Blended Learning, Google Educator Certification, Certify 'Em

Keeping the Conversation Going

Over the last two weeks teachers across the district have been collaborating with each other and with administrators to brainstorm how to continue growing in our own understanding and competence in implementing blended learning and using technology to meet the individual needs of our students. The #banderaTCEAchers offered suggestions for providing staff with on-going support throughout the year and for staff development now, over the summer, and in August, as well as specific goals to meet the needs of teachers and students on their campuses. Curriculum leads on a couple of the campuses have issued digital challenges to their teachers so that we have the opportunity to learn in small doses things that can help us in our classrooms. The Digital Classroom teachers are intensively studying blended learning in their professional development through UTeach, and the Digital Learning PLC's this spring will offer more opportunity to explore what blended learning looks like in the classroom. There are some awesome things happening in classrooms across the district. If you get a chance on a random conference period, stop by a colleague's classroom and fill your own cup with some fresh ideas. Planning for next year has already started. If you have an idea on how we can support each other to improve our practice or to help our students be the best that they can be, speak up. Talk to your curriculum lead, team/department/grade lead, or administrator. #GoTeam 

Considering Getting Google Educator Certified?

Google Educator certification exams focus on the integration of G-Suite tools into classroom learning. The exams give you ample opportunity to apply those tools to real classroom situations, and that can give you some new ideas for integration in your own classroom. BISD has had G-Suite tools available in our classrooms for many years. There are some serious Google Geeks out there among us! Want to get a feel for if you're ready to test? Download Kasey Bell's Toolkit for Level 1 and Level 2 Google Educator certifications. Still not sure? Talk to Lisa Gherman (AES), Cassie Simon (BMS) or me. 

Certify 'Em

 Thank you, Shea Holland at AES, for sharing the Google Form add-on Certify 'Em, which allows you to create online certification exams and email .pdf certificates. How cool is that? The librarian in me is thinking how cool it would be to use this for a scavenger hunt for library orientation, but I can so see my friend down the hall using this in her science class for certifying her students in lab safety or my other friend across campus using it for certifying that her students know the political, economic, and social roots of Manifest Destiny and its relationship to the westward growth of our nation. If you gamify your lessons, Certify 'Em might be a nice tool to use for leveling up.

Brush Ninja, Practice Records, Update to Team Drive, Google Slides Remote

Brush Ninja

A big Bulldog thank you to Lisa Gherman at AES for sharing Brush Ninja in the AES Teach with Tech Classroom! Your students can create animated .gifs on Chromebooks, PCs, or iPads. Save the animated images to your device. Embed the .gifs in Google Slides; combine with Screencastify to provide voiceovers.  Imagine students illustrating their understanding of chemical reactions, character traits, historical events, or mathematical equations. The possibilities are endless.

Help Students Keep Track of Information

Snaps to Toni Batto at BMS and BHS for harnessing the power of G-Suite to help her students keep track of their practice information, to reduce paper clutter, and to teach her students twenty-first century record keeping skills!

Ms. Batto shared a spreadsheet with her students to record their practice information daily. At the end of the week, she offers them a Google Form to transcribe the information from their individual spreadsheets and submit to her so that she has all her student practice information in one place. Students can access the Sheet and the Form at school or at home on any device. If the students are using a personal device, they may need to download the free Sheets app to edit the sheet. 

Google Form completed once a week

Google Sheet for daily record keeping
Personal note: I love that the students (and their parents) see daily what practice entails.

Helpful hints from Ms. Batto:

• Freeze rows that you don't want students to manipulate. That feature is under the VIEW tab in Sheets.
• Use the section feature in Forms to help the students transcribe their data accurately.

Team Drive Update

If you use Google Team Drive, you will notice some updates in the near future. When the update rolls out to us, the roles in Team Drive will be different. Below is a summary from the G-Suite Blog. Read more HERE.


The existing roles for Team Drives memberships will get new names:

• “Full access” will now be known as “Manager.” 
• “Edit access” will now be “Contributor.” 
• “Comment access” will now be “Commenter.” 
• “View access” will now be “Viewer.” 
• There will also be a new role, “Content manager.” See below for more details. 

Run a Google Slide Presentation from Your Phone!

Diana Benner of TCEA is a rockstar! Over the summer, she shared on the TCEA TechNotes blog that the Google Slides Remote extension allows you to run your Slides presentation from your phone. 

Acquire the extension from the Chrome Web Store.

When you open your Slides presentation, click on Present with Remote.

On your phone, bookmark the page s.limhenry.xyz. You will be asked to enter a code. Hover over the bottom of your presentation and click on Show ID. That is the number you will put into your phone to enable the remote.

