Some teachers make differentiation and individualization for their students look so easy. Do these teachers have a superhuman knack for it? Do they stay at school until midnight every day to get it done? Or do they have something else up their sleeves…
Let us introduce you to Jen Laackman, who is an 8th grade Social Studies teacher at HPS, and while she quite possibly may have superhuman powers, she has also learned how to harness technology to support the varied learners in her classroom. Jen is well-versed in numerous edtech tools, but we’re going to focus on a few that allow her to differentiate her lessons to meet the needs of all her learners: HyperDocs, EdPuzzle, and Schoology Completion Rules.
Jen started integrating HyperDocs into her lessons last year, and has found that they provide individualization for choice and creative expression in student learning. HyperDocs allow teachers to offer a variety of resources as well as opportunities to share learning in unique ways that all HYPERlink back to an original DOCument (see where the name originates??) for each student. Jen prefers using Google Slides to create her HyperDocs, but teachers also use Google Docs, Sheets, and Drawings to create these. There are several samples available online and even a HyperDoc website, created by the founders of HyperDocs, which contain several possible templates. Jen creates separate HyperDocs for specific groups of students or creates one HyperDoc for all students with options of different resources to choose from and various methods to show learning. Both of these methods allow for differentiation and/or individualization.
Videos are a common resource on Jen’s HyperDocs, and EdPuzzle allows her to not only integrate videos into her lessons, but to also track student learning from videos by setting up formative questions throughout the video. From her teacher dashboard on EdPuzzle, Jen sees not only student responses to questions, but also how long it took each student to finish the video and how many times a student watched a particular segment. In addition, this process allows students to work at their own pace until they have mastered the content.
While HyperDocs and EdPuzzle are both tools that allow for differentiation in Jen’s classroom, she claims that Schoology’s Completion Rules feature ties everything together. Schoology is a staple in Jen’s classroom as she uses it to post assignments, resources, assessments, and more. Schoology’s Completion Rules feature allows her to do all these things while ALSO individualizing her lessons. This feature allows her to set up “modules” that require students to complete one task before moving on to the next, allowing students to work at their own pace to complete the tasks. In setting this up, she has the option to require students to open links, post discussion responses, submit assignments, score above a certain grade on an assignment, and/or score above a certain grade on an assessment in order to move on to the next task. The platform keeps track of each student’s progress in the module, and Jen uses this data to know exactly how and when to check in with each student. In addition, Schoology allows teachers to individually assign folders (containing specific materials) to specific students, which is another option to further differentiate. These folders only appear on the Schoology page of the specific assigned student(s). Now, Jen has the ability to push out the HyperDocs she creates specifically for target groups of students without anyone being the wiser. What a great way to ensure that each student is receiving appropriate resources and support to meet their individual needs!
Extra Tidbit… Did you know that EdPuzzle integrates with Schoology AND that the grades from your EdPuzzle gradebook will sync to the Schoology gradebook?? Find out how to set this up HERE and/or contact the EdTech team for support!
Videos are a common resource on Jen’s HyperDocs, and EdPuzzle allows her to not only integrate videos into her lessons, but to also track student learning from videos by setting up formative questions throughout the video. From her teacher dashboard on EdPuzzle, Jen sees not only student responses to questions, but also how long it took each student to finish the video and how many times a student watched a particular segment. In addition, this process allows students to work at their own pace until they have mastered the content.
While HyperDocs and EdPuzzle are both tools that allow for differentiation in Jen’s classroom, she claims that Schoology’s Completion Rules feature ties everything together. Schoology is a staple in Jen’s classroom as she uses it to post assignments, resources, assessments, and more. Schoology’s Completion Rules feature allows her to do all these things while ALSO individualizing her lessons. This feature allows her to set up “modules” that require students to complete one task before moving on to the next, allowing students to work at their own pace to complete the tasks. In setting this up, she has the option to require students to open links, post discussion responses, submit assignments, score above a certain grade on an assignment, and/or score above a certain grade on an assessment in order to move on to the next task. The platform keeps track of each student’s progress in the module, and Jen uses this data to know exactly how and when to check in with each student. In addition, Schoology allows teachers to individually assign folders (containing specific materials) to specific students, which is another option to further differentiate. These folders only appear on the Schoology page of the specific assigned student(s). Now, Jen has the ability to push out the HyperDocs she creates specifically for target groups of students without anyone being the wiser. What a great way to ensure that each student is receiving appropriate resources and support to meet their individual needs!
For further information on any of the tools or resources mentioned, please reach out to the EdTech team to set up a training or co-planning session! In addition, please refer to these additional resources:
Extra Tidbit… Did you know that EdPuzzle integrates with Schoology AND that the grades from your EdPuzzle gradebook will sync to the Schoology gradebook?? Find out how to set this up HERE and/or contact the EdTech team for support!
No comments:
Post a Comment
We look forward to your comments!