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May 3, 2017:  Mrs. Beatty's English 9 students took a NearPod quiz on irony.

Students went to Nearpod.com and entered the code for the quiz.

Students then drew a scenario of verbal irony after taking the 10 questions quiz.

Shannon then had students go outside to participate in a game of Red Light-Green Light with statements exemplifying irony. (Click on pink link for video)

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April 25, 2017:  Mrs. Greer's PLTW middle school students finished creating windmills.

Students were tasked with creating the most efficient blade design for their windmills.

Students had to build the blades and test the windmills and change their designs based on what worked best.

Students also added weight to their windmills to see how much weight the wind power could carry.

Lauren also created workbooks for students to fill out with designs, data, and analysis throughout the project.

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April 11, 2017: Mrs. Greer's 9th grade environmental science class inquired into the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Students created Cornell notes on water pollution using the textbook at the beginning of the period.

Students then collaborated in pairs to complete a handout using an online resource on the Exxon Valdez oil spill from Class Zone.

This required students to apply the knowledge the built during the Cornell notes.

Lauren used her Frog page as the home base for this lesson.

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March 23, 2017: Lauren, Robin & Shannon led a staff-wide professional development session to share various resources and strategies for SMMHS faculty.

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March 17, 2017:  Mrs. Beatty's 9th grade English class inquired into argumentative writing.

Students were put into stations and looked at various digital media.

They looked at the resource as a group then collaborated by writing what they learned on a class Google Doc.

Once all the groups filled in the information from their station, they jigsawed and shared the information with the class.

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March 17, 2017: Mrs. Greer's environmental science class is studying pollution and it's effect on the environment.

Students completed an online interactive called Smog City today during class.

They filled out a physical worksheet while changing variables on the computer program.

Lauren asked for my opinion on a stations activity that she built on her Frog page.

Students will fill out a 'W' (who, what, when, where, why) chart for the Clean Air Act, Montreal Protocol, and Paris Agreement while inquiring into various digital media on atmosphere pollution.

The Volkswagen station, which includes a response board, is attached to this post.

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March 1, 2017: Mrs. Greer's 7th grade science students used Board Builder for guided inquiry on weather and climate.

Lauren assigned a Discovery Education board on weather and climate to students.

Students completed the questions on her board after watching the videos.

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Greer- Weather vs. Climate Board Builder.MOV

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March 1, 2017: Mrs. Werner's Anatomy and Physiology students created boards on osteopathic diseases.

Each student chose a disease and reserved their disease on a Google Spreadsheet on Robin's Frog page.

Students then researched their disease and compiled their research and information in a board on Discovery Education.

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March 1, 2017: Mrs. Beatty's students participated in an interactive for the trial scene from To Kill a Mockingbird.

The started class by using the Four Corners strategy with their bellringer.

The classroom was laid out like a courtroom and students played the part of each character from the trial scene in the book.

Students had a focus question: who makes a better argument? during the scene.

Students participated in an activity called Quiz/Quiz Trade. This required students to ask each other the question on their slip of paper and argue their answer with their partner then trade papers and move on to another partner and repeat.

At the end of the period, students completed a reflection via Shannon's Frog page.

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February 3, 2017: Attached is a picture of Robin with staff members teaching them about how to integrate padlet into their frog pages.... all while her AP Bio class were working interactively using different tech tools to create a product about different hormones.

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February 1, 2017: Mrs. Beatty's students are creating boards for a cumulative project on To Kill A Mockingbird.

Students have to include direct quotes from the text as well as digital media resources and historical examples of prejudice.

The theme of the boards is prejudice.

Directions are attached.

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January 5, 2017: Mrs. Beatty's students took a quiz on the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Students then participated in a character gallery walk.

Students anlayzed the character traits of the characters introduced in the first chapter of the novel.

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We are going to focus on completing Learning Labs before our next meeting on March 1.  In order to complete learning labs, you need to:

Edit the Learning Lab Intro document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JOfOuxQ_CAWl9o7zm_5hDoIvqZf72eJaWcNFLstsMbs/edit?usp=sharing

Look at the T.A.G. feedback document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y_FS0kVEN0gKVwbraESglKY9mSofZ4S1iQ4jPTWc97E/edit?usp=sharing

Hold your learning labs with your colleagues.

After holding your learning lab:

Review feedback on your T.A.G. feedback document.

Review any fabulous finds your colleagues saw in your classrooms: https://padlet.com/slasater_depd/stmichaelsfabfinds

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January 5, 2017: Mrs. Greer's students reviewed the results of their latest lab through class discussion.  They also reviewed a reading on the skeletal system and participated in an interactive game (Bone Arcade) on the skeletal system.  They then answered the prompt: How do your skeletal muscles and bones work together to keep you strong? on the attached padlet.  Mrs. Greer linked all resources for today's class on her class's Frog page.

