When presented with the opportunity to present on your favorite topic (Google, duh), why say no? Especially when that opportunity happens to be in Tarsus, Turkey. Tarsus! Meeting place of Cleopatra and Mark Antony! Where Saul became Paul! The original lion’s den where Daniel wasn’t eaten! I’m not sure how much of it is actually to be believed, but Tarsus is a pretty historical place and I jumped on the opportunity.
Now, on to add-ons! Transitioning from a classroom teacher to a middle school ELL and LA teacher was quite the jump from an organization standpoint. Where as before I had the time to click on, comment on, and track the progress on 24 persuasive essays/realistic fiction pieces/feature article drafts, I now needed a way to streamline the process for 100 kids. Clicking on 100 essays? Who, me? I needed a method to zero-in on who I would confer with for that day, and to track whether the student I had met with yesterday internalized my teaching points. But how? That’s when I remembered Doctopus, something I had learned in a speed geeking session but never tried.
Doctopus. My new BFF. Doctopus is like the personal assistant you wish you had, and now actually have. It distributes assignments for you. It differentiates for you. It tracks edits and comments and revisions and word counts. It attaches a GOOBRIC onto your assignments so that you can ASSESS ALL OF THE WRITING IN THE SAME WINDOW . I’m sorry I’m yelling. It’s just that I love these add-ons. And if you use it with Google Classroom, your life gets even easier.
I haven’t even mentioned SuperQuiz, introduced to me by friend, colleague, and innovator, Gary Johnston. SuperQuiz is fantastic for gathering and analyzing real-time data, flexibly grouping kids based on areas of strength and need, extending the activities for kids who show mastery and giving instant feedback to kids. Instant, for them and for me.
As my needs changed from the inclusive classroom to subject teacher, these tools helped me provide feedback and meet the needs of more kids, more thoroghly. I can no longer live without them (insert heart-eye-emoji here). Happy Googling!
Ms. Rachel Gabbert
A Little Learning 