Chalk.com

Good Day Readers!

I know I have been gone for a while, but this school year has been crazy! Anyway, I have been working on some new ideas for the blog and this one can’t wait any longer.

I have found out next year I am going to be a combo teacher; (I was switched to a combo in January) and I DO NOT want to buy 2 lesson planners to allow me to plan for both grades. With this in mind I went online to find a free online lesson planner for teachers. First, there is a plethora of websites out there. The one I have been using is called Chalk. So here we go!

Product Information:
Chalk.com is an online lesson planner for teachers. Teachers can make subjects and schedules BEFORE you even begin putting lessons in. Teachers can upload templates, links, standards, etc. Whatever you need is right there for you. The program is free to use and does offer a school and district package if you are interested.

Glitchy Review:
I have been using this program for a month now. There are parts which I adore and parts which need to be improved. Overall, I like being able to display my lessons (when admin comes in they know what I am doing) for my students so they know what the schedule is for the day. It is colorful so each of my grade levels knows which colors are theirs and which ones are whole class lessons. I can schedule in recess, tests, assemblies, etc. in the schedule as needed. Students like it because they know what is going on and what to expect. We go through the schedule every morning and the day seems to run smoother because they have time stamps to refer to. When I am going to need to link a website, video, or document I can attach the link to the lesson and click it open when I need it!

The actual lesson planning in the system can be difficult for new users, but once you have things set up, it is quiet easy. In addition, you can save these lessons and use them next year! It will alter the lessons for the days to make sure the dates are correct for the current calendar year and will change NOTHING else! Makes it easy to plan the semester with lessons and alter for anything such as assemblies, field trips, etc. I can’t wait to use this feature next year!

With this feature in mind you do need to put in the leg work in the beginning. You do need to input the lessons and items you need. This will take time depending on your technology skill and amount of details you want in your lesson blocks. However, once this information is in, you can reuse later with a simple copy and paste of the semester!

Another thing I enjoy about this program is BEFORE you enter any lessons is you need to set up subjects and a schedule for your lessons. Subjects can be academic or non-academic subjects. For example, you can add Language Arts as academic and the program will allow you to add standards, lesson templates, and UNITS! I was able to input my units and this allows extra organization to your lessons! The non-academic subjects I have added were recess, lunch, assemblies, read aloud, testing (state testing), clean-up time, etc. The possibilities are endless. Once you have created these subjects you are prompted to make a Timetable (schedule) for your lessons. It has an option for alternating weeks (my school has 2) and will automatically upload them to the planner when you give them a start date. WARNING: It will start with week A and I messed this up and had to redo my weeks because the schedule started with the wrong week! LOL One thing to remember is: if you have to change the lesson for the day ONLY you do have that option and the program will label it as a special schedule.

The planner of this program is awesome. I could easily spend 5 blogs on this. As this is an overview, I will keep this simple. You have multiple views for the program such as time, day, week, month, and unit. There is a reminder table on the right and a month calendar as well. If you need to move a lesson you can do this as well. Again, something for another blog.

After all of these goodies in the program I was super excited to be able to plan where ever I needed to plan and just needed a laptop or computer. As I have been using this program there are a few things which need to be fixed. The copy moved lesson option is great, but I think a drag and drop feature would be better especially for teachers who are not all that tech savvy. In addition, there are times when I am planning and inputting lessons and the program has saving issues, which is frustrating when you put in the whole lesson and it is NOT saved. There is an app to go along with the website, this was mediocre at best. The app is limited to displaying your plans and that is it. This is good if you want your plans at your fingertips, but if you are like me the plans are up on a computer, and I use my phone for Class Dojo. I ended up removing the app because of the lack of use; however, some teachers like it. Option is up to you.

User Rating:
This program is definitely a level 3. You do need some tech savvy to remember how to access the different options. I would not use this program if you are not fully committed to using a digital planer and willing to put in the leg work.

Glitchy Review:
This program is a 4 out 5. There are endless benefits to the program with few set-backs. I could see myself using this from now on.

I do plan on doing more blogs on this website. Please let me know below if there is something specific in the website you want to focus on. As always comment below and let me know if there is something you wish to see on Glitchy Teacher blog! Enjoy!

