6 InterACTIVE Ways to Use Microsoft Forms

There are many hidden gems within Microsoft EDU, and Microsoft Forms is one of them! Microsoft Forms was released in 2016 and since then, there have been may updates and features released that take it beyond simple question and answering.

Assessment is an important part of any classroom, even an InterACTIVE classroom, but it is imperative that when we do assess students we are using it to bridge the gap between our teaching and learning. We should not simply give and grade an assessment, but rather use it to gather, evaluate, and remediate the gaps between knowledge rendered and knowledge retained.

6 Features of Microsoft Forms

1. Uploading Files to a Microsoft Form

The ability to upload a file created outside of Microsoft Forms is one of our favorite, interACTIVE features. Students need the chance to demonstrate their understanding of a concept through creation, and this powerful feature allows students to create in programs such as Adobe Spark, Flipgrid, Microsoft PowerPoint, iMovie, and then share with the teacher through Forms.

*This feature is only available to users within the same organization.

2. Types of Questions

When creating a Form, you have several types of questions you can use to build it. Choose from these options to customize your Forms in ways that specifically meet the needs of the students you have in your classroom.

• Multiple choice: When using this feature, Forms will even suggest possible answers based on the words used in the question or answer choices already submitted.

• Text: Giving students the ability to write and explain their thinking is always good and in Forms, you can specify whether it’s going to be a long answer or a brief one.

• Rating: You can specify both levels (numeric) and symbols (stars) when using this option. This is great for a book review or character rating after the end of a unit.

• Ranking: This type of question is great when asking students to debate or justify an answer. For example, have students rank details in order of importance in regards to the theme of a story. Then, pair with a text question and have them explain their rankings and justify the order they chose.

• Branching: Although this isn’t technically one of the types” of questions you can use, it is a great, interACTIVE feature in Forms that allows you to connect, or branch, questions based on a students answer. This allows you to redirect students to different questions based on correct or incorrect answers.

• Net Promoter Score: Great for more survey-like type questions or can be used when looking for students’ opinion in regards to a topic.

3. Custom Controls

There are many hidden features in Forms that you may not know about at first glance. Simply head to the Settings in the Three Dot Menu and take advantage of features like shuffling question order, adding a start and end date, creating custom Thank You messages and adding email notification.

4. Peer Collaboration

Creating interACTIVE Forms can often be a two-person job or more, and for that, Microsoft Forms has given creators the ability to collaborate. To share a form with your friend or colleague, simply tap on the Share button in the top right corner of the screen and select the Share option from the right menu.

5. Ability to Analyze Responses

As with any assessment in an InterACTIVE Class, giving the assessment is just the beginning. Once students have finished, you need to review and reflect on the data given. When using Microsoft Forms, you simply head to the Responses tab and you will find the answers to your assessment in both a visual group format and individually.

6. Immersive Reader

The integration of Microsoft’s Immersive reader makes Forms so accessible to all students. Immersive Reader is a free tool that utilizes techniques proven to help people read more effectively, such as read aloud and translation. This feature allows questions and answer choices to be read aloud to students while working to help accommodate and give independence.

Additional Features and Resources for Microsoft Forms

There are so many other features that make Microsoft Forms a great tool to use in the classroom. Sharing with colleagues, the ability to send a copy, sharing with links an QR codes, customizing the themes and colors—this tool is one you will want to get to know before the next school year.

Interested in Microsoft Forms? Here are a few examples you can look at for more ideas.

For more interACTIVE ideas to use when integrating technology into the classroom, check out our book, The InterACTIVE Class.

Creating a Virtual Classroom with Microsoft Teams

With so much unknown right now in education, one thing we can do as educators is focus on meeting the needs of our students the best we can while remote learning. We may have lost the sense of security and safety our physical classrooms gave us, but with the help of Microsoft Teams we can expand those four walls and bring our students into a different type of interACTIVE learning environment.

