tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9712453119066529112024-02-07T00:07:36.719-06:00Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-66595394200101446762013-10-23T11:55:00.000-05:002013-10-23T11:55:57.119-05:00Discussing: "The Death of Math" by Gary Rubenstein<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Rubenstein bemoans testing culture's effect on Math education and suggests a better way forward. I feel his pain but think he's only half-right.</i></div>
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Gary Rubenstein in his <a href="http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/10/19/death-of-math/" target="_blank">"The Death of math" blog post</a> is spot-on about the short-sighted nature of de-prioritizing away from vital skills like geometric proofs as a result of standardized testing pressures. Proofs <b><i>are</i></b> geometry and are by far the most valuable aspect of it. And it ain't about the math, it's about the way of thinking that geometry proofs cultivate (yes, I'm an English teacher that has come to love "ain't"--deal with it!).<br />
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But Rubenstein is a bit behind the times in the <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/" target="_blank">Khan Academy</a> era. Sal Khan, my former boss and co-worker (a fact that I will brag about until the end of eternity), has worked out a better solution to a lot of the issues that Rubenstein tries to solve.<br />
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Rubenstein's suggestion to trim the curriculum is a way to encourage depth instead of super-shallow breadth. But what makes more sense is Sal's mastery approach; master a foundational skill and then move on to the next set of skills that build upon it. Move at your own pace. Don't skip key foundational skills that will leave you ill-prepared for skills down the road.<br />
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Simply curtailing the curriculum would be an improvement to our current shotgun/spray-and-pray curriculum but it's also a lowest common denominator approach; a blunt club to Sal's electron microscope scalpel. The future is individualized, custom-tailored instruction and curriculum for every student at every ability level, not a broader net that can catch more students less precisely.<br />
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And I'm not onboard with Rubenstein's suggestion of making Math an elective beyond 8th grade. Look, I hate how much hand-holding and coddling we do in school, but 14-year-olds do still need firm guidance in many, many areas. Given the choice, plenty of super-stinky hormonal teenage boys wouldn't shower every day. Or ever wash their sweaty PE shirt. Parts of high schools should be cordoned off as biohazard zones. Seriously.<br />
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I suspect that Rubenstein's <i>laissez-faire</i> attitude on this comes more from his own distaste for teaching kids who don't want to be there. Math is awesome to him and if you don't get that love or don't want to be there, so be it. That's how I felt about my senior Humanities course that kids had no choice about taking; Herodotus ain't for everyone. Fair enough. They shouldn't have to be subjected to it.<br />
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But Math isn't a take-it-or-leave-it proposition; you really can't get too far in life if you aren't at least modestly proficient in Math.<br />
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The better change would be to make Math more project-oriented so there's always a "why" motivating each skill. What's the practical purpose of factoring polynomials? Anyone? I aced Math through BC Calc but I didn't have any freakin' clue why polynomials mattered. Give kids a reason, a practical application for the math and it won't seem like such arbitrary, pointless torture.<br />
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Maybe it makes more sense to front-load Physics as a way to provide the <i>raison d'être</i> for Math. The sheer beauty of tossing an object and plotting out its parabolic arc suddenly makes all that algebra clear and relevant. Wakeboarding and iTunes downloads are all based on trig wave functions. 3D graphics are all predicated on linear algebra matrix manipulations.<br />
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Learning is never effective when it's in a vacuum, segregated from the "why" that gives the thing its value and purpose.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-53217272377844903992013-10-01T13:02:00.002-05:002013-10-01T13:02:47.205-05:00K-5 Common Core standards in-progress!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>EssayTagger's free Common Core Rubric Creation Tool has been very well received by teachers. But I initially only adapted the 6-12 standards. I'm finally gearing up for K-5!</i></div>
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Our free <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/commoncore" target="_blank">Common Core Rubric Creation Tool</a> is quite popular. It's been used to create over 7,500 Common Core-aligned rubrics in just its first year! And easily half of our customer support emails are from people who want us to incorporate the K-5 standards.<br />
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Well, I hear you and I am working on it!! Check out the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0An2ReckjGxNFdDFZOFduNmM2TmpyUGJza0Uya3BQY1E&output=html" target="_blank">work-in-progress</a>.<br />
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<b>Want to help? </b><br />
I'd love some collaborators! This is difficult! Use the support widget on the website, respond in the comments below, or find me on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/KeithMukai" target="_blank">@KeithMukai</a>) if you want to contribute!<br />
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<b>Some background</b><br />
For those of you that don't know, the innovative aspect of the tool is that it breaks down each standard into its assessable sub-components:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdF1fTfBrc20_eCiIjdfArUCD89bxcxNnKlfKC9aQOFjEUDa6QH2BoWQZ8wz2Aa6MRgTn42EerBwXV0oEGsnlvj2t5pXyumxG7Gsju1jZDkCvvb2cYnWwBeewjR1IUZjICFeTfZjT_R_yF/s1600/Create+a+new+Common+Core+rubric-215734.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdF1fTfBrc20_eCiIjdfArUCD89bxcxNnKlfKC9aQOFjEUDa6QH2BoWQZ8wz2Aa6MRgTn42EerBwXV0oEGsnlvj2t5pXyumxG7Gsju1jZDkCvvb2cYnWwBeewjR1IUZjICFeTfZjT_R_yF/s1600/Create+a+new+Common+Core+rubric-215734.png" /></a></div>
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This solves the problem that teachers face when they look at the standards; the dang things are just too vague, cover too much ground, or just aren't assessable.<br />
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It was also a crap-ton of work for me! Those assessable sub-components aren't part of the official CCSS specification; I had to stare at each standard and find a concise way to translate the standard into its assessable sub-components. That's not easy. And I'm not necessarily going to get everything right.<br />
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So I also made the tool flexible so that if you don't like my terminology or the way I've done it, you can edit the labels or even add totally new subcomponents as you see fit.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHdriGzNvzgXor03-XTlscQV3xbrISAeQsHeK-ry5XgkEBXAafGzEM7wDXOuqd0askeajS2DnPkWqS6umMsMgx6jh7npo0Av7z700Jm84iEQdu7G0_OQv5eOuxj92AJbpslNpxOOte4pJ6/s1600/Create+a+new+Common+Core+rubric.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHdriGzNvzgXor03-XTlscQV3xbrISAeQsHeK-ry5XgkEBXAafGzEM7wDXOuqd0askeajS2DnPkWqS6umMsMgx6jh7npo0Av7z700Jm84iEQdu7G0_OQv5eOuxj92AJbpslNpxOOte4pJ6/s400/Create+a+new+Common+Core+rubric.png" width="339" /></a></div>
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You then end up with a rubric grid that you can further customize, add additional CCSS-aligned rubric elements, add non-CCSS-aligned rubric elements (e.g. "Class Citizenship" or anything else not captured by the CCSS). You can also add performance descriptors (the traditional rubric text we're used to seeing) in each grid cell. You can share your rubric online (post a link, Twitter, email, etc), print it, or download it as an Excel CSV file.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_A1mARh7vkFAAQ5iZHk_T1cWbb52oGQqHN6-O8WChTicZ8whdyDxaJgmvTN4dARMHEe2HHymnzehXjNkPX73Tp62F9XybKRT_IQJINM19Ra6JPfyhliNQVh2ZVAx_9SPlCn-fJzbmTup/s1600/View+rubric-215951.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_A1mARh7vkFAAQ5iZHk_T1cWbb52oGQqHN6-O8WChTicZ8whdyDxaJgmvTN4dARMHEe2HHymnzehXjNkPX73Tp62F9XybKRT_IQJINM19Ra6JPfyhliNQVh2ZVAx_9SPlCn-fJzbmTup/s640/View+rubric-215951.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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And, of course, since this tool is part of <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/" target="_blank">EssayTagger</a>, you can apply your rubric to an EssayTagger assignment and produce <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2012/11/latest-update-common-core-progression.html" target="_blank">Common Core-aligned results data</a> as you grade!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVc5wI10dyMsF06k0yAJHG-65CRbH70wQtUXeu9qtqXTbfuvDT_sx1JxGxLERk2ZXQxVjtA17bEu1rQh4keYl04-lsVwNAMcEaFZTUMke0Yff77aQSNrtTB8HSywkF3TShyphenhyphenVJ755j_DFR/s1600/Common+Core+Student+Progression-114147.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVc5wI10dyMsF06k0yAJHG-65CRbH70wQtUXeu9qtqXTbfuvDT_sx1JxGxLERk2ZXQxVjtA17bEu1rQh4keYl04-lsVwNAMcEaFZTUMke0Yff77aQSNrtTB8HSywkF3TShyphenhyphenVJ755j_DFR/s1600/Common+Core+Student+Progression-114147.png" /></a></div>
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The Common Core Rubric Creation Tool is free for anyone to try and there's no registration or sign in required.<br />
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That being said, I certainly would not be disappointed if you decided to go deeper into the EssayTagger world and <a href="https://www.essaytagger.com/register_secure" target="_blank">create a free trial account</a> in order to see what life is like when you grade essays in our system. And as I always have to point out: EssayTagger is NOT an auto-grader. You make all the evaluations, you provide all the feedback. We just make it easier and more efficient for you to do so!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-7151391689723017732013-05-30T10:45:00.005-05:002013-06-06T22:46:44.456-05:00Summer Project: DIY Gymnastics Mushroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>In addition to running EssayTagger I'm also a high school gymnastics coach. This is totally off-topic for EssayTagger, but I didn't have anywhere else to post it!</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkB6Fs4NEdiXqy6ccjzWKVLkCnPNSetHCQ1XCiXkzxUGjBYht-1mU_KomkCMTgAw_1cW5nbcoYjGa5C7qYZIbyGIyNBDqy6HF_zLz5-GX3an2XXLP-i-b-lv9wtkI9pBgUk5OukfVQemm/s1600/flares2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkB6Fs4NEdiXqy6ccjzWKVLkCnPNSetHCQ1XCiXkzxUGjBYht-1mU_KomkCMTgAw_1cW5nbcoYjGa5C7qYZIbyGIyNBDqy6HF_zLz5-GX3an2XXLP-i-b-lv9wtkI9pBgUk5OukfVQemm/s320/flares2.png" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My flares aren't perfect but they are fun!</td></tr>
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A mushroom is an indispensable tool for developing pommel horse circles. It takes a ton of time just to get a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uWoRBsPiek&list=PLD5E7F60E2F65E7AF" target="_blank">basic circle</a> but once you're there you can start working <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkBp8GYK2bM" target="_blank">spindles</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR5jLNfRCJ0" target="_blank">russians</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B-Ou4iA4Go" target="_blank">flares</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkQnUntdSpI" target="_blank">moores</a>, back moores, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=V3hJq64muBA#t=84s" target="_blank">spindle flares</a>, swiss hops. Add some obstacles and you can also work <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcHiPnihYRA" target="_blank">loops and back loops</a>.<br />
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The best part is that you can train all this on your own, in the offseason. You can easily get circles in 9 months. It's a lot harder to do it during our 10-week season.<br />
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Unfortunately mushrooms are expensive. The type in the picture on the left with a steel base costs about $950. Even the cheapo-looking plastic mushrooms are over $300. Ouch!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirO-arIRJPVIBxl1OoEbkzDaFglmFGyDjLEdnYJrC0OR06w0_2R5r97cDMxwjyzU-DJVgOqJFVr-NG6lNisUFSbME2KC5_AD-HPYcSbjsFR_sJ1Cmjxhv1YYIvC9-h2gzHgLnzsh4DTgyN/s1600/ultradome_t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirO-arIRJPVIBxl1OoEbkzDaFglmFGyDjLEdnYJrC0OR06w0_2R5r97cDMxwjyzU-DJVgOqJFVr-NG6lNisUFSbME2KC5_AD-HPYcSbjsFR_sJ1Cmjxhv1YYIvC9-h2gzHgLnzsh4DTgyN/s1600/ultradome_t.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">$300+ for this?!</td></tr>
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So I wanted to engineer my own mushroom that would be strong enough to support my 157lbs, it had to be simple enough for my more handy high school gymnasts to build at home, and the raw materials had to be reasonably affordable.<br />
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I'm pretty happy with the results:<br />
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<b>Tools needed</b><br />
Drill<br />
7/16" drill bit<br />
1" flat bit<br />
Mitre saw (or do the cuts at a hardware store)<br />
Light duty staple gun<br />
Box cutter<br />
Measuring tape<br />
Sharpie<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
25" planter - Costco: $17.99<br />
24" pine round - Lowes: $17.57<br />
3' 3/8" anti-fatigue mat - Lowes: $3.97/ft = $12<br />
Great Stuff Big Gap Filler Insulating Foam Sealant: $5<br />
16x36x3/4 board - $7.78<br />
1yd vinyl fabric remnant - $6<br />
8" carriage bolts, flat washers, lock washers, nuts, wingnuts: ~$9<br />
2x Liquid Nails clear all-purpose glue: $5.94<br />
Krylon indoor/outdoor sealer/primer: $4.10<br />
8' 2x4: $5<br />
4x 24" interlocking kids foam playmat panels: ~$30<br />
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I'll go into more detail on the various materials below, but I encourage you to improvise and just use whatever you happen to have on-hand at home or can find at your local hardware store.<br />
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<b>The base</b><br />
I used a big 25" planter from Costco. It looks like wood but it's really just a thick plastic. When it's flipped upside down it makes for a nice wide, sturdy base. It can easily support my full weight and it won't tip over.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXw_lF8DGFpiofAdGopJ0r-ZvN826tDg3tDlVQPeRZ95PsJRtfFC1B0HAhBZ7CkGNdS4fHp1YulRbHysy6Ro6ZqJlg1-jxxALp-xZmAHqTp-FnNceOkUeDiJnLdAANSqG8YwJVthLuU4zK/s1600/2013-05-14%252B13.14.15-2542357861-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXw_lF8DGFpiofAdGopJ0r-ZvN826tDg3tDlVQPeRZ95PsJRtfFC1B0HAhBZ7CkGNdS4fHp1YulRbHysy6Ro6ZqJlg1-jxxALp-xZmAHqTp-FnNceOkUeDiJnLdAANSqG8YwJVthLuU4zK/s320/2013-05-14%252B13.14.15-2542357861-O.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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The only flaw with this planter is that the bottom has a recessed inner section that ended up creating a bit of a wobble for the mushroom top. I had to grab a scrap 1/2" board to level it off.<br />
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I didn't think the plastic would hold up to the pressure of the metal bolts that will hold the whole thing together. So I took a 16x36x3/4" board and cut it down to 16x16" and trimmed the corners so it would fit inside the bottom of the planter.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggc6TR95nnrLpx_wrpvzMVuMyv-m8TMnaMNGYPGPlUfK0RBhrTfIqvds6HBvNX1VqUS6BfA37yRwqhNf4pqZpoQIr1kfAt6EXmVb9T_1eANNjih0OtR2ZZXlryUiTA0c86tOLK-AFshBM3/s1600/IMG_0537-2542361758-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggc6TR95nnrLpx_wrpvzMVuMyv-m8TMnaMNGYPGPlUfK0RBhrTfIqvds6HBvNX1VqUS6BfA37yRwqhNf4pqZpoQIr1kfAt6EXmVb9T_1eANNjih0OtR2ZZXlryUiTA0c86tOLK-AFshBM3/s200/IMG_0537-2542361758-O.jpg" width="200" /> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YQjvgDeRtSi-osfo6H1JvhkM0zb8BXCQYvt99c0oCsTEbBHpOdga8Ht5yqscYYK2nPHV3MK3hMemp1TJA_uw0TCAlSQQFrJjNdAwDMKR5Ssfz3yuMJ7zMr_w5Ax_YUtScIxFOyk25O4e/s1600/IMG_0538-2542363226-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YQjvgDeRtSi-osfo6H1JvhkM0zb8BXCQYvt99c0oCsTEbBHpOdga8Ht5yqscYYK2nPHV3MK3hMemp1TJA_uw0TCAlSQQFrJjNdAwDMKR5Ssfz3yuMJ7zMr_w5Ax_YUtScIxFOyk25O4e/s200/IMG_0538-2542363226-O.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>The mushroom top</b><br />
I found this awesome <a href="http://www.lowes.com/pd_228499-99899-L5RND174424S_0__?productId=3603624&Ntt=24%22+pine+round&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3D24%2522%2Bpine%2Bround&facetInfo=" target="_blank">24" pine round</a> with smooth, rounded edges. It's nice enough that you could use it to make a little table. The mushroom padding and dome shape will sit on top of this table top. Definitely the best option if you don't have a band saw that can cut circular sections out of a board. And I think it's shockingly affordable at $17.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWlWHqG9P3O1wucE1YavgnhkjQWGoqrTY7lqQVBbs8qYGvOgXkVE6l4NDP9BvEH2OVIFWuSBl-pGgfOdagqgKFRjAXhh1NbgR1tjVp6TXRbKdaztlsEdEBK7XOtr21ttja9BKjhF6xAcj/s1600/IMG_0540-2542364546-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWlWHqG9P3O1wucE1YavgnhkjQWGoqrTY7lqQVBbs8qYGvOgXkVE6l4NDP9BvEH2OVIFWuSBl-pGgfOdagqgKFRjAXhh1NbgR1tjVp6TXRbKdaztlsEdEBK7XOtr21ttja9BKjhF6xAcj/s400/IMG_0540-2542364546-O.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Pre-drill the bolt holes</b><br />
I used 8" carriage bolts (3/8" diameter, 16-thread) to hold the mushroom head to the base. Even though the bolts are 3/8" I used a larger drill bit (7/16) so that the holes would be bigger. Unless you have a drill press, odds are your holes will be slightly askew from vertical. The larger holes give you more of a margin of error when it comes time to assemble everything.<br />
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Tip: Insert a bolt after you drill each hole to make sure that everything stays lined up as you drill the next hole.<br />
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Tip: Notice the little arrow on the wooden board in the pic below? Mark the board, the planter, and the table top so that you know which bolt holes are supposed to line up.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAeOG11ZIgVw1B2-mRvjVv5hPqe3Nh6sI2ric6Zqwl-_v_GMiRB_cHKJymhRJe8NcjgqfPAVsttCzSCYuZtM2xWt6FDt4nU_uFu_hIEjZmdZSf5q7lfPB8al42s8ei8CyL3oQ8wQApexg/s1600/IMG_0543-2542368328-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="505" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAeOG11ZIgVw1B2-mRvjVv5hPqe3Nh6sI2ric6Zqwl-_v_GMiRB_cHKJymhRJe8NcjgqfPAVsttCzSCYuZtM2xWt6FDt4nU_uFu_hIEjZmdZSf5q7lfPB8al42s8ei8CyL3oQ8wQApexg/s640/IMG_0543-2542368328-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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If you have a 1" flat bit, you can countersink the top of the table top so that the carriage bolt heads can sit flush with the surface. Either way make sure you use a washer between the carriage bolt and the wood.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy60KHXUBri4I5ipQXSdDWyni2_ka3R5lLbY-JsvqIBUxH1tvgvnfit8n2MHop4ZLpEd1VoL_7aX8AdOnJlHFRCpLIR5WGSoJFMZiAMK_MpC21Km9QyXLwCm_484bxq1LsKGxgSp8VG5Ci/s1600/IMG_0565-2542376095-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy60KHXUBri4I5ipQXSdDWyni2_ka3R5lLbY-JsvqIBUxH1tvgvnfit8n2MHop4ZLpEd1VoL_7aX8AdOnJlHFRCpLIR5WGSoJFMZiAMK_MpC21Km9QyXLwCm_484bxq1LsKGxgSp8VG5Ci/s640/IMG_0565-2542376095-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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At this point we can bolt the table top to the base planter. But wait - I found the mushroom top to be a little too low to ground for my taste.<br />
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<b>Raise the mushroom top</b><br />
So I took some 2x4s that I had lying around and cut them with a mitre saw to form an "X" base to go under the table top. I angle cut the bottom pieces just to be fancy. It's easy on the mitre saw, so why not?! You could probably nail everything together, but I tend to use screws to make sure everything stays locked in place. Obviously check your nail or screw length to make sure you won't puncture the top of the table top.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMUEfinVhrUXci8j4RtTmvKLc2qGZ_J4A0eBgVpz293kgoAlYJz1mEyBHXChvnEGIQeFL-ZmGUsW_MX1xbQMoY53ldcc2kuzUva6m7QXpICCnmJWYbDKbA-t93WxBI5BZo2ck_wdunOUH/s1600/IMG_0551-2542371784-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMUEfinVhrUXci8j4RtTmvKLc2qGZ_J4A0eBgVpz293kgoAlYJz1mEyBHXChvnEGIQeFL-ZmGUsW_MX1xbQMoY53ldcc2kuzUva6m7QXpICCnmJWYbDKbA-t93WxBI5BZo2ck_wdunOUH/s640/IMG_0551-2542371784-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The assembly is now starting to take shape. Notice that the 2x4s were measured to be just wider than the planter's bottom diameter to ensure edge-to-edge contact and maximize downward pressure transfer. You can also see how the extra 1/2" spacer board in the planter's recessed center is leveling things out for the 2x4s.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHCqP8NbR6VumnKpB_6xCgsT5ehQzPTSRp7BVJBpimcQrNESDpGAEK5Irw-3rKcDIy_liywqNoB-__7rMfpInKbOWtrY2YH9ueuJNEyVYHckR2gZgeY3nLHWCVNJ4nq2vajAhea3gbbvv/s1600/IMG_0546-2542369671-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHCqP8NbR6VumnKpB_6xCgsT5ehQzPTSRp7BVJBpimcQrNESDpGAEK5Irw-3rKcDIy_liywqNoB-__7rMfpInKbOWtrY2YH9ueuJNEyVYHckR2gZgeY3nLHWCVNJ4nq2vajAhea3gbbvv/s640/IMG_0546-2542369671-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I wanted to lock off the carriage bolts directly underneath the table top. But the bolts I used weren't threaded for the two inches or so closest to the bolt head. So I had to add an extra spacer block. These triangle pieces are actually the leftovers from the board that I trimmed to fit inside the planter.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeB2ynSuHbOQwhuF_heP23IAlXfsHf-kqErm6zTyeJHuvmZbwdIuSsoI7_OU6sM2Jg0o0d3DillDW9KbiAzwpRNsYBKaevQjCFsidej4jIBoN1vmVk8_xAUTVBBsv4k6YJq5kV5o_oDAlv/s1600/IMG_0564-2542374841-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeB2ynSuHbOQwhuF_heP23IAlXfsHf-kqErm6zTyeJHuvmZbwdIuSsoI7_OU6sM2Jg0o0d3DillDW9KbiAzwpRNsYBKaevQjCFsidej4jIBoN1vmVk8_xAUTVBBsv4k6YJq5kV5o_oDAlv/s640/IMG_0564-2542374841-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The bolts are locked in with a flat washer, locking washer, and nut.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MCcg8bTwHuRsTGZw-ZK0ySa-1fG9YYB6lxIzOvV2iS8XWCid9GhWY1MRFiZyIBMfQS9cseotw6IHgJhL8_gMHWbzSTVZhvDYAIrSk8sodFe75WyS26Q-8MzK5oa0UzelipYS26xyBz8v/s1600/IMG_0582-2542386694-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MCcg8bTwHuRsTGZw-ZK0ySa-1fG9YYB6lxIzOvV2iS8XWCid9GhWY1MRFiZyIBMfQS9cseotw6IHgJhL8_gMHWbzSTVZhvDYAIrSk8sodFe75WyS26Q-8MzK5oa0UzelipYS26xyBz8v/s640/IMG_0582-2542386694-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then I used washers and wingnuts to complete the assembly inside the planter. If you zoom in, you'll also notice that I used two screws to fix this inside board to the 1/2" spacer board on the opposite side of the planter. This keeps both boards in place so neither can fall off or shift around.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQs7O0AF79Dh3P0L70le8v0rW8DGQEb5_OVjjkOIU9mr6l-AnuMs3cMSdshrwZZJQbPCQSuL82dyZrhkP5_sYFWKN6xVKRH_wo7StTpta4VAGm19CGetsC_s92x4_Bt8tOWHFubRIJNbn/s1600/IMG_0584-2542388210-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQs7O0AF79Dh3P0L70le8v0rW8DGQEb5_OVjjkOIU9mr6l-AnuMs3cMSdshrwZZJQbPCQSuL82dyZrhkP5_sYFWKN6xVKRH_wo7StTpta4VAGm19CGetsC_s92x4_Bt8tOWHFubRIJNbn/s640/IMG_0584-2542388210-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm using wingnuts because the full assembly won't fit in my car! This way I can just loosen the wingnuts and disassemble the two major pieces of the mushroom for transport.</div>
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<b>Shaping the dome</b></div>
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At first I wasn't sure that the dome shape of a typical mushroom really mattered. Turns out the dome <i><u>is</u></i> pretty dang important. It's just too hard on your wrists if you use a flat table top surface, even if it's padded.</div>
