What to do with Those Kid's Blasted Cell Phones

This year, my school officially adopted a BYOD policy for the students.  This is a great step forward, but in a culture that sees cell phones as enemies to education it, lets say, hasn't been openly embraced.  We have gone from the days of "only drug dealers have cell phones at school" to today, when, "only the Amish don't bring their phones to school."  Unfortunately, many teachers, myself included, haven't been quick to acknowledge the fact that cell phones are really powerful educational tools.  They can be used for simple tasks like doing calculations and referencing dictionaries and thesauri, to more complicated activities like research, interactive activities, QR scavenger hunts, augmented reality, and educational games.  Now that is not to say that phones aren't still a distraction.  They are a tool, like a textbook or whiteboard, that are valuable but open to abuse (I'm thinking about the numerous sketches and terse remarks scribbled in the margins of textbooks).  Today I want to share a few cell phone centric tools that you can use in the classroom, plus a few ways to manage cell phones when not used in class.

The Tools

In an attempt to be as open as possible for everyone, I want to focus on tools that are device agnostic--that is to say they can be used on any device with an internet connection.  These first four tools would be considered Learner Response Systems (LRS). LRS are not new.  The first systems were simple remotes you gave to each student that connected to some sort of hub.  You give a question, the students answer it with their remote, and answers were tallied by the hub--Think final voting round of AFV, but for teachers.  These LRS were expensive and tied to a specific device.  The new crop of LRS are web based, free (or mostly free), and device agnostic.

Socrative

Socrative is my main tool for LRS.  It is easy to set up and allows a wide range of options for creating and administering quizzes. I use it from everything from exit tickets to complete test.  Instant results are sent without running to the workroom to run scantrons. Plus, it is harder for students to cheat because it can randomize question and answer choices.  I also like that I can download and print nicely formatted copies of the test for those that don't have access to a device.  Below is a rather exhaustive video of the features of Socrative.  

Kahoot

When I want something more competitive and/or fun I opt for Kahoot.  Kahoot is the same idea as Socrative (a LRS utilizing cell phones) but throughs in a competitive aspect that makes the process more fun for the kids.  Students compete against each other for points, and the addition of music and videos (and sometimes music videos) adds an exciting dynamic.  The downside to Kahoot is that you are limited to the length of questions, number of answer choices, and there isn't a way to create a quick question.  Take a look at the video below for a rundown of how to use Kahoot.

ExitTicket

ExitTicket is a new app for me.  It does many of the same things as Socrative and Kahoot, but allows you to track student's progress in more detail and over time.  That alone makes it a valuable resource.  The short video below gives you an introduction to the app or you can check out their videos at exitticket.org.

Plickers

Sometimes you end up being the only one with a device, or you want something more kinesthetic.  Plickers is the LRS app that can deliver in both of those situations.  Instead of each student having the device, you as the teacher, have the device, and the students have printed individualized QR codes.  I haven't had a chance yet to try it out in class, but I can see it as fun alternative to the typical LRS.  Below is an introductory video for Plickers.

The Other Tools

Google Forms, when combined with Flubaroo, is another great alternative for giving assessments. It is in no way a LRS, or entertaining, but it gets the job done in a straight-forward and painless way.  To get started, create a quiz in Google Form.  Next, share the link (not the form itself) with your students using a URL shortener like Tinyurl or Bitly.  Once the students have taken the assessment open up the response spreadsheet, add the Flubaroo Add-on, and grade away.  The directional video below should get you started.

I have never used these two systems, and honestly, don't know much about them, but I have heard quite a bit of chatter about both lately, so I thought I would add them in.

• Poll Everywhere
• Infuse Learning

Classroom Management When Not Using the Device

I'm not going to insult you with statements regarding 'the key to keeping kids off their phones keeps the kids authentically engaged with innovative'.. and yada-yada-yada.  We all know and do that, and yet still have kids who use their phones when they shouldn't . Seeing this, we would like to throw the phones against a wall (or maybe that's just me at times).  So what do we do then?  Below are some ideas, simple ideas I might add, that teachers are using to control phones when not in use.

