The 5th C: Teaching the art of curation with Wakelet

The latest tool causing a buzz in the world of educational technology is Wakelet. Check it out because I'm sure once you do you will be hooked on this simple curation too.

I first heard about Wakelet back in April when Randall Sampson guest moderated a #TOSAChat. The chat topic was "Curating the Experience" and he spoke about Wakelet and used it to curate our chat and share it back with the community. At that point, I filed Wakelet away as a really cool tool to check out soon. 

Fast-forward to July when I heard Jennifer Gonzalez speak about the importance of teaching students to curate in the CUE Craft Ditch That Textbook Summit. She stated that "The art of curation isn’t just about saying “here”. It’s about saying “here is what this is and here is why it is relevant and interesting.”

Thinking about the importance of teaching our students to curate reignited my interest in Wakelet.

Getting started with Wakelet

Wakelet is a free platform that allows you to organize and curate content to save and share. You can save videos, articles, images, Tweets, links or even add your own text. 

My first experience using Wakelet was for curating a chat on Twitter but I quickly realized it can be used for so much more in the classroom. It can be used for bookmarking, digital storytelling, newsletters, gathering resources, portfolios and so much more.

But as always the best way to learn about a tool is to explore and use it yourself! 

Paul West (another Wakelet expert) and I created a HyperDoc to share some ideas on the power of curation and to walk you through getting started using Wakelet for curation in your classroom. 

Please feel free to use this resource to share Wakelet with your colleagues or even to teach older students the power of curation. Just go to "file" then "make a copy" for an editable version added to your Google Drive.

Using Wakelet in the classroom

Paul recently wrote a guest post on the Ditch That Textbook blog where he shared 12 curation ideas for teachers and students with Wakelet.
He includes ideas like using Wakelet with:
🌏 Google Expeditions
💡 HyperDocs
📰 Parent Newsletters
📚 Novel studies
In addition to these ideas, he shares loads of fantastic resources for teaching the power of curation. 

There are so many ways to use Wakelet with your students and colleagues. Join the Wakelet community on Twitter by following @Wakelet or search the hashtag #TheHumansAreComing. Also be sure to check out their YouTube channel for great tutorial videos.

It's fun and easy to curate and share your collections with others. You check out my collections at wakelet.com/@KarlyMoura. 

Wakelet is always working on bringing great updates to you and your students. If you are interested in being part of a group that tests new features contact callum@wakelet.com. 

Disclaimer: I don't have any relationship (financial or in exchange for services) with Wakelet. I just enjoy using it, have found it to be very helpful and wanted to share it with you!

Flipgrid and HyperDocs: Amplifying student voice in purposeful digital lesson design.

This is a collaborative post written with the incredible Sean Fahey, an amazing 6th grade teacher in Indiana. Be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his blog at faheystech.blogspot.com.  

If you follow either one of us on Twitter, you will quickly find out that we have many things in common. Two of those being our passion for Flipgrid and HyperDocs. We are have created many HyperDocs collaboratively and share them with our PLN on Twitter. We are also both Flipgrid Ambassadors and love sharing this amazing tool with other educators. We believe that powerful digital lesson design infused with the power of amplifying student voice is truly a game changer in the classroom.

Whoa. Stop the music. You don’t know about Flipgrid or HyperDocs? Well, then you have our permission to stop reading and explore any and all of the resources below.

• HyperDocs! Need I Say More???

• The HyperDoc Effect: 7 Ways Using HyperDocs has Changed my Classroom
• Catch the Flipgrid fever! 15+ ways to use Flipgrid in your class.
• 13 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons with FlipGrid

OK now that we are all on the same page with the WHAT, let’s talk about WHY HyperDocs and WHY Flipgrid? And HOW we can use them together to amplify student voice in purposeful digital lesson design?In an episode of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez interviewed Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis the creators of HyperDocs.

HIGHFILL: ...You know when a new web tool comes along, you’re all excited? Like everyone’s excited right now about Flipgrid and whatnot.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

HIGHFILL: But then I want to ask them, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to build the pedagogy around that cool tool?

GONZALEZ: Right.

