Docs to Go Premium-Microsoft office

Cloudon- excel, word, or powerpoint

            Looks most like word- must be connected to the Internet to work.

Travis Allen-iSchool
I really liked listening to Travis.  I thought he made some really good points. First, I thought it was interesting how he mentioned that using devices in carts is only 20% effective.  Yet, it if a person can take the device with them and they take ownership in the device it becomes much more effective.  I wonder what happens to those students who do not have internet capabilities at their home. Are there alternative homework assignments for these students or are there ways to use these devices at home without the internet?  Also, does providing alternative assignments make a ton more work for the teacher?

Spiderscribe.net-Another brainstorming tool- You can pull in text, pictures, files, etc. 
Today's Meet- a way to have students comment on the day's lessons.
NearPod- Nearpod is one of the best apps I have ever seen.  You can create a presentation with Nearpod then have students login using a code.  From there you can freeze their iPad so students have to stay on the same page of the presentation as the instructor.  This makes it so students can't go ahead.  You can also put movie clips, images, or even a quiz on the Nearpod.  I could see how this could really benefit teachers.  

To begin with, iTunesU was created for colleges and universities, but now teachers k-12 can create courses by signing into their Apple ID.  I love this idea because teachers are able to take their classes online.  If students are absent they can go to their iTunes U class site and learn what they missed.  Although some iTunes U accounts need the student to be enrolled to receive credit, other classes enable them to watch the videos and learn the information without signing in to an account.  More than anything I love the idea of iTunes U for gifted and talented students.  It enables those students to go above and beyond what they are learning in the classroom.  It enables them to further their education and learn things that interests them. 

Another thing I really like about iTunes U is that it is easily accessible and categorized nicely.  It is very easy to navigate though.

Podcasting with iTunes U-

Many students have iPads, iPods, and/or iPhones.  Teachers and professor can record their daily lessons/lectures, and students can review and relearn important concepts.  iTunes you gives students the chance to learn listen to podcasts on the go.  They can study with podcasts at home, during a work break, or even on the bus ride home. 

Education is no longer just books and chalkboards. Instructors are able to link websites, assignments, videos, etc. to make their class complete.  iTunes U takes learning to a whole new level, and it makes the world a community of learners.  No longer does an instructor need to feel alone in their teaching.  They can pull from other sources and resources from around the world.

Individual Pur
I think the best way I can use this in my field is by showing other teachers the possibilities of iTunes U.  Even if they do not post materials or build their own class in iTunes U, they can still use materials that have already been shared.  The k-12 section has many useful materials for teachers.  I have had a few of the speech pathology teachers ask me how to use an iPad with their students.  iTunes U has an area specific to speech pathology.  I could show them this resource and let them find stuff they like.

Staff developers need to be/have:

• Organized
• Prepared
• Calm
• Give multiple ways to respond
• Personable

Staff developers make the content pertain to the guests.  So many times we go to a training and ask ourselves, "Why am I here?"  The developer of the PD was obviously not meeting your needs.  It is important to find out what a person needs out of a class and then work to achieve those goals.

Weebly and tagxedo are both really fun apps for students.They allow students to create while using other skills like critical thinking, brainstorming, etc.  In the activity we did, many teachers focused their word clusters on the basic idea of learning.  This goes to show that no matter what a teacher is teaching their main goal should be the idea of "Is my student learning what they should be learning?"

My favorite app that I learned about this week was app shopper.  I spent a lot of time figuring out how to use appshopper this weekend, and I have already told many people about it. It is a great app to use when you are looking for ideas of good apps.

One thing that I feel like is a strength in my leadership qualities is my patience.  Teachers tell me all the time that they can't believe how much patience I have. 
One thing I need to work on is my innovation.  I want to be better at being able to be more creative and contributing new ideas to the teachers. 

Leadership Essential Skills:
advocacy, empathy, questioning, vision creating, collaborating/networking
Essential Deposition: risk-taking, persistence

What are Students' Perceptions of School?
It's not fun.  They don't want to be there.  They think that what they are learning isn't worth their time.

What are some of the expectations for students?
Engagement, Attendance, Well behaved, good participation

What types of assessments are valued?
CFA, CRT, Formative, Summative

In what ways do the school culture recognize competition, collaboration and community?
Collaboration seems huge in elementary schools, but not as much in higher education.
Competition is huge no matter what grade

Leadership Next Steps?
1. Have a goal
2. Be Persistent
3. Enjoy incremental gains in desirable directions
4. Let go of need for total fulfillment

UTIPS:

Online Surveys (Poll Daddy and Google Forms):  Poll Daddy is very easy to use. It is also easy to set up.  

Clickers: Clickers are a great way to assess students, but there seems to be glitches with them once in a while.  There are different types of clickers for different grades.  They might be easier to use if they are more age appropriate

Kidspiration:It was a fun way to preassess the students.  The 1st grade students were able to click and drag the answers in the right place.  The seemed to like using a resource that wasn't paper and pencil.

Myaccess: For grades 6th and up

Arcademics: Basic Math Facts-Much Better than flash cards
    Students can be overly competitive
    Students can get left out of group games

Flubaroo: Easy to use online assessment tool

Successnet: Math testing for weekly, unit or CFA assessment.

UTIPS: Allows teachers to create and grade assessments

Skyward assessments:  Assessments can be created using skyward

Using Skyward Gradebook, teachers can create tests.  All you have to do is go to the subject where you want to add a test, click on other access, and go to Online Assignment templates.    From there you can build your test with multiple choice, matching, etc.  You can also assign a test to the students by creating an event.  When the student logs in under their skyward credentials, they can take the test.  If the test does not have any essay type questions, Skyward can grade the assignment automatically.  After the assignment is graded, it will put the assignment directly into the gradebook.

