From Post-Its to Jamboard

"Okay kids, make sure to refer back to today's anchor chart when you are responding to your prompt in our thoughtful logs". If you teach literacy and especially using the Comprehensive Literacy Model, you have said these words. But how do we assure students are using the resources we are providing? It's a tough job: they have to be engaged, routines have to be in place, there also has to be a system of accountability for students when they are working independently. So, on my Journey to Modification, I decide to try out Google Jamboard with my students. The results were great!

We have "bilingual" groups established and we work in them almost daily, so I sent out a Jamboard to my students and assigned a specific page for each group to work on. From my perspective, as I was walking around the room I could see that everyone was either typing their ideas or discussing them. Side note: this RARELY happens, there is usually an argument or two that I have to referee in order for some groups to get through the task. After the 15 minute timer went off we convened on the carpet and this is what I heard from my students as we reflected on the day's lesson:

• "That was so much fun!"
• "Everyone participated this time!"
• "Mrs. Hegg, can we please NEVER go back to writing on boring Post-its?" 
• "I love it when we use Jamboard"

Of course I won't say never to Post-its, but using Jamboard has really made a difference in my classroom. Those Jamboards that we created then became a resource for everyone, as they could access the information from all groups after sharing out, during their independent application time. As I settled in to work with a group of students I popped open my iPad and launched Apple Classroom just to check in and hold my students accountable for their independent work time.

This has proven necessary as many of them tend to wander on Safari instead of staying focused on the tasks for the day. To my surprise, I had 11 students on Jamboard using it as a resource while writing out their answers to the days prompt!! Score!!!

The Journey Continues

My goal to use technology in the classroom to increase engagement has led my explore my use of powerpoint, or google slides, presentations. I usually begin new units with presentations for the purpose of introducing new terms and formulas that will drive our learning for the unit. I noticed that an increasing number of my students (high school students in physics and AP physics) started taking pictures of the slides in the presentations. I inquired into why some students did this and they told me they just wanted the pictures to review later. Most were also writing down the information while also taking the pictures. However, an increasing number of students are only taking pictures and not writing anything down. They said they would review them later, before the test. A few students admitted that most times they would fail to review the notes at a later time. This got me to start thinking about changing the way I present material to students.

I found 2 products, Peardeck and Nearpod, that make presentations more engaging by letting students interact with the material on their screens by answering questions, drawing, etc. I settled on using Peardeck. After struggling with the normal learning curve of using Peardeck I was ready to use it with students for the first time this week. When I put the login screen up on the projector some students said "Cool, I really like this," as some teachers in the building have been using Peardeck for a while. I used it for one class and realized I needed to fix a few things as I had used text boxes instead of drawing boxes, easily fixable things I can do. The second class dove in with an equal enthusiasm. Near the end of the presentation, when the students had drawing boxes to use, I decided to use the "Show Answers" feature. As I scrolled through the answers I came across a very inappropriate response from a student. Yes the answer was on the projector for the entire class to see. Ahhhhhhh!!!! I realized that I now have to freeze the screen before I search through the answers to present to the class. (Yes I found the student and handled the disciplinary situation appropriately.)

I am not going to let one bad apple spoil my use of interactive presentations. Students like them and I find that students are more engaged than a "regular" presentation. I will reflect back later to see if the newness wears off and students will sour on the interactive presentations like they did with my "plain" presentations.

Forget your MacBook at home!

A few weeks ago, the unthinkable happened... I forgot my MacBook at home.  I live far from the building I work in and I had no one available to stop home and deliver it to me, so I was left with panic and cold sweats.  Suddenly, it felt as though I didn't have a pulse or even air.  As I stood in my classroom thinking I was in a bad dream and wondering how life would go on, I suddenly remembered I had a different tool I could try to use to get me through teaching for the day - my iPad.  (That thing you use to take pictures in your classroom)

I was fully prepared to give my students a talk about my mistake and how a few things might be different today, since I was unable to access their attendance and other files we use.  After playing around on my iPad for a while, I became more and more aware that my day would not be affected very much after all.

The morning started.  I shared my digital attendance slide to my SmartBoard with just a few short clicks.  I airdropped my math lesson to the students rather than pulling it up on the Smartboard.  I quickly grew more comfortable with the flexibility I had walking around the room with my iPad as I taught.  Was it possible I was enjoying this?  My students were more engaged in my lesson than usual.  I tried things I hadn't tried with them before and explored new apps.  A wave of relief came over me as I wondered why I don't use my iPad more often.

I'm the first person to tell you how vital the MacBook is to my day.  However, I encourage you to leave it at home - just once- to force yourself to change things up and find the beauty in the options the iPad can give you.  I was forced to change my routine and try something I hadn't thought to do and now I'm very thankful the universe was not on my side that day.  My creative juices for activities I can do using my iPad with students have been flowing ever since.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes!  You got this :)

(By the way, I created the image above on my iPad!)