• Charging Stations- One thing that I know for sure that entice kids to willingly give up their devices is free charging.  A few powerstrips or an expensive charging station will give the kids a reason to put their phones down and keep the out of reach when not needed.  
• Shoe hangers-This one can be controversial in the terms that you may not feel comfortable having students put their phones in "your possession" in a shoe hanger, but it keeps it out of their reach.  
• Tupperware- Place small "phone size" tupperware (preferably disposable) on each student desk.  It is helpful to attach the containers to the desk using double-sided tape or velcro.  At the beginning of class the kids put their phones in the container and seal the lid.  They cannot break the seal on the lid without effort and noise, thus keeping the device out of reach.
• Facedown method- This one is super simple and doesn't require you to purchase anything.  When the student sits down they are to place their phone face down on the corner of their desk.  If they touch it, you take it.  For groups, have them stack the phones, one on top of the other, in the center of the group.

If you have other ideas, please leave them in the comment section below.

It's been fun.  Until next time, peace.

-Cody

If I Could Only Say 15 Things About Google Chrome

I grew up using Internet Explorer because.  When I started using Macs I switched to Safari, and I have to admit up to that point--which was not that long ago-- I believed web browsers were just a piece of software that let you look at things on the internet.  It wasn't until I started using Chrome a couple of years ago that I realized just how useful a browser could be.  There is a plethora of browsers available.  IE, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, but Chrome has proven to be the more robust, quicker, and more secure than the other offerings out there.  There are people that have written articles and blog posts on all the little (and big) tips and tricks of Chrome.  Instead, I would like to opine 15 reasons why I love Chrome.

15.  It is Fast

The title for fastest browser rotates between the major browsers, but Chrome spends more time at the top of the speed charts than the other browsers.

14. Chrome Profiles

As far as I know this a feature unique to Chrome.  You can create multiple profiles within Chrome.  This allows multiple users of the same computer to have a unique browser experience by allowing each user profile to have unique extensions, apps, history, bookmarks ,and settings.  You create a new profile in the settings menu.

13. Apps

This is Chrome's unique take on shortcuts.  Websites are repackaged and curated in the Chrome Web Store.  Once an app is added to your Chrome profile you can access the apps from the app shortcut in the bookmark bar or from a third party extension like Blackmenu.  You can find a list of my favorite educational apps here.

12. Incognito Window

Private browsing is nothing new, but I love Chrome's version of the private browser because it is quick to implement and quick to disable.  Simply open an Incognito window, accomplish what you need to accomplish, and close the window.  All browser history, cookies, applets, and whatnot are deleted when the browser is closed.

11. Shortcuts

Shortcuts can be created with any browser but when shortcuts are created with Chrome they take on the personality of an application.  Shortcuts lose the Omnibox, tabs, and extension/bookmark bars, leaving instead a nice, clean window.  It is a small but nice touch.  Create shortcut by navigating to the page you want to create a shortcut for then go to settings>tools>create desktop shortcut.

10. The Omnibox

The Omnibox is what Google calls Chrome's unified URL and search bar.  You can of course search and type in addresses, but its functionality goes well beyond that.  For example, you can type in simple math equations and get an instant answer.  You can also search your Gmail, calendar, and Drive accounts, as well as look up movie times and flights.  Check out this blog for a more robust list of Omnibox tricks.

9. Quick History List

View a history of sites you have visited on a particular tab by clicking and holding the back arrow.  This is a super quick way of searching your recent history without opening the history tab in settings.

8. Manipulating Tabs and Windows

You can do all kinds of crazy things with the tabs and windows in Chrome.  By clicking and drag a tab you can rearrange the order of tabs or drag the tab down to a new window.  You can drag multiple tabs together by holding shift and selecting the tabs you want to move.  Again they can be rearranged as a group or moved together into a new window.  You can combine windows by dragging the tabs from one window next to the tabs of another window.  I find this helpful to organize projects I'm working on, to minimize the number of open tabs, and to prevent myself from accidentally closing tabs I need open.

7. Startup Modes

Chrome allows the user to specify what it does when you open the browser.  You are given three options:  open a new tab, pick up where you left off, or open a specific page or set of pages.  This is great if you always open the same few pages every day or, like me, want to pick up right where I left off the day before.  To access this setting go the setting menu, select Settings>Show advanced settings>On startup.

6. The Tab Options

Right clicking on a tab brings up all kinds of useful options like opening a new tab, reloading the current tab, duplicating a tab, reopen an recently closed tab, and my favorites: close tabs, bookmark all tabs into a folder, and pin the tab.  The tab menu give you three options for closing tabs.  You can close the selected tab, close every tab but select tab, or close every tab to the right of the current tab.  If you are working on a project that includes several tabs that you will need access to again later, you can bookmark the entire set of tabs into a bookmark folder with one action by right clicking on any tab and selecting bookmark all tabs.  The most used feature from the tab menu actually gets its own spot on the list.  It is...