Classroom Layouts

Good Day Readers!

Welcome to 2018! I don’t know about you; but for me Winter Break is a time to relax, reflect, rejuvenate, and re-evaluate how I am doing as a teacher, parent, and person. During this last week of break I begin to think of how to make my classroom better for the coming semester. Part of this is to create a new seating chart (which we can all agree can be difficult). While my district has a great program for it, I tend to turn this into rearranging the WHOLE classroom. With this in mind I began looking for tools to help me.

I know most of use either free hand the design, but me being The Glitchy Teacher, I am looking for an online program or app to help me. Through my searching and testing I have found some which are horrible and some not-so-bad. Let’s face it there is not one really good program out there. They all have flaws and difficulties. With that being said I have made a list of programs which should help you. Please bear in mind I will be rating them on difficulty/ease of use (1-being easy and 5-super difficult). List order is based on where they popped in a Google search, so please look for the rating.

• Classroom Architect- Difficulty 3. This program features all the different items available for most teachers from desks to TV Stands and rugs. You are able to change the dimensions of the room, however, if you have an odd shaped room you are out of luck for it only has square and rectangle. You are able to create your own shapes in this program and adjust the design but really this is all the program has going for it. You are able to save and print your layout when done (which is a plus). The main downside would be you can’t change the size of the pre-loaded items; thus the teacher’s desk is the same size for a 25 X 17 room as a 20 X 10 room which can affect your layout. Second, trying to delete something takes a minute to figure out. You have to drag the item you want to get rid of to the trash button instead of clicking the item and hitting trash. If you are a teacher looking for something easy this is your best shot. 
• Scholastic- Difficulty 4. This program offers 3 different classroom layouts for you; however, still is restricted to the square or rectangle. However, this does have more features to place in the room than others such as: windows, bulletin boards, black boards, etc. It still has the different desks like teacher’s, student, horseshoe, but again the sizes are locked. This works for this program because you are NOT able to change the size of the layout, just the design. The program does state “approximate” to the user. Perhaps the best feature of this is the ability to put your student’s names into the program to place them at desks. Essentially you are able to change up your room and seating chart all in one! If you are not into that then this program is a 3, but if you do use it the difficulty goes to a 4.
• School Seating Charts- Difficulty 4/5. This tool is perhaps the best, but does come with difficulty. This program allows you to only place student desks so full layout is out of the question. However, this program does offer so fringe benefits which might make you use it. After you choose your layout, it starts with a default and you can change from there, you input your roster. This is where it gets good. You can then label your talkers and workers. If this would transfer to the seating chart it would be great. After this you can randomize students or place as you want. Again this is a great seating chart program, but not for full layouts. (This is a paid program, free if you only do 1 layout and roster.)
• Perhaps the 2 WORSE programs would be The Library Store and FloorPlanner.com from Kaplan. These programs are super difficult to use. 
• The Library store really should not market this to teachers because it really is for libraries. There is very little in this program for teachers (literally, just desks). 
• Floor Planner is basic and comes with a layout already. The problem with this layout is it is for lower elementary only (focus on the dramatic play area) and is ridiculously hard to use. In order to even begin you have to delete almost everything (titles of areas do not delete or move) then search through their catalog to find the items you need. It is basically a catalog show with no way to change dimensions. 

After this I went to the apps to see if there was something. Let’s just say unless you are a carpenter they will not work for you. Overall, I would say Classroom Architect is going to be your best bet. While it is not exact, it does offer ease of use, more options, dimensional changes, and the ability to print and save for free.

Please comment below on your opinions or other programs you like to use! Don’t forget if there is something you want me to review or check out comment below! Enjoy!

Benchmark Advance

Good Day Readers!
Sorry, it has been a while, but I have been working to understand Benchmark Advance. I know there are a lot of opinions out there about Benchmark, but for this post, I am going to talk about things that have worked for me. While I am still working to understand all which is involved in this program there are some things I have figured out. Shall we start at the beginning?

First, I was working on understanding the mini-lessons and workstations. I have read about people teaching all 3 lessons and then doing the workstations, people doing a lesson then a rotation, people struggling to do the lessons and not getting to the workstations. From this, I have come up with something that has worked for me.

