SignUpGenius for more than just potlucks - for classroom management

Most of us have been a part of a potluck where someone sent a SignUpGenius for us to click on and volunteer to bring an item for the event. I usually like to sign up for desserts because, for me, they're more fun to make.

I'm discussing the same tool, but how to use it for more than just that! I'm very known for using SignUpGenius if I can only bring a limited number of students on a field trip, if we're having a festive food gathering and we need the food, and to lock in on days/times they are volunteering with fundraisers (see pic below that I've blocked the names for privacy purposes). Notice that I can even include a message for the students when they sign up such as "Must confirm with Mrs. Holloway in the morning..."

SignUpGenius does a wonderful job of tracking the people that sign up for each event, I get an email whenever someone new signs up (this feature can be turned off if you want), and even emails the participants as a reminder anywhere from 1-14 days before (this can be customized as well).

You can see that the options within are pretty good with customizing as well (and I have the free version). Dates, location, time, slots, and number of people each slot. The pic above shows that I forgot to add an exact time for the lunch shift so that section is first even though the Before School Sales would be the start of the day - usually it is in chronological order.

SignUpGenius will give you a link that I easily post on all my social media accounts, hand write it on the white board, post on our class sites, and email out to the class. This makes it easy for students to sign up. I've never sent an invite to students through SignUpGenius; I always "Go Live Without Sending Invites" and post the link myself.

All that to say: my two most common uses for SignUpGenius is for Teacher Work Days and Presentation Days in class. Let's chat about those in more detail.

• Teacher Work Days: In our district, students are encouraged to have 100 hours of community service by the time they graduate (25 hours every school year). Teacher Work Days are a day they can lock in a good amount of hours. When I open up my doors for students to gain hours I found I had a HUGE amount that wanted to just come in to hang out with their friends instead of volunteer and help me out. While I'm all about having fun, they weren't really learning the art of volunteering this way.
  
  I've changed the way this is run by asking students to sign up for slots they are wanting to help with. This helps me hugely because I create the items prior to their arrival, I can decide how many students to allow in, they know what they are coming to help with/who they're working with, and they know when they should have someone at the school to pick them up. Another bonus is that the President of our club creates a list of events that will go on during the next quarter and a list of volunteers needed to start the work on those events. This ensures that the event will be planned properly and not last minute.
  
  Categories typically include things such as morning and afternoon shift babysitting (fundraiser for our club to watch the Teachers children), hallway event bulletin board, hallway calendar bulletin board, classroom bulletin board, club admin items, and planning/work for events coming up that quarter.
  
  
  
• Presentation Signups: I do presentations often. I think it's important for students to learn how to talk in front of their peers in preparation for potential presentations in their future workplace. Sometimes I allow small group presentations and a SignUpGenius isn't needed. But at least once a semester (in every class) I have students present in front of the entire class. I find that when fearful students know before the class starts where they are in the lineup then it gives a little sense of peace to show up.
  
  The set up for this SignUpGenius involves a custom Date/Time section and I make a time slot for each block that I teach. On this page I also put the block number as the location. The "Slots" page is where I include how many slots for each block (can be customized if you need more for some groups, you click "Select Dates" for that slot instead of "All Dates". The Settings tab allows me to require students to leave a comment with the name of their presentation.
  
  
  
  What's great about this set up is that once you have it created for the year then you can just go back in and change the dates for every presentation - you won't have to constantly keep creating this. You simply go in to edit the item and delete the groups that signed up so that it's blank to start. The above pic is the SignUpGenius that's ready for me this upcoming year. :) 

Do you use SignUpGenius? If so...share how you have found it useful!

Review Game - Create Bingo Cards

One of my first years of teaching I sent out a mass email to my school asking them how they review for assessments. Students LOVE games, and let's be honest, I love doing games with them! I had an overwhelming response from my request and will share some responses through random posts here (obviously the technology related ones).

Let's start with BINGO. https://bingobaker.com/ allows you to create your own BINGO boards and you can easily print them or there is an option for students to pull up the boards on an electronic device and play along as well. This option is what most of my students prefer because they are the ones actually touching the technology!

5x5, 4x4, and 3x3 boards are your options. You can even add in another row if you're feeling real BINGO-y. The website gives you the ability to create your own title for the game board and the word BINGO can be changed to whatever you want (only one letter each box though). This is especially helpful with the 4x4 and 3x3 boards when you can't spell BINGO.

If you want to save and manage your cards, upload more images, or have the ability to print more than eight cards then you'll need to create an account. This option will cost you $14.95 a year though. I tend to just use eight cards and make copies; it makes for a fun/competitive time when we're playing because students know that others have the same card as them so they need to be quick.

