Takin Social Studies - Ideas, Lessons and strategies for the 21st Century Classroom,

If you have never heard of Takin Social Studies, now is the time to take notice.  This blog houses podcasts ranging from Music in the classroom, sticky current events, to primary sources.  After listening to it for a couple of days, I am hooked.

The four hosts each have their own witty personalities and provide tons of resources they use with their students. Listen to Episode 17 Got Rhythm.  Also take a look at the notes from the episode as well, they link some student work which is really good and hopefully will generate some ideas for your own classes!

Rubric Grading in Google Classroom: New for Fall 2018

Problem

I have many assignments that I deliver via Google Classroom that need to be graded by using a rubric.  I will have even more of these as we continue to move towards Standards-Based Grading.  I've heard people talk about Orange Slice or Goobric/Doctopus, but it sounds like a lot of technical up front work that I am not comfortable with.  I need something simple, quick, and efficient.

Solution

Attaching a Google Doc version of your rubric to an assignment and choosing to Make a Copy for each student will enable a form of rubric grading that is flexible, fast, and powerful.

Flipgrid Frenzy!

This summer, Flipgrid was bought out by Microsoft and has since given the pro version to teachers for FREE!  YES!  FREE!!!  Which means, you can make as many Grids as you want!!  

Last year the free version only allowed for one grid with multiple topics.  This year you can create as many grids as you would like with as many topics as you want under those grids. 

If you have never used Flipgrid, it is a video discussion platform where student's can video booktalks, reflections, practice speaking in a foreign language,and much more. Student's can access via their computer or the app on their phones.  Take a look at this video to get started.