ause, Pair-Share, and Point
  • (P)ick a random non-volunteer
  • (L)isten to the Response
  • (E)ffective Feedback
digital assessment
Screenshot by author

Are you already thinking of some ways you could use digital tools to (A)sk a specific question about what students have learned, or to (P)ause, Pair-share, and Point?

Since digital tools are flexible and can be used for a wide variety of purposes, they may lend themselves well to checks for understanding. In their session, Destiny and Kristofer shared several powerful and easy digital tools that could be used for understanding checks. Among those tools shared were:

  • Baamboozle. A versatile tool that students can use to create or participate in a wide variety of games. View video.
digital assessment
Screenshot by author
  • Mentimeter. Provides student polling and creates open-ended results in word clouds out of responses. View video.
  • Pear Deck. Perform “on the fly” assessments with social- emotional health check-ins. It works well with a variety of Google and Microsoft Office products. View video.
  • Plickers. Print coded cards that students can use. The teacher relies on a free app to scan student cards. The direction of the card shows students’ response. View video.
  • Poll Everywhere. Assess students with a simple poll. View video.
  • Socrative. Set up multiple choice, true/false, or short answer assessments. View results in real time via a teacher dashboard. View video.
  • StrawPoll. Create easy-to-embed, mobile-friendly polls students can complete. View video.
digital assessment
Straw Poll Example – https://strawpoll.com/swau1ugve/r

StrawPoll has become one of my new favorites but others at TCEA rely on Gimkit, Kahoot, Quizziz, and Quizlet. Of course, there are others, such as EdPuzzle, Playposit, and more.

free templates

Adapted from David Perkins (2003) The Ladder of Feedback and John Hattie (2014) The Power of Feedback | Get Your Own Copy.

Group 2: Checklists

Use checklists and rubrics to identify and clarify success criteria for students. Think of success criteria as a to-do list for learning intentions. This short twelve minute video can provide some background on success criteria.

One easy tool you can use to create a checklist is simply Google Sheets. Here’s a quick video on how to do that:

You can also create rubrics for students directly in Google Classroom. Here is a quick six minute video on how this can be done.

Group 3: Self-Assessment Tools

Self-assessment tools are used by students to take their own measure. As you might imagine, many of the digital tools shared so far would also work well for this purpose.

Becton Loveless offers these suggestions for students designing their own assessments:

  • Explain what self-assessment is and why it matters
  • Show a model of what it looks like, preferably from previous students
  • Teach students different strategies of self-assessment
  • Have students practice creating assessments, then discuss as a group
  • Conference with students throughout the process

Becton also offers several low-tech examples that may get you thinking. Among those examples you can adapt and use digitally, consider these:

For example, PBIS Rewards offers several ways to create rubrics online. My top three in that list include iRubric, Rubistar, and Teachnology Rubric Generator. And a web search on rubrics will yield many PDF-based rubrics.

Choosing a Digital Tool

Which tool you decide to use will depend on the depth of complexity and funding you have available. For example, Mentimeter, StrawPoll, Plickers are free. With the others, there may be costs associated depending on the features you want. The important point to remember is that creating low-stakes assessments is your focus, and these assessments should always connect to the learning objectives.

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Photo by MChe Lee on Unsplash

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JoinPressto.com website Screenshot by author
Digital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Writing

Pressto! Critical Thinking and Writing in a ‘Zine Format

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Creating critical thinkers could be as simple as empowering young writers. Can writing improve critical thinking? In this blog entry, we’ll explore that idea and a new tool empowering young writers.

pressto Screenshot by author.
Screenshot by author.

Source: Screenshot by author. An introduction to critical thinking – 

Clarifying What Critical Thinking Is

Like any writer, I often think through ideas while writing about them. That can include exploring my thinking through a simple critical interrogation.

pressto
Adapted from source (Wikimedia) by author

Adapted from Source by author | View in CMAP Cloud

That interrogation of self involves asking questions such as:

  • What evidence is there for an idea or assertion encountered?
  • Is that evidence trustworthy, relevant, and valuable?
  • How can I apply that evidence to the current situation and create an intervention?
  • How effective is that evidence-based intervention or strategy?

Some might suggest more complex critical thinking heuristics. Others may find a simpler approach worthwhile. For example, the RED Model suggests three key ideas:

  • Recognize assumptions. Understand what is going on, figure out the veracity of the information, and find evidence. This step involves identifying assumptions. (Are they true? False?)
  • Evaluate arguments. A systematic analysis of the evidence and arguments presented.
  • Draw conclusions. Pull together a range of information. Then arrive at a logical conclusion given the evidence.

