Google Classroom- Part I

I know I have not blogged in forever.  I think I've even missed a month or two of Currently.  So many great things have been happening in my classroom this year.  I LOVE my students and get sad thinking we only have 3 more weeks together (not that I'm not looking forward to a relaxing summer).  I have three boys of my own and the oldest one is a sophomore and made the Varsity LAX team and the younger two both play LAX and BB.  Needless to say every free moment for the past few months has involved cheering one of them on in their sports endeavors.  It has been so much fun and one of my favorite parts of being a mom, but there has been no time for blogging.  I have myriad ideas for blog posts and hopefully this summer my creative juices will flow again on this blog when I get a chance to breathe.

I decided a couple months ago to try out Google Classroom with my Honors Math 7 class for 4th quarter.  I wanted to just test out a few things on a small scale to get the hang of it myself before committing to doing it with my other three classes of Math 7. I'm no expert on classroom, but with the help of my awesome tech coach I figured out how to use it to for the benefit of my students and things have been going really well with it.  It was easy to set up.  I mean really easy.  It does take some work to keep up with all the document uploading and the more you have on Google the easier it will be for you.

My purpose in trying it out small scale was to understand the best way to organize my documents when using them in classroom and how to store them on Google Drive when the chapter was finished.  I wanted to see the workload it would add to my already very jam packed schedule of things I need to do on a daily basis.  I wanted to have the freedom to try things out on a small scale (one class) and get feedback from my students on what they like about/need from Google Classroom.  I kept reminding my students that Classroom is for their benefit first and foremost.  This blog post is an overview of classroom and focuses mainly on what I store on the About page.

Step one of course is I set up my Google Classroom.  I actually already did that last year and never really used it so that step was done.  Once you create a class you are given a "Class Code".  I simply gave this to my students and they typed in the code for my class.  They knew what to do because other content teachers have been using Google Classroom all year.

All four classes are set up and ready to go, but I'm only it with Honors Math 7 this quarter.

My main purpose for using classroom is to store documents students may need access to like assignments, answer keys, and PDFs of the mini lessons I teach on the SMARTBoard as part of my math workshop.  I wanted students who were absent to be able to stay caught up if they chose to and I have to say they have impressed me with their responsibility.

Stream is where you can post announcements or share assignments with students.  I do not share most assignments this way because I don't really do the grading on Google (although I can and maybe will down the road).  I have been putting out a daily announcement to my students each day after class is over.  That way if a student is absent or missed part of class for a music lesson, or just plain was not paying attention and does not remember what we did or if there was an assignment, s/he can check without having to ask me or another student.  The majority of my Honors Math 7 students are highly motivated and will check classroom if they are absent, look at the mini lesson, and print out and do the homework assignment.

These are the three folders I have shared on my About Page:  MiniLessons, Assignments, and Answer Keys.  I keep everything in the folders until the chapter summative assessment.  At that time I move the documents into storage folders in my Google Drive (that could be another post).

I've given the example of what my students would do to see the mini lesson for 9.1 if they missed that.

Students click whichever folder they need.

They click the document they need.

This is just the first page of the Mini Lesson as it was broken into more than one part with work time mixed in.

My students correct their own homework at the beginning of class everyday.  They look over the answer key in Google Classroom using their Chromebooks (we are 1:1).  They love being able to access the assignment answer keys instead of waiting for the key to be passed around the room like we did in the past.  I answer any questions on homework after they check it.  This all occurs while they are completing their daily warm-up.

I upload the assignments in classroom so students have access.  This puts to responsibility back on the student if they misplace or forget their assignment at school and want to complete it on time.

It has been very time consuming to make PDFs of the Mini Lesson portion of workshop that I share with students via my SMARTBoard.  I think it's so worth it though, sometimes students need to look at the worked examples one more time.  It's great if a student misses the mini lesson or just want to look it over again, they still have access to the mini lesson.

Those are the three main things I have been uploading for my students on my About Page.  I have also uploaded a couple assignments via the Stream, see the post linked below for more information.  Feel free to ask any questions here or on Twitter @luvbcd

Google Classroom Part II- Using Stream for Announcements and Assignments

Establishing routines and procedures #1- Papers

One thing I have learned over the years is the importance of establishing routines and procedures with your students the first several weeks of school.  If you take the time and have the patience to train your students well, you will benefit greatly from this investment for the rest of the school year.  I think it is said, that it takes 21 days to establish a habit, and the same goes in your classroom.  Today's post is going to focus on routines to establish in your classroom regarding paperwork.  I have established these routines so we do not waste precious class time and also to preserve my sanity.

