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Let's Chat about Chalk Talk

3/1/2021

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Chalk Talk provides the opportunity for students to engage in silent conversations. Silent conversations allow students to take the time to consider new thoughts and ideas without being interrupted by a verbal classroom discussion. Instead, students share their comments by recording them, analog or digital. As students consider the comments and ideas of their classmates, they have the time to form deeper thoughts and share new ideas as the conversation grows. In conclusion, students share what was written aloud to the whole class and debrief about the experience.
Once again, when a new routine is introduced, students may need modeling and prompting to push their thinking and to provide meaningful additions to further the conversation. This may not be intuitive to students. Providing stems to support this might be beneficial.
This strategy easily lends itself to a digital learning environment and perhaps could even happen asynchronously as students become more independent, but always ending the routine with a synchronous share out and debrief. A digital tool, like Jamboard, allows for students to record ideas quickly and efficiently. We created a template to help you get started.

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To create and use this template:
On the first frame, we added a sticky for the Chalk Talk prompt and additional thinking prompts to support student commenting.
We duplicated this frame for 5 groups. You can duplicate more frames if needed.
You will want to set the editing rights to ‘anyone with the link can edit’ when you share with your students.

Additional Resources:
Ask better questions with these questioning stems


~Gina and Mindy

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'Take Note' of this Thinking Routine

2/15/2021

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Take Note is not the traditional note-taking or outlining of a lecture you may initially connect with. Instead, it promotes students to actively engage in the learning with the opportunity to reflect, take notes, and engage with discussion after the learning. This thinking routine helps students develop their memory and focus during learning by NOT worrying about capturing all of the details in traditional lecture notes. It supports students in learning to use their brains more efficiently by inviting them to distill out the key points of the learning they are presented with. 

This strategy will be best used synchronously when first being introduced and for a fair amount of time following the introduction. However, as students become more familiar with the routine, the learning could be done asynchronously. For example, students might watch a video prior to meeting for class, take note following the viewing, and come with notes to be shared in a class discussion. This independence is the goal and requires student understanding of the importance of the routine.

If using this strategy from a distance, a great tool for students to digitally record their notes could be Jamboard. We’ve created a template that could be used for students to share their notes and discuss the ideas of others.

To create and use this template:
  • We added the four questions to each frame for easy reference. 
  • Each frame has 5 numbered squares that will be used by a different student in that group. If needed you can add more squares for your groups.  
  • Frames were given different identifying colors to distinguish different groups
  • When students move to discuss the notes of their classmates, they will be assigned a different color frame (group) to discuss. 
  • Each student will read aloud and respond to the square that matches the square number on which they recorded their notes.​

Below you will find a table with suggestions of how to tweak the Take Note Thinking Routine to be more effective in alternative learning environments.
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Click here to learn more about COVID Cohorts.

We would love to hear how you have used Take Note with your students! Share your story in the comments!

​~Mindy and Gina
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Using Socratic Seminar in a Hybrid Environment

1/27/2021

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Recent times have forced the landscape of our classrooms to evolve. The question I often ask myself is, "Will we ever go back?" I don't know the answer to that question. What I do know is that it is imperative that we adjust highly effective instructional strategies to engage students in hybrid environments to prepare for whatever the future holds for education.

When I started to think about instructional strategies that could be most easily modified for this type of environment, Socratic Seminar was the first one that came to mind. Socratic Seminar provides a structure for students to discuss a question posed by a classmate or teacher (usually dependent on a text). Often during Socratic Seminar there are two groups: an inner circle and an outer circle. Both inner and outer circles have roles during the Socratic Seminar (also know as a fishbowl). 

In a hybrid environment, the inner circle could be the face-to-face students while the outer circle could be the remote students. Traditionally, the job of the outer circle is to be the observers and summarizers of the discussion of the inner circle. However, engagement in this role might be challenging for remote students. In addition to being an observer and summarizer, a suggestion would be that the outer circle continues to pose deeper questions throughout the discussion and shares their own thoughts through a backchannel chat, using a tool such as YoTeach or the Q and A feature of Google Slides.

Don’t be afraid to switch these roles! If your remote learners are lacking engagement, allow them to be the inner circle and project the video-call for the face-to-face students to observe in class. Face-to-face students can also pose questions for deeper conversations through the tools listed above.

