Rethinking Assessments Workshop Reflection

*This post was written with voice typing. I then went back to edit it but I may have missed some things.

Today I went to a workshop at OYIS called Rethinking Assessments. It was geared towards PYP teachers but was accessible to teachers of any program.

Interesting Reactions

Accountability

Self Control

In the beginning of the workshop, we were put in groups; parents, teachers, and students. The question for each of the groups was why do we assess?

I understood this was that we were to answer what is the purpose of assessment for parents and I said accountability. I got a laugh from other teachers in my group. One colleague of mine says that I was being too critical of teachers. 

But from my point of view, if they're paying money to the school, they want to know that their child is getting the best education that they can get.

Don't they want to know that teachers are doing their jobs?

It is entirely possible that I misunderstood the prompt or the directions which is why I said that the prompts and directions should be written on the slides. When a student doesn't hear what is being said they can look at the slide to see what they should be doing.

There were a few times in this workshop where I felt like I was a little off from the other participants. The way that I understood what to do was different from others. My answers sometimes felt very different.

Another time was when we were asked to reflect on an activity that we did we were in a group and we were talking about something. There were a few people in my group and when I wanted to say something I held back. I let others share and then I missed what I was going to speak about, the topic had changed.

When we were asked what skills we used, I said self-control. Everyone thought that was a joke. It wasn't a joke. I actually had to be patient while other people were talking instead of me because I didn't want to talk over them.

And that brings me to my next reflection.

Reflection on Myself

I learn differently

I don't know what it was about this workshop but I what's a little off. My thinking was going in a different direction from the other participants I don't know what it was.

Also, I need time to process. It would be good for me to take a breath once and a while to allow myself time to think.

Reflection on the Environment

The desks were in the same haphazard way they were when the school day ended the day before. 

It made me realize that the room, or environment, should be intentionally set up for each activity. 

Reflection on the Workshop

Allow for more modality

I had to sit in the back of the room because I could not see the whiteboard very well. A lot of the font on the slides was hard to read. There were two problems; 1) it was too small, 2) the colors were not contrasting. I think a lot could be done for readability if the contrast had been better. 

Another thing that could have made the slides better was for the props to write the prompts on the whiteboard or the slide because sometimes I could not hear what was being said and I had no way of knowing without asking another participant. That was not always possible because sometimes others were working or talking with someone else. Instead, teachers can give students or participants a lot more agency if you write the prompt or the question on the slide. 

Another thing that might be good is to add a timer to the slide. That way the timer can be visible for the participants or for students. They don't have to wait or rely on the teacher or be surprised when the timer goes off.

How can I apply this?

When planning lessons I can think through the following questions:

How many students are like me? 

How many are too far from the front? 

How many need time to think? 

How many can't read the screen? 

How many get lost in the directions?

How many have other things going on in their lives?

What is Your Lesson Flow?

When I was a teacher, there were times when I threw together an assessment. It happens, I know, but my life would have been easier had I planned better. 

• Did I start with the unit standards and look at them?
• Did I plan a final project or assessment that would allow the students to show they could meet the standards?
• Did I make formative assessments that aligned with my unit plan?
• Did I create a universal screener that showed me where students need help?

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

One thing I am trying to encourage teachers to do is to use a universal screener. As a learning support teacher, the universal screener gives me the data I need to better understand where students are. This gives me information about how I can group students to more efficiently support them.

Unit Concepts

Standards

Assessments / Outcomes

Create Universal Screener

Unit Plan / Path

Formative Assessments

Lesson Plans

Let's Revamp How We Use Google Sites For Learning

I have been thinking about using Sites in class for the majority of the year. My own philosophy is to create lessons in Slides so they can be reused in the future. In my school, most teachers write their content directly into the Site - which can be OK, but something isn't working. 

"It's so confusing. It's not just this class, it's all classes. I don't know what to do."

This is what I heard from a student in one of the MYP classes I support. 

The overall look of most class Sites is pretty good. However, I think there are still a few missing pieces to supporting student understanding.

I would suggest the following changes:

1. The Unit Title, Statement of Inquiry, and ATL Skills at the top of each page.
2. Control the flow of the lesson - easy to understand.
3. Use a Google Slide deck for your lessons. 
4. Add a Google Form to collect feedback. This could be next to each day's lesson like in Alice Keeler's example here.
5. Consistency between classes.
6. Make links obvious by changing the color or font size.