Microsoft Teams has worked hard and listened to the needs of educators to make the platform as versatile and streamlined as possible. With integrations and features such as announcements, OneNote class notebook, Tabs and Assignments, and chat—Teams provides teachers with options tailored for teaching and learning.

Conversations in Teams

Being able to connect and keep in touch with students while out of the classroom is so important and channel posts makes this so easy to do in Teams. Create classroom announcements and posts that can be edit to get your students' attention. You can also control who replies to a post, change the importance of a post to draw students’ attention to something specific, and post across multiple channels at the same time.

Once a post is sent in a channel, the conversation is organized by date and then threaded. Find the thread you want to reply to, then click Reply. Add your thoughts and click Send. When replying you can also @mention someone to get their attention and to have them see a post sooner. Students (and teachers!) can also have fun by posting and replying with emojis, memes and GIFS using the buttons under the reply bar.

Creating Assignments in Teams

When creating assignments, teachers have the ability to customize each and every assignment to meet the needs of their students. Add grading rubrics for students to reference while working and for you as the teacher to use laster when evaluating their work. Customize every assignment by adding or attaching resources. This can be content from OneDrive, your device, links, and more. Once an assignment is creating you can distributed it to multiple classes or personalize the assignment by assigning it to individual students. Finally, when creating, you can customize all the dates and times that are important to the assignment. you have the ability to edit due dates and close dates, in addition to scheduling assignments to appear on a later date.

Keeping student work in order and easy to find can be challenging during remote learning, making the organization of Teams so beneficial. Teams lets you as the teacher create learning activities for students with integrated Office applications while also giving you the ability to leave feedback for students. You can also grade and track student progress by using the Grades tab. View both upcoming and turned in assignments by class, or view them across all your classes. Selecting an assignment will allow you to turn it in or view feedback and scores.

Holding Online Meetings in Teams

Microsoft Teams is a great platform to connect with students virtually and gives you as the teacher control of the meeting. You can speak and share video, mute and remove participants, share content and your screen, and privately view a PowerPoint presentation all while participating in a live meeting. The organizer also has the option to start and stop recording of the meeting which allows for asynchronous learning by proving content to learners on their own time. Students can also share their screen and view PowerPoint presentations during a chat, but the other features are for presenters only.

Simply click Meet now under the message box to start a live meeting in a channel. If you click Reply to a message, then the meeting will be attached to that conversation. You can select Meet now to start the meeting right away or Schedule a meeting to schedule the meeting for the future. Members of the channel will see an invitation for the meeting in their calendar if you decide to schedule it for later.

Content and Collaboration in Teams

Content can be shared in multiple ways when using Microsoft Teams. Teachers can add Tabs within a channel to centralize where students are going and keeping the workflow in Teams. Click + by the tabs at the top of the channel, click the app you want, and then follow the prompts. Use Search if you don’t see the app you want. Apps like Flipgrid, Buncee, Peardeck and Wakelet are just a few of the many different options available!

You can also share content directly in channel posts. Click Attach under the box where you type messages, select the file location and then the file you want. Depending on the location of the file, you’ll get options for uploading a copy, sharing a link, or other ways to share.

Collaborating in Teams has never been easier with the integration of the OneNote class notebook. OneNote notebooks are a digital binder that can be used in your class or with your staff to take notes and collaborate. OneNote Class Notebooks have a personal workspace for every student, a Content Library for handouts, and a Collaboration Space for lessons and creative activities.

We way not be able to close out the year with our students, but let’s make distance learning as familiar and comforting to our students as we can! By working in Microsoft Teams we can continue to encourage and engage students from the walls of our “virtual classroom.”

Stay #interACTIVE!

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For more on using Microsoft Teams in the classroom check out the following post:

• Creating “Virtual” Room Transformations Using Teams

For more ideas on how to create relevant and engaging digital lessons, check out our book The InterACTIVE Class out now on Amazon!

Learning about map features with Buncee!