I do not collect daily assignments.  Students self correct their papers and I walk around and stamp them with my initial stamp "SN", for some reason many students think it is so cool that I have a stamp with my initials on it.  I found it at a store many years ago and just lucked out than they had my initials.  I also have separate stamps for late or absent work.  If a student is absent or does not have the assignment finished I will give them the answer key to check their paper, once it is completed, I answer any questions they have and they keep the paper.  I NEVER collect or keep absent or late work.  I figured out several years ago, that if the paper always stays in the student's hand and I just stamp it, then they cannot claim I have their missing work.

Of course I have to have a pink stamp pad.

Absent work stamp.

My initials stamp.

Late work stamp.

When I hand out papers to students that will be passed back in to me, I always remind students to put their first and last name on the paper, along with their class hour, and the date if needed.  I remind them of this over and over.  Three of my math classes had a quiz the other day and numerous students only put their first name, or first name and last initial.  When I handed the quizzes back the second day to finish up I reminded students that they needed a first and last name on the quiz and that if they turned it in not labeled properly, I would consider that not following directions.  I always think at the beginning of the year the kids must think I am the most anal retentive person, but I explain to them that I teach them routines that make my life easier and our class time more productive.  I have to say, that throughout the years I do not get papers turned in with no name because of the obsessive harping constant reminders I give students about labeling their papers properly.

I have one turn in basket for papers that sits on my desks and students always know where they are to turn in papers because it's always the same place.  If I collect papers that will need to be returned to students the next day, I will collect them in table groups instead of them handing them in individually.  That way the next day I just pass out each set of papers to the table, instead of needing to pass out each paper individually.  This saves time and gets us started much more quickly.  Every class uses the same turn in basket so I make sure that I paper clip the papers together after each class hour and remove them from the turn in basket so the basket is empty for the next class.  I grade the papers and then put them in the daily file for the next day so I don't forget to hand them back.

Where students place papers that get turned in.

Class Hour Files on the left and Daily Files on the right.

If students do not finish the assessment during class, they need to come in during Core Plus or Homebase and finish.  I have students who are not finished hand me their papers (anything in the turn in basket is finished and ready to be graded).  I then clip the unfinished papers together and put them back in today's day file, so when they return later in the day I know right where the unfinished papers are.  After they finish the paper gets clipped with the other completed papers from that same class hour.

Papers stay clipped here until they are entered on the computer.

When I hand back assessments that have been graded, I call students up to me to get their papers.  I tend to call about five students at a time and hand the papers as they get to me.  This goes much more quickly than me walking around the room and finding each individual student.  After we discuss the assessment I collect them back in alphabetical order (again students bring them to me).  That way, when I go to enter grades in my online grade book, I can enter the scores in probably less than two minutes.  I like to use the desktop computer for entering grades because it goes much more quickly with the keypad.  I hang on to assessments and keep them clipped by class hour.  The papers are filed together so if I need to find a paper I know right where to go.

Graded papers that have been entered on the computer get placed here.

I have done previous posts about how I handle paperwork for absent students and hand outs for the day.  If you want to read more about that check out this post Daily Files and Class Files.  I will do a separate post in the future about how our school handles missing assignments through a program called Working Lunch.  It creates a bit of a paper shuffle for me, but more importantly it hold the students accountable for completing EVERY assignment.

Just for fun my new label for my scrap paper basket.

ETA 7/1/14:  I get lots of emails asking where I got the black plastic five slot organizers where I put my daily and class files.  I got them several years ago at Office Max and I believe they are made by Rubbermaid.  I have searched high and low online to find a link to something similar and unfortunately I haven't seen anything like that.  Sorry I don't have better news for those of you wishing to purchase the file holders.

Homework Policies

I did a blog post on homework back in February,  you can read it here.  Make sure you read that post for a pretty detailed post on how I did homework last year.   Several things have changed for this coming year and because we have a new curriculum (Carnegie Learning), are heading to standard-based grading, and a new personalized learning delivery model things are going to change quite a bit, but I have not figured out how everything will work yet.  Let's just say that this year will be a work in progress.

I do know that our percentages for grading have changed to the following:

Tests 50%

Quizzes 25%

Mathia Computer Lab 20%

Homework 5%

Our district is currently in the first year implementation of a new Common Core Aligned curriculum called Carnegie Learning.

