Tag Archives: Student Feedback

Show and Tell

Leave a reply

Yesterday’s post discussed my decision to do a demo for my presentation instead of a hands-on activity. The limited time of my sessions was the leading factor in my decision, but I think another surpassed it today. That factor was actual interest in using the iPad for student assessment.

The teachers on campus had to choose four separate topics from a selection of eight to attend. I presented three times and assisted another teacher during his presentation during the fourth. I think my best session was actually the best one. It was my fullest session, despite the request from administration, to limit each session to fifteen teachers. I know that I was over fifteen, but I don’t have the heart to turn anyone away. In this first session, I’m estimating that all but two or three teachers will actually use the iPad to assess students in their classes. The group was tech savvy and asked quality questions throughout the presentation.

My second session was small with five teachers. Most of these teachers will probably not use the iPad for assessment, but were there to be informed about what I am doing in the class. While the may not have been interested specifically in student assessment, they did ask great questions about other apps I use and whether or not they can be used on an iPod effectively. The last session I presented had about fifteen teachers, but only about four or five will seriously consider using the iPad to assess students.

These last two groups are why I am glad that I didn’t do a hands-on presentation. I don’t think there is anything more difficult than teaching hands-on technology to people that don’t want to use it. My time will be better served by giving an intro, provide a resource for teachers to do step-by-step, and make myself available for one-on-one help.

Demo vs. Presentation

Leave a reply

Tomorrow is the first official day back for teachers in Clark County. I say official because I (and several other teachers) have been back to work for the last couple of weeks. The first day back is typically filled with staff development and tomorrow is no exception. The teachers on our campus can choose four sessions attend from ten potential options. I am responsible for presenting during three of the four sessions and assisting another teacher in the fourth session.

I am presenting a variation of my NACTE presentation on using the iPad and Google Apps. The focus of my presentation is on creating forms in Google Docs and use the forms on an iPad for student assessment. I have created a Prezi presentation that shows the step-by-step process of setting up the forms and the iPad. My concern is that I will not have enough time, about 45 minutes, to have each teacher work through each step.

What I have decided is to do a live demonstration from beginning to end on the entire process. If there is time at the end of each session, teachers can start to create any forms. I am usually not a fan of doing live demos because since so much can go wrong when using Internet-based technologies, but at least I have the Prezi downloaded in case something goes wrong.

iPad and Google Apps to Manage a Classroom (Pt. 2)

Leave a reply

This is part two of three about my presentation at NACTE 2011 on managing a classroom using the iPad and Google Apps. In part one, I focused on the reasons why a teacher would want to use these tools, the Google calendar, and Google Docs. In this part, I am going to focus grading using the iPad and Google forms. In terms of managing my classroom, this has had the biggest impact because it saves me time and I can give students instant feedback.

The first step in the process is to create a form in Google Docs using my desktop computer. I create a form for each class period that I teach and I enter the student’s names so they will appear as a drop-down list on my iPad. I only have to create this form once for each class period because I reuse the form for each assignment I grade.

Once the form is created, I email the form to myself. I open the link to the form on my iPad in Safari. In Safari, I can create a bookmark to be placed on my home screen. I complete this process for each class period’s form. In addition, I created a “Work Ethic” and “Presentation” grading forms. I use the Work Ethic form to log off-task behavior. At my school, our students complete several presentations a year and I use the Presentation form and my Brookstone keyboard for the iPad to provide feedback on those presentations.

In a typical day in my classroom, I will give notes during the first 20 minutes of class and give the students the remaining 60 minutes to complete the day’s assignment or work on the current project. While the students are working on the current day’s assignment, I am walking around to each student grading the previous assignment. I am entering the grade into the iPad for the student, submitting the form, and returning back to the form so I can grade the next student.

The great thing about grading this way is that the student receives instant feedback about the assignment and knows his or her grade before I move on to the next student. If a student completed the assignment incorrectly, I can explain what the student did wrong and have the student redo the assignment for a better grade. In addition, the student can also ask me questions about the current day assignment to make sure he or she is doing it correctly.

I am usually able to get through the entire class in the 60 minutes that they are working on assignments or projects. Once I have graded the entire class, I can open the form in Google Docs on my desktop computer. In the form (which is now a spreadsheet), I can sort by student name, highlight all of the scores, and copy and paste the scores into my gradebook. If the scores/feedback that are in the spreadsheet are scores that I want to keep, I make a copy of the form and name it after the assignment. If I don’t want to keep the scores, I just delete the rows of data in the spreadsheet and my form is ready to go for our next class meeting.

Here’s a quick tip on copying and pasting scores into the gradebook. If you have students that are absent on the day you are grading, you must enter a grade for them into the form. If you don’t do this step, the copy and paste from the spreadsheet will not match up.

In part three, I will be discussing the last portion of my presentation, which is on other apps that I use in managing my classroom.