Google Classroom APP

The Following was taken from the Google Classroom Android App Description.

The App is available on ANDROID and IOS

 

Using Google Classroom in school? Get the Android App to use Classroom on the go.

Classroom helps teachers save time, keep classes organized, and improve communication with students. It is available to anyone with Google Apps for Education, a free suite of productivity tools including Gmail, Drive and Docs.

Classroom is designed to help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly, including time-saving features like the ability to automatically make a copy of a Google Document for each student. It also creates Drive folders for each assignment and for each student to help keep everyone organized.

Students can keep track of what’s due on the Assignments page and begin working with just a click. Teachers can quickly see who has or hasn't completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback and grades right in Classroom.

With the mobile app for Android, students and teachers can view their classes and communicate with their classmates in real time. Students can open their assignments and work on them right from their phone or tablet. Teachers can keep track of who has turned in work and review the assignment - at school or on the go.

There are many benefits of using Classroom:

Easy to set up

Teachers can add students directly or share a code with their class to join. It takes just minutes to set up.

Saves time

The simple, paperless assignment workflow allows teachers to create, review, and grade assignments quickly, all in one place.

Improves organization

Students can see all of their assignments on an assignments page, and all class materials are automatically filed into folders in Google Drive.

Enhances communication

Classroom allows teachers to send announcements and start class discussions instantly. Students can share resources with each other or provide answers to questions on the stream.

Affordable and secure

Like the rest of our Google Apps for Education services, Classroom contains no ads, never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes, and is free for schools and is integrated into MyTools2Go!

Contact Joe Sisco or David Petro for questions on Google Classroom!

Selected Screenshots Below:

Plickers: The Free Clicker App (with almost no tech)

Collecting formative info from your students is something that I am a big fan of. One way to do that is to use a clicker system. For those who don't know, those are electronic devices that allow students to answer a multiple choice question (some brands allow for some limited open response) by entering their choice via an electronic remote. There are several brands (Smart Response, eInstruction etc) but these systems often are expensive and require a lot of software set up. Another alternative is to get an app that students use on their own device to answer with (Poll Everywhere, Socrative etc). These apps are often free and have a lot of the same features as the electronic ones but it requires students to have a device of some kind (either provided by you or their own).

Plickers negates almost all of those problems. I first heard about Plickers from a blog I follow called I Speak Math. That was a few weeks ago. Last week I was at the STAO conference and @Ryan_PSmith used them in a session and I was hooked. Plickers in a nutshell gives each student a unique marker card. To poll your class, ask a multiple choice question and the students hold up their card in response. You then scan the room using the app on your phone (this is the only technology needed) and the app registers what your students chose. The image on the card is a square and depending on how they orientate their card, students can choose any of the four options.

So I quickly made a set of these and tried them out today (thanks to Mark Esping for letting me take over his class for 15 min). The Plicker website has several options for you to choose from for the cards. They come in 40 or 63 card sets in various sizes (if you had a big room you might need a larger sized card). So I chose the set of 40 with the large font (I have just now found out why the font size is important. You want it big enough for students to see but not so big that another student can see others). I also created a backside for each card so that a student would just have to look at the back of their card to know which way to orientate it (thanks to Mark Esping for helping with this). You can download that file here (docx, pdf) and then print it on the back side of the Plicker cards (note that it is matched to the large font set of 40 - the letters are random too). This backside is not necessary though.

Some issues with my first try:

• Note that in my first set (see image) I made the back side font big so it would be easy for students to see their letter not thinking that it would also be easy for the person behind to see the letter too. So the file I have uploaded above has much smaller fonts. 
• I also made the mistake of laminating the cards. That was bad because of the glare from the lights on each card. 
• I made mine smaller so that I could carry them around from class to class in the different schools I go to but if the student holds onto the card in such a way to cover part of the marker, then it won't read. So if I were you I would just cut each sheet in half so the cards are big when you separate each card.