Bone Arcade link: http://www.anatomyarcade.com/games/gamesSkeletal.html

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Check out this article for 55 digital tools and apps to use in your classroom.

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There is no shortage of formative assessment strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is an extensive list of 75 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning. We didn't just add any old tool to this list. Here are the criteria we used for those that made the cut:

Supports formative instructional strategies and ways to activate learners to be resources for themselves and peers

Is free or awful close to it (under $10 per year, where possible)

Allows both students and teachers to take the activator role when possible (sometimes teachers need to get things started)

Before you dig into the tools, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about exactly what you want to accomplish with your students. "How to pick the right digital tool: Start with your learning goal" by Erin Beard can help you wrap your head around goals and guide you in choosing the best tool for the task. "27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning" can help you decide what strategies work best for you and your students.

Record audio and video

Create quizzes, polls, and surveys

1. Crowdsignal Lets you create online polls, quizzes, and questions. Students can use smartphones, tablets, and computers to provide their answers, and information can be culled for reports.

2. Edulastic Allows you to make standards-aligned assessments and get instant feedback.

3. FreeOnlineSurveys Helps you create surveys, quizzes, forms, and polls.

4. Gimkit Lets you write real-time quizzes. And it was designed by a high school student!

5. Kahoot! A game-based classroom response system that lets you create quizzes using internet content.

6. MicroPoll Helps you create polls, embed them into websites, and analyze responses.

7. Naiku Lets you write quizzes students can answer using their mobile devices.

8. Obsurvey Designed to make surveys, polls, and questionnaires.

9. Poll Everywhere Lets you create a feedback poll or ask questions and see results in real time. Allows students to respond in various ways. With open-ended questions, you can capture data and spin up tag clouds to aggregate responses.

10. Poll Maker Offers unique features, like allowing multiple answers to one question.

11. ProProfs Helps you make quizzes, polls, and surveys.

12. Quia Lets you create games, quizzes, surveys, and more. Access a database of existing quizzes from other educators.

13. Quizalize Helps you create quizzes and homework.

14. Quizizz Guides you through designing quizzes and lets you include students in the quiz-writing process.

15. Quizlet Lets you make flashcards, tests, quizzes, and study games that are mobile friendly.

16. Survey Hero Designed to build questionnaires and surveys.

17. SurveyMonkey Helpful for online polls and surveys.

18. SurveyPlanet Also helpful for online polls and surveys.

19. Triventy Lets you create quizzes students take in real time using individual devices.

20. Yacapaca Helps you write and assign quizzes.

21. Zoho Survey Allows you to make mobile-friendly surveys and see results in real time.

Brainstorm, mind map, and collaborate

Present, engage, and inspire

Generate word or tag clouds

1. EdWordle Generates word clouds from any entered text to help aggregate responses and facilitate discussion. Word clouds are pictures composed of a cloud of smaller words that form a clue to the topic.

2. Tagxedo Allows you to examine student consensus and facilitate dialogues.

3. Wordables Helps you elicit evidence of learning or determine background knowledge about a topic.

4. WordArt Includes a feature that allows the user to make each word an active link to connect to websites, including YouTube.

Get real-time feedback

Foster family communication

1. Remind Lets you text students and stay in touch with families.

2. Seesaw Helps you improve family communication and makes formative assessment easy, while students can use the platform to document their learning.

3. Voxer Lets you send recordings so families can hear how their students are doing, students can chat about their work, and you can provide feedback.

Strengthen teacher-to-student or student-to-student communication

Keep the conversation going with live chats

1. Backchannel Chat A teacher-moderated version of Twitter.

2. Chatzy Supports live, online chats in a private setting.

Create and store documents or assignments

1. Google Forms A Google Drive app that allows you to create documents students can collaborate on in real time using smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

2. Piazza Lets you upload lectures, assignments, and homework; pose and respond to student questions; and poll students about class content. This tool is better suited for older students as it mimics post-secondary class instructional formats.

Learn more

There are several resources for learning more about formative assessment and responsive instruction strategies. Consider our formative practices workshops, where school and district teams can gain a better understanding of the role formative practice plays in instruction and the four foundational practices to use in the classroom. Or for a quick start, download our eBook "Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice."

Jump in, try new tools and methods, and have fun!

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

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There is no shortage of formative assessment strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is an extensive list of 75 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning.

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Your coach is Sarah Lasater.  She lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina and spent her career teaching ninth-grade World History in NC.

Contact info:
slasater.depd@gmail.com
(980) 225-6247