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How to Create Magnetic Poetry and Other Interactive Lessons with G

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How to Create Magnetic Poetry and Other Interactive Lessons with G

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Kasey Bell is part sparkling smile, part witty personality and a whole heap of passion as big as a Texas--go big or go home, y'all! She is a disruptor of the boring. An engaging, innovative, from the heart sharer who inspires educators while transforming their teaching with original, timely and use-tomorrow ideas for student choice, differentiation, and technology integration.

Whether it is learning from home through online courses, professional development, conference workshops or as a keynote speaker Kasey is a relentless innovator of ideas and a devoted transformer of classrooms and teaching.

Through teacher empowering publications and award-winning educational resources at ShakeUpLearning.com, learner-driven workshops and presentations and co-hosting Google Teacher Tribe weekly podcast, Kasey proves why we should never settle for the boring when it comes to bringing out the very best in our students, and we should always strive to Shake Up Learning!

The award-winning Shake Up Learning website and blog provides teachers with practical resources for using technology in the classroom, including how to use Google Classroom, G Suite for Education and other Google tools, as well as many other blended learning and technology integration resources. Here you will find free technology tips and tricks, free downloads and templates, in-depth online courses, books, lesson plans, and lesson ideas, cheat sheets, blog publications, and podcasts.

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How to Create Magnetic Poetry with Google Slides and Drawings

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Kasey Bell is part sparkling smile, part witty personality and a whole heap of passion as big as a Texas--go big or go home, y'all! She is a disruptor of the boring. An engaging, innovative, from the heart sharer who inspires educators while transforming their teaching with original, timely and use-tomorrow ideas for student choice, differentiation, and technology integration.

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Doodle Notes for the Paperless Classroom

Even in a school that is not tech-based, there are days when problems arise and you just can't make enough copies of doodle note sheets or other handouts for your students. Maybe you didn't have a chance to run to the copier, you've reached your school's printing limits, or your printer, once again, ran out of ink. We've all been there.

A great solution is using visual notes in a digital format. I've rounded up all of my tips and tricks to make doodle note-taking in a digital format as effective as possible!

First, a disclaimer: I strongly believe in doing notes by hand, on paper, whenever possible! (See this post on digital classroom vs. math by hand.)

But of course, there are times when digital lessons can be wonderful and practical. So the goal here is to do the best you can to maximize the brain benefits in any situation.

Visual notes in a digital format can give you a break from making copies, wasting paper, and using up expensive printer ink. Some days this format is more desirable, convenient, or just plain necessary for a successful class!

However, you should note there is a lot of research out there that shows notes are so much better when taken by hand, rather than digitally. Scientific American tells us that even though people generally type faster than write, more notes aren't necessarily better.

In three separate studies that compare students taking notes by hand vs. students taking notes by laptop, they found those who wrote out their notes had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material.

So, while there's no doubt there are clear benefits to digital notes, keep in mind this format should be used in moderation. Students get the most benefits from taking notes by hand!

(Inkflow app used with background template from this set)

A friend of mine, Leah at leahcleary.com, provided an excellent post about how to make your worksheets work digitally. It's actually much simpler than you may think! Here are the steps to get your doodle note sheets into a digital format.

You need to follow a few very simple steps:

Make sure your worksheet is in PDF format. (Hint: you can do this with your smartphone! Simply take a picture of the your worksheet, save it as a PDF, and email it to yourself. )

Have students add the free app DocHub to their Chrome accounts. You should have DocHub, as well.

Assign students the doodle note sheet (or background template that you have pre-selected to work well with the lesson content) through email or the online platform of your choice. Even if you don't have Google classroom, you can do this!

Then, with their devices, students have easy access to the note pages (or worksheet). With DocHub, they can draw, write, highlight, and even insert text or images on their note sheet!
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​ Student-created graphic notes

Another cool way to avoid printing or copying doodle pages is to let your students create their own graphic notes on an app on their device. The key is uploading a PDF of the doodle note backgrounds or templates for your students, that they can add to a note-taking app. There are many apps out there, and I have not played long with all of these yet, but here are a few to try:

This app allows you to use an interactive pen to markup any PDF, while still feeling natural through pressure. Change aspects of the pen quickly with the touch of a button on the pen sidebar.

Inkflow Visual Notebook

This free app provides a space for your students to upload images/graphics and create fantastic sketch notes with smooth writing tools.

A nice feature that I like about Inkflow is the ability to select an area and move it around. This can be so helpful in creating visual notes - Students can actually re-organize the page as they go, to improve the visual layout and flow! This helps overcome some of the challenges of student-created sketchnotes. One downside to this app is that you have to pay for colors :(

GoodNotes

Although not free, this app is fairly inexpensive ($7.99) and provides the best platform for your students to create visual note pages! On this app students can annotate on PDFs, write on the app like real paper, search handwritten notes, and even convert handwriting to text.

Whink

This app is $5.99, and allows students to effortlessly create beautiful notes on their device. Your students can take unlimited visual notes with this app by handwriting notes and marking up PDFs.
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Try adding templates as backgrounds to make the process easier.

Tips for using doodle notes

https://www.doodlenotes.org/in-the-classroom.html

If you're looking for some great tips to better implement doodle notes in your lessons, keep reading! Here are some excellent tips for implementation:

1. Show a Sample
To maximize the benefits of doodle notes, you should allow students to fully express their personality and creativity. That being said, students may need a little bit of guidance to help get them started, especially if you've just recently introduced doodle notes. The perfect way to guide them is showing a completed sample of the doodle notes sheet when you begin the lesson.

2. Keep Research in Mind
Be sure to keep the research in mind as you implement doodling in math class. Keep your focus on the brain benefits as you guide your students through these.

Of course, just by coloring or doodling, they will get some visual connections and will activate both sides of the brain, but to maximize the benefits, this should ideally occur while also getting verbal input.

Scientists learned that the act of coloring or doodling requires just enough focus to keep you from zoning out, but not enough to actually distract you. So, in order to maximize this, there should be focused, active teaching occurring during the doodle note lesson.

​3. Limit Time
When it is time to cut off the lecture or the lesson, be sure to stop. Stop just as you would with regular notes. Move on. Students who want to add to it can do so later during free time or at home.

Do not add class time for just coloring. That is not the purpose. If students do want to color, embellish, add a million little doodle spirals, that's fine. But once the learning and teaching portion is over, the brain benefits start dwindling. Coloring the corners is not the valuable use of class time that completing the note sheet is.

Guide your class to doodle as they fill the page, during the moments that they are still listening and learning. Let them do fancy lettering of a vocabulary word to help it stick in their minds. Let them color ideas that go together using the same pattern. Show them how to focus in on the visual triggers that will stick in their brain.

To read more of my tips, visit How to use I am continually impressed by all of the teachers in Doodle Notes in Math Class!

Doodle Note Club! I am constantly hearing great ideas from other teachers about how they implement Doodle Notes. Here are a few of my favorites:

Cindy, a middle school teacher, says, "My students have a 'doodle notebook' where they keep all of their pages. It is a very organized system, and it helps when they are studying for a test. The parents are aware of the notebook, as well, so they are able to see what their child has been doing in my class. .."

Susie, a Doodle Club Member, says,"...I use doodle pages to introduce a new concept and as a review. The review is usually jam-packed with information. I also include a practice question over the concepts. Doodle pages are fabulous. They can be as simple or complex as needed. The variety of color, decorative concepts and examples help students to use both sides of their brain to increase retention."

To read more about how other teachers are implementing doodle pages, go to In the Classroom!
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Doodle Notes for the Paperless Classroom Even in a school that is not tech-based, there are days when problems arise and you just can't make enough copies of doodle note sheets or other handouts for your students. Maybe you didn't have a chance to run to the copier, you've reached your school's printing limits, or your printer, once again, ran out of ink.

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STAAR Review - Flipped Out Science with Mrs. Thomas!

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STAAR Review - Flipped Out Science with Mrs. Thomas!

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What and how to review in order to prepare for the STAAR Test: Students will be given an overall review summary packet. Then each one of the 4 objective packets will be handed out. Students expected...

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STAAR Review - Flipped Out Science with Mrs. Thomas!

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STAAR Review - Flipped Out Science with Mrs. Thomas!

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What and how to review in order to prepare for the STAAR Test: Students will be given an overall review summary packet. Then each one of the 4 objective packets will be handed out. Students expected...

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Making It As A Middle School Teacher: science

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Making It As A Middle School Teacher: science

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As you can see from the title, I have several things to share with you today! Let's get started.

First, I recently had the opportunity to review a wonderful product from SmileMakers, who has been helping teachers to create smiles for over 35 years. The company is based out of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Real human x-rays printed onto heavy duty plastic sheets. Arrange the pieces together to crate a full scale skeleton. Use the individual pieces to examine all the bones in the body. Measures up to 14 x 11 in size. Includes 18 pieces.

I was super excited when these came in the mail. Shipping was very, very quick which is always great!

Here are a few more pictures of the contents.

Vocabulary cards to match with pictures.

Work sheet to copy for your students with its own answer key.

You get ALL these x-rays! I left the white backing paper behind these to get a better picture.

Hand x-ray held up to light. I would SO LOVED to have had these available to me when I was a student. High-quality, real-life pictures.

How awesome will it be to use these in the classroom? Add this to the classroom skeleton and you have another wonderful manipulative to help bring life science to life!

Remember those categories in high school like Most Likely to Become President? Well, Christina has modeled her linky around that same idea. Too cute!

Here's my 'yearbook page.'

Here are the links to the above products:

Head over and see what other great products you can find!

Lastly, if you've been around the blog and TPT scene for a while, you know there is always a huge Back-to-School Sale. That time has finally come for this school year.

The sale will be this Sunday and Monday, August 18th and 19th.

As always, I'm offering ALL products at a 20% discount. At check out, be sure to enter the promo code BTS13 for an additional 10% off. This will give you a total of 28% off.

Click the image below to go straight to my TPT Store. You can go ahead and add products to your shopping cart, then pay for them once the sale begins!

Whew! I think that's it for today.

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As you can see from the title, I have several things to share with you today! Let's get started. First, I recently had the opportunity to review a wonderful product from SmileMakers, who has been helping teachers to create smiles for over 35 years. The company is based out of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

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Ideas, templates, and how-to

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Educators around the world are entering digital lesson design with varying experiences and expertise. Our HyperDocs Online Academy is your source for learning about designing and delivering the engagement-driving digital lessons we call HyperDocs. Our course instruction method is what we call 'just in time teaching' so that you can take on new learning when you are ready, and explore the Academy at your own pace.

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Famous Scientists “Wanted Poster” Using Google Draw – Middle School Science Blog

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Famous Scientists “Wanted Poster” Using Google Draw – Middle School Science Blog

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This is one of my favorite projects of the year and using Google Draw allowed the students to work on it both in class and at home. In the past, we used a software program to design the posters, but it had a lot of restrictions as to when and where they could work on their posters. By using Google Draw, students were also able to share their posters with me and I could proofread it much more easily and offer suggestions.

We hold a scientist 'draft pick' when making our selections. Students come up with a list of their 'top 10' scientists and each student draws a number. I select a number randomly and whoever has that number gets to choose first. Once a scientist has been chosen, no one else is allowed to pick that person. Sometimes students choose to spin the " Wheel of Science " when they are not sure who to pick and will allow the wheel to pick for them.

1. Google Draw to design your poster - Print in color on 8 ½ x 11 paper

2. First, middle, and last name of your scientist

3. Picture of your scientist

4. His/her birthday (Month, Day, Year if available)

5. ONE sentence of why they are famous or "wanted"
This sentence has to be approved

6. Country he/she was born in

7. Where he/she did their work - was it at their home, at a school, a lab, etc

8. Summarize His/Her accomplishments in your own words:
One paragraph using 3 - 5 complete sentences

9. Your name in the bottom RIGHT corner of your poster

10. List of your sources used for information, pictures, etc on a separate Google Doc.

Choose up to 4 of the following requirements to add to your poster:
Added 12/26/16: I first posted this lesson in 2000 (as Liz Belasic) here is a version from 2002 with additional details

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Famous Scientists "Wanted Poster" Using Google Draw

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This is one of my favorite projects of the year and using Google Draw allowed the students to work on it both in class and at home. In the past, we used a software program to design the posters, bu...

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List and maps of the 20 largest earthquakes during the past 24 hours

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List and maps of the 20 largest earthquakes during the past 24 hours

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List and maps of the 20 largest earthquakes during the past 24 hours

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Shows maps and a list of top 20 largest earthquakes today or on given past days / months. / VolcanoDiscovery

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Do something like this with layers of Earth

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What is PBL? | Project Based Learning | BIE

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What is PBL? | Project Based Learning | BIE

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Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.

