Nov 30, 2012

Grading Using Google Forms: Flubaroo

Imagine having a quick and simple way to grade formative assessments like homework or short quizzes.  I have used everything from Mastery Manager, CPS clickers, CMS, and the good old pen and paper to try to do this efficiently.  Now, using Google Forms, I have found the most seamless way to incorporate formative assessment grading and evaluation into my daily curriculum.

It's called Flubaroo...cute, no?

As a general overview...

  1. To use Flubaroo you first create a Google Form that contains your questions from your formative assessment, like your homework from the night before (or it can be the formative assessment itself).

  2. You fill in the form yourself to create an answer key.

  3. Students fill in the form.  They could be answering questions that they see on the form, or the form could simply be a generic place for them to input their answers from their homework the night before [Math teachers...I'm looking at you :) ]

  4. Google Forms collects all of those answers in a Spreadsheet for you.

  5. You install and run Flubaroo.  It grades the students work against your answer key.

  6. A new sheet is made that shows you a class overview, everyone's scores individually, highlights questions that are missed at a high frequency, and more!


 

Check out this official overview for more details, and watch the 3 minute clip below if you are interested.

As always, your district and building coaches can be contacted if you would like a hands-on demonstration!

 

Nov 26, 2012

Filter Google Searches by Reading Level!

Problem:


Whenever my students search for content on Google, the reading level is WAY to advanced for them.

Solution:


 Filter your Google search results by reading level.

Filtering your search results by reading level is now built into Google search.

To do this, enter your search on the main Google page, then click on the "Search tools" box.  A new set of options will be displayed below.  Click "All results" and you will be greeted by a drop down menu where "Reading level" may be chosen.  Alternatively, you can click on the gear icon (located on the right side of the following picture) and choose "Advanced search".



The "Advanced search" button will take you to the following page.

You can now select just the reading level you'd like to see: Basic, Intermediate or Advanced.



With "Basic" clicked, all the results are of a basic reading level.

So... what's "Basic" versus "Intermediate" versus "Advanced"?

The reading-level is based primarily on statistical models Google built with the help of teachers. They paid teachers to classify pages for different reading levels, and then took their classifications to build a model of the intrinsic complexity of the text. With this model, they can classify the reading level of any webpage.

So the breakdown isn't grade- or age-specific, but reflects the judgments of teachers as to overall level of difficulty. Roughly speaking, "Basic" is elementary level texts, while "Intermediate" is anything above that level up to technical and scholarly articles.  "Advanced" is going to contain the most detailed information available on a topic.

It is important to note that Wikipedia articles almost always come up in the Advanced category.  Since Wikipedia articles are often the first "hit" of a search, most of our kids are trying to research from a source that is far above their reading level!

Nov 20, 2012

KJHS 7th Grade Study of 13 Colonies

During a study of the 13 Colonies and three regions, students In Mrs. Kindred’s class used various resources to research the founding of the 13 Colonies. It began with groups finding facts to complete a semantic feature analysis framework. This visual organizer encourages students to discover the relationship of categories. Each group researched: the colonies belonging in each region, religions, geography, climate, economics, politics, and famous people. Students listened and watched videos from Discovery Education, gathered facts from online sources, the textbook, and from class discussions. As a culminating activity, students created a Photostory based on the information learned about the 3 regions of Colonial America. Students developed a deeper understanding of the birth of America and how economics were determined by geography and climate.

Mrs. Kindred, 7th Grade Social Studies, KJHS

Full Google Drive Integration into a Science Project

Problem:


A group project involving the promotion of global aid organizations.  How can students collaborate on this project from home and school alike?  Can we use Google Applications to make the whole project more efficient and productive?  Windows Movie Maker had been used ineffectively to do something similar in the past.

Solution:


 Create a worksheet in Google Docs and email it to the students.  Do their research and image gathering in Google Docs using the Research tool.  Create the product in Photostory.  Provide feedback and assessment using a Google Form.

How We Did It:


 



During this project I worked hand in hand with Environmental Studies teacher Joel Swanson.  We first developed a Make an Impact Worksheet in Google Docs that provided students not only with the typical information they would need, but also with links to research  locations, help sheets, and more.  Because his students were/are still learning the ins and outs of Google Drive, I decided not to "Share" the document with them, but rather to "Publish" the worksheet to the web, and send them a link through their Gmail account.  This method (explained here) allows the students to simply click on a link and interact with the worksheet; precisely what we needed.  *As an aside, you can also embed a document like this directly into a page on your CMS if you wish*

Google Docs ResearchOur next step was to introduce a new way to research information to the kids.  We had them create a Google Doc, share it with their group members, and then dive into the Research tool that Google offers.  Information about sharing files and the research function can be found in the training > help sheets area on Teacher's Corner.  Students were excited about how easy it was to find information, move it into their shared research document, and keep track of their citations!  The best part?  Both group members can be finding images and doing research on the same document at the same time!   What a time saver.

 




    




 

We then proceeded to have the students created their Impact Videos using Photostory.  If you are looking to have students narrate over images that they find during research, I cannot stress the ease of use and professional quality that you can get with Photostory. It can be downloaded on student computers through Stuview, and is a free download from Microsoft for home use.  The Make an Impact Video Worksheet (linked above) has a link to a Photostory help sheet if you are interested.



Finally, and most excitingly, we had students participate in the assessment and feedback process by having them fill in a form as groups presented.  The form, pictured here, allowed students to rate each aspect of the presentations and provide written feedback to each group.  It kept students engaged in the presentations and provided them a quick and simple way to voice their opinions.  The best part?  The form collects all of the scores, we tallied everything up in less than a prep period, and just like that we had every presentation scored and ready to hand back!  We even copied each written comment into a Word document to be handed back to students when we see them after Thanksgiving.  Since we are leaving for Thanksgiving break, the top three groups are going to be notified through their Gmail accounts.

If you have any questions about the project, please leave a comment!

Nov 13, 2012

Evans Campaign Commercials

While covering the 2012 Election, Evans 6th Grade students on Team Evangers worked on campaign commercials for their chosen candidate.  Groups studied strategies advertisers use to persuade others and their candidate’s political views.  Students then narrowed their focus of the topics they wanted to discuss and began writing scripts for their candidate.  Using the Small Wonder video camera the students recorded their campaign commercials throughout the building, using various settings and backdrops.   Once finished recording, Mrs. O'Day and I helped train the team on saving their video on Google Drive as well as MovieMaker and how to properly import, edit and enhance their work.  Students then finalized their video and uploaded their final product to CMS.  We shared some of our outstanding work with others at Evans Junior High during Election Week!  This activity was very relevant to current events and gave students a glimpse of what is involved behind the scenes in politics.  Our technology resources such as CMS, our laptops, Google Drive and MovieMaker made this election activity manageable and enjoyable for all!  To see examples of these projects please visit  the Middle School Tutorial Page on CMS, under Teacher's Corner. Scroll to the Movie Maker section and Student Samples. Enrollment code is oday. Here is a link directly to the page.

Jim Broach
6th Grade
Evans Junior High School