Each of the key areas of the RED Model involves lots of questions.

When thinking about what level of critical thinking you want your students to practice, you may want to gauge your audience and ask yourself, “What’s age-appropriate?” You might find this periodic table of critical thinking interesting for adult learners.

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Screenshot by author

Scientific reasoning and critical thinking are processes we use to solve problems, to identify solutions. How we do that depends on finding evidence and determining the quality of that evidence. Then we have to decide what’s next. Whether it’s the Big 6, the RED Model (diagram), or another process, each involves assessing consequences. Doing so in writing means going through this process countless times. These approaches can result in open-ended writing explorations suitable for generating blog entries and “newspaper” articles.

Critical Thinking and Writing

“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly,” says David McCullough. A critical thinker writes clear prose. That idea has been around a long time. For some writers, it’s often seen a different way. Trying to write clear prose results in critical thinking. The reason why is that writers may start out with a fuzzy concept. Then they work through a series of questions that the act of writing demands.

Did You Know?

TCEA and Book Creator have partnered to create an online, self-paced course on how to use Book Creator in K-12 classrooms. You can earn twelve hours of CPE credit, a digital badge, and certificate. Register now for this amazing course.

Here are a few (not all) of the questions writers struggle with:

  • Why am I writing the document?
  • What does the reader know versus what new information does the reader need?
  • What change do I want to catalyze and/or what action do I want to drive?
  • What information and details should be included?
  • What information sources should I consult?
  • What points or message do I need to communicate?

David McCullough has won the Pulitzer Prize for writing, twice. What hooked him on writing and publishing?

“From a young age, I wanted to be a writer. I wrote for what passed as a little newspaper in grade school,” he said, “and I was the editor of the high school yearbook, the editor for our school literary magazine, and I wrote for the school newspaper.”

You can also read up on how writing improves critical thinking. How might we engage our children, our students in the same way?

Introducing Pressto

Need a way to motivate students to write and learn media literacy? Pressto seeks to do that. The goal, according to Daniel Stedman (CEO), is to create a micro-journalism platform for kindergarten through middle school students across the globe.

pressto
Screenshot by author

Watch a walkthrough of Pressto below:

Pressto Features

You can find several features that make Pressto attractive to students:

  • Simple template-based design
  • Educational skills sidebar. This sidebar provides insight into title length, image choice, reading level, and positivity. You can also find passive verbs identifier.
  • Copyright-friendly images (via Unsplash) to illustrate students’ texts

Once children publish their creation, they get an email with a printable version. They also receive instructions on how to create the newspaper.

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Screenshot by author

Image: Email sent to students

Students have the option to share their publication with their friends. They also get a few more options, such as, a “Pay what you want,” see newspaper, and/or create another. Students can download their newspaper and the mini-journalists can print and fold their creation.

A user dashboard allows mini-journalists to access their user “zines:”

pressto
Screenshot by author

One of the disappointments of Presstois is the inability to adjust fit text to space available. This can result in truncated text in the print publication. You will also need scissors to make the print version of the “zine” or newspaper work.

pressto
Screenshot by author

View Pressto zine online

A Few Takeaways

Students often include sensitive information in their writing. Does Pressto protect student privacy? I saw that Pressto is a signatory on the Student Privacy Pledge. If you’re wondering about the Pay what you want, this is Pressto’s way of subtly asking for a donation of any amount.

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Screenshot by author

Who Should Use Pressto?

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Screenshot by author

Anyone who wants to publish a print newspaper could choose to use Pressto. You would need to have a printer or create content for online viewing only. Given the size of each panel, the zine lends itself well to mobile viewing.

Whether an individual, a homeschool environments, or classroom, Pressto offers a simple tool. To publish is to make known, and Pressto offers a resource easy enough for children to learn. For school districts, pricing starts at $999/year for schools.

The question is, in the presence of tools like Book Creator, Zigazoo, and Instagram Stories, will print and pictures suffice to keep student interest?

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author, JoinPressto.com

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Content AreasEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Writing

A Powerful and Easy Strategy for Teaching Text Evidence

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Around six years ago, when I was teaching second grade, I attended a conference and learned a “Text Talker” strategy for teaching text-based evidence skills. Jen Jones led the session I attended, and I left in awe of her amazing knowledge, struck by her engaging personality, and with so many exciting, new resources that it was hard for me to not use them all the next day.