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Earthquakes in the Trans-Pecos gain the attention of scientists

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Earthquakes in the Trans-Pecos gain the attention of scientists

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Recent earthquakes in Pecos certainly has the attention of scientists.

In fact with the help of one local young man professors from UT Austin will soon be in Pecos to examine the cause first hand.

CBS 7 was at Thursday's city council meeting where a geologist and a seismologist explained how and where they'll set up shop.

"It was a much louder boom and it got as bad as my bed started shaking, so yeah it was pretty noticeable," said Joel Chavez

With trembles and shakes, residents in Pecos have been experiencing unexplainable seismic activity and just Wednesday night a 2.7 magnitude earthquake shook the town.

"Over the last few years the rate earthquakes in Texas has increased in key areas," Chavez explains.

DFW and West Texas are on researcher's radars as seismic activity increases and the concern rises.

That's why one resident of Pecos reached out to his alma mater UT Austin about earthquakes in his home town.

"Pecos had always had an impact on every decision that I make so I feel obligated to act on it," Chavez said.

If Joel Chavez looks familiar, you saw him right here on CBS 7 two weeks ago.

It was then that Chavez went to the Pecos City Council in hopes that they would help in his earthquake research.

But he was turned away.

Now the Middle School Science Teacher has a University behind him.

"There's a lot of agreement that the increase in seismicity is tied to injection in subsurface fluids but that is not an absolute certainty in every case but our research will be investigating that," said a researcher.

Chavez has questioned if that fluid is oilfield waste.

While the UT scientists don't share his theory quite yet, they are looking forward to finding the real cause of the earthquakes.
"Earthquakes is a phenomenon that is happening but if an earth quake is not reported that doesn't mean that it's not happening and it has to do with the detectability of the seismic network we have in the area."

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earthquakes in the trans-pecos gain the attention of scientists

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Earthquakes in the Trans-Pecos gain the attention of scientists

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Recent earthquakes in Pecos certainly has the attention of scientists. In fact with the help of one local young man professors from UT Austin will soon be in Pecos to examine the cause first hand. CBS 7 was at Thursday's city council meeting where a geologist and a seismologist explained how and where they'll set up shop.

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Sketchnoting - Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

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Sketchnoting - Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

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Sketchnoting, in its purest form, is creating a personal visual story as one is listening to a speaker or reading a text. I also believe the interactive notebook, which includes the process of taking…

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Create videos that engage and impress. Animoto's drag-and-drop editing tools and visual effects make it easy. No training or experience necessary.

Create and share videos for free. Upgrade anytime for more customization.

As you get started making videos, we're here to help along the way! Join other businesses just like yours in the Animoto Social Video Marketing Community on Facebook. Our team of video experts is ready to help you grow with tips, ideas, inspiration, and feedback on your videos. You can also reach our dedicated Customer team directly at help@animoto.com .

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Free Video Maker | Create & Edit Your Videos Easily

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Create, edit, and share videos with our free video maker. Combine your photos, video clips, and music to make quality videos in minutes. Get started free!

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Teaching Genetics with Dragons | Concord Consortium

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Teaching Genetics with Dragons | Concord Consortium

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Teaching Genetics with Dragons | Concord Consortium

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Geniverse is free, web-based software for high school biology that engages students in exploring heredity and genetics by breeding and studying virtual dragons. Interactive models, powered by real genes, enable students to do simulated experiments, generate realistic and meaningful genetic data and win star ratings for efficient experimentation.

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I started this spreadsheet (See below!) with an idea in mind to create a game for a PD I am doing. Decided the PD activity would not work but do not want to waste the spreadsheet! I asked Tweeps to share their Bitmoji's to create avatar characters for the game, wouldn't want to waste that either. Ended up making a worksheet template (see below).... but we can design something better!

Help me with ideas for creating a better game!

3rd Tab - What Game Ideas Do You Have?

What I have so far is to create a character name on the first tab. Choose an avatar character on the 2nd tab. This becomes your game piece. The 3rd tab is where the game would go. What game could we make where your avatar you chose on the 2nd tab could do something?

Brainstorm Ideas

Brainstorm ideas for how we could turn this into a game by adding to this spreadsheet.

It's A Worksheet Game Template

alicekeeler.com/worksheetgame

Questions Tab

Game Image

The default game images are my Bitmoji's. Change these.

Hide the Questions Tab

You Tab

Character Tab

Game Board Tab

On the Game Board tab the questions are visible below the game board. As the student answers the questions, their avatar moves around the game board. In other words, it acts as a progress bar. The game board does NOT mark the questions right or wrong. It simply acknowledges that the student entered text into the response boxes.

Feedback

There is a feedback column for leaving feedback for students on their responses.

Collaboration

Because this is Google Sheets you are able to view student work while they are working on it. Leaving feedback and inserting comments.

Feedback Faster

I coded a specific script for this worksheet game to allow you to extract all the student responses into one Google Sheets spreadsheet, give feedback and push it back to the student's spreadsheet. Make a copy of the template below. Use the Add-on menu to choose "Worksheet Game." From the sidebar menu, click on the button "Choose Folder." Assuming all the student game spreadsheets are in a single folder in Google Drive the picker will allow you to select the folder and create a list of student responses in the spreadsheet. Next to each students answer, give feedback. After you have sent the feedback, use the button in the sidebar "Push Feedback" to send your feedback responses back to the students.

Template: Worksheet Game Grader

alicekeeler.com/worksheetgamegrader

Reuse

You can run the worksheet game grader multiple times using the same spreadsheet. Simply choose the buttons in the sidebar again to start over. This will allow you to check in on students while they are playing the game and give them feedback during the process and then look over student responses again at a later time.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017

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Google Sheets: It's A Worksheet Game- Help Me - Teacher Tech

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I started this spreadsheet (See below!) with an idea in mind to create a game for a PD I am doing. Decided the PD activity would not work but do not want to waste the spreadsheet! I asked Tweeps to share their Bitmoji's to create avatar characters for the game, wouldn't want to waste that either.

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5 Ways to Increase Student Ownership in Your Classroom - WeAreTeachers

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5 Ways to Increase Student Ownership in Your Classroom - WeAreTeachers

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We've all had those students. They sit in their chair and do absolutely nothing for an entire class period. Chances are, we've tried many ways to engage them...rewards, punishments, phone calls home, poor grades on progress reports, even giving them supplies to do the work...yet try as we might, we can't seem to get through to them.

Sound familiar? I've been there with my sixth graders. As educators, we've all done a lot of worrying about these students. We feel obligated to do whatever we can to help them. And now I think it's time to get the students involved, too. Here are my five strategies to get students involved in increasing ownership in the classroom. These methods have really worked for me, and I hope they help you, too.
1. Use FOMO to Your Advantage
Nearly all students can identify with FOMO-Fear of Missing Out. So to make learning interesting where other students actually WANT to get involved, try these ideas. First, hang up signs that give hints as to what you're going to be studying. For example, if you're going to do a unit on Alexander Hamilton, you could just take phrases or quotes from the musical. Don't tell your students what's to come or even acknowledge the signs. Just give clues to get them engaged and guessing. Another idea is to offer little prizes like tardy passes, extra credit points, or late work passes for those who volunteer to answer questions in class. Both of these ideas will get students engaged because they see others participating. Best of all, it requires little on your part.

2. Give Students Choices When it Comes to Classwork

Students love having choices. It gives them a sense of control and allows them to work on things they know they're good at doing. This method worked really well in my Learning Strategies class last year . We were using the picture book, Miss Rumphius, and one of the choices for the assignment was to draw the main idea. Well, one student asked if they could paint instead, which I definitely agreed to, and then it got several other students excited about painting, too.

Creating choices (or menus) can come in all shapes and sizes. One of my favorite ways to offer this is through Tic-Tac-Toe. Students can choose any three activities in a row to complete. I just make sure that they're learning the concepts I want them to learn, and the sense of ownership they have had has been wonderful.

3. Have Students Self-Assess

Students who do not seem to care about their work may become more involved when they are grading themselves. Just completed a unit on figurative language? Great! Have students put together a portfolio (digital or paper) that gives examples of each kind of figurative language being used according to a scale. Another idea is to have your students contribute test questions. One more strategy is to have students write down answers to a study guide on an index card, and then let them use it for the test. They will think they are getting a special advantage, and it will help them retain the information.

What about a longer written piece or an oral presentation? Students can grade themselves with the same rubric you would use the grade them. The caveat is that the student has to underline the sentences in the piece or speech that match the rubric. In my class, I've had students use color-coding so that all evidence was underlined or highlighted in blue and commentary was underlined or highlighted in green, for example. This makes it easy for me to see if I agree with my students' self-assessments. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I don't. When I do not agree with a student's grade, the student is allowed to revise the work to get the grade they initially believed they earned.

4. Make Learning Interactive

Teachers know that students will get involved if the learning matters to them. And what matters quite a bit to students these days is their digital world-they treasure interactive content. Some examples of interactive content that teachers can use in the classroom include Digital Playlists, Hyperdocs, Google Docs, and Sketchnotes. I've actually created something called Pixanotes, which you can download for free on my TeachersPayTeachers site. This is differentiated picture notes, combining interactive notebooks and traditional notes. I created this after reading an interesting research article that said pictures increase comprehension and retention of information.

5. Try Cooperative Learning

As teachers, we've heard about cooperative learning for years. The trouble is, many of us have had to try and figure out how to ensure the learning part is actually taking place instead of irrelevant socialization. Of course we can check for understanding with individual exit tickets, quizzes or other formative assessments, and even give all the students in the group a group grade, but there is one strategy that I think finally puts the onus for cooperative learning where it belongs-on the student. I call the idea "fair grading."

In this approach let's say there are three students in a group and their work earned an 80 based on the rubric. I give the group 240 points to divvy up. If they all agree that everyone completed equal work, then they will each earn an 80. Otherwise they can have healthy debate and grades will be negotiated amongst the group members-but not with me, as I am not part of the group. This makes students whose performance was less than optimal take responsibility for their lack of work, which is at the heart of students taking ownership! I have personally used this method for over 15 years and have never had a student or parent complain that the grade wasn't fair.

Teachers see potential in every student. This is why we work the long hours and go the extra mile. However, we need to remember that the students also need to work the long hours and go the extra mile. We can help them, but they must do their part and hopefully these strategies will help them do just that.

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5 Ways to Increase Student Ownership in Your Clasroom

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We've all had those students. They sit in their chair and do absolutely nothing for an entire class period. Chances are, we've tried many ways to engage them...rewards, punishments, phone calls home, poor grades on progress reports, even giving them supplies to do the work...yet try as we might, we can't seem to get through to them.

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Using Test Corrections as a Tool for Mastery - Maneuvering the Middle

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Using Test Corrections as a Tool for Mastery - Maneuvering the Middle

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Teaching students to do test corrections doesn't have to be time consuming or result in a paper pile! Test corrections are actually one of my favorite tools for pushing students and measuring their progress.

Giving math tests can be equally rewarding and frustrating. As a teacher, you can see what skills your students really understood and what skills you thought your students understood.

I try to remind myself that the test is not the end goal, my students learning and preparedness for the next grade level is the end goal. So what do you do when you have students who bomb a unit test?

Test Corrections vs. Retaking the Test

Test corrections have to happen before students retake a test. I have fallen into the trap of allowing students retake a test only for them to do the exact same or worse.

If they didn't master the material the first time, they will not master it the second time unless you provide additional tutoring and practice. I actually do not provide retake opportunities, as it is too much for me to organize and keep up with. Instead, shortly after students have taken a test, I spend a day in class going over corrections.

My school uses a website (Illuminate) that allows me to see what percent of students mastered each skill, and it allows me to see what percent of students answered each question correctly. I use this information to guide my teaching as I decide which questions I need to go over whole group before students make corrections.

If your school doesn't have a data system available, ZipGrade is an excellent tool for creating your own scantrons. Plus, it will disaggregate the data for you and provide an item analysis.

Model How to Correct Test Questions

When you model how you would like students to correct their test questions, you will receive far superior results or work. When I go over the most missed problem whole group, I provided an incorrect student example for the class to discuss the error that was made.

I then model exactly how their corrections should look to avoid many students just circling another answer choice and writing down that the mistake they made was that they guessed. I utilize the handful of 100s and As as student teachers, so they can help struggling students.

Utilizing a skill Analysis

I shared about utilizing test analysis and reflection in this post. But, before we correct our tests, I have students complete a test analysis. (The test analysis that is pictured was for a STAAR benchmark, so it is about 4 times longer than a typically unit test).

