Summer Snapshots... #3 - Grow your social network

Think for a minute about the types of professional development available within your school, or perhaps your larger regional network (BOCES districts for us NYers). Is it more like a delivery system or collaborative network?

In a large district, there might be the luxury of having multiple teachers per grade level or subject discipline. Schools might employ their own curriculum coordinators, instructional technology coaches or department chairs tasked to organize professional learning teams/networks (PLT's / PLN's). A collaborative network like this requires a critical mass of educators all working together toward common goals; if not, the "delivery system" method of PD is what we tend to experience.

In the North Country, we need to broaden our reach outside of our local buildings and collaborate regionally. One easy start is to enhance our own professional development by building an online professional learning network. Because it's done virtually, this requires taking a leap - often an uncomfortable one - into the world of social media.

Here's a great post about using social media for professional development (as well as the etiquette and housekeeping involved in doing so).

Start small; Google+ and Twitter are easy to get started with. If the thought of posting and commenting scare you, it's OK to remain a "listener" as you gather up others' great ideas.

Google+ (Google Plus)



If you've never explored this social network, now would be a great time, because there is a great local upstate NY presence.

Google+ Communities are moderated groups of people all gathered around common interests. Currently, over 300 upstate NY educators connect with each other on Google Plus. All you have to do (once logged in) is request to join this local community (GEG Capital Region Upstate New York). Not only do they have great EdTech ideas, they often advertise local events, workshops, and conferences. It's nice to hear what other educators are doing in our area.

Google+ Collections are posts curated about a topic all by one person, and you can request to "follow" the collection. There is a great GAfE Collection by Michael Fricano II, an EdTech educator from Hawaii (also follow him personally for other EdTech collections and ideas - +Michael Fricano II)

Twitter

New to Twitter? Not sure if you know your #hashtags from your @mentions? Twitter can seem confusing to a novice, but you can use it completely anonymously for a while until you get used to the way it works. You can follow other educators and groups on Twitter (I've also included some Google+ links for those who are on both sites) and search hashtags by subject without ever having to post a tweet of your own. Once you get comfortable with that, start "liking" or "retweeting" posts and you will build yourself a nice stream of information that you can easily refer back to.



Follow other educators and groups on Twitter (often also on Google+):

Carol LaRow @larowc +Carol LaRow
Alice Keeler @AliceKeeler +Alice Keeler
Matt Miller @jmattmiller +Matt Miller
Brad Currie @bradmcurrie +Brad Currie
Christine Pinto @PintoBeanz11 (also #GAfEforlittles - especially for primary education)

Google for Education  @GoogleForEdu (also #gafe) +Google for Education
GAfE Help @GafeHelp

Hashtags sort and link all of the posts that are related to the topic following the # (hashtag). Just enter the hashtag in Twitter's searchbar and check out all the recent posts. There are some pretty popular ones used in the education community and some even have specific "chat" times where people will all tweet and discuss resources at a given time (you don't have to actively tweet, just view the posts). #edtech, #edtechchat, #gafe, #gafesummit are just a few; here's a comprehensive list (start exploring by your subject/grade/content level, too!).

So jump in; what are you waiting for? The best part of a professional learning network is that you don't have to be the expert all the time (you're too busy for that, anyway!). Be a curator of good things: the tips, tricks, and new ideas you want to try in your classroom. In the back of your mind, remember that the ultimate goal with building your digital PLN is that you'll begin to pull in other educators in your school and region. Wouldn't it be great to have a North Country Google Educators Group someday??

Chromebook Hacks... a "quick-start" guide for students and teachers (and my foray into infographic creation with Canva)

As the next school year quickly approaches, I got the dreaded email requesting teachers "please return the Chromebooks you borrowed for the summer so that they can be distributed to students in September."

I knew it was coming... but it sucked the wind out of me.

I've spent the summer immersed in all-things-Chromebook; I tend to learn by experiencing and manipulating things (my science-teacher persona) and then I feel pretty competent. All of a sudden, though, I realized that without the Chromebook to use for myself during the school year, I'd revert back to doing things the Windows-way (school) and Mac-way (home).

Chromebooks are pretty simple machines. But like most teachers, I want my instruction to be poised and polished and don't really look forward to stumbling as I guide students through their own getting-to-know-you process with the new Chromebooks. To help teachers like me as well as our students, I created a "Chromebook Hacks" Infographic that can be a quick reference guide. I included those terms and processes that students are likely to hear during the course of instruction from any teacher using 1:1, focusing on the functional things that are unique to Chromebooks. Why "hacks?" Might as well play to my main audience: 5th through 9th graders who love getting sucked-in by clickbait!

The bonus is that I got a chance to experience using Canva, an online graphic design tool that I just needed a good reason to explore (more on that below).

See the clickable, full-size PDF version of my infographic here (that's what I will be sharing with colleagues and students). You can also share by Tweet, Facebook post, or link.

So what about Canva? I found it pretty intuitive to use, and simple to drag/drop/redesign text, images, and a library of free extras. The pre-made layouts are plentiful and for me were mostly useful for generating ideas and reminding me of what "works" for an infographic. In the end, I started with a blank background and built from scratch.

