Free Technology for Teachers: Mobile Formative Assessment; A One Device Solution . Formative assessment has been stuck in a rut for years but tablets and Smartphones have the potential for increasing the amount of formative data that teachers collect and use on a daily basis. The combination of touch screen devices and cloud storage allows teachers to create a manageable flow of connected data, collected on the fly using mobile platforms, but ultimately available for reflection and action steps on any device with Web access. Unfortunately, not enough teachers know about the power of their own personal handheld devices. EdTech buzz is usually focused on tools that require one-to-one or at least a large amount of classroom computer availability, but so much can be done with one handheld device and access to the cloud. I need to read this carefully and give some of it a try!

Earlier this year, I discussed creating a teacher portfolio based on the NC Evaluation Standards by McRel. I had to create a portfolio for my internship and used wikispaces for that one. I liked it well enough but wonder how user friendly it is for the reader (like what if I have to present a print copy?). What have you used for digital portfolios that you've been happy with? I've considered using: slideshare google docs wordpress or blogger some free web page builder wikispaces live binder Anything on that list strike you as better than the other? More practical, easier to use for the creator or the reader, something I'm missing?  

And it went very well actually. Google Forms. Some of the kids had a hard time with the submit button. They didn't intuitively know to click it when they were done. I'll admit that seems a bit odd to me, but . . . Some things I learned along the way: I had to add a place for the students to put their name in at the top. I should have had a first name and a last name box for sorting on the spreadsheet. I should have also had a box for them to indicate their class. Easily fixable on the spreadsheet, but I could have taken care of it up front. I had 10 multiple choice question with the last one being a free response. s The google spreadsheet is a little awkward to deal with, but it easily downloads to excel which is easier. My questions were all on the top row. Some were pretty complex, so they took up a lot of room. I cut those and put them on the second page of the spreadsheet. I made the key on the first row of the spreadsheet. This helped with grading. I added a ...

New American Academy in Brooklyn Is an Experiment in Class Size - NYTimes.com . Title is actually: 60 First Graders, 4 Teachers, One Loud New Way to Learn Problem is, it doesn't sound like anyone is learning ...