Tech Tip Tuesday: New Google Forms

Have you noticed that Google recently updated the interface for creating and managing Forms? Perhaps you've had some trouble finding the menus and features that you are familiar with? Or maybe you are new to Google Forms altogether and are interested in a quick tutorial to help you get started...

What's New?
The basic differences between the old and new versions include:

• Simplified design to view and edit on mobile
• Brand new colors and themes
• A quicker way to view and manage responses

Beyond the Basics

One of my favorite resources for new technology ideas is the Free Technology for Teachers blog written by Richard Byrne. He recently put together a Google Forms tutorial playlist, which includes videos demonstrating how to customize both the old and new versions of Google Forms, how to install Add-ons in both versions, and tutorials on some of his favorite Google Forms Add-ons. You also might want to check out 80 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom from TeachThought.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Kahoot

On a learning walk last week, Caroline, Ahmed and I visited Jean Nightingale's Geometry class and got to see Kahoot! in action. As described on the website, "Kahoot is a learning game created on the Kahoot! platform, which consists of multiple choice questions - as a quiz, discussion or survey - in any topic, language or ability. It’s projected at the front of the classroom, & played by the whole class together in real-time (answering on their own personal device)." As we saw in Jean's class, the students were engaged and enjoying the game, and Jean was able to instantly assess where students are in their learning and then address misconceptions on the spot.

I was going to use this post to plug the upcoming TTT session on Kahoot!, but sadly, it has been postponed. So instead, here are some resources to help you get started with this awesome tool on your own. As always, if you need additional support, your instructional coach is here for  you!

You might want to start with the Getting Started with Kahoot tutorial from their website. Or, if you prefer to watch a video tutorial, you could check this one out.

Once you've got the basics down, you might be interested in learning about how to use "ghost mode" in this post from Free Technology for Teachers. This feature essentially gives students the opportunity to play a Kahoot review game against themselves in order to measure their own progress and growth.

For a peek behind the scenes, this episode from the TeachThought podcast features the co-founder of Kahoot! discussing their mission driven approach to learning and how Kahoot! is more than just an assessment tool.

PD Follow-Up

After our professional learning day last Friday, some teachers said it would be helpful to see high-quality examples of completed unwrapped units. There is now an Unwrapping Examples collection in the PLC Resources folder with seven different examples from a range of content areas.

A number of people also expressed an interest in getting more clarification around Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions. After doing more reading and thinking about EUs, EQs, standards and targets, I created the graphic below to help myself (and hopefully others) clarify the relationship between them, as well as to envision how these elements actually come into play in day to day instruction and assessment. The instructional cycle starts at the bottom with the Essential Questions.

Feedback? Questions? Please let me know!

Here are some texts that you might find helpful:

"Put Understanding First": High-school specific article by Wiggins and McTighe; a good introduction/review of the philosophy behind EUs and EQs.

"What Makes a Question Essential?": First chapter from Essential Questions by McTighe and Wiggins. I have a copy of this book if you are interested in reading additional chapters.

"How to Use Essential Questions in the Classroom": Blog post from the Global Digital Citizen Foundation.

"On Genuine vs. Bogus Inquiry" - Using Essential Questions Properly": Blog post by Wiggins. Math teachers check out the EQs that are at the heart of genuine problem solving in math.

"What is a Big Idea?": Another post from Wiggins on the Authentic Education blog.

"Essential Understandings": This is a chapter excerpt from Mapping Comprehensive Units to the ELA Common Core Standards, 6-12; however, the information at the beginning and end of the chapter is more general and is applicable to all subject areas.

If you'd like some time to peruse these resources or discuss these ideas further, come to the TTT session on Wednesday in Margaret's room. Teams who want to work on unwrapping are encouraged to attend.

Tech Tip Tuesday - LastPass

Do you have trouble keeping track of all of your usernames and passwords? Or maybe you have a "secret" spot where you keep them all, but it is really not secure and if you lost your device, someone could get access to your data.

A password manager can simplify your life, and a good one makes it easy to improve your overall online security. I've been using LastPass for years, so this is the one I personally recommend, and I am not alone. In 2015, Lifehacker ranked it as one of the top 5 password managers. 

LastPass remembers your usernames and passwords so you don't have to, and it will auto-populate the fields for your saved sites, making signing in a breeze. It also makes it easy to audit your passwords, use stronger passwords in general, and it gives you the option to store all of your passwords either online and synced with other computers and devices, or locally on one device.

According to the LastPass website, "Getting started is free, fast and just a few simple steps." What are you waiting for? 

Support available for the technologically-challenged!

Tech Tip Tuesday - Random Name Picker

"Perhaps the simplest way to improve classroom questioning is simply not to ask for volunteers, but instead to choose a student at random," says Dylan Wiliam, an expert on formative assessment and effective questioning strategies. Read more about how random questioning increases student engagement in Wiliam's article "The Right Questions, The Right Way." 

Try these two tools to easily digitize the popsicle stick strategy:

Random Name Picker is a free tool from Classtools.net. It lets you input names and spin a virtual wheel to have a name randomly selected from the list. After a name is selected you can remove it from the wheel so that it is not selected again. You can save your lists by assigning passwords to them. You can also re-use your saved lists. 



Stick Pick is an app for iPhone or iPad where you can set up multiple virtual cans of sticks. It also suggests question starters for learners at different levels and allows you to keep track of student responses. 

Tech Tip Tuesday - Printfriendly

Have you ever wanted to print an article from a blog or a website, but wished you could do it without printing all of the ads and widgets in the side columns? Or perhaps when reading online, you find all of the clutter distracting and wish you could just have a clean, easy-to-read page? PrintFriendly is the tool for you. 

Simply copy and paste the URL of the article or post that you want to print into the PrintFriendly site. You’ll get an editable version of the page that lets you delete images, resize or change fonts, and delete specific pieces of text. This allows you to create the perfect document ready for printing. You can also email the document or download and save it as a PDF file.

PrintFriendly also offers the option to install a browser bookmarklet. Once installed, the bookmarklet allows you to simply click a button on your browser’s task bar whenever you’re on a site you want to print. Very handy!

Want to see it in action? Check out this video demo:

Interested in learning more about how online reading impacts concentration and comprehension? Check out Nicholas Carr's article in Wired magazine: "The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains."

Tech Tip Tuesday - Save & Share Browser Tabs

The newest twist on TTT is "Tech Tip Tuesday", a weekly blog post that includes a quick technology tip that will enhance teaching and learning in your classroom, help you stay organized and ideally, save you time. If you have a Tech Tip suggestion, you can: a) send it to Susan Payne, b) share in the comments, or c) do a guest blog post. Let's pool our collective knowledge and learn from each other!

Today's tech tip comes from SmartBlog on Education:

Tech Tip: How to save and share multiple browser tabs

By Ari Flewelling on January 12th, 2016 | Comments (0)

You’re sitting in your classroom researching websites for an upcoming lesson and you have about ten tabs open in your Google Chrome browser when you realize it’s almost 5pm and you need to leave to go home. One problem, what are you supposed to do with all the tabs? Here are two solutions to help you:

• TabCloud: This Google Chrome extension lets you save and name tabs. For example, say you have 10 tabs open pertaining to “The Great Gatsby.” Simply on Tab Cloud, name the group “Gatsby” and save it for later. You can access the tabs again by clicking on Tab Cloud.
• One Tab: With One Tab you can save your group of tabs and share the list as a web page or via QR code. This is great when working with students because you only have to share one link instead of several. You can also favorite tab groups if there are groups of tabs you use on a regular basis.