Eight Tips and Tricks for Using Google Classroom

1. First time into Google Classroom, but sure to choose teacher. Even if you join classes as a student, you need to be in as a teacher to have teacher rights.  If you accidentally choose student, you will need your domain admin to add you back into the teacher group.
   
   
   
2. Use Class Code to enroll students and save time.
   
   
   
3. Use About to provide a quick link to a website, syllabus, a rubric, or something you want them to reference often.If you attach a Google Doc to an assignment, students need to click the assignment title to get to the attached Google Doc.  Using words like, see the attached Google Doc in the assignment description will help students know if a Google Doc is attached.
   
   
   
4. Students get an e-mail when assignments are posted in Google Classroom.

5. When making an assignment, you can choose to copy the assignment to multiple classes before you click assign.  Once assigned to one class, you no longer can copy to multiple classes.
   
   
   
6. The stream with the timestamp is very helpful to share information with students.   Use the stream as a closed back channel environment for students.  Excellent for informal conversations in the classroom.
   
   
   
7. Google Classroom alphabetizes by first name. If your district uses Power School, you can alpha by first name instead of last. In PowerSchool, go to "Preferences" (under the Power School Gradebook menu in your toolbar).  Go to the tab called "Student" (last one) and use the drop-down menu to choose First Last as your display choice. Now your docs in Google align with the grade book.
   
   
8. On the iPad, save work to the camera roll. In Google Classroom, click add -> upload file -> select the file from photos/camera roll.  Slick and easy.

Written by Ann Feldmann

@annfeldmann1

How is Your Google Garden Growing?

One of our district technology initiatives is implementing Google Apps in the classroom.  Our district went Google Apps for Ed (#gafe) in the fall of 2012.  Since that time, we have been planting "Google Seeds" in all of our trainings, Techie Tuesdays, online classes, video tutorials, and blog posts.  We talk about Google Power in casual conversations and in formal trainings. The seeds have been sown.  

How is your Google garden growing? Consider these ideas.

With Students

Have students create and share docs with you.

Guide their writing with comments.  

Grade papers electronically.

Students do peer editing on shared docs.

Use the drawing tools to brainstorm.

Use the powerful research tool which gives students access the Google search engine right from Google Drive. Insert images by just dragging and dropping.  No need to download or copy images.  Better yet, Google automatically creates footnotes. No more forgetting where an image or text came from.  

Use the power of Google Forms as formative assessments and add the Flubaroo script to grade and return them automatically.

Professionally

How often do you collaborate via a Google hangout with other teachers?

Are you involved in any of the district Google Communities?

Have you joined any public Google Communities such as Connected Classrooms?

Do you use a calendar and share the calendar with students, parents, other teachers?

Do you create lesson plans in Google Docs and share them with your principal?

The new year is a great time to spend a little time tending the Google garden! We would love to see it blossoming this school year!

The Tech Tools for Teaching YouTube Channel is full of helpful tutorials.

Check out our latest and growing playlist on Google Communities.

Written by Ann Feldmann

@annfeldmann1

GOING GOOGLE... How Long Does it Take to Change A Culture?

As many of you know, our district went Google two years ago.  It was a monumental leap of faith by our Superintendent to trust our judgement and go for it.  Our vision was this:  less printing, more sharing and collaborating, and increased production for both teachers and students.  We are on year three now, and I think we are starting to see a change in the weather. It has taken a long time to convince teachers to use google Docs and Google Calendar, but I am beginning to see the rainbow at the end of the storm!  

Many days I have felt like a salesperson for Google, walking around saying things like “Oh, did you know you could do that in Google?” or “Let’s load that to Google and then share the link.”  I've got

used to the stares and weird looks, because in the end I knew it was the best workflow for everyone! Now I love learning from some of our experts in the schools- the students!

Just today, as I was coaching a teacher in how to utilize Google Docs with his students I saw a student doing a math outline on a doc.  She was using superscripts to write equations!  It was great! Her teacher is one that we haven’t even worked with.  How exciting to know she was using Google Docs with her students all on her own.  That is the kind of things I love seeing these days.  

I know it isn’t everywhere in our district, but it is happening more and more.  See below for some hard data.   

Change is slow, but it is happening.  I know the students appreciate their tech savvy teachers, and I know the teachers love the no-excuses available philosophy of Google Docs.  Going paperless is one advantage, but the real advantages are increased collaboration, efficient use of time, and immediate feedback.  Keep dockin’ and rockin’ Bellevue!  True change is just over the rainbow!  It was Socrates that said the following:

Written By:  Jennifer Krzystowczyk

@jennykbps

YouTube and Your Classroom

Using YouTube? There is so much more! Come take the plunge into all that YouTube offers. Learn to manage great videos you discover, create your own YouTube channel, create, manage, and share playlists, subscribe to other YouTube channels, and create/edit video.

Check out the presentation I created and presented the following conferences: NETA (Omaha, NE), The Summer Tech Institute(Norfolk, NE), and The Google Summit (Glenwood, IA)!



 

Written by Ann Feldmann
@annfeldmann1