Would I use it with students? Not as a first-introduction to digital graphic design, but perhaps as an advanced tool. Students without more basic instruction (good practice with design using Google Drawings or Microsoft Publisher is a nice start) would get bogged-down in all the options. As students become better designers (and more accustomed to producing a visually-appealing product for an audience), I could see introducing Canva as one choice from the several good, free-to-start, online design tools (like Piktochart, Venngage, and more).

Last note... Infographics aren't designed to be the final destination for information, but are a great quick-reference guide. Be sure to supply your students with a way to access tutorials or help pages. And the next time they say, "how do I...", think about your response and whether it should simply give them the answer or lead them to figure it out on their own.

Summer Snapshots... #2 - Google Apps, Extensions and Add-ons for Chromebook Classrooms

Having a Chromebook to use in the classroom for the first time is as exciting as opening up a fresh spiral notebook or personalizing a new 3-ring binder. (I secretly think that I became a teacher so I could continue to buy new school supplies each year.) Chromebooks are intuitively simple machines - they are not loaded with "extras" that you have to spend hours exploring. Their power, then, is fully realized when you begin using the suite of Apps, Extensions and Add-ons that Google curates for all types of users. 

Sifting through the thousands of options in the Chrome Web Store can be daunting, so here's a list of the ones that I have used over the past few years that I think are worth exploring right away (note that the descriptions are, for the most part, directly from what was provided in the Web Store):

Google Chrome Apps:

Apps are web applications that run on the Google Chrome Browser. When you use a Chromebook, they appear in the "All Apps" icon when you hit the Launcher button (the little magnifying glass in the lower left corner), so they are almost like the "Programs" that you might be used to with a Windows-based system. Lots of apps are already available when you sign in to a Chromebook, especially if you are a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) school. You can pin apps to the "Shelf" (i.e. Taskbar) by right-clicking (that's done by two-finger clicking on the touchpad of the Chromebook) on the icon you want to pin. Start by pinning Google Classroom and Google Drive - you'll access them a lot.

Apps to add to your collection (via the Chrome Web Store):

Google Keep - Quickly capture what's on your mind and share those thoughts with friends and family. Speak a voice memo on the go and have it automatically transcribed. Grab a photo of a poster, receipt or document and easily organize or find it later in search.

Padlet - Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world. It works like a sheet of paper where you can put anything (images, videos, documents, text) anywhere, from any device (pcs, tablets, phones), together with anyone.

PowToon - PowToon lets you create awesome presentations and animated videos - it's like a hybrid between a slideshow and a video, with a great drag-and-drop interface. Students love creating and animating with this app; teachers love the ability to create dynamic presentations.

EDpuzzle - EDpuzzle empowers teachers to make any video your lesson. Crop a video, explain it with your own voice and embed quizzes at any time. Take any video from YouTube, Khan Academy, Learn Zillion, etc. make it perfect for your classroom and more engaging for your students. Make any video a true lesson by making it to the point, personal and effective, plus get all the data about your students so you know if they truly understand the lesson.

Pear Deck (as well as Socrative and Nearpod which have very similar features) - Interactive presentations and formative assessments to engage every student in your room, every day! Plan and build interactive presentation deck directly from your Google Drive. Launch a live, interactive session on the projector. Every Single Learner joins the live session on his or her device and participates.

Remind - Remind offers teachers a free, safe and simple way to instantly text students and parents. Teachers can send or schedule reminders, assignments, homework, assessments, or motivational messages directly to students' and parents' phones. Interactions are safe because phone numbers are kept private, and messages are sent with no open replies.

Google Chrome Extensions:

Extensions help you configure the Chrome browser itself. They can again be accessed through the Chrome Web Store, and when added will appear as small icons in the upper-right corner of the browser. Extensions are designed to modify and enhance the functionality of using Chrome. You are also likely to run across links to add extensions from websites that you frequently use (Pinterest, for example, has an extension).

Extensions to add to your collection:

Share to Classroom - Get your class on the same (web) page, instantly. Web Page Sender allows users of Google Classroom to collaborate in realtime. Teachers can "fling" or share urls with students, and students can fling urls to teachers.

Save to Google Drive - The Save to Google Drive Chrome extension helps you save web content or browser screenshots to your Google Drive.

Readability - Readability is a web and mobile app that zaps clutter and saves web articles in a comfortable reading view... provides a better way to read online, turning any web page into a comfortable reading view right in your web browser.

Google Drive Add-ons:

Add-ons are tools built by third-party developers to enhance the functionality of Google Drive tools (Docs, Sheets, Forms, etc.). Unlike apps and extensions, you don't access them through the web store. Instead, they can be searched by clicking the Add-ons menu button from whatever Google tool you are using. Choose "Get add-ons" to search for what you want to add. Each one comes with options and help instructions once they are added. If you find yourself thinking "I wish Google Docs did [insert some advanced function from Microsoft Office]..." chances are there is an add-on to help.















Easy Bib - Automatic bibliography citation generator




Sorted Paragraphs - Sort your paragraphs, lists, bibliography and individual table rows or columns in either alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order.




g(Math) - Create graphs of functions and inequalities (including plotting points and finding the line of best fit) and write complex math in the sidebar & insert it directly into your document.




MindMeister - Turn any bullet-point list into a visually appealing mind-map and insert it directly into your Google Doc.






Save as Doc (for Google Sheets) - Convert any Google Sheets spreadsheet into a Google Document for improved legibility of lengthy cell text entered manually or through a Google Form submission. Basically, this will make Google Forms submissions readable!