NaNoWriMo Google Collaboration

Google is celebrating NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is November) by inviting three authors to collaborate on a short story live via Google Docs on Tuesday, November 18: Edan Lepucki, Tope Folarin, and Mike Curato. Google is giving the authors one hour to complete the collaborative writing project. (Time is yet to be announced.) There is also an opportunity to submit ideas for the first line of the story. Read Google's post about it here.

There are a number of ways to possibly incorporate NaNoWriMo into the classroom during November, and no, they don't all include writing an actual novel. Here are just a few ideas:

1. Present the challenge to your students and let those who are interested run with it. (That's the obvious one. And who knows? Maybe our school libraries will soon have displays of books written by students!) PS - If you or a student take on the challenge, you can use Cameron Matthew's NaNoWriMo word-count spreadsheet to stay on target.

2. Encourage writing every single day, like the NaNoWriMo writers. Model this by starting each class with writing. It could be for a certain amount of time or you could have students aim to write a certain word-count each day. Bonus points for doing it with them. If you want students to be able to track their word-count throughout the month, give each of them access to this spreadsheet.

3. Tune in to all or part of Google's one-hour short story challenge on November 18. It is followed by a Question/Answer time with the three authors.

4. Have a journal prompt or assignment where students submit a first-line suggestion to Google's collaborative short story challenge. (Due November 12.)

5. Mimic Google's collaborative short story challenge. Use a recently read short story as a model text and let the students be collaboratively creative.

6. Although many NaNoWriMo "novels" are never published, there are some that have spent time on the NYT Best Seller list. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen and Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern are just two examples. Create a literature circle experience using NaNoWriMo novels.

7. If there is no time for a literature circle during November, encourage students to read published NaNoWriMo novels for independent reading.

Any other ideas? Please leave them in the comments!

"Excellent Short [Video] Summary of Carol Dweck's Research"

Larry Ferlazzo posted this video on his blog, and it caught my eye. Coming in under 5-minutes, it really is an "excellent short summary of Carol Dweck's research." (Also, if you haven't had a chance to check out Ferlazzo's blog, I'd recommend doing so. It has all sorts of resources.) Enjoy!

Lexile Based Readings at ReadWorks

The ReadWorks website allows you to search reading passages by Lexile, similar to NewsELA, but it also includes more in-depth comprehension questions, paired with a teacher guide. The comprehension questions combine multiple choice and short-answer. The website does require registration, but it is completely free. You can filter readings by topic, Lexile, grade level, all of the above, etc. Once you find a reading you like, you can save it to your ReadWorks account for easy access.

Below is the updated Lexile chart showing both the current Lexile band and the "stretch" band implemented recently with the CCSS. Click on the image to access the information behind the Lexile band change.

Accountable Talk Stems

Elizabeth Wiggs (@e_wiggy) shared this conversation bubble document via Twitter recently. It is intended to help students join in the conversation. She also shared her Google Document here so that others wouldn't have to recreate the wheel. (It is view only, so you will need to make a copy of it and save it to your Google Drive if you wish to manipulate it.)

A Grammar Lesson via The Big Bang Theory

The gentlemen in The Big Bang Theory attempt to be grammatically correct in their discussion of Back to the Future. Fun times!

Ironic, Don't You Think?

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month and a fantastic time to encourage your students (and yourself) to write! Read more on the NaNoWriMo webpage, or read about one teacher who challenged her students to write a novel in a month.

Google Drive Facelift

If you haven't had a pop-up appear on your Google Drive homepage yet, you might still have the ability to access the new Drive format. (They are apparently pushing out the update to batches of people instead of all at once.) Click on the gear icon on your Drive homepage. Click on "Experience the new Drive." You should now have the new format. If you want to see the new format before switching, you can read about it here.

Curriculum Study Update

Just a reminder that the English curriculum cycle is a bit off since we did a mini-update a few years ago while integrating the Common Core. We will start our study the fall of 2015, and we will implement the fall of 2017. As I gain more information, I will update the Curriculum Study page on the English Instructional Resources website.

Timer for Google Presentations

Using a visual timer to promote time-on-task is a common classroom management technique, however I have not been able to locate a timer that embeds directly into Google Presentations. I did recently stumble across an alternative. (If you know how to embed a timer into a presentation, please let me know!)

Orzeszek Timer 1.11 is a little pop-up timer box that floats in front of your presentation slide, so you can still provide students with a visual timer without leaving your presentation. Access the program from the Orzeszek website here, or read another educator's blog explaining the timer here. 

Steps for Installing Orzeszek Timer 1.11

1. Go to the Orzeszek website.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click on the first green text "Orzeszek Timer 1.11" to install.
3. Save the folder to your preferred location. (You will be able to delete this folder at the end of the installation.)
4. Open the new "orzeszek-timer-1.11" folder.
5. Double-click on the "Orzeszek Timer" file.
6. Click "Extract All."
7. Extract the file to your preferred location. (If you extract it to your home folder, you will be able to access the timer from any computer.)
8. The new folder should open automatically. If it doesn't, go to where you saved it in the previous step. Double-click the "Orzeszek Timer" file. 
9. Click "Run."
10. A little timer box should appear. You can type directly into the box to tell it what time to set. The timer is programed to recognize "2 min," "2 minutes," "two minutes," etc.
11. Hit the "Enter" key to begin the timer. Click in the box to pause the timer.
12. (At this point, you can delete the first folder. Leave the second folder as that is where you will access the timer each time you need it.)