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Shaping the dome is the hardest part. A friend of mine is experimenting with using his fire pit as a cast for a cement pour. I've been experimenting with these <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=24%22+foam+interlocking+playmat" target="_blank">24" interlocking foam playmats</a>. The EVA foam playmats are surprisingly rigid and hold their shape very well under pressure. But so far they're proving to still be a little too soft. Circles are a lot harder when your palms sink into the mushroom surface. So consider this part a work-in-progress.</div>
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I ended up cutting the playmats into concentric circles, stepping the diameters down about 1.5" for each level. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRAs_0N3kADm3O9vO0ieQZ04P1x_bh_Cm5Wqux3T700lt2yy1Nh5BKJpgMJ9t_0KRSFQ-Avzeuy65zGUH2OD2cTdX0jYtZMuI0Mx5TFU0wvnASOFYtZERL8vp_BCDfBz6bIPRnaFpX_DA/s1600/IMG_0553-2542373300-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRAs_0N3kADm3O9vO0ieQZ04P1x_bh_Cm5Wqux3T700lt2yy1Nh5BKJpgMJ9t_0KRSFQ-Avzeuy65zGUH2OD2cTdX0jYtZMuI0Mx5TFU0wvnASOFYtZERL8vp_BCDfBz6bIPRnaFpX_DA/s640/IMG_0553-2542373300-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's pretty easy to devise a circle-drawing tool!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidk8aFfnsG5IIyjQI5EDq9FtIqqMHqYHaWnQQRHhSv9iu6rjTaWZipGj7U9QoE5Wwvna50jQKG-mcbHBFO0n3DMQYQ6ImisUN6vbjLNHK08aROmyw7b_O0ofucZBG7kcmJiTBDjpqvAcNF/s1600/IMG_0572-2542378550-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidk8aFfnsG5IIyjQI5EDq9FtIqqMHqYHaWnQQRHhSv9iu6rjTaWZipGj7U9QoE5Wwvna50jQKG-mcbHBFO0n3DMQYQ6ImisUN6vbjLNHK08aROmyw7b_O0ofucZBG7kcmJiTBDjpqvAcNF/s400/IMG_0572-2542378550-O.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can cut multiple smaller circles from a single mat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At first I tried using the mat's interlocking tabs to use them to ease the transitions between each level. It ends up looking like some horrible sombrero or a crazy cookie.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjid8d_rAGgcdKOnYzOxank-3_no-fG6pOM_cujn6Ka6kxF_yypA19ScrZz72isvIf4ISH6odu2TIUs3GS9Fj2AzliipuVS2uRcwrYKtKR9RyPBAyUntAnh1JMqj8K2O5mtCh1h8YAOkeb6/s1600/IMG_0576-2542381947-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjid8d_rAGgcdKOnYzOxank-3_no-fG6pOM_cujn6Ka6kxF_yypA19ScrZz72isvIf4ISH6odu2TIUs3GS9Fj2AzliipuVS2uRcwrYKtKR9RyPBAyUntAnh1JMqj8K2O5mtCh1h8YAOkeb6/s200/IMG_0576-2542381947-O.jpg" width="200" /> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwm-2l8-ecYMPn9g6LSK3tNnMHuMhf9bJhPkKQmHLNFqxF07LgL3MP42K4QtDiD4EB-NDyvCuZ8OwdSjA9S38n2dyakiWQADHF7fbEAix7FyHJnM2w3AiX50IWH65JAuUEdkLlw3FxqDj/s1600/IMG_0575-2542380287-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwm-2l8-ecYMPn9g6LSK3tNnMHuMhf9bJhPkKQmHLNFqxF07LgL3MP42K4QtDiD4EB-NDyvCuZ8OwdSjA9S38n2dyakiWQADHF7fbEAix7FyHJnM2w3AiX50IWH65JAuUEdkLlw3FxqDj/s200/IMG_0575-2542380287-O.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcHfMYWnNpgQI7iXR7X23BP7RztjPvW8CeXZ46m28brBrNhgi7RRBU1pDU30WDmHsjoayNwc_lJ_6xb4xZsul4CZ5bDDTNAa48gg8Kjcobq8znqy6PlLIFSrZ_NlRdOK7-3EnEYwYjTP8/s1600/IMG_0577-2542383525-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcHfMYWnNpgQI7iXR7X23BP7RztjPvW8CeXZ46m28brBrNhgi7RRBU1pDU30WDmHsjoayNwc_lJ_6xb4xZsul4CZ5bDDTNAa48gg8Kjcobq8znqy6PlLIFSrZ_NlRdOK7-3EnEYwYjTP8/s200/IMG_0577-2542383525-O.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I glued everything into place using two tubes of <a href="http://www.liquidnails.com/products/green-glue-LN207" target="_blank">clear Liquid Nails</a> ($3.97 x2). Maybe I used too much glue or maybe they should stock bigger tube sizes! 2.5oz was not cutting it!<br />
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<i>Tip: Before you glue, drill a hole through the center of each layer and the tabletop so that you can line them all up using a bolt or a pencil or whatever.</i><br />
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<b>Results... meh</b></div>
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I finished the mushroom (see the upholstering steps below) and gave it a try. Unfortunately this dome top arrangement wasn't perfect. When I tried to do circles my palm kept sinking into one of the flat landings and the overall surface just had too much give.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbf8XUmRRS5IMQwEJkkdpfE7gS5yvVWAUZSKBKcRiqo8MbsA9Z8-g-if4HBl3_3Kk_PMicNL3k8hltMQOI67DqesVkB76J1zSw8-3XY6Oi1onLtjV1Mrtx29dLeC-JguCyH51c8XO7pIe/s1600/IMG_0579-2542385187-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbf8XUmRRS5IMQwEJkkdpfE7gS5yvVWAUZSKBKcRiqo8MbsA9Z8-g-if4HBl3_3Kk_PMicNL3k8hltMQOI67DqesVkB76J1zSw8-3XY6Oi1onLtjV1Mrtx29dLeC-JguCyH51c8XO7pIe/s200/IMG_0579-2542385187-O.jpg" width="200" /></a>I tried a few different things, including a cardboard top layer. It did actually help, but not enough.<br />
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And the dome itself was just too shallow. The outside 6-8" of the rim need a steeper, stiffer dome slope.<br />
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<b>Version 2</b><br />
So instead I altered the dome top and incorporated two old lids that I had sitting around my garage. Then I began filling in the gaps using a <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-16-oz-Big-Gap-Filler-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-248314/100029171#.UbC0Iit2P75" target="_blank">Great Stuff spray foam</a> that I saw in <a href="http://myfamilyzoo.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-mushroom.html" target="_blank">this DIY mushroom</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4-rr3VjGsC69vD8BVUeWlbP2WheL2aDvWu3Nygk-tqtqNqi45khq4rKn2oQQoYUmOS7xobSx_1WsLeHyOuqOzH1c4xJYPC1KG8QQQ2WNs_cosr3BIUfBgrD1aC-aQSduC8y-8I1X3oxs/s1600/2013-06-03+16.49.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4-rr3VjGsC69vD8BVUeWlbP2WheL2aDvWu3Nygk-tqtqNqi45khq4rKn2oQQoYUmOS7xobSx_1WsLeHyOuqOzH1c4xJYPC1KG8QQQ2WNs_cosr3BIUfBgrD1aC-aQSduC8y-8I1X3oxs/s640/2013-06-03+16.49.41.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMurXCU8q4GSym9E4SzHmQZDXaCXDmXGGBPvx4bTwAsxOS-SGsGkiBBfDUGDDfHMt0fnmJuD9PnIJi7pM0WPftHB9BhnOEznK5SguifBZkV0Y5ELai7nyFxQY_gDtq2RxR3auZcI7wOWe/s1600/2013-06-03+17.02.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMurXCU8q4GSym9E4SzHmQZDXaCXDmXGGBPvx4bTwAsxOS-SGsGkiBBfDUGDDfHMt0fnmJuD9PnIJi7pM0WPftHB9BhnOEznK5SguifBZkV0Y5ELai7nyFxQY_gDtq2RxR3auZcI7wOWe/s640/2013-06-03+17.02.01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I removed the interlocking bits from the edges because they just added too much softness. The blue lid was recessed into two layers of matting to add stiffness without sticking up too far. I wish I had a larger lid, though, because the most important areas are right around the yellow and blue mat rings; that's where your palms will be landing most of the time and that's where you want the most support.<br />
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The spray foam takes a while to get the hang of. Expect it to be pretty messy and out of control at first. The aerosol is flammable and the foam itself is probably toxic. Spray in a well-ventilated garage or outside, wear goggles and gloves!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVRUi-eTLnga-9pvYOb2MlM7Sr9tR_ji4MbbHxGRjBV2GlZoO_jmzBwJkVXSg-IrQzPiD0GINLLS606ULtNxB8W1AMBSU76mX0Rp8ohSWDVp47W-WZlr4XOyr7taxxNxYGZXIPuapGZOW/s1600/2013-06-03+17.24.46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVRUi-eTLnga-9pvYOb2MlM7Sr9tR_ji4MbbHxGRjBV2GlZoO_jmzBwJkVXSg-IrQzPiD0GINLLS606ULtNxB8W1AMBSU76mX0Rp8ohSWDVp47W-WZlr4XOyr7taxxNxYGZXIPuapGZOW/s640/2013-06-03+17.24.46.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now it looks like a giant cupcake!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The spray foam turns into a slightly spongy styrofoam-like solid within a few hours. It's surprisingly rigid. Shape the dome by carving away the spray foam with a serrated bread knife. I intentionally left the foam layer pretty thick; I didn't want that hard plastic lid poking through to the surface and I wanted to keep the outside rim fairly steep to give my wrists a slightly more neutral landing position. It's starting to look pretty good!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTF7di1GcrFDhKNZkkgpys3rWsdMrUUXTik8QxKE19zPq6f3Rqmoiq-a_9Lr14CgmpV3moWEpNP3ExQbPCBHmG_xy_7NFm2V7qJE08q2hW6Ny0iK0IL8uPNbcaLt_0UpAN3-Y6qrRnEcva/s1600/2013-06-04+13.39.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTF7di1GcrFDhKNZkkgpys3rWsdMrUUXTik8QxKE19zPq6f3Rqmoiq-a_9Lr14CgmpV3moWEpNP3ExQbPCBHmG_xy_7NFm2V7qJE08q2hW6Ny0iK0IL8uPNbcaLt_0UpAN3-Y6qrRnEcva/s640/2013-06-04+13.39.55.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But carving it down revealed numerous air gaps that left soft pockets (see the 4 o'clock position just outside of the top red circle in the pic above). Poke your way into those pockets and hit them with more spray foam. Let it bubble up and cure, then carve it back down as needed.<br />
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<i>Tip: Your spray foam straw will get clogged at the end after you use it. Razor off the last inch or so of the straw before trying a second round with the same can.</i><br />
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Then I finished it off with a 3/8" anti-fatigue mat. This mat is a little too soft, but it does help to mask any surface irregularities in the spray foam.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxl2JiX4bwLVGAs3s-hJFRUhyphenhyphenJDWXxhpPTsz9yX2WqpslpwMn2upLoGEDYzKUDerHSyTk-W4BWPGHo_GnB-2A6Bp5XT1vfGOsS90SRGG-FxfOD0Ljpe71ZJTFyX4PzeIk1SpaUWz1djs0/s1600/2013-06-05+12.40.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxl2JiX4bwLVGAs3s-hJFRUhyphenhyphenJDWXxhpPTsz9yX2WqpslpwMn2upLoGEDYzKUDerHSyTk-W4BWPGHo_GnB-2A6Bp5XT1vfGOsS90SRGG-FxfOD0Ljpe71ZJTFyX4PzeIk1SpaUWz1djs0/s640/2013-06-05+12.40.09.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Still brainstorming...</b><br />
A thinner mat that is more rigid with less sponginess would be ideal, but I haven't been able to find anything that fits the bill and isn't too expensive.<br />
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The plastic mats you put under an office chair would be good, but I'm not paying $60 for a sheet of plastic!<br />
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Pondering a <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080416150602AAgbCup" target="_blank">cloth mache</a> approach using wood glue and either canvas, burlap, or perhaps even fiberglass cloth. I'd layer 24"x4" strips directly onto the spray foam. Worried that it'll end up being too brittle, though.<br />
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<b>Optional: paint the assembly</b></div>
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My spare 2x4s were chemically-treated outdoor lumber that you don't want off-gassing indoors. So I applied a Krylon indoor/outdoor sealer/primer spray paint to hopefully seal in the chemical nastiness. I also didn't like the faux-wood look of the Costco planter. So both were spray painted black. It took the entire spray paint can to thoroughly cover the 2x4s and the whole exterior of the big planter.</div>
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Just be sure to protect the threads of the bolts so they don't get gummed up. And definitely spray outdoors. Spray paint smells incredibly toxic.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTzsaSsAMKLvb1hphinSy8Y_PH0znt99xhzuiKwxCSZMa4dv2xRe69d7T-cbJYaiecrGK_QDcW-uo9yixu0YT15BCdu34Zo619htJa301PbeME3w1o5dDvfabuWfEypEXGCDP3INm0uDwZ/s1600/2013-05-25%252B11.46.34-2542388637-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="552" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTzsaSsAMKLvb1hphinSy8Y_PH0znt99xhzuiKwxCSZMa4dv2xRe69d7T-cbJYaiecrGK_QDcW-uo9yixu0YT15BCdu34Zo619htJa301PbeME3w1o5dDvfabuWfEypEXGCDP3INm0uDwZ/s640/2013-05-25%252B11.46.34-2542388637-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Mushroom cover</b></div>
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Fabric stores have tons of remnants that they price super-cheap to just get rid of them. A vinyl fabric will get you close enough to the feel of a leather mushroom top. I found my vinyl remnant for $6 for a yard.</div>
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The vinyl has a stretch to it that allows you to get a nice tight, fitted covering. You just stretch it over and staple it down. I bought a <a href="http://amzn.com/B000NIFL80" target="_blank">$12 light duty staple gun</a> and it was more than capable of doing the job.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoZwtoLiW8gJO-8TaHoD3lk3HZW9Pm0qu00ir5sPMJuYNV-oY7VuMYs3eLJfx-cLb5B4T8Sr4B9k5xRgyfue_rue_W0_RYETjlgMRt3_CKQh4u9D_MEzq_CGMakFKnMGLVI2w9ppnBZ1KO/s1600/2013-05-25%252B15.26.38-2542390063-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoZwtoLiW8gJO-8TaHoD3lk3HZW9Pm0qu00ir5sPMJuYNV-oY7VuMYs3eLJfx-cLb5B4T8Sr4B9k5xRgyfue_rue_W0_RYETjlgMRt3_CKQh4u9D_MEzq_CGMakFKnMGLVI2w9ppnBZ1KO/s640/2013-05-25%252B15.26.38-2542390063-O.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
<i>Note: There were a number of vinyl fabric options. I avoided the completely smooth ones because I thought they'd be a bit sticky and gross with sweaty body parts. I opted for this textured one instead. Turns out I should have gone for a smooth/sticky one. This lightly textured fabric is surprisingly slippery and it makes circles slightly harder than they need to be.</i></div>
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<b>That's it!</b></div>
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Now go swing! My circles aren't great, but you can see that the mushroom is strong and stable enough, even on uneven grass. It's even kind of pretty and impressive-looking!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/K-jYmx5BEaI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b>Total Cost</b></div>
<div>
If you add up all the listed material costs, the project comes in at about $116. That's a bit pricey, even though it's still 1/3 the cost of the cruddy plastic mushrooms.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
But odds are you won't need to buy everything for this project. For example, the 24" interlocking kids playmats would cost about $30 new but my sister had four that she was happy to get rid of. Parents are tossing old kids' stuff all the time. Even if you don't have access to used playmats, there are probably cheaper materials out there to use instead.<br />
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If you have glue and usable lumber scraps around, you can save another $20.<br />
<br />
My actual costs were closer to $85. That's pretty dang cheap, considering that <a href="http://www.tigerpawwristsupports.com/" target="_blank">Tiger Paws wrist supports</a> alone cost $57 (which I had to buy so my wrists can take the pounding!).<br />
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<b>Happy circling! </b><br />
Let me know how your build goes and if you have any suggestions or tweaks to add!</div>
</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-35773737107867878192013-05-01T14:57:00.001-05:002013-10-10T13:15:47.833-05:00How to configure an assignment for "Evaluation-only" mode<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>With today's release of "Evaluation-only" mode support, instructors can now evaluate end-of-unit and final essays without providing feedback comments. Here's how to get started.</i></div>
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<br />
We're super-excited that we were able to launch our <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/05/latest-update-summative-assessment-mode.html" target="_blank">new "Evaluation-only" mode</a> in time for most schools' final exams. Finals are the strongest case for when to use "Evaluation-only" mode; it's too late to provide helpful feedback and the kids won't get much out of it anyway with their minds already on summer.<br />
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<b>Enabling "Evaluation-only" mode</b><br />
Create or edit an assignment as you normally would. You'll notice a new option: "assessment mode":<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6A0T_Baok2qRZiY-fLqKhcl3WKy4NTLmlDUG5A2Zk6pnt0mGYpzl-9iApt57ahQ-ZRS4LSUi-43-dJtbcTu4OUQ-1LI6R5MIH2frG_vC0wboB4Qy_H3R3TGaJFc7B8VfgVpvU-0qk5iIG/s1600/Configure+your+assignment+(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6A0T_Baok2qRZiY-fLqKhcl3WKy4NTLmlDUG5A2Zk6pnt0mGYpzl-9iApt57ahQ-ZRS4LSUi-43-dJtbcTu4OUQ-1LI6R5MIH2frG_vC0wboB4Qy_H3R3TGaJFc7B8VfgVpvU-0qk5iIG/s400/Configure+your+assignment+(3).png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Click the droplist and select "Evaluation-only" mode:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkeCkLA9irzb_2rK9AXzlYicbZh69hqRxVT0S6jTK93HnBJztQ6h4URJGcEjQ4Hpegeb7s0LMcPxE1BayY1198pW7wQxHvannr07eb45wNAYb_O7DfFi_WQwQ99I2zp0DGpJoAD_aJ8Vx/s1600/Configure+your+assignment+(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkeCkLA9irzb_2rK9AXzlYicbZh69hqRxVT0S6jTK93HnBJztQ6h4URJGcEjQ4Hpegeb7s0LMcPxE1BayY1198pW7wQxHvannr07eb45wNAYb_O7DfFi_WQwQ99I2zp0DGpJoAD_aJ8Vx/s1600/Configure+your+assignment+(4).png" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>If you are editing an existing assignment, you'll see a warning about changing assessment modes:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXypsojKbpCKoicQwYnf8kitE6xlrjCzn1knjFeIm_2WbNun2Diaki28S1C6gfN0bTa36ZvatK94qn0P8QxSfyydf1qCLZWJ-R6Zntuz3TNp4SJ5Fsx2kMOQRYkSFR-meAR3yAddzaUVcV/s1600/Configure+your+assignment+(2)+copy2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXypsojKbpCKoicQwYnf8kitE6xlrjCzn1knjFeIm_2WbNun2Diaki28S1C6gfN0bTa36ZvatK94qn0P8QxSfyydf1qCLZWJ-R6Zntuz3TNp4SJ5Fsx2kMOQRYkSFR-meAR3yAddzaUVcV/s640/Configure+your+assignment+(2)+copy2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Evaluation-only" mode data are stored slightly differently from standard "Evaluation + Feedback" assessments, therefore the data is invalidated when you switch from one assessment mode to the other. If you have already graded an essay, it will revert to an ungraded state if you change assessment modes.<br />
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<b>That's it!</b><br />
Now you're ready to grade! When you launch the grading app you'll get a quick reminder:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECGHvD2KilkR6XSoPvl6LzMAuSKbyP6pjuSFHjamrwwhf6iW7X01oMqx3G3gqnWNHQHEWLKS3Zg0ZP1sE8nJcdFXsoNHdXbjqbpWnBNdVEzSiP9AlXi34AMuIeskUjwEXTp9UwPVbximo/s1600/eval-only_mode.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECGHvD2KilkR6XSoPvl6LzMAuSKbyP6pjuSFHjamrwwhf6iW7X01oMqx3G3gqnWNHQHEWLKS3Zg0ZP1sE8nJcdFXsoNHdXbjqbpWnBNdVEzSiP9AlXi34AMuIeskUjwEXTp9UwPVbximo/s1600/eval-only_mode.png" /></a></div>
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And when you evaluate each rubric element you'll only see one selectable option for each quality level:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqk-9aQeeFyfm4Xtn6Qejj2h5A26jizIbatTPre43_uiF8ac9S-Xt6bv3ecBSLhQ5WuWcxjwRcfMS-pLtj6rZSBGY0eBdakFS76GK3hbPchrs0ueILpsIusBlScXt3VhOdenae0UiF8DY/s1600/summative_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqk-9aQeeFyfm4Xtn6Qejj2h5A26jizIbatTPre43_uiF8ac9S-Xt6bv3ecBSLhQ5WuWcxjwRcfMS-pLtj6rZSBGY0eBdakFS76GK3hbPchrs0ueILpsIusBlScXt3VhOdenae0UiF8DY/s640/summative_1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Notice that the "add comment" button has been removed.<br />
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<b>Data reporting</b><br />
When you're done grading all the usual data reporting will still be available.<br />
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Enjoy! Let me know what you think!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-59330419094750393662013-05-01T14:14:00.000-05:002013-10-10T12:21:58.650-05:00Latest update: "Evaluation-only" mode - just in time for finals!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>EssayTagger is all about helping teachers provide targeted feedback that will promote student growth. But mid-stream fast formative assessments or end-of-unit summative assessments don't always require extensive feedback. Now EssayTagger supports both "Evaluation + Feedback" and "Evaluation-only" assessment modes to support those situations.</i></div>
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<br />
<b>First, the lingo</b><br />
It's taken me a while to wrap my brain around the following two terms, so let's review them just to be sure we're all on the same page:<br />
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<u>Formative Assessment</u> is a kind of check in with your students <i>in the middle of a unit</i> to see where they're at, see where they're struggling. The goal is to then use this information to make on-the-fly adjustments to your plans and instruction to help the students reach the goals you've set out for them. Formative assessments should be fast, simple, and low-stakes or zero-stakes (i.e. not for points). And they have to come early enough so that there's still time left to adjust course as needed. If you just want to quickly "take the pulse" of the room, there's no need for extensive feedback comments.<br />
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<u>Summative Assessment</u> is the end measurement point. Did they reach the goal? How many of the target skills can they actually demonstrate now that the unit is complete? Because summative assessments come at the end of the learning process, providing feedback or further coaching at this point is somewhat pointless. When students hand in a final essay at the end of the school year are they really going to absorb your extensive comments as they start their summer vacation? Shyeah, right!<br />
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<b>EssayTagger's default mode: </b><b>"Evaluation + Feedback"</b><br />
Our primary emphasis on feedback comments places us outside of the world of fast formative assessment and summative assessment. In this mode instructors select a feedback comment from the appropriate quality column or add new reusable comments as needed:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyMBd_dJeRKMVTdlNRVeAvnCFsM_s6SwAcffY3-GsjHMwIgnvhrXFJ7fQvdP3vigoO4IpMvvEydIQQri09T6GoDwKsR3ewHvQlCMW69bkU_BUfA4HJZ-_-uZ7yvq6es8KPNCSnEGEIE5B/s1600/descriptors_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyMBd_dJeRKMVTdlNRVeAvnCFsM_s6SwAcffY3-GsjHMwIgnvhrXFJ7fQvdP3vigoO4IpMvvEydIQQri09T6GoDwKsR3ewHvQlCMW69bkU_BUfA4HJZ-_-uZ7yvq6es8KPNCSnEGEIE5B/s640/descriptors_1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Extensive feedback makes sense when a further draft is expected and students have a chance to incorporate or address your comments. Ideally all writing assignments would have a write-review-rewrite cycle built into the schedule.<br />
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<b>The new </b><b>"Evaluation-only" mode</b><br />
With today's new release, instructors can opt to configure an assignment to focus solely on evaluation.<br />
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Drag-and-drop the rubric element like you normally would. In this example, we are dragging the "Thesis" button to identify the essay's thesis:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXCcuJHqPKJ3n1jdaWeR_blmCWHG8pfci8KSgVJhyFVkGXS3aEqm6QuYERUVdfWq8IMypFZ6k4VyNVatHze36o-hgC1zZ1_XQ9cIUVBYbdAvk-ODZREMwE3eKqMqnh5RQgx0tvLu-rzbW/s1600/summative_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXCcuJHqPKJ3n1jdaWeR_blmCWHG8pfci8KSgVJhyFVkGXS3aEqm6QuYERUVdfWq8IMypFZ6k4VyNVatHze36o-hgC1zZ1_XQ9cIUVBYbdAvk-ODZREMwE3eKqMqnh5RQgx0tvLu-rzbW/s640/summative_0.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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But now when the "Thesis" evaluation options pop up, we see that there is only a single choice for each quality level:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqk-9aQeeFyfm4Xtn6Qejj2h5A26jizIbatTPre43_uiF8ac9S-Xt6bv3ecBSLhQ5WuWcxjwRcfMS-pLtj6rZSBGY0eBdakFS76GK3hbPchrs0ueILpsIusBlScXt3VhOdenae0UiF8DY/s1600/summative_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqk-9aQeeFyfm4Xtn6Qejj2h5A26jizIbatTPre43_uiF8ac9S-Xt6bv3ecBSLhQ5WuWcxjwRcfMS-pLtj6rZSBGY0eBdakFS76GK3hbPchrs0ueILpsIusBlScXt3VhOdenae0UiF8DY/s640/summative_1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Notice that the "add comment" buttons have been removed. The selectable comments are just the name of each quality level (e.g. "Below 7th", "Beginning 7th", etc) and the rubric element ("Thesis").<br />
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Just click on the appropriate quality level box and continue on to evaluate the next element in your rubric! "Evaluation-only" assignments are all about assessing the quality or proficiency of the target skills. Now you can blaze through your final essay evaluations faster than you ever thought possible!<br />
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<b>Fast grading, amazing data reporting</b><br />
Regardless of whether your assignment is configured for "Evaluation + Feedback" or "Evaluation-only" mode, the system tracks and calculates the same incredible array student performance data.<br />
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This includes:<br />
