Best Practices: Knowledge Through Text

October 25, 2017September 19, 2019 ~ iMrsHughes ~ Leave a comment

“Having children engage in books of high quality introduces them to new words, ideas, and events outside of their daily experience.” (Roskos & Neuman, 2014)

As teachers, our job is to expose students to ideas, concepts, and realities they have yet to experience. Whether through class discussions, reading a novel, or analyzing a video, it is imperative to help student build knowledge of the world around them through the texts we choose to incorporate. And the integration of Educational Technology provides opportunities for learning that were simply not possible before. In fact, using technology to help create learning experiences for students is one of the Best Practices of the 21st Century Literacy Classroom!

Check out some of the links compiled below that can help your students BUILD KNOWLEDGE THROUGH TEXT.

Virtual Field Trips: Check out the extensive list of virtual field trips on this blog post! Tons of options for all ages and all subjects!

E-Books: Yes, there are tons of websites available to make e-books with students, but to be honest, PowerPoint or Google Slides works just fine! E-books can become companion readers! Every time we visit a new location on Google Earth or find the answer to a question, have students create a new page of their Companion Reader! Looking for additional ideas? Go here!

GAFE: The Google Suite is the best and easiest way to build knowledge. Reading a book and the students have a question? Simple! Google it! YouTube it! Google Earth it! We have answers and virtual experiences to help our students build background knowledge in order to further understand a text by simply using the Google Apps for Education Suite!

Share to Classroom Extension: This Chrome extension pairs with Google Classroom users! Teachers can push websites to students with one click! Simply locate the site, click Share to Classroom, and select the Google Classroom you’d like to share with link with! The website on your screen immediately is sent to your students and opens on their screens! AMAZING!

Take a STAND! One of my freebies! After building the knowledge through the text, I like to have students formulate opinions on the things read! Have students Take a Stand on the issue… literally!

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Using Graphic Organizers with Google Drive

October 18, 2016May 16, 2017 ~ Christina Hughes ~ Leave a comment

Graphic organizers are a teaching no-brainer.

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We all know how beneficial they are for helping students organize their thinking. However, when all students have access, sometimes it can be difficult to integrate these tried and true teaching methods.

What websites do we use to help us?

Do we use mind mapping software?

Is Google Drawings the best option?

Should I just create a table for the students to edit?

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Honestly, all of these ideas work, but, in my experience, have been difficult to assess! But using Google Slides has made this process a breeze! I’ve created multiple graphic organizers in Google Slides and can share them easily with my students through Google Classroom!

Students can access the document, make edits as needed, and resubmit.

When I was using Google Drawings, I had problems with the set up. Students would click and accidentally move the boxes which messed up the format, which absolutely halts all progress until they fix it … lol!

But with Google Slides, I haven’t had that issue… and I can also easily assess by leaving students comments in the margins and by using my favorite tool ever…. DOCTOPUS! (see future post!)

I hope you find these graphic organizers helpful in your 1:1 classrooms!

Until next time!

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Virtual Field Trips: Links Included!

June 24, 2016October 22, 2017 ~ Christina Hughes ~ Leave a comment

Looking to try virtual field trips with your class? Check out some of my favorite resources to really engage your students with the content!

1. Google’s Virtual Field Trips

Cultural Institute: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/project/art-project

Google Earth: https://www.google.com/earth/

Google Sky: https://www.google.com/sky/

Ocean in Google Earth: http://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/ocean.html

2. Google+ or Skype

Skype in the Classroom: https://blogs.skype.com/tag/skype-in-the-classroom/

List of Skype Based Virtual Field Trips: https://education.microsoft.com/findalesson/virtualfieldtrip

Boston Tea Party Experience: http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/virtual-tours

3. YouTube Virtual Field Trips

Amazon Rainforest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEsV5rqbVNQ

Atlanta’s International Terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isxfYBSh2q4

Plimoth Plantation: The First Thanksgiving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5qi3Meqy24

4. National Parks/Monuments

The White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour

National Parks List: https://www.nps.gov/hfc/services/education/inParks.cfm

50+ Washington DC Virtual Tours: https://www.scholasticatravel.com/2014/02/24/washington-dc-virtual-tour/

5. Other

NY Philharmonic: http://www.nyphilkids.org/index.html

Dinosaur Dig: http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/interactives/dig/main.html

Anne Frank House: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Home/

360 Virtual Tours: http://www.airpano.com/List-Aerial-Panoramas.php

Tips! http://www.teachhub.com/how-plan-virtual-field-trip

EXTENSIVE List Here! http://www.clarkandlucilearn.com/?p=2718

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Google Classroom in June – 3 Essential Tips!

June 17, 2016May 15, 2017 ~ Christina Hughes ~ 1 Comment

If you’ve been using Google Classroom for the first time this year, you and I are probably sharing similar thoughts as the school year comes to an end: What do I do with my Classroom? Do I really have to start ALL over next year?

After doing some research of my own, I hope you’ll find these helpful tips to successfully finish the year with your online classroom.Tip One: Download all grades!
Most (if not all) of my record keeping has been completed digitally this year, but we still need to turn in our grade books in June. This is one way to download your grades so you can have them all in one spot. You can export them to Google Sheets, download one assignment as a CSV, or download all assignments as a CSV.

Downloading Grades from Google Classroom

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Tip Two: Create an Archive Folder
I’ll be archiving my Google Classroom from this school year, but unfortunately, in my Google Drive, the folder for the class will still be there. Therefore, my suggestion is to create an Archive Folder that you can literally move your Classroom folder into so you can have remaining access to those files, just not for your current school year.

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Tip Three: Archive Classes
This is the easy one. You can archive classes in Google Classroom which is amazing because then you can reuse the posts! Reusing the Classroom itself, while tempting, is not ideal for K-12 education because there’s no flexibility when it comes to reordering assignments, etc. Therefore, archiving and reusing posts is the way to go!

Hope these three tips help you close out your school year with Google Classroom!Any other tips you’d like to add, please comment below!

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Category: google

Best Practices: Knowledge Through Text

Using Graphic Organizers with Google Drive

Virtual Field Trips: Links Included!

Google Classroom in June – 3 Essential Tips!

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