How might we scaffold self-management skills for our students?

As an ed tech coach, I am often asked questions about limiting internet access for students. “Can we block youtube?” “How do we block this game site?” “We need to block facebook.” APS has a progressive view on site availability: we recognize that there can be excellent academic and relationship building reasons to leave social media sites accessible by all and we also know that shutting off one game site just means another game site is discovered the next week.

BUT...I empathize with the questions. It's understandable that teachers and principals might want limits on availability. Students finding ways to spend their entire class time on youtube searching for music videos instead of researching the Civil War is frustrating - and the least scary thing about open access. Cyber-bullying, violent or sexually graphic images and videos, and child predators on internet sites aimed at children are infinitely more concerning.
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So what can we do about sites like youtube - which can have both excellent resources for students and teachers AND truly objectionable material?

Aurora Borealis Student Film Festival - Aurora Public Schools

Film/video is a passion for students of all ages. Through film production, students gain access to a wide variety of 21st century skills that prepare them for their futures. Along with those skills, students are able to explore their interests while voicing their opinions and views about the world in which they live. Student film is an opportunity for everyone to hear about the ways in which students interpret the world and solutions they possess to some of the world's problems.  It can also be a great way to understand their thinking and allow us to tap into the things that drive their desires and dreams so that we can hopefully support their efforts and achievements.

On May 11, 2016 Aurora Public Schools will host its first annual student film festival the "Aurora Borealis". The film festival will provide an opportunity for APS students to showcase their film production talents. The festival is open to all students in APS who have a desire to write, capture, produce, and edit their own short films, videos, or commercials.

The festival will be an Academy Awards of sorts to recognize and highlight the work of students within the district this year. Anyone is welcome to attend the event and view the student work while engaging in the socializing that will be present at the event.  Light refreshments will be served along with opportunities to connect with various students, parents, teachers, district personnel, and community partners. 

View the official 2016 film festival teaser video below.  

Using Flubaroo to Give Students Meaningful Feedback

Flubaroo is a google add-on tool for google sheets that will automatically grade submissions based on the criteria that are set by the teacher. It's an extremely popular add-on. In its first iteration, it was a tool that worked best just with multiple choice or single word text/number questions. Recently it has undergone improvements that make it much more student-centered and teacher-friendly.

Give Every Student a Voice in Your Socratic Circle by Leveraging Digital Tools

Socratic Circles are a great way to engage students around a provocative question - students are engaged with the topic, encouraged to think about complex topics with a critical eye, and inspired to explore big ideas. 

However, it can be a challenge to give all students a voice in a Socratic Circle that is 30+ students big...there are time, space, and personality constraints that sometimes mean the conversation is dominated by just a few voices.

By leveraging digital tools, you can mitigate these constraints and give all of your students a voice - thus giving all students the opportunity to explore their own thinking as well as their classmate's. 

ReDesign Aurora

Check out this post from APS Director of Teaching & Learning, Laurie Marcellin:


ReDesign Aurora

Using Goobric to Support Student Self and Peer Assessment

Many APS Teachers have been using Doctopus and Goobric to digitally grade student assignments. Now Doctopus/Goobric support student self and peer assessment! Students will need the "Goobric for Students" Chrome extension for these features to work

It will only work on newly issued assignments or assignments that have had rubrics newly re-attached.  

Allows students to see rubric alert and button in Google Docs editor

Rubric-based assessment is designed to guide student learning and revision, and rubrics work best as an instructional tool when students are aware of their criteria while they are working, engaging with them regularly as a form of self-assessment and peer-assessment.

That is why Goobric for Students provides a pop-up reminder and a button in the Google Docs editor designed to encourage students to review the teacher's scoring rubric as they are creating or revising an assignment.

Tutorials:

Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment with Doctopus and Goobric Presentation by Lance Nishimura

Save Time With Writing Feedback Using JoeZoo Express

Literacy skills are necessary components of any content area. They are often becoming a focus for students of all ages and all classes in schools. Research has shown that students with strong reading and writing skills are able close achievement gaps and have accelerated learning experiences. One of the essential components to becoming a successful reader/writer is good feedback. When students receive timely, actionable feedback on their writing, they are able to improve dramatically. 

Providing feedback for student writing can be overwhelming and time consuming, however, technology is quickly making it possible to provide students with almost instant feedback when it comes to the foundational skills necessary to become a great writer. JoeZoo Express is a great new tool that can save teachers large amounts of time in providing feedback to students and quickly get them moving forward. Take a look at this video to see an example of how it works.