Scoresheet: Plickers Newest Feature!

For the past couple of years, I have used Plickers as a formative assessment tool.  It was one of those tools that hooked me the first time I used it, and I have integrated it into my classroom ever since.  If you are not familiar with Plickers, here is a quick overview.

• You can print off Plicker cards (or purchase a durable set) for each student in your class. Each card has options for an A-D multiple choice answer. Students make sure the correct answer is pointed up. 
• You can create questions and answers ahead of time and schedule them for a specific group, or you can create questions on the spot through the app. 
• Once you communicate the question to your class, you can use the app and your devices camera to scan the cards the students are holding. As you scan, the data pops up on the screen creating a bar graph with the overall progress, but also shows the answers of each student. This allows you to reteach on the spot or spark a conversation for students to explain their thinking. 

The great thing about Plickers is that all of the questions that you assign and scan are archived.  When you go to your www.Plickers.com account, you are able to see the answers and data collected. I have been able to use the data for report cards, conversations with parents, and for curriculum planning. Last month, Plickers added an awesome new feature called Scoresheet in their reports menu.  This has made Plickers even better! Why you ask?

1. The data from each question is now displayed in a gradebook format that allows many questions to viewed at the same time and can be customized for date ranges. 
2. I now have the ability to check the boxes of the questions I would like to use and a total percentage or point value will be calculated.  This is helpful for standards based grading, as I am able to choose the questions that match the standard and see the overall score, regardless if the the questions were all assigned at the same time.
3. While looking at the Scoresheet, you can still get a view of the question in a sidebar, along with the overall progress of the class displayed in bar graph form. 
4. Finally, the scores can now be exported into a .csv file and can be used for other gradebook  programs. 

Here is what the gradebook looks like...minus my students' names. 

They have scored big with me in this new update!  Go and check it out for yourself! 

Teachers Love Technology But Need Time and Support

                                            Graphic Courtesy of OnlineUniversities.com

Yes, teachers that use technology LOVE technology and want MORE technology! Yet with so much changing in our education system right now with CCSS, Smarter Balanced, Teacher Evalutions,  I find that many teachers are overwhelmed and look at technology as something to learn more about when they have the time.  Just like many things in our world, there will never be the perfect amount of time to embrace it.  I think that our education system needs an intervention to allow technology coaches to work with teachers hands-on in the classroom.  I also think that technology leaders need to be more of a focus at regular curriculum conferences to reach another audience.  If I could pick my ideal job right now, it would be to work with teachers side-by-side helping them to embrace technology, take risks with technology, and build a professional learning community that will continue to guide them in collaborative, creative ways! 

Do you have coaches at your school? How are they used?  How are they funded?  Please share your ideas! 

Home Sweet ISTE!

(I decided to create a new blog home page. My previous blogs about technology can be accessed on the Technology Tidbits page.)

A view of the San Diego Convention Center from PetCo Park.

 

       By the sounds of my title, you would infer that I have been to ISTE several times, but this actually was my first year attending ISTE…I was a newbie.  You see, I grew up in Oxford, MI, a small town north of Detroit.  (Yes, the same Oxford that is referenced in Dr. Yong Zhao’s new book!)  Oxford is the type of town where you run into people you know anywhere you go.  My mom is a social butterfly, and a simple trip to Food Town would turn into a 2 hour trip, as she would run into people throughout the store.  When someone asked you if you knew someone they knew from Oxford, most of the time, I knew that person.  It was, and I believe still is, a close knit community.

        Going away to college at Western Michigan University, I never thought I would be able to feel that sense of community in Kalamazoo, yet it happened sometime during my junior year.  I remember going to Meijer and running into several people I knew throughout the store.  I was having a Cathy moment! (Of course referencing how my mom could work a grocery store with her connections.)  My connections at college continued, and I was able to make Kalamazoo feel like home!

      I have lived in Brighton, MI now for around 10 years now, and I think it took around 4 years to start having those moments when I would run into several people in a store.  People from church, from my neighborhood, etc.  Now, most times I go out in Brighton I run into people I know and have several Cathy moments. 

        Traveling to ISTE solo, and with  20,000 people attending the conference, I expected to find myself alone for the majority of the conference.  Boy was I wrong!

       When I found my seat on the plane departing from Detroit to San Diego, I heard a voice say, “Mam, you can’t sit there.”  I looked and saw a middle school teacher from my school district.  I learned that we both were staying at the same hotel too!  He was traveling with others from Tech Smith, so we all rode to the hotel together.  We decided to catch a bite to eat, and upon leaving our hotel, we ran into yet another Michigan technology leader, Dan Spencer.  He joined us for lunch.  I had to get my food to go, as I had to meet a group from edmodo for the Padres game.  I enjoyed reuniting with Lucia, a representative from edmodo that I worked a lot with prepping for last year’s EdmodoCon (FYI…August 8 is EdmodoCon this year!) I also met Jill, another edmodo representative that worked a lot with my district.  In addition, I was able to meet other power users of edmodo.  I was especially excited to meet Robert Miller who is using edmodo is such creative ways with his 5^th graders and US History! 

      After being at the game for a bit, I went to get something to drink.  Upon walking back to my seat, I realized that Pam Shoemaker, our district technology coordinator, was sitting a row behind me.  WOW!  Within the first 3 hours of being in San Diego, I had connected with the only 2 people from my district and had connected with others from my PLN! 

Jill Florant, from edmodo, and I enjoyed the Padres game!

     From that moment on, regardless if I was walking through the exhibit hall, ISTE Central, my hotel, or anywhere at the San Diego Convention Center, the most time in between connecting with someone was around 15 minutes. It was as if ISTE became Oxford for me…all because of my PLN!  Through connections built using edmodo and twitter, I was able to feel a part of the ISTE community!  Ironically enough, on my last day at ISTE, I ran into a fellow Oxford High School graduate that I hadn’t seen for 8 years.

     I hope the hometown feel continues through my ISTE experiences…and beyond...a hometown feel I never even thought was possible in a sea of 20,000 people and a large city.  The power of a strong PLN made my ISTE experience! (And hanging out with Jason and Erin Klein who allowed me to be their third wheel on Wednesday!  Thanks for your mentorship! )  I look forward to ISTE 13 and all the conferences in between where I will be able to connect again! 

Cheers!