HIGHFILL: And where in the lesson flow would it fit in your HyperDocs? So it’s really saying, “I love flashy new tools. Now let’s think about how you can effectively use them in the classroom, and then link it into your HyperDoc that way."

Lisa makes a great point. How many times have you got caught up in all the hoopla over a new edtech tool or update? Flipgrid is THE hot new edtech tool educators are excited to use. However, as Lisa asks, “What are you going to do with it? How are you going to build the pedagogy around that cool tool?”

We need to make sure that we slow down and think about why are we including the technology we have chosen for our lessons. We shouldn’t just toss in a Flipgrid or any other edtech tool we might like just because we need or want to use technology.  Karly’s friend Nick Zefeldt, advises that when implementing educational technology we need to make sure and ask “Is it meaningful and is it manageable?”

Well, we say “Yes!” to Flipgrid being both when used correctly and we want to give some ideas how you can effectively use Flipgrid in the classroom, and then link it into your HyperDoc lessons. The reason being that great HyperDocs are created and taught with purposeful lesson design and pedagogy and Flipgrid being so versatile by allowing for video feedback and increased student voice within your digital lesson design.

While HyperDocs can take many forms (slides, maps, drawing, forms etc), we will be referring to the sections from the basic HyperDoc template for our examples. The basic HyperDoc template has seven parts that students go through as you complete the lesson. This template was created by Sarah Landis to help others get started and gives an excellent description of each part.

There are tons of ways you can incorporate Flipgrid into your HyperDocs, here are just a few ideas for getting started. Note: You can go to “file” then “make a copy” of any of these templates or examples to use with your own class.

Engage

Use Flipgrid to engage students at the beginning of a lesson by including a video, image, quote, or another inspirational hook in your topic for students to respond to.

• Idea 💡  KWL chart gets a video REMIX. Have student respond to a topic sharing what they know. Then have them reply to themselves and classmates sharing what they want to know. After the lesson or unit have students come back to their own video and respond to themselves with what they have learned. Woo! A FlipGrid KWL

• Example HyperDoc

Explore

Students explore a topic through a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics, text excerpts, etc.) in the HyperDoc.

• Idea 💡 Bring in experts and take your students beyond the four walls of your classroom! Flipgrid hosts an amazing opportunity with their Flipgrid Explorer Series. They have done two so far and more are planned! Use the expert videos in the Explorer series for your students to learn about new and exciting animals, places and careers. HyperDocs are a perfect accompaniment to this series as you create your digital lessons around these topics and extend the learning in your own classroom.
• Example HyperDoc
• Idea 💡 So Flipgrid’s explore series doesn’t fit into your curriculum? Then create your own! Teachers can do this by creating a ‘virtual field trip’. Go to a place (we’re thinking state parks, historical sites, museums, etc)  that is of value to your lessons and record short videos of the sites to bring the content to your classroom.  Add the videos to a Flipgrid for your students to explore and respond to. Even better collaborate with other teachers across your district, state or even in other countries to create an explorer series for many different classes to connect through.

Apply and Share:

Create an assignment for students to apply what they learn by using web tools to create, collaborate, and/or connect beyond the classroom.  Then collect student work to provide feedback, and/or include a section for students to share work with an authentic audience.

• Idea 💡 Have students use storytelling web tools to apply their learning. Then appsmash with Flipgrid and get them to share with the class and beyond! Students show what they know using video or digital storytelling in a different app then upload to Flipgrid to share.
• Add in any part of or all of this  Flipgrid appsmash choice board to your HyperDoc and have students apply then share their learning!
• Idea 💡 You don’t need to appsmash. Students can simply connect with other students across the school, state, country or world! Before, during and/or after a unit have students connect with each other to share what they learned.

Reflect:

Give students an opportunity for digital reflection on their learning journey using Flipgrid to guide students through their learning progression and set new goals.

• Idea 💡 Have students reflect back on the lesson or unit and share what they have learned. This is a powerful way for students to be thoughtful about their learning process.
• Example HyperDoc
• Also see the KWL example for Engage above.

This quote from Matt Miller reminds us that we must be intentional in our teaching and integration of technology no matter what tools we decide to use in our lessons. “The bottom line is that pedagogy must drive technology. The mindset that fuels digital learning is good teaching trumps good tools.”