At my middle school we had many thoughtful discussions last school year about grading and homework.  I really spent a lot of time reflecting on the amount and type of homework I give.  I started to give them the odd problems so they could check the answers in the back of the book while working, to see if they were on the right track.

I try to do so much more of the practice in class so I am available to answer questions and guide the students.  I also found that the days where students had time at the end of class to work on homework homework completion was much better.  We also have a twenty minute home base period at the end of the day where students can work on homework.  I would tend to pull my chronic homework non-completers in and have them work with me or just work independently in my classroom so I would monitor them and help keep them on task.

Now that I have my own middle schooler (my son is on 8th grade this year) I am able to see how multiple assignments from different teachers can really add up the homework.  Kids and families these days are very busy after school.  I definitely see the value and importance of homework, but I have also seen throughout the years some ridiculous (IMO) homework assignments and projects.  Thankfully the ridiculous have been few and far between, but that has made me even more reflective on what I assign for homework and why I feel it is necessary.

Homework Linky Party

Today I am joining the linky party hosted by Jenaya over at The Lesson Plan Diva.  As a 7th grade math teacher I give an assignment nearly every day.  Our textbook divides each Module (which is a chapter) into approx. five sections that each have one to three explorations.  I typically give a textbook assignment after each exploration and then at the end of the section there is a practice and review worksheet that covers the concepts that are assessed on the section quiz.  
I copied and pasted (in blue) the section from my parent handbook page regarding my homework policy, as well as, how grades are determined.  Our 7-12 math dept all worked together to decide on grade percentages so they were consistent for all teacher per grade level or math class (at HS level).  Our district is actually doing a K-12 review over the next year to look at standards based grading and revamping our report cards so big changes could be on the horizon.
Homework assignments:
Daily assignments are worth 2 points. Students will receive a completion grade. If the assignment is complete with all necessary work shown the student will receive a grade of 2. Things that will cause point deductions include, but are not limited to: not showing work, incomplete homework, not labeling answers, and not following directions. HOMEWORK MUST BE DONE IN PENCIL TO RECEIVE A GRADE. 

In the event of an absence it is the student’s responsibility to turn in any missing work and also to find out the assignment given out that day. There will be a file kept in the classroom with all absent work. It is the student’s responsibility to check the absent work file for his/her class hour and collect the absent work. 

If a student misses class due to a school sponsored activity s/he is required to hand in that day’s assignment PRIOR to the activity. The assignment given on the day of the absence should be turned in the next day as if the student had been in class.

Grading
Grades will be weighted this year in all 7th grade math classes based on the following percentages: 

Tests 45%
Quizzes 35%
Assignments 15%
In Class Work 5% 
I teach at a 7/8 middle school.  The only reason we don't have 6th grade at our school is because we have absolutely no room in our building.  Our 6th graders are spread out at our five elementary schools, but follow a middle school model where each teacher teaches one content area.
At my middle school they instituted something called "working lunch" last school year.  Every student is required to complete ALL assignments.  If a student does not have homework completed they are issued a working lunch for that day or the next day if the missing assignment is in a class after lunch.  Students are then required to finished the assignment during working lunch (they cut the lunch line to get their food first) and then go to the library and have a "working lunch".  If students do not finish the assignment they are then scheduled to stay after school that day and finish.
You would think with having this working lunch in place the kids would get all their homework done, but unfortunately that is not the case.  We have some flexibility in how we use working lunch with our students.  I teach math hours 1 and 2.  There is rarely any missing homework in hour 1 because it is accelerated math. There is missing work in 2nd hour on almost a daily basis.  Students can either come during Core Plus (which is hour 4) or Home Base (which is the last 25 min of the day).  If they finish it before the end of HB they do not get a working lunch the next day.  The kids during my 5th and 6th hour class can also come during HB and get it checked in to avoid a working lunch the next day.
If a student does not finish the assignment before the end of HB, I fill out a half sheet working lunch form with information about the assignment.  I give the student a red working lunch ticket which allows the student to skip to the front of the lunch line and also to leave the cafeteria and go to the library.
Homework completion has been a huge issue with the group of 7th graders we have this year.  It is not a problem is just my house, but all three houses.  We have spent lots of time analyzing the reasons students are not completing homework.  We have been trying out different strategies to improve homework completion and have really spent quite a bit of time thoughtfully considering what and how much homework we give.
I think our school has a lot of great things in place to assure that students are held accountable for completing homework.  We still have not found the magic bullet because it simply does not exist, but we are trying to do what we can