Once you decide to use these you have to create an account on the Plicker site (yes, yes, another account) and create your class. As you are using the Plickers, if you have the website up you can get live results as students answer. You have to create each question but if you already have a set of MC questions that you use, you can just create dummy place holder questions (ie you don't have to even put anything in the spot for the answer choices). When you are actually using the Plickers you can click on the Live View link to see the data come in in real time. And note that if you scan the class and then rescan it and the student changes their orientation then it will change in your data.

So give Plickers a shot and let us know if you did and how it went in the comments. The app is available for both iOS and Android.

Any Pen Pal Fans Out There?

Mystery Calls Classroom Activity:  

Connect with another classroom and try and guess where they are??  Could be local, could be anywhere! 

http://www.infinitethinking.org/

Looking for a way to engage students, learn about the world, and practice the 4 C's? Try Mystery Calls, where two classrooms meet via Skype or Hangout and try to guess where each other is located. Learn about how every student can get involved in this episode.

Keep Them Working Job Sheet:

Global Learning in the Primary Grades

Google + Community for Mystery Call Connections

If there is interest and you are looking for some support on this activity feel free to contact Doug Sadler.  We could even setup out own Community for LOCAL Mystery Calls to get started.  The sky is the limit WECDSB.

Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.

For more great ideas visit:

http://www.infinitethinking.org/

CANDIDATE FOR SUCCESS

This panoramic image showcases individual masks created by the Grade 8s at OLPH

For her first placement, University of Windsor Teacher Candidate Felicia DeMarco taught Grade 8 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Elementary School. Her associate was Ross Sisco, who uses MyTools2Go* and the Provincial Learning Management System (LMS) extensively with his class. At the school, Ross and his students have regular access to Chromebooks and a computer lab. Felicia was added as a teacher in the LMS and was issued a MyTools2Go account. She quickly embraced this access by posting class announcements, adding content, and creating electronic dropboxes. Felicia even assessed student work on line using the Rubric tool in the LMS. Felicia encouraged and modelled the use of MyTools2Go with the students, using Google Forms to create a formative assessment and using an extension to automatically grade the assignment.

The learning environment in Mr. Sisco's classroom is a wonderful blend of face-to-face learning and seemingly unlimited access to current information and multimedia. The teachers, both Felicia and Ross, along with an Educational Assistant, are co-learners in the digital learning space provided with MyTools2Go and the LMS.  Felicia gained some valuable experience in her first placement, but most importantly, the Grade 8s at OLPH had a wonderful opportunity to refine their skills as 21st Century Learners. 

* MyTools2Go is the WECDSB's version of Google Apps for Education

This panoramic image showcases individual masks created by the Grade 8s at OLPH

Let Your Phone do Your Math Homework

So I have waited for the dust to settle on this one a bit before I make a formal comment but the current buzz is about this new math app called Photomath. Take a look

Yup, this app will look at your math problem, interpret it, solve it, then show you the steps. The concept is pretty impressive. In practice though it still needs work. It doesn't work on all types of problems (I tried trig and solving a quadratic but neither worked) and you have to be able to isolate the problem you want to solve in the window but for the most part it does ok once it recognizes the problem you want the answer for.
That being said, I tried it out with these four problems. You can see in the video below that some work great and others not so well. Usually though, if the answer is wrong, that means it has misinterpreted the question (ie the character recognition did not properly see the question). And character recognition is tough and doubly tough when it is dealing with math formatting. So I can cut them some slack there. That being said, I do have an issue when the question is interpreted correctly and then the math to solve it is done wrong. That is what happens with the last question. Now granted it is a complex question but with the right algorithm, a computer should be able to solve this without a problem. But watch what the app does in this case:

So the app is not quite ready for prime time yet but apparently since it's release a couple of weeks ago has amassed over 2 million downloads. So clearly there is perceived a need here but there are a couple of things to mention.

1. if indeed this thing gets cleaned up and works then that means that math teachers will really have to rethink what it means to give homework. I am not saying that they should stop giving it or kids shouldn't practice but clearly if you give a kid a bunch of fraction problems to do at home and all they do is use the app then that could be problematic. 
2. it is actually possible for kids to learn by seeing the patterns of many solutions done in front of them. So theoretically a student could use the app to "teach" the solution process and then move out on their own only using the app for checking. 