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...the incidence graph that breaks down how many students performed at each quality level for each rubric element:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Yer5_PWOvj0wCb1_-O0WHWREHlF6jD5gM6KCxi1Q-K8boyhaZ05zRgJKqw_bEzLIwKWESS9dtxMHxX3obofD3OrEcUJLY0J9FeEjVA06EIYfsCtvweLzlykEUuCM0HoYrbqXq1DsCxa-/s1600/Section+Aggregate+Results-123901.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Yer5_PWOvj0wCb1_-O0WHWREHlF6jD5gM6KCxi1Q-K8boyhaZ05zRgJKqw_bEzLIwKWESS9dtxMHxX3obofD3OrEcUJLY0J9FeEjVA06EIYfsCtvweLzlykEUuCM0HoYrbqXq1DsCxa-/s400/Section+Aggregate+Results-123901.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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...per-student breakdowns that show each student's individual evaluations for each rubric element:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRppWCYfcMllVpyU8hWkSpsliMsXLZyEsFQBNxy1ap2Z6-hJjWJ3fq55Aup73wVjDWgd_exzH_6jjHBHwBTpYKhVWvPMcpryTKFxp3gKx9kevGCrMSVxcihIfLJXbd6e1UIY7HTU2mLZyi/s1600/Essay+Results-120231.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRppWCYfcMllVpyU8hWkSpsliMsXLZyEsFQBNxy1ap2Z6-hJjWJ3fq55Aup73wVjDWgd_exzH_6jjHBHwBTpYKhVWvPMcpryTKFxp3gKx9kevGCrMSVxcihIfLJXbd6e1UIY7HTU2mLZyi/s400/Essay+Results-120231.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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...Common Core-aligned progress-tracking at the class and individual level:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmOFQZCfr6UnMbiZUwebEotLJGhxsQG16ennVc_voljXamOCX6BUm_8KFp8oIda1a-_iuPLc5FeU5nJYpunavk8FxnreUIVmKjKz_pfXke8YQxLZBIsV4xwE2C_nu8hFKkbG4bcOrzzC_Y/s1600/Common+Core+Progression-114056.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmOFQZCfr6UnMbiZUwebEotLJGhxsQG16ennVc_voljXamOCX6BUm_8KFp8oIda1a-_iuPLc5FeU5nJYpunavk8FxnreUIVmKjKz_pfXke8YQxLZBIsV4xwE2C_nu8hFKkbG4bcOrzzC_Y/s400/Common+Core+Progression-114056.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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...the ability to retrieve the exact text that was identified for each rubric element (e.g. pull up every Thesis by quality level):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBuudhasBvIhHkrh7ZBli0i0sOTpwS2djQV-cRW4T2bIb2I1u1pQ-nFNxWgLUHh-E-f0gmkFYQmmmTnqq4LRIVF4ruSCkJRgOiaGLgCQ8izKjhg-S1KAr0w1OjWDNs-Y7Ob1IGXtbebc9/s1600/NEW+FIGURE+-+aggregate+excerpts+by+quality+level.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBuudhasBvIhHkrh7ZBli0i0sOTpwS2djQV-cRW4T2bIb2I1u1pQ-nFNxWgLUHh-E-f0gmkFYQmmmTnqq4LRIVF4ruSCkJRgOiaGLgCQ8izKjhg-S1KAr0w1OjWDNs-Y7Ob1IGXtbebc9/s400/NEW+FIGURE+-+aggregate+excerpts+by+quality+level.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Which mode should I use and when?</b><br />
Choosing between "Evaluation + Feedback" and "Evaluation-only" mode all comes down to the assignment's purpose.<br />
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If students will have a chance to revise their work and/or learn from their mistakes, then use the standard "Evaluation + Feedback" mode and provide super-useful feedback to help them improve.<br />
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But if it's an end-of-unit exam, a <i>show-me-what-ya-got</i> demonstration of their skills, or a fast formative assessment, then you're likely better off with the "Evaluation-only" mode. It's too late to provide helpful feedback at this point so don't waste time. Just grade and go!<br />
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<b><i>I know this runs contrary to our instincts--we always feel the need to comment on mistakes and suggest changes.</i></b> But just think about it logically: after a unit is over--and certainly at the end of the school year--the kids just aren't all that interested in looking back. They're not going to absorb much coaching at this point if they're not going to be held accountable for it in the coming days and weeks (let alone all summer!).<br />
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And keep in mind that such summative assessments should only comprise a small minority of your writing evaluations for the school year. The majority of your writing assignments should be set up so that you can provide a ton of coaching and help the students demonstrate their growth from week-to-week. But at some point <i>the end is the end</i> and a summative assessment approach makes the most sense.<br />
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<b>Available now - just in time for finals!</b><br />
"Evaluation-only" mode is now available for all assignments on EssayTagger! And the timing is just about perfect as most of you are winding down your school year and are about to grade final essays.<br />
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Give the "Evaluation only" mode a try and let me know what you think!<br />
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See: <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/05/how-to-configure-assignment-for.html" target="_blank">How to configure an assignment for "Evaluation-only" mode</a></div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-66052274825972264022013-03-14T11:20:00.002-05:002013-03-14T23:14:50.221-05:00Adapting traditional rubrics for EssayTagger: Nevada Opinion Writing Rubric (5th grade)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>EssayTagger represents an evolution of the concept of a rubric. Here's a specific look at how I adapted an existing rubric to take advantage of the EssayTagger world.</i></div>
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If you're new to the EssayTagger world, here's <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2012/03/changing-how-we-think-about-rubrics.html" target="_blank">a primer on how EssayTagger rubrics are different from traditional rubrics</a>.<br />
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Tearra Bobula, a teacher at Mark Twain Elementary in Carson City, NV, asked me to adapt the <a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34989655/_permalinks/blog/rubrics/NV_OpinionWriting_5th.pdf" target="_blank">Nevada Opinion Writing rubric</a>. It initially presents a bit of a challenge. It consists of five main sections that each contain a subset of 2-4 additional elements:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKeWm6nGJiPqCk86Sos23sy4ICmcjtuLvkWvKvg7LI6w8bHbv-1HJywY9d0O5KKCttpmHLe6oe5vEH9_TBmRu0wGOS0T4eBCowxLbC5iw_LBB4L4SFix5Hz-6-xz3nWLRSSgdQWA037m6/s1600/NV_opinion_writing_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKeWm6nGJiPqCk86Sos23sy4ICmcjtuLvkWvKvg7LI6w8bHbv-1HJywY9d0O5KKCttpmHLe6oe5vEH9_TBmRu0wGOS0T4eBCowxLbC5iw_LBB4L4SFix5Hz-6-xz3nWLRSSgdQWA037m6/s400/NV_opinion_writing_1.png" width="330" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(click for larger view)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Let's take a closer look at the first section:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEadp8mE0SGcf5JePpbtInjIjkVTkBRP3nflUJDwsupBRnhTNkkT5dlY1K_rcUPBOX37cZO-KmMX9XIwmF1QRBgfLMlbYVhtYSvZJg5CANL0PsLPQi1RG8BdAPs6a2r5kc6OcbgWFys6a/s1600/NV_opinion_writing_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEadp8mE0SGcf5JePpbtInjIjkVTkBRP3nflUJDwsupBRnhTNkkT5dlY1K_rcUPBOX37cZO-KmMX9XIwmF1QRBgfLMlbYVhtYSvZJg5CANL0PsLPQi1RG8BdAPs6a2r5kc6OcbgWFys6a/s640/NV_opinion_writing_2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(click for larger view)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Each row of this section pertains to the Statement of Purpose/Focus, but assesses slightly different aspects of that overall area. I would break these four sub-elements down to something like:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Statement of Opinion</li>
<li>Focus</li>
<li>Maintain Purpose/Focus</li>
<li>Provides Context</li>
</ul>
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So when I adapted this rubric I treated each sub-element as its own rubric element:</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseJ4waZ3hsW1VShk3wAvx-m75SWDc3BysyibPMdWpX8ai7S09OA_paHiNTShOWNrcU2kEhOFY_EP4qDjZA3J7-hNB1GGhPZFF3CRTDeaL6bp8q-frJ7ZAfjgXIAnk9qeuw5fbjef81q_N/s1600/752649ab-70ed-4e22-970d-993619a5e695.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseJ4waZ3hsW1VShk3wAvx-m75SWDc3BysyibPMdWpX8ai7S09OA_paHiNTShOWNrcU2kEhOFY_EP4qDjZA3J7-hNB1GGhPZFF3CRTDeaL6bp8q-frJ7ZAfjgXIAnk9qeuw5fbjef81q_N/s640/752649ab-70ed-4e22-970d-993619a5e695.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a></div>
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Also notice that I decided that Statement of Opinion was likely a sentence-level scope. This sounds to me like it's basically the student's thesis. EssayTagger allows for sentence-level, paragraph-level, and whole document scopes for each rubric element. It's up to you to decide which scope makes the most sense for your assignment and goals.</div>
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Let's keep going and look at the next section:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtQJF7JRlPpAPD9qsBNwDPc8959sOLl4C09AKZ0sycgNQrcWXWGlcdcyag6rl90l5kzG6d2mdPfMDeBvnIAG8UrvQzMrmyK7R0Hncks5gwxSFeC7BBKn2Tug2481qQEvP-_WllUv5vjWO/s1600/NV_opinion_writing_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtQJF7JRlPpAPD9qsBNwDPc8959sOLl4C09AKZ0sycgNQrcWXWGlcdcyag6rl90l5kzG6d2mdPfMDeBvnIAG8UrvQzMrmyK7R0Hncks5gwxSFeC7BBKn2Tug2481qQEvP-_WllUv5vjWO/s640/NV_opinion_writing_3.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here's how I translated each row into its own rubric element:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfktGsyAmz5kUFZBsaX05Ambtm-6UDratLdu7sEv9xHgh4Xp3ZG5a3qOf7gx0iZM6T6GkjOyYRGCgZZnTwhjMtqZ0dHsuuZV8twRAE-sKsPlVXx3BlgRzUhnrkWDWODyIWSlJM0g2XzW3H/s1600/780baa26-5727-4fb6-a9e0-8b33e7b3d270.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfktGsyAmz5kUFZBsaX05Ambtm-6UDratLdu7sEv9xHgh4Xp3ZG5a3qOf7gx0iZM6T6GkjOyYRGCgZZnTwhjMtqZ0dHsuuZV8twRAE-sKsPlVXx3BlgRzUhnrkWDWODyIWSlJM0g2XzW3H/s640/780baa26-5727-4fb6-a9e0-8b33e7b3d270.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Specificity is king</b><br />
Notice that Transition is specified as a sentence-level element. This allows us to really take advantage of EssayTagger's strengths. Now you don't have to evaluate all of the transitions in one general checkbox; instead you'll be able to use EssayTagger's grading app to evaluate each individual transition on its own merits. <b><i>This</i></b> transition was basic but <b><i>that</i></b> transition was really effective. It's that sort of targeted feedback that has the potential to really promote student growth.<br />
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<b>Scope as you like</b><br />
I gave Introduction a paragraph-level scope. However, I'm not terribly familiar with 5th grade writing; are introductions a full paragraph in 5th grade? I could see 5th or earlier grades changing this to a sentence-level scope. The same consideration should go into the Concluding Statement. I wasn't sure if it should be sentence-level or paragraph-level.<br />
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The nice thing about shared EssayTagger rubrics is that after you <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2012/03/latest-update-rubric-sharing-and-rubric.html" target="_blank">import them into your own account</a>, you can change them however you like.<br />
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Here's the link to the full EssayTagger version of the rubric:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Nevada Opinion Writing rubric for 5th grade</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/rubric?code=66-QHZZ"><b>http://www.essaytagger.com/rubric?code=66-QHZZ</b></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-91148172976107416472013-03-05T11:44:00.001-06:002013-03-14T13:59:49.215-05:00Latest Update: Administrator Report emails<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>A simple new convenience feature driven by teacher feedback from my friends at El Camino Real Charter High School out in sunny southern California.</i></div>
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El Camino is embarking on an ambitious effort to coordinate classroom expectations across all teachers. Such an effort requires a bit of a culture shift--your classroom is no longer an isolated private island--as well as some technology support to ease the logistics of so much collaboration and sharing.<br />
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Specifically, they needed to be able to share their graded essays with their administrators and other teachers in the school. The interim solution was to print hard copies (ack, no!!!) or manually copy-and-paste the hyperlink to each student's graded work.<br />
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In order to support their efforts (which are perfectly aligned with my own philosophy of enhancing <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/where-were-headed-school-wide-data.html" target="_blank">school-wide collaboration through data unification</a>), we added a simple Administrator Report feature which emails a list of each student's results and provides a link to their graded essay:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8JSrxEUASVaiewo4fw-G8fkRV9E0mqKQo1_TXX9AH-Vo6yWka9I6gPgcxeXv1lpslWfyfb9GkQuvWFW3u3q-FB2AIMGKsOmUFN8HEWDZON-sbcSVddI3lEZXI2sjvW6kJzcgxM4tPJN6P/s1600/70f27b14-929e-4156-8a77-83e1ba1fdfb1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8JSrxEUASVaiewo4fw-G8fkRV9E0mqKQo1_TXX9AH-Vo6yWka9I6gPgcxeXv1lpslWfyfb9GkQuvWFW3u3q-FB2AIMGKsOmUFN8HEWDZON-sbcSVddI3lEZXI2sjvW6kJzcgxM4tPJN6P/s640/70f27b14-929e-4156-8a77-83e1ba1fdfb1.png" width="499" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Administrator Report email (fake test data for demonstration purposes)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a name='more'></a>Recipients also have the option to print a copy of a student's graded work, if need be (perhaps in preparation for a parent conference).<br />
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<b>A glimpse of the future</b><br />
Even if your school isn't taking collaboration to this level, this opens up an intriguing possibility to provide greater visibility to your administrators or PLT colleagues. This is really just the tip of the iceberg for what we have planned for our upcoming Administrator Dashboard which will be part of our <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/where-were-headed-school-wide-data.html" target="_blank">data unification initiative</a>. Assessment data from your classroom should be shared and should help inform your PLT's instruction as well as your students' other teachers' practices in other disciplines.<br />
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Teachers from all parts of a school are increasingly assessing writing (e.g. PE teachers are assigning essays and reports in many schools) but whole-school collaboration and information sharing is all but nonexistent. That will change with EssayTagger data unification.<br />
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<b>Instructions</b><br />
You can send an Administrator Report by logging in, clicking on your assignment, and then navigating to the newly renamed "data reports" tab:<br />
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Click on the "configure email report" button and you'll be asked to enter the recipient's name and email address:<br />
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You can send as many Administrator Reports as you like for each assignment. I recommend that you send a test report to yourself just to see what it looks like.<br />
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<b>Misc notes</b><br />
The report will only list students and essays that have been graded. "Graded" in the EssayTagger world means that you have clicked "mark essay as graded" for the essay in the grading app.<br />
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Also - I think it would be a natural fit to also include <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2012/10/latest-update-new-data-reporting-enters.html" target="_blank">the aggregate data reports</a> that are automatically created for each assignment. Let me know what you think. My to-do list priorities are set by teacher feedback so if you want this addition, I need to hear about it!<br />
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<b>A word on student privacy</b><br />
This is obviously meant as a tool to be used for internal administrator and teacher team collaboration. It exposes the names and graded results of each student in each course section. It is not appropriate to send an Administrator Report to any person who is not authorized to view such information. It is up to the teacher to exercise the proper care when determining who should receive a copy of this email report.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-27182774081513249932013-02-28T23:24:00.002-06:002013-02-28T23:25:14.953-06:00Latest update: Support for iPad Pages documents!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Getting any file off of an iPad and out into the world can be a challenge, but Pages makes life more difficult because it uses a unique document format that is not very compatible with other programs. We've been able to overcome both obstacles. Here's how.</i></div>
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Apple's Pages word processor iPad app does make it easy to create some really nice-looking documents. But my praise for Pages stops there because it's such a pain to deal with Pages documents. What good is a beautiful word processor if you can't do anything with the resulting documents?!<br />
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Thanks to our just-released <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/latest-update-google-apps-and-drive.html" target="_blank">Google apps and Google Drive account integration</a>, we can now get Pages documents off of students' iPads and submit them directly to EssayTagger.<br />
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<b>Step-by-step instructions</b><br />
First you'll need to enable Google integration for your course. <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/how-to-enable-google-integration-in.html" target="_blank">Instructions can be found here</a>. Your students will also need Pages (obviously) and the Google Drive app.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhufekGsCHwzf66bZeTnLyv2EzncmlaJCPe4CvdF3LgOpvLgNVitQY6JJI7OPEMlBv7SrehJNGzOW1HkVF7csjebEaSfzEA8Ch7_KRIX2mRHkRCzRBy_1z8U1AFkY2ERVk2wllzGyJHTbs6/s1600/Photo+Feb+28,+9+59+41+PM+detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhufekGsCHwzf66bZeTnLyv2EzncmlaJCPe4CvdF3LgOpvLgNVitQY6JJI7OPEMlBv7SrehJNGzOW1HkVF7csjebEaSfzEA8Ch7_KRIX2mRHkRCzRBy_1z8U1AFkY2ERVk2wllzGyJHTbs6/s400/Photo+Feb+28,+9+59+41+PM+detail.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Google Drive app works with Pages to export your document into a Word DOC file and then upload it to your Drive account. This conversion and upload to Drive is the key to this process.<br />
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Here's the test essay I'll be working with:<br />
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<b>"Share" Pages document to Google Drive</b><br />
When you're ready to submit your essay, click the wrench icon at the top right to bring up the document options:<br />
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Select "Share and Print":<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2yiRWEyynO9Gl_XpqndA3YchN6XqPkWPrfK_1Wnq-j8WNh3u_CawSuKYjpiuRjNtsq4XV99iZhBcz4SYT3jHwlMXpKU2ASLNNCo6HdFwBCeG0WwvFFpgJi-DjXhoCKH1k3zmSnmL96W9/s1600/Photo+Feb+28,+9+51+30+PM+detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2yiRWEyynO9Gl_XpqndA3YchN6XqPkWPrfK_1Wnq-j8WNh3u_CawSuKYjpiuRjNtsq4XV99iZhBcz4SYT3jHwlMXpKU2ASLNNCo6HdFwBCeG0WwvFFpgJi-DjXhoCKH1k3zmSnmL96W9/s400/Photo+Feb+28,+9+51+30+PM+detail.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now select "Open in Another App":<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6en-aw7yew0naVd6NCj_z1WsceoUcWmo58hlEid4IfuewotFoxJp0SfSE-7Y31THGIYEaUx9cpla-0zTk8um7EYKI0Z65e7cm3wbRChVaMads2DV5fFVDxCaxzi4UHcOk5JhkEtgRuCau/s1600/Photo+Feb+28,+9+51+33+PM+detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6en-aw7yew0naVd6NCj_z1WsceoUcWmo58hlEid4IfuewotFoxJp0SfSE-7Y31THGIYEaUx9cpla-0zTk8um7EYKI0Z65e7cm3wbRChVaMads2DV5fFVDxCaxzi4UHcOk5JhkEtgRuCau/s320/Photo+Feb+28,+9+51+33+PM+detail.png" width="269" /></a></div>
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Pages will ask you which format you want to use. Make sure you specify "Word"!!<br />
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After you click "Word" you'll see:<br />
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Click "Choose App" and select "Google Drive":<br />
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That will cause the Google Drive app to fire up. You should see something like this:<br />
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<i>Note: On my iPad (original generation) the "Upload Item" box didn't display at first. The Drive app just seemed frozen. I closed the Drive app by pressing the thumb button on the front of the iPad. Then I tapped on the Drive app to re-open it and then I was able to see the Upload Item box.</i><br />
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Click "Upload" and you'll see your Pages document added to your Drive "Uploads" collection:<br />
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<b>Submit to EssayTagger from Google Drive</b><br />
Here's the coolest part. Now your students can go to the assignment's upload page on EssayTagger. They'll need to sign in with their Google apps accounts and link to Google Drive (details on this are in the second half of the <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/how-to-enable-google-integration-in.html" target="_blank">instructions posted here</a>).<br />
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When they're ready to submit their document, make sure they choose to upload from Google Drive:<br />
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When they click "select document from Google Drive" they'll see a popup window that displays all of the documents they have in Google Drive:<br />
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Click the checkmark next to the Pages document that was just uploaded to Drive and click "Select". Then complete the normal submission process: check the academic honesty statement and hit "Submit":<br />
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After the site processes the incoming document, you'll see the final confirmation screen:<br />
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That's it! The student's document has now been submitted and is ready for you to grade.<br />
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<b>Known issues</b><br />
I did a quick test with an image embedded in the text. Unfortunately the image did not make it through to the final confirmation screen. I did not do exhaustive testing to determine exactly where the incompatibility was, but do not be surprised if students' images do not accompany their Pages documents.<br />
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Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-16634239847318502792013-02-25T10:21:00.000-06:002013-03-15T14:00:34.859-05:00Where we're headed: school-wide data unification<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>EssayTagger was initially developed as a tool to help individual teachers. Now we're taking aim at unifying all writing assessment data across an entire school or district. Here's why this is valuable and here's how we'll do it.</i></div>
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<b>The problem: Disparate writing assessments</b><br />
In a typical school there's a wide array of teachers who assess writing throughout the year. And with the increasing emphasis on "reading and writing across the curriculum," those numbers are growing. English and Social Studies teachers are busy as ever grading essays, but now there are Math teachers who are assigning reflection paragraphs. PE teachers are assigning sportsmanship essays.<br />
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Unfortunately writing assessments are almost always isolated within the confines of each individual classroom. The History teacher knows that his students are struggling with using evidence in their writing, but he has no idea that his students' English teacher is frustrated with the same problem. There simply aren't any lines of communication across departments to share this information and collaborate on a solution.<br />
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But the worst offenders are the district writing assessments. Many schools will do a school-wide writing assessment that is scored on a standardized rubric which is then coded into a database so that administrators can pore over the results. These district writing assessments exist outside of the normal curriculum (e.g. in the middle of the Huck Finn unit the sophomores will be asked to write about texting while driving). Worse, the students rarely ever see the results and almost never receive any feedback. They're writing into a black hole. And, oddly enough, teachers often don't even see the results. They might see some bullet points on an institute day slideshow or get the data second-hand from their department head.<br />
