Using Explain Everything to Accommodate for Assessment

The facts:
7/8 Science class
34 students
13 with IEPs requiring accommodations and/or modifications
current unit - heavy on language

The assessment:
A quick multiple choice, true false, matching, short answer quiz

The dilema:
How am I going to read to and scribe for 13 students? (Any attempts to clone myself have been unsuccessful.)

The answer:
Explain Everything!!!!!!
I inserted pictures of each of the questions from the assessment onto an Explain Everything slide and recorded as I read and paraphrased questions.

What I learned/realized:
I thought I was brilliant to have students record their answer on the .xpl  but found that unless it was a multiple choice question the spacing was too small to write; a particular problem for students with fine motor skills issues.  Next time I will provide students with a hard copy to record answers on or, given the style of this quiz, I would set up the clickers to input the answers.
For assessment requiring written responses students can dictate their answers.  I use this feature a lot when giving feedback on .xpl

Student Feedback:
100% positive!  They L-O-V-E-D it!  (Although most requested a stylus for next time.)

Explain Everything

Many of my students have begun to use Explain Everything as a means of communicating their thinking in mathematics.  It provides kids with the opportunity to record their thinking in a variety of ways (i.e. orally, visually, and in writing).  It also lets students record and then listen back to their own explanation so that they can self-assess to determine if they have clearly articulated their thinking.

Strengths: Students find the app easy to use, they can use the "screen capture" function from other apps (such as "Geoboard" or "Protractor") and embed the pictures into their Explain Everything file, then annotate their work with arrows, captions and other 'bits' of information.  Students can write directly onto the screen or use the keyboard option (this is important when you are working with students who lack fine motor control.  When students can only write directly onto the screen, they end up using up the screen space very quickly, making it difficult to organize their work).  Students can audio record their thinking at the end of the working time or while they work at solving the problem so that I can "listen in" to their thinking at my convenience.  When it comes time to consolidate, there is solid documentation of what has been tried so that others can benefit from the problem-solving that has occurred. 

Limitations: We haven't figured out how to edit the audio so that long pauses and unnecessary dialogue can be deleted.  It would be helpful to have access to a shape creator and other math components on screen so that students could be very accurate without importing from other apps.  

Students are able to share their work with me via Google drive as an MP4 file.  

Storage Locker

With the arrival of the Griffon cases for my minis, my set-up is now complete.  In previous posts I have been sharing how I set the minis up for “acceptable” use.  Now I want to share my storage solution. 

I found a smaller kid size vertical locker that stands 54” tall and is 15” by 15”.  These dimensions make it considerably more stable than a regular locker and the storage more vertical (no more dirty knees).  Inside there are two shelves (One 12” from the top and another 14” further down).  I had to order the 2nd shelf as extra.  A third one could be added but holes would need to be drilled.

Cost (including exchange, import costs and shipping) is about $230.  Contact: Chris Sayles ChrisS@jorgensoncompanies.com  webpage: schoollockers.com  (I bought mine off ebay and he threw in the extra shelf)

On each self I attached metal sorters that could support 7 minis per shelf. 

Below each shelf I attached 2 surge protected power bars.

I used industrial strength Velcro to attach the sorters and power bars…this stuff is incredibly strong.

The total cost of this secure metal storage unit with a footprint smaller than a foot and a half square is... just over $300 dollars!!!

(Please note: assembly was required for the locker.)

Sharing Documents with Students in G. D.

So that we could practice putting items into our Google Drive hand in folders (that are shared with me), I wanted to share a document with my students. I created two lists of recipients, one for my Grade 2s and one for my Grade 3s, and I sent the document to both of these lists.  I intended for my students to open the document, answer the question, and hand in the work by moving their document to their "Hand-in to Mr. Creasor" folder.  As students started to open and change the document, we discovered that the changes were being made on all documents, of the same title, open in the classroom.  In hindsight, I realize the ability to simultaneously work on a document is a feature of Google Drive but I am wondering how to get around this feature if I want each student to be able to make changes to the same document?  We tried renaming the document and moving the document.

As I write this, it occurs to me that I should have had my students make a copy of the document, rename it, and then proceed to make changes.  Unfortunately, this possible solution did not occur to me when I was with my class.  Would this be the best route to take?

Thanks for any assistance you might be able to provide.

Scott

Pic Collage

Recently my students have been learning about overt and implied messages in advertisements.  We spent several weeks looking at media texts, considering the audience and analyzing the strategies used to appeal to those audiences.  As a summative task students were asked to select an audience and create a cereal box that would appeal to their consumer.  Students used Pic Collage to create their advertisement, partly because  Comic Life is $4.99 at the App Store and Pic Collage is free.  Students were then able to share their advertisements with me and classmates via Google Drive.  Two students who are particularly reluctant to begin and complete a task were very engaged in creating their advertisement and demonstrated their understanding of overt and implied messaging by including an example of each in their own cereal box advertisement. I liked the app because it was very user-friendly and the students were able to use it intuitively, without any pre-teaching.  I had a bit of a struggle sharing via Google Drive, until I asked the students how to do it.  :) 

Jenna, Grade 5

Jett, Grade 6

Hunter, Grade 5