When I tell you my students loved this strategy, I mean my students LOVED it. They frequently asked (okay, constantly), “Ms. Emily, are we going to do Text Talkers today? Are we?? When are we going to do Text Talkers?” And it was awesome. Students ASKING to cite text evidence? I’ll take it. This strategy laid out a straightforward procedure for me to teach and a path that helped my students reach mastery. It was a big win, and I want to share the strategy with you, or a version/adaptation of it, in hopes you will have a similar experience. I do want to say that this strategy is geared toward upper elementary; however, it can be adapted to lower grade levels by adjusting the procedure and providing students with an appropriately-leveled text.

TEKS Alignment

You’ll notice in her blog entry, Jen taught the Common Core State Standards, but this isn’t a problem. The strategy correlates with TEKS and is good practice for the STAAR test. Win-win! This strategy works for teaching and practicing the following TEKS, which I’ve turned into “I can” statements for grades three through five. You’ll notice there aren’t many differences between skills in the three grades.

Gradual Release of Responsibility

I would recommend using the Gradual Release of Responsibility model for teaching the Text Talker procedure. The goal is for students to successfully cite text evidence independently, but this will take some time, guidance, and practice. To build their understanding and independent skills transfer (application), you can follow this process:

  1. Model the procedure for students.
  2. Work with students to practice the procedure as a class or in groups.
  3. Then have students practice the strategy collaboratively (in pairs, for example).
  4. Last, task the students with practicing the strategy on their own.

The Text Talker Procedure

I tended to use nonfiction texts that correlated with science and social studies units. Typically, these would be leveled articles from Raz Kids, Time for Kids, National Geographic Kids, Education.com, etc. You could also use passages from reading comprehension workbooks. Any articles or passages will need to have correlating comprehension questions. But students can also self select from a choice of text options at their reading level.

TIP #1: I would start with shorter texts and articles that don’t have subheadings and move to longer texts with subheadings.

TIP #2: Don’t be afraid to use “big” words like “annotate,” “analyze,” and “citation,” even with younger students. My second graders enjoyed proudly saying these “big” words, which was an added motivator.

To start, students will need to learn how to annotate the text. It will be essential for them to understand that they are annotating so that they can specifically cite where the evidence comes from within the text. More on that further down. As an example, I’ve used a second-grade-level article from Education.com.

Step 1: Annotate the Text

  1. Number each line.
  2. Number and bracket each paragraph.
  3. Circle each page number (if there aren’t page numbers, have students write them in).
  4. Box each title.

The text will look like this:

Amelia Earhart Article From Education.com

TIP: When you’re first practicing, verify the number of lines and paragraphs to make sure students annotated correctly. They will get more and more accurate with practice.

Step 2: Read the Text and Label Each Paragraph

Students will need to read the text carefully and label each paragraph with one to three words to describe the paragraph’s overall topic or main idea. It is important to explain that this step will help them find answers to questions more quickly since they can reference their notes. After labeling the paragraphs, the text might look like this:

Amelia Earhart Article From Education.com

Step 3: Read the Questions and Highlight Keywords

This is an important step. Students read the questions and highlight the main words in them. Then they go back to the text to highlight the same or similar keywords. After this step, the text might look like this:

Amelia Earhart Article From Education.com

Step 4: Answer the Questions Using Text Evidence and Citations

This is when students learn and practice how to reference the text directly. Here is a free resource with some sentence starters that students can use to structure their answers.

Using the Amelia Earhart example, the students could write or say their answers like this:

  1. On page one, line 12 of paragraph two, the text states that Amelia flew across the Atlantic alone in 1932.
  2. According to the text in paragraph two, line 14, page one, Amelia recieved the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress.
  3. In paragraph four, lines 18 and 19, on page one, the author wrote that Amelia tried to “fly around the world along the equator.”

TIP #1: This would be a great handout to give each student for reference at first, or you can make your own. Then, when students are more comfortable, it can become a classroom wall display for reference. Once students are working independently, it can be removed from display and/or only accessible to students who need it for reference.

TIP #2: I suggest initially practicing this step with whiteboards in a very simple way. Just have students list the page number, line number, paragraph number, and short answer (not using complete sentences). The students love it, and they can practice providing answers in complete sentences orally along with using the whiteboard. I’m always a fan of practicing things orally before practicing them in writing.

