Today I bring you some integration ideas I learned from Joshua Cassellius, a spanish teacher at Union Pines High School. Mr. Cassellius has been doing an exceptional job, smoothly incorporating technology into his daily instruction. He was an early adopter of Google Classroom to manage workflow and now runs a largely paper free classroom. Mr. Cassellius understands well that Chromebooks are a teacher’s tool for instruction that doesn’t fit every instructional situation. Accordingly, students move their devices back and forth from desktop to backpack efficiently several times in a class period.

Mr Cassellius has been particularly good at using Chromebooks this year to 1) increase student-teacher communication and 2) increasing the rigor of student mastery assignment through creation, collaboration, and publication.

In a recent training session we discussed Today’s Meet. Mr. Cassellius volunteered to his colleagues that he uses it with great success. He make one “room” per course, sets the time limit for 1 year, and posts the entrance code on the “About” tab of the course’s Google Classroom page. Before tests and quizzes he asks students to post any questions they have to the wall. He credits the anonymity afforded by Today’s Meet for the increased increase in student requests for help and as a result better student performance on the quizzes. Similarly he solicits student responses in spanish to verbal questions and as responses are collected peers critique the grammar and word choice without the fear of judgement by peers.

http://blogs.nvcc.edu/kriddick/files/2013/10/todays_meet2.jpg

Mr. Cassellius has also asked that students work in groups to create video presentations with cell phones and WeVideo to demonstrate their mastery of elementary spanish. This one activity allows Mr. Cassellius to reach all 4 of the central components of spanish skill instruction: speak, writing, listening, and presentation. The task is made challenging and relevant because these students have to collaborate with each other to produce mastery work while navigating the non-native language.  

Here are a few sample products by Mr. Cassellius’ students

Learn more about Mr. Cassellius’ tools featured above by clicking the icons below

Hey friends,

I hope you had a great and restful holiday weekend. Wednesday of this week is our next training during planning periods. I have some really neat tools to show you this time.

First up is Zaption. Do you ever wonder if kids are getting anything out of an assigned video? Zaption will make sure they are. Zaption allows you to to 1) embed questions, illustrations, etc… into YouTube videos, 2) it gives detailed diagnostics for each student that completes your video.

The second round of Flubaroo (2nd and 4th). Flubaroo will grade, analyze and report your students' work on any M/C, T/F, Scale, Matrix, etc... question (sorry, no essays or short answer). Participants will leave with knowledge (and a handout) of how to design a test/quiz in Forms, add the Flubaroo script to a spreadsheet, and grade student responses.

The introduction to Zaption will be 30 minutes into each block. Flubaroo will be the last 30 minutes of 2nd and 4th only.

Have a great day & let me know how I can help you teach or plan this month.

Our NCTies Lineup Is Set!

Thanks to everyone that expressed interest in the NCTies opportunity. At this point on entries are determined. The English, Social Studies, and Administrative teams will be represented by Amy Parsons, Jeremy Blake, and Kate Faw respectively. I'm really excited about this team and I know they are too. It is rare in our profession to step away and be with coworkers in a collaborative setting. I am sure that this team will bring back great skills and insights to help us all do our work that much better. Don't hesitate to ask them or myself to share what we have learned  when we return. If we are lucky enough to send I team next year I hope to see an email from you!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

NC TIES CONFERENCE 2015 **UP TO THREE GO FOR FREE***

NC TIES is by far the largest teacher tech convention in the North Carolina. Thousands of teachers, coaches, administrators, and media specialists will descend upon the Raleigh Convention March 5 & 6th in 2015. YOU CAN BE ONE OF THEM AND ATTEND FOR FREE. 

Ms. Lea has very graciously offered to provide funds for up to 3 Union Pines High School teachers to join the dozens of Moore County Schools teachers already registered for the  the 2015 NC TIES conference. That offer includes the cost of registration, accommodations, substitute teacher, travel and food (food and travel are based on county established expense sheets). Please understand that the offer comes in the context of very tight budgets everywhere. This conference is a priority for administrators all over the state. The expectation is that you will come back and become resources for the whole staff for years to come.

In 2013 I was lucky enough to have my registration paid by my principal as a history teacher / Dept Chair. That conference opened my eyes to the emerging world beyond the silo of my classroom and my instructional comfort zone. I was exposed to the actual 21st century, information-based economy that my students would soon enter. As a direct result of the conference I was able to improve the relevance and quality of my instruction To better prepare them for that eventuality. I met the writers of SAS Curriculum Pathways lessons, Google for EDU creators, and other leaders in the arena of EduTech. I became a leader in my local LEA beyond that of a SS Department head to a member of the school and county based tech council ultimately ending up here at UPHS.

Why you should attend:

If you are still new to teaching I suggest you try to attend the conference to see where the field is going, make lasting connections with great teachers from around the state and nation, and find practices to bring back to your classrooms.

If you are a veteran teacher I would recommend you attend to expose yourself to the world outside your classroom treadmill. You need new ideas and whitespace to manipulate those ideas and strategies into your professional practice.

For anyone I would recommend you attend because this was the best professional development experience had in 11 years of teaching with the exception of National Boards and Master’s Degree.

To attend:

1. Make sure you are available March 5-6th
2. Contribute 1 article to the MCS Digital Blog Chromebooks in Education
3. Participate in no less than 2 Stop Collaborate and Listen meetings
4. Be willing to help your department and peers in the future by sharing your knowledge gained at the conference
5. Contact me at wherring@ncmcs.net to get the ball rolling.

Remember that we only have a maximum of three spots for UP staff. Let me know if you are interested and can meet the expectations above.