No Chromebit? No problem! Move freely around the room running the presentation from your phone.

Important: If you are presenting from a computer that you do not normally use, you may need to install the extension on that computer's Chrome browser so that you see the "Present with Remote" option when you open your presentation.

Google Sites vs. Google Classroom

Google Sites vs. Google Classroom

G-Suite enables students to access course content and to learn 24/7/365, and now that the new Google Sites makes creating and maintaining a website as simple as creating a Google Slide, teachers have more choice in where and how they house content for students. Here are a few suggestions on deciding where to put online content for your students.

Use Google Sites...

• if you want your students and their parents to have access to the content without having to sign in (ie weekly spelling lists, flipped lessons, study materials, extension activities, etc. especially for our youngest students.

Use Google Classroom...

• for graded assignments
• for materials/resources for older students 
• for any subscription-based links that would violate acceptable use by putting content out freely on the internet (ie articles from our databases, content from Discovery Education, etc.)

Google Teacher Tribe Podcast

If time for filling your professional gas tank is at a premium and you make a bit of a commute, the Google Teacher Tribe podcast by Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning and Matt Miller of Ditch That Textbook is 30+ minutes chock full of inspiring ways to harness the power of G-Suite in your classroom.  Last week's podcast discussed using Google Sites for showcase portfolios and growth portfolios. The show notes include links to physics portfolios so you can see some examples. This week's podcast offers suggestions for using Google Photos in the classroom. The show notes include Kasey's recommendation of 16 podcasts for teachers. The Google Teacher Tribe launches a new podcast each Monday during the school year. 

Google Forms on Google Sites: Make life easier!

I've become a huge fan of embedding Google Forms on my new Google Sites website. It's as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Create a Google Form
2. Open your new Google site.
3. On the INSERT tab of the site, click FORMS, select your form, and click insert.

Done!

Consider embedding a Google Form on your website for sign-ups, voting, or even a quick exit ticket for a flipped lesson.

EdCamp, Digital Math Manipulatives, Multiple answers on Google Forms quiz, Buttons on New Google Sites

#EdCamp

As teachers, you spend your day taking care of others. Every day. All day. And sometimes you need a little something to refuel your own tank. EdCamp can be just the ticket. EdCamp is a free unconference that is educator-led and educator-driven. The video above gives a great one minute overview of what you can expect in an EdCamp. HERE is a link to a list of upcoming EdCamps. The permissions on the document allow anyone in BISD to edit, so if you find an EdCamp that's not on the list. Please add it. I'm putting this doc in the curriculum/digital learning classrooms on all the campuses if you need to find it later.

Digital Math Manipulatives

Talk about a one-stop shop for digital math manipulatives! This resource from Toy Theater can really support learning in your classroom. According to their site the, "...online manipulatives include an interactive clock, two color counters, 3D dice, probability spinners, graph builders, fraction bars, base ten blocks, and more! We also recommend some of our art activities that can be used as teaching manipulatives, such as Cube or Build that allow kids to make designs using blocks to learn concepts like area, perimeter, or volume or Mirror to teach symmetry to early learners." This site is definitely worth your time!

Enabling Multiple Answers on Google Forms Quiz

Eric Curts, who blogs at Control Alt Achieve, explains how you can configure the answer key on a Google Form to accept more than one answer on a short answer question.

Check out his post for more details. You can follow him on Twitter @ericcurts.

Another New Google Sites Feature: Buttons

Clean up the look of your website by adding buttons: clickable graphics that act as hyperlinks on your website.

Click HERE to access an animated .gif that quickly explains how to add this feature to your site.

Branching in Google Forms? Oh, the possibilities!

Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning and the Teacher Tribe podcast always has awesome digital learning tips, but she hit it out of the park with her How to Differentiate Questions with Google Forms post this spring. Kasey wrote about using branching in Google Forms to differentiate learning for students. The concept is along the lines of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" with subsequent questions based on previous responses. (This picture from the blog post will give you an overview of the concept.)

Consider using branching to provide tutorials for incorrect answers, assignment options based on personal preference, or story building.

Kami for PDF and Document Mark Up

Earlier this month Mrs. Verstuyft and I attended SA Going Google at Cole High School on Ft. Sam Houston. One of my favorite sessions of the day was hosted by Dr. Roland Rios and his "geek squad" of high school students who provide tech support to the students and faculty on their campuses. The kids even host training sessions for both students and faculty. Pretty awesome.