HyperDocs + Google Forms: A guide to simple digital lesson design

One day my colleague, Ashley Sansoe an amazing and innovative teacher, asked me to come into her class to brainstorm ways to work digital math lessons into her combo class. She wanted one grade level to be doing something productive and meaningful on their Chromebooks while the other grade level was working with her. 

After brainstorming a few ideas we decided that creating HyperDocs in Google Forms would give us the most bang for our buck. (Shout-out to Claire Tsougarakis for bringing this idea up in one of our EdCamps and planting the seed for how powerful forms are for HyperDocs!)

Creating HyperDocs in Google Forms allows us to integrate the powerful lesson design of HyperDocs into one manageable place. The value of using a Google Form for these short one-day lessons is that it allows the teacher to see all of the work in one place (on a spreadsheet). With the ease of the integrated self-grading quiz feature students were provided instant feedback on the questions and can then go back to review, reflect and then retake the quiz! 

These lessons assume that the content has been taught in class and this is an extension of the lesson. This lesson could easily be used to flip your class and provide you with a preview of what your class already knows coming into the lesson. 

You could use this same format for an eLearning lesson plan with a deeper dive. Check out 50 elearning activities, templates and tutorials for more ideas.

Below is an example HyperDoc created with Google Forms for 3rd graders.

We wanted to incorporate the lesson design that makes HyperDocs so effective in our form so we included sections that we hope do that. Here is how we designed our HyperDocs and have included a template for you to copy and use to get started. Of course, as with any template, use what you want and change it to make it your own!

Review/Reteach

After the Name short answer question (which we highly recommend making required) we embedded videos that reteach and/or reinforce the lesson. Check out 30 Great YouTube Channels for Teachers for inspiration or record and upload your own! 

Recording your own video is a great way to bring the classroom to your students at home. One of the easiest ways to do this is with Screencastify. A very simple chrome extension that allows you to easily record, edit, and share videos by directly uploading to YouTube, sharing through Google Classroom or by downloading to your computer. Check out 24 ways to create great classroom video with Screencastify for more information and ideas.

Adding a YouTube video to forms is easy peasy!

Show What You Know!

This section offers students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a standardized test format. You can create multiple-choice, checkboxes and multiple answer questions with the embedded quiz feature that will automatically give students a grade after they submit. They can view their score then review, reflect and retake their quiz. A few tips Ashley and I learned along the way are below =)

*Make these questions required and the others (except name) not required so that students can go back and easily retake this section of the assessment without needing to retype in their longer answers or resubmit links to activities. 

*Be sure the box for "Limit to 1 response" is unchecked so that they can take their quiz multiple times. You can also collect email addresses (just in case someone decides to put a funny name instead of their real one ;) and restrict responses to your G Suite domain users.

*Finally, uncheck the box that allows respondents to see "correct answers" under quiz settings so that students don't get the answer key when viewing their score!

Share Your Thinking

This one question section asks students to explain how they arrived at their answer. In math, this could be describing what method they used to solve the problem. In reading it could be justifying their answer with text evidence. One question that really goes deep and gives them the experience of explaining their thinking through typing on the computer. 

Apply Your Skills

Here you can add some sort of activity where the students are creating or manipulating something in order to show what they know. It could be an activity like in a Google Drawing or a quick creation of a Google slide that utilizes images to capture their thinking. Once finished students will click the share button then "get shareable link" to copy the URL to their creation.  They will paste the link into the form and once submitted the teacher will have all of the links to the students' work on the spreadsheet in one place.

Connect and Extend

Although not a part of the actual form, we include a link to a game or activity that reinforces the skill in a fun way under the form in Google classroom. ABCya! has some great ones to check out.

Information for the teacher. What do you see?

Whole-Class Summary:

When you click on responses in "edit" mode of your form you will see a summary of your whole class (or at least of those who submitted the form). If students took the quiz more than once you will see all of their results in this summary so take that into consideration when viewing the data. The information you get from the summary can give you valuable insight into what holes you may have as a class and inform your whole group instruction.