This is something I will need to think more about.

Time to Daydream

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Motivations

I am currently taking a course on Coursera called "Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects". I tried taking this course a few years ago and I didn't make it all the way through. I find there are times when I spend more time and energy learning than I should be, so I wanted to take another shot at this course. Another reason for taking this course is that one of the G4 units we teach is on learning so I thought this would be a good way to learn about learning for that unit.

One of the techniques suggested to help make connections is called "retrieval practice". It was suggested that taking time to review what you have learned can help make connections and strengthen an understanding of the ideas you learned.

Connections to the curriculum

This would be an awesome course for students to take as a mini-unit and could be connected to Math with Jo Boeler's YouCubed. Jo Boeler talks a lot about a growth mindset and understanding that to become better at math students should focus on trying to get better; reflecting on the process, and looking for alternate ways to solve problems.

I could imagine spending the first two weeks of school working through the Learning How to Learn course and the YouCubed week of inspirational math curriculums in tandem.

Connections to the school schedule

I wonder if there could be a time in the school day when students could just daydream. The benefits of daydreaming at work have been recorded, and even this course recommends reflecting on what you have learned to make connections.





I wonder

Would a podcast be another way for me to reflect?

Me as a Learner

This first unit has been interesting for me. I am back in the Grade 4 classroom after a six-year hiatus. But what a journey the last 6 years have been! I taught a combined Grade 1-2 class for three years, then an MYP Year 5 class for two, then last year I taught Grade 1. I never would have imagined that path when I moved out of the G4 classroom.

Our first unit has been Who We Are focusing on teaching and learning. The initial idea I had was for the students to share what they learned about themselves after/while doing their Passion Projects. I think that could have worked, but one night, in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I had an idea.

Using the image above, students would write the factors that help them learn - external factors on the outside and internal factors on the inside. I am not even sure if "factors" is the right word, it might better be called "traits".

The idea is that this will be an ongoing (living) poster that can be added to and changed over the year.

Another Collaborative Story

This is our most recent Travelling Tale. 

This time ran more smoothly than before - to be expected, but it was much better. Here is a write-up about the experience. 

Publish to a Wider Audience

Recently a teacher asked me to look into different options for publishing ebooks.

Publishing digitally to an audience covers the 4 C's of 21st Century learning, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, and Communication. This project also covers a fifth C, choice. 

Critical Thinking

Collaboration

Creativity

Communication
Choice

My mind immediately came to the conclusion of an actual ebook, one with pages that turn. For that, I had the following ideas:

"Book" Options

PDF -

Saving as a PDF is the Swiss Army Knife of publishing since they can be opened on any device. Students could write their story in Google Docs and download their doc as a PDF.

Issuu -

Issuu allows you to make an animated version of your PDF where you can turn the pages. Students would do the above and upload the PDF to Issuu. Then embed the Issuu PDF in their blog.

iAuthor - 

Apple has a good tool with iAuthor. It is a little challenging and awkward for me, but I cannot argue with the beautiful results. I am thinking it would be interesting to make some sort of unit book using iAuthor.

Book Creator -

This summer (2017) Book Creator will come out with a web version of their app. Until then you need an iPad or Windows computer to use this great tool. Books created with Book Creator can be exported as a movie, so embedded movies and recordings will automatically play.

Google Slides - 

Google Slides is an extremely useful tool outside of presentations. In class, I use Google Slides for my own resume and have used Google Slides for students to publish infographics and ebooks.


Make yourself a copy of this resume

Other Options

Lucid Press

Lucid Press is the "Google version of MS Publisher". While not a product made by Google, it was created for the GSuite environment. I don't use it much, but it is very flexible.

GSuite Apps as Webpage

Google Docs, et. all has the ability to embed links. So, in theory, you can create a site with any Google product as long as visitors are available to view the content. In this case, I like to use Bit.ly to create a unique short URL.

Google Sites - 

Google Sites is pretty cool and the new version is very easy to use. One idea I would like to try is a site for a unit where each student has their own page to act as either a digital scrapbook or a summative project.

Making Infographics using Google Slides

Google Slides is the most flexible G Suite tool in the box.






Here is the basic outline.

