{"id":7,"date":"2013-09-11T15:33:02","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/math\/?p=7"},"modified":"2013-09-20T12:30:02","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T16:30:02","slug":"technology-in-my-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/math\/technology-in-my-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology In My Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s a big year for technology in the classroom at Williston. 550+ Surface Pros<\/a> have been deployed to the eager hands of every student and faculty member. The WiFi network has been amped up, and Schoology<\/a> is being used in every class. Here’s what I have planned for my classes:<\/p>\n

OneNote<\/a>: Everything that I present will be done through OneNote and projected onto the board. I am also requiring that all of my students complete all of their homework in OneNote. My presentation notebook is shared with all of my students. This means that (as long as they have an active internet connection) they will have live access on their own Surface to the notes I am presenting in class.<\/p>\n

As I add content to my notes, it will also appear on their (read only) copy of my notebook. This means that all of my class notes are immediately stored on every one of my students’ Surfaces. It also means that any kid can scroll back to another part of the notes that are no longer projected on the board. That way I don’t have to stop and scroll back up to a different section. Each kid can see what I’m presenting at the front of the room, and then scroll back to any other part they want to examine on their own Surface.<\/p>\n

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Calculus notes made in OneNote<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By removing the requirement to transcribe everything I put on the board, each of my students will be able to spend more of their energy participating in discussions and understanding the material. Of course, students will be welcome and encouraged to take notes if it helps them focus and learn the material.<\/p>\n

Additionally, each of my students has shared their OneNote notebook with me that they will be using for all of their homework and miscellaneous notes. What this means is that they no longer have to send me anything, either via paper of digitally. Anything they put down in their shared OneNote notebook automatically shows up on mine. I can now watch as work is created in (just about) real time. In the evening I can comment on homework as it’s formed. During class I can show off great student work that was just created by going to that students’ notebook on my own Surface, which is being projected to the front of the room. So far the system has been working wonderfully. It takes a little bit of work to setup each notebook, but once each is setup, you’re done. Everything only needs to be setup once.<\/p>\n

Over the past 5 years I have been sharing my OneNote daily notes via PDF files that I would create after every class that would then be uploaded to a shared Google Drive<\/a> folder. This system worked incredibly well in an environment where each student did not have a tablet with OneNote. I also can’t speak highly enough about supplementing any file sharing system with DropBox<\/a>, a system that has been the crux of my past classrooms. If you’re working with iPads or in a non-one to one Surface environment, go with DropBox.<\/p>\n

SkyDrive<\/a>: I will be using the cloud storage system to coordinate all student journaling. I have created a private document for each of my students that only I can access.<\/p>\n

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One of my SkyDrive journal folders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every one or two weeks each of my students will answer the questions “How’s life?” and “How’s math?”. They are also free to use the journal to communicate to me anything they think I should know that doesn’t fit into class discussions or one on one interactions. By using an online, secure document sharing system, nothing will be lost and I will be able to easily read through 40+ journals.<\/p>\n

Note: Now that the OneNote sharing system is working so well, I may move student journaling to OneNote. Each student could create a new section in their OneNote math notebook specifically for journaling.<\/p>\n

Schoology<\/a>: My Schoology class pages will be the online hub for my classroom. Through them I will be distributing almost all class materials such as syllabi, assignment sheets, and worksheets.<\/p>\n

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A typical Schoology page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The system will also host our online discussions, as well as act as a class calendar. By funneling all course material through one online repository, my students will have easy access to everything we have covered, in a form that can be instantly loaded onto their Surfaces. Additionally, students will be able to receive grade updates through the Schoology system, and we will all be using much less paper.<\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a>: I will be using Twitter for two purposes. First, I will be using it as a way to continually grow my personal learning network (PLN). There are so many wonderful resources out there and Twitter is the perfect pipeline to tap into almost all of them. Second, I will be using Twitter as a broadcast medium. I love being able to share my enthusiasm for math in the instant I have a moment of inspiration. For example, I’d love for the hashtag #mathinreallife to trend!<\/p>\n

\"#mathinreallife<\/a><\/p>\n

PollEverywhere.com<\/a>: Live audience polling is a wonderful tool. I use the system every day or two as my students enter the classroom, usually prompting them with the poll question “Was the homework worth doing?”. The students can cast their anonymous votes via text or online. Having a regular checkin helps me to better tailor my lessons to my students’ needs, as well as get my kids focused immediately after they walk into the class. It’s also a great way to start a conversation each day.<\/p>\n

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A typical poll used at the start of class<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The free version of PollEverywhere is limited to 40 responses per poll, but that has always been enough for my purposes. It’s also been very helpful to track student responses to the same questions over time. By understanding past response patterns, I get better and better at interpreting the voting results each day. Here are some of the recurring polls that I have run:<\/p>\n

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Tracking student responses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SnagIt<\/a>: There are lots of ways to record your screen, but SnagIt is my favorite. To me it’s the perfect balance of ease of use and features. I use screen recording in a few ways. First, I record just about everything I do in class in videos like this:<\/p>\n