Because my students in some courses range from AP level to ID students with a TA, I typically prepare two rounds of boards. One round will be on colored paper and the modified boards will be on a different color paper. This way if all the papers are in one pile I can easily pass them out without having to resort. (I'll explain the difference in this later.)

I'll show you a 4x4 grid. You can easily type in words or drag and drop pictures into each square. Pasting in a list of words is an option as well, but it won't allow pictures with this option.

Pasting in a list of words view:

When done, you can choose if you you would like to "Shuffle items only within their column (there's a box to click for this option). This is where the modifying comes into play. I only click this for one of the rounds I prepare. Before beginning the game I typically say something like "If you have a green board you should listen for the letter I give before the answer, if you have a blue board then the letter doesn't matter to you." If you DON'T click that box then the answers will be shuffled anywhere on the board instead of just within the same column. (For our purposes I've clicked the box.)

Then click the yellow box that says "Generate".

Options will appear on the right that you can work through. Here are a few things to think of when choosing your options:

• Remember that if you are NOT paying for this service then you have an 8 BINGO card max, not 8 printed pages. This means if you want to print 4 cards per page then you're getting only 2 pages of a pdf created.
• When you click "PRINT" a new tab opens with a pdf that you can print from. I will show later what each looks like (1, 2, or 4 cards per page).
• Printing a word list is an option to be created within the pdf or you can choose the link farther down and just print the Call List - it's the same thing. I'll show you this as well.
• Playing Online will eliminate the need for printing any BINGO boards at all and allows the students to click on the boxes on the screen to track what they already have.You simply just need to keep the URL they have posted for you and have students pull it up when it's time to play. Be sure to save both the modified and the non-modified URL. As I mentioned earlier, most of my students choose this option because they are using the technology!
• The last option "Close & Edit" is what I choose when I make my second version of the board to avoid having to enter everything in again.

Here are what the options look like - I prefer one card on a page or allowing students to play online: 

• 4 cards on one page
  
• 2 cards on one page
  
• 1 card on a page
  
• Online version
  

And here is what the Call List looks like; as the directions on the page say you can easily cut them up to pull out of a bag or something or just cross off on the page.

Bingo Baker is really that easy! And to simplify it even more...I laminate all my BINGO boards and reuse them every year for the students that want to have a paper version.

As this is the first post I'm making of a Review Game that uses technology I wanted to ask you what type of technology do you use for reviewing? I'm always open to learn about new ways to review with my students.

Instant Classroom

When I first decided I was going to career change and become a Teacher I purchased an app for $4.99 that would pick a students name for me. Some blog somewhere told me it was a great app and I would use it all the time in my classroom. It's on my iPad that my son now downloads all his "fun" games on and I've used it a total of ZERO times in the classroom.

Enter Instant Classroom created by SuperTeacherTools.us. What I like about tool is that it's not an app. I don't have to have my iPad with me to use it. I can log in to it on my computer and show it on my screen easily. If I'm in another classroom then I don't have to remember to bring my iPad with me to use it. And...most of all...I can type names in while on a computer and not an iPad. :)

Instant Classroom has THREE tools that I use: Seating Chart Maker, Random Name Generator, and Group Maker. **Note: I only use the Group Maker when I'm not too particular with who are in the groups, typically for fun activities. The Group Maker does not take into account talkative students that shouldn't be together, levels of where students are, or things like that.**

Ok, now to what you're here for...how to use it. Go to: https://www.superteachertools.us/instantclassroom/newlevel.php

Create a Group Name and give your email. If the Group Name is available then you will create a password. You'll receive a notification with a link that you can refer back to if you forget the website to go to. When I started I used the Group Name "Trial" as I was trying it out, and I never went back to change it. ;)

When I use the link from the email to log in it always asks me for my password and then will bring you to a page with your groups.

I've never imported a group, but let's discuss creating one. Clicking on that option will bring up this screen where you can type in names for your class. For this example I used my sibling's names. You actually have up to 100 names you can enter for each group (you'll see my parents only had nine kids though).

Entering the names will now add a Group to your "My Groups" page and opens up the THREE options of what you can do. 

The first option, SEATING CHART MAKER, has the icon of desks and allows you to create desk arrangements for your room. You can easily print this (I include seating arrangement printouts in my Substitute Teacher Folder and the one with my online grade book has the students picture so I use that).  Simply click on the square and move it around however you want, the boxes do not twist/turn though.

The third option, GROUP MAKER, has the icon of silhouettes standing together. Again, I don't use this often as I'm typically particular in my group assignments to help with classroom management. But there are "fun days" that the make-up of groups don't really matter that I will allow this to choose groups. It's actually funny to see the students faces when they see this choose their groups. It's very simple, you either choose how many students go in each group or you choose how many groups for it to make. 

