Text Complexity - What is it? All you probably ever need to know...

Common Core uses the term "text complexity" freely throughout. If you need a more clear definition about what that is - check this out!

Article about what is text complexity and how is it measured.

And here is a rubric that you can use to determine if your text is, in fact, complex.

Great resource on some suggestions for supporting students reading complex text in the classroom. (It is attached below - but is kind of hard to read without a magnifying glass!)

Project-Based Learning - what's the scoop?

If you have been wondering - like me - what the difference between projects and project-based-learning is - this checklist might be helpful. When thinking about a project, consider using a rubric like this to assess whether or not you are working harder than your students!

There is an article below the image that explains it more fully...definitely consider reading this!

Click here for the full article.

Google Information

Site about Google information - click here. This tells you about a lot of the features that will be available to us next year through our google accounts! Click on the links to learn about some of the things we will be able to do with google in our classrooms -- there is also information about some apps for education as well...

Google forms information - click here. Today Mrs. Maynard showed us how to use GoogleForms to create (and grade) formative assessments! However, in such a short time, she had to go pretty fast - if you need step by step instructions - go here. The instructions are here along with some videos about how to do what she did in Appy Hour today.

References from the Iowa 1:1 Conference - click here. Mrs. Maynard and I learned a lot of the things that we have been talking about at Appy Hour at the Iowa 1:1 Conference that we went to. If you want to see what sessions we went to and the resources for those sessions (especially if there is one on the schedule that appeals to your subject area) go ahead and click here - you can learn A TON from what has been posted here!

References from the Iowa 1:1 Conference: flexbooks - making your own textbooks - click here. There is a lot of push nation-wide for teachers to create textbooks - or at least collect the references they use in a common place - if you are thinking this is something you might be interested in trying - start here...

Google Form

http://tinyurl.com/cc57jyn

Next Appy Hour and topics...

Our next Appy Hour will be April 18th at 7:45 am.

A few of us went to the Iowa 1:1 conference in Des Moines on April 4th and have a few things we are looking forward to sharing with you all!

First on the list -- Google Forms -- I know that we discussed GoogleForms earlier this year, but there have been some exciting changes since we discussed it last - included creating tests/quizzes that can automatically graded!

Also, if we have time - would love to discuss the difference between Project Based Learning and Projects - see the graphic below and the article that goes with it -- attached here.

Feedly Follow-up

At our Appy Hour meeting we discussed Feedly as an option for the phased out GoogleReader. However, while it does connect directly to the GoogleReader and moves things over pretty seamlessly - there have been some questions about adding new feeds to it and organizing and such things. I ran across this article today giving instructions about how to use Feedly more effectively...I will go ahead and attach it here - hopefully it is helpful to you!

Have a great day!