Create Instant Word Clouds In The Classroom With AnswerGarden

@joe_edtech/@LisaBerghoff

Several weeks ago, Judi Luepke and the Deerfield Optimist Club were looking for a tool they could use to gather some feedback in a meeting. Ideally, they wanted something that would collect a lot of responses with minimum effort and display the responses in a meaningful way. The solution they found was a free and simple to use tool called AnswerGarden. The DHS Optimists asked the faculty to describe the best characteristics of the Deerfield culture. The answer, which was generated live during the staff meeting, is below:

You don't even need an account to use AnswerGarden. Simply create a question, and share the URL or QR Code with your class or audience. And since AnswerGarden has been designed for use in schools, you can create an admin password and moderate answers, hiding or removing answers that are inappropriate. You can also take advantage of their built-in SPAM filters to automatically remove "common unwanted responses."

From the AnswerGarden "Create" page

AnswerGarden is one of the few tools that we use that doesn't even require a video tutorial. If you'd like a demonstration of how AnswerGarden works, simply click here - AnswerGarden Demo.

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Do you have another tool you use for generating ideas or collecting feedback? If so, tell us about it in the comment box below.

Make Your Dreams Come True! Use Formative to see every student's work in real time at the same time.

@LisaBerghoff/@Joe_EdTech

Regardless of subject or title, we're all teachers. We show up every day to help kids learn. How do we know kids are learning? This seems like an easy enough question but it is one that I constantly grapple with. We all know kids who don't test well at all but we know they are learning. On the other hand, there are kids who can ace every test but do we know if they can apply what they've learned across settings? The kids in all of our classes are dramatically diverse learners, Even in classes where it seems that they should be relatively similar, we see a wide range of abilities, interests, engagement levels, and skills. In all of my reading and understanding of differentiation, I keep coming back to the idea of formative assessment. It's that in-process gauging of where my students are in their learning and it informs how and what I teach. Here's the problem.

Sometimes, formative assessment is really hard/time consuming/complicated, etc.

I intend to do formative assessments with integrity and then use that information in my planning but it doesn't always happen.

I often say to myself, I wish there was an easier way to do this. 

Formative is a free online web tool that allows teachers to quickly and easily create or upload assessments and get real time live results.  It will automatically score results for multiple choice questions and it allows you to give feedback to short answer questions while students are responding! You can upload any pdf if you have an assessment that you already use and like, or you can create from scratch right on their platform. It allows you to add images, youtube videos, and other media. You can even ask your students to type, show their work with drawings, or submit images. . You can use it as classwork, homework, or assessments. Formative can be used for any subject and on any device.

Here's how Formative works.

1. Just log in using your Google account. Formative accounts are free for teachers and students.

2. Create or upload an assignment using the dashboard. I found it to be very intuitive but there are short video tutorials on hand just in case you need some help.

3. Assign it to your class using the quick link that it gives you, or a code that is also included. Google Classroom users will be so happy to know that there is also a G Classroom icon to click so you can easily assign it that way.

4. Get live results. As your students are answering the questions, you will see the live results right on your dashboard.

5. Give feedback. Assign points values or give written feedback right there on the dashboard.

When you log in you will see that some sample assessments are created for you so you can try them out. There is even  one with student responses so you can see how it looks and practice giving feedback.

Have you tried Formative?  Let me know how you use it in your classes. Want to try Formative but feel like it's a little overwhelming? Let's do it together!
I'm happy to help:)

Schedule Email and Reminders with Boomerang for Gmail

@joe_edtech/@LisaBerghoff

One of the things I have always loved about using Gmail is that it is completely customizable to fit my expectations of email and, because it is used professionally by so many schools and businesses, there have been tons of third-party applications and extensions developed to give each individual the user experience and functionality they need to be successful.

My favorite extension for Gmail is called Boomerang and it allows me to:

• Schedule and email to be sent at a later date and/or time.
• Schedule a reminder for an event or a deadline.
• Hide an email for a time and schedule it to return when I need it.
• Get reminders to follow up on emails you've sent that haven't been answered.
• Find out who has opened an email you've sent or get "read receipts."

Start by installing Boomerang from the Chrome Web Store (you can find it here), then you'll notice that you have some additional controls in your inbox:

First you'll see the red "Send Later" button. Then you can schedule an email to be sent at a specific point in the future, whether you are logged into your computer or not. You might, for instance, compose an email on Friday afternoon and schedule it to be sent to your class as a reminder on Sunday night. Then it will automatically be sent whether you have time to get to your computer on the weekend or not.

If you click the box next to the Boomerang icon, you will be sent a reminder to follow up on an email that you've sent for which you've received no response. If I check the box as seen above, I will be reminded of this email if I've received no reply in 2 days.

Clicking the blue envelope icon allows you to receive receipts when people open your email, or you can manually check to see if an email has been opened.

Here's the official video on most of the basic features of Boomerang:

But there is a lot more. With the advanced features of Boomerang, you can track responses to your emails, set recurring messages, add notes to your Boomeranged messages, and schedule messages from your phone or tablet.

Boomerang's help page is fairly extensive, and includes video instructions to accompany most of the frequently asked questions:

Boomerang Help Page: http://www.boomeranggmail.com/faq.html
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If you have another extension or Gmail lab that you use frequently, tell us about it in the comment section below.