Individual Data:

You can view your student's' individual results either by clicking on "Individual" in the summary of the responses or you can create a spreadsheet. On a spreadsheet, you can view their "quiz" section answers and by sorting by name you can see how many times the took the quiz to get their desired score. All of their long answer questions are in one column and the links to their drawings are in another. You can give students feedback on their work through private comments in Google Classroom or on their "Apply" activity such as a Google Drawing. Verbal, face to face, feedback works too!

Ready to Get Started?

Ready to create your own HyperDoc in Google Forms? Make a copy of this template or go to forms.google.com and select "Blank Quiz" to get started! You can assign your form through Google Classroom or create the link and share it with students directly or through your LMS.  

Want to share your lesson with others?

Once you are finished you can share your form by creating a forced copy link so that others can use it too. 

To create a link that will make a forced copy follow the steps below: (thanks Sean Fahey for showing me how to do this!

• Click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner and go to "add collaborators" 

• Then change the sharing settings to "Anyone with link can edit"

• Finally, change the end of the URL from "edit" to "copy"

HyperDocs were created by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis and they are such a game-changer! Check out my previous post HyperDocs! Need I Say More???, their incredible website HyperDocs.co and definitely get your hands on a copy of their book The HyperDoc Handbook today! 

Hack Your HyperDoc with Google Drawings! Three Simple Ways to Get Started.

HyperDocs, created by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton and Sarah Landis, are a serious gamechanger when moving beyond just providing devices to truly integrating educational technology. (You can read ALL about HyperDocs and how to get started creating them here!) Google drawings, which I lovingly refer to as the "unsung hero" of Google Apps, is an incredibly versatile tool for getting students creating and showing what they know in a fun, visually stimulating format. Here are three simple ways to get started!

  

1. Embed a Google Drawing as a template in a HyperDoc for students to edit.

One of my favorite ways to use Google Drawings is to embed a Drawing in a HyperDoc that students can edit by double clicking. This allows you to have something such as a graphic organizer, virtual math manipulatives or even a sort in the doc for students to complete. When the HyperDoc is copied or assigned in Google Classroom the drawing is also copied so that each student gets their own copy of your template automatically embedded in the doc.

To insert a Google Drawing into a HyperDoc or other Google doc (how to GIF below)

• Place your cursor where you would like the drawing to be embedded.
• Click on "insert" then "Drawing".
• Create your template by inserting images and/or text boxes.
• Click "Save and Close".

To edit the drawing your students will double click, make their changes, then click "Save & Close". When they turn in the document their saved drawing will be embedded. A great way for students to show what they know!

Examples of ways to use Google Drawings templates in HyperDocs.

• Have students sort words by moving them into the column they belong. In this Food Chain HyperDoc students are categorizing organisms as either "producers, consumers, or decomposers". Google Drawings can be a great way for students to sort words for your word work time. Another great way to incorporate word word is to have them create "magnetic" poetry. Check out Kasey Bell's Collaborative Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings (refrigerator image included =). She has a link to a template ready for you to use in your next poetry unit! 

• Bring math into your HyperDoc with virtual math manipulatives. In this Fifth Grade Geometry, Measurement and Coding HyperDoc students are using Eric Curts' protractor template and moving the arrows to make an angle they worked with previously. You can find TONS of great math manipulatives in his Teaching Math with Google Drawings doc that you can make a copy of and then use to hack your math HyperDoc! Want even more math manipulative Google Drawings goodies? Check out Alice Keeler's post Using Google Drawing for Math Manipulatives

• Have students read a text, watch a video or view an image in a HyperDoc then use a graphic organizer or note taking template for brainstorming, drafting, taking notes, or responding. Lots of graphic organizers and templates are already shared and ready for you to copy make your own. Eric Curts has 40+ Graphic Organizers in this Templates folder! Once in the folder be sure to click "Add to Drive" (how to GIF) so that you can make a copy of all the templates. Matt Miller shares 15 FREE Google Drawings graphic organizers in this Ditch That Textbook past.  Barbra Drasby @MsDrasby has an awesome Story Creator graphic organizer that includes links to Help Hotline for students when they get stuck.

