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.