I categorize each test question into the skill that it covers, and students color in the test question box based on whether they got it correct or incorrect. It provides a visual for students and the teacher to see which skill they need to work on. Students save the skills in which they did the best for independent practice.

For the group work portion of class, they can utilize a partner or a student teacher for help on the skills that they missed a significant amount of problems. A rock star teacher at my school has students complete stations where students go see each student teacher (who has become an expert in one skill) to correct their test.

Additionally, I think that it is important for students to set goals and analyze why they missed problems on a test.

Did they make calculation errors?

Did they solve using the wrong operation?

Are they studying?

Are they paying attention in class?

Are they asking questions when they don't understand?

I also have students complete a reflection where they identify what behavior needs to change for them to improve on the next test.

Reassessing the same skills

Like I said before, I don't offer retake opportunities. I will give points back on their test for quality corrections and reflections.

You might think that fosters an environment where students don't really care about doing well on tests and won't study. However, in my experience, students who really need points for a better grade are not students who will try harder next time if they fail this time. They will be disappointed in their grade and their progress in math mastery will dissipate as they have not been successful.

I do, however, like to continuing spiral material that we have learned in the past. I remind students that they will see similar test questions on future test or quizzes.

This will help me make sure students are retaining what they have learned, and it allows me to see if students who did not previously master a skill were able to after corrections and additional practice.

When I was in school, tests were all about grades and making my mom and dad proud. Now as a teacher, I have a completely different outlook of what tests should and shouldn't be. I am curious: how do students complete test corrections in your classroom?

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Using Test Corrections as a Tool for Mastery

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Teaching students to do test corrections doesn't have to be time consuming or result in a paper pile! Test corrections are actually one of my favorite tools for pushing students and measuring their progress. Giving math tests can be equally rewarding and frustrating.

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Educators around the world are entering digital lesson design with varying experiences and expertise. Our HyperDocs Online Academy is your source for learning about designing and delivering the engagement-driving digital lessons we call HyperDocs. Our course instruction method is what we call 'just in time teaching' so that you can take on new learning when you are ready, and explore the Academy at your own pace.

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HEAT TRANSFER? CONVECTION? WHO CARES? - YOU SHOULD! | TED-Ed

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HEAT TRANSFER? CONVECTION? WHO CARES? - YOU SHOULD! | TED-Ed

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HEAT TRANSFER? CONVECTION? WHO CARES? - YOU SHOULD!

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Convection is the major method of heat transfer in liquids and gases. But how does it effect us in our everyday lives and why should we care? This lesson takes you through basic convection theory using the particle model before moving on to describing how we make use of it and how it affects us in our daily lives.

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Hydrogen from copper sulfate - Chemistry experiments - MEL Practicum

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Hydrogen from copper sulfate - Chemistry experiments - MEL Practicum

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Hydrogen from copper sulfate - Chemistry experiments - MEL Practicum

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MEL Practicum is an online encyclopedia of chemistry experiments and demonstrations. All experiments are categorized by their level of difficulty, by reagent used and their type. For each experiment, you will find multiple videos, step-by-step instructions, reagents used, safety information, basic science background, links to other online resources, and other related information.

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Information Earth Science 3D Paper Models and Toys

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Information Earth Science 3D Paper Models and Toys

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Information Earth Science 3D Paper Models and Toys

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The Benefits of No-Tech Note Taking - The Chronicle of Higher Education

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The Benefits of No-Tech Note Taking - The Chronicle of Higher Education

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The moment of truth for me came in the spring 2013 semester. I looked out at my visual-communication class and saw a group of six students transfixed by the blue glow of a video on one of their computers, and decided I was done allowing laptops in my large lecture class. "Done" might be putting it mildly. Although I am an engaging lecturer, I could not compete with Facebook and YouTube, and I was tired of trying.

The next semester I told students they would have to take notes on paper. Period.

I knew that eliminating laptops in my classroom would reduce distractions. Research has shown that when students use their laptops to "multitask" during class, they don't retain as much of the lecture. But I also had a theory, based on my college experience from the dark ages-the 70s, aka, before PowerPoint-that students would process lectures more effectively if they took notes on paper. When students took notes on laptops they barely looked up from their computers, so intent were they on transcribing every word I said. Back in my day, if a professor's lectures were reasonably well organized, I could take notes in outline format. I had to listen for the key points and subpoints.

Some of the students I teach are journalism majors. For them, taking notes by hand is an enormously helpful skill since journalists often have no choice but to take notes on paper. You can tape an interview, but transcribing tapes is inefficient when you're on deadline, and you're not going to pull out a laptop in somebody's office or in the middle of a protest and start typing. Now, if you're interviewing people over the phone, you might type as they talk, but if you try typing every single word your interview subjects say, you end up not really listening to them.

In laying down my no-tech note-taking decree, I explained that it would help students engage in the lectures and also pay off later in their careers. I use PowerPoint in my visual-communication course but only to outline the lecture and show examples of designs. I told students they would need to listen to what I said about each slide and selectively write down the important points. I said I believed they would remember more of my lectures by taking notes on paper.

It turned out my theory was right and now is supported by research. A study published last year in Psychological Science showed that students who write out notes longhand remember conceptual information better than those who take notes on a computer. "Whereas taking more notes can be beneficial," the article's abstract reported, "laptop note takers' tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning."

The researchers, Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, wanted to learn if students could recall more factual and conceptual information from notes taken longhand or from those typed on a laptop. Mueller and Oppenheimer did a series of studies using 327 students on three campuses. They gave some students laptops and others pens and paper. The students watched TED talks and were told to take notes as they normally would in class.

In one study, students were tested 30 minutes after the lecture. In another they were tested a week later and allowed to study for 10 minutes beforehand. The students were asked questions about facts ("What is the purpose of adding calcium propionate to bread?") and concepts ("If a person's epiglottis was not working properly, what would be likely to happen?").

Students tested right after a lecture tended to answer factual questions equally well regardless of how they took notes, but students who handwrote their notes did consistently better on conceptual questions. What's more, when students were tested again a week later, the longhand note takers performed consistently better on both factual and conceptual questions.

The researchers found that students who used laptops were inclined to try to take notes verbatim-even when they were told not to. The longhand note takers took selective, organized notes because they couldn't write fast enough to get everything down. As a result, they processed lectures more deeply, which allowed them to retain more information and even understand it better.

After my first semester without laptops, I gave my students a questionnaire to find out how they felt about taking notes longhand. My survey was of course unscientific. Still, I was heartened by the results: Roughly 86 percent of the 95 students who responded said they felt they paid the same or better attention in the class without a laptop in front of them. About 52 percent said they paid more attention. A third of the class said they always took notes longhand, which surprised me.

When I asked the open-ended question "Did you take notes differently because you had to write them down? If so, how?" I got a variety of responses ranging from "Yes! I couldn't get everything down! I can't write as fast as I can type!" to "I learn from writing things down, so it helped me a lot."

Their answers reinforced the note-taking study. The students who tried to transcribe my lectures, even without a laptop, hated taking notes longhand. The students who figured out how to take selective notes liked it.

Interestingly, test scores in my visual-communication course have gone up since I gave laptops the boot a year ago. Now I coach students on how to take notes longhand to help those who have not used that muscle much, because I am convinced that while laptops have a lot of good uses in the classroom, note taking is not one of them.

Carol E. Holstead is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kansas.

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The moment of truth for me came in the spring 2013 semester. I looked out at my visual-communication class and saw a group of six students transfixed by the blue glow of a video on one of their computers, and decided I was done allowing laptops in my large lecture class.

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I wish my teacher knew ~ a gamechanger - Suburban Snow WhiteSuburban Snow White

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I wish my teacher knew ~ a gamechanger - Suburban Snow WhiteSuburban Snow White

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A colleague shared the "I wish my teacher knew" phenomenon with me this year. She'd tried it with her class, and I was anxious to try it with my own. When I did, I was amazed and humbled. I wished I had done this from the beginning.

The whole movement was started by Kyle Schwartz, a third grade teacher in Colorado. She asked her kids to finish the sentence "I wish my teacher knew ..." on an index card. Her students opened up to her and shared some very personal and surprising facts that you can find on her website. She later published a book about her experience. (I haven't read it yet, but it looks fascinating.)

The whole point of the exercise, of course, is to get to know your kids. To find out what they're like: what they love, what scares them, what they need help with. Anything really. They hold so much in those little heads, and it's rare for anyone to ask them to bare their souls.

Setting the stage

I wrote my own fourth grade version of a letter to introduce the lesson to my class. I included three things I wanted my teacher to know about me, being vulnerable but also having fun with it so that they could see the possibilities of what they might include in their own letter. Here is the letter I shared with them on the projector:

There is a lot to me, so it's hard to narrow it down to three things. You'll get to know me as the year goes on, but there are three main things I think you should know about me now. First, I had an accident to my eye, and I'm really uncomfortable when people stare at me. Second, I really love horses. And finally, I am pretty shy and have trouble speaking up.

My accident happened early this year. I accidentally cut my eye with a knife. To answer the usual questions, yes it hurt, no I can't see much, and no it doesn't hurt anymore. But the important thing I want you to know is that it really bothers me when people stare at me. This happens a lot. When I go with my Mom to the supermarket, or to CVS, or anywhere, people will either stop and stare, or will look at me and then give me an embarrassed smile. I know they don't mean to be impolite, but it makes me really uncomfortable and I wish I could walk somewhere and not have people gaping all the time. It's actually really annoying. I know you can't do anything about this, but it's just something about me that I feel is really important.

On a less serious note, I love horses. You could say I'm obsessed. My next door neighbors have a horse, and I visit it every day and feed him bits of grass from my yard. His name is Patches, and he's a real sweetie and he follows me around when I go over to his fence. I've taken out all the books in our library on horses, both fiction and non-fiction. I can't seem to get enough. I'd love to get riding lessons, but Mom says we can't afford that right now. I hope to get a horse someday, though. My Dad says they are a lot of work and money, but I think I could do it. I love animals and I think I'd do a really good job of taking care of a horse. I've learned how to comb them, and where to stand so you don't get accidentally kicked. If you know of any horse books around that I haven't discovered yet, I'd love to see them!

The last thing you should know about me is that I'm really shy. I feel like every year in school, the teachers are always telling me to speak up and repeat things. They say I mumble and talk too soft. I've tried speaking as loud as I can, but it doesn't seem to help. I have lots of ideas, but I've kind of stopped sharing them, because I always end up having to say stuff over and over so they can hear me. With this shyness, I don't feel comfortable just walking up to people and starting conversations. I have a best friend, Mary, and I can talk to her about anything, but she's not in my class this year. I tend to only have a couple of friends, rather than a whole bunch, but I kind of like that better. Anyway, if I don't talk a lot in class, it's not because I don't know the answer all the time. It's usually just the shyness.

So those are the three things I want to leave you with. I had an eye accident that affects how people act around me, I love horses, and I'm on the shy side.

As any teacher knows, when you get real with kids, there's an energy shift in the room. Nobody goofs off. All eyes are on you. Writing your own fourth-grade version letter is one of the most powerful things you'll do all year. Don't be afraid to to show your warts - if it's all rainbows and lollipops, that pretty much all you'll get in return. If it's all deep stuff, it will scare some kids away. But if you have a good balance, they'll feel more comfortable with their options.

Parameters

We told our kids to write about three things they wanted us to know. These wouldn't be corrected. We weren't worried about spelling or sentence structure. It could be one big paragraph or, if they knew how, they could divide it up into smaller paragraphs. We left the whole thing pretty loose on purpose.

We also said that these letters were just for us teachers. They would not be shared with other students.

Plain lined paper works great, but you can Download this pdf if you like a little more flair. If you have a very resistant writer, you can try index cards instead so they won't get overwhelmed by a large blank page. (And if they use up one, just keep handing them index cards. Those bite-sized pieces will embolden them to write more. Index card templates are included in the free download.)

Writing the "What I wish my teacher knew" letters

Let your kiddos know how much time they'll have (we did 45 min - 1 hour). Make sure they have what they need. And then let them go at it.

If you have private work space dividers, you can use those. You can also scatter your kids about the room in different areas, so they have space to think and write without worry someone might read their work.

And if it helps, you can put on some unobtrusive wordless music in the background.

While I can't share individual letters here, as they were very special and private, I can say that the kids took this very seriously. Topics that came up included bullying and even a presidential election. They shared what made them feel good - gymnastics, reading, video games - and what they struggled with either at home or in school. New babies in the family. Recent deaths. It ran the gamut.