Day 1

• Share a template. I create one and set the permissions to "view" as a way to teach students how to make a copy.
• Create title
• Choose a background image

Day 2

• Add small pictures
• Add other graphics

Day 3

• Tweak colors
• Add facts

Day 4

• Share infographic with a partner and edit, then share with the class.

Below is the infographic I made before it was accidentally changed. I am keeping it here just for legacy purposes.

MYP Design Criteria B4 Exemplars

In my colleague's Year 3 MYP Design Class, the Middle School students have been creating some amazing work this year.

Here are a few examples of Criteria B4, where students need to give a final version of a draft and justify it against their design specifications.

iv) Develop accurate and detailed planning drawings/diagrams and outline the requirements for the creation of the chosen solution

Thinglink is a great tool for annotations. It also saves on paper.

List of all Expeditions

There are more smart people outside your organization than inside.

Rick Burnes

Teachers are great thieves. But stealing the best stuff requires you to know where to look.

A while back I came across something called List of all Expeditions. The great thing about this list is that it is a Google Spreadsheet that is continually being updated.

It's such a great resource to get students into AR.

Click the image below to access all expeditions on a Google Sheet.

Chrome Extensions for Learners

This post is out of date and my extensions have changed. The updated link to the extensions I have created is here.

Below is a screenshot of extensions I have installed in Chrome; these might be helpful to students.

Mercury Reader
Websites are getting better about design and making sure the pages are not cluttered. However, there are still some sites that are not reader-friendly and have additional content that distracts from the articles.

Mercury Reader is a Chrome Extension that cleans up websites and removes clutter to make websites easier to read.


Stay Focused   
Many students spend too much time on some sites. For some, it might be Facebook, others it might be a gaming site. The Stay Focused extension allows you to set the amount of time you want to spend on a site per day. When you are close to reaching the limit, you are warned, and after you exceed the limit, you are blocked from the site for the rest of the day.

While you can simply adjust the time allotted per day, or remove the extension, this could start a good conversation between parents and their kids.


Google Scholar Button
Google Scholar is a powerful way to find academic articles on any subject. The Chrome Extension gives you that functionality right in the browser so you don't have to leave your page.


See Google Similar Pages
Google Similar Pages gives you the power of Google to find a similar website that you are on. This is a great extension for research and finding multiple sources about a topic.


BS Detector
Fake news is in all the headlines recently. This extension will place a small red banner at the top of sites that are dubious, and explain why the site is being flagged.


WOT
Probably better than BS Detector because you don't need to explain the meaning. It also goes a little further and will show ratings for the websites next to the search results. Ratings are not always accurate though, so it is better to use this as a guide.


OneTab
How many times do you need to shut down your computer, but have a lot of tabs open and you don't want to lose them so your computer stays on for a week? One Tab allows you to save all open tabs to open later. Students could use this to save tabs they are looking at as a web page and share with peers.


Google Bookmarks or Diigo
I am torn between the two for bookmarking. (Actually, I have started using a Blogger blog connected to ifttt.com so I can save and tag all the interesting Tweets and make them more searchable. In the end, it is fewer clicks than opening a new tab and clicking to bookmark.)

I have both Google Bookmarks and Diigo installed. Each has strengths and I like that they give students a chance to practice curating their discoveries.


Send by Gmail

This is a goodie for anyone. Have you ever come across a web page that you want to share with a friend? Send by Gmail will send it to them through Gmail. Tweet this Page works similarly. 

Screencastify
Screencastify is the extension I recommend for students to do their screen recordings. I like that it has the option to add their picture in a corner, and saves to Google Drive or to YouTube.


Adblock for YouTube
Sometimes the ads on YouTube are inappropriate for students. This takes care of that.



Grammarly
Grammarly checks for spelling and grammar mistakes. As a bonus, it gamifies it a little by sending you a weekly summary of your statistics.


For teachers ...

EDPuzzle YouTube
EDPuzzle for YouTube gives you the opportunity to create an EDPuzzle lesson while in YouTube to save time.


There are many more extensions available, and more I have installed. These are just a few. If you want a quick way to create a Google Doc, Slide Presentation, or Sheet, I recommend:

          

Creating a Chrome Extension

The MYP Design course is really interesting for me. It is my first time teaching an MYP Course, and it is really fun. The course allows schools to adapt it to the resources available.

The flexibility brings about challenges as well; there is no set curriculum.