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Disparate writing assessments are pure silliness.<br />
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<b>Writing--and assessing--across the curriculum</b><br />
We've bought into the value of writing across the curriculum and now it's time to unify assessment data across the curriculum.<br />
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Every writing assessment tells us more about each student and our school's overall trends. Assessment data shouldn't be cloistered within the walls of each classroom, but rather should be contributing to a rich web of highly interconnected data. This is the "web-ification" of the school structure; teachers need to think of themselves as part of a network instead of individual sovereign islands.<br />
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When Bobby's English teacher grades his essay, his History teacher should be able to see the results down to each individual skill being assessed. The district writing assessments should add to this pool of information and provide more insight to all of Bobby's teachers. The Culinary Arts teacher should know what strengths and weaknesses to expect when she assigns a research paper on launching your own restaurant. The school's writing center or peer tutors could benefit from a detailed skills profile for each student that comes for help.</div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>Administrators need data, but...</b><br />
Administrators understand that data is just step one. Despite teachers' gripes, data is not an end unto itself. Data is hungrily sought after so that diagnoses can be made, problems can be identified, solutions can be proposed, and solution effectiveness can be gauged.<br />
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District writing assessments attempt to do some of this in a very blunt fashion. Some weaknesses in student writing will certainly be revealed but the remediation cycle is long, slow, and not terribly direct. Administrators would have to wait until the following semester's district assessment to see if there were any noticeable gains. Any impact is at the aggregate level and is rarely tailored to individual students.<br />
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And meanwhile the message to classroom teachers is fairly diluted and indirect. The district office meets with department heads and sets goals, the department heads then meet with their teachers, the teachers then try to meet the stated goals--all while balancing their own day-to-day curriculum goals that have already been planned for their class. Months later the next district writing assessment comes and the teachers may or may not find out the results that year.<br />
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There are just too many layers here, too much lag time, too much distance.<br />
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But aside from district writing assessments, there really aren't many other sources of data for student writing.<br />
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<b>Unifying writing assessment data with EssayTagger</b><br />
The beauty of EssayTagger is that teachers can evaluate writing more efficiently and more consistently (but I always have to emphasize this: EssayTagger is <b><i>not</i></b> an auto-grader; teachers make 100% of the grading decisions), and at the same time, behind-the-scenes, EssayTagger is saving all of those evaluations and tabulating the results.<br />
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It would be impractical for that Culinary Arts teacher to meticulously catalog and report every student's performance on each individual aspect of writing that she assessed. And even if she did, where would it go? How would that information benefit the English teachers, the Social Studies teachers, Math, Science, PE?<br />
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EssayTagger will do all of this for her. All she has to do is grade; we'll do all of the data collection, organization, sharing, statistics, and charting for her.<br />
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<b>Step 1: Common Core</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cprdLDwPQ8P341iDiu0WhPyMntGwI19MEmw4wMPdU1Dzhd0b30IVs_yz0e7ZpXTo5myEypcAVBLB9hnrOTJ_HctBps3n3yVIyJH3sxMoS-52BQEz09lngv4DIR76GqXRGpTyhArpI3Yd/s1600/common_core_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cprdLDwPQ8P341iDiu0WhPyMntGwI19MEmw4wMPdU1Dzhd0b30IVs_yz0e7ZpXTo5myEypcAVBLB9hnrOTJ_HctBps3n3yVIyJH3sxMoS-52BQEz09lngv4DIR76GqXRGpTyhArpI3Yd/s200/common_core_logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
For any network of data to be useful, it has to be comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges. It needs a common framework that provides underlying structure. For those of us in the teaching biz, that's Common Core.<br />
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Forget all of the confusion and complaints surrounding Common Core. Just think of it as a way to categorize what you already do. Every essay needs a thesis. In Common Core parlance that's W.1a. History teachers need to focus a lot on referencing credible sources. That's WHST.8.<br />
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So when the Culinary Arts teacher looks to assess her students' theses, she's evaluating W.1a. And when their English teacher evaluates his students' theses, it's still W.1a. Now both teachers are on the same page; they're doing an apples-to-apples comparison.<br />
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This is a huge win.<br />
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Now we have the basic framework for integrating writing assessments across the curriculum.<br />
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<b>Common Core-aligned progress tracking</b><br />
We already provide <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2012/11/latest-update-common-core-progression.html" target="_blank">Common Core progression tracking</a> for an individual teacher's classes. Now imagine this sort of data expanding beyond an individual teacher and reaching across the curriculum to include all writing assessments from every class in every subject:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs0ZWcoovNxu5GpMjXTeTgaQQWfII2zTIVU0-FQzgi_bxlZQdAvzNS9lju_QWtizatBzSwGe-_mm-rKFTSM7hyQNICJpLnW4ZNbe-GH9RTkZIbgKIBZtPqIJ_bmYj_8Ue3KIOcJ5_pvEZp/s1600/Common+Core+Student+Progression-114147.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs0ZWcoovNxu5GpMjXTeTgaQQWfII2zTIVU0-FQzgi_bxlZQdAvzNS9lju_QWtizatBzSwGe-_mm-rKFTSM7hyQNICJpLnW4ZNbe-GH9RTkZIbgKIBZtPqIJ_bmYj_8Ue3KIOcJ5_pvEZp/s320/Common+Core+Student+Progression-114147.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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This sort of analysis can also extend to the aggregate level. Are the 6th graders as a whole improving on W.1a? How are this year's sophomores doing compared to last year's sophomores? How about slices by department, by course, by teacher?<br />
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And aligning assessment to Common Core is actually shockingly easy, thanks to our <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/commoncore" target="_blank">Common Core Rubric Creation Tool</a>. Just check off the skills you want to assess and then use that rubric to grade the students' writing; that's all EssayTagger needs in order to add your assessment data to the pool of Common Core-aligned data!<br />
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<b>Step 2: Google apps accounts</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzg2VemdhiTRwtzDVxrEXa-_rckHEYKRWwQOA1im48pgiF2nhaWpL0CgNlU4vrND5tQEzQrKDSSJTP5MON6zCEzPs6tGFjTg0qyFOzOevKKQgJ5eF21VaqMLrRZ255H9VlinoSRFo1c39/s1600/google_apps_education_logo-200x80.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzg2VemdhiTRwtzDVxrEXa-_rckHEYKRWwQOA1im48pgiF2nhaWpL0CgNlU4vrND5tQEzQrKDSSJTP5MON6zCEzPs6tGFjTg0qyFOzOevKKQgJ5eF21VaqMLrRZ255H9VlinoSRFo1c39/s1600/google_apps_education_logo-200x80.png" /></a></div>
If your school is not using <a href="http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/" target="_blank">Google Apps for Education</a>, stop reading this and go get your school signed up. Now. Seriously. It's free for goodness' sake!! Go!<br />
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Through Google apps, each student gets a standardized school email account, Google Docs and Drive access, and a whole slew of other tools.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" /></a></div>
EssayTagger has <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/latest-update-google-apps-and-drive.html" target="_blank">just released support for student Google apps and Drive account integration</a>. Students can now sign in with their Google apps account as a way to identify themselves. They can direct EssayTagger to pull a document directly out of their Google Drive accounts and submit it to their selected assignment. Pretty cool.<br />
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But it's the identification piece that really matters here. Now we'll know that the Jimmy in this English class is the same Jimmy in that Driver's Ed class. So when he submits his Distracted Driving Journal entry, the assessment data from that assignment will be added to Jimmy's growing writing assessment data profile.<br />
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<b>Year-to-year persistence</b><br />
Even better, Jimmy's Google apps account will follow him for his entire career at that school. This means that when he submits assignments next year, his future teachers will continue to add to his existing writing assessment profile.<br />
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This year-to-year data profile is another huge win.<br />
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Now next year's teachers won't have to spend time finding out Jimmy's strengths and weaknesses; they'll have years of data to look back on and will be able to compare his performance to that of his peers. It's absurd that teachers start from scratch each year with each incoming crop of students and, as a result, a good chunk of the first quarter is wasted on diagnostic let's-see-where-you're-at writing assessments.<br />
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<b>More alignment to goals</b><br />
This whole new data ecosystem allows schools to get more aligned around specific goals. Let's return to those district writing assessments. The district assessments should also be scored within EssayTagger so that they can immediately contribute to the pool of data that can benefit all teachers.<br />
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Administrators can analyze the district assessment data and the ongoing classroom assessment data to identify aggregate weaknesses. And because everything is aligned to Common Core, district goals can be stated much more explicitly: "We have to get better at W.1a!"<br />
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Classroom teachers can then immediately focus on the problem area and do a series of major and minor assignments that include W.1a. Administrators can then see new results in mere days or weeks as new classroom assessment data comes in for W.1a. By the end of the year administrators can see if this year's 8th graders are ahead on W.1a relative to last year's 8th graders.<br />
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The remediation cycle is so much faster, much more direct, vastly more effective, and much easier for classroom teachers to implement.<br />
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At the end of the year successes and failures can be reviewed and the school can iteratively improve its curriculum. If W.1a really is a persistent, difficult problem, let's add more focus on it in just about every class right at the start of first quarter.<br />
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We can even start to look at Common Core coverage. "Hey, we seem to be neglecting W.3 - Narrative Writing. How about we add a short creative writing unit? Or maybe the History classes can add a fictional first-person account of a major event?"<br />
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<b>More coordination, more consistency</b><br />
Different teachers will likely have wildly different ideas of what a good thesis looks like. But now that this assessment data is aligned, we can open up collaborative conversations to level expectations across the school. "Hey, I teach regular level sophomores too, but why are my W.1a scores so much higher than yours? Am I being too generous?" They can then have EssayTagger <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2011/12/latest-update-rubric-drill-down.html" target="_blank">retrieve the exact thesis text excerpts</a> and compare.<br />
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The most organized PLTs may have common expectations for their Sophomore English course, but how many schools have common expectations for what a sophomore-level thesis looks like in <b><i>all</i></b> of their sophomore courses, regardless of department?<br />
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If we're really focused on writing across the curriculum, it should no longer be acceptable for teachers in one department to have different writing standards (or none at all!) than their counterparts across the building. It's exactly this isolation, these varying standards that Gerald Graff, 2008 President of the MLA (and my former professor at UIC!), bemoans as constituting <a href="http://www.mla.org/blog&topic=121" target="_blank">a detrimental "mixed message curriculum."</a><br />
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Imagine a school-wide effort to improve W.1a where teachers use consistent terminology with consistent expectations in every classroom across every subject. A thesis is a thesis is a thesis instead of a claim, a main idea, or a central point. Imagine PE teachers and Autos teachers actually collaborating with English and Social Studies teachers to determine what constitutes a good thesis.<br />
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This evolution won't all magically happen just because we unify all writing assessment data, but that unification seems a necessary prerequisite for those conversations to happen.<br />
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<b>Assessment data unification is the future</b><br />
We're a long way into the push for more and more data in schools. Now it's time to take the next step forward and unify classroom data across the school and align all of it with district goals via Common Core.<br />
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Schools have to evolve from being a collection of isolated classrooms to more of a highly-interconnected data web.<br />
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EssayTagger is building that future right now. We're looking for trailblazing, enlightened schools to join us and guide this effort. What are the must-have features of a tool that offers school-wide unified data? We are completely driven by teacher and administrator feedback; if you're onboard with us, you'll get a disproportionately large say in how these features take shape and where we set our priorities.<br />
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And we treat our friends well. Early partners will see substantial discounts to our school-wide or district-wide pricing. Start by filling out our <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/group_license_quote_request" target="_blank">quote request form</a>.<br />
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Let's make it happen!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-81614259449202467002013-02-24T23:07:00.001-06:002013-03-01T11:10:54.545-06:00How to enable Google integration in EssayTagger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Student sign-in via Google apps accounts and Google Drive integration were released today as "beta" features that are ready for broader, real-world testing. If you'd like to try it out with your students, follow these simple instructions.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" /></a></div>
Google integration has passed all of our internal testing, but there's nothing like hordes of actual students to find the flaws or weak points in any new feature.<br />
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We'd love your help to test it out. I'd suggest trying it out on a small, mostly inconsequential assignment. Something like a one-paragraph journal entry or a short reflection on the day's reading would be ideal. That way if any students do run into problems signing in or linking their Drive accounts, it's not the end of the world.<br />
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<b>Enabling Google integration</b><br />
Google integration is configured at the course level. Log in to your EssayTagger account and scroll to the bottom of the Instructor Home screen to see your list of courses. Click on the "edit" link next to the desired course.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_GdjUweCgdm87WlcufikbeHbm5D9H-aGqUcCqhdhowSTunWUV8v07_P2SROQhWd803lSoRtO8G0AKYh7r66YEoH_T6cubtGW1TTrBz40lYrol4zb892alBEixU9QbJwYpNXEIOa3u8uD/s1600/c32f063e-8531-4a01-b882-00b9c514e296.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_GdjUweCgdm87WlcufikbeHbm5D9H-aGqUcCqhdhowSTunWUV8v07_P2SROQhWd803lSoRtO8G0AKYh7r66YEoH_T6cubtGW1TTrBz40lYrol4zb892alBEixU9QbJwYpNXEIOa3u8uD/s400/c32f063e-8531-4a01-b882-00b9c514e296.jpeg" width="345" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
You'll see the new Google integration options with "Do not enable Google integration" selected as the default. When you click on "Enable Google integration" you'll see a new option roll out:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QUbINS1tYQqeKNVdU0zsTOIx7sh9_X69PiY_KHXAYb88jCYf6zqzPll1XyyfEeo25eDVGDXhDiG0yD5V2VyOj7EJ-Ks5VPQFnjpIaN3I-yVRu2wyYj_15WRtkq9qZuEv-_tsgvRwv3e7/s1600/e5a85f76-ada0-4773-aa0e-8415e632021c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QUbINS1tYQqeKNVdU0zsTOIx7sh9_X69PiY_KHXAYb88jCYf6zqzPll1XyyfEeo25eDVGDXhDiG0yD5V2VyOj7EJ-Ks5VPQFnjpIaN3I-yVRu2wyYj_15WRtkq9qZuEv-_tsgvRwv3e7/s400/e5a85f76-ada0-4773-aa0e-8415e632021c.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Require Google sign-in</b><br />
The "require Google sign-in" option would force students to sign in with their Google apps accounts before they can submit any documents--regardless of whether the document will come from Drive or uploaded from their computer.<br />
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This is strongly recommended as it provides a much more consistent way to identify students as they submit their work. Obviously this option only makes sense if every single student has a Google apps account (which would be the norm for any school that has adopted Google apps).<br />
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Once you've made your selections, click "update course" to save your changes.<br />
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<i>Note: You can deactivate Google integration at any time by returning to the Edit Course page.</i><br />
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<b>What students see</b><br />
The standard assignment upload page asks students for their name and class section. If Google integration is enabled, they'll see the new Google sign-in option prominently displayed:<br />
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If the "require Google sign-in" option is selected, students will <b><i>only</i></b> see the Google sign-in button:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rKWaVeulRyENrY93Nki2rsjbkWWQya__Wh1hZgRcXHyvQ4UuOat1QMaUUmrujYiFMMYkzKtJLZMR8zDjFwHUbiVhlIxxsIFYq4nPRZUPrPd4vK7NdjLVqAeFP58jXScSgceG0gaKuiBm/s1600/7a2fd0a7-b931-4f65-ada5-0cc4eee449de.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rKWaVeulRyENrY93Nki2rsjbkWWQya__Wh1hZgRcXHyvQ4UuOat1QMaUUmrujYiFMMYkzKtJLZMR8zDjFwHUbiVhlIxxsIFYq4nPRZUPrPd4vK7NdjLVqAeFP58jXScSgceG0gaKuiBm/s320/7a2fd0a7-b931-4f65-ada5-0cc4eee449de.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The sign-in process</b><br />
When students click on the "Sign in with Google account" button, the student will be routed to Google's authorization page. Google will first detect if the student is currently logged in to her Google apps account in the current browser session. If she had just been writing in Google Docs, the web browser will know that she's still logged in to her Google apps account.<br />
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But if she's not logged in, Google will prompt her:<br />
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Note that this login is happening on Google, not on EssayTagger. We do not receive the student's password.</div>
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<b>Granting authorization</b></div>
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Once the student is logged in to her Google account, she'll then be asked to grant EssayTagger permission to "access" her Google account. "Access" is a bit of a misnomer; the only information EssayTagger receives is the student's email address and the fact that she is logged in. Google's authorization page explicitly states that "Google will share your email address with EssayTagger.com but not your password or any other personal information."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdUHHHW0Zy3X6YBXV3ERy7oX9BQFOZUAfw5rtZtdKgx4n32xGeLE2zQKAjEVVV-DTnRsXxNQn0k7HzrR0a0LxxCdjKtCHL92FKxNqeNBcSyJtkBc7A3uWPlkhm71Dds-HZeJEvB3J9rbJ/s1600/ed640e1b-ecde-4984-a8ed-a0112dd606ee.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdUHHHW0Zy3X6YBXV3ERy7oX9BQFOZUAfw5rtZtdKgx4n32xGeLE2zQKAjEVVV-DTnRsXxNQn0k7HzrR0a0LxxCdjKtCHL92FKxNqeNBcSyJtkBc7A3uWPlkhm71Dds-HZeJEvB3J9rbJ/s400/ed640e1b-ecde-4984-a8ed-a0112dd606ee.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Check the "Remember this approval for the next 30 days" box to skip this screen next time.<br />
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<b>Linking Google Drive account</b><br />
EssayTagger will now need to request additional authorization (Drive authorization is separate from Google sign-in authorization). The student is automatically routed to Google's Drive authorization screen:<br />
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This authorization will only need to be completed once. After that Google and EssayTagger will remember that the student's Drive account has already been authorized and linked.<br />
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Once authorization is granted the student will be routed back to EssayTagger where we ask the student to confirm the information received from Google.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0BSfV3gJr2MjDD2tYMoLeSapHlU7BOL-heN_9F35hvQKv0JhTUoGb4NjpOZwEzp59eH4fJnLllaqw6V0K4lWXx4AysRbXgua1RJBpkEzYFEZTVvjvRmyNyC7J9XZNdriQZ9_edEpgoQX/s1600/f2270fc3-5890-465f-bde4-56575573aa9e.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0BSfV3gJr2MjDD2tYMoLeSapHlU7BOL-heN_9F35hvQKv0JhTUoGb4NjpOZwEzp59eH4fJnLllaqw6V0K4lWXx4AysRbXgua1RJBpkEzYFEZTVvjvRmyNyC7J9XZNdriQZ9_edEpgoQX/s320/f2270fc3-5890-465f-bde4-56575573aa9e.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Pulling a document from Drive</b><br />
Now that the authorization process is complete, the student will be able to click the "select document from Google Drive" button and select her document:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhiYtrCJGcIXU-0QhPavDHMA54I3obI8KOw1oP0Wot9BePBTCTEWSR8LhZiC-WCYhqrYLwveNHFX0WQJ9zk8qa09DcFDbz17dCHz37uwwusBEDh31-O1maZKVLTuCPiZ0-CHrvDzfX0zF/s1600/6dc28274-f423-4be8-8530-03ec489c40dc.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhiYtrCJGcIXU-0QhPavDHMA54I3obI8KOw1oP0Wot9BePBTCTEWSR8LhZiC-WCYhqrYLwveNHFX0WQJ9zk8qa09DcFDbz17dCHz37uwwusBEDh31-O1maZKVLTuCPiZ0-CHrvDzfX0zF/s400/6dc28274-f423-4be8-8530-03ec489c40dc.jpeg" width="393" /></a></div>
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This will generate a popup that displays all of the documents in the student's Drive account. This is kind of amazingly awesome!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWE3k4qZxaN_ci4wC5oSxrn-b_spbbRn_ppVyZILGD7e1t1AW1xJc-YYpEjSoLONgFQKRWz4h7f7DSWf19WIF2hJloqFZix2Ra7of274GIxiORBEJNscjs0I5HCKOBW93-5wUkyTblUZf/s1600/1ca9ac23-31a7-40ba-92e5-d087578b22ff.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWE3k4qZxaN_ci4wC5oSxrn-b_spbbRn_ppVyZILGD7e1t1AW1xJc-YYpEjSoLONgFQKRWz4h7f7DSWf19WIF2hJloqFZix2Ra7of274GIxiORBEJNscjs0I5HCKOBW93-5wUkyTblUZf/s400/1ca9ac23-31a7-40ba-92e5-d087578b22ff.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The student then just selects the desired document and clicks "Select". The selected document name will then appear and the student will be asked to click the checkmark to certify the academic honesty statement.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFX2zh4deRymQjUvoCoQWu7w1_jrVsJnwlQEUHRW65ap92mOwr2LvL6ELG5XdX0M7qjQwHYlDjovJYqwcSBt6ZnkLV0UCXqWRV8CIiRvuGQmcrQmp6sOuOjuOE694vXR55pEQoFsFSanP7/s1600/8f990435-9342-4490-b1f4-8fc89c315af3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFX2zh4deRymQjUvoCoQWu7w1_jrVsJnwlQEUHRW65ap92mOwr2LvL6ELG5XdX0M7qjQwHYlDjovJYqwcSBt6ZnkLV0UCXqWRV8CIiRvuGQmcrQmp6sOuOjuOE694vXR55pEQoFsFSanP7/s400/8f990435-9342-4490-b1f4-8fc89c315af3.jpeg" width="338" /></a></div>