Tip #3: The texts will be much less complex for lower grade levels, so the answers will be simpler. Students can also practice orally and not in writing. Students in lower grades who need a challenge can practice writing complete sentences using the structures provided in addition to the oral practice.

Step 5: Complete the Text-Based Evidence Graph

As a reward, Jen created this Text-Based Evidence Graph that’s $4.00 on Teachers’ Pay Teacher. But you can make your own very quickly and easily.

Photo from HelloLiteracy Blog

It’s so simple, but I’m telling you, it’s solid gold. For it to work, students need to be able to choose any colors they want and any squares they want. They should also be able to color any design or pattern they want. It has to be 100% up to them. The goal is for them to completely fill in their graph.

For each answer, students color in:

  1. One square per accurate answer
  2. One square for using quotation marks in their answer or for highlighting the evidence in the text
  3. One square for a correct page citation
  4. One square for a correct paragraph and line citation

Additional Resources

Have any strategies to share? Would you like to read about more TEKS-aligned strategies? Leave a comment! If you’d like additional resources for this strategy, feel free to email me. I’d love to hear from you.

Additional STAAR and TEKS Articles You May Find Useful

Reading Language Arts STAAR Test Resources

STAAR Prep: A K-5 Argumentative/Opinion Writing Strategy

STAAR Prep: Spelling Strategies, Resources, and Downloadable Posters

The K-5 ELAR TEKS and Free, Editable Spreadsheets

The K-5 Math TEKS and Free, Editable Spreadsheets

A Practical Strategy for Teaching Editing Skills

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Special Needs

Nine Technology Tools for Accommodation, Modification, and Intervention

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

In a previous post, Make Learning Accessible for All Students: Accommodation, Modification, and Intervention, I shared the differences between accommodation, modification, and intervention. Specific examples were also provided to help clarify and shed light on ways to accomplish these means of support for your students. Today, we’ll identify a few technology tools that can be used by the teacher and the student for accommodation, modification, and intervention. These tools are not necessarily designed as “assistive technology” as defined by special education, but can be used to varying degrees. Some of the tools mentioned below can also be found in our free, downloadable ebook 51 Fun Tech Tools and Resources for Busy Educators. After looking through the list, please be sure to comment below if you have ideas or tools to share.

1. Google Slides Closed Captioning

Even if you don’t have a presentation to show, you can still pull up a blank slide deck. Once opened, go into presenter mode. Then, you can enable closed captioning for your lecture. Google Slides doesn’t display punctuation, but does a great job of displaying what is being said. You can adjust the location of the captioning as well as the size of the text. Google Slides does not translate or save the captioning for later viewing. There is some other good information about closed captioning at Google Support.

Image of Microsoft Word Dictation microphone
Screenshot by author

2. Microsoft Word Dictation

If you have students that struggle to write, this is an option you might want to consider. With Dictation, students can speak into a microphone and have Word type out what they say. Besides speaking the words, students can also say the punctuation and have Word add it as they speak. For example, they would say something like, “Did you go to the park question mark.” Microsoft Office will then place the question mark when spoken.

You can also turn on Auto Punctuation. With this, Word will incorporate artificial intelligence to punctuate as it best understands. A profanity filter can also be turned on. Hopefully, you don’t need this, but if you have a student that has been diagnosed with coprolalia, you may find this is helpful if they also need to dictate their writing. You can also dictate to Word in other languages. This does not mean translating what you say, but instead typing what you are saying using the language you’re speaking. These dictation features are also available in Microsoft Outlook.

image of Google Voice Typing microphone
Screenshot by author

3. Google Voice Typing

Though not as robust as Word Dictation, Voice Typing in Google Docs or Google Slides (speaker notes) does allow you to dictate words and punctuation. This can later be edited in the typical fashion. Google Docs and Slides do not incorporate auto punctuation or a profanity filter. Once dictated, you can translate the Google Doc into another language. To do this, you will use a new document and then click on Tools and Translate Document. Keep in mind that the translation may not be perfect, so it is recommended that you have a native speaker of the language review the translation. Especially if you are creating documents for students, parents, or others using the translation feature, it is important they are correct.

