Learnerator: the Practice Your AP Students Need

Rob Ridenour recently showed me Learnerator, a formative assessment tool for Advanced Placement courses. Learnerator has thousands of practice questions with solutions for all the following AP courses: AP Biology, AP Calculus AB/BC, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, AP Computer Science, AP English Language, AP English Lit, AP Environmental Science, AP European History, AP French Language, AP Human Geography, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics 1 & 2, AP Physics C - E&M, AP Physics C - Mech., AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish Lit, AP Statistics, AP US Government and Politics, AP US History, and AP World History.


As students answer questions, they get immediate feedback. Questions are also aligned to learning objectives, which allows you to track student progress over time. The free version gives students access to easy and medium difficulty questions. Simply go to www.learnerator.com and create an account to get started. Give your AP students the practice they need! 

Explain Your Thinking Using Movenote

This week at TPACK Tuesday we will discuss Movenote. Movenote is a free tool that allows you to easily create video of a presentation. A teacher or student can take a presentation, document, or series of images, upload them to Movenote, and record themselves explaining what is being viewed in the presentation.

Movenote can be a powerful tool for student reflection. After going over a set of problems/questions in any content area, ask students to take one problem/question they missed and explain why they missed it using Movenote. Below are some other ideas for Movenote.

Teachers can use Movenote to:

• Create sub plans for when they are out.
• Explain a concept.

Students can use Movenote to:

• Explain a concept.
• Create book reviews.
• Self assess the writing process.
• Analyze a website.
• Analyze lab results.
• Practice speaking a language.
• Explain their work in a digital portfolio.

The possibilities are endless. Stop by TPACK Tuesday and check it out!

Change the Way Your Students Watch Videos

A well used video can help students make connections to ideas and concepts. The problem is many students miss key parts of the video simply because it is hard to keep their attention. EduCanon to the rescue! EduCanon is a great tool that I recently learned about from +Tony Venetico. It allows you take videos from Youtube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, etc. and insert reflective pauses, multiple choice questions, and audio clips. You can even track student responses to ensure they watched the video and were engaged. Whether you use video to hook your students into a topic or flip a lesson, EduCanon can turn students from passive learners to active learners.

Learn more about EduCanon from this tutorial. Checkout a sample EduCanon lesson.

Google Classroom Resources

What's all this buzz about Google Classroom? In anticipation of the upcoming TPack Tuesday, check out this short preview of what Classroom can do for you. Want to learn more? There's a new Google Classroom Learning Module on the BHS EdTech website with some great resources and ideas. Check it out and stop by the Innovation room (formerly Library Lab 1) on Tuesday, September 30th to set up your Google Classroom or learn and share ideas on how to use your existing Classroom.

Google Classrooms

Google Classrooms is a great tool to manage workflow in a one to world classroom. With Google Classrooms you can:

• Share resources with your class.
• Make class announcements.
• Simplify turning in assignments in a one to world classroom.
• Create online discussions.
• Email students.
• Differentiate instruction.
• Provide timely feedback for students.
• Protect your classroom privacy.

Stop by the next TPACK Tuesday to learn more! Check out the TPACK Tuesday schedule on the Ed Tech Website.

The Day Has Finally Come!

The day has finally come! TPACK Tuesdays will start tomorrow 9/23/14! We will meet in the collaboration room of the library. You can view dates and times for all TPACK Tuesday on the Ed Tech Website.

TPACK stands for Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge. It is a framework that explains how to coordinate content knowledge, pedagogy, and technology to enhance student learning or make you more efficient.

This week, we will discuss using Google Apps to promote collaboration. Below is an example of how integrating Google Docs into the traditional Think Pair Share instructional practice can improve student collaboration.

Think Pair Share involves students individually formulating ideas and then sharing these ideas with a peer and finally the class. Instead of having students individually write their thoughts on paper, have the entire class enter their thoughts into a Google Doc that can be edited by everyone. Right from the beginning of the activity, students will be able to see the thinking of their peers and build upon each others' ideas.

Here is a sample, I did during an ERO class this summer.

Here are the steps I took:

Step 1 - Created a Google Doc that is editable by everyone.

Step 2 - Shorten the Google Doc URL with tinyurl.com and enter it at the top of the Google Doc.

Step 3 - Type a subjective question under the shortened URL.

Step 4 - Create a one column table with enough boxes for each student in class.

Step 5 - During class, students will type in the shortened URL and answer the question in one of the boxes.

Step 6 - Give students time to review student responses with a partner.

Step 7 - Discuss student responses as a class.

If you would like to learn how technology can support other instructional practices, stop by one of our TPACK Tuesdays this year! We hope to see you there!

TPACK Tuesdays Coming at You

Welcome back for another year! We are excited to support everyone as we embark on a one to world adventure together. This year we will host TPACK Tuesdays. TPACK is a framework that helps to explain how to coordinate content knowledge, instructional practices, and technology to positively impact academic achievement. You can learn more about the TPACK framework by watching this 2 minute video:

TPACK Tuesdays will include sessions before school, during lunch periods, and after school throughout the year. Our goal is to provide a variety of ideas on how technology can support your content and pedagogy. Please take the survey below to give us some ideas on how TPACK Tuesday will best work for you.

TPACK Tuesday Survey

Finally, don't forget to checkout the EdTech Website throughout the year for inspiration and resources.

EdTech Website