Meet the Teacher - Steve Ramthun

Hello my name is Steve Ramthun. This is my 3rd year with the School District of Waukesha, and my 23rd year teaching. I currently teach physics and AP physics at Waukesha South HS. My life has been hectic to say the least for the past year. The past year has brought some huge changes to my personal life. Last year we sold our house in Waukesha because we were building a house. Our new house was not completed so we moved in with my sister and brother in-law for 2 months. We then moved in to our new house in the end of June. Finally, my wife Laura, a teacher at New Berlin Eisenhower HS, had a baby girl on August 22nd.


I embraced technology early on in my teaching journey, often before other teachers did. However, my use of technology was mainly as a tool to collect data in the physics classroom. The use was of data collection sensors and probes was limited to a few labs per unit and not an integral classroom tool on a day to day basis. I did notice that when I did use the data collection devices for labs, student engagement increased. As the years passed, I integrated computer simulations for student use. On the teacher side of technology, I was one of the first teachers to regularly use powerpoint presentations in the classroom, yes I am that old. Additionally, I have started to make my own videos for students to use as "answer" videos. Most of the mathematical problems I assign in physics are supplied with answer videos that students can access online by way of BB9. I originally used these videos as a time saving feature to free up class time from doing math problems on the board. Not all students need  help with the mathematics of physics so I found the videos I created as a nice solution to free up class time for other activities and still provide help with the students that needed it. Students find the videos very helpful.

As I start my journey to integrate technology into my daily teaching I will be guided by engagement. The technology must keep the students engaged in the lesson. If the technology does not increase engagement, I will reevaluate its use as a teaching tool. I live through the era in science teaching that pushed hands on learning. I started to realize that not all "hands on' activities were "minds on" activities.

So my journey begins to integrate technology into my daily lesson plans. The struggle will be to choose activities that not only engage the students, but engage them into meaningful learning that scaffolds into high levels of understanding. I will keep you posted on both my triumphs and downfalls on that journey.

Flipping "dictados"

Spanish section of dictation notebook

English section of dictation notebook

If you ask any teacher what is one of his or her biggest challenges, I would bet a large majority would say it's time. It seems as though there is never enough time to accomplish all of the skills we want our students to have before they leave us, never enough time to teach the curriculum that our district wants us to teach and of course never enough time to allow our students to apply the skills we have tried to teach them during their time with us. With this challenge in mind, my teaching partner, Kris Carey and I, came up with a solution to give us more time. In our Dual Language classrooms, we use a strategy to help students develop language called, "dictados" or dictations. My first attempt at giving dictations with fidelity was in 2014 and I will admit it was a huge failure. I was to give 15 dictations in each language (Spanish and English) throughout the school year, so a total of 30. Well, the process took so long and I had to repeat the dictation out loud multiple times in order for all students to have a fair chance at writing down what I was dictating to them that each attempt took over 30 minutes! I did not have that kind of time and so the dictation was always put on the back burner. I would say of the 30 I was suppose to give that year, I probably made the time to give 5 or 6! So, the following year, during our days of planning prior to the start of classes, Kris and I came up with a way to streamline this process. We flipped the dictations and pushed them out to our students through Google Classroom. Each week students received a new video clip from us. We took some time that first week of school to set up the procedures around our expectations regarding these dictations. Each day they would have something to do with the dictation of the week. We alternated languages week after week. They also have a spiral notebook dedicated solely to dictations.

Video clips range from 30 seconds to 1:20

1. Monday: Listen to the video clip and write down what you hear in your "dictation notebook".
2. Tuesday: Receive the typed dictation script and compare it to what you wrote yesterday making corrections where necessary. (Today students also receive the mini-lesson highlighting the teaching points from the language in the video and an explanation of grammar rules and patterns to follow.)
3. Wednesday: Practice your dictation for a second time but this time you will read it to a partner and then they will read it to you. You will both write down what you hear your partner saying to you in your dictation notebook. 
4. Thursday: Correct the partner dictation from yesterday and practice once again using the video in Google Classroom. Make sure to correct this final dictation paying attention to any errors before tomorrow's final dictation, that is graded.
5. Friday: Final graded dictation. Use the video from Google Classroom, and write down the final dictation on a separate piece of lined paper to turn in when completed. 

Bank of videos clips and the dictation scripts 

By the end of that school year we had our bank of 30 videos (15 in English and 15 in Spanish). We had to adjust our procedures here and there. Because this process allows for so much student autonomy we realized quickly that we needed to check in with students, some daily while others just once before the final dictation. At the end of the school year we could also say with conviction that when students followed the process and completed all parts correctly, most times,  their final dictation was at or above grade level expectations. 

First attempt in dictation notebook 

Final dictation 

So, when do students complete this process? During independent work time. It also depends on the student. I have many students that are in groups and/or receiving interventions therefore they are able to bring this work home and complete it there, because they do not have the same amount of independent work time as others. Like they say, practice makes perfect and we have found a way to embed student practice into independent work time, making these lessons accessible to all students, regardless of time.