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Then when the student clicks "Submit" EssayTagger will communicate directly with Google Drive and transfer the student's document into EssayTagger.<br />
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<b>Signing out</b><br />
Once the document has been transfered and processed, EssayTagger provides the student with a "sign out" button.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlkbfqgSLoeOjvNMGMFxbqFlBB6R28F4skMFpv4j42nxRCLXNUkcYTO6iWwPZqbja8wQYXRqAGlAlgcZUZ661LjIBPckpepSiiC4ccLycPSsqKUIP1pNNBKf-_Luj-ZzYx6tcH2Q3kGa_/s1600/88cfe648-9be3-4705-a10c-8a0bb2a308ec.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlkbfqgSLoeOjvNMGMFxbqFlBB6R28F4skMFpv4j42nxRCLXNUkcYTO6iWwPZqbja8wQYXRqAGlAlgcZUZ661LjIBPckpepSiiC4ccLycPSsqKUIP1pNNBKf-_Luj-ZzYx6tcH2Q3kGa_/s400/88cfe648-9be3-4705-a10c-8a0bb2a308ec.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The "sign out" button will sign the student out of EssayTagger and also out of her Google apps account. This is an important security measure when students are in a computer lab or are using some other shared computer. Signing out prevents anyone else from accessing the student's Google apps account and also prevents other students from accidentally submitting an assignment to EssayTagger while signed in as the wrong student.<br />
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<b>A note on document revisions</b><br />
When a student submits a document to EssayTagger from their Google Drive account, EssayTagger grabs a copy of the document as it exists at that moment in time. If the student subsequently edits the document, the changes will not be propagated forward into EssayTagger's version. The student would have to re-submit their document in order for the changes to appear.<br />
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EssayTagger will accept multiple submissions from the same student for the same assignment. Each submission will be displayed to the instructor, sorted by submission date and time. It is up to the instructor to decide which submission to evaluate and which ones to ignore or delete.<br />
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Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-36917111745774838422013-02-24T20:36:00.000-06:002013-02-24T23:08:48.507-06:00Latest update: Google apps and Drive integration is here!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Today's major new release enables student sign-in via Google apps accounts and integration with Google Drive!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzg2VemdhiTRwtzDVxrEXa-_rckHEYKRWwQOA1im48pgiF2nhaWpL0CgNlU4vrND5tQEzQrKDSSJTP5MON6zCEzPs6tGFjTg0qyFOzOevKKQgJ5eF21VaqMLrRZ255H9VlinoSRFo1c39/s1600/google_apps_education_logo-200x80.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzg2VemdhiTRwtzDVxrEXa-_rckHEYKRWwQOA1im48pgiF2nhaWpL0CgNlU4vrND5tQEzQrKDSSJTP5MON6zCEzPs6tGFjTg0qyFOzOevKKQgJ5eF21VaqMLrRZ255H9VlinoSRFo1c39/s1600/google_apps_education_logo-200x80.png" /></a></div>
Just about every school I talk to has jumped onto the Google apps bandwagon. It's really a no-brainer. It is the best platform on the planet and it's free for schools. Insane.<br />
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I'm super-excited to announce that as of today students will be able to sign in to EssayTagger using their Google apps accounts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rKWaVeulRyENrY93Nki2rsjbkWWQya__Wh1hZgRcXHyvQ4UuOat1QMaUUmrujYiFMMYkzKtJLZMR8zDjFwHUbiVhlIxxsIFYq4nPRZUPrPd4vK7NdjLVqAeFP58jXScSgceG0gaKuiBm/s1600/7a2fd0a7-b931-4f65-ada5-0cc4eee449de.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rKWaVeulRyENrY93Nki2rsjbkWWQya__Wh1hZgRcXHyvQ4UuOat1QMaUUmrujYiFMMYkzKtJLZMR8zDjFwHUbiVhlIxxsIFYq4nPRZUPrPd4vK7NdjLVqAeFP58jXScSgceG0gaKuiBm/s320/7a2fd0a7-b931-4f65-ada5-0cc4eee449de.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Google sign-in simplifies the process for both students and teachers while increasing reliability and security. This is already a huge win, but there's more!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigszRaHdKV_F1cbvjRW0EpvrymBC8jQcuMCgJqLYMOuKkDc6XQNkI-ukrv6lJ8d8xpvkVU2Obe5Mk3j_AdjLOeDRvMAKRweJgm5Kkdajen9zwiTURwoFCqB_4GklTnoDFjZiAjOHcmqYbx/s1600/drive_outline-small.png" /></a></div>
Google account sign-in opens the door to integrating with Google Drive. Now students can link their Drive account and pull their assignments directly out of Drive:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhiYtrCJGcIXU-0QhPavDHMA54I3obI8KOw1oP0Wot9BePBTCTEWSR8LhZiC-WCYhqrYLwveNHFX0WQJ9zk8qa09DcFDbz17dCHz37uwwusBEDh31-O1maZKVLTuCPiZ0-CHrvDzfX0zF/s1600/6dc28274-f423-4be8-8530-03ec489c40dc.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhiYtrCJGcIXU-0QhPavDHMA54I3obI8KOw1oP0Wot9BePBTCTEWSR8LhZiC-WCYhqrYLwveNHFX0WQJ9zk8qa09DcFDbz17dCHz37uwwusBEDh31-O1maZKVLTuCPiZ0-CHrvDzfX0zF/s320/6dc28274-f423-4be8-8530-03ec489c40dc.jpeg" width="315" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Clicking the "select document from Google Drive" button will bring up a selection box that lists all of the documents in the student's Drive account.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWE3k4qZxaN_ci4wC5oSxrn-b_spbbRn_ppVyZILGD7e1t1AW1xJc-YYpEjSoLONgFQKRWz4h7f7DSWf19WIF2hJloqFZix2Ra7of274GIxiORBEJNscjs0I5HCKOBW93-5wUkyTblUZf/s1600/1ca9ac23-31a7-40ba-92e5-d087578b22ff.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWE3k4qZxaN_ci4wC5oSxrn-b_spbbRn_ppVyZILGD7e1t1AW1xJc-YYpEjSoLONgFQKRWz4h7f7DSWf19WIF2hJloqFZix2Ra7of274GIxiORBEJNscjs0I5HCKOBW93-5wUkyTblUZf/s640/1ca9ac23-31a7-40ba-92e5-d087578b22ff.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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EssayTagger will then communicate with Google Drive behind-the-scenes and submit the student's selected document to the specified assignment. Students no longer have to deal with moving files around or uploading anything; just a super-efficient site-to-site transfer that happens at the click of a button! This is so freakin' cool!<br />
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<b>Beta release</b><br />
Note that Google integration is currently in final beta testing. That means that it has passed our internal testing but because it is such a large, complex undertaking, it still needs to be hammered on by real-world students before we will graduate it out of beta.<br />
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Google integration is turned off by default but can be enabled by any teacher who wishes to try it out (<a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/how-to-enable-google-integration-in.html" target="_blank">click here for instructions</a>). Once final testing is complete we will graduate the feature from beta status and at that point we will recommend that Google integration be the default option going forward.<br />
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Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-78333516382102573202013-02-12T12:32:00.002-06:002013-02-12T12:33:39.095-06:00Check out grmr.me and stop endlessly re-teaching grammar!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
EssayTagger is all about helping teachers give efficient, targeted feedback to their students. However, the feedback you give and the remediation methods you employ are still all up to you.<br />
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So I was thrilled to discover <a href="http://grmr.me/" target="_blank">grmr.me</a> via a <a href="http://iserotope.com/easy-essay-grading-online-tool/" target="_blank">blog post by Mark Isero</a>.<br />
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Grmr.me is a series of well-crafted, targeted lessons by tech-savvy English teacher <a href="http://www.iteachithink.com/p/about-me.html" target="_blank">Kevin Brookhouser</a> that address the most common grammar errors students make--comma splices, pronoun disagreement, there/their/they're, etc.<br />
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So rather than re-teaching each of these aggravating grammar issues, just direct students to Kevin's lessons and mini-quizzes. This is essentially a stripped-down version of <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/" target="_blank">Khan Academy</a> for grammar remediation.<br />
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<b>Using grmr.me</b><br />
Each lesson has a super-short URL to make it easy to reference when needed.<br />
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If there's an issue with, say, passive voice, just write <a href="http://grmr.me/psv" target="_blank">grmr.me/psv</a> in the margin and the student can type that into a browser address bar and immediately watch a remediation lesson on passive voice.<br />
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Very cool.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Check out grmr.me's intro video:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4QnlBYNvc4I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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I'd recommend an even faster shorthand: just list the URL starting from the slash.<br />
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<a href="http://grmr.me/psv" target="_blank">grmr.me/psv</a> becomes: <a href="http://grmr.me/psv" target="_blank">/psv</a></div>
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It's pretty easy to train students that comments with leading slashes imply grmr.me links.<br />
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Kevin has also produced <a href="http://grmr.me/quick/" target="_blank">a handy cheatsheet</a> of each super-short URL to refer to as you grade.<br />
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The videos that I've seen thus far are pretty entertaining and even embed an interactive component where students test their mastery and are advanced to an appropriate follow-up video based on their response. There's also a basic quiz and a kinda-sorta badge reward system (there are no student accounts so each badge disappears after you navigate away; full badge systems store each badge and showcase the student's growing collection).<br />
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<b>Grmr.me and EssayTagger</b><br />
There is no formal integration between grmr.me and EssayTagger, but you could easily start using Kevin's grmr.me link notation in the comments field of our new error marking feature:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbidavOgdZm1v44FARcIJDiuy4bH-2u8doKvGGJbGDzsFBqQMTL7Q-DrqtmYeKQaPs_varX_4yCH9lsN0VDVFLf4LcXFoP1AWhyphenhyphen6p8RQtaH77L8Dv-IPUfZ9djIr_eUNUJ2pbxAECuhSId/s1600/grmr.me1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbidavOgdZm1v44FARcIJDiuy4bH-2u8doKvGGJbGDzsFBqQMTL7Q-DrqtmYeKQaPs_varX_4yCH9lsN0VDVFLf4LcXFoP1AWhyphenhyphen6p8RQtaH77L8Dv-IPUfZ9djIr_eUNUJ2pbxAECuhSId/s1600/grmr.me1.png" /></a></div>
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If there are enough requests, I could have the system look specifically for "grmr.me" links (I might even support my shortened "/psv" method) and produce an actual clickable link for the student in their graded output.<br />
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I set my priority list based on teacher feedback so if you want this to happen, you gotta let me know!<br />
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In the meantime, start using grmr.me and <a href="https://twitter.com/brookhouser" target="_blank">tweet Kevin</a> some love!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-77684075253524759812013-02-12T11:45:00.000-06:002013-02-12T11:46:38.295-06:00Yep, we really are global!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have a handful of friends who speak Arabic so we'll see what they have to say about this blog post. But, needless to say, I find it pretty dang cool!<br />
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Something I created was noticed on the other side of the world!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1UHktqpnPe05EAPOlPZM1R7_Bj7Q4fut8T1FamnyUkyriFKQpH_S2M1oYm4Tjq_JiwK9Oco39MPRETxZzG79ZIs3LHqyocQabyRpkoJKXrEFWQWTpM47EHYcekKDQGTFPog1LfzZAWhn/s1600/20aaadf3-ba46-4dcd-8ed7-a8b023c9a22b.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1UHktqpnPe05EAPOlPZM1R7_Bj7Q4fut8T1FamnyUkyriFKQpH_S2M1oYm4Tjq_JiwK9Oco39MPRETxZzG79ZIs3LHqyocQabyRpkoJKXrEFWQWTpM47EHYcekKDQGTFPog1LfzZAWhn/s400/20aaadf3-ba46-4dcd-8ed7-a8b023c9a22b.jpeg" width="385" /></a></div>
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Link: <a href="http://go4learning.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html" target="_blank">http://go4learning.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html</a></div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-69247609313294742382013-02-01T13:26:00.002-06:002013-02-01T13:26:53.358-06:00Using EssayTagger to coordinate PLT assessments, pt2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Part 1: <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/using-essaytagger-to-coordinate-plt.html" target="_blank">PLTs must have common assignments and common assessments</a><br />
Part 2: <b>How to coordinate PLTs with EssayTagger</b><br />
Part 3: Analyzing the data reports (coming soon)<br />
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<i>In part two we show you a simple way to increase PLT coordination while maintaining each teacher's individual voice and personal flair.</i></div>
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Let's assume you're onboard with the idea that PLTs need to have a few common assignments that have common assessments in order to gauge the PLT's progress and effectiveness (if not, check out <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/using-essaytagger-to-coordinate-plt.html" target="_blank">part 1</a>).<br />
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Now how do we do this? I closed part 1 by sharing how much I hate common assessments because they are never in my voice and seem like an alien or foreign presence in my classroom. Education reformers would be wise to note that <i>jarring students out of the environment they're used to isn't the best way to assess the effectiveness of that environment!</i><br />
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Producing uniform PLT assessment data seems incompatible with preserving the unique flair and character of each teacher's classroom.<br />
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EssayTagger provides a way around that conundrum.<br />
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<b>Shared rubrics</b><br />
Rubrics are at the heart of how teachers assess written work in EssayTagger. And they are EssayTagger's secret weapon to solving the problem at hand.<br />
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Have your PLT agree upon a shared assignment. Let's say all of the Sophomore English teachers will be teaching "The Tempest". We can agree upon a few key goals for our Tempest unit and develop a summative essay assignment for the end of the unit.<br />
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<b>Collaborate on the rubric</b><br />
Now have one teacher log into her EssayTagger account (or jump to our free <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/commoncore" target="_blank">Common Core Rubric Creation Tool</a>) while the PLT discusses what they'd like to see in the rubric for this shared assignment. Consider the PLT's goals for the unit and begin building the rubric in EssayTagger. Again, we only need one transcriber to create the rubric.<br />
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You'll initially create a basic rubric structure that is just an empty grid with the rubric elements the PLT is looking to assess making up the rows and the agreed upon possible quality levels comprising the columns.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3uNts-XDAybzvU6YzlJ2E6WP95DMw1fMwvY6OxdRwpEyJDnPPW2XgTzVRH-WVmdocaf6bt8Xl6k3cjkHV57ZtOJPKs4hykyIXTs7W9CQgSwQwHBrCrkhIOGrCJ_X6pM-1zHMaA5B319w/s1600/plt_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3uNts-XDAybzvU6YzlJ2E6WP95DMw1fMwvY6OxdRwpEyJDnPPW2XgTzVRH-WVmdocaf6bt8Xl6k3cjkHV57ZtOJPKs4hykyIXTs7W9CQgSwQwHBrCrkhIOGrCJ_X6pM-1zHMaA5B319w/s400/plt_2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Note: Common Core-aligned rubrics are fixed at 5 pre-configured possible quality levels. Any other rubric type can have three to six quality levels of your choosing.</i><br />
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If the PLT wants to use the rubric to communicate performance expectations for the assignment, you can enter what we call "descriptors" into each grid cell. Descriptor text is the high-level, often generic text that makes up most traditional rubrics (e.g. "Some evidence was weak, not convincing, or missing entirely").<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4n0CmK2U_OvAHabRXZ01BAc7M3ZKQbS6tyD08xdRy8Yj7VVpPiz2yPL8CkpG-agHuYKdeFtwFxoNOyD7lzIjQpo2Ng23LyETEwO-1ocHdXfwLAMJjz8o3OuXoFN8hYH9Yicidg-5sHRu/s1600/plt_1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4n0CmK2U_OvAHabRXZ01BAc7M3ZKQbS6tyD08xdRy8Yj7VVpPiz2yPL8CkpG-agHuYKdeFtwFxoNOyD7lzIjQpo2Ng23LyETEwO-1ocHdXfwLAMJjz8o3OuXoFN8hYH9Yicidg-5sHRu/s400/plt_1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Note: Descriptors are optional in EssayTagger and are not necessary if the rubric exists primarily for assessment and feedback purposes rather than expectation setting. For more on descriptors and why I actually don't like using them, <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/latest-update-rubric-descriptors-now.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.</i><br />
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<b>Now share the rubric</b><br />
Once the PLT is satisfied that the rubric addresses all of the unit goals (or at least the unit goals that are embedded in the assignment), the transcriber can click on "share rubric" button at the bottom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6edXEqrYNPG_b6TDlRJnL5jzjjtIByxKt6yPmWTLFIZ2VX9I6g-h6zhNnK0pCLk9flwj4mY3zWfrzvO1QduQutDTOuAJOeFif0wucv7BaxTnjMUeJIhw4ookYl6H_ZPkft-nFX8PstB-/s1600/plt_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6edXEqrYNPG_b6TDlRJnL5jzjjtIByxKt6yPmWTLFIZ2VX9I6g-h6zhNnK0pCLk9flwj4mY3zWfrzvO1QduQutDTOuAJOeFif0wucv7BaxTnjMUeJIhw4ookYl6H_ZPkft-nFX8PstB-/s400/plt_3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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That will bring up the rubric's sharing page options.<br />
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The rubric's "Public link" is an externally-accessible link that anyone can view without needing an EssayTagger account. You can post this link on your class webpage to make it available to students. You could also share this rubric with your broader teacher network by posting the public link to Twitter, blogs, discussion groups, etc. Note that viewers can also print or download your rubric.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2uw5CaPWA_v27SMhyphenhyphenLNW_fJzJpN1j-xdVOhxZb1e3kPK16EtLIyZyj6DVViaiMds6aapLcl1D7UL3Kuj4Ou6ark-JFxpuT2v8fNEZCzzePsnt5otpcvtiwxg0iY-Y5f8S9KiLzVaK3W6/s1600/742c76fc-811c-45d9-a98e-999d131a6cb8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2uw5CaPWA_v27SMhyphenhyphenLNW_fJzJpN1j-xdVOhxZb1e3kPK16EtLIyZyj6DVViaiMds6aapLcl1D7UL3Kuj4Ou6ark-JFxpuT2v8fNEZCzzePsnt5otpcvtiwxg0iY-Y5f8S9KiLzVaK3W6/s400/742c76fc-811c-45d9-a98e-999d131a6cb8.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Import into PLT teachers' accounts</b><br />
Notice that the rubric has a "rubric code" -- in the screenshots above it is "XL-3KDD".<br />
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The other teachers in the PLT should now log in to their EssayTagger accounts and go to "my rubrics" and the "add a shared rubric" tab.<br />
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Enter the rubric code for your PLT's rubric and the site will copy it into your account.<br />
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<b>Create the assignment</b><br />
Each teacher can now create the assignment. Be sure to select "use one of your existing rubrics" when you create the assignment so you can use the rubric you just imported.<br />
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Okay, great. But using a common rubric has always been possible. The coolest part comes next!<br />
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<b>Rigid structure, fluid feedback</b></div>
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Thus far we have developed a common rubric and have thereby guaranteed that all PLT members are working off the exact same rubric structure. But the EssayTagger system is really built around reusable feedback comments that the teacher creates on an as-needed basis.<br />
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In fact, when you grade your first essay, there will initially be no feedback comments:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2td2Yb4mGkd2YMu1hLvRLCTWmjVw7einONbI88oQQICP1pRAeSTliyHgIHNu1jQCfAwK9e4IOiefFiJ2Lle1MKsR5uk2yfkfyVNZiv3VehaA3QvNpwvnVB9v7yRNFaJJGtRimEd3dqqi/s1600/plt_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2td2Yb4mGkd2YMu1hLvRLCTWmjVw7einONbI88oQQICP1pRAeSTliyHgIHNu1jQCfAwK9e4IOiefFiJ2Lle1MKsR5uk2yfkfyVNZiv3VehaA3QvNpwvnVB9v7yRNFaJJGtRimEd3dqqi/s640/plt_6.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Remember, your PLT only created the basic rubric structure (defined the rubric elements and the possible quality levels).<br />
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You may have also entered descriptors to set expectations within the rubric but those are not sufficient as feedback/coaching comments to help students improve. To emphasize this distinction, descriptors are displayed at the bottom of the evaluation options pop up box. For example, in the screenshot above we see the "Below 9-10th" descriptor for Thesis: "Develops no viable point of view or is vague or seriously limited." If you really want to see this student improve, you need to be specific: was the thesis not viable, was it vague, or was it seriously limited?<br />
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At this point you would click "add comment" and provide specific guidance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeGqf0IezBqZE7PuHJVcvdIo-nuDZ51FqsMHwiTDHCu0nyZGsMzzTxr5llwRklIkR2cmPnu8p83XNlzfSkNDechFYiSsCNOjULrKpvEI9NsJvPkEXCa9MUjI1devrRKBdF3j9a436yFxF/s1600/plt_7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeGqf0IezBqZE7PuHJVcvdIo-nuDZ51FqsMHwiTDHCu0nyZGsMzzTxr5llwRklIkR2cmPnu8p83XNlzfSkNDechFYiSsCNOjULrKpvEI9NsJvPkEXCa9MUjI1devrRKBdF3j9a436yFxF/s640/plt_7.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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We save the comment and then click it to apply it to this student's thesis.<br />
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<b>The big picture</b><br />
Notice what we've now accomplished. We have specified that this student's Thesis rubric element landed in the "Below 9-10th" quality level of the rubric. That evaluation within our PLT's shared rubric structure is now directly comparable across all of our PLT sections. It doesn't matter what I happened to enter as a feedback comment; all that matters is that I created that feedback comment in the "Below 9-10th" quality level column and selected a comment from that column for this student.<br />
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That comment that I created is unique to my copy of the shared PLT rubric. The other teachers will be creating their own collection of reusable feedback comments. But we'll all be organizing those feedback comments within our shared rubric structure.<br />
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This is how we get the best of both worlds: Rigid rubric structure, individual voice.<br />
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Consider one more example:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKel00swDyqyg1sNooxhWhQd79P0W3omE1_roMDsdbHmxWcukugWQ38VG3YdwENQwiIs_qWzaK1VXZxh0DUpHvDKODLu38LtrBDNdkwKyX-NK3TgogaLwlE_nPF_S5oMqdz1vwXThxpq7/s1600/plt_9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKel00swDyqyg1sNooxhWhQd79P0W3omE1_roMDsdbHmxWcukugWQ38VG3YdwENQwiIs_qWzaK1VXZxh0DUpHvDKODLu38LtrBDNdkwKyX-NK3TgogaLwlE_nPF_S5oMqdz1vwXThxpq7/s640/plt_9.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I love using the "splat" terminology. It's my version of what <a href="http://www.amazon.com/They-Say-Matter-Academic-Writing/dp/039393361X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359743649&sr=1-1&keywords=they+say+i+say" target="_blank">Gerald Graff and Kathy Birkenstein</a> call evidence hit-and-run. My students will recognize what "splat" means and, more importantly, will recognize my voice in the feedback comments they receive. They'll know it's still me behind this evaluation, but behind the scenes EssayTagger is collecting evaluation data that will allow my PLT to directly compare results and even combine results to see how our entire PLT is doing on the goals we set out to accomplish for this unit.<br />
