PPS Instructional Technology

Google recently launched the ability to make templates of your docs, slides, sheets and forms, and store them in a district template gallery.  The idea of having district templates for docs, slides and sheets is nice, but I feel the real game changer is the ability to turn forms into templates.  In the past there wasn't a good way to take a form and provide it as a template for others to use.  There was no "view only" option in forms.  With the new template gallery, sharing forms is easy!  Here is how to get started. Creating a Form Template for the District Step 1: Go to forms.google.com Step 2: Click on Template Gallery Step 3: Click Submit Template Step 4: Select a form from your Google Drive by clicking the Select A Form button. Step 5: Check the Submit a copy of the file instead of the original  box.  This will make a copy of your original document.  That way you have a copy you can make your own changes on that won't effec...

When we talk about blended learning, many elementary teachers believe we are referring to something that can only be done at the middle and high schools.  This, however, is not the case.  Whether you are hosting a discussion in Google classroom or administering formative assessments on the fly , blending is for everyone, K-12!  Our next guest blogger, Todd Heerlyn - Third grade teacher at Moorsbridge, shares some of the wonderful elementary resources he discovered at MACUL. MACUL was a really good experience! I was completely amazed at what was out there in the world of technology. There are so many opportunities to use technology in any subject in the classroom. I'm really excited and completely overwhelmed to go back to the classroom and start using some of the things that I picked up there.   I started to learn more about the online formative assessment tools ( kahoot , quizizz.com , socrative.com , Google Forms , etc.).  I'm hoping to utilize more ...

I have used Socrative , Lets Geddit , Kahoot , etc. and really enjoy them, each seemed to accomplish the task of quick online formative assessments well and each had it's pros and cons. Overall, I felt like my toolbox in this arena was already full. When I went to MACUL 2015 , I really wasn't looking for another online formative assessment tool. HOWEVER, I was at the SIGEE meeting at MACUL and my friend John ( @bcgeek ) introduced me to Formative ( https://goformative.com/ ). WOW! After a month delay, I finally got a chance to check it out and I am impressed. The user interface is clean and easy to use.  You can upload PDF, Word files, or Google Docs and easily convert them to an online assessment.  You can see students answering the assessment in real time.  The list goes on and on!  Try it out in your classrooms and let me know what you think! To get started, here is a quick introductory video: Or for my friends who find paper tutorials he...