Now there has been a lot of discussion on the implications on the net and I think for the most part there is a large faction of teachers that are good with this since it now makes the math we give to students have to be more challenging and interesting (not that we need the app for that). There was a good discussion on Dan Meyer's blog that brought out a lot of ideas. Dan even tweeted out some of my screenshots and these even got featured in a NY Daily News article that he was interviewed for.

Oh man this @photomathapp is such a hot mess of good intentions and lousy math. /via @davidpetro314 pic.twitter.com/0EB3WE4xy8
— Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) October 23, 2014

The general gist here is that the sky is not falling. Technology will continue to change the way we do things in class. And there are even many ways that this app can actually be used by teachers right now. For example, have students check if the app gets the correct answer. But consider this "shots fired" over the bow of those teachers who think that giving worksheet after worksheet is a great way to for kids to learn math and that just showing example after example of sample solutions is a great way to teach it. For those teachers, clearly they could be replaced by an app. That's not good. It should be a wake up call that we have to be giving something more value added than that in the classroom or we will be replaced by an app.

Now of course the real controversy is that the app was ripped off from the Big Bang Theory :-)

#bazinga #BigBangTheory here is a real app inspired by "The Bus Pants Utilization" episode https://t.co/zeBl5WQg0Q pic.twitter.com/CeekDrDuoS
— PhotoMath (@photomathapp) October 21, 2014

UPDATE (Nov. 13, 2014) - There has been an update to the app and it seems that the math is better. I ran it through the same problem that it stumbled upon above and it was able to solve it (and the mathematical form was better). So I hope they keep up and continue to refine it. You can see at the right that on the step that it stumbled prior (see above video), it now does fine (and then eventually, 7 steps later, gets the correct answer of -45)

Google will soon offer UNLIMITED Space on Google Drive

Google is living up to it's slogan "Keep everything"  TheVerge.com reports that soon GAFE users will have unlimited file space in Google Drive and allow storage of files up to 5TB in size.  The WECDSB offers all staff and students a GAFE account in the form of MyTools2Go.

We will let you know when it happens.  Special thanks to Dr. Brode for submitting this information to us!

Remind - Stay Connected with Parents with Ease

Remind - Stay Connected with Parents and Students with Ease

Remind (formerly Remind 101) is not new but is taking American Teachers by storm!  Remind has become the number one choice by teachers in the US to communicate with parents.

Wall Street Journal - Remind

Teachers can send messages such as homework and test prep reminders, notes of encouragement or congratulations, photographs depicting an activity that the class engaged in that day, quick surveys about a recent school activity or assignment, and weather or venue updates. Remind even has an easy to use app for both iOS and Android.

Setup is very easy and available in TEXT and EMAIL formats.  ONE WAY COMMUNICATION.  Remind also falls in line with the Canadian Legislation on Anti-Spam as REMIND works on a Opt In model which requires Students and Parents to choose to accept the messages AND gives them a vehicle to STOP the messages.

Below is an example of a handout generated for you that could go home with your students.  I received one these on the 1st day of school and as you might have guessed I loved it. Way to go Mr. Hooper.  You can opt in using a Number through texting, the QR code, and email.

Texting is the New Email:

Texts are what people read.  Spam and access have caused Email to become less efficient.

6 Billion Phones VS 3.6 Billion Email Accounts

http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2013/09/sms-marketing-ideas/mobile-vs-email-statistics-infographic/

This infographic displaying U.K. texting habits says it all:

• Texts are read emails .... not so much
• Most Parents will have a cell within arms reach.

http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2013/09/sms-marketing-ideas/mobile-vs-email-statistics-infographic/

Teachers:

• updates on homework
• class / school events
• reminders - Picture Day

Coaches:

• Practice Times
• Game changes such as time and location
• reminders about uniforms or other items needed
• Uniform collection
• Tournaments

Administrators:

• efficient way to communicate with staff if they were interested
• parent communication of school calendar and major dates
• reminders of PD days / Picture Day / Fund Raisers

Remind is free to teachers.  Remind has a very easy to use interface and will allow for different class setups and groups.

Try it out!  If you are using REMIND we would love to hear from you.  Please comment on our blog.