One of the student presenters mentioned Kami as her go-to tool for pdf and document mark up. Kami is available as a Chromebook app available in the Chrome Web Store. Best of all, Kami works with Google Drive and Google Classroom.

Closing out the Year in SeeSaw and Google Classroom

If you are using See Saw with your students, the end of the year is a good time to archive your old class under the Class Settings tab. (Don't delete the students from the class.) This link will help families download an archive of their child's work.

If you are using Google Classroom, Eric Curts of Control Alt Achieve provides a list of six tips for cleaning up so that your Classroom is ready to go in the fall. For some of us who have been using Google Classroom for a few years, these tips can really help us clean up our Drives, Calendars, Classroom and the almighty Shared With Me Folder. 

Online Unconference, More on Google Classroom & Google Forms

Online Unconference Next Weekend

Need a little PD shot in the arm to make it through the home stretch of the next six weeks? Get it from the comfort of your own home this Sunday, May 6. Access the information HERE. When you land on the page, scroll down to the "presenter intros" where you will find a Flipgrid of a full day of sessions starting at 8 a.m. EST. The presenters provide a brief video intro to their sessions and offer a link to their presentations.

Sample 8:00 a.m. sessions

Free Getting Started with Google Classroom Mini-Course

Thinking of using Google Classroom next year but aren't sure where to start? Check our Kasey Bell's free mini-course on ShakeUp Learning. 

If you're already a Google Classroom user, check out this great post by Corkboard Connections that offers ways to keep your Classroom feed user-friendly and clean.

Tips from Richard Byrne for Saving Time Making Quizzes by Adjusting Google Forms Settings

Looking for new ways to use Google Forms in the classroom? Check out Create, Dream, Explore's list of 10 ways to use Forms to streamline your classroom workflow. 

Two Free Audiobooks a Week 4/26-7/26, 2018

Sync Audiobooks has started its annual audiobook giveaway. Use the Overdrive app to download two free audiobooks a week through the last week of July. New downloads are available every Thursday. Books geared toward teens 13+.

Next Tuesday Tech Tip: May 15, 2018

Customize Google Forms, Insert a Google Slide in a Google Doc, Tinkercad

Customize Your Google Forms

Customize your Google Forms theme by selecting one of the choices Google provides or uploading your own picture. I use Canva's Etsy cover photo template to create unique Google Form headers like the one below.

Check out Richard Byrne's tutorial on creating custom themes. 

G Suite Updates

Last week Google announced several awesome updates to its G suite products. 

• You can insert a slide from a Google Slides presentation into a Google Doc. You can even link that slide to its source presentation so that the Doc will update if you update the Slide. 

https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2018/04/google-slides-linking-guides-rulers-commenting.html

• You can now use guides in Slides to align objects. Click on View and select Guides.

https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2018/04/google-slides-linking-guides-rulers-commenting.html

 To read more about these updates and others released last week, click HERE.

Create a Class Account for TinkerCad

Allowing your students to design 3D objects can improve their understanding of math concepts and give them a platform for applying content knowledge in other core subjects. And 3D design has never been easier with Tinkercad, a browser-based computer-aided design program.

This three-minute video provides an overview of Tinkercad.

Interested in the concept but not sure how to apply it in your content area? Check out Common Sense Media's bank of Tinkercad Lesson Plans for inspiration.

Teachers can create class accounts for even our youngest students to use TinkerCad.

Want to dip your toes into 3D printing? BMS and BHS have 3D printers. 

Use Google Forms for Documentation, URL shorteners, EDU in 90

Using Google Forms for Documentation 

As a former English teacher, I love the blog  Two Writing Teachers. It's chock full of awesome ideas to engage and monitor student writers, and it provides great micro-doses of professional development for writing teachers, too. Last month, one of the posts featured using a Google Form to document writing progress. Wow! Wish I'd had that tool when I was in the English classroom. 

But you don't have to be a writing teacher to see the infinite possibilities in the use of forms to track student progress. The concept introduced in the post is universal.

If you need to keep track of a student's progress, check out this post to see how a simple Google Form can streamline your workflow and make filling out that progress monitoring paperwork a whole lot easier. 

Coaches, need to keep track of workout stats? Let Google Forms do it for you.

 

Need to get everyone on the same page quickly? Use a URL shortener.

Sometimes you don't have the luxury of posting a link to a site on your webpage or in your Google Classroom, but you need everyone in your audience to navigate to that site quickly and easily. Enter the URL shortener. Basically, you copy the link address to the shortener to generate a URL that your audience can easily type into the browser on their device.

