Friday, November 11, 2016

Blog 15- LiveBinder

I loved this tool! This week we learned about polygons and next week we will be learning about 3d shapes. I based my binder on those two components. I attached sources to be used for the lessons. The link is:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=2114427

-        I absolutely loved this tool! I am trying to become paperless in my classroom since it creates such a mess in there! I make newsletters every week to make parents aware of the TEKS taught that week and any special events… by Wednesday I find at least 3 on the floor. This defeats the purpose since many parents probably do not even look at it. Instead I have resorted to uploading on to Class Dojo, the app I use to communicate with parents. This was the first paperless change I  made and now, with this tool, it will be the second. I would implement this the following ways:

-       Coming from kindergarten, I love having my students make crafts and do printables. Four years ago, when I first started teaching, I would make a master of each copy and store it in a manila folder. I would label the folder and put all the masters pertaining to that activity through there ( cvc words, addition, subtraction). I would then file it into a big black shelve we have. Half the time I lose the masters and are left without the activity the next year. Now instead of doing that, I can create binders for each subject area. In the binders I could create the different tabs for the TEKS we are teaching. On the subtabs I can arrange all the activities, videos, games, and assessments I’m going to use for each lesson. I have already created the binder for math, so I would just need 3 other ones. I love that I’m able to have everything there so I can open it from my work computer and portray any handouts in the whiteboard. I also have to forget about keeping at least one master! Wonderful idea!

-       Instead of giving out paper lesson plans (which I lose right away half the time), as a team we can create a binder for each subject. Whoever is in charge of that subject could add the lesson plans there and any additional resources we could use. As soon as I receive the lesson plans I look for activities for the concept being taught. Most of the time I make copies of the master for all the teachers in our grade level (7 in all) so that itself eats up a lot of paper. As I have previously said paper is a sacred possession in our school. Instead of wasting my paper I could upload any documents or videos that I use.


-       I would use these binders for 5th grade students. I would split the class into groups of five and provide each group with a social studies figure they have to research. Each group would have to create a binder for their famous figure. In the binder,they should have 3 different tabs. In one tab they would have to upload pictures, in one videos, and in one they would have to create a set of question for other students to answer. The group will quiz their peers for understanding. Each team will be in charge of giving their peers all the information.

3 comments:

  1. Pattsy,

    Thank you for sharing your ideas for how you would implement LiveBinders in the educational setting for teaching and learning. I too would love to have a paperless classroom. I think this social bookmarking would be a great way to keep parents informed of weekly learning objectives and will significantly reduce the amount of paper that we use in our classrooms on daily basis. Thank you for sharing your wonderful suggestions. :o)

    All the best. :o)

    -Melissa Holt-

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  2. Hi Pattsy,
    I am very surprised that a lot of teachers in school districts do not use live binders. I think that live binders application needs better marketing. The application is very powerful, and can facilitate communication with all parties involved indirectly and directly. This means that parents, teachers, and principals can see what is going on in the classroom. I think everyone needs to use live binders.

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  3. Hi Pattsy,

    I have used live binders in my lessons and it has helped me share assignments with other teachers to see how the students performed. It is a tool that can really help the teacher understand and assess how the student is learning. You can pinpoint their performance quickly to see what areas you need to tweak.

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