Learning in the Lou

Auggie (front-left) and his classmates sift through notes  while completing a formative  assessment quiz in Ms. Rathjen's 7th  grade  science class. Curriculum standards, learning targets, formative assessments, Google Forms and Sheets, Flubaroo, and science notebooks--all of these pieces are working harmoniously in the 7th grade science classrooms of Angela Rathjen and Angela Schneider at Sperreng Middle School. What are they doing? In order to help students understand their learning goals and monitor their progress, Ms. Rathjen and Mrs. Schneider have developed goal sheets for each unit that students can insert into their science notebooks.  Each curriculum standard has been transformed into a learning target (or "goal") written in student-friendly language using the verbs and vocabulary that students need to know and be able to do. After completing lessons developed for mastering a learning goal, students complete a formative assessment on ...

Daydream - Colton Witt Have you dreamed of the day where you can give your students quick formative feedback and have the results automatically tallied, color-coded and recorded? That day is today.  Your dreams are now coming true. This magical tool, flubaroo, works in conjunction with a Google Form to automatically grade the results of your quiz and enter them into a color-coded spreadsheet.  Personalized results can also be emailed to the student giving them instant feedback. Flubaroo Overview Video - by the creators of Flubaroo Things that stood out: Teacher gets a color-coded answer sheet. Red - Names in red scored less than 75 on the quiz. Orange - Questions highlighted in orange indicate less than 60% of the students got it right. These two colors could make differentiated instruction more targeted, you know who needs what instantly. Resources Flubaroo User Guide On Twitter?  Why not follow Flubaroo ! Google Forms Capturing student f...

What is Mystery Skype? Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics and science. Not sure how this will really work with kids in your classroom?  Read this short post from a teacher explaining the process.  She lists the types of questions you need to prepare to assigning jobs during the Skype session. Would this engage your students?  Take a few minutes and watch the video.  Could your students guess the location after 20 questions?

What does this mean?  Is this really unlimited? Yes! You never have to delete an email! You can add a billion photos to your drive and have room to add more!

Two items that have consumed me this week. PhotoMath Just watch this video and you will see this may just be the most amazing app ever created. PhotoMath from MicroBLINK on Vimeo . I think the way this can help a student deconstruct a math problem is out of this world. Inbox Do you remember when gmail first came out?  It was in 2004 and it changed how the world used email.  The only way to access gmail in those days was through an invite from a friend or you could buy one on ebay. Google has done it again. They are reinventing how you view your messages in a new product called Inbox by Google.  It is still by invite only but they seem to be handing them out like candy on Halloween. I still don't fully understand this but I love it. One more thing... Google Drive Have you seen this message when you logged into Google Drive this week? It appears Google is pushing the new version of Drive much harder this time.  Take a look at wh...

Plickers are awesome.  Just ask Amanda McKay. It's the end of 4th hour and Amanda's physics students have been hard at work learning how to calculate net force.  A poll question appears on the board.  Her students reach under their desks and reveal personalized QR codes.  As they hold up their codes, Amanda scans the room.  In a flash, Amanda knows every student's response to the question. I asked Amanda three questions about plickers.  Here is what she had to say: What are "plickers"? "They are what I call Paper cLICKERS.  The mini QR codes that are printed on them can be oriented in four ways to show four different choices for a multiple choice question and are aimed at an Android or Apple device that interprets the choices.  A live bar graph is shown on the device as responses are read.  A correct answer can be chosen and would then be shown as a green bar on the graph." How do you use plickers? "I use them to collect quick ...

flickr image: williamson You just recorded the most amazing screencast of your life.  Everything you needed to say just seemed to flow, you were in the zone. That video is now on Youtube.   The audio appears that it was recording while you were on a plane. Now you are looking for a way to have your recordings sound as smooth and clear as your natural voice. Solution: 1.  In the lower right task bar, right-click on the audio icon. 2.  Left-Click on Recording Devices 3.  Left-Click on Microphone to highlight (you should only see one microphone icon listed) 4.  Left-Click on Properties button 5.  Left-Click on the tab titled Levels 6.  Move the slider for Microphone boost to the far left (should be at 0.0 DB) 7.  Left-Click Apply button and then Left-Click OK button This solution brought to you by Keith Loveless.