I love this idea for upper grades.  Most students in upper grades know their Skyward credentials, so this would be a really easy way to assign tests.  Unfortunately, this would not be as easy in lower grades.  Students in lower grades don't know their user names and passwords yet.  Maybe when they turn on the ability for students in lower grades to see their grades, then more students will know their user names and passwords, but for now, it is kind of pointless to give them one more set of credentials to memorize.

I liked that the test were fairly easy to make.  I also liked that they were graded and automatically put into your gradebook for you.  That saves time by cutting out a lot of work. Using Skyward to assess gives just one other way to test besides just a paper and pencil.  It allows a teacher save their tests for years to come as well.  This is nice.  So, all in all, I would give Skyward assessment a thumbs up in upper grades.

Check Lists- Could use google docs as a form of a rubric.  The google docs could be used as a form for behavior.
    Check lists could be used to quickly to define how a student is doing.  It is an easy way to take notes on students to see if the student has met mastery.

Peer Assessments-It is very powerful to have peers evaluate peers.
    Students could grade each other using google docs.
    Survey monkey could be used as another peer assessment tool.
    Voicethread is a great way to peer assess.  They can give comments. 
    Poll Daddy-Thumbs up thumbs down and other surveys
    Kidblog-Students can leave comments on other student's blogs.

Exit Ticke/Entrance Ticket-

•   Usually lasts between 2-10 mins. 
• Teacher collect at the door as the students exit.
• Quick feedback
• assists with subject pacing      
  

Poll Everywhere-Texting in an answer
Facebook
Twitter
Clickers
Corkboard
Twijector
Visible tweets-shows tweets from certain hashtags.

Comic Life
Types of Assessment

•    Comic life- Formative and Summative assessments- book reports, kwl chart, math, storyboarding, cause and effects, book reviews, picture dictionary, quizzes by leaving different parts blank.
  

Wordle and Tagxedo
a fun way to assess students with words.  You could have them write 5 nouns, 5 adjectives, etc.
itsagreatdaytobeabeetdigger.weebly.com to get ideas.
Tagxedo will allow you to put in numbers.

Prezi-Can be used as an assessment tool by having them fill it in as you show the prezi.

Digital Storytelling:
iMovie can be used as a digital story.  They could use iMovie for podcasting. This is a great alternate assessment for students where they can use pictures, movies, and voice to help demonstrate their knowledge.

Storybird/ Storyjumper 
Pictures are provided for the students to use. Storyjumper allows students to add pictures to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular part of the curriculum.
   
   
   

UTIPS is a great source where teachers can create tests to guide their students through the core curriculum.  There is an account unique to Canyons District that you can get to by going to canyons.utips.org. 
One thing I like about UTIPS is the fact that I can use test questions that have already been created or I can add my own questions.  When using questions that have been created for me, the questions are set to match the core curriculum.  They are set with the standards.  Therefore, when you assign those questions, you are able to see which standards particular students may need to focus more time on. 

When creating my own questions, I can create multiple choice or I can set up free response.  One thing that I liked about the free response sections is that it t allows you to create and add a rubric for grading purposes.  This would make grading more fair.

After creating the tests, they can be saved to your account.  Therefore, you do not have to create the same test over and over.  The tests can be shared too.  This could be helpful and save time as a teacher shares it with their colleagues.  The teachers could each take a section, create a test, and then share the tests. 

UTIPS seemed to be really user friendly.  Another benefit is that students only need to have one account with it, and they can add multiple classes to their account.  This way, every teacher in the school could create UTIPS tests without having to create new accounts for every student!

This week we had centers where we could go learn about different technology tools that could be used for assessment.  I had the opportunity to teach about a website called arcademics.com.  This website is a great source for teachers who do not know what to do with their students once they take them into the lab. By creating a teacher login, they can create a class.  This allows the teacher to assign games and track student progress.  The site is currently in Beta testing and is free, but I know it is planning on charging in the future.  If a teacher does not care if the student is tracked, they have have the student practice their skills on the site without logging in.  I used this with my student two years ago, and they LOVED it!  They wanted to play it every time we went into the lab. 

I did not get to go to any of the other presentations, but I plan on looking into them soon.  I feel like the more I learn, the more I can share with others.  I loved the idea of the rotations because they allow exposure to many different sites in a short amount of time. It is great to know that there are so many options for assessment besides a paper and pencil test. 
Prometheanplantet.com   
    Tests for promethean boards.

I never got a chance to use Clickers in my classroom before.  They look like a great resource.  I think they would be a great morning start or could be used as a quick check after recess.  The students could pick them up on their way in, have them turned on and ready, and then be ready to start when the teacher turns on the test.  I like the way they can answer many different types of questions.  They can do numbers, T/F,  fill in the blank, multiple choice, etc.  In math, a teacher could put up a story problem.  The students could work on it and then fill in the answer. 

Another great thing about clickers is that it gives the teacher the ability to do a quick survey to see if the students are grasping the concept.  After the students have all answered, the teacher can go to the graph and check out the results.  If the students are consistently getting them correct, the concept has been mastered. 

By having every child use the same clicker every time, a teacher will be able to look at individual scores and it can be used as a great assessment piece.  I am not saying use it for every assessment, but I think it would be a great tool every once in a while. 

I really liked how you could bring in PDF's to build your test.  This would make it a lot easier because you wouldn't have to type every test from scratch. 

Ialso really liked how you could still use the paper test, but have the students respond to the test using their clickers.  This would make for very quick correcting.  I think would still have the students hand in their work.

One drawback to Clickers is that they might take some time at first.  Like any new tool or routine, it takes students a little while to get the hang of it.  Clickers will be the same way.  Yet, students catch on really fast, and I bet it wouldn't take long before they have the Clickers