A URL shortener will make something like this:
 https://twowritingteachers.org/2017/08/14/ideas-for-getting-started-with-google-forms/

look like this:
http://tinyurl.com/y7lsyeeq

Here are a few shorteners to get you started. If you want to know more, see LifeWire's post to learn about the unique features of each.


goo.gl
bit.ly
ow.ly
tinyurl.com

Stay up-to-date with Google tools with EDU in 90

 

Google recently launched EDU in 90, which will feature bi-weekly 90 second videos to keep teachers up-to-date with new Google tools and offer ideas for using them in the classroom.  Ninety seconds every two weeks to keep on top of things? Sounds awesome! Check out the Edu in 90 channel and click Subscribe.

G-Suite, Google Forms, Teen Read Week

 Good-bye GAFE...Hello G-Suite

In the last couple of weeks Google Apps for Education (GAFE) has been re-branded as G-Suite for Education.  According to ChalkUp, not much looks different right now, but according to Google, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that will make our work flow easier and more efficient over time. So long, GAFE; hello GSFE?

Check out the G Suite Learning Center

Google has an extensive online learning center that can be searched by product. An initial click on the product you are interested in will return basic information about how to get started. But my favorite feature is the "tip" page for each product. Use the search bar within the learning center to search for "Calendar tips" or "Drive tips" or "Forms tips," etc. Tips are easily navigated by clicking on the tip tile. This is a great resource to share with students and parents, too!

Using Google Forms in BISD

BISD teachers rock! They are doing some amazing things with Google Forms. The third  grade at Alkek used Google Forms as a basis for their community research. Armed with iPads and access to the BEC internet on Main Street, the students accessed the forms embedded on the fourth grade webpage. What an awesome way to integrate technology, research, and social studies! One of the UIL coaches at BMS has created a Google Classroom for her events to guide the students to practice resources. She's creating quizzes using Google Forms to give her students extra practice.  Some elementary teachers are using Google Forms as a sign out of the classroom. One of the high school teachers has created a Google Form to document her parent contacts. Since the Form automatically generates a Google Sheet, she not only has documentation of her parent communication, but her Sheet can be sorted by student. Google Forms is proving to be a versatile tool that BISD faculty and staff are using in inventive ways.

Celebrate Teen Read Week With EBSCO

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors the Teen Read Week celebration October 9-15, 2016. #TRW16 is a great time to showcase the awesome digital e-book content that comes with our EBSCO subscription. Acquire your campus's username/password from your librarian. When you access EBSCO, you can click on the K-8 ebook collection or the high school ebook collection.   Within the collection, you can search for fiction or nonfiction ebooks. Ms. Allison's students at BMS were pretty excited to use the advanced search tool to search for books that were downloadable so they could read on their personal devices on long bus trips. I stumbled across a pretty fantastic graphic novel about the Salem witch trials in one of my searches, which was a reminder to me to use EBSCO to find texts to share with students to support what we're learning. Ebooks are available in languages other than English, too.   If you and your students haven't had a chance to check out EBSCO's ebooks, Teen Read Week offers an opportunity to celebrate our databases and read good books.

Subscribe to a Google Calendar, Google Forms, Free Ebooks, Boomerang, Gmail

Subscribe to a BISD Calendar

Adding events from a BISD calendar to your Google calendar takes just a few short steps. Here's a short video to get you started.

Another Reason to Love Google Forms

If you have equipment or books that you manage, Google Forms can provide a solution for managing the items. Check out Richard Byrne's video on creating a check out system. Some of our innovative teachers at Alkek Elementary are using Google Forms for students to check in/check out of class. What an awesome idea, especially if your students struggle to tell time. Google time stamps the form submission.

Epic Books: 100% Free ebooks

Epic Books offers free accounts for teachers and librarians in the US and Canada. The interface is user friendly and attractive. While I love their fiction ebooks, one of the biggest draws of Epic Books is the extensive nonfiction content.  A simple search for "tsunami" turned up a great combination of fiction and nonfiction texts. Some of the books also provide "read to me" support. This is a great site for science, social studies, math, ELAR, and elective teachers, too.

Need to Schedule an Email?

Boomerang for Gmail may be just the tool you need. (Thanks, Ms. Moseley, for sharing this timesaver with me!). By adding Boomerang to your Gmail. account, you will have access to a "send later" button under the regular "send" button. You can select the date and time to send the email. What a time saver for busy people who don't always have the time to sit down at the computer to get that essential email out! Need some help? There are "how to" videos embedded right on the Boomerang website. Gotta love that! (BTW...you are receiving an email with a link to this newsletter today, but I scheduled the email using Boomerang over the weekend!)