Most important, it gave us a more three-dimensional view of our new charges. It was a delightful shortcut in getting to know them. And as any teacher worth her salt knows, with a solid relationship in place, students can make incredible academic and personal growth.

If you try this, you will learn things about your kiddos that you never suspected.

Download this pdf and try this out with your own classroom!

And/or tell us in the comments below ...

Have you tried the "I wish my teacher knew" letters in your classroom? What happened?

What do you wish your fourth grade teacher had known about you?

What do you wish other people today knew about you?

If you found this valuable or if you know someone who would love trying this out in their room, please share it on social media below.

Have a great week!

~Katrina

Want more good stuff?

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Follow me on Social Media for daily ideas!

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I wish my teacher knew ~ a gamechanger - Suburban Snow White

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A colleague shared the "I wish my teacher knew" phenomenon with me this year. She'd tried it with her class, and I was anxious to try it with my own. When I did, I was amazed and humbled. I wished I had done this from the beginning.

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Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

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Every week, Doug pulls three questions from his jar and chooses one to answer in a short video.

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Density Bottles Demo – Middle School Science Blog

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Density Bottles Demo – Middle School Science Blog

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Demo & Discussion - For this part of the lesson, students will not handle the bottles, they will answer discussion questions based on their observations only.

1. Share observations about the bottles.

2. What do the bottles have in common?

3. What is different about the bottles?

4. What do you think the original contents of the bottle were?

5. What phases of matter are shown?

6. Are any of these bottles empty? Explain.

7. Do all of these bottles have air in them?

8. Which bottle has more air in it: Cotton Balls or Water? Explain.

9. Which bottle is filled the most? Least?

10. Which bottle has has the most 'stuff' in it? Least?

11. Which bottle is the heaviest? Lightest?

12. How would you order these bottles from lightest to heaviest?

13. Estimate the mass of each bottle in grams.

14. Which bottle is the densest?

15. How would you arrange these bottles from least to most dense?

16. Which of these bottles can have more of the same 'stuff' added to the inside of the bottle? Explain.

17. Which bottle(s) would float in a tank of water? (I do this at the very end of the lesson with everyone at the sink)

Hands On Exploration

1. Each group will have one set of bottles or take turns using the demo bottles and sharing their findings.

2. Using a triple beam balance, the volume of the bottles, and a tank of water, answer as many of the questions above as you can. (for our calculations, we use the volume of the bottle's original content (500 mL of sport drink) to give us an approximate density, not the actual density - for comparison purposes only)

3. How did your findings compare to your observations and predictions?

4. Dunk tank - time to find out which one will float!

Further Exploration
Give each group of students a new set of bottles (ones that they have brought in from home) and have them make observations, predictions, and density calculations.
Additional Bottle Ideas:

Rocks/pebbles

laundry detergent - liquid or powder

paper clips

paper shreds

crayons

marbles

flour

bread crumbs

coffee beans

beans

different shapes of pasta

pom-poms

pop corn kernels or popped

Lego pieces

salt

dish-soap

beads

yarn/string

etc...

Have each student bring in a bottle from home filled with the contents of their choice so that you have enough bottle to compare. Match similar bottle shapes/sizes together for each group or match similar contents in different sized bottles for comparison.
You can also use these bottles as part of a Triple Beam Balance Activity (blog entry).

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How to use density bottles: Demo & Discussion - For this part of the lesson, students will not handle the bottles, they will answer discussion questions based on their observations only. Share observations about the bottles. What do the bottles have in common? What is different about the bottles?

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Control Alt Achieve: How to Play YouTube Videos Safely in School

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Control Alt Achieve: How to Play YouTube Videos Safely in School

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YouTube can be a powerful resource for education with over 4 billion videos watched every day. Despite the number of cat videos, there are actually quite a lot of educationally valuable videos. Google even has their education channels at https://www.youtube.com/edu where they have currated videos by grade level and subject area.

However, even if you find the perfect video explaining how to add fractions or the phases of meiosis or how the pyramids were built, you can still run into a problem when having your students watch it. By default in addition to seeing the video they will also see ads, user comments below the video, suggested videos on the page, and then more suggested videos after their clip is done. At best these could be distracting. At worst they could be inappropriate for your students.

So what can you do?

Below we will take a look at three options you can use to let your students watch a YouTube video without all the extra stuff. You can view the video explaining the options, or read the directions below, or both!

Option 1: Show the video through ViewPure

ViewPure is a website that shows YouTube videos without comments, ads, or other distractions. Here's how it works:

Go to the ViewPure site at: http://viewpure.com

Paste in the link to the YouTube video you want to show to your students

If you want advance settings, click the gear icon in the link box to set the start and stop time, a custom URL, and more

Click the Purify button

You will now get a page that just shows the video and nothing else

You can simply copy the link in the URL bar at the top of the page and give that link to your students instead of the original YouTube link

Option 2: Insert the video in a Google Slideshow

Another option is to insert the video into a slide in a Google Slideshow. Here's how it works:

Create a Google Slideshow as normal (Click "New" then "Google Slides" when in Drive)

On one of your slides click "Insert" then "Video"

Search for your YouTube video or paste in the YouTube link, then click "Select"

The video will now be inserted into the slide. You can move and resize it as needed.

You can now let your student view the slideshow (I would recommend clicking "File" then "Publish to the web" to get the link)

When your students run the slideshow, they can click on the video to watch it right in the slide without any of the ads, comments, or suggested videos found on the normal YouTube page

Option 3: Embed the video in a website, blog, or other tool

Many modern web-based tools let you embed items from other services. YouTube videos can be embedded in Google Sites, Blogger, and many other services. Here's how it works:

Go to the YouTube page for the video you want your students to watch

Below the video click the "Share" link and then click "Embed"

You will now get the embed code for the video

If you want more settings click "Show More" to change the video size and other options

You can now copy and paste the embed code into other services (following the directions for that service)

When your students view the video on your website or blog, they will just see the video

Video is a powerful learning tool for students, whether its for instruction, remediation, enrichment, flipped learning, or more. With the options above you can remove one more obstacle for students to safely benefit from the millions of educational videos freely available through YouTube.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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How to Play YouTube Videos Safely in School

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YouTube can be a powerful resource for education with over 4 billion videos watched every day. Despite the number of cat videos, there are actually quite a lot of educationally valuable videos. Google even has their education channels at https://www.youtube.com/edu where they have currated videos by grade level and subject area.

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Control Alt Achieve: Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools

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Control Alt Achieve: Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools

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A " Cloze Test" is a reading activity where a student is given a reading passage with certain words removed. Sometimes the student is also provided with a word bank, listing the missing words, while other times they are not. The task is for the student to fill in the missing words.

This is a great activity to help the student develop reading comprehension skills. It is necessary for the student to read the passage carefully and consider the context to try to determine what words would best fill in the blanks. This also helps develop and assess the student's understanding of parts of speech and vocabulary.

There are a lot of pre-made cloze activities and worksheets to be found, but what can be really useful is the ability to create these yourself. This will allow you to select your own reading passages that may be a better match for your students' reading levels and interests.

Thankfully there are several free online tools you can use to generate your own cloze activities. These include websites, and even a Google Sheets template. See below for details on these tools and how to use them.

Option #1 - Cloze Test Website

Website - http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html

The first option is a very simple website that lets you paste in a passage of text, choose how you want words removed, and then generates your cloze test, with an optional word bank. The cloze test created can simply be copied and pasted into your own document, or you can choose the interactive option where the student can complete it online.

Here's how to use this tool:

Go to the website at http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html

Paste in the reading passage text you want to use.

Choose how you want words removed. This can include "every nth word" or "prepositions" or "links words" or such.

Choose if you want the test to be "Text only" (so you can copy and paste it into your own document) or "Interactive" (so the student can complete it online).

Choose "Clues" if you want the bank of missing words included, or "No clues" if you just want the cloze test with no word bank.

Click "Submit" when done.

If you selected "T ext only" you will now get the cloze test which you can copy and paste to use however you like, such as putting the text into a Google Doc for the student to complete.

Tech Tip: Use " Ctrl" (or " Command" on a Mac) and " Shift" and " V" to paste without formatting to get just the text and not all the extra formatting that will come from copying from a webpage.

If you selected " Interactive" you will now get a live version of the cloze test. The user can type in words for the blanks and will get a score at the bottom to indicate if the answers are correct.

Option #2 - Analyze My Writing Website

Website - http://www.analyzemywriting.com/

Another tool to generate cloze activities is the "Analyze My Writing" website. This site does much more than just cloze activities, including analysis of student writing which can be very helpful for self-editing. For this blog post though we are just going to look at the cloze generation option.

Here's how to use this tool:

Go to the website at http://www.analyzemywriting.com/

Click the button for "Cloze Test" on the right side of the page.

Paste in the reading passage text you want to use.

Choose how you want words removed. This can include "Remove Every nth Word" or "Remove Words of Your Choice" or "Randomly Remove n% of Words".

Click "Analyze Text!" button when done.

You will now get a cloze test generated based on your choices. You can copy and paste the text into a Google Document or Microsoft Word or whatever tool you want to use it in. You can also click the " Show Answers" button if you would like to display an answer key.

Tech Tip: Use " Ctrl" (or " Command" on a Mac) and " Shift" and " V" to paste without formatting to get just the text and not all the extra formatting that will come from copying from a webpage.

Option #3 - Google Sheets Template

Cloze Test Generator Template - Google Sheets link

A third tool for creating a cloze test is actually a Google Sheets template. Although the websites listed above do a great job of creating cloze activities, sometimes websites go away or stop working, so it is always good to have an alternative. Because of this I created a free Google Sheets template that can be used to create a cloze test from a reading passage you paste in.

Here's how to use this tool:

Get a copy of the Cloze Test Generator Template - Google Sheets link

Type a number in the cell to the right of "Position of words to remove". This will set which words to remove in the passage, such as every 8th word or every 10th word or such.

Next click in the cell below "Original Reading Passage" to select it (but do NOT paste your text here).

With that cell selected, click in the formula bar (fx bar) at the top of the spreadsheet and paste your reading passage in the formula bar (this is necessary to make sure the text is properly entered into the spreadsheet).

You will now get a cloze test generated in the cell below " Cloze Test". You can copy and paste the text into a Google Document or Microsoft Word or whatever tool you want to use it in.

You will also get the word bank (in alphabetical order) of words that were removed in the cell below " Word Bank". If you want to use these, you can copy and paste the text into a Google Document or Microsoft Word or whatever tool you want to use it in.

Tech Tip: Use " Ctrl" (or " Command" on a Mac) and " Shift" and " V" to paste without formatting to get just the text and not all the extra formatting that will come from copying from a Google Sheet.

Note: My template does not always handle punctuation well, so you may need to do some clean up after copying and pasting the results into your Google Doc or other tool. That is, you may need to add a period or comma back into the reading passage, or may need to remove some punctuation from the word bank.

Cloze tests are a popular method for practicing or assessing reading comprehension, context clues, parts of speech, and vocabulary. With the tools listed above you can generate your own cloze activities to match your students' reading levels and interests.

If you have _______ suggestions for other tools or ideas _______ use, please feel free _______ share in the comments _______ below.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools

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A " Cloze Test" is a reading activity where a student is given a reading passage with certain words removed. Sometimes the student is also provided with a word bank, listing the missing words, while other times they are not. The task is for the student to fill in the missing words.

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Control Alt Achieve: Googlink: Creating Interactive Posters with Google Drawings

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Control Alt Achieve: Googlink: Creating Interactive Posters with Google Drawings

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Google Drawings is often overshadowed by the other Google Drive tools such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. However, it is an excellent tool for students and teacher to do many tasks including graphic organizers, teaching math, and desktop publishing ( see here for examples of each).

One more educational use for Google Drawings is to create an interactive multimedia poster. This is very much like creating a Thinglink. Let's call it a Googlink.

If you are not familiar with Thinglink, it is a powerful online tool that lets users annotate images with pop-up text, pictures, videos, weblinks, documents, and more. It can be a great way for students to demonstrate their learning. You can see many examples of Thinglinks here: www.thinglink.com/featured

Although Thinglink is an excellent tool, its free version does have some limitations. As an option, Google Drawings can be used very much like Thinglink, and might be the perfect alternative for you and your students.

See below for information on how to use Google Drawings in a similar way as Thinglink to create, edit, and share interactive multimedia posters, as well as a sample Googlink to test out.

Thinglink versus Googlink

As I mentioned before, Thinglink really is an excellent tool, and I certainly encourage students and teachers to use it.