At KAS, we try as much as possible to give students assignments that allow them authentic experiences. When they learn about gathering statistics, students are asked to use multiple types of data collection. When they create a poster or a t-shirt for a club, I want them to actually print it. And when they code, I want them to make something they will actually use.

This brings be to last year.

We were coding, and I thought it might be good for students to apply the design cycle to a Chrome Extension. In the event someone had chosen that topic, I wanted to be able to help them if they got into trouble. So I started looking into how to make one myself.

At that time I completed the tutorial I found. In the end, no one chose to make one.

However, this year, more students are interested in learning about coding and there is a student who wanted to take on the challenge I set for him. 

I learned that the URL docs.google.com/create will make a Google Doc. I wanted to have a button to do this, instead of typing it in every time. 

One way to do this is to make a Bookmark. And I tried that. But the bookmark didn't have a favicon (image) and it looked a little dull. It was functional, but I wanted to have an image and I wanted to make a Chrome Extension.

So I did.

          

(Extension Links updated 2021)

I wish I could say that I understood the whole structure and was able to write it myself, but I wasn't. I was able to, however, understand enough to piece together snippets of code I found and realize what from the tutorial I did not need.

Maybe this is how coding should be taught. Maybe after having lessons in the basics, students should be given opportunities to take existing code and modify it how they see fit. 

It was exciting to see my app published where anyone can find it (after I get a few reviews, it might be listed higher). I think most of all, it was a good feeling to complete it after so many failures.

Geoboard - The Awesome Geometry Learning App

Geoboard was one of my favorite apps for the iPad, and I just found out it is also available as a Chrome App. (It is also in the Windows Store.) Geoboard is very slick, easy to use, and fun for students.

Geoboard is a virtual geoboard, so no more rubber band accidents or clean up. It is a great hands-on activity and is really good for inquiry-based learning and asking open-ended questions.

The help section (the i symbol in the bottom right) is awesome, containing lessons and links to other useful apps.

Some questions I might ask when using this with students might be ...
Using one rubber band, what 3D shape(s) can you make?
Can you make a rhombus with an area of x?
(With a given shape) Can you translate this x spaces? Can you rotate it x degrees? What would it look like flipped?

What do you need to know to determine the area of the above rectangle?

Use Github to Host Your Website

Courtesy of J Pilon

The above directions are how to host your website on Github. The process is tricky, so pay attention to the directions and follow the steps exactly.

Design a Flag

In the end, we teachers are really just salespeople. If the students aren't interested in what they are learning, it is harder to motivate them to learn. But when students are eager, there is no stopping them.

In our MYP Design course, we aim to push students to use authentic clients. When they have an actual client, the whole design process is actually easier for them since they are able to discuss what the client wants.

A few student-created flags. Can you guess where they are from?

In the beginning of the year, we used design scenarios - one of which being a Design a Flag scenario I adapted from a 99PI episode on flag design. (And looking at it again, I forgot to have them first design a one-by-one-and-a half inch flag. Note to self.)

Some students did pretty well, but those who weren't interested were lost through the whole project.

Next time ... 
Reflecting on the unit, I wonder how it could have been made more engaging. Could I have had all them make a flag for the country, city, family (clan), or the school? That way they could brainstorm and draw inspiration from each other as well as share research. This feels like something I would do in elementary school, though.

If I were to try this project again, I might use 99designs.com. They have design projects that might be good for students to follow the design process when someone has written out the directions beforehand. It also gives them an authentic chance to design for a client.

Also, I forgot that it is recommended you design your flag on a 1" by 1.5" rectangle. That way you can judge how it might look from a distance and keep the objects simple.

Teach Curation

Something hit me as I was bookmarking websites today, "I have a lot of tags that are not useful so I should go through sometime and fix them." Finding information and referring to it is something I use all the time. Looking at some of the tags I have used, I find many that are not so descriptive.

Then, for some reason, I wondered what students today do. I don't know why I went in that direction, but I realized (remembered?) that curation is a skill I should teach more.

Automotive Social 

Content by Mr Rohit Bhargava

Image by Welenia Studios 

via Flickr

Come to think of it, teaching how to organize a hard drive or Google Drive is another skill they should learn -- or at least learn different ways of organizing.

How Much Choice is Too Much?