A few things to take into consideration would be: 
  • Have the face-to-face inner circle seated in a horseshoe, as opposed to a circle, so that students viewing from home are able to see and hear the face-to-face students.
  • Questions being posed in class should be re-voiced loudly and clearly, while also being recorded in the chat feature of a video call, on Google Slides, or a table in a Google Doc (see examples). Both circles should have equal access to the classroom discussion. 
  • Also, to keep remote students engaged, assigning a face-to-face student (or even the teacher) with the task of interacting with the outer circle and sharing to the inner circle will help all students feel heard. 
  • Projecting the outer circle backchannel discussion to a classroom screen will support the interaction of the two circles, as well.
  • ​Take the experience to the next level with an OWL or a SWIVL. These devices can help facilitate a better viewing experience.

What instructional strategies have you modified to suit hybrid environments? We'd love to hear about it in the comments!

~Mindy

Additional Resources:
Socratic Seminars: Let's Build a Culture of Student-Led Discussion
Fishbowl Instructional Strategy
5 Steps to a Successful Socratic Seminar
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Think, Make, Innovate: Collaboration. Connection. Community.

12/1/2020

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Building and maintaining a collaborative and creative community has been on our minds lately. The struggles of keeping strong relationships with our students and our students with one another is challenging from a distance. We've gathered some ideas that we wanted to share!

Provide Shared Experiences

We've seen so many great ideas to provide shared experiences for our students via Zoom/Google Meet. If it is pet parades, show and tell, costume dress-up days, or scavenger hunts, teachers are doing everything they can to foster the relationships between classmates. Building in these fun, community-building ideas might be the way to do it! Jennifer Gonzalez shares some other ideas here.

​Create the Illusion of Being Together

Using Remove.bg gives the effect of green screen without all the extra tools! Create a class photo or have students create their own. This simple, free tool will stoke those creative fires! Check out Amber's quick tutorial below and another example of how she used it with selfies from the team!
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Synchronous or Asynchronous Collaborative Idea

Creating a digital flip book with Google Slides is easy! Using the duplicate slide tool makes this idea a breeze! Create a Google Slides presentation so everyone can edit and then watch the magic unfold. Use this will small groups or as a whole class (with some guidelines, of course) and create something that represents your class! Check out Mindy's tutorial below! 
Bonus tip: Check out TallTweets (use Tall Tweets Classic in the middle of the page)! It will create a .gif file of your flipbook that you can share anywhere!

We want to connect with you!

Share with us how you are maintaining connections with your students! We want to hear about how you are fostering creativity in your classroom community! Tag us on social media with @DLGWAEA and, as always....

#HaveFunMaking

​~Mindy and Amber
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Wakelet: Versatile, Flexible & Free

12/5/2019

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We always love it when we find tools that are versatile. We also love it when our favorite tools evolve into something bigger and better over time. We love it even more when those tools are free. Wakelet has quickly risen to the top of our favorite tools list at DLGWAEA and we are excited to share ideas of how to use it.
If you are new to Wakelet, imagine it as the ultimate digital bulletin board. If you have a core list of websites and resources that you share with your students, turn it into a Wakelet. Wakelets can be shared not only with students, but teams could contribute and share resources through a Wakelet as well. Wakelet not only allows you to collaboratively curate resources, but it also has Immersive Reader and the Flipgrid camera as built-in features. (For a step-by-step tutorial on how to get started, check out Microsoft's Surfing the 5Cs Wave with Wakelet!)
Screen Image of Surf the 5 C's with Wakelet from Microsoft
So how does Wakelet measure up for classroom use?
First of all, Wakelet, could be used simply as a digital library of vetted resources for students. Give students a headstart with online research by curating resources for them! Take it one step further by opening up the collaboration feature for students to continue to add resources.  But you aren’t just limited to links. Add images, text, videos, Tweets, or anything from your Google Drive or OneDrive.
Screen Shot of the Things that you can add to a Wakelet Board
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​Take a 45 degree turn on this idea and consider it for student portfolios. Imagine all of a student’s work in one spot to share or reflect upon throughout the year. Wakelet is easily shareable to any audience through link, QR Code, or direct connection through some of your favorite places like Google Classroom, Remind, and more! Pro tip: Keep track of all your students’ portfolios by creating a ‘home’ Wakelet and adding student Wakelets into the home Wakelet to make them more easily accessible.