The groups will appear in boxes at the bottom of the screen. If I absolutely can't keep the groups then I typically make a joke and "accidentally" click the button again and let the groups change. Or...if the students hate the groups then I'll click it again but let them know no-matter-what, we are keeping the next groups. Once the students hated the groups the second time even more and that class they never chose to do that again.

That brings us to the main reason for this post...the Random Name Generator. Clicking on the icon will bring up the following picture.

Clicking on the arrow will bring up names in a random order. 

Names will appear instantly and will not repeat until all names have been used.

Clicking refresh will mix the names up and allow you to start fresh again.

A few tips that I've found:

1. If I'm letting this choose groups then I put it on the classroom screen. Students really do enjoy seeing the groups appear.
2. If I'm going through answers to work then I typically use either an iPad or I hide the screen from the students. This allows me to see the name that comes up before the students see it and I can decide if I want that student to answer it or not. If a name appears that I do not want to answer it then I simply hit the arrow again before I turn my iPad screen around to show the class.

Let me know how you like this or what you use that is similar. I know there are a TON of products out there similar to this so please share what you use. 

Bouncing Balls - Classroom Management

Oh Teachers! I have found one of the most fun ways to help with classroom management, and it involves technology! My Teacher-friend, Mrs. Murray, shared this with me once and now I use it all the time.

Growing up, did you ever have an adult say to you "Your volume is at a 9, and I'm going to need you at a 3." Wow, even typing that I can hear the voice of my 6th Grade Reading Teacher and I see her hands giving marks in the air where a 9 would be and where we should have been at a 3.

Enter Bouncy Balls.org and big smiles.

The whole premise of Bouncy Balls is that the balls hang out on the bottom of the screen when it's quiet. The balls start bouncing more/higher the louder the classroom becomes. You have to be sure to make sure your microphone is turned on though...or else the balls will stay on the bottom of the screen and you'll (most likely) get laughed at. I placed the arrow on the pic below to let you know where it is, but it's not on the screen to give you the reminder.

They even have different themes you can choose from. Side note: the bubbles one is opposite and has them at the top of the screen and the eye ball one creeps me out.

Students enjoy when I put this on the board and it's common to hear something like "You're loud, Mrs. Holloway's balls are going crazy." And...well...that gets some giggles. :) 

I've also been known to use this on an iPad when in groups. Each group gets an iPad in the center of their table with the screen on to show them how loud they are getting. It's fun...and helpful!

Bouncy Balls are super fun for my students! Do you use anything similar? Or can you think of times in your classroom that you would enjoy using it?

Prezi NEXT

Most of us know what Prezi is; the company describes themselves as "a visual storytelling software alternative to traditional slide-based presentation formats. Prezi presentations feature map-like, schematic overview that lets users pan among topics at will, zoom in on desired details, and pull back to reveal context."

I use Prezi because it's extremely easy and makes me look like I'm A-MAZ-ING at technology to people that don't know a thing about Prezi. :) At "Meet the Parent Night" I always use a Prezi to talk about myself and the year. Every year, it never fails, at least two parents ask me to teach them PowerPoint because they loved my presentation. I guess most people assume that any presentation given is done through PowerPoint.

So that brings us to Prezi Next - "our newest and most powerful presentation platform yet. We took the best storytelling elements of Prezi, made it easier to use, and added new features such as live analytics, private presenter notes, and customizable designer templates." For those of you that are techy (because I have no idea what this next sentence means) "Prezi Classic uses Flash-based technology, Prezi Next runs on HTML5 for the best experiences across all your devices."

So what's important for you to know:

When CREATING:

1. New templates have been created that are inspired by user feedback and "industry use cases"; still easily customizable and "visually pop."
2. Prezi Next has a new editor with enhanced toolbars/editing features, similar to the transformation tool in Prezi Classic.
3. "Planet" and "Stack" structures are options with Prezi Next, both have customizable covers. "Planets have subtopics that orbit the main idea and are best used to separate related content. Use planets to break your main idea into subtopics or add depth to your presentation"
   
   
   
   "Stacks contain pages of content that display separately and in order. This means you can stack multiple layers of content within one subtopic and reveal it to your audience step by step.
   
   
   
   I see benefits in both structures here as I enjoy hiding some of my content when I'm using a presentation to keep the audience focused on the content I'm currently discussing instead of the content that's coming up. Oooh, I also love the shock value that showing something new on the screen all-the-sudden gravitates attention back to me too!
4. The Zooming feature reveals your content within levels of topic and subtopic structures. This items confused me a tad as I'm used to Prezi zooming in on the area I'm discussing...but what this is saying is that the content can actually CHANGE when you zoom in! And, as you already know, I like to hide things to pull people back in.
   
