The Schoenblog

With your team, use the supplies in your kit to create the largest freestanding structure possible.

• the entire marshmallow must be on top 
• use as much or as little of the kit 
• break up anything as necessary 
• the challenge lasts 18 minutes 

I added an additional layer here by asking the students to document their progress and product through pictures, videos, and Tweets. 

Afterwards, we discussed their efforts, watched Tom Wujek’s TED Talk, and reflected on the work and observations on Google Classroom. It was such a cool activity to watch as the teacher. I’m a huge fan of data--I love forms, sheets, and student information systems. But I know that my students are people, first and foremost, and realized that I can learn so much meaningful information about them through a challenge like this one. 

This fun, team building exercise taught me everything I needed to know about my students: Who worked well in groups? Which students like to play? Where are my creative ones? Who are the leaders? The followers? Who has trouble following? Which students are literal? Abstract thinkers? Problem solvers? In 18 minutes, I saw more than students’ academic and behavioral histories could ever tell me.

And here’s the best part: So did they.

The students’ reflections revealed that they saw it all, too, and that’s what fascinated me most of all. Below, I’ve included a handful of anonymous student responses. They were asked to reflect on their product, process, and group work, and to explain why they think I assigned this project. What was the value of the #MarshmallowChallenge?

• It revealed that some of us have lost the creativity and we all started with making the pasta stand and then in the end put the marshmallow on top. For my peers it revealed the same and my group its the same as i said weve lost creativity. I have learned that i should listen to the instructions.
• It revealed the values of teamwork and creative thinking. Our group worked together, and produced the tallest structure in the class (26in). We used each-other's skills so that whatever needed to be done, the strongest person in that area was doing it. We worked together and we worked well, and it produced a great structure.
• The marshmallow challenge revealed that the members of my group and I am more of visual thinkers. From this challenge we learned that team work and creativity are still very important skills necessary to collaborate and achieve success.
• The Marshmallow Challenge revealed that, thought I don't enjoy working in a group, I can still get good results when group work is required. I also learned that my peers do not enjoy the arts and crafts, although my group proved itself to be fast and efficient. I suppose that what you, Mr. Schoenbart, learned from the Marshmallow Challenge was that group projects can be either very successful or very frustrating.
• Yesterday's challenge reveals to that I am able to work with other people real well. I can communicate real well. My peers can also work and communicate to each other. I think that you should learn how each student is able to work with other people and how they act when they put in a group with other students.
• I think my group over thought the challenge and how to piece things together. It also revealed that things aren't as easy as we think.

Final product of the #marshmallowchallenge @MrSchoenbart pic.twitter.com/1XPNLGXqR3

— kelsey quain (@kquain24) September 8, 2015

•  yesterday's challenge revealed that i need to work on my group work skills, talking to my group and listening to their ideas. my group worked a little great.. i felt seen we don't know each other that well we were all shy. i think my teacher learned who works well with others and who doesn't
• Sometimes when looking for answer you have to find out the long way by trail and error rather than trying to find the answer in one try.
• The skills that we learn from an early age may be the most important skills that we learn.it revealed to us that it seems harder than one thinks. It requires thinking and planning
• I think that it showed that i am not very creative and my peers are not very creative either, my group didn't work well together but we had a good time, i think my teacher learned that we aren't very good at thinking outside the box.
• The marshmallow challenge revealed that my group did not have good communication. We were creative but we couldn't put our words into what we wanted with the pasta. I think our teacher learned who is creative, has good communication, and who works well with who.
• It revealed that i do good in group work. That we work well together. i think you learned it we can work good all together and can tell who works good in groups and who doesn't.
• This assignment revealed that it is hard to communicate with others and that the groups that communicated the best did the best.
• I learned that I can think critically and take command of a project quickly. I also learned that my group failed to break any records due to our lack of skill and motivation. I think that you as our teacher now have a basic idea of how the individual groups around the classroom will act in group projects in general.
• I think that it's harder than it would seem and it takes a lot of thinking out of the box

Period 4 #MarshmallowChallenge winners: Andy, Sarah, Sofia, and Emma at 26" cc: @Bartonkeeler @SFecich pic.twitter.com/AMU6pKTmXN

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 8, 2015

I like activities that surprise, and even better, inspire me. I thought of the #MarshmallowChallenge as a fun introduction to the school year. Something to change things up and set the tone of learning and exploration. But I learned so much more here and found this fun distraction has become one of the most meaningful things I’ve done this year. I encourage you to give it a shot, too. And at the least, you can eat the marshmallows.

It’s been a week or so since Google Classroom’s new calendar integration rolled out, and I’ve played with the features extensively. Last week, I wrote a guide to setting up classroom calendars, and now I want to explore its potential a little more.

Sure have a build in calendar within Classroom is a good idea. Yes, creating new Google Calendars is cool, too.

If you use a Google Calendar or iCal on your iPhones, you're already used to the notifications that remind you about an event. Why not extend that logic to our classes, students, and assignments. With Classroom Calendar integration, you can now:

• Create a public, sharable, and embeddable Google Calendar that automatically includes your class assignments from Google Classroom
• Have other users add your calendar to their own
• Teach other users (aka students!) to set e-mail or SMS (text message) notifications for events. 

What I’ve Learned About Classroom Calendars

If you already used a Google Calendar, rename it the exact same name as your class in Classroom. Then, add a new assignment. The old calendar should connect to Classroom without a problem.

If you already created a new calendar through Classroom but have an old one, too, you can manually export the events and import them through a .ics file into the new calendar.

Only assignments with due dates are added to the calendars. Announcements do not.

Sharing Classroom Calendars

Go to Google Calendar and check out the list under My Calendars. You likely have one with your username and might have more. If you are a Google Classroom user and have added an assignment this week, you likely have a class one, too. Change the colors to differentiate calendars--it makes things much easier to navigate.




Share this Calendar is where we begin. Here, you have the option to set the calendar as private, public to your domain, or public to everyone. You can also invite individual users and change specific settings.

Pro Tip: Add your personal e-mail with permission to make changes and manage sharing so you always have access.

Make this calendar public is my go to, as I want to share outside my domain and make this available to parents.

Calendar Notifications

See the Edit notifications option on the top menu of the screenshot above? Check that out. Here you can set notifications for everything: new events, changes, cancellations, etc. Pick the method and time that works for you.

Pro Tip: If you use Calendar Appointment Slots or a meeting calendar, set up a text message notification before each meeting so you never forget. These strategies work will all Google Calendars, not just those from Classroom.

SMS Notifications

Click the link at the bottom of the screenshot above to set up mobile notifications. Google will text you a verification code, and then you can set up your reminders.

Embedding Calendars

Now that the calendar is set to public sharing, it can be embedded anywhere. If you use a Google Site, you can navigate to Insert → Google Calendar within the page editing. You can select one or all of your calendars, too, making things easy.

If you use another platform, there’s an embed code for each calendar, available on the Calendar Settings page.

I’ve already embedded calendars on my class website to share with parents.

Sharing With Students

Embedding on a web site is great, but even better is adding your calendar to theirs. In Calendar Settings, click the HTML button for Calendar Address (see below).



The calendar now opens in a public, viewable link. But see the +Google Calendar button in the bottom right corner that looks like this?


Click it. Here’s what happens:


Share a link on Classroom to the calendar address, and have students add your class calendar to their own. Once they click Yes, they will see your calendar under Other calendars, like this:




Then, teach them to set up their own notifications. With this new integration, sharing, and set up, there’s a level of transparency and communication like never before.

Final Thoughts

I’m all about student accountability, and I certainly don’t want to spoon feed them everything, but I know how much I count on my phone for the calendar and notifications. Why can’t we use technology to make things easier and more efficient and let students do the same?

Classroom’s calendars are powerful tools and I have so many ideas on how to use them.

I would love to hear your ideas, questions, and feedback on Classroom, Calendar, and these posts. Reach out in the comments or on Twitter @MrSchoenbart. Thanks for reading!

Many teachers I work with appreciate Google Classroom for the way it helps manage the workflow of creating, sharing, reading, and responding to assignments. However, Classroom isn’t as helpful when dealing with students submitting late work, making up work from absences, or revising assignments. It’s easy to check for submissions in classroom when I’m ready to read work, but what about afterwards? There is no real system to make it easy for teachers to know when additional work has been submitted after you have read or returned the assignment. Let’s make our lives easier.

I wanted to be notified when students submitted work that I wouldn't need to check in on manually. I try to read student work quickly, and if a student submits a day late or revises a piece, it’s easy for me to miss. I’m sick of the hard to track mix of e-mails, in person reminders, and a hodgepodge of notifications. I also wanted to collect information from my students and push them to reflect on what they need help with and how their work has or needs to improve.

The How

Google Forms makes a system for this sort of notification easy. I created a form titled the Assignment Submission Form for students to use every time they submit work after the due date for any reason. This way, there is one place to check for new submissions rather than searching the many assignments I have in Google Classroom repeatedly. View a copy of this form here. Like it? Make a Copy for yourself--adapt as necessary.

The form is on the main page of my class website and is linked with QR codes around the classroom. Then, using Form Mule, I’ve set up automated e-mails whenever a form is submitted. I never need to go out of my way to check for anything, always know what’s submitted when, and can hold all students accountable.

The e-mail above was my test submission so the answers are vague, but it’s enough to get the idea, right? 

The Questions

The questions on the form also provide me with some valuable data. I tell my students that it’s more important to me that they learn than when, so I offer unlimited revision opportunities and no late penalties for students who seek and accept extra help. This form helps me keep track of how and when students pursued extra help, what their challenges were, and how they overcame them. I also have a bad habit of forgetting when I give extensions when student work is late or simply a make up from an absence; the questions here solve this problem.

My Assignment Submission Form is a great help in managing workflow, communicating clear expectations, and collecting data about student work. Feel free to use it or adapt from it, if you find value in it, too. If you do, please comment or Tweet @MrSchoenbart to let me know!

View the form or Make a Copy to use or edit on your own.

You’ll probably get a notification about this update.

2. Click About to learn to navigate the new features. 

Notice that Calendar is now listed on the bottom.



If you click the View in Classroom option, you see Classroom Calendar view of this particular class:



The view above is just for this one class. If I click Calendar in the Classroom menu, you can select each active class individually or all calendars at once:

3. Create a new calendar for each class by creating a new assignment. 

The new assignment will automatically create the calendar, adding all of your assignments to it.

I named an assignment “Ignore Me--testing something cool!” just to see if it worked. When you return to About for the class, you will now see Open in Google Calendar.

4. View from Google Calendar. 

Your new calendar has been created with a name that matches your Classroom class and section name. The assignments towards the top were listed without a specific time due so they are added as all day, whereas the assignment on Wednesday 9/23 has a 2:30 pm due date, as indicated on the calendar and in Classroom.

5. Share as Desired. 

Click the dropdown next to your calendars to adjust the sharing settings and notifications. Now you can make the calendar public, embed on a Google site, or share with anyone.

Have students add your class calendar to their accounts, phones, or devices.

In Calendar Sharing Settings, find the Calendar Address and click HTML. Then follow the link that opens to the public calendar.




Notice the +Google Calendar button at the bottom right corner?


Whenever anyone clicks it, it will add the calendar under Other Calendars on their account, too. They can set up notifications to be alerted through text or e-mail for new updates and changes.

Conclusions

Google has given us another great tool to stay connected and help promote transparency and communication in our classrooms. I like that Google Classroom is a closed ecosystem between students and teachers, but the calendar integration is a huge step forward in opening our virtual doors and giving all stakeholders another tool to promote accountability and student success.

Taking the quiz put a smile on my face. Not only is Taylor Swift in question one, but here’s the correctly matched answers for question 2!

Did you earn your free shirt?

Saturday, September 19

5:10 AM. My alarm goes off. So tired.

5:35 AM. Shirt is tucked and tie is tied. Off I go to get to Dani’s, but…

6:20 AM. She is late.

6:45 AM. We make a wrong turn and travel down some sketchy side streets.

7:30 AM. Finally, we arrive! See friends! Eat breakfast! I love breakfast!

Look at @iruntech's breakfast!! #njpaecet2 @kennisdani pic.twitter.com/Z3SU5G8SE7

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 19, 2015

8 - 9 AM. Keynotes. 

Barry’s remarks set the tone for an intelligent and fun weekend of sharing and learning. Since I wrote about him earlier, I’ll touch on the awesome, standing-ovation worthy keynote from Principal Baruti Kafele.

He discussed the need for teachers to have passion, to reconsider their attitudes, to love their work and students, and to reflect on our own teaching and lives. Be purposeful and intentional in everything we do, teach students not subjects, and as he reminded us all, “climate and culture trumps everything. They keynote ran long and the audience encouraged it; he was real, passionate, and moving in his remarks. The question of an individual’s signature stays with me--who are you? What’s your brand?

Excellent keynote from @PrincipalKafele at #njpaecet2 pic.twitter.com/YXPdgvymEo

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 19, 2015

Be better on Monday than you were on Friday on purpose. Be intentional. "Be excellent on purpose, by design" @PrincipalKafele #njpaecet2

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 19, 2015

9:30 AM. Presenting!
Chrissy and I presented on genius hour / 20 percent time / passion projects--pick the title of your choice. It was our first time presenting together and it was so cool to see the perspectives shift from elementary to high school. We had a great audience and an awesome discussion. We hope to do it again soon.

"Controlled chaos needs to be ok. By nature and design chaos is a good thing here"@MrSchoenbart @TheConnectedEdu #geniushour #njpaecet2

— Christine Cavallo (@ccavallo2) September 19, 2015

Had a fantastic time presenting on #20time #geniushour w @TheConnectedEdu at #njpaecet2. Thanks 2 everyone who came! pic.twitter.com/8dvtOvlP23

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 19, 2015

10:30 AM.
Learned about one district’s plans to gamify PD in Leveling up Edtech Learning with Michael Mitchell and Kevin Sochack. They shared their workflow and system for using badges for teacher PD, as a badge showing competence is better than seat time. Their process came back to the idea of continued growth, and I appreciated it.

Michael Mitchell hits on a big theme of today: the narrative of edu isn't told by us but should be. Tell your story #njpaecet2

— Adam Schoenbart (@MrSchoenbart) September 19, 2015

11:30 AM.
This hour was perfect for me. This session focused on changing PD models, introducing an edcamp-style PD program for this school. I love, love, love this idea, and hope to bring it back to my district. Hearing about their journey and process gave me a lot of important insight about modifying edcamps for a school district. Rich Cyz and Kristen Ducker were really informative and helpful. They addressed issues like teacher interest, incentives, and convincing teachers that they have valuable things to share. The biggest PD issue, as they addressed, is often time, so they tried to figure out where they have time to use better.

And so ends Day 1’s planned sessions. If you want more detail, check out the collaborative notes Dani shared, which were used throughout the day. Also, check out her newly revamped blog at DaniKennis.com!

Add your collab notes and best lessons from the weekend #njpaecet2 https://t.co/29LgKbCvTp :)

— Dani Kennis (@kennisdani) September 20, 2015

The Afternoon
From here on out, I’m going to jump around to some highlights--I’m a happy exhausted just from describing the experience. There was lunch, a speaker, colleague circles, and then my favorite part: he unconference afternoon.

The most exciting part of my day was trying out Google Expeditions and talking with Jonathan Rochelle, from the Google for Edu team. We talked about Expeditions, his work, #CoffeeEdu, #EdTechCalNYNJ, and more. Thanks, Steve Isaacs, for running the sessions and organizing the coffee! He offered to share the calendar (edtechcalnynj.com) on his site, which was very, very cool. This more relaxed tone, followed by the real #CoffeeEdu, was just what I needed. 

The evening was wonderful, too, filled with happy hour, a great dinner, and hanging out back at the hotel. It was so, so, so great hanging out with my friends and not rushing home at the end of the day. Making new friends, connecting with my expanded #PLN, and witnessing some Chris Nesi karaoke was the perfect end to the night.

Great meal with great people 😁 @MrSchoenbart @mrnesi @tinamonte @TaliaArbit @kennisdani @whalen @MrsMurat @iruntech #njpaecet2

— Chrissy Romano (@TheConnectedEdu) September 20, 2015

1 AM. Bed time.

Sunday, September 20

6:30 AM.
As all good mornings start, it begins with pancakes. We went out for a pre-breakfast breakfast to have a little quiet bonding time before the day got started, and pancakes are my favorite food of all time.

#NJPAECET2 decisions X2. These guys R intense with their pancakes - lol @kennisdani @iruntech @MrSchoenbart @mrnesi pic.twitter.com/GAJdj5XUmf

— Evona Panycia (@Mrs_Panycia) September 20, 2015

And now, I lost track of time. I tried to take notes throughout the weekend but exhaustion, excitement, and a sense of so much to do took over, so my notes stop here. Among other things, I enjoyed learning about #MTPSPride and Middletown School’s journey to get connected. This was really inspiring, and relevant to my practice right now.

Thanks for collaborating with us and being part of our story #MTPSPride @MTPSPride #njpaecet2 pic.twitter.com/XwL7kLe5WE

— Natalie Franzi (@NatalieFranzi) September 20, 2015

I also had a blast discussing the digital divide and being thrown under the bus while playing devil’s advocate in Talia Arbit’s session. It was a lot of fun with some great big ideas to end the day. Plus, we learned that if you leave your Mac Airplay on public, don’t be surprised if there’s an #airplayhack from the #HouseofEdTech, Chris Nesi. Right, Ross?

The Big Picture

On a personal level, it was amazing to hang out with Dani, Chris, Stacey, Chrissy, Talia, and other friends. It was fantastic to see a #PLN come alive, and to meet dozens of people that I’ve connected with online and often admired, and make real connections and friendships. As a conference attendee, the sessions were generally real, productive, and filled with great discussions and activities. I loved how many of them asked participants to do something and contribute. As a professional, it was truly inspiring and validating to feel supported, reinvigorated, and proud of my work--and all of our work--as educators.

Thanks for being my family @MrSchoenbart! #whatsthatthinginyourkitchen #njpaecet2 #alphabetconf

— Dani Kennis (@kennisdani) September 19, 2015

Check out this #eduawesome group @MrsMurat @iwearthecrowns @iruntech @mrnesi @kennisdani @MrSchoenbart #njpaecet2 pic.twitter.com/p7Yj7VEgna

— Steven Isaacs (@mr_isaacs) September 20, 2015

The ultimate #njpaecet2 #bfc530 picture! It was a great day of learning with an amazing #PLN @whalen @JayBilly2 #ejl pic.twitter.com/AHgYEmvDC1

— Stacey Lindes (@iruntech) September 20, 2015

Thank you to anyone I learned from or hung out with this weekend, and a special thanks to the #NJPAECET2 steering committee, who did a fantastic job planning a huge weekend. Well done, and thank you for the opportunity.

Now, a day later, I need to go rest my brain...