iTouch/Google Docs Collecting Data

Once again an idea hit me on how to be even more efficient with the data that I collect while conferring with readers. Earlier this week I mentioned I was at a technology conference and exploring on the new iTouch that my director bought for teachers at our school in order to familiarize ourselves with them before we roll them out for 1-to-1 student use. The possibilities will be endless, including a powerful way to combine Google Docs forms with the iTouch.

At a Google Docs presentation the presenter showed us how to quickly and easily create forms and how they show up in a Google Docs spreadsheet. Right away my teaching partner and I created a form to track discipline. Now we will have one, central location for to track student behavior and infractions. In addition, other staff members will also be able to input tracking information. We always share with our students that they should, "Do what is right even when nobody is watching." Utilizing Google Docs forms will make it even easier for them to feel a sense of accountability of meeting up to our high behavior expectations.

Next, I realized that Google Docs forms would also be an excellent tool for conferring. I created a form for reading conferences. I am still deciding how much I will use it, but I will use it for sure for quick check ins. For example, a recent focus lesson revolved around questioning. Given a similar situation, I would create a quick form to mark off students' present level of ability to apply the strategy to their reading. It will automatically be in a spreadsheet and I will be able to provide sufficient support in a more timely manner, as opposed to needing to collect, sort, and make decisions the old way.

The iTouch will be so convenient when I am doing quick conferences and only documenting specific information in a form that does not require me to type out a longer reflection. When I want to be able to type out a longer response I will still utilize a laptop.

So many possibilities. So much to get excited about...

Challenges to Integrating Technology

I have been so excited to finally be able to integrate more technology in my classroom. All year long I have wanted to get my students blogging. Even though I was originally planning to have my students use Edublogs, I decided to use Blogger when I realized that Edublogs does not allow for flexibility in some of the privacy settings that Blogger has. The parents I checked in with were more comfortable having the blogs internal (only open to other school staff and students, as well as parents). The other advantage of Blogger was that the more I learn about Google Docs, the more excited I was for student applications.

I tried to be very thoughtful and thorough to make sure and take steps for my students to be safe and protected while learning to use more technology. Before creating accounts, I had a parent meeting to gain parent consent, and then I mailed home letters and consent forms for any parents who were unable to attend the meeting. Next, I drafted an agreement to discuss with students for them to sign.

Then came the big moment... I walked students through the process of signing up for their Gmail accounts. Everything was great until my excitement was squelched with realization that many of my 7th graders are not quite 13 yet. Some are just a couple of weeks away, while others won't have their birthdays until the summer. None of my 6th graders would be ready yet.

After school I did some searching and realized that there is Google Apps for education. I am excited that they will be able to have access in a safe secure environment for everything, except Blogger. I will get right on this tomorrow, but I have to talk to our tech about some of the settings first. Now I am reconsidering blogs. Some thoughts right now are: Will I have to wait on blogs until students turn 13? If so, will I allow some to get started as 7th graders or wait for the 8th grade year when all students would be able to start blogging together?

The other glitch is that Ning also has a 13 year old requirement. I had just started a new Ning that I had closed to the public that I was going to use for book club discussions. I had previously looked to see if they had an age requirement and thought they did not, but today after the Google Accounts road block I checked again and found that they do have a similar policy. It appears that they all stem from COPPA.

While this has been extra stress added on to an already busy and draining week, I will persevere in seeing what will work for my school. My current plan is as follows:

*Set up the education Google Apps as soon as possible
*Continue using my Edublog classroom blog for discussions, even though it does not have threaded comments for free, which would have facilitated classroom discussions much better, rather than a Ning
*Continue investigating opportunities for my students to blog in a closed environment for free, whether it is this year or next year when the students are thirteen.
*Think about how I can still use technology to increase the sense of "real" audiences for my students with whichever tools end up being available. Even if students are not able to have their own blogs, I will focus on how I can maximize the benefits of Google Docs.

Exciting News

I just shared the exciting news on my personal blog that I today I received my acceptance letter into a doctoral program at a local university. In January I started a literacy class in writing in hopes that I would be accepted to the program, knowing that they the class would count toward my degree because my emphasis area will be in literacy. The first day of class was a turning point, knowing it could be something much more significant than just one class.

