PixiClip + Google Classroom = Demonstrating Student Thinking

As a former math teacher, I'm always interested in hearing students explain the thinking behind their answer. But since my classroom had exactly one of me and a bunch of them, individual face time wasn't always possible.

I wish I'd had PixiClip.

PixiClip is a free online whiteboard that lets students show their work, record their voice, and submit their recording in Google Classroom with just a link. It doesn't require an account, and it works great on Chromebooks (especially the touch screen variety).

Here's how to use PixiClip and Google Classroom to let students to explain their thinking.

1. Create an assignment in Google Classroom with a link to PixiClip. Students open the assignment and follow the link.
   
   
   
   
   
2. There are drawing tools on the left, including the ability to upload images.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Select "Add Audio Message" and allow PixiClip to access the microphone. Click "Record" and start drawing and speaking.
   
   
   
   
   
4. When finished, click "Publish & Share," name your PixiClip, then click "Save." PixiClip will automatically show a preview.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Copy the link at the top of the PixiClip preview and return to the assignment in Google Classroom. Select "Add Link," paste the link to your PixiClip, and select "Add Link." Select "Turn In" twice.
   
   
   
   
   

After students turn in their work in Classroom, all you have to do is open the assignment and click on their links. It will open their recording in a new tab, so you can quickly watch their PixiClip, then use "Ctrl + W" to close the tab and return to Classroom.

When you can't get to every student, PixiClip is the next best thing to let them explain the thinking behind their answer.  

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Storybird (5 of 5)

Storybird picked this up as part of their Google Classroom case study. Check out their post. 

As the final installation in the 5 Creative Tools series, Storybird truly gets imaginations going. Essentially, it's a way for students to create their own book and publish it online. Storybird lets student choose the set of artwork they like, then write their story based on the images.

My kindergartener published her first book in about 30 minutes, so I know from experience this is an incredible tool for even the youngest budding author.

Check out how it works with Google Classroom in the screencast below.

Check out the rest of this series:

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Coggle

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Storyboard That

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Vocaroo

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: MoveNote

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Vocaroo (3 of 5)

When I was a kid, my cousins and I spent an entire summer entranced by the tape recorder my dad gave us to play with. It amazed us to hear the sound of our own voice coming out of that little box, so we wrote scripts, acted out books, and basically made stuff up just to see what it sounded like.

I can only imagine what we would have been like with Vocaroo.

Vocaroo is the simplest way I know of to record online audio. Your students can use this for simple podcasts, reading fluency, dramatizations, or anything else their creative hearts desire, then submit the link to their recording through Classroom. Check out both the teacher and student side in the screencast below.

Check out the rest of this series:

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Coggle

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Storyboard That

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Storyboard That (2 of 5)

In the first post in this series, we looked at the simple and straightforward Coggle, a fantastic mind-mapping tool that lets students create connections between ideas.

Now we'll turn our attention to Storyboard That. There are countless blogs out there extolling the virtues and possibilities of this tool (like here, here, here, and here), so this screencast focuses on the specifics of getting in, signing up, the basics of storyboard creation, and how to submit published work using Classroom.

Check out the rest of this series:

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Coggle

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Coggle (1 of 5)

We recently conducted a professional development session for the teachers in our 1:1 pilot, and the focus was "From Consumers to Creators." The goal was to give teachers tools they could use for students to create products, not just consume content.

Honestly, not every teacher is at this point in their comfort level with technology, but we're trying to create a vision of what technology use can be in the classroom. Teachers were able to choose their own path during the session: they could go back and review the tools we explored during our August Institute, or they could go on and investigate these new tools for their teaching toolbox.

For each tool, we wanted to be explicit about how students would create an account, create their product, then submit their work in Classroom. In most of the videos, teachers saw both their own teacher view as well as the student view. De-mystifying the process from both sides goes a long way toward helping teachers take the leap to student creation.

Coggle is up first. Possibly the most straightforward mind-mapping tool ever, it integrates with Google Drive and allow students to make all kinds of connections about what they're learning. Whether it's vocabulary, concepts, or events, Coggle lets you make thinking visual.

Small Bytes: Google Classroom

Google Classroom is Google Drive management dressed in beautiful simplicity. Clean and straightforward, it's exceptionally intuitive in its workflow, and is the perfect hub for any digitally oriented classroom.

If you'd like to read more about the new features in Classroom, Alice Keeler has an excellent summary of them, as well as some more detailed opinions on always unchecking a certain box in Classroom (you'll have to read here to find out which one...).

If you want to see the features in action, please enjoy the latest edition of Small Bytes.

Other Small Bytes Playlists:
Google Drive Basics
Google Docs Basics
Google Slides Basics
Google Forms Basics