Online Semester Tests for 2014-2015

Just a reminder that regular English I and accelerated English II will be administering semester tests via the South Dakota Assessment Portal's secure browser. Here's a recap of the district information:

"A practice test will be available for each District Semester Test several weeks before the District Semester Test dates.  The tests will not necessarily be related to the content of the course and should not be graded.  The purpose of the practice tests is for students to become familiar with the process of taking a test online through the SDAP as well as for teachers to practice using ScoreNet to score the written portions of the test."

Accelerated English II

1.       Multiple Choice Test: Online

2.       Essay Test:  Students will enter their essay response online.  The Essay portion of the test will be administered the day before Semester Tests as in the past.  Teachers will use ScoreNet in the SDAP to enter the Essay score for each student.

English I

1.       Multiple Choice Test: Online

2.       Essay Test:  Students will enter their essay response online.  The Essay portion of the test will be administered the day before Semester Tests as in the past.  Teachers will use ScoreNet in the SDAP to enter the Essay score for each student.

Google Classroom Updates!

Google Classroom is beginning to roll out some new features based upon educator and student feedback! (I say beginning because I have high hopes regarding where Classroom can go...) Keep sending them feedback for improvements you would like to see. And, if you hear another teacher mention a desired improvement, send some more feedback. Bombard them!

Here are the most recent features:
1. You can invite students to your class via Google Groups.
2. If the assignment doesn't require a document to be "turned in," students can mark assignments as "done."
3. Teachers have more control over student comments on the Stream.
4. Teachers can export grades into an Excel spreadsheet.

And, here's the BIG one..

5. Teachers can sort students by last name!

Google posted further detail on each of the updates; you may read them here if you so desire.

Keep sending Google feedback!

Other Smarter Balanced Provided Support Documents

The Smarter Balanced website offers a few other support documents and resources.

Practice and Training Test User Guide: This document guides you through the tests. It also addresses the "TA (Test Administrator) Practice and Testing Site" option.

Activities: SB has provided some sample activities to practice the class-activity-before-the-test piece. All grade levels can be accessed here, but the single high school activity can be accessed directly here.

Performance Task Scoring Guides: There are multiple documents for each grade level, but the one that will probably be most helpful is the ELA Performance Task/Braille Performance Task. It explains how students earn points for each questions.

Performance Task Writing Rubrics: SB has provided their rubrics for all four possible writing types found in the Performance Task. They can be found at the bottom of this page.

Accessing the Smarter Balanced Practice Portal

Teachers are starting to think about (and ask about) the Smarter Balanced practice portal. Although you can access it through clicking multiple links from the SB homepage, you can also directly access the portal here. (For convenience, you may want to save the portal page as a bookmark if you plan to use it in class.)

• Once on the portal page, click on the green "Practice and Training Tests" box.
• On the Practice Test page, scroll down to find the two green boxes; click on the "Student Interface Practice and Training Tests" to access the practice test. (The other green box, "TA Practice and Training Site," is a practice site for test administrators.)
• Leave all information boxes as the pre-filled "GUEST" and click "Sign In."
• Select the proper grade and click "Yes."
• Select the appropriate practice test. (Click here to view a chart explaining the differences between the ELA HS Training Test and the ELA Practice Test.)
• Follow the rest of the directions on the screen to enter into the test.

Turnitin Webinars

Turnitin is offering a number of webinars this week as they focus on their "Student Success Week." You can find the whole list here, but I've also included the links for a few that may be of higher interest regarding feedback.

(It is unclear if they will archive the webinars for all to access, but the registration pages do say that all registrants will be emailed a link to the recorded webinar. If you are interested in one, you may want to register just to have access to the archive.)

*Thursday, Oct. 9 @ noon: Students Feed Back: Student Perceptions of Instructor Feedback

*Thursday, Oct. 9 @ 3pm: Is the Pen Mightier than the Pixel? Students' Reactions to Handwritten vs Digital Comments

*Friday, Oct. 10 @ 1pm: The Role of Automated Feedback in the Classroom

Research Lesson Plans

This post on Edudemic looks at 15 research lesson plans posted by Google. They are broken down by beginner, intermediate, and advance. I haven't had a chance to look through all of the lesson plans, but hopefully they can provide some inspiration. Access them here.

6+1 Rubric Updated to Address the Common Core

Education Northwest recently revised their 6+1 rubric, the one we commonly use around our district. They have cross-walked it with the Common Core, and released this new version. As a teacher, it breaks down the traits in a way that allows you to give more specific feedback to your students.