Advanced PHP #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 21, 2016 at 12:24am PDT

The above picture was taken during the "maker club" activity I am supervising. It is an after school activity where students can work on what they are interested in within certain parameters. One of them is coding, and the above student was working on a website for a client of his.

Yes, a client. This student freelances as a web designer.

I am sure he does more. He has presented at technology conferences because he is an expert on internet security.

He is also in my MYP Design class.

During the maker space time, I asked what he was working on and he told me. After thinking about it for a little while, I wondered if he might rather work on his own projects during class. He would still need to do the things he would normally have to do for a design project - he would just be doing a different project.

I asked him if he would be interested in trying this for the next design cycle and he was very eager.

This is something he will be doing again next semester, but I wanted to give him something meaningful in the meantime.

Computational Thinking Resources

Computational Thinking is often related with Computer Science. That makes sense, they are related. The problem is when the thinking ends there.

Did you know you can use Computational Thinking in any subject?

The following quote is from Google's Computational Thinking Course:

Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem solving process that includes a number of characteristics and dispositions. CT is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including the humanities, math, and science. Students who learn CT across the curriculum can begin to see a relationship between academic subjects, as well as between life inside and outside of the classroom.

From the Google Computational Thinking for Educators Course 

Teaching Computational Thinking is also teaching critical thinking.

Team Computer Science Group Man by geralt via pixabay.com CC0

Here are a few resources I have recently come across to get you started.

Computational Thinking for Educators Course 

This MOOC from Google guides you through ways to integrate Computational Thinking into the courses you are teaching. It is a great way to introduce yourself to computational thinking.



Computer Science Unplugged

Computer Science Unplugged is a great resource because it gives you access to resources that you can do without a computer at any grade level.



Google CS First

Google CS First is a new Google resource for computational thinking. CS First gives access to resources for activities that can be integrated into any subject area.



MIT App Inventor

MIT App inventor is for more advanced coders. This gives students a platform for creating their own apps

Hanging Out with an Ocean Between

Way back in August, I met with Lulu to talk about her goals for the year. She explained that one of her goals was to do more Mystery Hangouts this year. Last year they were a big hit with her students. Mystery Hangouts are fun for the students, but also takes learning geography beyond memorizing (DOK 1) to using the clues you are given to find the place you are looking for (DOK 3).

 

Soon after speaking with her, I happened to find a teacher on Twitter looking for classes with whom to connect.

Students were broken up into different groups to perform different roles. One group thought of questions for the other class, one group tried to take the clues given and find the other class on the map, one group recorded answers, another took pictures recording the process, one group was working on a globe.

Although students were disappointed they "lost" (the other class beat guess we are at KAS in fewer questions) they all answered "fun" when asked how it was.

I am looking forward to seeing the students get better at this as the year goes on.

Get students excited about what they are doing #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 1, 2016 at 7:54pm PDT

Skyping with @nnruthai #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 1, 2016 at 7:50pm PDT

20 Questions with Google Maps

One fourth-grade elementary teacher at KAS introduced her class to Mystery Hangouts last year. (If you are not familiar with Mystery Hangouts, think Mystery Skype - same idea.)

With a date scheduled for Thursday, I met with both fourth-grade teachers today to see how we could prepare the students for their first hangout of the year.

We looked at what skills the students will need for this activity, and decided to do a warmup on Wednesday to practice the skills.

Not wanting to teach the students each little detail about Google Maps, we are going to role play the activity so the students will see how to use it in action. The second skill students need to learn is how to ask a good question.

The Lesson
We started by getting the students logged into the computer and email. For most of the students, this wasn't an issue, but there were those students who had issues whether it be caused by user error [students mistyping] or computer error [computers not being charged or updated]. This ate up 15 minutes, but I believe this is a necessary use of time. It's a now or later process, and usually in those instances, now is better. So I think this was time well spent (despite the way I worded the sentence). Time needs to be factored into the planning of lessons involving tech in the elementary grades.

No matter how long you think it will take, add at least ten minutes.

Exploring maps and questioning in G4 #KAStw https://t.co/elA8lHAl5K pic.twitter.com/5gZzMzvzBi

— Thomas Hammerlund (@thammerlund) August 31, 2016

So we got started. With one teacher saying "Find my old school", and the students started asking questions.

I worked with this group of students a lot last year, and I know they can [could do a lot last year] but this was a new experience for them and they need practice with listening to the information given to them, and determining the next step.

More practice they shall receive.