I start out each day with the Read Aloud for 10 minutes with my class. I do not use the Read Aloud book because it seemed too much for my students and in the case of Unit 3 of grade 5, my students would check out on more information about corn BEFORE the lessons even started. So for my Read Alouds, I read chapter books such as The Giver, Wonder, etc. I enjoy these more and so do my students. This is especially true when you need to get to the lessons on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. Thus, my students get a 10-minute lesson every day not only on listening but on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. (Check for 2 skills in 1!)

When I have finished reading I pull one of my high groups to work with. This rotation is only 10 minutes but is enough time for me to work with them on a project or activity they will work on for the week. This allows me to meet with one of my high groups every day should I wish; now I don't do this every day but it does give me some play time with the groups.

From here I go into one of my mini-lessons. Now, I am not sure if most of you know this, but the TE for this program gives you the mini-lessons for the day and "in the number order" they should be taught. However, after researching and talking to a person at Benchmark, the lesson order is a suggestion (mainly for the upper grades 3+). This is different for the lower grades. Thus if your students are more focused on the beginning work on the most difficult lesson for them or the one which will be easier for them. Teacher's choice!

After this lesson, I go into a rotation where the students work on the independent or partner work which might not be done within the time of the mini-lessons. From here I repeat the process.

While I know most of you are going but where is the technology piece here? Well, here it is. If you have had a chance to work on the Benchmark website there are a few things which you can use during lessons and rotations. For example, Benchmark has games online to aid with the teaching or workstations for spelling and grammar. I use these to increase student understanding and give them something to do other than "boring work" according to my students.

In order to find these, I am going to type and show the process. These games can be given to students the same way you give assignments. So here we go!

Let’s start on the homepage: From here you are going to go to the drop-down menu at the top and choose Interactive Learning Games.

Once there it is going to produce all the games available for you. You will notice that the grades available are only K-2 which as an upper-grade teacher doesn’t help you, but it does! Instead of just choosing the grade level and unit you will need to look for what it is you are going to teach.  There are 2 ways to do this. 1. Search through the list as a scroll down or search using the search bar at the top.

Now that you have found what you are looking for all you need to do is assign it to your students. You can click on the gear on the lower right (this is the easiest for me) and click add to assignment or drag and drop into the assignment. If you have not assigned something to your students before you will need to do so on the right-hand side of the screen.

You will need to make a name for the assignment. For this, I usually name it whatever skill the students are to practice or the workstation they will be doing the assignment in. From here it is quite easy to use. Next, you can give instructions should you wish. Next, you will need to select your students. This will take you to a new section of the assignment and you will need to choose your homeroom and then students.

Once you clicked on students you can either choose each student individually or go to the bottom and click select all.

Now that you have chosen your students, click done and it will send you back to the assignment page. Finally, give it a day and time to work on it and select save.

User Rating:
Overall, this rating will be for creating assignments in Benchmark Advance. I would give it a level 1 because creating the assignment is quite easy. It is the searching and determining what to use which is difficult.

Glitchy Review:
I will not be giving a review of this since I do not want to have people thinking I am evaluating the program which I am NOT. I am trying to help people use the digital system. Thus I will remain with the User Rating of ease of use and nothing more.

Please let me know if there is something you wish for me to write about or create a video for! Leave your comment below! Enjoy!

Legends of Learning

Product Information:
Legends of Learning is a website where students go to play games to aid them in achieving the NGSS standards. Teachers create "Playlists" where they are able to pick and choose which games students play and for how long. Students then access the website and sign-in and begin playing. The games range from the introduction of material to (what I can call) assessment games. Teachers will then be able to see student progress within gameplay and achievement to the standard. This website runs different account types: free, school, and district. Additionally, they offer ways for teachers to earn coins to help maintain their FREE account. (This I will get into later.)

Glitchy Review:
Let me start off with this website seems to be in the beginning stages so you do need to go in with the understanding of that. With that being said they are doing a lot of great things and really have potential as their product ages with use and feedback. (I will come to the feedback later and you will NOT want to miss that!) So with that warning, let's begin!