You’ve heard of “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego,” but have you heard of “Where on the map is Mr. Merrill?” Buncee is the perfect tool for such a game! Check out how we used it to create a unique #RemoteLearning (but it could also be done in a normal classroom setting!) experience!

💥 Design a map in Buncee
💥 Add street names
💥 Create aN “INcorrect” and “correct” Buncee (seperate presentation slides)
💥 Hyperlink the images in the original map to the “correct” and “incorrect” Buncees
💥 Record a video that guides students to the destination!
💥 Copyable buncee slide deck included at the bottom!

💥 DESIGN A MAP IN BUNCEE

The first step (and most time consuming - if you’re picky) is to design a map in Buncee. The good news is that Buncee’s embedded features make it a one stop shop. You can easily add animated graphics, images, videos, and much more - all without having to leave the app. Everything that you see in the image below was found within the Buncee search tool. Simply find what you want to use, then drag it to the proper place.

💥 ADD STREET NAMES

After you have the layout and design of your map created, start adding street names using the text tool. Give each street it’s own unique name - which you’ll later referred to in your video. This step is important, because it helps younger students to be sure they are on the right road. You can even add a school bus and an animated taxi cab, just for fun!

💥 CREATE “INCORRECT” AND “CORRECT” BUNCEE SLIDES

After you have saved what you have worked on, go back to the Buncee dashboard and created a seperate - new Buncee. Design the new Buncee slide to indicate that the selection my students made was incorrect (see image to the left). Now that this slide is complete, design a “correct” slide. When I did this with my class, I added a bit more fun here…I included a 360 image of the city of Chicago, then added a magnifying glass over the top to give it that “detective feel.”

With both slides now ready to go, start hyperlinking them back to my original Map. To do so, open your “incorrect” Buncee slide. Then, click on the orange “Share” button (located in the upper right). This opens a new window, with a few options. If you click on “Code,” you will be able to find the shareable URL to this particular Buncee slide. You’ll need this Link, so click the blue “copy” button to the right of the URL. You’ll take this link and use it on the Map you previously created.

💥 HYPERLINK THE IMAGES IN THE MAP

With the “incorrect” Buncee slide’s URL code copied, open up your original Map Buncee slide. Figure out where you would like to “hide” on the map. After you have picked out your hiding spot, now it’s time to start hyperlinking all of the incorrect places to the “incorrect” Buncee slide. To do, click on one of the images that you added on your map. A crop box will surround the image (this way you know that you have the right item selected). Next click on the “Link” located on the bottom tool bar. When you do, you’ll be given the option to type a URL. Simply paste the URL from the “incorrect” Buncee slide. This way, when a student clicks on that image - it will take them to the “incorrect” slide, indicating that their answer was wrong. Repeat this process for all incorrect images. You’ll notice that all images will have the little red link icon next to them. Be sure that you have added the “incorrect” Buncee slide to all of the images that need to be hyperlinked.

Now it’s time to hyperlink your “correct” spot on the map. This first step is optional, but I recommend it. Open the “Correct” Buncee slide, and click on “Share,” then “Settings.” Toggle on where it says, “Commentable.” This will allow your students to leave a comment once they arrive on the correct answer slide. In the same window, click on “Code” and then click “copy.” This will copy the URL to the “correct” Buncee slide, which you will hyperlink back to the original “map” Buncee slide. Once in the original “map” Buncee slide, click on the “correct” image (tip: you may need to click “edit” from the top right you get logged out), then click “Link” from the bottom menu bar. Paste the URL to the “correct” Buncee slide. This way, when your students click on the image, it will take them to the correct slide.

💥 RECORD VIDEO DIRECTIONS!

The last step is to record a video giving your students clues about where you are hiding. Go through each clue, and remind them to follow along the map from place to place. It also helps to remind the students that they can pause / rewatch the video if need be. When they think they know where you are, tell them to click on the link icon above where they believe you are hiding (if they click on the actual image, the picture will come up instead - they need to click on the link icon). Remind them that they should also leave a comment in the comment box at the end of the map to let you know that they found their way through!