2. Students insert a Google drawing into a HyperDoc to demonstrate learning.

Students can use easily insert a Google Drawing into their HyperDoc to show what they have know or to create an image or infographic. In this HyperDoc template students will demonstrate new learning visually with a Google Drawing.  

Examples of a ways students can use a Google Drawing to show what they know.

• Have your student create word art. In this One Word HyperDoc students create word art in Google Drawings to share their One Word that describes their goals, dreams, ambitions and who they want to be in the new year. This could be used at the beginning of a new calendar year or at the beginning of a new school year.
• Using a diagram, cross-section, map or other visual students can recreate and label their own image. After learning about the Solar System in this Space Explorer HyperDoc third grade students draw and label the planets using an illustration as their guide. 

• After a science demonstration or experiment students can draw and label their finished project. They can also use drawings to plan out their model or project. Even first graders can use the tools in Google drawings to draw lines and boxes to represent a circuit. After visiting our STEM lab students can share their learning in a STEM Lab Reflection HyperDoc.

Early second grader's model of littleBits circuit.

Fifth grader's model of cubelets robot.

3. Get "GAFE SMASHING" with those HyperDocs! Docs + Slides + Drawings = Great Googley Goodness.

A fantastic way to get students connecting and collaborating in a HyperDoc is to have students insert a Google Drawing into a collaborative Google Slides presentation to share out what they have learned with the rest of the class or beyond! 

Getting a Google Drawing into a Google Slides presentation is a little more involved but it is worth it, especially if you are using it as way for students to share out  what they have learned with the whole class. When students insert a png or jpeg of their drawing other students can make comments but can't edit the original image in the collaborative slides presentation.

You will want to assign or have a forced copy (change "edit" at the end of the drawings url to "copy" then copy and paste the entire url) of this template which is formatted to fit a Google Slide. Then students can create a Google Drawing and have an image that is perfectly formatted for slides! Here is an easily adaptable template for you to use in your HyperDoc. Collaborative Google Slides with Google Drawings TEMPLATE. Don't forget to change the share settings to "anyone with link can edit" before assigning to the students.

Some ways to get your students connecting and collaborating with this fabulous "GAFE Smash"!

• Students create a graphic design or ad to demonstrate their knowledge and apply it. In this Simple Machines Unit HyperDoc students are challenged to design a product using one or more simple machine(s) that would help someone with disabilities. Then they will create an ad for their product using Google Drawings and share the image in a collaborative slides presentation.
• After viewing media or reading text about a topic students can create an infographic or poster in Google Drawings to share with the class in a collaborative Google Slides presentation. Students can comment on each others' drawings, ask questions or give feedback. In his post Google Drawings interactive posters (no glue sticks necessary!) Matt Miller shares some great tips for getting students creating some fantastic posters in Google Drawing! 

(Note: if you download a drawing as a png, jpeg or take a screenshot the links in a drawing no longer work. If you want to have students create a poster/image and keep the links they can do the same thing using the drawings features in Google Slides. Thanks Sean Fahey for that tip!). 

More Google Drawings Resources

Looking for a quick way to bookmark all of the Google Drawings resources shared above plus more? Check out this padlet full of Googley goodies! Have fun and don't forget to share your creations with @TsgiveTs!

Created with Padlet

HyperDocs! Need I say more????

This post was updated on 6/11/16 to include links to new videos and resources.

I love HyperDocs. Love, love, love them. I love making them, I love co-creating them with other teachers, and most of all, I LOVE watching and connecting the kids while they work on them. If you aren't familiar with this awesome digital tool keep reading for the 411 on HyperDocs!

Where did HyperDocs come from?

The terrific trio Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton and Sarah Landis coined the term HyperDocs when they created this amazing digital tool. They also created @Tsgivets a Twitter account dedicated to helping teachers share their creations with one another for FREE! How awesome is that?

A hyperwhat?

I first learned about HyperDocs from my colleague Nick Zefeldt when he came to give me some tech TOSA tips. He showed me an example hyperdoc and went through the lesson with me. BAM that was it, match made in edtech heaven! I was hooked on HyperDocs!

Isn't a hyperdoc just a doc with hyperlinks???