What Your 9th Graders Did Last Year

Here is a small sample of some pieces used at the middle school level for reading and writing:

RACE
Most Whittier and some Patrick 8th-grade teachers used the RACE: Restate, Answer, Cite, and Explain strategy with their students last year (2013-2014). This year, most 8th-grade teachers are using it. It is a strategy to help students answer constructed response questions.

Sentence Starters for Response
These two documents, Reading Strategies and Cognitive Reading Strategies, are used by many middle school teachers to help students work through the reading strategies, as well as the idea: What strategic readers are thinking. Both documents also provide example sentence starters for responses.

Sorting Google Searches by Reading Level

(Image from Caitlin Tucker's blog post)

Here's a useful trick to find readings appropriate for your audience. When you (or your students) do a Google search, follow-up the search by clicking on "Search Tools," then "All Results," then "Reading Level." Google will provide you with a breakdown of basic, intermediate, and advanced reading levels. Click on the reading level for your audience to filter your search results. Click here to view these directions with screenshots.

Lucid Charts: Digital Flowcharts/Diagrams

If you are looking for another way for students to demonstrate their knowledge, you might want to check out Lucid Charts. Students can create digital flowcharts/diagrams that include text, images, videos, etc. One example idea: Students can track character interactions throughout a text. They can connect characters through explaining the relationship or conflict. They can also add text to describe each character and his/her development. PLEASE NOTE: If you think you might utilize this tool, please visit this site sooner rather than later. Lucid Charts does require you to upgrade to free educator version, and it seems this process can take about a week. The educator version allows your students to do more with their charts.

(PS - I know it is hard to read the boxes in the example above, but I wanted people to be able to visualize a possible end product.)

Building Continuing Education Contact Hours Log Sheet 2014-2015

Remember to track your building continuing education hours for easier recertification! The district has provided an electronic log sheet, which I converted to a Google Sheet. As you enter in your contact hours, it does the math for you and converts the contact hours into renewal credit hours.

Access the original Excel version here (it is at the bottom of the webpage) or the Google version here. If you use the Google version, you will need to make a copy of the Sheet so that you can edit it.

Here's what counts as building CEUs according to the district website:

On this form, you may list the following activities: *Building in-service time 
*Book talks 
*Building-sponsored training that is not a Red Apple Workshop course (i.e. CGI, Senteo Clickers, SmartBoard, 21st Century Teaching and Learning, etc.) 

You may not list the following activities: 
*Staff meetings 
*Collaboration 
*Planning meetings 
*Trainings sponsored by an entity other than the Sioux Falls School District 
*Red Apple Workshop classes (you will receive a Continuing Education Contact Hour Certificate from the instructor) 
*District-sponsored in-service 
*Time increments of less than 30 minutes 
*Do not include any activities for which you have received a Continuing Education Contact Hour Certificate from a District administrator and/or an instructional coach

New Infinite Campus (Beta) Training

The district is currently offering 1-hour training opportunities on the new Infinite Campus that teachers will be using starting in January. Four classes have already been offered, but there are many more throughout the month of October.

Training Description:

"Infinite Campus will be changing in January 2015. Come learn all about the changes and spend time exploring the new features. Attendees will be able to log into the new Infinite Campus Instruction with test accounts that will not impact their current accounts/classes/grades. Create Categories, Assignments, Seating Charts, Student Groups and more in the new system so that you are prepared for the transition in January."

Register for the next one (Oct. 9) here!

Upcoming Trainings:

Thursday, Oct. 9

Wednesday, Oct. 15

Thursday, Oct. 16

Wednesday, Oct. 22

Thursday, Oct. 23

Wednesday, Oct. 29

Thursday, Oct. 30

High Frequency Verbs in the Common Core

This chart lists the verbs used in the CC standards and their frequency. (For example, analyze appears 73 times in the high school ELA CC standards.) Since this is the academic vocabulary of the standards, it is most likely to be the vocabulary found in the Smarter Balanced test questions. Something to keep in mind as you think about the academic vocabulary of your goals.

(The chart is a view-only PDF, but you may add a copy of it to your Google Drive.)

Semester Test Preview Dates for 2014-2015

You are invited to preview the District 1st semester tests at the following locations, dates, and times:

·         Wednesday, October 29 –Roosevelt  High School – 3:15  - 4:30 p.m. - Library

·         Thursday, October 30 – Washington High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. - Little Theater

·         Monday, November 3 – Lincoln High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. - Library

You are invited to preview the District 2nd semester tests at the following locations, dates, and times:

·         March 3rd –Roosevelt  High School – 3:15  - 4:30 p.m. - Library

·         March 31st – Washington High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. - A116/A117

·         April 7th – Lincoln High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. - Library

The test preview provides you with an opportunity to see the kinds of questions that are attached to the content standards and how they are worded. If you are unable to attend the preview at your building, you are very welcome to attend a preview at another building. If you are unable to attend any of these previews, you may call ATI (367-6112) to set up a time to view your test(s).

Please keep in mind that all previews must be completed by November 30th for the first Semester.