image of recordcast website
Screenshot by author

4. RecordCast

This free and simple-to-use screen recording tool allows you to record your webcam, your screen, or both. This is great for students who need access to instruction multiple times. Utilizing the screen + webcam feature is handy for students who may be hard of hearing and need to see the teacher or interpreter sign. RecordCast also allows you to do simple video editing and sharing. You are limited to five minutes with the free version and up to 30 minutes for the paid version. If you need more robust software that is still simple and user-friendly, consider using Screencastify or Screencast-o-matic. If your students are using an iPad, they can easily create a screen recording (including sound) without downloading any apps. They’ll just need to:

  1. Go to Settings > Control Center, then tap the Insert button next to Screen Recording.
  2. Open Control Center, tap the Screen Recording button, then wait for the three-second countdown.
  3. To stop recording, open Control Center, tap the Selected Screen Recording button or the red status bar at the top of the screen, then tap Stop.
image of classroomscreen
Screenshot by author

5. Classroomscreen

This website has 14 tools to help with various classroom procedures. Several of the tools are great at helping students track their time and manage their behavior. As the teacher, you can pull these up on your computer and have them displayed on the board.

The sound level allows students to monitor their noise level while still being able to discuss and share. The teacher can adjust the mic level and sensitivity. The traffic light is a good way to indicate what task the students should be working on. It can also be used to show how much time is left for the assigned task. Of course, the timer, stopwatch, and clock are all great for helping students pace themselves and manage their efforts in using their time wisely.

Additionally, you can use multiple widgets at the same time. For example, you can use the work symbols so students are reminded what they should be working on. At the same time, you can have the timer displayed on the screen while also showing the sound level indicator. These tools help students practice appropriate classroom behavior and allow you to move around the classroom and assist students with other tasks.

6. Doozy

You’ll find plenty of fun on this site, as well as helpful tools for activities like short-answer or multiple-choice quizzes. You don’t have to register to use the site. It may take you a while to explore and see which features you like the most. It may also take time to determine when to use them, so plan ahead and explore now. Besides quizzes, you can have games, icebreakers, and more! Some activities have a limit of 25 students while others can have up to 100, so be sure to pay attention to the limit as you select and design.

image of website
Screenshot by author

7. Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader is a free tool that employs effective and proven methods to enhance reading skills for individuals of any age or proficiency level. Students have the ability to have text read aloud to them, enlarge font size, modify the spacing between lines and characters, alter the background and text color contrast, access a picture dictionary, translation, and more!

Microsoft Immersive Reader is available on the following platforms:

  • OneNote Online
  • OneNote Universal App
  • OneNote for Mac and iPad
  • OneNote Desktop (as a free add-in)
  • Word Online
  • Word Desktop
  • Word for Mac, iPad, and iPhone
  • Outlook Online
  • Outlook Desktop
  • Office Lens for iPhone and iPad (iOS)
  • Microsoft Edge browser
  • Microsoft Teams
image of cloud stop motion tool
Screenshot by author

8. Cloud Stop Motion

If you ever wanted your students to do stop motion videos but didn’t have the “right” devices, this is the site for you. Stop motion is a video in which each frame is shot individually, with the producer (i.e., student) moving something a tiny bit between each shot. If you are looking for alternative ways in which students can communicate their learning, then think about this method. Here are some short stop motion examples on YouTube. Note: These are not necessarily educational examples, but just search results examples.

You can use Cloud Stop Motion on any device, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. And, to make it even better, there is no cost. You will need decent WIFI since everything is done in the cloud, but that also means you don’t have to download any software or have a specific plug-in installed. Yay! And, if you have created stop motion animation before, you will be happy to know that Cloud Stop Motion incorporates onion skinning, which makes the process much faster and more accurate. You’ll have up to 2GB of cloud storage and all the features, though the paid version also provides you with up to 1T of cloud storage.

image of infogram website
Screenshot by author

9. Infogram

This site is great for instances in which students need to create infographics and reports. The free version has plenty of features for your students to use. You can make up to 10 different projects, with each project containing up to five pages. You also can use any of the 37+ interactive chart types, including infographics, reports, slides, dashboards, posters, social media posts, email headers, and YouTube thumbnails. When creating infographics, you can import data and then easily manipulate it. The project you make will be public on the web via a publicly viewable URL that can be indexed by search engines. To have private (invite-only) projects, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.

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What Other Tools?

What other tools (websites or apps) would you recommend to a teacher trying to help with accommodations, modifications, and/or interventions in his classroom? Drop us a line below in the comments and let us know.

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