5. Pinned Tabs

Pinned tabs are a unique set of tabs that have a couple of special features.  Pinned tabs, when pinned, will move to the the far left of the tab bar, shrink in size, and will not close while pinned.  I use this to keep my most important or most often used tabs open and safe from accidental closing.  To pin a tab right click on the tab and select Pin tab.

4. Bookmarks

Bookmarking or favoriting functionality is a stalwart of web browsers and has been for over a decade, but I like Chrome's bookmarking feature because of its ease, customization, and cross device accessibility.  Creating a bookmark in Chrome is as easy as clicking the star in the right of the Omnibox, naming the bookmark, and saving.  I can then customize the bookmarks by sorting them into folders, or making them a simple icon by deleting the text and leaving just the favicon.  Plus you can access your Chrome bookmarks from any device in which you have Chrome installed.  I can access bookmarks created on my desktop from my iPad or iPhone and vice versa.

3. History

For better or worse Google keeps track of everything we do.  The better part of that is that they keep the browser history of all your devices for as long as you will allow them.  By going to the settings menu and opening the history window you can see the browser history for every device you have signed into.  This is great for when you find a great website at home but need it at school the next day.

2. Recovering Recently Closed Tabs

Also, because Google keeps track of your browsing history you can recover Chrome tabs you closed and later realized you need to reopen.  Again this is not isolated to just the computer you are currently on.  You can open recently closed tabs from any device you have logged into.  To access this feature go to the setting menu and select Recent Tabs.

1. Extension

And finally, the driving force behind my love affair with Chrome.  Extensions are the rocket fuel and street mods (I know that is a conglomeration of two different metaphors) of the beast that is Chrome.  They allow for the functionality of Chrome to extend well beyond the confines of its programming.  I have another blog post that goes more in depth in regards to extensions, but I do want to highlight my favorites.

• Blackmenu - the one stop quick access menu for all things Google.
• Clipular - Screenshot extraordinaire.
• Checker Plus for Gmail - Quick access to Gmail that is almost as robust as the Google service itself.
• Save to Google Drive - The quickest way to save things you find on the web to Drive.
• Goo.gl URL Shortner - Create short URLs and QR codes with a single click of a button.
• LastPass - The award-winning champion of password keepers.
• AdBlocker Plus - Blocks almost all of the annoying ads you find on websites.
• Turn Off the Light - A great way to block unwanted content on Youtube.
• Read&Write for Google - This has been a life saver when it comes to reading accommodations for students.
• Clearly - Great for quickly preparing something to print without the annoying pictures, links, and advertisements, or just a way to read something in a less distracting format.

So there you have it.  Fifteen reasons why I love Chrome.  That multi-colored, ball shaped hole in my heart has been filled.  May you find some joy in Chrome yourself.

Alright, so I can't help myself; one more thing I love about Chrome:  the experiments.  By typing chrome://flags you can access all the experimental things that Google is baking up in Chrome before it is officially released.  Some of the experiments "may bite" as the warning says but many are well worth the danger of being a first adopter.  

I'm seriously done this time,

Cody

Using Google Drive in the Classroom: A Primer

Hello again.  This is part two of a series of blog posts about using Google Drive.  In my previous post, which you can find here, I showed you (with the help of YouTube) how to set up and navigate Drive as well as a few ways to make Drive useful for teachers.  Now I want to build upon that new found wisdom with some ways to utilize Drive in the classroom.  Enough rambling, let us get started.

Google Classroom

Classroom is the new kid on the block, literally.  It was made public to the educational world in August and Google hasn't even finished updating their training site with tutorials for Classroom.  I typically only like to share classroom tested tools, but Classroom is shaping up to be such a useful tool that I am going to spend some time talking about it.  Classroom is a free class management tool that is tightly integrated with Google's Drive and Gmail applications.  With Classroom you can quickly set up and enroll each class period as an individual unit.  When I say quickly I mean 3-4 minutes.  Once set up it creates folders in your Drive for each class in which each assignment is nested.  You create the assignment and give it a due date.  Classroom will notify the students.  You can then track their progress, grade the assignment, and communicate with your students all from within classroom.  Check out this short video on classroom to get an idea of how it could work for you.