While in the middle of my doctoral studies my other blogs may not have as frequent of postings, but I expect that this will be the blog where I will continue to update regularly as it has ended up being a place to reflect and share learning. I plan on focusing much of my studies on technology and literacy. Along those lines, I had already been planning on getting my students started with Google Applications this week, including Gmail, Google Docs, and Blogger. After my technology conference, I have even more excitement for the possibilities of having a class set of iTouches. I am not sure when we will get our iTouches though. In the meantime I will be exploring and getting familiar with mine that I mentioned I got (a special surprise from our director). Soon, I will be posting about why I am so excited. As a preview, it is once again going to revolutionize the way I track conferences.

Itouch

I am trying out my new itouch. There is still so much to explore but it will be amazing. It is fun to play and imagine possibilities for classroom applications. I am tired of pecking away though, so I definitely won't ever compose too much.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Whirlwind Holiday Weekend

This last few days rather than basking in the idea of having an extra day off with a long holiday weekend, I have been going non-stop. Friday evening and Saturday I went to my once a month writing course. Early Sunday morning I caught a flight with five of my colleagues to attend a technology conference. What a weekend of discoveries!

Though draining, I got a lot out of my writing class. It has been great to see ways to improve my workshop approach and different pieces are clicking in place. It has provided an avenue for additional reflection and to analyze what is working, what needs improved, and where to focus my energy next.

On the technology side, my colleagues and I are all exhilerated with all of the possibilities and debriefing on the best way to spend our technology funds. The area that we are most excited about now is iTouch capabilities. We had originally been planning on iTouch labs as more of a long term goal; however, this weekend we are realizing that they can do what our planned short term technologies can do plus so much more. It is always so beneficial to figure out how to best utilize technology without having a plethora of different gadgets if there is one that is all-encompassing. The confrence is changing the way we view technology and what will be the best fit for our classrooms.

Later today I will be going to a Google presentation that I am also really looking forward to. Lately I have been experimenting with Google Docs, and I will be posting about why I love it later. This week my students will be setting up their Google accounts (Gmail, Blogger, etc.). I am excited to see what I will learn this afternoon that I haven't already discovered on my own.

Traits of Writing

I feel very fortunate to have received my NCTE publication right in time to notice that Ruth Culham's new Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School was just released. A class that I am taking this semester requires a trait book, whichever is appropriate for current placements. Before I noticed the ad, I would have bought the grades three and up edition.

I just finished Culham's book this weekend, and there was so much to love. First and foremost, it is a good fit pedagogically. My school emphasizes teachers basing curriculum decisions on standards, and the majority of curriculum is teacher created with the standards as a guide. Our state's writing scoring guide revolves around the traits. Thus, the traits have already been front and center in my classroom this year.

However, as with many components, this school year has been one of figuring pieces of my literacy block out, and I was excited to have so many great ideas to more effectively familiarize my students with the traits and to help them grow as writers. Some of my favorite features of the book were: Think Abouts that accompany each trait (guiding questions for students to analyze their own writing), suggested comments for conferences for each trait based on different levels of current proficiency, and mentor texts. While reading I also made a lot of notes on how I will be able to adapt the ideas for my latest venture of student blogging that I will be starting next week.

I will refer back to this book often. It complements my other favorite resources well. The lesson ideas Culham explains give me many new fresh ideas to bring the traits to life, yet I will also still rely on other resources and my own ideas to fill out my curriculum, just as Culham suggests.

A final reason for excitement is that other teachers in my building are also implementing Culham's ideas. It is always beneficial to have vertical alignment, and since her books support our state's standards so well it is easy to get teacher buy-in. I expect that before too long school-wide we will be integrating her ideas. It will be great to share ideas across grade levels and to have a common language to discuss what we are doing to foster a love of writing in our students.

On March 2nd from 3:00-3:30 EST there will be a free webcast with Culham via Scholastic. I signed up in hopes that I will be able to have someone cover my class for a half hour since it will be during student contact time at my school.

This weekend we will be discussing the traits at my class, and we are supposed to bring in mentor texts that we can use to demonstrate one of the traits. I have not decided for sure yet, but voice is one of my favorite traits, and I have been thinking of bringing in one of Simone Ekeles' books as a mentor. Another book that came to mind was The Luxe as an excellent hook (organization) by starting out at a funeral but then mentioning that the casket is empty because the body could not be found after the character supposedly drowned. I was instantly sucked in analyzing how each funeral attendant was acting and thinking about all the possibilities of what was really going on.

YES Prep

The staff at my school has been contemplating a recent Edutopia article about YES Prep. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it and would love to hear your feedback. It is always refreshing to read inspiring articles and to have discussions with my colleagues reaffirming what we already do well and to plan how we can continually improve. One of the many reasons I love my school is the level of willingness to always improve our practice.