It offers a free version that many users may find will meet their needs. The free version does have some limitations though including limits on the number of students and types of icons (only 10 icons in the free version).

If want more options and customization you would need to upgrade to the premium version of Thinglink for $35 per year.

As an alternative, Google Drawings can be used in a similar manner, sort of like a Googlink. Some benefits of Google Drawings would include:

No cost

Unlimited users

Unlimited choice of icons (through the many image options in Drawings)

Of course Drawing is not an exact replacement for Thinglink as there are features unique to each that the other does not have. Still though it is a good free option with a lot of potential for schools.
What is a Googlink?

If you are familiar with Thinglink, then you already know what a Googlink would be. For those who are not, here is the gist:

The user chooses an image they would like to annotate. This could be a diagram, a map, a painting, a photograph, or such.

The user then adds icons on top of the image. These could be simple shapes, or they could be icons for videos, pictures, documents, web links, and such.

The user then adds a hyperlink to each icon that links out to a related resource that explains, elaborates, or further illustrates that portion of the image.

The links might go to a video the student has recorded, a video on YouTube, a document they student wrote, a website, an online image, a map, a slideshow, or anything else that can be accessed online.

The user then shares their final product so other people can click on the links to open the related resources and learn what the user is explaining.

Uses for a Googlink

In school students could create a Googlink as a fun and interactive option to show their learning of most any content. Examples could include:

The parts of an insect

Key locations of a battle on a map

Examples of geometric shapes in real life

Their interpretation of different lines in a poem

Steps in a lab experiment

An "About Me" poster

And much more...

Example Googlink
As an example I put together a very simple Googlink to demonstrate how this could look. Use the links below to test it out. Be sure to click on the various icons in the Googlink to open the linked resources.

To open the Googlink as a Google Drawing on its own click here: Google Drawing link

To open the Googlink as a Drawing embedded in a Google Site click here: Google Site link

Creating a Googlink

Below are the basic steps for using Google Drawings to create something like a Thinglink.

Create a new Google Drawing

To create a new Google Drawing:

Go to your Google Drive, then click "New" then "More" and then "Google Drawing".

A new blank Google Drawing will be created.

You can give it a name by clicking on "Untitled Drawing" in the top left corner.

Add the Base Image

Next you will want to add the image you will be using for the base of your Googlink. This is the picture you will annotate with links to websites, videos, documents, other images, and more. You can add the image in several ways.

Click "Insert" then "Image" and then upload the image, take a webcam snapshot, choose an image from your Drive, search the picture, or more.

Or click "Tools" then "Research" and search for an image to drag and drop into your Drawing.

Or find an image online and then drag and drop the image from its website into your Google Drawing.

If you need to resize your Drawing to match your base image, you can click and drag the bottom right corner of the Drawing, or you can click " File" and " Page setup ".

Add the Shapes and Icons

Next you need to add the shapes or icons on top of the image that people will click on to get to your related resources. There are several options for adding these images.

Add Images from the Research Tool

Probably the easiest way to add icons to your Googlink is through the Research Tool.

Click "Tools" then "Research" top open the Research Tool panel.

Type what you want in the search box such as "video icon" or "document icon" or such.

Choose "Images" from the drop down menu at the left of the search box to just get picture results.

When you find an image you want, click, drag, and drop it onto your Drawing.

As needed you can resize it and drag it to the correct location.

Add Shapes

Click "Insert" then "Shape" then choose the shape you would like to add.

Your cursor will now turn into crosshairs so you can click and drag out the shape.

As needed you can resize the shape and drag and drop it to the needed location.

If needed, you can click the "Fill color" (paint can) button to make the shape hollow so you can see through it.

Add Images from the Insert Menu

Click "Insert" then "Image"

You can then upload an image, take a webcam snapshot, choose an image from your Drive, search the picture, and more.

As needed you can resize the image and drag it to the correct location.

Add the Hyperlinks

Now you want to add hyperlinks to the icons or shapes so they will link out to your related resources.

Click the icon or shape to select it.

Next click the "Insert link" button in the top menu bar.

Paste in the link to the video, picture, Google Doc, website, or such.

Note: If linking to a Google Doc, Slideshow, or such, be sure you have shared the file properly so other people will be able to view it.

When you are all done adding hyperlinks to your Drawing, you are now ready to let other people view and click on your Googlink. One option for this is to share the Drawing.

Click the blue "Share" button in the top right corner of the Drawing window.

To share with specific people, enter their email addresses in the "People" box.

To make the Googlink viewable by everyone, click "Get sharable link".

For permissions, you only need to give people View rights to be able to view and click on your hyperlinks. They do not need Comment or Edit rights.

Embed your Googlink

Another option for sharing is to embed your Googlink on a Google Site. When you add a Google Drawing to a Google Site, all of the links in the Drawing stay live, so people can still click on them to open your related resources.

Open the Google Site webpage you want to edit and click on the "Edit page" (pencil) button.

Click "Insert" then "Drive" then "Drawing".

Select the Drawing you created for your Googlink.

As needed edit the "Length" and "Width" values to match your Drawing.

Save the changes to your page.

People will now be able to view your Google Drawing on the site and click the links you have put inside of the Drawing. As always though, make sure you have properly shared the Drawing and the Site as publicly viewable so people can access them.

Conclusion

Google Drawings is an easy to use, but powerful and versatile tool, that can be used by students and teacher for many applications including a Google version of a Thinglink. If you would like to learn more about using Google Drawings in general, feel free to access my detailed Google Drawing help guide here: Google Document link

If you have suggestions for other ways to use Drawings like a Thinglink, or if you have examples of your own to share, please share your ideas in the comment section below.

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Googlink: Creating Interactive Posters with Google Drawings

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Google Drawings is often overshadowed by the other Google Drive tools such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. However, it is an excellent tool for students and teacher to do many tasks including graphic organizers, teaching math, and desktop publishing ( see here for examples of each).

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Control Alt Achieve: Creative Google Slides Uses for Students

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Control Alt Achieve: Creative Google Slides Uses for Students

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We all know Google Slides is an excellent multimedia presentation tool. But it can be so much more than that. There are many non-traditional ways students can use Google Slides for learning, creating, and expressing their understanding.

I recently had the privilege and pleasure of joining Thomas Rup and Eric Lawson for a YouTube Live event to discuss " Souped-Up Slides". Thomas is the Network Administrator and Eric is the Director of Technology & Libraries for the York School Department in York, Maine. Together they are "The Blended EdTech Guys" and they create and share educational technology videos that are just as funny as they are informative.

See below for the recorded video where we talk about loads of creative ways students can use Google Slides, as well as other tech topics that came up in the process. You will also find links to all of the resources discussed.

"Souped-Up Slides" Video (40 minutes)

All Google Slides resources - Website link

Slides for Manipulatives

"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Sorting with Google Slides" - Website link

"Build a Snowman with Google Slides" - Website link

Slides for Comic Strips and eBooks

Slides for Stop-Motion Animation

Slides for Interactive, Non-linear Presentations

"Jeopardy Game Templates for Google Slides" - Website link

"Dragon Quest! A Google Slides Interactive Story" - Website link

How to stay up-to-date on EdTech?
Conclusion

Thomas and Eric have many more excellent videos to check out which you can find in their "GSuite PD" playlist here: YouTube Playlist link I especially loved their parody of Jimmy Fallon's "Thank You Notes" and their tribute to the retro arcade game Pitfall.

Be sure to connect with Thomas @RupBoysDad and Eric @elawson1977 and save their PD playlist so you will never miss a new video.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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Creative Google Slides Uses for Students

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We all know Google Slides is an excellent multimedia presentation tool. But it can be so much more than that. There are many non-traditional ways students can use Google Slides for learning, creating, and expressing their understanding. I recently had the privilege and pleasure of joining Thomas Rup and Eric Lawson for a YouTube Live event to discuss " Souped-Up Slides".

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The candle is cylindrical in shape and has a diameter of 20 mm. The length of the candle was initially about 18 cm and changed slowly during observation, decreasing about 4 mm in twenty minutes. The candle is made of a translucent, white solid which has a slight odor and no taste.

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Reading a Triple Beam Balance – Middle School Science Blog

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Reading a Triple Beam Balance – Middle School Science Blog

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This is a great interactive tutorial from Ohaus ( link). Using the tutorial prior to using the triple beam balance in class significantly improved the student's understanding of how to find, read, and record the mass of an object to the nearest 1/10th of a gram.

For the tutorial, each student works at their own pace and is given immediate feedback for each answer they submit. The problems are randomly generated and each student has a slightly different experience, as opposed to having each student answer the same set of problems. Students will also review place values for 100s, 10s, 1s, and 1/10ths. (Values for the 100ths place may appear in the answers, but students will only be assessed up to the 10ths place)
Here is nice video that gives a general overview on how to use the TBB: Next Generation Science Standards, Science and Engineering Practices (SEP)

(SEP2) Practice 2 - Developing and Using Models

(SEP4) Practice 4 - Analyzing and Interpreting Data

(SEP5) Practice 5 - Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

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Reading a Triple Beam Balance Worksheet (pdf) and Ohaus website (link) This is a great interactive tutorial from Ohaus (link). Using the tutorial prior to using the triple beam balance in class significantly improved the student's understanding of how to find, read, and record the mass of an object to the nearest 1/10th of a...

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Boy in the Water: Observation vs Inference – Middle School Science Blog

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Boy in the Water: Observation vs Inference – Middle School Science Blog

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The original worksheet(pdf) for this activity is from Project Archaeology (link)

I also created Google Slides for this activity (Public)

Students often have difficulty distinguishing between observations and inferences, they often combine the two into one statement. For example, when asked to make an observation using the image above some students may say: " The boy fell into the water because the branch broke." Another student may say: "The goat pushed the boy into the water when he was trying to pick up his sailboat."

We then discuss the difference between the facts and the "story" that goes with it. The facts are our observations and the story is how we piece the facts together, or our inference.

Observations:

a boy is in the water

a goat standing next to the water

a broken tree branch

a sailboat is floating in the water

Inferences:

The branch broke when the boy was sitting on it, and he fell into the water.

The goat butted the boy into the water when he was picking up his sailboat.

After defining and discussing the differences between observations and inferences, students will have a chance to work with their partner to practice identifying and classifying the statements related to the image of the boy in the water. Once everyone is done, as a class, we then discuss each statement and confirm each as either an observation or inference.

Use the picture of the boy in the water to determine if the following statements are observations or if the statements are inferences. Place an "Inf" in the blank for inference and an "Obs" in the blank for observation.

1. ____ The boy is in the water

2. ____ The weather is cold

3. ____ The tree branch is broken

4. ____ If the boy crawled out of the water, the goat would push him

5. ____ The boy fell off the branch

6. ____ The goat is standing by the pond

7. ____ The branch will fall on the boy's head

8. ____ The boy fell off the rocks

9. ____ There is a sailboat in the water

10. ____ The sailboat belongs to the boy

11. ____ The goat will soon leave the pond

12. ____ The tree by the pond has no leaves

13. ____ There are three rocks in the pond

14. ____ The tree by the pond is dead

15. ____ If it rains, leaves will grow on the tree

16. ____ The goat pushed the boy into the pond

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Boy in the Water: Observation vs Inference

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Materials: The original worksheet(pdf) for this activity is from Project Archaeology (link) I also created Google Slides for this activity (Public) Students often have difficulty distinguishing between observations and inferences, they often combine the two into one statement. For example, when asked to make an observation using the image above some students may say: "The boy...

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Heights Lab – How tall is the average 7th grader? – Middle School Science Blog

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Heights Lab – How tall is the average 7th grader? – Middle School Science Blog

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This introductory lab is a fun way to analyze data and the students look forward to finding the results each year. Who will be taller, boys or girls? Will we be taller than last year's class? You can really analyze the data in multiple ways, you can also add the concept of min, max, mode, and range in addition the mean, you can look for trends, and you can talk about sample size, etc...
Materials

Heights Lab Introduction and directions (Google Slides)

Data Collection (Google Sheets)

Heights Lab Template (Google Doc)

Construction paper taped to wall/column

Metric Tape Measures attached to wall or column over paper

Marker

Ruler

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Heights Lab - How tall is the average 7th grader?

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This introductory lab is a fun way to analyze data and the students look forward to finding the results each year. Who will be taller, boys or girls? Will we be taller than last year's class? You can really analyze the data in multiple ways, you can also add the concept of min, max, mode,...

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Control Alt Achieve: Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs

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Control Alt Achieve: Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs

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Certainly one of our goals as educators is for students to write more. However, that does not necessarily mean to write more words. Quite the opposite, there are actually several benefits that come from having our student write fewer words.