Google Doc Tools and Add-ons

Google Doc is a great tool for classroom use even if it is only used as a word processor because it is free and allows students to easily share items with you and with each other, but there is so much more that it can do with Doc's tools and add-ons.  I want to share just a few that I have used in the classroom. 

The Comment Tool

The comment tool allows you or a student to add comments to a document without making changes to the document itself.  To insert a comment you simply highlight the text you want to comment on (or place the cursor before the first word) and press the comment button in the toolbar at the top of the page.   (Its the button on the right in that picture.)  Simply type in your comment and press "comment".  Comments will show up on the right side of the screen with your name and a time stamp.  People can come back and dismiss the comment by pressing "resolve", edit the comment, or comment on the comment.  

There are a few things I like to do with the comment tool.

1. The obvious is comment on student's work.  There are other tools I like better (and will share with you) but this comes in handy when I want to make a quick comment.
2. I take a reading for the students and get it into a Doc.  There are several ways of doing this but I don't really have the space to explain.  I then use the comment tool to add questions at specific points in the reading.  Next, I share the document using Classroom or the share feature in Docs so that each student has their own copy and can only comment.  Then I have the students answer the questions in the comment section.  Their answers will show up on my document as responses to my comment so that I can check that they completed the questions. 
3. I use it for revision practice.  I share a student produced essay (with identifying information removed of course) and comment with questions about what I want them to focus on in that essay.  If it is a well written example I will point out what was done well.  If it is a poorly written example I will point out what should be improved.  I typically comment with questions like "What was effective about this sentence?" or "What could be changed about the organization of the this paragraph to make it more effective?"
4. It is a great way to let peers edit each others work.  If you have them work in a group it can be even better because each student would get input from several students.

Suggesting Mode

In the upper right corner of the Docs you will see a button labeled "Editing".  If you click on that you can change the mode to "Suggesting" mode and it will turn all changes made to a document into comments.  This again is a great revising tool for students to use on each other assignments when doing peer editing, or for you as a teacher when working with a student.  I wouldn't recommend using it with every student on every paper, but it is perfect for tutoring sessions.

Research Tool

Students can do all their research for an assignment from within Google Docs.  All they have to do is highlight text they want to research and go to tools>research. A window will appear on the right that will allow them to research and cite information about the highlighted text.  They can do the same thing without highlighting text by simply navigating to tools>research and inputting a query into the search bar.  

Revision History

Revision history allows you to go back and see all changes made by every user of a document.  This is helpful in the case where a student or you makes unwanted changes to document because you can revert back to an earlier version at any time.  You can all use revision history to see how much work a student put into an assignment, and in the case of group work, who did the work and at what time.  To get to revision history navigate to File>See Revision History.

Add-ons

Add-ons add functionality to the base Docs application much in the same way that extensions add functionality to Chrome.  You add Add-ons by navigating to Add-ons>Get Add-ons from the menu bar in Docs.  From their you can look through the different types of Add-ons available.  My favorites are:

• Kaizena Shortcut which allows me to make voice comments on a document.  This is great for commenting on student work.  If you have several papers to comment on I would recommend using their site, Kaizena.com.
• DocumentMerge by PandaDoc allows you to merge data from a Sheet into a Doc.  This is great for filling out form letters, SSTs, attendance changes, etc.
• Texthelp Study Skills is great for annotating Docs.
• Thesaurus is obviously a helpful tool.
• Translate will translate any or all of the text in your Doc.  Docs does have native support to translate an entire document, but this Add-on lets you translate highlighted sections as well as the entire document.

Google Sheets Tools and Add-ons

The latest iteration of Sheets adds a lot of functionality that was previously only available with Excel. It isn't an Excel replacement yet, but you can utilize more elaborate formulas and create multiple types of charts.  Here are some of the tools and Add-ons that I like to utilize in the classroom.

Conditional Formatting

I am not much of a numbers guy anymore.  That seems a little strange considering I started college as a computer science major.  I guess too many years teaching English does that to you.  Well conditional formatting allows me to preset parameters for color coding cells.  I like to use it to color code data from unit assessment and other tests, but it can also be used to grade assignments submitted via a Form.  This video shows you the basics on how to use conditional formatting.