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Pretty cool stuff.<br />
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In part 3 we'll take a look at the resulting data and see how we can learn from it to refine our own instruction and improve the PLT as a whole.<br />
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<b>Caveats</b></div>
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Any changes to the rubric will not be automatically applied to the other teachers' copies of the rubric. So once you share the rubric, consider it "locked." A possible future PLT-oriented feature would be to have the rubric creator specify a rubric as "locked" which would make it impossible for other PLT members to alter the rubric structure. Each teacher would still be able to enter her own feedback comments, but would not be able to add, edit, or delete the rubric's core elements or quality levels.</div>
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Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-57207663737394430992013-02-01T10:26:00.000-06:002013-02-01T13:30:53.181-06:00Using EssayTagger to coordinate PLT assessments, pt1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>It's becoming more and more important to coordinate curriculum and assessment within PLT teacher teams. In part one we'll briefly discuss PLTs, motivate why coordination is so important, and discuss some of the challenges. Part two will discuss how to use EssayTagger to enhance that PLT coordination without stifling teachers' individual voices and strengths. Part three will look at how the resulting data can help each individual teacher and the PLT as a whole.</i></div>
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Part 1: <b>PLTs must have common assignments and common assessments</b></div>
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Part 2: <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/using-essaytagger-to-coordinate-plt_1.html" target="_blank">How to coordinate PLTs with EssayTagger</a></div>
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Part 3: Analyzing the data reports (coming soon)</div>
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<b>PLTs are in</b><br />
Most schools seem to be moving toward the PLT--Professional Learning Team--model where, for example, all of the Sophomore English teachers would meet regularly, plan team goals, share resources and exercises, and hopefully develop a few common assignments and assessments.<br />
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However, I've been in schools that still operated with each teacher as his or her own island. In this sort of environment the PLT concept will likely be met with significant resistance. There will always be the <i>I've-been-doing-it-my-way-for-35-years</i> holdouts but even the most progressive-thinking teachers will worry about the constricting nature of making their classes more uniform and perhaps less unique.<br />
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On the flip side, I've been in schools that had weak or ineffective PLTs, despite significant administrator emphasis on them. Simply meeting every other week is not enough. We would talk about what each of us were doing, but there'd be no central focus or plan. It has to be more than just <i>check-in-and-share</i> time.<br />
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Sadly, teacher prep programs aren't taking a lead on this. I'm disappointed that my M.Ed. program didn't train us to collaborate with our peers. PLTs weren't even mentioned once during my two year program. We're supposed to be the new guard, the fresh blood bringing a modern approach to education. But too many Schools of Education are themselves stuck in old-guard or outdated modes of thinking and practices.<br />
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So I feel like I have a pretty strong grasp of many of the challenges and pitfalls when it comes to PLTs. And it's no surprise that transitioning to a team approach can often be a difficult process when a culture of collaboration or direct experience with PLTs is lacking. But as you'll see in part two, there is hope. Incremental change and increased coordination is possible and can be facilitated by some 21st-century technology.<br />
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<b>Coordination is king</b><br />
A PLT has to have a set of common goals for their class sections. If a PLT doesn't have a common vision for student outcomes, you don't really have a PLT; you just have a bunch of individual teachers sitting in the same room. Common goals matter. My Sophomore English students have to be just as prepared to enter their Junior English class as the students from any other Sophomore English section. And the Junior English teachers should have a reliable set of expectations for what they'll get from their incoming juniors each year.<br />
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But just setting common goals isn't enough. We need to know if those goals are being met. Did our sophomores really get to where we wanted to get them? And how did my specific crop of sophomores do <i>vis-à-vis</i> the rest of the PLT's students? Did my kids see particular gains or struggles versus their peers? This isn't about outing a bad teacher or competing against my teammates. It's about being able to identify what is and is not working in my class and across all of our classes.<br />
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Sure, we can rely on some standardized fill-in-the-bubble test that costs the school a couple thousand dollars to administer a few times each year, but no standardized test will ever really assess the full range of skills and knowledge we want to cultivate in our students in each of our PLTs. They're our PLT goals and we need a vision for what success looks like. It's up to us to figure out whether or not our students have achieved those goals.<br />
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<b>Common assignments, common assessments</b><br />
The most straightforward way to assess a PLT's goals is to develop common assignments with common assessments. "Common" here means that all teachers on the team would have their students complete the same assignment and assess them in the same manner across the PLT.<br />
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The team can then review the results and take an honest look at where teachers are succeeding and where they're struggling and where the PLT as a whole can improve.<br />
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I know this can sound a bit scary and threatening - "Ack! What if my kids do worse than everyone else's?!" But true teaching professionals will understand that this is an opportunity to learn and grow; if you find that your students are struggling with thesis while the other PLT teachers' students are flourishing, you can engage your teammates to find out what they're doing with thesis that's yielding more success. Or maybe you'll find that <i>everyone's</i> kids are producing awful theses, which means the PLT as a whole needs to put their heads together to adjust the curriculum and address that weakness.<br />
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This is how teachers improve. This is how curriculum evolves to meet students where they're at.<br />
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That shouldn't sound threatening. That should sound exciting, efficient, smart.<br />
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<b>But common assessments stink!</b><br />
I'll be honest: I always hated common assessments. My gripe was that because it's inherently a group effort, the end result is this alien, distant voice that is presented to the students. I put in a lot of effort to be informal and use accessible teenage-speak whenever possible. Instead of asking students to "Evaluate Prospero's underlying motives and assess the moral dimension of his actions in Act I," I would instead simply ask, "What's the deal with Prospero? Is the guy just a big jerk?"<br />
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But my style doesn't suit everyone on my PLT, and fair enough; that's not their personality. Unfortunately the alternative is generally something jarringly different from what the students are used to getting from me; the common assessment feels separate from the class that I've created instead of an integral part of it.<br />
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So I totally get the importance of common assignments and common assessments, but I hate them.<br />
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So now we get to the good stuff. <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/02/using-essaytagger-to-coordinate-plt_1.html" target="_blank">Continue on to part two</a> where we'll show how you can use EssayTagger to bring about more PLT coordination through common assessment but without sacrificing your voice and uniqueness.<br />
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Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-48132854453245337092013-01-30T20:53:00.002-06:002013-01-30T20:56:29.459-06:00Grading with EssayTagger on your iPad via Photon browser<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today we <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/yes-essaytagger-on-your-ipad.html" target="_blank">discovered that the EssayTagger grading app can run on an iPad</a> with a little help! Here are your step-by-step instructions for accessing EssayTagger through the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photon-flash-video-player/id430200224?mt=8" target="_blank">Photon browser</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgl_-RzNesu9CNG0UF7P9Tf3qKfyliwr4fVF6Li-OJd-EW-qZpzpfSJiGxrXXzXnsQrLHvoCnFZNX1BihWTH2kOUVsjb1Km7mMOL1N9JbTxpvVi13z0DfnP8k0XibLt63VK0nIpHohi40/s1600/ipad_embed_photon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgl_-RzNesu9CNG0UF7P9Tf3qKfyliwr4fVF6Li-OJd-EW-qZpzpfSJiGxrXXzXnsQrLHvoCnFZNX1BihWTH2kOUVsjb1Km7mMOL1N9JbTxpvVi13z0DfnP8k0XibLt63VK0nIpHohi40/s400/ipad_embed_photon.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Install Photon on your iPad</b><br />
From your iPad, go to the app store and search for "Photon browser". Make sure you select the iPad version and not the cheaper iPhone version. When I installed it today it was a $4.99 purchase.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvs72SOxA7XZ0G7pEjiI0Hn1zn_rbbjtamQRIqgmtf5S_txaPIHhZV62zseZM91Xgu6kgpYCuR0Ly94fdxzH3gks4MmpuMzkFfFbs5EJnq6ZlXYrjNf7TNuaBkrV70jxHJLta1d2AMcAb/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+7+47+58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvs72SOxA7XZ0G7pEjiI0Hn1zn_rbbjtamQRIqgmtf5S_txaPIHhZV62zseZM91Xgu6kgpYCuR0Ly94fdxzH3gks4MmpuMzkFfFbs5EJnq6ZlXYrjNf7TNuaBkrV70jxHJLta1d2AMcAb/s320/Photo+Jan+30,+7+47+58+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Launch Photon</b></div>
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Photon is a web browser and really isn't all that different from any other web browser. There is one big special function you'll need to know about to enable Flash support, but Photon already does a good job of explaining it. You'll see.</div>
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Go to EssayTagger.com and either launch the interactive demo from the "try the demo" tab or log in to your account and click "start grading" to launch the grading app for one of your assignments.</div>
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When the grading app window opens you'll see a Flash error message instead of the grading app. But Photon explains what to do:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nPQyUpTlX6LuF1s6SU0F8nw8obObsyvO0gxjtuWVJqFTTZ7QxXe9X_hfptwfJ-qED-MXGC35D5Il5O3_ntZ2l4RN_tz2OU4LfVXPZkxprDDrfxgIfNlqsfMLPKKc5RkMRP2Tv4_NBD1P/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+20+16+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nPQyUpTlX6LuF1s6SU0F8nw8obObsyvO0gxjtuWVJqFTTZ7QxXe9X_hfptwfJ-qED-MXGC35D5Il5O3_ntZ2l4RN_tz2OU4LfVXPZkxprDDrfxgIfNlqsfMLPKKc5RkMRP2Tv4_NBD1P/s400/Photo+Jan+30,+12+20+16+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Once you click the lightning bolt icon at the top right, the grading app will be able to load:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGrcgQQsFUre6NiZMthPY7nS32yF-DdFPaAY3TMpsVWCb6rfJGR9gPVN884aYOX0ar9oZNrRxmgHQtv_e4-qQDrFvlvrDmkSYfHszySWUV72pFW0pwd8R5DCJ5tOET_FLd3DXNAWvKFKq/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+54+11+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGrcgQQsFUre6NiZMthPY7nS32yF-DdFPaAY3TMpsVWCb6rfJGR9gPVN884aYOX0ar9oZNrRxmgHQtv_e4-qQDrFvlvrDmkSYfHszySWUV72pFW0pwd8R5DCJ5tOET_FLd3DXNAWvKFKq/s320/Photo+Jan+30,+12+54+11+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yay! The grading app is running on the iPad!</div>
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<b>Adjust Photon settings</b></div>
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Now click the gear icon at the top right to enter the settings options. Change the following two settings:</div>
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<u>Bandwidth: 6</u> - to maximize responsiveness and text quality. Photon runs the grading app remotely on its own server and streams it to your iPad. That's how they're able to support Flash on the iPad--because it's actually running Flash somewhere else! If the bandwidth setting is too low, the essay text will look chunky due to the transmission compression.</div>
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<u>Mode: Web</u> - I found this produced the best looking text and further minimized compression chunkiness.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtBsh2r4_osiHdx_ByuixBitoAx3jEhpFpeNcrlQpQZXiJgJizqvTLwDo9S4KjfqxjIsnSfWw4E_o5l4AZjgsk9UQ6M8KC7YTv8cjhBYC47BuXxWaMcr-XzyWYXEvHjBp5OYOqiufChTIx/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+20+49+PM+edit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtBsh2r4_osiHdx_ByuixBitoAx3jEhpFpeNcrlQpQZXiJgJizqvTLwDo9S4KjfqxjIsnSfWw4E_o5l4AZjgsk9UQ6M8KC7YTv8cjhBYC47BuXxWaMcr-XzyWYXEvHjBp5OYOqiufChTIx/s400/Photo+Jan+30,+12+20+49+PM+edit.png" width="302" /></a></div>
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That's all we need to do here. Photon will remember these settings so you won't have to worry about these again.<br />
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<b>Using the grading app</b><br />
A couple tips to make your life easier. Photon's default interactive mode is not a great match for the grading app's drag-and-drop interface. Once the grading app loads, switch to the "grab" mode at the top right:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycMYBWvsBd7Jd2rmUfAJOfyS4h-CQG6Alh8hGfwPq7qlWdevmPPbDRMxzk4WxFXkQiMImA7gSxh2VZ6fB9_hLq0vMGyryB4dIKnzZKUA9wI15n-hir8ekiphF-U0g1zTY36LL2hWc391F/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+54+11+PM+edit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycMYBWvsBd7Jd2rmUfAJOfyS4h-CQG6Alh8hGfwPq7qlWdevmPPbDRMxzk4WxFXkQiMImA7gSxh2VZ6fB9_hLq0vMGyryB4dIKnzZKUA9wI15n-hir8ekiphF-U0g1zTY36LL2hWc391F/s400/Photo+Jan+30,+12+54+11+PM+edit.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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With this mode enabled, dragging and dropping works extremely well. You can also easily select text passages to mark for errors or enter a free comment.<br />
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I would also take advantage of the grading app's built in font size adjuster buttons on the left. Increasing the essay font size will make it easier to read and easier to select text. Here's a set of before and after screenshots:<br />
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<b>Use a bluetooth keyboard</b><br />
The iPad on-screen keyboard does not work well when using the grading app in Photon. It often ends up covering up the text box so you can't see what you're typing:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpzdlyX_8McHwNd0P-2-nrNLGUmB4ZzvrSplvxF0-0gYsQ87hvrckoIz0Ulg4eBE9NIiR8QNek5HMPUuKqPzXh71_otHh0LjjK2u87mG__5IsN6RJPg_NatQ_Tm1aTQXPyKV8-GWGjSj8/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+22+38+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpzdlyX_8McHwNd0P-2-nrNLGUmB4ZzvrSplvxF0-0gYsQ87hvrckoIz0Ulg4eBE9NIiR8QNek5HMPUuKqPzXh71_otHh0LjjK2u87mG__5IsN6RJPg_NatQ_Tm1aTQXPyKV8-GWGjSj8/s400/Photo+Jan+30,+12+22+38+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add a new comment...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D'oh! Covered up the text box!</td></tr>
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My bluetooth keyboard worked just fine. The only slight oddity was that I had to press the keyboard button at the top right of Photon to get it to start receiving my typing.<br />
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<b>Other minor tips</b></div>
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<u>Horizontal alignment:</u> The grading app makes the best use of space if you launch it while the iPad is oriented horizontally.</div>
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<u>Essay scrolling:</u> Scrolling through an essay is a little difficult because the vertical scrollbar in the grading app is so narrow. It will click-and-drag just fine but you'll have to be a bit precise to "grab" it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0W-lXY-phNd74mNxBZvxrsx0mgzPCo08bSSkK0zgtEatFI_KstV1cWtSN2SH3nFlAT_Ik270tMZu8_Xe5xU38NpuudpK5WO2BQo3uJ0yPgecy5I8K4tLf2N-8XuSpQoWyaa3CPNzi5Bt/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+25+43+PM+scrollbar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0W-lXY-phNd74mNxBZvxrsx0mgzPCo08bSSkK0zgtEatFI_KstV1cWtSN2SH3nFlAT_Ik270tMZu8_Xe5xU38NpuudpK5WO2BQo3uJ0yPgecy5I8K4tLf2N-8XuSpQoWyaa3CPNzi5Bt/s320/Photo+Jan+30,+12+25+43+PM+scrollbar.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It might be easier to just tap the gray area above or below the scroll bar to move the essay.<br />
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<br />
<u>Quick tips:</u> It's also a little hard to access the "Quick tips" rollout help topics at the top of the grading app. Switch to the mouse pointer icon mode to make it easy to "hover" over the Quick tips help items:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbO5OfgGyXdn8KJAz5I2ohEswwxnglcAIE-tRSQHEzrjplx19s5W9qnHTG2ESuPKkSmBm13VYAV8u8oPin2q2B2elDEFZ4QPxG2J-BkKtHdLDcwaIe8hqKN66XJG1HrxF1kZOVbrD2Zim/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+38+56+PM+pointer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbO5OfgGyXdn8KJAz5I2ohEswwxnglcAIE-tRSQHEzrjplx19s5W9qnHTG2ESuPKkSmBm13VYAV8u8oPin2q2B2elDEFZ4QPxG2J-BkKtHdLDcwaIe8hqKN66XJG1HrxF1kZOVbrD2Zim/s320/Photo+Jan+30,+12+38+56+PM+pointer.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb10ekcXa9PYalMcdkwILQduZCAdAbYzyfigC0dovgsKrsynuXry6UdSJikLVhynNi8qHmnZRYcy8MNdLxup7j9IEIvu0C6ZwczsmigP3-jgi5A6nWfEkM42RN5SzCMZP9D_I42VlSnWim/s1600/Photo+Jan+30,+12+38+56+PM+quicktips.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb10ekcXa9PYalMcdkwILQduZCAdAbYzyfigC0dovgsKrsynuXry6UdSJikLVhynNi8qHmnZRYcy8MNdLxup7j9IEIvu0C6ZwczsmigP3-jgi5A6nWfEkM42RN5SzCMZP9D_I42VlSnWim/s400/Photo+Jan+30,+12+38+56+PM+quicktips.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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That's it for now! Go grade and feel all super-high tech!<br />
<br /></div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-56654761038116161942013-01-30T15:00:00.002-06:002013-01-30T20:55:35.409-06:00Yes!! EssayTagger on your iPad!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
EssayTagger's patent pending interactive grading app is built in Flash and works great in any web browser. However, Steve Jobs decided years ago that Apple would not to support Flash on iOS devices (iPad, iPhone). I've experimented with a special version of our grading app that can work as an installed iPad app, but it's a long way from being ready to put in the iTunes app store. I figured iPad support would just have to wait.<br />
<br />
But then Alaina Langdahl of Parkrose High School in Portland, OR suggested we take a look at a few iPad web browser apps that serve as an alternative browser to the built-in Safari browser and, most importantly, they support Flash!<br />
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I'm ecstatic to announce that the Photon browser does a surprisingly good job of bringing the EssayTagger grading app to life on an iPad!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgl_-RzNesu9CNG0UF7P9Tf3qKfyliwr4fVF6Li-OJd-EW-qZpzpfSJiGxrXXzXnsQrLHvoCnFZNX1BihWTH2kOUVsjb1Km7mMOL1N9JbTxpvVi13z0DfnP8k0XibLt63VK0nIpHohi40/s1600/ipad_embed_photon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgl_-RzNesu9CNG0UF7P9Tf3qKfyliwr4fVF6Li-OJd-EW-qZpzpfSJiGxrXXzXnsQrLHvoCnFZNX1BihWTH2kOUVsjb1Km7mMOL1N9JbTxpvVi13z0DfnP8k0XibLt63VK0nIpHohi40/s640/ipad_embed_photon.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Holy awesomeness!!!<br />
<br />
Drag-and-drop interactive grading on a tablet! This is exactly how I imagined using EssayTagger when I first started this company!<br />
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All grading app features are fully supported when used through the Photon browser. There are some important settings that will vastly improve the experience. I'll update this post soon with step-by-step instructions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The downside</b><br />
Photon browser is a $4.99 app purchase. I know, that stinks.<br />
<br />
We have no relationship with Photon and will be evaluating other Flash-enabled iPad browsers. Hopefully a free option will emerge that offers support for all of the features required to run the grading app. Ideally Apple would finally come around and support Flash, but that's not very likely (in fact, even Android is moving away from Flash with its latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2 OS).<br />
<br />
Until we identify a viable free solution, it'll be up to you to decide if grading on your iPad is worth $4.99.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Updates:</b><br />
- <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/grading-with-essaytagger-on-your-ipad.html" target="_blank">Step-by-step instructions for using EssayTagger with the Photon browser</a> are now posted!<br />
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- Alaina is reporting that she's having success with the free <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puffin-web-browser-free/id472937654?mt=8" target="_blank">Puffin iPad browser</a>. My testing with Puffin was less successful but I'll take a closer look at it as soon as I can.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-92170182247477446622013-01-28T22:16:00.000-06:002013-02-01T11:27:08.873-06:00Latest update: Rubric descriptors now integrated into the grading app<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>We differentiate rubric "descriptors" that are designed to set performance expectations vs feedback comments that promote student growth. Long overdue, your rubric descriptors are now integrated into the feedback-driven grading app.</i></div>
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<b>Rubrics serve two purposes</b><br />
It's taken me a while to wrap my brain around this, but I finally had my "a-ha!" moment and clearly saw that rubrics serve (at least) two distinct purposes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Purpose #1: </b><i>Rubrics set performance expectations for students before they attempt the assignment.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Purpose #2: </b><i>Rubrics provide performance feedback after their work is assessed and scored.</i></blockquote>
A typical rubric grid cell for, say, <i>Evidence</i> will go something like, "Uses inadequate examples, evidence, or reasoning to support its position." This sort of vague language always frustrated me because I only cared about Purpose #2 (rubrics as feedback). In fact, this was a large part of the motivation for me to create EssayTagger in the first place. I wanted to be able to give students more specific feedback at a per-sentence level. I wanted to be able to coach them on every individual piece of evidence rather than offering a single generic statement.<br />
<br />
And I tended to poo-poo Purpose #1 because I set expectations <i>in class</i> by doing a ton of group and peer review where everyone evaluated samples and compared notes against my evaluations. It was amazing to see how close the class peer review averages were to my own determinations on the essay samples. At that point it didn't seem necessary to re-establish those expectations in a formal rubric.<br />