By that what I mean is having students distill their ideas down to just the most important, relevant, clear, and concise words. By putting limits on the number of words or characters our students can use, this forces students to:

Summarize key points

Select what is most important

Choose words that best convey meaning

Restate concepts

Avoid unnecessary filler and fluff

In this blog post we will take a look at how students can use the"Word Count" tool in Google Docs to easily check the amount of words and/or characters they have written. This can be used for writing activities where you put a limit on how long the students' writing can be. See below for details and directions.
And I will try to keep it short. As Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

Choose your limit and topic

First you will want to decide what limit to put on your students for their writing. You might decide to limit them to a certain number of words (20 words, 50 words, 100 words) or a specific amount of characters (100 characters, 200 characters, etc.)

The idea is your students will have to write something that fits within those restrictions. What they are writing might be:

A summary of a story they are reading

The main point of an article

A description of a character

A clear statement of an argument

A new title for a story, book, play, or movie

The dust jacket blurb for a book

The Netflix description for a movie

A personal definition for a vocabulary word

A simplified explanation of a concept from science, math, social studies, etc (ELI5 = Explain Like I'm Five)

A Tweet summarizing their thoughts on an article, chapter, book, concepts, etc.

The point is, the students will need to boil down their ideas to a smaller set of words, which forces them to really consider what is most important and how to communicate that clearly.
By the way, if you want to use the Twitter idea above, you can make the limit be 140 characters, and can use the "Compose a Tweet" Google Drawings template below for the students to write up their final wording. To get your own copy of the template, click below.

Use the Word Count tool in Google Docs

Now that you have the assignment and the limit, it is time for the students to write. They can use Google Docs to write as usual, so they will have all the benefits of that tool including anywhere/anytime access, auto-save, Voice Typing, the Explore tool, collaboration features, and more.

As they write though, they will need to keep checking on how many words or how many characters they have used, depending on the limit you have set. They can do this easily with the "Word Count" tool built into Google Docs.

Here's how:

Select the text you have typed. If there is other text in the document, be sure to just select the portion you wrote and want to get the word count for.

Next click "Tools" in the top menu bar.

Select "Word count" from the drop-down menu.

You will now get a pop-up window that will display the statistics.

Words = The number of words you selected, out of the total number of words in the document.

Characters = The number of characters you selected, out of the total number of characters in the document.

In either case you will want to take note of the first number, since that will be the count from the text you wrote and selected.

Click "Close" when done.

As needed, the student can now edit what they have written. They may need to reduce the number of words or characters by deleting content, rewriting, summarizing, and such. Or they may still have some room to breathe and can add more details.
Throughout the process the student should keep using the "Word Count" tool to see what impact their changes have made, until they are within the limits you have set.

Writing within a word or character limit can be a great way to help develop student skills of summarization, restatement, and clarity. Google Docs can be a big help in this process by providing the students an easy way to measure their word or character count. This can also be very helpful for you as a teacher when it comes time to evaluate their writing, as you can also use the "Word Count" tool to verify what the students have done.

If you would like to learn more about creative uses of Google Docs for literacy activities, feel free to join me for my free webinar on January 26th:

4 Fun Literacy Activities with Google Docs
January 26, 2017 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm EST
Webinar link - http://ti.apps.sparcc.org/videopd/20170126-docs-lit (click to register and watch live webinar)
Description: Looking for ways to techify your literacy activities? In this session we will explore several engaging hands-on literacy activities that use features built right into Google Docs. These will include improving reading comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out", writing interactive "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories in Docs, summarization skills with the Word Count tool, and fun ways to use Emojis in Docs for reading and writing.

Post by Eric Curts. Connect with Eric on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs

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Certainly one of our goals as educators is for students to write more. However, that does not necessarily mean to write more words. Quite the opposite, there are actually several benefits that come from having our student write fewer words.

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Control Alt Achieve: Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out"

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Control Alt Achieve: Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out"

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Some key goals for literacy are reading comprehension, being able to identify main ideas, and summarization skills. There are many excellent practices that can help students develop these abilities.

Recently I came across a creative technique called " Text Reduction Strategy" ( see the article here by Andrea Heick at TeachThought). I really liked the idea, but also felt it could be made even better with a Google Docs technology twist.

The original idea goes like this...

Students are given a magazine article and a black marker.

They are instructed to read the article and decide what text is critical to the main point of the article and what text is not.

Next they use the marker to black out any text that is not critical, leaving behind just the main ideas.

The benefit of this activity is that students do not have to come up with their own words to summarize the article. Instead all the words are already there, and they are just using their critical thinking skills to determine what is most important. This can be a helpful stepping stone to improving their reading comprehension while working toward better summarization skills.
As much as I love the idea, I thought it would be great to take it a step further and use technology rather that physical paper magazines and black markers. This activity works great in Google Docs, and even picks up a few added benefits by going digital. See below for full directions on how to do this.

Step 1 - Find an article

First of all you will need an article for your students to read. There are so many excellent websites that provide current event and high interest articles for students. Some are specific to certain grade levels, while others provide multiple versions of their articles at different lexile levels so students of all ages can engage with the writing. A few great sites to consider for articles include:

Step #2 - Put the article in Google Docs

For this step you will need to copy and paste the text of the article into a Google Document. However, there are a few tips that can make this easier and can produce a cleaner final product.

First, if the article is on a webpage that also has lots of other text, comments, or sidebar information, it might be difficult to select just the text from the article itself. One option would be to use a "webpage clean up tool" such as the Mercury Reader extension for Google Chrome (or any of the many other "clean up" extensions). This can remove all the extra text, so just the article is left to be copied.

Install the Mercury Reader extension from the Chrome Web Store - Chrome extension link

Open the website with the article you want to copy.

Click the Mercury Reader extension icon in your top menu bar.

The webpage will now be cleaned up, so that all the ads and extra content is removed, leaving just the text of the main article.

You can now select the article text and copy it. For example, to copy you can press "Ctrl" and "C", or right-click and choose "Copy".

A second tip to consider is a better way to paste the article text into your Google Doc. Normally when you copy and paste text from a website into a Doc, it brings with it whatever formatting the text had, such as font, color, size, and such. For this "black out" activity, it is best for the text to be as plain and simple as possible with no extra formatting at all. Thankfully there is an easy way to paste just the copied text, and no formatting.

First copy the text as explained earlier.

Next click inside of the Google Doc.

Or click "Edit" and "Paste without formatting"

Or right click and choose "Paste without formatting"

The copied text will now be pasted into the Google Doc as plain text with no special formatting.

Step #3 - Share the Google Doc with your students

If you want each of your students to do the "black out" activity, they will each need their own copy of the Google Doc with the article text. You can do this a couple different ways:

First, you could push out a copy to each student through Google Classroom.

Go to Google Classroom as normal.

Click the button to "Create assignment".

Fill in the details for the assignment.

Click the Google Drive icon and choose the Google Doc with the article text.

From the drop-down menu to the right, choose "Make a copy for each student".

Finally click "Assign" and each student will get their own copy of the Google Doc to work on.

If you are not using Google Classroom, a second option would be to share the Google Doc with your students with view only rights.

Click the big blue Share button in the top right corner of the Google Doc.

When the "Share with others" window opens, click "Get sharable link" in the top right corner.

This will generate a link that will allow others to view the document. Provide this link to your students through email, or on your class website, or with a shortened URL, or such.

When the students open the shared Doc they can make their own copy by clicking "File" and "Make a copy".

Step #4 - Students "Black Out" the article

At this point the students can do the "Black Out" activity. They need to read the article and decide what text is critical to the main point of the article and what text is not. Their goal is to black out any text that is not critical, leaving behind just the main ideas. In Google Docs this can be done by using the built-in highlighter tool, but choosing black for the color. Here's how:

Select the text you want to black out.

Click the "Text color" button in the top toolbar.

Click the "Highlight" option in the drop-down menu.

Click the black color option.

The selected text will now be blacked out.

Repeat this process for other text throughout the document as needed.

To save some time, you can also use the " Paint format" tool to quickly apply the black highlighting to other sections of text (special thanks to Amy Farris for this great tip!)

First select some text that is already highlighted black.

Next double-click on the "Paint format" button to the top menu bar. Double-clicking will "lock in" the copied formatting.

Now simply select any other text in the document and the black highlighting will automatically be applied to it.

When done, just click the "Paint format" button again to turn it off.

If you think you made a mistake and want to remove the black out from some text, you can do that.

First, click and drag your mouse to select the blacked out text.

When you do this, the black highlighting will turn slightly lighter, which will allow you to read the blacked out text.

If you find some text you want to remove the black out from, select just that text.

Then click the "Text color" button in the top toolbar.

Click the "Highlight" option in the drop-down menu.

Click the "None" option.

The black highlighting will be removed from that text and it will appear normal and visible again.

When the student is finished the Google Doc will have blacked out text for a large amount of the content, leaving just the most important information visible. This might be just topic sentences, or key phrases, or such.

The students could then share their final products with their teacher, or with other students. Black out articles from different students could be compared to see what different classmates thought was most important.

As an example, here is a Google Doc with an original article about spiders - Google Doc link

Now here is a version with blacked out text, leaving just the most important information behind (at least in my opinion for this example) - Google Doc link

Conclusion

As I mentioned at the start, I really like the "Text Reduction Strategy" as a way to help students develop reading comprehension and summarization skills. However, I think there are some great benefits to doing the activity digitally with Google Docs. Some of the benefits include:

No need for multiple copies of magazines.

No waste, since there are no magazines to be thrown away when done.

Ability to remove the black out from text if a mistake is made or the student changes their mind about what to black out.

Easy for students to share their work with others.

Easy to display final products online or projected for the class to see and discuss.

This process can also be extended to other texts and purposes, such as "Black Out Poetry" where the students try to create poems by blacking out all the words from a text sample except for what they leave behind to make the poem.
If you try this with your students, or come up with other ways to use or improve this process, please share your ideas and experiences in the comments below.

Post by Eric Curts. Connect with Eric on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out"

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Some key goals for literacy are reading comprehension, being able to identify main ideas, and summarization skills. There are many excellent practices that can help students develop these abilities. Recently I came across a creative technique called " Text Reduction Strategy" ( see the article here by Andrea Heick at TeachThought).

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An Interactive and Engaging Solution to the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram -

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An Interactive and Engaging Solution to the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram -

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The Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram is commonly viewed by students as simply another graph to make or even worse, simply another graph to observe and memorize. The day that my students create and interpret the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram is one of my absolute favorite days of the year.

The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram is in the zone of proximal development for almost all of my students. They are all challenged and a little uncomfortable with the massive amount of information on the diagram and what can be learned from it, but with support they leave with a better understanding of the HR Diagram, the different types of stars and the stellar life cycle. Students also leave feeling more confident in their ability to interpret a graph and utilize large amounts of information to come to a conclusion.

The HR Diagram Solution

The HR Diagram deserves a hands-on, interactive, student-centered makeover. If the HR Diagram and the painstaking work it took to construct it don't inspire a little wonder, I'm not sure what will. However, making and observing graphs rarely inspire wonder in our students.

I found the solution in a set of manipulatives from the TERC Astrobiology website which no longer appears to be active. Thankfully, I downloaded their wonderful HR Diagram lesson 5 years ago.

The directions include the original lesson plan, procedure, and graph set-up from TERC Astrobiology.

The manipulatives are circles containing the color, mass, brightness, and in some cases lifespan of actual stars in our universe from TERC Astrobiology.

Creating my Star Circles

I know that these materials would be an incredible way to make learning about the Hertzpsrung-Russell diagram a more kinesthetic, thoughtful and rigorous experience for my students. In the insanity that is the first year of teaching, I decided that I needed 7 classroom sets (96 per set) of the colorful star circles you can see below so that groups of students could construct the diagram. These star circles need to be printed in color whatever the cost. I am generally thrifty, but students articulate the relationship between color,temperature and brightness more effectively when they see the colors that clarify these relationships.

I proceeded to print out 50+ color pages, laminate them and coerce my husband into helping me cut out star circles while we watched Doctor Who. Our marriage survived the hand cramps and my students have benefited from our work year after year.

Star Circle Sanity Tips

Star circles are easy to mix up and easy to lose. Avoid letting your hard work go to waste or creating additional work for yourself by following these tips:

Keep the super glue handy. If one of your magnets comes unglued during class, have a student glue it back together immediately. It will only take a minute and will guarantee that you will have complete sets for years to come.

Keep the star circle sets separate or you will end up with a group with 2 Suns and another group with no Sun. I keep mine in sealed plastic bags between uses.