Charts

Google Sheets has a robust set of charts that you can customize with any data housed in a sheet.  You can use this to have your students chart trends in math, demographics in history, reactions over time in chemistry, trajectory in physics, etc.  Check out this article for a quick guide to creating charts.

Add-ons

The Add-ons for Google Sheets are what I really like.  Here are the ones that I use.

• Doctopus- Before Google Classroom I used Doctopus to send assignments to students and manage them once they are assigned.  I would use Classroom if you have the ability to, but if not Doctopus is a great alternative.
• Flubaroo- Flubaroo is an easy to use grading tool.  It can take any data in a spreadsheet and grade it.  When used in combination with a Form it can take the place of using scantrons for instant grading.
• Template Gallery- This is exactly what it sounds like.  It provides pre-made templates so that I don't have to spend hours making that calendar that I keep getting asked about.
• Schedule Generator- I use this personally but I am about to roll it out to my AP students in a few weeks.  Schedule Generator creates Gantter charts from set data in your spreadsheet.  You set up the project items, who is to complete what items, and start and end dates; the Add-on does the rest.
• Workflows- This is another Add-on I use personally but want to start utilizing in class.  You create a series of tasks and assign a contact person for those tasks.  I see this as a great way to have students submit research topics and the like.

Google Forms

Forms are useful for all kinds of tasks in a school.  From simple surveys, to complicated exams, and even rubrics, Forms make it easy to do all kinds of tasks.  Here is just a sampling of the things I have used Google Forms to accomplish:

• Workshop Registration
• Essay Rubrics
• Attendance Changes
• Discipline Referrals
• Multiple Choice and Short Answer Tests

Forms is an all around powerful tool.  Most people can get in and create a form since it is rather intuitive to use, but there are some functions that you may not know about.  Here are some of the hidden gems of Google Forms.

Summary of Responses

The Summary of Responses (found by navigating to Responses>Summary of responses) give you an instant visual representation of the data collected by the form.

Pre-Filled Forms

Sometimes you may have to fill out a form over and over again with only minor changes to the form each time, or you may not trust someone to fill out the form as you would like.  Google Forms lets you pre-fill sections of the form and then send out a custom URL to that particular person.  In the former case you can fill out the information you want to stay constant then get the pre-fill URL by navigating to Responses>Get pre-filled URL.  Now all you have to complete is the minute amount of information that changes.  In the latter you can complete the items you don't want them to screw up and then send the person the pre-filled URL thus eliminating their mistakes.

Script Editor

Now this feature is not for the faint of heart.  You can add custom scripts to a Form to make it do all kinds of cool useful things.  For example, as part of a recent workshop registration form I sent out, I created a custom script that counted the number of people registering for a session.  At a preset number that session would close and the option would be removed from the registration form.  I said early that scripts are not for the faint of heart and what I mean by that is they require you to code.  If you don't know how to code or are not patient/brave enough to learn as you go, this feature is not real helpful to you.

Google Slides

Google Slides is a very useful alternative to PowerPoint and Keynote.  It works much the same way as both of those products but with the added benefit of real time collaboration. One feature that I really like about slides is how easily you can add videos and images from the web to a Slide presentation.  The animation pane makes it a very quick process to add animation, and you can steal themes from any PowerPoint you have saved to Drive.

The following video show what you can do with a couple of friends and Google Slides.

 Enough said.

The Stragglers

There are several other apps that work closely with Drive and are worth mentioning here but won't get much air time here because I talk about them in another blog post.  I just give you the links and let you discover for yourself.

• MindMeister
• Blendspace
• Wevideo
• Powtoon
• Hangouts
• Socrative

That is it folks.  Let me know if you found this helpful.  

Cody

The Basics of Google Drive

I'm now about a month into the school year and about six weeks into the blogging life.  I'm not sure which is more difficult, wrangling classrooms full of unruly teenagers or attempting to write blog posts late at night after wrangling all day with said teenagers.  Either way I will press on with both.  This blogging go around (I'm not sure that last phrase was grammatically correct) I want to attempt the first of a two part post on Google Drive.  In Part One I will cover the basics (i.e. how to navigate the interface, add/organize files, and create and share Doc/Sheets/Slides).  Part Two will cover more advanced features and how to use Google Drive in the classroom.

The best way, in my humble opinion, to show you the features of Google Drive is to actually show you, so I have several videos and a couple of documents that will walk you through the paces of Google Drive.