Buncee + Immersive Reader! 💛

It’s also important to note that Microsoft’s Immersive Reader is embedded into Buncee. This means that all text on the Buncee slide can be read aloud to students. It also means that the text can be translated into different languages. All students need to do is click on the Immersive Reader icon!

Check out the real thing! Feel free to play along below!

To make this even easier, we’re happy to share our Buncee with you! Just click on the image to the right!

For more information on Buncee, check out their website and their Twitter account hyperlinked below:

💛 Buncee Website
💛 Buncee Twitter

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For more #interACTIVE lesson ideas using Buncee, check out our book The InterACTIVE Class on Amazon!

Memes For Themes

As always with everything, we are spiraling through our curriculum and it is time to review THEME. This standard is always hard for me to teach because of the complexity of the standard--you need to reviewing elements of plot (characters and problem) along with having the ability according to our state's standard to summarize.

So this year I do what I always do when I need inspiration--I turn to my PLN on social media. This lesson was adapted by something I saw by author, speaker and best selling author Catlin Tucker--Creating Memes to Explore Themes. (you can check out her original post here) If you aren't one of my many Twitter friends, you may not know this, but technology is a fluid tool in my classroom and something we use and learn from on a daily basis. When I saw this lesson idea I knew it would be an instant hit. I modified Catlin's original lesson a little based on my class make up and age level and you can read through those steps below.

Day 1 

I split the lesson into two days to help address the multiple layers of our state standard. First, my students are required to show that they can summarize a story retelling the main events before they state and explain the theme. One of my favorite professional books is a book titled Summarization in Any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning by Rick Wormeli. One of the activities included is called "One Word Summary."  Students use their selection of text and collaboratively come up with a list of words they could use to describe the story. Each students defends the "one word" they would use and explain/defend why they would choose that word. For this lesson, my students were working to summarize a novel we had read together as a class. This helped because it allowed me to be working on the same text with all students. After each student had brainstorm their word, their assignment was to "illustrate" their word. They drew the words with “animated” letters that fit with the topic and theme of the book.

When their word was completed, students flipped their papers over and explained why they chose the word they did. They explained their word through basic summaries of the story, using various elements of the story to support the word they chose. This part of the lesson took the first day and we continued with the memes the following day.

Day 2 

The next day we picked up right where we left off. Students came to the carpet for a time of modeling and instruction. I showed them the google slides I had prepared--complete with a slide for each of them (names already on it by class number).  I modeled what my one word would be using a story we read aloud earlier in the year and then started creating my own meme. I first wrote my personal theme statement in the notes section of the slide. Then I chose a picture, and we brainstormed what text I could use to make my meme communicate the same theme as the book. This entire time I was also modeling how to find an image and how to maneuver through the google slides tools such as text size, font, etc. My example slide was the last slide in the google slides so the kids could refer back to it while they worked. When finished, we talked through any questions and then I let the kids get started. I rotated the room when needed, but also managed the class progress by scrolling through the google slides. 

When a student felt they were finished, they came to me and we reviewed their meme. We read their theme statement (located in the notes section) and I then checked to see if it matched what the meme was trying to communicate. I didn't use this time to correct a student with an incorrect theme statement, but rather was looking to see if they could create a meme that visually represented the theme they came up with. I used this as an assessment so I wanted their work to be their own and to represent their knowledge of theme--even if it wasn't 100% correct.  I later pulled the few students that struggle the following week to review theme again and to discuss the elements that might have been lacking from those students' original projects. 

I have included a few of the memes created along with the theme statement that corresponded with each.

Theme Statement: One small person can make a big impact.

Theme Statement: Doing what you think is right may be scary but if you stick with it you may find yourself enjoying it.

Theme Statement: What we work hard to do can make a big impact on others.