First, the games are quite user-friendly I can see students of all ages being able to play these games in some way, shape, or form. The games seem to remind me of old arcade games where they are in 2D and "walk" from left to right. The developers seem to get this because there are some games where they play up this fact. For example, some games look like they are directly from the original Nintendo system. I loved this because it made the game easier to use. They were not focused on creating a Minecraft game but simple, fun games for students. These games do get the job done when it comes to engaging and teaching the student. Each game has a specific purpose either to introduce or begin a unit to the final assessment. The ONLY catch here is as the teacher you need to PLAY the game first in order to figure out which one is which. (Again, I believe this goes back to the fact that this is new and requires feedback to hopefully, organize the games better so teachers do not have to do this.)

Second, the website is super easy to use and creating a playlist is as easy as drag and drop. The website allows the teacher to visually see how much time the students will be on each game. The only catch is you have a limit of 30 minutes. Mind you this is only for the FREE account. Like all things, you get better options when you pay. This leads me to my third point.

Third, would be the different account options. Legends of Learning has a unique idea when it comes to accounts. While they do still have the FREE account for teachers, school, and district accounts; they do have some cool perks. As a teacher, I do have the FREE account, but they do have things in place to make it easier for teachers to keep and maintain a free account. When teachers play a game to test them out before students do if you review the game you get 30 coins which go to your account to allow your students to play more. Pretty nice, huh? (The coins are used to allow students to play. Please visit the website to understand the coin system more.) You do have the option to pay to add more coins should you need it. They really seem to have thought of different ways to aid teachers; something this teacher enjoys.

Overall, this website has a lot of potential and for what is available now really works! This website has many different ways of being used depending on what you want to use it for. Please go and check it out! Legends of Learning

User Rating:
I would give this website a user rating of 2 because there are some confusing parts, but it does have a lot of ease of use which is great.

Glitchy Review:
I would give this website a Glitchy rating of 3 out of 5. While, creating playlists is easy, there are a few things that they do not seem to explain all that well. First, I ran into issues adding students. In the help section, it showed a student list at the top of the page, however, it failed to mention in the beginning of the article, that this is only available AFTER the students use the product not before. Second, you have to play the games before to know what each one does. Should these get fixed I would change my rating.

Back to School

As the school year begins there is one thing all teachers are going to need to do. Placement testing to see where our students are. As a teacher this is both the best information I will be able to get from my students to understand them more, so I know how to help them learn AND the hardest because this testing is LOOOONG and arduous. I wanted to find something which would help me increase engagement in my students to allow them to truly show me what they know. After this hard summer, I was able to find something to help! I want you all to know there are programs I have already suggested which allow you to do some of this testing such as Frontrow and Read Theory. These are great, but for those of you who either don't want to use them or want something different: here it is!

Product Information:
Formative is a website where teachers can create, assign, and visualize student growth. This website allows the user to create different types of assessments from basic choose the answer to interactive assessments where the students need to move items around to create the answers. (Just like the spring testing!)

Glitchy Review:
I have recently been playing with this program and it is difficult for users to create assessments, however, the benefits really out weigh the difficulties. The interface when you are making the assessments is easy enough and getting started is simple, but it really seems to stop there. On the plus side, you really do have a lot of options to choose from. From embedding information to adding basic questions (multiple choice, short answer, etc.) to advanced questions where the students can orally give responses or interactive answers such as moving parts around. Like I said there is a lot to do and can be both a great thing and bad at the same time. There is one downside to the advanced questions, like most programs are only if you pay. While the price is not bad ($12 per month), I just like things that are free. Don't you? Anyway, there are benefits to the monthly subscription especially for those of you reading this and going "I don't think I could do this...." For example, you have access to formatives made by others. (My colleague has access to this and if you are nervous about making your own this would be your best bet because some are really good!) In the end, I am excited about trying this in my room this year! I will be able to get rid of more paper in my classroom! I will be able to grade and return to students even with the free version! By the way, when you sign up regardless of which plan you choose it will automatically sync to your Google Classroom!!!!

User Rating:
I would give this program a user level of 3 because you do need a decent amount of tech savviness to really be able to use this program especially if you are using the free program.

Glitchy Review:
I would give this program a 3 out of 5 because it is hard to use and can get confusing.