Calling all teachers! As teachers, we all know that “it is
essential for technology to effectively meet students’ needs and keep them
actively engaged during instruction” (Smith, 2010). While perusing blogs
this week, I came across one that instantly captivated my attention and seemed
to engage students using tech in a way I hadn’t thought of before. If you do
not follow Ramsey
Musallam’s blog Cycles of Learning, I would highly suggest it for
teachers and librarians. On September 10, Musallam posted a blog that is beneficial to all teachers who use Google for work or in the classroom. Check
out his blog post below.
Student
Metacognitive Portfolios Using Google Sheets
Images: Mussallam 2019
Images: Mussallam 2019
When evaluating and critiquing Musallam’s blog
entry Student Metacognitive Portfolios Using Google Sheets, I felt it
could be a useful tool in the classrooms at my school due to the engagement and
accountability factor (2019). With the constant pressure of test scores and
knowing that “technology has been indicated as a catalyst for school reform,”
this idea of using Google Sheets for metacognitive portfolios seems like a
wonderful way to help with school improvement and State Report Card grade rating scores
(Smith, 2010). Being at a school with a tech coach and a librarian who work well
together and are both Google trained educators, this ticked another box on why
this particular idea could be implemented at my current school. A big piece of
the tech puzzle in classrooms is having PD for teachers and a tech coach and
librarian who communicate with each other and support teachers after the PD is
done. In School Librarians as Technology Integration Leaders: Enablers and
Barriers to Leadership Enactment by Johnston, the relationship of the
technology department and the librarian can be an enabler or barrier (2012). If
“technology initiatives are about people- the people who plan with, teach with,
and learn with the technology,” then teachers and students should always be
what drives purchases and implementations (Overbay, Mollette, Vasu, 2011).
Using Musallam’s blog about using Google Sheets for portfolios, puts the focus
on the two people that should always be the focus at school- students and
teachers. With teachers being trained in Google in most school these days, and many
schools using Google Classroom with students everyday, this seems worth a try- making this tech idea
from Musallam immediately useful. This tech approach to keeping students'
portfolios using the tools already available to me in Google, is an immediately
useful approach that engages students, as well as myself/teachers.
References
Johnston, M. P. (2012). School
Librarians as Technology Integration Leaders: Enablers and Barriers to
Leadership Enactment. School Library Research, 15, April, 1-33.
Musallam, R. (2019, September 10).
Blog. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.cyclesoflearning.com/blog
Overbay, A., Mollette, M., &
Vasu, E. S. (2011). A Technology Plan. Educational Leadership, February,
56-59.
Smith, D. (2010). Making the case
for leadership role of school librarians in technology integration. Library
Hi Tech, 28(4), August, 617-631.
I love the idea of students taking control of their work and their grades. I also love the way the teacher has the quizzes set up for working through the standards that the students need to master. The visual aspect of the tracker that shows how they performed on the quizzes in green, yellow or red also provides a quick view of where the student needs to spend some more time. In showing examples of some of the students’ sheets, I like how Musallam mentions one of the students not adding her grade in and how that was her responsibility – that reinforces the ownership of students knowing what their grades are and where they stand in the class.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, this resource looks like it would work well in many different content areas, and presenting this at a professional development is a great idea. The simplicity of implementing this tool also makes it very appealing. If your presentation is anything like the way you’ve demonstrated the value of this resource here, I’m sure there will be a lot of interest in using metacognitive portfolios.
LeeAnne,
DeleteThank-you for reading my blog. I agree with your comments and look forward to trying this out. I think this could be a useful tool for teachers in all areas. Thanks again for reading.
Ashley
This is such a cool idea, and something I knew nothing about! My school uses Google classroom, and I am going to pass this information to our tech coach. I think this will really help students evaluate their own work, which is something I know the students in my building really struggle with. THanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have my copy! I'm excited to use the Reading Tracker for book clubs and reading promotions, but I'm not sure Google has been totally unblocked for our students.If it has been unblocked, this will be a great tool for our students and teachers to use. I wish I would have had the quiz and activity tracker when I was a classroom teacher! The students kept track of their grades on paper, and some of them found it difficult to record their grades.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about Musallam's blog! I appreciate the step-by-step instructions and the accessibility of the tools he recommends. It is useful to see an example of a school that does not use Google classroom. This could be helpful if my future school does not use this platform. I had no idea that this tool was already available in Google!
ReplyDelete