To determine if stars are missing, print out the star circle handouts in black and white and put the colorful star circles you already have on top of the matching circle. This will quickly narrow down which stars you are missing. This is a great task for a student aide or someone in detention.

The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram Lessons

The star circles and the lesson I created from the materials kept students active and engaged for an entire block! The graph they make is so large that they have to be up and moving around to put all of their stars on the HR Diagram. Students discuss where the stars belonged on the diagram and how the axes of the Hertzpsrung-Russell Diagram are set up.

I found that students were more comfortable analyzing the information presented on the diagram after physically creating it themselves. For example, they clearly understood that red giants and supergiants were different from regular red stars because of the difference in brightness, not temperature, because they had to look at the brightness differences to plot the points.

A Complete Lesson/Lab Using the Star Circle Manipulatives

This first lesson utilizes the star circles to construct and analyze the HR Diagram from start to finish rather than having students independently plot the HR Digram. Download the original handout for the lesson here: HR Diagram Lab Handout.

Update 4/23/2017: Here is the key for the HR Diagram Lab Handout.

1. Create large graphs for groups of 3-5 students from rolls of poster paper or by creating the axes with masking tape on lab tables that have been pushed together.

2. Give each group of students a set of star circle manipulatives. Think about your allotted time, with almost 100 stars to place on the HR Diagram, a group of 4 would mean each student placed 25 stars, while a group of 5 would each place 20 stars.

3. Students utilize their HR Diagram to answer analysis questions.

You can improve this lesson by gluing a set of the stars to magnets. Strips of magnets are easily found at craft stores like Jo-Ann Fabrics; make sure to get the coupon from the weekly flyer or from their website on your smart phone. The magnets were a great addition for a few reasons:

1. I always put the group that I suspected would need assistance with the magnetic set at the front whiteboard. This allowed me to monitor their progress while I circulated through the other groups.

2. It is easier to talk with students about their conclusions and to summarize important points together if we could all look at one graph together for a few minutes. This also gave those students I was concerned about a sense of pride to have everyone else see their work on the front board.

3. I leave the magnetized star circles on the HR Diagram up on a front board for the entire time that we discuss the stellar life cycle (sometimes 2 weeks) so that it can be a consistent reference point for our learning, rather than a disparate lesson.

An Introductory Activity Using Star Circles

1. Draw the HR Diagram axes on the front whiteboard.

2. Construct the graph as a class using the magnetized set of stars. Each student gets 3-6 stars, depending on class size, collects some data about their stars and then adds their data points to the graph on the board.

3. Students independently plot the HR Diagram and answer analysis questions.

Instead of spending all their time making the graph with the star circles, students will also independently graph a smaller version of the HR Diagram and spend more time on analysis questions that test their understanding of absolute vs. apparent magnitude, the relationship between fusion and the life cycle of a star, and how our Sun compares to other stars. We also provide them with information about the distance of the stars they are plotting from Earth. In the analysis questions, we ask: Are the nearest stars also always the brightest stars as seen from the earth? Give an example with data to prove or disprove.

This version still allows for interaction and a more constructivist approach while giving students a preview of the HR Diagram they are about to plot themselves. The students still got the experience of creating the diagram with star circles, but it took only 1/3 of the time, allowing us to move on to more complex ideas related to the HR Diagram. This introductory is also a great option if you are very limited on time and aren't always able to do more than show students the HR Diagram.

The possibilities for the star circles are endless. You could use this diagram to trace the life cycle of low and high-mass stars and compare and contrast their color, temperature, and brightness at each stage. You could create the axes on the walls of your classroom, give each student a star circle, and ask them to plot themselves on your living HR Diagram.

While the star circles have enhanced my instruction, I would love to hear more about how you teach the HR Diagram in the comments!

Action Items:

What is your favorite lesson to teach and why? Please share a link to that lesson if you can!

If you are an Earth Science or Astronomy teacher, how do you teach the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram? What works for your students?

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An Interactive and Engaging Solution to the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

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The Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram is commonly viewed by students as simply another graph to make or even worse, simply another graph to observe and memorize. The day that my students create and interpret the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram is one of my absolute favorite days of the year.

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Science Notebooks | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

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Science Notebooks | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

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Big Idea Pages | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

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Big Idea Pages | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

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Big Idea Pages | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

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The Big Idea Page is a dynamic tool that students use to process scientific information as they advance through a unit. It is a two-page spread, composed of a central icon representing the topic of the unit, with four real-life, phenomena-based questions that direct student learning.

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An unexpected new lung function has been found - they make blood - ScienceAlert

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An unexpected new lung function has been found - they make blood - ScienceAlert

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Researchers have discovered that the lungs play a far more complex role in mammalian bodies than we thought, with new evidence revealing that they don't just facilitate respiration - they also play a key role in blood production.

In experiments involving mice, the team found that they produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour, equating to the majority of platelets in the animals' circulation. This goes against the decades-long assumption that bone marrow produces all of our blood components.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco also discovered a previously unknown pool of blood stem cells that makes this happen inside the lung tissue - cells that were incorrectly assumed to mainly reside in bone marrow.

"This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs - that they're not just for respiration, but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood," says one of the researchers, Mark R. Looney.

"What we've observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well."

While the lungs have been known to produce a limited amount of platelets - platelet-forming cells called megakaryocytes have been identified in the lungs before - scientists have long assumed that most of the cells responsible for blood production are kept inside the bone marrow.

Here, a process called haematopoiesis was thought to churn out oxygen-laden red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells, and platelets - blood components required for the clotting that halts bleeding.

But scientists have now watched megakaryocytes functioning from within the lung tissue to produce not a few, but most of the body's platelets.

So how did we miss such a crucial biological process this whole time?

The discovery was made possible by a new type of technology based on two-photon intravital imaging - a similar technique to one used by a separate team this week to discover a previously unidentified function of the brain's cerebellum.

The process involves inserting a substance called green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the mouse genome - a protein that's naturally produced by bioluminescent animals such as jellyfish, and is harmless to living cells.

The mouse platelets started to emit bright green fluorescence as they circulated around the body in real time, allowing the team to trace their paths like never before.

They noticed a surprisingly large population of platelet-producing megakaryocytes inside the lung tissue, which initially didn't make much sense, seeing as they're usually associated with bone marrow.

"When we discovered this massive population of megakaryocytes that appeared to be living in the lung, we realised we had to follow this up," says one of the team, Emma Lefrançais.

They found that this huge supply of megakaryocytes is actually producing more than 10 million platelets per hour in the lungs of mice, which means at least half of the body's total platelet production is occurring in the lungs.

Here's what it looks like:

Further experiments also revealed vast amounts of previously hidden blood stem cells and megakaryocyte progenitor cells (cells that give rise to megakaryocyte and red blood cells) sitting just outside the lung tissue - about 1 million per mouse lung.

When the researchers traced the entire 'life cycle' of the megakaryocytes, they found that they likely originate in the bone marrow, then make their way to the lungs, where they start platelet production.

"It's fascinating that megakaryocytes travel all the way from the bone marrow to the lungs to produce platelets," says one of the team, Guadalupe Ortiz-Muñoz.

"It's possible that the lung is an ideal bioreactor for platelet production because of the mechanical force of the blood, or perhaps because of some molecular signalling we don't yet know about."

The researchers wanted to investigate if their discovery could have an effect on how we treat disorders such as lung inflammation, bleeding, and transplantation in the future, by transplanting lungs with fluorescent megakaryocyte progenitor cells into mice with low platelet counts.

The transplants produced a massive burst of platelets that quickly restored the depleted platelet counts to normal levels, and the effect lasted for several months.

Another experiment tested what would happen if the bone marrow wasn't playing a role in blood production.

The team implanted lungs with fluorescent megakaryocyte progenitor cells into mice that had been engineered to have no blood stem cells in their bone marrow.

As Michael Irving reports for New Atlas, they watched as the fluorescent cells from the transplanted lungs made their way to the bone marrow, where they not only helped to produce platelets, but also other key blood components, such as neutrophils, B cells and T cells.

The findings will need to be replicated in humans before we can know for sure that the same process is occurring within our own bodies, but the study makes a strong case for this hidden function in what could be one of our most underrated organs.

It will likely also prompt scientists to investigate further how the bone marrow and lungs work together to produce our blood supply.

"It has been known for decades that the lung can be a site of platelet production, but this study amplifies this idea by demonstrating that the [mouse] lung is a major participant in the process," Traci Mondoro from the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, who was not involved in the study, said in a press statement.

"Looney and his team have disrupted some traditional ideas about the pulmonary role in platelet-related hematopoiesis, paving the way for further scientific exploration of this integrated biology."

The research has been published in

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An Unexpected New Lung Function Has Been Found - They Make Blood

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Researchers have discovered that the lungs play a far more complex role in mammalian bodies than we thought, with new evidence revealing that they don't just facilitate respiration - they also play a key role in blood production.

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Vitamin D has been linked to autism prevention in animal studies - ScienceAlert

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Vitamin D has been linked to autism prevention in animal studies - ScienceAlert

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Researchers have found that vitamin D treatments during pregnancy appear to prevent the development of autism in mice, and are now planning to investigate if similar effects can be achieved in humans using vitamin D supplements.

The research is still in its very early stages, but it's thought that vitamin D plays a big role in early brain development, and previous studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency could influence the increased size and unique shape observed in the brains of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

"Our study used the most widely accepted developmental model of autism, in which affected mice behave abnormally and show deficits in social interaction, basic learning, and stereotyped behaviours," says one of the team, Darryl Eyles from the University of Queensland in Australia.

"We found that pregnant females treated with active vitamin D (a different form than in supplements) in the equivalent of the first trimester of pregnancy produced offspring that did not develop these deficits."

For some background into the extensive research that's been done on vitamin D and autism in the past, for more than a decade, scientists have been trying to figure out the significance of animal studies that have linked severe vitamin D deficiency to increased brain size and enlarged ventricles - characteristics similar to those found in children with ASD.

With ASD being such a complex condition, and thought to be affected by a range of risk factors, including genetics and perhaps even environmental conditions such as air pollutants and viral infections, this has been particularly difficult to study in humans.

But we have seen hints that there could be something to this hypothesis, not least of which is the fact that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has been linked to an array of physical and psychological conditions including schizophrenia, asthma, and reduced bone density.

Then there was that 2008 study by Swedish researchers that found the prevalence of autism and related disorders was three to four times higher among Somali immigrants in Stockholm than non-Somalis.

The trend seemed to be occurring in Minnesota too, with a separate group of researchers finding that the rate of ASD in the 60,000 Somali immigrants living in the state was comparable to those who had migrated to Sweden.

And it wasn't because Somalis are genetically pre-disposed to the condition - in fact, it appeared to the opposite.

"It has shocked the community. We never saw such a disease in Somalia. We do not even have a word for it," Huda Farah, a Somali-born molecular biologist, told Gabrielle Glaser at Scientific American at the time.

The researchers suspected that in both cases, the unusually high rate of ASD in Somali immigrants was down to the fact that they were getting less sun in their new homes than they were in their native country, which would have lowered their vitamin D levels.

As Glaser explained:

"At northern latitudes in the summertime, light-skinned people produce about 1,000 international units (IUs) of vitamin D per minute, but those with darker skin synthesise it more slowly, says Adit Ginde, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Ginde recommends between 1,000 to 2,000 IUs per day."

Fast-forward to 2016, when an international team of researchers published a paper that also highlighted a link between vitamin d deficiency during pregnancy and autism.

Looking at blood samples from 4,229 pregnant women and their children, the researchers found that those with lower than average vitamin D levels at 20 weeks' gestation were more likely to have a child with autistic traits by the age of six.

The team reported that pregnant women who were deficient in vitamin D had "significantly higher" scores on established autism scales than those with average vitamin D levels.

"Just as taking folate in pregnancy has reduced the incidence of spina bifida, the results of this study suggest that prenatal vitamin D supplements may reduce the incidence of autism," lead researcher John McGrath told ABC at the time.

Now, the University of Queensland team has similar results, this time based on mouse models.

They treated pregnant mice in the equivalent of their first trimester with the active hormonal form of vitamin D, and tested the behaviour of their offspring as they developed.

Behavioural studies, maze tests, social interactions, fear conditioning, and marble burying activities were all administered to assess the mouse pups' anxiety, sociability, stereotyped behaviour (repetitive movements like pacing and rocking) and emotional learning and memory.

They found no signs of behaviours that would be linked to ASD in any of the mice.

