Tried It Tuesday - ePortfolio

In my district, we are officially evaluated every three years. It's not too bad - formal evaluation, new action plan, and update the portfolio. For the portfolio, we have the option to do a physical portfolio or electronic one. Since I have my masters (I can't ever seem to remember if it's possessive or plural) in educational technology, I kind of feel that I need to do mine electronically.

So this year, I'm doing mine through Google Sites. If you have a Blogger account, you can probably figure it out. The hardest part (most time-consuming) is creating the template and entering the standards. Luckily, that part was already done for me.


So then all I had to do was to change the template to the theme that suited me and enter my data points. The data source is who created the evidence, and the data point is the piece of evidence that the standard was met.

I created an ePortfolio folder in Google Drive that contains a folder for each standard. (Still a work in progress.)


In each standard, I made a Google doc for each data point that I was going to use.


My Google doc contains a brief summary about why that piece was included, along with a screen shot of the piece.


Then I clicked share so I could use the share URL to hyperlink the text to the evidence. So the above piece is what is linked to The Gold Coin Story Map below.


It is a little time-consuming, but it will be fairly easy to update and looks impressive. To share it with an administrator, share it within Google Sites and have it send an email to the admin. You will also have to share the Google Docs folder, but you don't need to have it send the email. You can see in the second and third images in this post how I have shared it with my admin.


Don't forget to take a hike through some great upper elementary blogs. More information is {here}.

Friends on the Fives - Kelli from Tales of a Teacher


Today I am thrilled to introduce my next guest blogger, Kelli from Tales of a Teacher. She has the cutest little blog full of pin-worthy ideas. I especially love the little book display shelf that she highlights at the end of her post. Enjoy!


Hey all!! I'm so grateful for Diane to share a little of her blogging space with me! I'm Kelli, from Tales of a Teacher. I have learned so much from so many teacher bloggers, that I thought I would try to contribute too! Here's a lil' intro on what I'm all about...



Bloggy Deets: I've had this blog for about a year and a half. I didn't do a whole lot on it the first year; I was shy. However, I've been a follower on many blogs for a while and absolutely LOVE that I am apart of the amazing community now for so many reasons.

Teacher Deets: I'm in my second year of teaching. Both years, I've been in 3rd grade and it's my favorite. I have the best teammates, great kids, and an excellent support system. I teach in good ole' Minnesota where I was born and raised and am keeping my fingers crossed that I get to stay put here for a while. I also am too organized for my own good, but I'm somewhat addicted to it.

Personal Deets: I'm a newlywed (what is the cut-off even?) I married my high school sweetheart after 8 1/2 years of being together. He's a teacher also, in his first year, teaching high school and middle school physical education and health. I treasure my family and friends and enjoy spending time with them, although many of them are scattered around. This upcoming year is going to be a great one- 7 weddings already and we are taking a late honeymoon to Italy in July for 2 weeks! I've never been beyond Mexico, so it'll truly be an adventure (and a good test for us ;) ) I also like to create things- whether it's for the classroom, a gift, or just for myself! TpT is a fairly new adventure for me, but I love having another outlet to share my creations!

You'll notice I use a lot of ( ) and .... and !!! I try to be aware of it and use them minimally, but it just happens. Bare with me.

One of my constant goals as a teacher is to build a supportive classroom environment. I'm always trying to make it fun, engaging, and culturally responsive. Our building is participating in a book study this year, and I've applied a lot of new strategies to connect with my students and have seen their engagement SKY rocket. I'm all about bringing their outside world into the classroom. We do a lot of moving, collaborating, sharing, and DANCING!!


{We love using music videos and just dance videos to get our wiggles out, as well as incorporate them into our transitions and learning.}

We also practice RC at my school, or Responsive Classroom. Students create a lot of our structures (rules, expectations- of course with my guidance) and are constantly involved in creating resources for their own learning. Click on the pictures below to check out some of my posts surrounding RC practices


        




I'm often inspired by others or the needs of my students to improve our classroom area so that it inviting, yet functional.




Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my rambles. I hope to connect with even more bloggers or readers of blog, share ideas, collaborate, and enjoy this amazing profession with one another! If you follow my blog (just click on my button at the top), make sure you leave a comment introducing yourself! I also have links to my TpT store, Pinterest boards, and Instagram on my blog. I leave you with a FREEBIE! Just click the picture below to be taken to it! Enjoy! :)




First Friends on the Fives - Julie from The Techie Teacher


A few days ago, I put out a call for guest bloggers. I am excited to share my first guest blogger, Julie! I have to admit... I totally fell in love with the design of her blog and it was definitely part of the inspiration for my design. She has some great ideas on integrating technology into your curriculum, and I am constantly impressed!


Hello Fifth in the Middle followers! I am Julie from The Techie Teacher and I am so excited to be a guest blogger for Diane. Fifth in the Middle has been one of my favorite blogs to follow since I started blogging :)

I have been a 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade classroom teacher and this past year I took on the roll of becoming an ITRT, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher. It seems like a totally different career since I now service 4 different schools and do a bit of moving around throughout the week. However, I get to do fun and engaging lessons using instructional technology all day everyday!

One of my favorite technology lessons that is SO simple yet SO meaningful is my Context Clues lesson. Click the image below to take you to this FREE Google Presentation that I use to get the students to realize the importance of looking for context clues when reading AND using context clues when writing.

This presentation is set up to be a guessing game. Nonsense words are used in a sentence and as the slides advance, more and more context clues are added to help the students figure out the actual word. Students use Today's Meet to submit their guesses. Today's Meet is a back channel used for digital communication in real time. Students type their guess in the blue box and wait for me to say the magic word "sparkle" before pressing Say to submit their guess. I like to have both the presentation and the Today's Meet "chat room" on my computer at the same time so I use the Google Extension, Split Screen, to run both websites in one condensed fashion:


Using the Split Screen extension has so many wonderful uses! Movie clip on one side, note taking on a Google Doc on the other side? Voice Recording website on one side, typed up Google Doc script on the other side? Our state tests are split screen so this is a great tool to get the kids use to looking at two different screens.

Side note: If you don't put a website into the split screen browser, the screen will take on the role of a notepad and you can take notes!

To add this extension to your Chrome browser, click {HERE}.

Feel free to stop by my blog, The Techie Teacher, and say hello! I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading :)