Update on Grant: Why Schoology?

We've been busy since attending ISTE over the summer! We attended a Close Reading workshop, and have collaborated with our district Curriculum/Technology Specialist. He shared with us possible resources to use: Coursesites, Fluency Tutor, and ReadandWrite. We chose Schoology instead of Coursesites.

Why Schoology?

At ISTE we also had an opportunity to investigate several different learning management systems. We looked at Edmodo, Classflow, and Coursesites. After more research, Luci stumbled across Schoology.   The interface for Schoology was the most intuitive of all investigated.  It also had a Backchannel option embedded within the site.  It was easy to organize content into folders and turn assignments off and on.  It also allowed the teacher to view all responses to a test question in one easy to read screen.  

Mrs. McCausland introducing Schoology.

Our 3rd Grade students have gone through their first round of reading and responding informational text comparative assessments using pencil/paper and then technology. We used Teachers College Columbia University Reading and Writing Project's Common Core Aligned Performance Assessments. Most students scored higher using pencil/paper this round, but we acknowledge that this is their first experience on Chromebooks and with formal keyboarding training. One positive outcome from using the 1:1 Chromebooks is the enjoyment and perseverance. One third of our students are considered below benchmark. Our reluctant readers and writers have demonstrated an unprecedented level of engagement not only on the computer, but also reading and responding using pencil/paper. Their STAR Assessment results have also increased significantly.