Are you using playlists or checklists in your classroom? Wakelet is a great option for taking it digital! Add everything your students need right into the Wakelet! Don’t forget to add your own instructional videos using the Flipgrid camera. Directly from your Wakelet board, you can add a 3 minute video using all the features of Flipgrid, like annotating on the screen or adding pictures to the video. Talk about taking those playlists to the next level!
Wakelet’s icing on top is the inclusion of Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. This powerful little tool takes Wakelet to a whole new level. With the click of a button, students can have websites read aloud, translated, reading preferences applied, among other amazing tools. Although this feature is still in beta and isn’t perfect yet, it still is a game changer. To eliminate bugs, make sure to drill down to the actual website page you want to share. Homepages will not work with Immersive Reader. Immersive Reader also doesn’t work with other media such as PDFs or Tweets, but works great with any notes/text you add to the Wakelet board. Our team is so excited about this built-in accessibility for students and look forward to seeing it used in classrooms. ​
But there’s always room for improvement, right? Here’s what we would like to see improve with Wakelet before we declare it the "Absolute Edtech Supreme":
  • Owner of the Wakelet should be able to edit and delete additions to their board, as needed
  • Ability to open up device camera when adding an image to the board
  • Ability to add audio directly from device microphone without a Flipgrid workaround
  • Freedom to move posts and place them anywhere on the board  (example: concept map)
  • Option to add text descriptions to posts on the board
  • Ability to embed a Wakelet that is set up with Mood Board formatting

Wakelet is a flexible tool that has endless possibilities for classroom use. From a digital library of resources to more powerful playlists, Wakelet might be the answer your classroom has been looking for and all for free! We would love to hear how you use Wakelet in your classroom! Leave your ideas in the comments or connect with @DLGWAEA on social media!
​

~Mindy Cairney (@TeamCairney) and Amber Bridge (@abridgesmith)
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Reciprocal Teaching, it’s Not Just for Literacy Teachers!

3/15/2019

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Chances are if you have heard of reciprocal teaching you have thought of it in the context of an English Language Arts class. Although reciprocal teaching is a text processing strategy, its application is further reaching than the English classroom. Reciprocal teaching has a .74 effect size making it a powerful instructional strategy for all content areas where text is being used.

What is Reciprocal Teaching?

​Reciprocal teaching includes four steps:

  1. Predict 
  2. Clarify 
  3. Question
  4. Summarize

​Reciprocal teaching is a process that best works in a collaborative environment so most commonly small groups will be used in this strategy. Additionally, the process helps students organize their thinking about text.  Creating a Doc or Slide Deck template for groups to use (see examples in Step 1) can be used to record ideas and provide links to additional tools used in the process.

Incorporating Digital Tools

Step 1 - Predict: The predict step can look different in different grade levels and content areas, however, no matter what grade level or what content area prediction involves previewing the text and connecting prior knowledge to what is seen. Additionally, students think a little bit about what the text might focus on based on the quick previewing that they did.  Collaborative conversations are imperative to the prediction process. Recording thoughts on a table in a Google Doc  or collaborative Google Slides can help classmates when returning to the conversation and for later evaluation of predictions.

Step 2 - Clarify: In this step students read through the text and note any areas that are unclear for them. One area that can be focused on is vocabulary. To clarify and further make meaning out of unknown terms, students can use an online dictionary tool (like the dictionary feature in Read & Write for Google or the Google Dictionary Chrome Extension) , but additional development of this new vocabulary might be needed. Vocabulary programs have an effect size of .62. One model that can support the explicit teaching of vocabulary is the Frayer Model. On a collaborative doc, students determine words needing clarification. Repeated words from the doc are collected and distributed to groups for further investigation. A shared Frayer Model tool can be used to further build the group’s understanding of their assigned words. Google Slides or Google Drawings fulfill the need to share and collaborate as a class.

Step 3 - Question:  After all of the predictions have been made and all unknown terms have been clarified, groups begin in-depth reading of the text. Each group will record three questions they have as they read. Groups are encouraged to come up with a ‘right there’ question, a ‘between the lines’ question, and a critical thinking question (Kieschnick, Bold School). Teachers will need to model the question generation process prior to turning kids loose with this responsibility in addition to providing language scaffolds to help students generate questions. To learn more about question generation check out some of the resources in our Riddle Me This blog post.

Step 4 - Summarize: The final step in reciprocal teaching is summarizing. As a small group, students create a summary of what they just read and come to consensus on how they will show what they know about the text. There are a variety of different ways that students might share their summary of the text. With the time constraints of a classroom, this strategy might not be completed in one day. Flipgrid allows students to share their summary in the moment, with the ability to view with the class at a later time as they evaluate their summaries against previous predictions. This could also be great for students to reflect and review before an assessment.

Key Takeaways

  1. Organization and planning for this strategy is essential. Use collaborative tools to keep groups organized.
  2. Digital tools should not replace collaborative conversations, but instead help collect and record the ideas shared in small groups and provide an artifact to return to throughout the process.

~Gina Rogers
~Mindy Cairney

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