"The present study tested the hypothesis that maternal administration of the active vitamin D hormone ... would prevent autism-relevant behavioural abnormalities," the team reports in their paper.

"Our data support this hypothesis by showing that maternal vitamin D co-administration blocked the emergence of the ASD-relevant deficits in social interaction, stereotyped behaviour, and emotional learning and memory."

The team also disproved a promising hypothesis for why lower vitamin D levels appear to be linked to higher autism risk - they found no evidence that the vitamin had a protective anti-inflammatory effect during brain development in the womb.

Of course, attempting to replicate the results in humans is going to be complicated. For one thing, the active vitamin D hormone used by the team cannot be given to pregnant women, because it could risk the skeletal development of the foetus.

But they suggest that cholecalciferol - the vitamin D supplement form that is safe for pregnant women to take - could have similar preventative effects.

"Recent funding will now allow us to determine how much cholecalciferol ... is needed to achieve the same levels of active hormonal vitamin D in the bloodstream," says one of the team, Wei Luan.

"This new information will allow us to further investigate the ideal dose and timing of vitamin D supplementation for pregnant women."

To be clear, we're still way too early on in the research process for anyone to be changing their behaviour during pregnancy based on these results - if you're worried about your vitamin D levels, go see your doctor for personalised medical advice.

But the study is yet another piece of the puzzle that could help us understand at least one of the potential risk factors for a very complicated condition, and that could make all the difference in the future.

As autism expert Andrew Whitehouse from the Telethon Kids Institute, who was not involved in the 2016 study, told The Guardian:

"There are likely dozens, if not hundreds, of different mechanisms that can lead to autism. Now this study gives us an inkling of one possible mechanism, but before we think about anything, we need to see a replication of this finding.

What we know is that vitamin D during pregnancy is very important for how the baby develops."

The latest study has been published in Molecular Autism.

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Vitamin D Has Been Linked to Autism Prevention in Animal Studies

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Researchers have found that vitamin D treatments during pregnancy appear to prevent the development of autism in mice, and are now planning to investigate if similar effects can be achieved in humans using vitamin D supplements.

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Examples of Chemical Reactions in Everyday Life

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Examples of Chemical Reactions in Everyday Life

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Chemistry happens in the world around you, not just in a lab. Matter interacts to form new products through a process called a chemical reaction or chemical change. Every time you cook or clean, it's chemistry in action. Your body lives and grows thanks to chemical reactions. There are reactions when you take medications, light a match, and draw a breath. These examples of chemical reactions from everyday life are a small sampling of the hundreds of thousands of reactions you experience as you go about your day.

Key Takeaways: Chemical Reactions in Everyday Life

Photosynthesis

Plants apply a chemical reaction called photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into food (glucose) and oxygen. It's one of the most common everyday chemical reactions and also one of the most important because this is how plants produce food for themselves and animals and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. The equation for the reaction is:

Aerobic Cellular Respiration

Aerobic cellular respiration is the opposite process of photosynthesis in that energy molecules are combined with the oxygen we breathe to release ​the energy needed by our cells plus carbon dioxide and water. Energy used by cells is chemical energy in the form of ATP, or adenosine triphosphate.

Here is the overall equation for aerobic cellular respiration:

Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic respiration is a set of chemical reactions that allows cells to gain energy from complex molecules without oxygen. Your muscle cells perform anaerobic respiration whenever you exhaust the oxygen being delivered to them, such as during intense or prolonged exercise. Anaerobic respiration by yeast and bacteria is harnessed for fermentation to produce ethanol, carbon dioxide, and other chemicals that make cheese, wine, beer, yogurt, bread, and many other common products.

The overall chemical equation for one form of anaerobic respiration is:

Combustion

Every time you strike a match, burn a candle, build a fire, or light a grill, you see the combustion reaction. Combustion combines energetic molecules with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.

For example, the equation for the combustion reaction of propane, found in gas grills and some fireplaces, is:

Over time, iron develops a red, flaky coating called rust. This is an example of an oxidation reaction. Other everyday examples include formation of verdigris on copper and tarnishing of silver.

Here is the chemical equation for the rusting of iron:

Thousands of chemical reactions take place during digestion. As soon as you put food in your mouth, an enzyme in your saliva called amylase starts to break down sugars and other carbohydrates into simpler forms your body can absorb. Hydrochloric acid in your stomach reacts with food to further break it down, while enzymes cleave proteins and fats so they can be absorbed into your bloodstream through the walls of the intestines.

Acid-Base Reactions

Whenever you combine an acid (e.g., vinegar, lemon juice, sulfuric acid, or muriatic acid) with a base (e.g., baking soda, soap, ammonia, or acetone), you are performing an acid-base reaction. These reactions neutralize the acid and base to yield salt and water.

Sodium chloride isn't the only salt that can be formed. For example, here is the chemical equation for an acid-base reaction that produces potassium chloride, a common table salt substitute:

HCl + KOH → KCl + H ₂ O

Soap and Detergent Reactions

Soaps and detergents clean by way of chemical reactions. Soap emulsifies grime, which means oily stains bind to the soap so they can be lifted away with water. Detergents act as surfactants, lowering the surface tension of water so it can interact with oils, isolate them, and rinse them away.

Cooking uses heat to cause chemical changes in food. For example, when you hard boil an egg, the hydrogen sulfide produced by heating the egg white can react with iron from the egg yolk to form a grayish-green ring around the yolk. When you brown meat or baked goods, the Maillard reaction between amino acids and sugars produces a brown color and a desirable flavor.

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Examples of Chemical Reactions Taking Place Around You Every Day

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Here are a few of the hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions that take place around you every day.

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Google Timelapse lets you see how any location on Earth has changed in 32 years - ScienceAlert

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Google Timelapse lets you see how any location on Earth has changed in 32 years - ScienceAlert

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It might not seem like such a long time, but in past three decades, Earth has changed in immeasurable ways, with cities rising, glaciers falling, and unprecedented disasters reshaping the landscape forever.

With 5 million satellite images taken from 1984 to 2016, Google Earth's new Timelapse update allows you to go anywhere on the planet, and see a perfect timelapse of the shifting landscape, whether you want to see how your home has fared, or what the hell happened to the Aral Sea.

"Using Google Earth Engine, we sifted through about 3 quadrillion pixels - that's 3 followed by 15 zeroes - from more than 5,000,000 satellite images," Chris Herwig, program manager for the Google Earth Engine, writes in a blog post.

"For this latest update, we had access to more images from the past, thanks to the Landsat Global Archive Consolidation Program, and fresh images from two new satellites, Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2."

You could easily lose an afternoon just plugging in random locations and seeing what you can find on your own, because it's truly fascinating just how much the face of Earth has changed in just a few short decades, wherever you look.

Bur for those of you who just want to see the really good stuff, Google has put together a whole bunch of clips on YouTube so you can get your fix.

Let's start with the construction of the Al Khiran Pearl City in Kuwait, which actually looks like aliens are trying to tell us something:

Here's the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, as it sprawls across the coastal desert, with palm islands blooming in the sea:

Here's the tiny province of Nuflo de Chavez in Bolivia, which in the past 32 years has fanned out like a kaleidoscope:

Here's Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada:

For some extra sadness, here's the jewel-hued Aral Sea, between the Southern part of Kazakhstan and Northern Uzbekista, which has almost completely disappeared over the past few decades:

Check out Google Earth Timelapse here to find your own timelapse gems.

We're just going to sit here and watch the Ucayali River snake through Peru, because that is ridiculously hypnotic:

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Google Timelapse Lets You See How Any Location on Earth Has Changed in 32 Years

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It might not seem like such a long time, but in past three decades, Earth has changed in immeasurable ways, with cities rising, glaciers falling, and unprecedented disasters reshaping the landscape forever.

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Balancing Equations: A Hands on Activity – Middle School Science Blog

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Balancing Equations: A Hands on Activity – Middle School Science Blog

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Balancing Chemical Equations Activity - one of my long time favorite activities. Students will learn how to read formulas, count atoms, create and read chemical equations, and balance chemical equations using a hands on activity with color coded formulas cards.
Lesson Resources: Create one set of materials for each pair of students. Store in a large zip-top bag

Worksheet: handout with directions (pdf)

Formula cards (pdf) - laminate and reuse each year

Coefficient cards (pdf) - laminate and reuse each year

Answer Key for the balanced equations (pdf)

- Balancing Equations Answer Key Public Link

These slides can be used to review answers at the end of the lesson

You can also print the slides then laminate to use as Task Cards at a hands on station with beads to represent each atom

For more advanced students, you can use molecular models and build each model.

Practice balancing equations worksheet (pdf) and more from ScienceSpot.net

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Balancing Equations: A Hands on Activity

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Balancing Chemical Equations Activity - one of my long time favorite activities. Students will learn how to read formulas, count atoms, create and read chemical equations, and balance chemical equations using a hands on activity with color coded formulas cards. Lesson Resources: Create one set of materials for each pair of students.

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Interactive Notebooks: No Special Hardware Required | Edutopia

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Interactive Notebooks: No Special Hardware Required | Edutopia

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Before I started using interactive notebooks, I got by, but barely. I'd make multiple copies of every handout for students who were constantly losing theirs. Students would take notes sometimes, and sometimes they wouldn't. All of my grades focused on the finished products, never on the process. I had few or no opportunities to explore the texts that we were studying in class using visual, logical, intrapersonal, or interpersonal learning styles. If I wanted students to write, I had to collect every page that they wrote, and I inevitably had a stack of unread notebook pages on my desk at the end of every day. Classes were discussion all day, every day, with me as the main source of energy for that discussion.

It was an exhausting mess.

I've been using interactive notebooks in my classes since 2005, and every single teaching resource that I create fits this format. I could never go back to teaching without them.

A Simple Yet Effective System

My interactive notebooks are simple spiral-bound notebooks into which students glue or tape my handouts. It's not an especially fancy system, and there are no pop-up cutouts or pages to color in. It's just a simple, functional way for students to create, write, and explore ideas all in the same place.

Using interactive notebooks in my classes has several benefits:

I've gained a system for classroom management and organization.

Every lesson takes advantage of a different learning style.

Students have much more ownership of the entire learning process.

While my students write almost every day in class, I collect that writing only once every month or two.

Most importantly, I'm not (quite) as worn out at the end of the day.

This is how my system works.

1. The notebook setup is fairly quick and very important. And it's worth it to make sure that we are all (literally) on the same page.

Students make a cover page with their name and class period.

The table of contents lists any handouts or information that they might need later on.

We number every page, making sure that we all have the same right and left.

And that's it.

2. I encourage more than one learning style. When I use interactive notebooks, I have a daily reminder to diversify my lesson plans and focus on more than one learning style.

The left side is always something creative. Most often, it's for writing-five-minute free writes to start or end the class. Sometimes it's for charts, drawings, or notes on a group activity.

The right side is for objective material. This is where students put any notes from the class discussion or the (extremely rare) lecture. It's also where they put questions that they complete in groups, with partners, or on their own. If there's a test on the material, they only need to study the right-hand pages.

3. I have a few tricks for managing the day-to-day process. For example, I keep a running list of page numbers and assignments visible in the classroom so that students don't have to ask me 20 times a day, "What page is that on?" (Not that it completely stops them.)

Another one of my key tools is a stamp. Whenever work is due, I go around the room and take a quick look at all of the students' notebooks, maybe reading one or two answers just as a spot check. If the work is finished on time, they get a stamp. Then, when I grade the notebooks, I simply count the stamps. If they have them all, they get 100 points on their homework grade.

4. Grading the notebooks is fairly painless. It's actually quite fun at times. I first make a quick pass to check for missing or unfinished work. Fifty percent of the notebook grade is an overall grade, and I take off points for missing or incomplete pages.

Then comes the fun part. The other 50 percent of their notebook grade is based on just four pages. Students choose three for me to grade, and I choose one. They get to show me their best work, I get to learn what they like and what they're proud of, and the process feels like a conversation with each individual student. I'm not grading the same page over and over, and ultimately, I find that students often do their best work in their notebook where there is little pressure. (Why they freeze when they read the word essay is a whole other topic.)

A Cure for Exhaustion?

One of the great pieces of advice that I've received as a teacher is that the students should be more tired than I am by the end of class. I still feel exhausted at times, and sometimes my classroom still feels like a mess, but by using interactive notebooks, I get to preserve a little more of myself for the end of the day.

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Interactive Notebooks: No Special Hardware Required

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Before I started using interactive notebooks, I got by, but barely. I'd make multiple copies of every handout for students who were constantly losing theirs. Students would take notes sometimes, and sometimes they wouldn't. All of my grades focused on the finished products, never on the process.