Schoology for Fall 2016

Last year, 2015-2016 our school went 1:1 with iPads. It was an exploratory year for both teachers and students and we embraced technology well. By the end of the year we were comfortable with Google Classroom and students were in the routine of accessing flipped lessons in various forms, creating evidence of learning using a variety of digital tools and submitting work in Google Classroom. We are now ready to refine our use of technology in the classroom, not just for the sake of trying more sophisticated tools, but more-so to develop and organize content and tasks that are in line with Connected Learning and 21st Century Skills.

Schoology as an LMS
Our school district just subscribed to Schoology as a learning management system or, as per their website, an "assessment management system" (AMS). Schoology can be compared to Moodle in that the teacher can set up the entire course and reveal content to students as the course progresses. However, Schoology K-12 is designed especially for the school setting and Moodle is open-source, meaning freelancers can design content that may not work on students' devices, like iPads. I know a lot of teachers love Moodle and have worked tirelessly to develop their courses on it, but with Schoology, more time can be focused on developing meaningful and relevant course content for the teacher who is less techy. Since Schoology is a district-wide incentive, I can set up my courses and give students a code to join my class. There may be other hoops to jump through to get students to join a class if your Schoology account is not tied to a school subscription and school issued student accounts. Here is what I have been able to do with Schoology so far.

Differentiation
In Schoology, I first created courses - 8th grade Spanish 1 and 7th grade FLEX Spanish. Once I created courses, I added folders to each course, color coding them for the different tasks. I am beginning to add content to each folder. One thing I'm looking forward to is facilitating differentiation with Schoology. In this video, the teacher uses the advanced tool feature to designate a task to a group of students or to an individual. The student can only see the task assigned to him or her and cannot see tasks assigned to other students. There is a "differentiating" dialog tool that confirms who the task is designated too. The teacher can also set a grading group for selecting students.

Assessment
Designing quizzes in Schoology is intuitive. In this video, the teacher explains the different types of quizzes you can create- dragging items in order, true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, a timed question, and matching. For World Language assessment I think the dragging-ideas in-order quizzes will be a valuable tool for interpretive assessment. I like that there are numerous settings that allow the teacher to customize the quiz. The teacher can imbed videos or whatever content for the prompt and select tools for the student to use in his/her response, like a microphone or audio-video. This is especially relevant for interpersonal or presentational assessment in World Language.

Here are some ways language teachers are mashing up other tools with Schoology.
Google Drive - There is a Google Drive app in Schoology that allows the teacher to incorporate content created in the Google Drive. Shauna Polson says mash-up of Google Drive and Schoology makes content creation, instruction, and delivery more effective.
Nearpod - NearPod allows teachers to make interactive presentations for students. Sra. Spanish likes NearPod because it limits how much the teacher can give to the students before it assesses understanding. This works well for TPRS. Nearpod lessons can be imbeded in Schoology.
Edpuzzle - Edpuzzle has been an invaluable tool for me. I created a couple of interactive video lessons myself, but mostly I've been able to search for interactive instructional Spanish videos and use them. Now I can imbed Edpuzzle lessons right into Schoology!

Last year I used a lot of different tools for instruction and assessment. Students had to look at the agenda on the board if they weren't listening to know which tool to go to or where to submit work. Now, with Schoology, I can post an agenda that holds them accountable, imbed lessons from the creation tools and have students submit work all in the same system.

Blogs I follow

It's important for teachers to network with colleagues locally, nationally, and internationally in order to be relevant and provide students with the experiences they need to be 21st century learners. I am following a Spanish teachers and leaders in World Language education on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and now I am deciding on an RSS feed. The posts in Bloglovin' show up in a list form and if you click on a blog widget, the posts look like Pinterest. I like the visual aspect of it.Here are three blogs that I subscribe to and why.

1. Language Coaching by Amy Lenord

Señora Lenord is tireless in keeping up with issues in world language instruction and proficiency-based language learning. She has posts on topics that include student and teacher successes and limitations, strategies, resources, theories, language chats, workshops, ideas from other professionals, etc. It's easy to click on her page and learn about something new in the field of World Language, especially Spanish.

I just read her post called, "Dammed students changing my mind about control and its connection to profiency." She compared the students to water and teachers to engineers who must create channels, dams, etc. to lead students to proficiency. She argues that know matter how hard you try or want the students to acquire certain vocabulary or language, you cannot force them; you can only channel them in the right direction. She dives into topics like maintaining trust that the activities and tasks lead to a higher proficiency, creating tasks are doable, making sure students feel and are successful, having clarity in directions and goals, designing prompts that allow for multiple pathways.

2. Schoology

I subscribed to the Schoology blog because this is the new tool I will be using this coming school year. I am setting up content on Schoology and need to check this blog for posts on how to use features, updates to the features, and to how educators are using this learning management system.

3. SraSpanglish

I am following Sra. Spanglish. She has an ongoing collection of presentations and videos that promote proficiency-based language learning, project-based and inquiry-based language learning. She offers ideas for how World Language teachers can implement these kinds of tasks. I like her page on interactive notebooks and using stories.

4. Mis clases locas

My students have been reading Pobre Ana by Blaine Ray. I've been using some TPRS strategies and reading guides. I am looking to incorporate for reading into my curriculum. I happened upon the blog "Mis clases locas" and am pleased that there are a wealth of resources on teaching novels in Spanish class. I am looking forward to picking new novels with my colleagues and this site has helpful information about novels and strategies using the novels.