Getting up and Running

Many of you have files and folders saved on flash drives and local drives on your main workstation.  It is beneficial to have these files in your Drive account so that you can access and edit them anywhere.  This blog post should help you with this (and yes this is a shameless plug for my own blog).

While you are waiting for your files to upload you can enjoy this music video from my cousin Andi's band The Show Ponies. She's the red head.

Now that is done we can move on to how to navigate and use Drive. This first video is about 18 minutes long but does a great job of introducing you to all the basic functions of Drive.  It uses the older version of Drive, so if, or when, you begin using the new version of Drive you will notice a slight difference in layout and naming of features.

Once you have started to create files and add files to Drive you will need to organize them.  The following video is a quick tutorial on how to create folders and organize files.

Now that your files are uploaded and organized it is time to collaborate.  The following video shows you how to share and collaborate with Google Drive.

This article is Google’s catch all, and be all, of Drive information.  I cannot more highly recommend this resource. You need to take a look at all the resources available on this site.

Seeing it in Action

Being a teacher I am always trying to find new ways to teach my kids and new tools to make my life easier. Lets be honest, teachers love it when we can make life easier while giving kids a stellar education. Lets be even more honest, not much about the educational machine is meant to be easy. Now that I have said that, I want to talk briefly about how Drive has made life easier for me.  

First, I utilize Google Docs in my professional learning communities.  I have, including myself, five people on my team and it can be difficult to coordinate all of us.  To help with this we use a common Google Doc that we can all use in real time to create and share notes and planning ideas.  We can then go back at any point and reference what we talked about in our meetings.  We use a shared Google Calendar to keep ourselves organized.  We can create, edit, and chat about upcoming lessons.  We also create the calendar in a Google Sheet so that we can share the document with parents that want to know what is going on in the classroom.

(I also used "we" to start four consecutive sentences.  I would typically discourage my students from this.  I might change it later if I'm up to it... Crap!  I did it again.)

Another useful tool for me in the classroom is the marriage that is Google Forms and Google Sheets.  I create Google Forms for students to fill out so that I can get contact information.  I create Google Forms to create exit tickets.  I create Google Forms to pool interest in a topic or to schedule events. (I did it on purpose this time.)  The great thing about Forms is that the data automatically populates a Google Sheet so that I can manipulate and analyze the data.

That is about all I have to say in this post.  There will be a follow up post that will focus on more advanced features of Drive.  But before I leave you I would like to give you a few reasons to switch the the new Google Drive.  The Drive allows you to edit Office files without Office, share documents in a more streamlined manner, and so much more.  Google Drive’s blog has a comprehensive article on the changes to Drive. It is worth the read.

Thanks for taking the time to check this post out.

Cody

P.S. Let me know if these posts are of any benefit to y'all and what I could talk about next.

Making Sense of Gmail

Trying to write a blog post about Gmail is actually harder than it turns out--who knew!  Gmail does so many things that I could never adequately explain the service in a single blog post, and there are already thousands of other sites, blogs, and tutorials floating in the either of the internet.  To try to do what so many others have done would be to reinvent the wheel, but instead of a fluid and useful tool, mine would look like a disproportionate pentagon that was neither comfortable or useful for anyone.  So I decided to delete everything that I had drafted and do something different with my Gmail post.  I want to collect a few great resources for those trying to find answers on how to use Gmail (and all of its extra features) to the best of its abilities.

Google's Own Resources

Google has a really comprehensive web-based class for all of its products.  They are free to access and will systematically walk you through all they have to offer in their core apps.  I have included for you here links to their three part lessons on Gmail

Gmail Level 1:  The Basics

Gmail Level 2:  Classroom Application

Gmail Level 3:  Advanced Gmail

The Blogs

I know it is hard to believe, but my blog is not the only technology blog out there for teachers.  Mine is, however, the best technology blog for teachers out there wearing a beard and glasses.  Here are some worth checking out.

Gmail's Official Blog

Gmail Plugins

The News Articles

A quick Google search for Gmail tips and tricks will reward you with a little over 15 million responses, but these two will cover just about all the tricks you would ever care to know.

9 Gmail Basics

30 More Advanced Gmail Tricks

The Videos

I don't want to leave out the strictly visual learners so I have included a few videos that have much the same information as the other links I have provided.

The Ultimate Guide (of so they say)

Gmail Tips and Tricks

The Gmail How-to Video to Watch When you Have an Hour to Burn

Well, compared to my other posts that have embedded videos or pictures, this post looks kind of boring.  So to spice it up here is a picture of a man dressed as a rooster.

