Classroom.... You go to share a Word or Google Doc, and it won't give you its ever-helpful "create a copy for each student" option.  Always when you need it most.  What gives?  Finally, I got to the bottom of what I thought was a bug.  From Classroom Help (turns out all I had to do was ask... click on the "?" on the bottom left of your screen, and ask.  My reply was immediate:

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for reaching out in the Google For Education forum. Make a copy for each student is available when first creating an assignment before clicking the blue ASSIGN button. If you go back to edit the assignment, you will only see students can view and students can edit. The blue button will say SAVE.

You can use the REUSE post feature to post the assignment again, making sure that you select Make a copy for each student before clicking ASSIGN. Then delete the original assignment from the stream.

Computer Geeks speaking gibberish to you, again?  Here's a handy translator- an easy guide with definitions and analogies of common computery terms.  https://sidewaysdictionary.com/#/

K-2 Keyboarding Resources

Hello,

Just FYI, there are some great resources that you might want to take a look at for future reference for our students who are not yet in the Keyboarding program. Found some of these very interesting and useful.

Many states, including my home state of Massachusetts are moving to computer-based testing which include novel test items that require students to drag and drop items, highlight text, and type proficiently. While many praise the new “21st century assessments”, teachers are left wondering how to best prepare their students so that the assessment is a measure of what kids know, not how skilled they are at using devices. This post is not intended to support or criticize these next-generation assessments, but rather to provide teachers with websites and activities that support students’ development of typing, touchpad and mouse skills.

Typing Practice

§  Introduction to Keyboarding (K – 2) – Students in grades K – 2 begin by learning which hand to use to strike letters on a keyboard. Practice sites support letter recognition and indicate which hand kids should be using with a color, for example “purple” letters, use left hand, green letters use right hand. Tip: Support students by providing two different colored wrist bands to help kids keep track of which hand to use.

§  Monkeypaws KeySeeker (K – 2):  Practices letter recognition and begins to familiarize kids with where those letters are located on the keyboard.

§  ABCYa Keyboard Zoo (K-2): Practices letter names or sounds while exposing students to letter location and which hand to use to strike each key.

§  Beginner Keyboarding Practice (Gr 3 – 4) – Students in grades 3 & 4 should begin to use the correct hand position (home row) and practice using the correct fingers to select keys.

§  Typing Club (K-2): Login in with Google or Office 365 accounts, lessons focus on specific keys and track speed and accuracy. An on-screen keyboard appears on the bottom half of the screen to show students the correct hand position and which finger should be used to strike the keys. Progress is tracked if students sign in to their free account. Tip: Install Adblock Plus Chrome extension to avoid distracting advertisements.

§  Math Quiz (Gr 4-6) Practice typing numbers while improving fact fluency.

Mouse/Touchpad Skills

§  Basic Mouse/Touchpad Skills (K – 2) – Students in grades K – 2 practice clicking, dragging and dropping using a mouse or touchpad.

§  Base Ten Fun (K-2): Students drag and drop base ten blocks from toolbox to work space to make the number shown on the screen.

§  Click the Bubble (K-1): Students practice moving the cursor with the mouse or touch pad and clicking to pop bubbles.

§  Code.org/learn (K-8): Engage students with wide variety of block-based coding games that develop students’ computational thinking while allowing them to practice drag & drop skills. Use the left sidebar to filter by age and device availability.

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Tired of sharing that perfectly aligned CP2 taxonomy document with the CP1 teacher, only to have her erase half of your taxa and all of the page numbers, so it matches her curriculum (sorry, Lori!) but is useless, now, to you? Wondering if she's doing it out of spite?  Save your relationships!  Share safely with your colleagues!  If you want to force anyone to make a copy of your Google Doc, Slideshow, Sheet, or Form, simply copy the URL .... BUT  before you send it, amend it.  See all that stuff after the slash in Lori's copy? Starts with the word "edit"?  get rid of that stuff, and write in "copy" after the slash, as in the second URL. This forces the receiver, when opening, to make a copy.  Had Lori but known, I wouldn't have ruined her night's work.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GsD4JxRV-hyUJLj8OQZHrTF_jLP9sfMYxquF3780yzU/edit#heading=h.o2u9lqrf6txb


https://docs.google.com/a/ipsk12.net/document/d/1GsD4JxRV-hyUJLj8OQZHrTF_jLP9sfMYxquF3780yzU/copy

Try it yourself.  Copy and paste the first URL, and mess with Lori's Doc.  (less blame for me).  Then copy and paste the second URL, and notice the difference.  Cool, huh?

Recap

Recap provides teachers with new, creative ways to gather evidence of student thinking using video. It helps create new learning connections between students, parents and teachers, and foster more transformation dialogue by everyone. Using a web browser, teachers create and assign questions to a student, a group of students or the whole class through a web browser.  The Recap app prompts students to respond on video. Recap can be use on a Chromebook, laptop, iPad or android tablet.

Get started in 5 easy steps:

 

1. Watch our Recap Quick Start video
2. Add your first class
3. Add students to your class
4. Download Recap for Android or iOS
5. Create your first Recap

Sarah Latimer's Choice of the Month (belated December entry, so I can cover another for January.  Because there's just too much good stuff out there). 

Ok, so Nicole Marotta has taught me everything I know.  My first love is Kahoot.  If you aren't using this review game, you are not hip.  The kids love it, it helps you teach through material as they prep for a test, you can make your own or search them out or share them. Briefly, Kahoot is an online, cloud-based (that means you can't lose it), free Quiz format game which pits your students against each other to get the right answers, and get them first.  You can adjust answer times up and down, and point value for questions.  The top 3 scorers are listed on a podium, and I may be guilty of giving winners Jolly Ranchers.  You'll need a computer and projector, and students will each need a device (phone, Chromebook, laptop, iPad) unless you do the new team player (shared device) format. You can play ghost rounds, so the kids can see how well they do against their "ghost"- their last game's scores.  You can post the Kahoot on Classroom for a test review.  They beg to do these.  And I find the time to insert extra teaching, esp. on questions the class does poorly on (each answer screen gives you instant feedback on what the class' answers are, anonymously).  Speaking of anonymity, you can x out naughty nicknames easily, or insist that your less mature classes use their real names.  I am too old to catch all the innuendo that exists, but they do like making silly names if they can handle it.  The latest spin?  Kahoot Jumble, which allows you to present a sequence of 4 things and have kids order it.  Go to https://getkahoot.com/ now and get cracking.

Here's a Kahoot of mine for you to try.  The link ought to take you to a screen that allows you to use a phone and your computer to try it one-on-one.  Or find me in my lair any day, IHS 217, and I'll show you.  https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/74e6fcc3-25f2-4359-9b45-fb37dca518f5

Here's an example of an ED Puzzle I created for extra credit points.  It's public, so feel free to use it.  I simply used the seamless integration with Google Classroom to assign an extra credit assignment.  Students will watch the video, answer, and ED puzzle will tell me if they have watched it, and grade their answers.  For free.  I just need to put the grades in Aspen.  Copy and paste or click the link, and use it yourself.  Also for free.

https://edpuzzle.com/media/5850a5d623db2d4526c94e98



Editor's Note:  The above link will not take you where you want to go.  If you want to see my ED Puzzles, or those of anyone in school, sign up for a free account, and note the brand-spanking new "Private Channel" option, which lists "my school".  There you can see content from the intrepid Lori LaFrance, and the darling Sarah Latimer.  Inviting the rest of the science department to get in on this...