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So I built EssayTagger with only Purpose #2 in mind.<br />
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<br />
<b>Enter "descriptors"</b><br />
But many teachers told me that they believe strongly in Purpose #1 (using a rubric to set expectations). I try my best to avoid letting my personal biases get in the way and prevent other teachers from being able to incorporate EssayTagger into their classrooms.<br />
<br />
So I developed the "descriptor" feature in EssayTagger to support Purpose #1. Descriptors set expectations. Enter them into your rubric and share it or print it out for your students. They can review the rubric and the descriptor text before they write the assignment.<br />
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Here's an example:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5kRQjDku9FAyF91EpSItZ9qPwM9bjGfg6kPG-AbgbdcM2T6dj-b0oEuGpDBkbSiEHG-Qcp8PJTSaWcFZgNbAD_982S8pML3wJxoKx4ylYvwkXFF4ZhS7p3wFZPtRrxQKsAsN3I5PuO2G/s1600/63b1df9b-df0b-4f90-89c1-8cc59690226c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5kRQjDku9FAyF91EpSItZ9qPwM9bjGfg6kPG-AbgbdcM2T6dj-b0oEuGpDBkbSiEHG-Qcp8PJTSaWcFZgNbAD_982S8pML3wJxoKx4ylYvwkXFF4ZhS7p3wFZPtRrxQKsAsN3I5PuO2G/s640/63b1df9b-df0b-4f90-89c1-8cc59690226c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to view full size</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As you can see, <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/rubric?code=B9-5KJX" target="_blank">this EssayTagger rubric</a> looks like a traditional rubric with high-level expectation-setting descriptors.<br />
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However, because descriptors usually make for horrible feedback comments (failing to serve Purpose #2), they were kept separate from the targeted feedback comments that are the real bread-and-butter of the EssayTagger system.<br />
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Because of this separation--Purpose #1 vs Purpose #2-- I did not even display the descriptors in the grading app. I wanted to include them but I wasn't sure how to do it without creating confusion between descriptors and feedback comments.<br />
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<b>Descriptors now integrated into grading app</b><br />
A recent email exchange with Stephanie Bester of Thurgood Marshall Middle School finally prompted my second "a-ha!" moment and I finally figured out how to display the descriptors in the grading app in a way that would minimize confusion.<br />
<a name='more'></a>So now the descriptors appear at the bottom of the popup evaluation box when you hover over each quality level column:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6mcvpzY0pLnjx6av1rWmwfV-U6sdn-rqeVBE8WxtChAamOuBHpcVzgAd1rtCvfLw59mH6_e75-TOZKvc9ndbu1r-JxteWFEAHA8cJWsTEIFl_aDrEojJ5TscmYlixzO7Ie484GJKi0DRV/s1600/descriptors_1b.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6mcvpzY0pLnjx6av1rWmwfV-U6sdn-rqeVBE8WxtChAamOuBHpcVzgAd1rtCvfLw59mH6_e75-TOZKvc9ndbu1r-JxteWFEAHA8cJWsTEIFl_aDrEojJ5TscmYlixzO7Ie484GJKi0DRV/s640/descriptors_1b.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It lists the quality level ("Beginning"), the rubric element being evaluated ("Supporting Evidence & Sources"), and the associated descriptor text for that quality level/rubric element combination ("Uses inadequate examples, evidence, or reasoning to support its position"). They appear as a reminder of the expectations set at each quality level, but it remains clear that you must still provide more specific feedback to guide your students.<br />
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To further drive home the difference between descriptors and high-quality feedback, consider this next example that uses Vicki Spandel's "<a href="http://www.academicesl.com/docs/rubricdoc.pdf" target="_blank">Teacher 6 Point Rubric</a>":<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYk576z0UdzLuCfVnPYmFrib9wBLDlmNJGD60nXD4dIJ53NOgJdNPZI3UkGhSS7Cjh06zsJR9uUSn9C86PwuFR8FlHXGd4u-9c1D2Dc8BojiL4Gm2jYn31ruEBX0LlFzCPkQ2BzjjUCAHB/s1600/descriptors_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYk576z0UdzLuCfVnPYmFrib9wBLDlmNJGD60nXD4dIJ53NOgJdNPZI3UkGhSS7Cjh06zsJR9uUSn9C86PwuFR8FlHXGd4u-9c1D2Dc8BojiL4Gm2jYn31ruEBX0LlFzCPkQ2BzjjUCAHB/s640/descriptors_2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to see full size</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Spandel's rather lengthy rubric descriptors remind us of the expectations set for Level 3 Sentence Fluency: <i>"Mechanical but readable. Gangly, tangly, never-ending or chop-chop-choppy text common. Repetitive beginnings, little variety in length. Fragments (if used) do not work, dialogue (if used) a little stiff."</i> But as we've graded we've created much more specific, actionable feedback comments for our students.<br />
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<i>Note: Spandel's rubric content is her own copyrighted material.</i><br />
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<b>Driven by teacher feedback</b><br />
In addition to Stephanie, there were a number of other EssayTagger users that requested this feature and urged me to make it a high priority. So I offer an additional thanks to:<br />
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Samantha Spencer - <i>El Camino Real Charter High School, Woodland Hills, CA</i><br />
Sara Edelman - <i>East Grand Rapids High School, Grand Rapids, MI</i><br />
Daniel Jatovsky - <i>Essex County College, Newark, NJ</i><br />
Nick F.<br />
Greg H. out in LA<br />
MJ<br />
and others!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-18516427758537621742013-01-23T11:52:00.001-06:002013-01-24T21:29:03.958-06:00Latest update: Six-level rubric support<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Thanks to teacher feedback, EssayTagger rubrics can now have up to six possible quality levels.<br />
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I had previously limited rubrics to a max of five quality levels mostly due to practical constraints; there just wasn't enough left-to-right space in the grading app to comfortably accomodate six quality levels. But after a series of recent cosmetic updates, the grading app now has plenty of breathing room.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwfeVAACs99CLLoIk43cIsjJkSH4-F_2wOqNfRn16zxIdJg5PNW_xDHFh6QCsDHnANWMn_msjgy6rUL3xjOpWdHYJ20-LikUFTBXiEQ3jCRTNtb2xVpYkT6-GMn2YqO7zERmYQmx-v3wD/s1600/six-level.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwfeVAACs99CLLoIk43cIsjJkSH4-F_2wOqNfRn16zxIdJg5PNW_xDHFh6QCsDHnANWMn_msjgy6rUL3xjOpWdHYJ20-LikUFTBXiEQ3jCRTNtb2xVpYkT6-GMn2YqO7zERmYQmx-v3wD/s640/six-level.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Then: Law of diminishing returns</b><br />
But I was still skeptical. I knew that six-level rubrics were popular, but I never used six-level rubrics in my classroom. For me, anything beyond five levels started to get overwhelming. How could I possibly remain consistent in evaluating ever-finer levels of distinction?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I really like the idea of odd-numbered, five-level rubrics and that has strongly biased my approach in designing and building EssayTagger. In my view the middle quality level is the "in-progress" quality level. The student isn't there yet but is headed in the right direction. It's neither good nor bad; the kid is simply in the middle of the process of mastering the skill. This is how I view my gymnasts as we're developing a new trick. I'm not looking for perfection at the early or middle stages.<br />
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And now that I think about it, a neutral middle rubric level is really best suited to formative assessment.<br />
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<b>Now: Teacher feedback rules the day</b><br />
What finally swayed me was a conversation I had with <a href="https://twitter.com/RCJones" target="_blank">Dr. Richard Jones</a> from Maine South High School. He pointed out that a lot of teachers and schools already have six-level rubrics deeply embedded into their curriculum. By not supporting six-level rubrics in EssayTagger, I was essentially shutting the door to those teachers.<br />
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But what I found most compelling was when Dr. Jones argued that it can be important to give students in the middle an indication of whether they're leaning more towards the success end of the spectrum or more toward the developing end. He also pointed out that research into rubric design has generally favored even-numbered rubric levels to force teachers into the higher-or-lower determinations.<br />
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An even-numbered rubric seems best suited for summative assessment as it is inherently more evaluative.<br />
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<b>Give teachers the option</b><br />
EssayTagger is, of course, deeply imbued with my personal preferences and my approach to assessment. But I have also put in a lot of effort to support as wide an array of approaches as possible. This system has to be able to work for everyone, not just the folks that think like me.<br />
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So keep the feedback coming; that's how EssayTagger has evolved by leaps and bounds in such a short amount of time.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-77606371981544302242013-01-16T18:53:00.002-06:002013-03-07T10:40:13.163-06:00Using EssayTagger for fast formative assessment, pt2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>In part two we explore a method for fast, effective formative assessment by leveraging EssayTagger's strengths and incredible built-in data reporting.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/using-essaytagger-for-fast-formative.html" target="_blank">Part one: Primer on formative assessment</a></div>
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Part two: Fast, effective formative assessment with EssayTagger<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"If students receive feedback often and regularly, it enables better monitoring and self‐regulation of progress by students."</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">- Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick</span></blockquote>
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At face value EssayTagger's core function--grading essays more efficiently--seems more well-suited to end-of-unit essay evaluation (summative assessments). But as you'll see we can easily leverage EssayTagger's strengths to hit all three formative assessment keys <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/using-essaytagger-for-fast-formative.html" target="_blank">discussed in part one</a>: speed, detailed diagnostics, and quality feedback.<br />
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<br />
<b>Basic approach</b><br />
Develop open-ended, journal-style written response questions aligned with unit goals and then evaluate students' work in EssayTagger, focusing on short, targeted feedback. Then review the evaluation results data to refine class-wide instruction and target individual reinforcement or remediation. Ideally you would repeat 2-3 times throughout the unit before the end-of-unit summative assessment.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>A concrete example: The Tempest, Sophomore English</b></div>
<div>
When studying Shakespeare with sophomores we need to work on the mechanical skill of processing the complex text and would like to see the students develop an engagement with the text at an emotional, human level. A final summative assessment might come in the form of an essay prompt like, "Do Prospero's ends justify his means?"which would require a detailed understanding of the text and characters along with an expectation of referencing appropriate textual evidence.</div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Journal assignment</b></div>
<div>
To build students up to that goal, I created a <a href="http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/cloud.essaytagger.com/resources/blog/The%20Tempest%20journal%201.docx" target="_blank">short journal assignment for Act I of The Tempest</a>. The conclusion of Act I is a good place to pause and take stock of where the students are at. The journal assignment consists of three parts: summary, opinion with evidence, and text decoding.</div>
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The summary is a straightforward way to see how well they're following the text at a high level. It also becomes a useful refresher for the students at the end of the unit when they want to look back at the previous acts.<br />
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The opinion with evidence section is my favorite. It asks an engaging opinion question: "What's the deal with Prospero? Is he just a big jerk?" It's open-ended and there's no right or wrong answer. It gives them a chance to reflect on and process what they've seen of Prospero thus far (which is admittedly quite confounding!). Just about any take on him is fair game--provided they offer at least one piece of evidence from the text.<br />
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The text decoding section offers a complex excerpt from the text and asks the student to do her best in interpreting its meaning and explain how she came to that conclusion.<br />
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In each section we're looking for no more than a paragraph of writing and the assignment is something that sophomores should be able to complete in one night or perhaps even in one class period if they have access to computers.<br />
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<b>Rubric</b><br />
I created this <a href="http://www.essaytagger.com/rubric?code=Y2-E8CM" target="_blank">EssayTagger rubric</a> to closely match the assignment:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPKzF6PGHf3xzRDyla5yT5ieCxIWyEHk7_5xKt-zHLmpsBK5b8bDDxDiKauNesHwY7RUCkMPI6W0HyvnrUBUEFqRZqtkfNvOAr6-H4cl6OcL0PNgrCheD2uDzgdXCx44KdhsLiZeHfHQP/s1600/formative_00.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPKzF6PGHf3xzRDyla5yT5ieCxIWyEHk7_5xKt-zHLmpsBK5b8bDDxDiKauNesHwY7RUCkMPI6W0HyvnrUBUEFqRZqtkfNvOAr6-H4cl6OcL0PNgrCheD2uDzgdXCx44KdhsLiZeHfHQP/s640/formative_00.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>Summary (paragraph-level)</li>
<li>Character Development & Impact (paragraph-level)</li>
<li>Textual Evidence (sentence-level)</li>
<li>Text Decoding (paragraph-level)</li>
</ul>
Notice that each section of the assignment is represented by a paragraph-level rubric element. This is how we're going to keep the formative assessment fast and efficient; we're going to do one evaluation per paragraph. We will not dive into the minutiae of each individual sentence.<br />
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<b>Evaluate fast, fast, fast</b><br />
At this point you're ready to review the students' work. You only have four things to evaluate: each short paragraph and one piece of evidence.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBoIwFL05OTuFe5obkiDdywwFJzqr-zuiniL6cyB7Eyppnaa_DwbzAbxsXjB8kBCaVPK11eGCdjHdTNn8rwZEQC3eIUbte55ztUcPtzF0BOeLOd_eJJbThlQOd73WlCkovXdCGg-A8oZg/s1600/formative_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBoIwFL05OTuFe5obkiDdywwFJzqr-zuiniL6cyB7Eyppnaa_DwbzAbxsXjB8kBCaVPK11eGCdjHdTNn8rwZEQC3eIUbte55ztUcPtzF0BOeLOd_eJJbThlQOd73WlCkovXdCGg-A8oZg/s640/formative_01.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The "Summarize Text" rubric element is configured as a paragraph-level item. All you have to do is drag the "Summarize Text" rubric button over the text it will bracket whichever paragraph it's over.<br />
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Just release the button when it's over the summary and the evaluation options and feedback comments pop up.<br />
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Select an appropriate feedback comment from the desired quality level column or add a new comment as needed.<br />
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Then move on to quickly evaluate the remaining two paragraphs ("Character Development & Impact" and "Text Decoding"). The "Textual Evidence" rubric element is a sentence-level item that we expect to find in the second paragraph where the student discusses her take on Prospero.<br />
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And, of course, each rubric element has its own dedicated collection of feedback comments that you create.<br />
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<b>Less is more</b><br />
In a survey of research on feedback, Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick note one study that found "three well‐thought‐out feedback comments per essay was the optimum if the expectation was that students would act on these comments." This makes intuitive sense but is rarely the case when evaluating student writing. We tend to try to solve all problems at once.<br />
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But the beauty of fast, repeated formative assessment is that we can make a series of small nudges and have students work on addressing deficiencies in manageable chunks. The journal assignment offered here is perfectly suited to "limiting the amount of feedback so that it is actually used."<br />
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So keep your feedback comments focused and make sure that they "provid[e] corrective advice, not just information on strengths/weaknesses" so that your students can take action and follow your coaching.<br />
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<b>Reusable feedback comments</b><br />
An important part of keeping this evaluation process fast is creating reusable feedback comments.<br />
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Consider the following comments for Summary that essentially say the same thing:<br />
<ul>
<li>"Wait, who's Caliban? You mention his name but you don't tell us anything about him."</li>
<li>"Be sure to give at least a brief introduction for each character that you reference."</li>
</ul>
Obviously the reusability of the first feedback comment is very limited while the second one could be used for any such shortcoming. It would be silly to have a series of similar comments that each reference a different character. Address the deficiency with your comment, but keep it as general as possible to maximize its reusability.<br />
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It will take a bit of a mental adjustment and some practice to get used to this targeted-but-reusable approach. What might help is to think of it this way: Plan to use these comments on the next text. If you're reading The Tempest, try to make sure they'll work for Death of a Salesman.<br />
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<b>Return work and review results data</b><br />
The site can email students their graded work back to them when you're done. One click and delivery is done!<br />
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At this point you'll also have a wealth of diagnostic data to pore over. EssayTagger collects and analyzes your evaluation data for you, displaying overall classroom performance data for each rubric element as well as individual student drill-down charts with automatic outlier analysis to see exactly who is struggling and where.<br />
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You'll be in a position to view overall trends where a class-wide intervention might be in order or group up specific students who all share a specific area of weakness. You could even use the data to pair a student who excelled at Summary with one who really struggled.<br />
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<b>Provide student samples</b><br />
You can even retrieve text samples pulled directly from your students' work. Want to show them some examples of a strong summary? No problem. The site can pull up every summary by its evaluation level. Want to highlight some really nice reflections on Prospero's character? It's all trivially easy to access.<br />
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<b>Mission Accomplished</b><br />
Granted, this sort of formative assessment is not lightning fast. But I do think it strikes the right balance between fast-enough speed, phenomenal detailed diagnostic data, and targeted, specific feedback. You'll quickly find that you can evaluate each journal entry nearly as fast as you can skim them. As you make your way through your first class set, you'll be adding fewer and fewer new feedback comments because you'll be reusing more and more as issues you've already seen will reappear in subsequent students.<br />
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Call me crazy, but I'd bet that you could get this down to about 30 seconds per student. And if you're grading your second class section or reusing your comments on a subsequent journal assignment, you'll be flying right from the first student.<br />
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There's no other way to move that fast, that efficiently, and produce valuable diagnostic data, AND provide targeted feedback. This is why I find EssayTagger so exciting. It's a win-win-win.<br />
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<b>Aligned with research</b><br />
The open-ended nature of the journal questions is important because it emphasizes the student's opinion and interpretation rather than a single correct answer determined by the teacher. As Black, Paul, and Wiliam note, "Discussions, in which pupils are led to talk about their understanding in their own ways, are important aids to increasing knowledge and improving understanding" (7). But too often in-class discussions will only feature the most outspoken or more confident students. A written journal response brings opinions out of all students. Indeed, "What is essential is that any dialogue should evoke thoughtful reflection in which all pupils can be encouraged to take part, for only then can the formative process start to work (8)." All students can participate on the written journal response and then even use those thoughts as a starting point to bolster confidence for in-class discussions.<br />
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<b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sources</b><br />
Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. "<a href="http://ww2.fcoe.org/uploads/cgreenlaw/blackbox.pdf" target="_blank">Inside the Black Box</a>."<br />
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Nicol, David J., and Debra Macfarlane‐Dick. "<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075070600572090" target="_blank">Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice</a>." Studies in higher education 31.2 (2006): 199-218.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-74985788210209712202013-01-16T18:47:00.003-06:002013-01-23T12:19:45.332-06:00Using EssayTagger for fast formative assessment, pt1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>In part one we'll quickly review what formative assessment is and some of its key characteristics. Then we'll learn how to use EssayTagger for fast, effective formative assessment.</i></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The giving of marks and the grading function are overemphasized, while the giving of useful advice and the learning function are underemphasized."</i></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">- Black, Paul, and Wiliam</span></blockquote>
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<b>Buzzword primer</b><br />
I often get lost in the absurd world of edu-speak lingo. So before we even start, let's define our two key terms:<br />
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<b><i>Formative assessment</i></b> is an approach where the teacher "build[s] in many opportunities to assess how students are learning and then use[s] this information to make beneficial changes in instruction" (Boston). Formative assessments happen <i>during</i> a unit, within the flow of instruction. It's about quickly diagnosing problems and adjusting what you're doing <i>tomorrow</i> to produce better results before the unit ends.<br />
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<b><i>Summative assessment</i></b> "generally takes place after a period of instruction and requires making a judgment about the learning that has occurred (e.g., by grading or scoring a test or paper)" (Boston). You could also call this "Final assessment"--it's looking to measure the end result of instruction.<br />
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The two can be boiled down to: <i>"where are we struggling?"</i> (formative assessment) vs. <i>"how did we do?"</i> (summative assessment). Or, if you prefer a more colorful analogy: <i>"what's the patient's temperature"</i> vs <i>"how many patients survived?"</i><br />