And a video of a teenage boy that can't handle laughing gas.

Hope you found this post both helpful and enjoyable.

Cody

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

I had a moment of realization yesterday, which is rare (the realization not the day).  I have written a few posts about Chrome extensions and apps but I never explained how to get said extensions and apps.  That is a bit of a silly oversight on my part.  I aim to correct that now.

Heady Academic Stuff:

• Extensions are bits of computer code added to the Chrome browser to add to the functionality of the browser.  It is like supping up your car, or upgrading the appliances in the kitchen.  Chrome will work well without extensions, but extensions make it awesomer (technically that isn't a word but you get what I am saying).
• Apps are essentially shortcuts to websites.  They may be customized by the developer to work seamlessly with Chrome and Google Drive, or they might just be shortcuts.  Either way they are a great way of keeping close access to websites that are useful to you.

Now, before I get too far into this I would be remiss to not tell you that installing extensions and apps is slightly different on a Chromebook vs a Chrome browser.  You need to access the store no matter what, but those two platforms access the store differently.  The Chromebook has a Store app located in the app tray (those nine dots in the lower left corner of the screen).  It should be the second icon you see.  The Chrome browser is different.  You will see the same app tray, or nine dots, in the upper right corner of any Google page or you can go to this site: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/

From there you can begin searching for extensions and apps.

Extensions

Now that you are to the Chrome store you can start looking for things to add.  Lets start with extensions.  On the left side of the Chrome store is the search field that you can use to find extensions by searching for either a name or what you want it to do.  For example, I want to be able to do a Google search just using my voice (using your fingers to type is just too much work).  I would just type "voice search" in the search field.  This brings up both apps and extensions that meet the search criteria.  I can limit that search by selecting from the the options beneath.  Once you find the extension you want click FREE to add it to your Chrome browser.

My new extension is the microphone on the left.

Extension will appear as icons next to, and in some case in, the URL bar.  To use the extension you will click on it, verify information (you only have to do it once), and then you are off.  Right clicking on an extension will give you access to adjust setting and delete the extension.  If you don't know where to start with extensions you can take a look at my favorites here.

Apps

The process for finding and installing apps is the same as extensions, but they are housed in a different location.  On a Chromebook apps are housed in the app tray.  It is a little more cumbersome to access apps from a Chrome browser.  You can access them by typing "chrome://apps" into the URL bar or by clicking the "Apps" shortcut in the bookmark bar (if you have that enabled).  The first thing I would do after installing an app is installing the extension "Blackmenu" to make it easier to get to your apps in a Chrome browser.  I have several more apps to add to my list but what I have so far should get you started.  You can get that list here.

Let me know what is your favorite app or extension.

Cody

So I got a Chromebook...

...and now it is time to do some damage--or not.  My school just issued Chromebooks to all of its teachers.  I have excitedly waited for this over the past few months because, despite the naysayers, it is a surprisingly functional tool. I will most likely churn out several Chromebook specific posts, but I decided to only include three features in this post.  Google Cloud Print, Chrome Remote Desktop, and the "Keyboard Shortcut App" (It doesn't have an official name).  These three stood out to me as immediately usable as I began familiarizing myself with the device and making it my own. Hopefully, they are as useful for you as they have proven to be for me.

Google Cloud Print

So, Google Cloud Print. The name sort of explains everything.  It allows you to print wirelessly using Google's services.   It is a feature universal to all Google products.  You can use Google Cloud Print (GCP) with an GCP enabled printer or any printer connected to a computer with a Chrome browser.  What makes this so vital is that you can't directly connect a printer to a Chromebook.  Connecting to a GCP equipped printer is as easy as opening a print dialogue (ctrl+p) in any chrome window or tab, selecting the printer, and clicking print.  Unfortunately, my school doesn't have GCP equipped printers.  Fortunately, like I said early, you can connect to any printer using GCP as long as you have a computer connected to it that has Chrome--one more reason why you should make the switch to Chrome if you haven't already.  

To set up GCP at my school I did the following (it should be the same for anyone):
1. Open Chrome on your desktop (this is the computer connected to the printer)
2. From the Menu  (it looks like this )  select Settings, which will open a new tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the window and select show advanced settings.
4. Find the Google Cloud Print section (third from the bottom) and select "Manage".