NOPE! It is SO much more! The beauty of HyperDocs is that the creation of the doc itself requires the teacher to take into consideration the needs of the students, how they will engage in the content, what ways they can reflect on their own learning, and how they can show what they know. It is also ALL about packaging. HyperDocs LOOK engaging because they are. Kids enjoy doing them and while they are learning, collaborating, creating and reflecting in their doc the teacher is given the gift of time to connect with students and engage in quality conversations with them about their learning.

Click here to see a larger version of this image.

OK I'm interested, how do I learn more?

At the CUE 2015 National conference held on March 17-19th 2016, Lisa held a session called Extreme Pedagogy Makeover using HyperDocs. This session gave us an overview of what HyperDocs are and how to get started. Check out the HyperDocs Explained page on Lisa's website and watch the entire session below!

NEW WEBSITE ALERT!!!

The official Teachers Give Teachers website is here! An INCREDIBLE site filled with amazing resources. You can Take 1 by searching through the ever growing library of shared HyperDocs created by teachers everywhere. OR you can Give 1 by registering on the site (easy peasy to do, you can register with Google) and upload your OWN HyperDoc (see LOTS of resources on how to create your own below) to share with the world! Go to TeachersGiveTeachers.net and check it out, it's pretty dang awesome.

I'm hooked! How do I get started creating?

Three ways to get started with HyperDocs.

1.  Use a template to guide you.
My favorite way to begin using HyperDocs is with a template. Lisa, Sarah and Kelly have created some FABULOUS templates you can copy and use. They are a great way to get started making HyperDocs. As I began to do some trainings with my staff and district I started creating some HyperDoc templates that included links to resources and ideas for each section. I spoke about the power of templates and Google tools when I was a guest on their weekly show "HyperDoc Hangouts on Air". See the episode below and get links to all of the templates and resources I shared by clicking "show more" under the YouTube video.

2. Remix someone else's already awesome HyperDoc!
The great thing about Twitter and TeachersGiveTeachers.net is that LOTS of teachers are sharing their amazing HyperDocs for FREE online. I post mine all the time! Here is a link to my shared HyperDocs folder that I will continue to add to (most have also been added to the website). The best part is that the teachers posting their work encourage you to take their HyperDoc and tweak it to turn it into one that works for you and your students (just be sure to put "inspired by" and the original creator's name at the bottom)! THAT is the power of TeachersGiveTeachers.net. In addition to the terrific trio there are some incredible HyperDoc creators sharing their resources online. Follow these people on Twitter, check out their blogs or websites and snag their HyperDoc gems!

Rocky Logue @slogue89
7th Grade Teacher, Templeton, CA
mrloguesroom.com

Heather Marshall @MsMarshallCMS
Middle School Teacher, Crockett, CA
middleschoolmind.com

Sean Fahey @SeanJFahey
4th Grade Teacher, Paoli, IN
faheystech.blogspot.com

Kendra Tyler @ktylercuesd
Junior High School Teacher, Corning, CA

teachingwithoutaquill.wordpress.com

Matt McFarlane @MrMacsclasses
Middle School Teacher, Templeton, CA
mrmacsroom.weebly.com

Lisa Guardino @LisaGuardino
Educational Technology TOSA
scribblesfromaschoolteacher.com

In addition to the website also check out this padlet FILLED with awesome HyperDocs shared by tons of amazing teachers. When you create one upload it to TeachersGiveTeachers.net and add it to the padlet too!

Created with Padlet

3. Start from a blank slate.
Open up a new Google Doc or Google Slides presentation and get creating! Lisa, Sarah and Kelly have got you covered with their How-To HyperDoc website! This site gives you step-by-step directions for creating your own hyperdoc. Also check out Lisa's "HyperDocs Explained" webpage for more ideas and links. Scroll down to Getting Started and check out the "Tips for Creating your own HyperDoc" link!

But WAIT There's MORE!

The HyperDoc Handbook is FINALLY Here!

Lisa, Sarah and Kelly have written a book! The HyperDoc Handbook has finally been released and it is already the #1 Best Seller in Computers and Technology! 

Order your copy on Amazon today and jump on the HyperDoc train! Don't forget to write a review if you love it and spread the love on Twitter with #HyperDocs and @TsGiveTs.