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<b>Formative Assessment Key #1: Speed</b><br />
If your goal is to modify instruction <i>tomorrow</i>, clearly your formative assessments need to be fast. It would be absurd for a nurse to take a patient's temperature and then have to wait a week for the results.<br />
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<b>Formative Assessment Key #2: Detailed diagnostics</b><br />
One of the key principles behind formative assessment is that it "provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape teaching" (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick). In this sense they are diagnostic, identifying the areas where students are struggling. The more detail it can provide--exactly who is struggling in which areas--the better, but this generally slams up against the need for speed. It's very difficult to do quick formative assessments that are highly detailed and still allow the teacher to have a life.<br />
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<b>Formative Assessment Key #3: Quality feedback</b><br />
While the first two keys were teacher-centric, this one is student-centric. Part of what powers formative assessment's effectiveness is the targeted feedback provided to each individual student. It's not enough to merely see where course corrections are needed; each student must be explicitly steered in that direction.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
Black, Paul, and Wiliam note that "Feedback has been shown to improve learning when it gives each pupil specific guidance on strengths and weaknesses, preferably without any overall marks" (8). Such feedback puts the student in a position to learn and show improvement as the unit progresses. The lack of "any overall marks" is to prevent any stigmatization related to misunderstanding or struggle with the material. The point of formative assessment is to identify areas of struggle and improve them; they should not shame or punish a student for lacking mastery at this as-yet-incomplete stage of instruction.<br />
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<b>Speed vs detail and quality</b><br />
At this point effective formative assessment seems nearly impossible for the already-overloaded teacher. How can you possibly assess quickly (and often!), collect tons of useful data, and provide personalized, targeted feedback?! I think most teachers, myself included, bend to the need for speed--tomorrow is coming no matter what!--and end up sacrificing the detail of the diagnostics as well as the quality of the feedback offered, and that's all assuming we even attempt any formative assessment in the first place!<br />
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Well I don't have any magical solutions for you, but we do have the power of EssayTagger and its built-in tools and data analysis at our disposal. We're going to ignore the "Essay" part of EssayTagger's name and instead see it in a simpler light: as a tool for fast evaluation and delivering specific feedback.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/using-essaytagger-for-fast-formative_16.html" target="_blank">Continue to part two</a> to see how we'll work use short, open-ended journal questions and EssayTagger to nail all three key areas: speed, detailed diagnostics, and quality feedback.<br />
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<br />
<b>Sources</b><br />
Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. "<a href="http://ww2.fcoe.org/uploads/cgreenlaw/blackbox.pdf" target="_blank">Inside the Black Box</a>."<br />
<br />
Boston, Carol. "<a href="http://www.vtaide.com/png/ERIC/Formative-Assessment.htm" target="_blank">The concept of formative assessment</a>." Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation 8.9 (2002): 1-5.<br />
<br />
Nicol, David J., and Debra Macfarlane‐Dick. "<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075070600572090" target="_blank">Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice</a>." Studies in higher education 31.2 (2006): 199-218.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-25392612161245713882013-01-15T10:28:00.001-06:002013-01-15T17:34:25.100-06:00System alert: Partial system outage - resolved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>FINAL UPDATE 5:31pm</b><br />
The last lingering effects of the Google App Engine server problems seem to have been cleared up and our own testing now shows full functionality restored.<br />
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This sort of downtime is frustrating, but it's still only the second Google App Engine outage since we launched EssayTagger 14 months ago. All sites suffer some downtime but we still believe in Google's reliability and ability to react and recover faster and more robustly than we could if we were managing our own server hardware.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATE 1:23pm</b><br />
Message from Google:<br />
<i>"We are still working to resolve the issue related to Google App Engine serving. At this point error error rates for affected applications should be declining. We will provide another status update by 11:30 AM PST."</i><br />
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EssayTagger is responding again, albeit slowly. Grading app is still severely impacted.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATE 12:07pm</b><br />
Google App Engine servers continue to see problems and it seems to have spread beyond the backend task queue. They've rescinded their earlier resolution note and are now only saying "We will update this message shortly when the incident has been resolved."<br />
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These server issues are now affecting the main EssayTagger site.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATE 10:35am</b><br />
<a href="http://code.google.com/status/appengine/detail/taskqueue/2013/01/15#ae-trust-detail-taskqueue-add-latency" target="_blank">Message from Google</a>:<br />
<i>"This morning some Google App Engine applications reported elevated error rates and increased latency. This issue should be resolved as of 8:10 AM US/Pacific time. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better."</i><br />
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There still seems to be some intermittent slowdowns for backend processes (uploading an essay, marking an essay as graded). Though Google says the issue is resolved, I still recommend caution.<br />
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<b>ORIGINAL POST 1/15 10:28am</b><br />
At approximately 9am CST Google's App Engine servers suffered a problem with their "task queue" service which EssayTagger uses for behind-the-scenes processing. The majority of the site has not been affected.<br />
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Specific interruptions occurred on the student upload page which relies on the task queue to process incoming essay files. The other major impact was that the grading app was unable to process essays when they were marked as graded. Normal grading activity (evaluating rubric elements, adding comments, etc) should not have been affected.<br />
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The task queue service is currently intermittent. Take care if using the grading app and keep an eye on the "synced" or "syncing..." message at the top right. If it remains on "syncing..." for more than a few seconds, pause before doing any more work. Your work is only guaranteed to be saved when you see the "synced" message.<br />
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Updates will be posted as new information arises.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-6715550591901510232013-01-07T09:16:00.000-06:002013-10-23T14:29:42.593-05:00Latest Update: Error marking!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Thanks to input from our users we now support a dedicated feature for marking spelling, grammar, or other errors. But this new feature is more than just a red underline. Read on to learn more!</i></div>
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<br />
EssayTagger is built to help teachers evaluate student work within the structure of a custom rubric and provide excellent, specific feedback to students. But instructors made it clear to us that we needed direct support to be able to mark errors--the dreaded red pen markups on a paper. It makes sense; marking a grammar error is different from evaluating a weak thesis.<br />
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<b>Error Mark overview</b><br />
The new feature makes it easy to mark problematic passages as having an error. Marked passages will have a red underline. You can enter an optional comment about the error. When a student receives her graded work, she'll see the red underlines sprinkled throughout her essay.<br />
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But here's the coolest part: all of the marked passages will be collected into a list at the end to make it easy for the student to do a follow-up correction exercise.<br />
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And just to be clear: These are errors that <b><u><i>you</i></u></b> determine. The grading app does not do any auto-evaluation whatsoever. EssayTagger is always driven by your brain, your expertise. We do not believe in auto-grading software!!<br />
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<br />
<b>Let's see an example!</b><br />
Error marking piggy backs on our existing "free comment" system to make it super quick and easy to mark an error.<br />
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Just select the problematic text:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1O611cggmLJfTRLBQvRGssBd6E2_iDxCXse1T1fppHwpsg20SHIYIa-DYkPE0IfgP8_fwdzZmF35vW_nBEiAzDA4i9SiLkRQaSnr0OF9XDmQGnBIajv4fcgrpdI8Z-wVxgOjg_0nqks7a/s1600/error_mark_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1O611cggmLJfTRLBQvRGssBd6E2_iDxCXse1T1fppHwpsg20SHIYIa-DYkPE0IfgP8_fwdzZmF35vW_nBEiAzDA4i9SiLkRQaSnr0OF9XDmQGnBIajv4fcgrpdI8Z-wVxgOjg_0nqks7a/s1600/error_mark_1.png" /></a></div>
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And when you release the mouse button the new Mark Error/Free Comment popup box will appear:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDc-0Y6Sg_Wxgdrxn6uUeKR2fwOu2cQPxrhyphenhyphenCJ_AFmvPtpILlQAtgm_4wm3GR7hwLEKEAp0SF_YgUbFXWnLRsNmP_vQClxCA_ypcjdxaT-eL8JHcB-HO2nhSbM4KykYVChWQ_A8pwl3-M/s1600/error_mark_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDc-0Y6Sg_Wxgdrxn6uUeKR2fwOu2cQPxrhyphenhyphenCJ_AFmvPtpILlQAtgm_4wm3GR7hwLEKEAp0SF_YgUbFXWnLRsNmP_vQClxCA_ypcjdxaT-eL8JHcB-HO2nhSbM4KykYVChWQ_A8pwl3-M/s1600/error_mark_2.png" /></a></div>
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Just click "mark as error" and the text will be underlined in red. That's it!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9l2fMB8yj7vErpjCGbX5xrCHbXZVR9vcfk23y731iS6Cr_Wl2rOtIV1FHN69hlqg1EAznOoUcAytCOXPnLTUweZ3c0L9jcmaR3U1pVe_XLlzNyF9Q-bpJjL82CtSPhfiSYXLqt30Xgbt/s1600/error_mark_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9l2fMB8yj7vErpjCGbX5xrCHbXZVR9vcfk23y731iS6Cr_Wl2rOtIV1FHN69hlqg1EAznOoUcAytCOXPnLTUweZ3c0L9jcmaR3U1pVe_XLlzNyF9Q-bpJjL82CtSPhfiSYXLqt30Xgbt/s1600/error_mark_3.png" /></a></div>
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The student will now see this error mark in the final graded output. Here's what the student sees:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsNmq8UfmXqqdO-4czUjI9MBAq8Z1iOmjWNqda4Tyx326mRWtm8uBBhyphenhyphenMiJuDuXrLOY0-0QDN6X4sJ0EFjbykm5HJfAy4lHKC92GKTXWY10JSK1qImiNnN_L-8afuJDqmdtEZPDNxt_wF/s1600/error_mark_8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsNmq8UfmXqqdO-4czUjI9MBAq8Z1iOmjWNqda4Tyx326mRWtm8uBBhyphenhyphenMiJuDuXrLOY0-0QDN6X4sJ0EFjbykm5HJfAy4lHKC92GKTXWY10JSK1qImiNnN_L-8afuJDqmdtEZPDNxt_wF/s400/error_mark_8.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can also enter an optional comment about the error. Comments appear in the list of marked passages at the end of the graded essay, prefaced with your initials:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMWYEowOnzaDQKhFcRCW603E1npY73YlqFi8E7kfQ7P4-hKF4PhloVoU3M5YtwGvp4apTTwza5KImW4aWKkd3pzG3o4Ca_z9i4sfmNz8pNaHJJmXiRQMF5RbgH9rwmzrK1kDYZHj92CvV/s1600/error_mark_9.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMWYEowOnzaDQKhFcRCW603E1npY73YlqFi8E7kfQ7P4-hKF4PhloVoU3M5YtwGvp4apTTwza5KImW4aWKkd3pzG3o4Ca_z9i4sfmNz8pNaHJJmXiRQMF5RbgH9rwmzrK1kDYZHj92CvV/s640/error_mark_9.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Notice that the whole sentence is presented so that the underlined portion appears within its full sentence context.<br />
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Pretty damn cool, right?!<br />
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<b>A word of advice</b></div>
In most cases I recommend <b><i>not</i></b> entering a comment about the error. Instead hold the student responsible for reviewing her errors and thinking through them herself to figure out and learn from her own mistakes. She can seek out help if she needs it, but we shouldn't take on the responsibility of making corrections for the students when it really doesn't do them any good.<br />
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I'd much rather have students submit corrections to earn back some mechanics points rather than having me write endless "subject-verb agreement" or "you're/your" comments that the students won't even read.<br />
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Think of it as a chance to put those Active Learning vs Passive Learning PD workshops to use!<br />
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<b>Available now!</b><br />
As with all EssayTagger feature updates, this is available now to all EssayTagger users. Every time we upgrade the site, all users benefit!<br />
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<b>Additional features coming soon</b><br />
We will update the data reporting screens to include data about how many errors were marked in each essay along with aggregate data (e.g. average number of errors marked on the assignment) and individual vs aggregate performance outlier analysis (i.e. does a student have statistically significantly more errors than his peers?).</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-48268960921590807602012-12-13T11:36:00.002-06:002012-12-13T11:36:38.160-06:00Ug, how can we solve anything if we confuse correlation with causation?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The headline reads: "<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/12/12/14time.h32.html?tkn=MVQFQt%2F1BBYPtGqR2lw0EyhveAQ9VilATj0s&cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS1" target="_blank">School Absences Translate to Lower Test Scores, Study Says</a>".<br />
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If you ain't in school, ya ain't gonna learn. That's obvious. But this article from Sarah D. Sparks implies causation--that missing school <i>causes</i> the lower test scores. Sparks argues that "The analysis contributes to mounting evidence that absenteeism puts students at greater risk of poor academic achievement and eventually dropping out of high school."<br />
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If it's true that absenteeism is a causal factor, the solution is very simple: make sure those kids get to school every day. So let's push for more government grant money to hire a whole army of truancy officers!<br />
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However, let's remember:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHR7mwukCwhxKbpzu4QcTANxU2mZFc8yTW2K3pMblsKrsnOBywS2rgaW0f8Uy-gsyBxgZX3VNKvVdB5y1v4HyEYUIzAra5KEYs5Blg1FdN0DasuuwNzg0fENv7MMTlQBEcfEA5h9_WMU-A/s1600/Psych.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHR7mwukCwhxKbpzu4QcTANxU2mZFc8yTW2K3pMblsKrsnOBywS2rgaW0f8Uy-gsyBxgZX3VNKvVdB5y1v4HyEYUIzAra5KEYs5Blg1FdN0DasuuwNzg0fENv7MMTlQBEcfEA5h9_WMU-A/s1600/Psych.jpg" /></a></div>
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Any teacher will tell you that missing school is bad, but what really matters is <i>why </i>those kids are missing school. Correlations can be interesting but identifying causation is how you solve problems.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In my experience, unstable home lives drive the vast majority of absenteeism. It might be as simple as not having a parent around in the morning to get the kid out of bed and off to school. Or it might be a deeper issue with physical or mental abuse, the child having to serve as a caregiver, or the student working a job to help the family make rent for the month.<br />
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These are the factors that really impede and impair academic progress. Missing a day or two of school each week is bad. But living under constant threat or constant stress is completely destructive.<br />
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Observing that good students don't miss school is to view the tale <b><i>completely in reverse</i></b>. Here's the real story: some students have stable home lives and are able to focus on school and, as a result, tend to perform well.<br />
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Doctors must treat the cause of an ailment and not merely the symptoms. We'd be wise to do the same in education.</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-971245311906652911.post-71081160801965834012012-12-09T22:04:00.000-06:002013-01-07T09:17:57.915-06:00New Feature Proposal: Grammar marks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Teachers have requested that EssayTagger add support for marking grammar errors. Here's how I'm thinking of doing it.</i></div>
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<b>Update 1/7/13:</b><br />
The Error Mark feature has been built and is now released! <a href="http://blog.essaytagger.com/2013/01/latest-update-error-marking.html">Read about it here</a>!<br />
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Teachers would like a streamlined way to note missing commas, spelling errors, and a wide array of other grammar errors. Most of us envision this as an "SP" icon for spelling, perhaps a "~" for a split infinitive, and so on.<br />
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<b>Sounds easy, but...</b><br />
There are a couple of challenges with this. First, there doesn't seem to be a standardized set of symbols or abbreviations for each possible error. Teachers tend to develop their own system and give students a decoder key at the beginning of the semester. It's not really practical for us to support any arbitrary collection of teacher-generated symbols. The flip side isn't any better; I don't want to create my own set of symbols and force all EssayTagger users to adopt them.<br />
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The other problem is that the list of possible errors is really long. It would be very difficult to organize and present all those symbols in a user-friendly manner. It wouldn't save you any time if you had to sift through a confusing list of 40+ symbols. Maybe we could help you pare down the list to just the errors that you care about most, but there are still complexities and tradeoffs.<br />
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<b>Is it worth it?</b><br />
But my biggest misgiving is that I question how valuable it is in the first place. How much are we really helping our students when we mark up and correct every grammar error on their papers? Do the students really look at those edits? Do they internalize them or learn from them in any way? Do we hold them accountable to learning from them?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>A better way</b><br />
Some of my colleagues simply note problematic passages with something like an underline or a checkmark; it's then up to the student to identify the error and submit corrections. I like this. Instead of handing the student a grammar fix that s/he might only barely glance at, it's now the student's job to look back at the sentence and figure out what went wrong--or seek help if they can't suss it out themselves. The student owns his or her own corrections and learning.<br />
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<b>The proposal</b><br />
So given all this, what I'd like to add is a way for teachers to identify problematic passages <i>without</i> specifying the exact error present. The site could even pull out each of those flagged sentences and list them all to the student in a separate section of her graded feedback. Something like:<br />
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<u>Sentences marked with a grammar error:</u><br />
"There reasoning was totally silly."<br />
"Her's explanation made a lot of sense."<br />
"If he went there it wouldn't be right."</blockquote>
That would make it really easy for students to take that list and submit corrections as a follow-up assignment.<br />
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The site could also report the number of errors marked in each essay and compile an average number of errors for each class on each assignment.<br />
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<b>What would it look like?</b><br />
I think this new error marking could piggy-back on the existing Free Comment system. Let's review how the Free Comments work. To create a Free Comment you select any piece of text:<br />
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And then when you release the mouse button the Free Comment text box pops up:<br />
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You can then type whatever you need to and the comment will be applied to the highlighted text. They're called "Free" comments because they are not linked to the rubric and do not include a quality level evaluation. It's really just a way to make a one-on-one note to a particular student about a specific piece of text.<br />
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<b>Selector switch?</b><br />
I could add a selector switch of sorts to the Free Comment box to swap between "Free Comment" mode and "Error Marking" mode. Select problematic text, release the mouse button, and then when the Free Comment box appears, flip the switch to "Error Marking" mode. At that point you just hit "save" and the highlighted portion will be identified as having an error, but with no other specification from you about what's wrong with it.<br />
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Optionally, you could also type a note into the text box before hitting save. The grading app will record the highlighted sentence has having an error and will display your comment about it to the student. The comment could be a personal note ("Jimmy, we're seeing way too much of this") or could describe the actual problem (e.g. "subject-verb agreement"). Obviously I'm not a fan of explaining the error for the student, but this option keeps that possibility open for those teachers who feel differently.<br />
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The Free Comment box would remain in "Error Marking" mode for the next passage until you flip the switch back to "Free Comment" mode.<br />
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<b>Or maybe just two "save" buttons?</b><br />
This might be simpler. Just have a "Save Free Comment" button AND a "Mark as Error" button on the popup text box. Whichever you click determines how the grading app should treat the highlighted text. I think I like this better.<br />
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<b>An important note</b><br />
I know some of you will ask if the grading app could automatically identify grammar errors. Language processing is extremely difficult and is way beyond the practical reach of what we have the resources or expertise to deliver. More importantly, I've never been a fan of this sort of automation; Microsoft Word's green squiggly line grammar errors have always been annoyingly flawed.<br />
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Our emphasis is on enhancing what the teacher already does but without attempting to replace the teacher. You already have the necessary expertise to identify grammar errors and you'll be a lot more accurate and effective than any automated monstrosity.<br />
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<b>Your thoughts?</b><br />
I'm hoping to implement this over winter break. That means you have two weeks to provide feedback and suggestions for this new feature. Post your thoughts below, tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithMukai" target="_blank">@KeithMukai</a>, post a comment on our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/EssayTagger" target="_blank">facebook page</a>, or use the "comments/feedback" button at the top left of every screen on <a href="http://essaytagger.com/">EssayTagger.com</a>.<br />
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I'm looking forward to hearing from you!</div>
Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586490397980072698noreply@blogger.com