Edmodo Summer Series! (Summer Series #3)

Welcome back! it's been a few weeks, but I have been distracted with an online NASA STEM course I am a part of which is amazing! andddd playing Pokemon GO (I know I'm crazy lol) If you missed any of the previous edmodo summer series post check them out here first:

Edmodo Summer Series 1 
Edmodo Summer Series 2

Welcome to series #3! we are going to focus on the options available at the top of the individual group where you see: Note, Assignment, Quiz, Poll, and Snapshot. I do feel like these post are going to get longer and longer, so bare with me! If you want to focus on just one of these at a time click on the anchor links to take you to that part of the blog post.

Edmodo Summer Series! (Summer Series #2)

Welcome to edmodo summer series #2! This post is looooonggg so I apologize in advance! lol

Edmodo summer series #1 focused on the basics of edmodo and signing up, pretty simple but if you haven't signed up, stop by post #1 to get the step by step guide on becoming a part of the edmodo community. 

for summer series #2 we are going to focus on setting up groups and how to post, use the folders, and control member settings.

Record it!

I finally did it! I recorded my first lecture for my flipped classroom trial. My goal this school year is to try out the flipped classroom for some of my class periods in the hopes that I can implement it all next year.

I'll admit, it was overwhelming figuring out what to do first. I decided to pick our next topic in class and record over the PowerPoint lecture. That was a bit strange too trying to speak into the slides with no real audience in front of you was intimidating. Once I did that (short and sweet about 10 mins) I uploaded the file to Edmodo where the students had access to the notes. I also posted 2 questions for the students to answer on Edmodo based on the lecture to hold them accountable for taking the notes at home. I ran into some issues of course: 

1. Some students didn't do it at home. Period. But it was a smaller number than I thought. 

2. Some students ran into issues watching the notes because the file was too large. 

So those students that had a hard time taking the notes or did not do it, used in class tha lets to take the notes while the other students completed an interesting lab. Of course the students were working hard on the notes to finish and not be left out of the lab. The next time I did notes online I had more students complete the task. I also used something new called office mix. I really enjoyed this add on to the Microsoft office 2016. The add on lets you record directly onto the slides with a screen capture and you can put quiz questions into the slides!! One of my favorites. However, I always run into issues. Students had to be logged into their county accounts and Edmodo in order to answer the questions in the PowerPoint to receive credit. It might work well if no questions are included in the PowerPoint and just make it a public office mix for them to watch. 

Example photos coming soon! Stay tuned!

**Update!**

Here is a link to the recorded lessons I created and had my students take notes on. If anyone has any pointers, please let me know! :)

Chapter 14.1 - structure of an atom

Office Mix Powerpoint Lecture - Chapter 15.1

Augmenter App

The school year has started and it's been crazy already! always feel like I am on the go, energizer bunny style!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about an ipad app that is absolutely incredible. Its called Augmenter. It has 3-D simulations of various objects like the human brain, dinosaurs, flowers, etc. which works out well with my Biology students. I have only used the science portion of the app but it has other features for math and history. My favorite one is the human brain which is an important part of the end of course exam my students take. It helps with labels, they can take the brain apart, make certain parts invisible, etc.

It offers a really cool feature where you place a "marker" on the table and it gives you the impression of having the item on the table in front of you in 3D. Similar to the Nintendo DS Augmented Reality Cards where you scan them with your Nintendo DS and you see a character appear and interact on your screen on top of the card.

There is a free version of the app with some of the explorations for free, but the paid version offers more than 300 models to use. I currently only use the free one because most of what I want to demonstrate is easily done on the free app and projected on the big screen. 

By far a very interesting way to learn various concepts and a definite thumbs up!

Check out the demo video below :)

Technology Thursday!: Common Curriculum

I decided to link up with the Teaching Trio for Technology Thursdays!

I love using technology in the classroom. I grew up using technology in school and it has evolved into an incredible resource that can change learning for the better. Here is my first weekly feature on technology! every Tuesday I am going to try my best to post some sort of technology (website, equipment, app, etc.) that can make out lives as teachers a little easier and stress free. This week I am reviewing a site I discovered last year called Common Curriculum. 

here's the main page

I used to do all of my lesson plans on Microsoft word and print them out, but it drove me crazy when I had to change something in my lesson plan making me go back and change the document and print it out again for my lesson plan binder (I hate wasting paper!). Last summer, in an attempt to become paperless, I found this site. Its FREE for teachers (anything free is awesome) and very user friendly. 

lesson planning page

I teach different subjects and this site makes it easy for me to have lesson plans for all the subjects on one page. I also have each day divided into different headings to have a spot for my objective, the essential question, etc., all which can be customized to what you want! You can edit anywhere since its saved online, you can download PDF versions of you plans, you can organize them to be shown monthly, weekly, daily, whatever is easiest for you! Best part is the inclusion of the standards. Instead of typing out the state standard, you can search for it and it places it within the lesson plan for you. 

where to add your standards

You can also share your "planbook" which is basically your lesson plans with up to 3 other teachers. I share mine with a fellow coworker in the science department. We collaborate on most of our assignments and activities so this site made life wayyyyy easier. 

Of course if you want to share with the entire department or school, then a membership needs to be purchased. For now I share with the teachers that teach the same subjects I do to try and stay on the same page. Absolutely love this resource and definitely recommend it to everyone!