   
5. The left side bar has changed in Prezi Next as well. The display allows you to add new topics/subtopics or drag and drop the thumbnails to easily change their position. From what I remember, I could drag/drop with Prezi Classic but I don't remember being able to add new topics/subtopics.
6. The Animations sidebar are easier to access; adding transitions between content makes presentations even more appealing. Fade-out animations are available now too!

When PRESENTING:

1. Prezi Next is promoting "Conversational Presenting" saying that you can "build a conversation with your audience and seamlessly navigate from Point A to Point B." I'm not sure how this is different than Prezi Classic and no information was given over how this is different.
2. If your Prezi plan includes the desktop app then you can add notes as the presenter with the ability to review them while presenting. You also get a sneak-peak reminder of what the next slide is. This feature is the main reason a co-worker of mine using PowerPoint so I know she'll be excited for this feature!
   
   
3. Smart zoom is now available and let's you focus your audience on one portion of the content on the page you're discussing. I could see myself using this if I lose my students attention and need to bring them back in; remember that anytime the screen changes it will bring their attention back in.
   
   

When ANALYZING:

1. Premium Users can track data in real time to see how long a presentation was opened for and who opened the presentation. You can even look at data to see what parts of the presentation the audience interacted with the most.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

1. To my memory, Prezi Classic allows you to send links for others to view, export the presentation to PDF, or download the presentation to view without needing the internet to view it. Prezi Next is promoting this as well.
2. Prezi Next has an enhanced collaboration element similar to Google Slides but only with the Business plan. Contributors (up to ten users) can work together in real time and the progress automatically saves.
3. Prezi Next is linked with Prezi Viewer (like Prezi Classic), so it can be viewed in the mobile app.

All in all...I'm a tad excited for the Next version. I always like new design templates and REALLY am looking forward to the collaboration element. Unfortunately, the collaboration element is only with the Premium Plan

Do you use an online presentation tool? I'd enjoy hearing what you use and what you like about their services!!

Source:
Prezi Classic, meet Prezi Next. Prezi Classic Support. (n.d.). Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://prezi.com/support/article/steps/classic-meet-next/

What does technology look like in the classroom?

Technology in the classroom…what does this look like? I know what it looks like to me, but I was interested in hearing what it looks like to other educators. So, I did what any technology student would do – I posted something on social media asking how Teacher friends use technology in their classroom.

I got some great responses to my post and numerous conversations and/or coffee dates on the calendar. (Did I mention I can’t stand the smell of coffee? But I want to learn from others…so I shall meet for coffee.)

Take a guess at what the most common answer was. Go ahead, take a guess...

Ok, I don’t have time to wait on an email from you with your guesses so I’ll just share it: Google Classroom. I wasn’t shocked at this as the #1 response. In the county I teach in there are numerous schools that are “Google Schools.” The applications are extremely user friendly so Teachers, students, and parents can all easily interact with it. One friend said “Students can collab on a variety of assignments. Seriously, I could go on forever about how Google Apps changed my classroom.”

I’m not a Google Classroom user. (Gasp, I know!) I have always opted to use another choice that my county offers; it’s an Open Source Course Management System called VISION, a Moodle product. Honestly, I just put all that in there to sound techy…but the truth is that my Mentor recommended I use it and so I did. But this Google Classroom thing will be on my list to look into more. I’m even going to finish my course to get “Google Certified” this summer!

One Teacher Friend wrote a grant for VR sets and is using them on a World Issues project where students are writing blogs. This Teacher also uses Google Street View and Expedition apps to take “field trips" throughout the experience. (Pic of a VROne in case you are clueless on what I just said.)

An AP’s response included YouTube and Quizlet as being useful. Another friend mentioned that “YouTube should be used for more than just showing other people’s videos. You can create song lists to play as background noise in class. You can have students create commercials for projects and post them on YouTube for strangers input. There are endless ideas with YouTube.”

My favorite response to my post was this:

Did you read that? Pencil, paper, and textbooks are their top three favorite ways to use technology in the classroom. Oh…this guy is such a kidder. So I had to interrogate him for more. My sarcasm radar is usually pretty good, but it was hard on this one. When one offers pencil, paper, and textbooks as a technology answer and then refers to his style as a “blended classroom” when we talked, I didn’t know what to take from it.

In the end…my big take away is this: we’re all starting at different places in our technology knowledge. Not only that, but our willingness to learn about technology in the classroom is at different places. 

What does technology look like in the classroom? My answer is this: Technology looks like whatever the Educator is willing for it to be.

What are you willing to allow technology to be in your classroom?