Take a Screenshot!

One of the first things I taught my class to do this year was to install extensions. I wanted them to be able to quickly access Google Docs and G Suite. I also wanted them to be able to screenshot their work so they could post it to Seesaw - their learning journal.

I came to realize that taking screenshots has a more important function; to record inappropriate behavior.

I follow the Vicki Davis approach to finding inappropriate things on the internet and teach students to: 

1. Take a Screenshot
2. Block
3. Tell an Adult

Suggestions for Seesaw

Written in the Spring of 2020

Seesaw is great, but after using Seesaw for these three weeks for online learning, I have a few suggestions:

1) I love the links to the assignments. But they only work after assignments are posted. Could the link to the scheduled post go to the "posted" assignment?

2) It would really help if we could format announcements.

3) It would also help to be able to schedule announcements.

4) I like the skills. I would also like to see a rubric tool in here.

5) Could we have the option to change the way to calendar looks? I usually think of weeks starting with Sunday.

6) Could it be possible for activities to "gray out" for those students who finish them?

7) It would be awesome if some sort of report (checklist) could be generated for the daily assignments.

Coding in Schools: The Why

Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash

I remember many years ago when coding first became a rage among progressive teachers and thinking it made sense. Many of the arguments I heard were about jobs and future employment. 

I also heard some arguments about coding being like learning a foreign language. This made a lot of sense to me because there are some parallels I can see: 

• coding has a kind of grammar with its syntax, 
• coding has a vocabulary and if you don't know it, you need to learn it to speak fluently,
• coding communicates a message.

And I tried to incorporate coding - for a time. Then, I kind of stopped.

I wish I were back in the classroom because I would find a way to incorporate coding into the curriculum. I think it is more than just a job skill or another language - there is so much more to it.

In the past few weeks especially I have been working on a coding project and I have noticed a few skills that I use frequently:

• Resilience - my code often doesn't work. When it doesn't I have to go back and figure it out. 
• This often involves a fair amount of research. Knowing what questions to ask and using search terms to find information does lead to more success.
• Editing. When the code does not work, it is usually due to a missing comma or semicolon. I feel that I am becoming more careful in what I do. 

Does it transfer though? That is something I am still trying to figure out.

The Fortune Cookie Lesson

Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

The Before Breakfast Podcast is a podcast I often listen to while commuting. The episodes are less than ten minutes and I have gained some good productivity tips from it.

Recently, I heard one that covered the idea of writing yourself fortune cookie style messages to act as goals and motivation. 

Great idea, but I wonder what it would look like as a classroom activity where students would write a fortune for others in the same style. 

What makes this different is the thought that students would have to go through to write a message in the "fortune cookie style" and could make for a fun challenge.

The Big List

I have a blog set up and when I find content on IFTTT I can make a post right from Twitter. That works for me, but I think I need something a little more user-friendly for teachers.

Here is a Google Sheet with tools and tags. I am planning on making more functionality along the way, but want to post this as soon as possible.

View this list