4.This will open up a new tab with the printer management dialogue.  It looks something like this:

5. Select "Add printers".  This will bring up a menu where you can select the printers connected to your computer.  (If your school uses network printers like mine, you will need to make sure they are installed on your desktop first.)  The dialogue should look like this:

6. Select the printers you want to add, press  "Add printer(s)", and follow any other directions that follow.

Once this is done you can print from your Chromebook anytime you want as long as the printer and connected computer are on and awake.

You can also share printers with other users so you can stay logged into Chrome with your personal account on your home computer and still print from your Chromebook at home.  Navigate to this tutorial for instructions.

Chrome Remote Desktop

There are all kinds of screen sharing applications out there.  Some work better than others, but most require a purchase of some sort in order to get full functionality.  Chrome Remote Desktop (CRD) only requires two computers using Chrome and an internet connections and you can remotely control your desktop from your Chromebook.  You may ask why would you ever need to remotely access your desktop.  Let me propose some reasons.  Let me pose a few reasons.  A main complaint about Chromebooks is their lack of functionality, but you have the full functionality of your desktop when you remote in from your Chromebook.  Maybe you saved something to your desktop instead of Drive.  Remote in and you have access to all the files on your desktop.  I have used it to update a Photoshop document on my iMac at home and a Excel spreadsheet saved on my desktop in my classroom, all while sitting in the teacher workroom waiting on copies.  Now tell me that is not both cool and useful rolled into one ball of awesomeness.  The process of setting everything up is a little involved (though easily accomplished even by novices), so I am just going to direct you to Google's directions.  

Keyboard Shortcut "App"

The keyboard shortcut "app" allows you to see what actions can be completed

with just a key combination.

Alright, so there isn't an official name for this and I'm not sure that it is an app, but it works extremely well and is easy to use.  This thingy-wopper brings up a visual, and interactive, layout of your Chromebook's keyboard and allows you to see all the keyboard shortcuts your Chromebook can preform.  There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts, and they make it so that you rarely have to take your hands off the keyboard to navigate the computer.  You may not think much of it--lots of devices have lists of keyboard shortcuts--but this is the first I've seen that is both easily accessible and navigateable.   To begin press ctrl+alt+/.  It will bring up the "app".  From there follow the instructions.  When you are ready to exit the interface you press ctrl+alt+/ again.  You can access this feature from anyplace in your Chromebook.
















As an added bonus I have included some links to helpful Chromebook tips, but you should also check out the "Get Help" app on your Chromebook.

Chromebook tips and tricks
Chrome tips and tricks
And some more tips and tricks
Keyboard shortcuts in a list form

Let me know what you think,

Cody

My Most Asked Question about Google Drive

As of last year my school had local network storage for all of the teachers and students.  It was nice in the sense that we could access our h drive (as it is called) from anywhere on campus.  When we made the switch to GAFE and gained access to Google Drive we were able access our files anywhere.  The problem now became getting all those years of collected files from our h drive to Drive.  It was/is such a common predicament that it has become the most common question I get asked around the school--other than does your beard bother you.

This led me to writing this blog post.  I'm going to attempt to explain how you can transfer all of your files from your computer (whether it be h drive, my documents, or any other location) to your Drive account.

Prepping Your Files to Transfer

So first things first, you need to prep your files for transfer.  If you are like me you have files tucked within folders which are tucked within folders, and they are in turn tucked in more folders.  You also probably don't want to recreate all of that organization.  Thankfully, there is an easy way to accomplish this:

1. Create a new folder in a location you can find (like the desktop) and name it something you will remember.  In most cases you can right click and select "create new folder".  Once everything is said and done you will delete this folder.

2. Copy and paste all the files/folders you want to move to this newly created folder.  The easiest way is to select the first item you want to move (it could be a file or a folder) and then hold down shift and select the last item.

Moving the Files

For the next step you will need Chrome.  When you upload the files you have a couple of options on how the files will look when they get to Drive.  Option one:  you can leave the files as they are; the file format will not change. For example, Word documents will be uploaded as Word documents.   The downside is they are more cumbersome to edit, collaborate, and access offline.  Option two:  you can convert all of your Office documents to Google documents.  The benefit is easier editing, collaboration, and offline access.  You can even download Google Documents as Office documents.  (Do I sound a little biased?)  To enable Drive to convert your files you need to enable it by:

 Selecting the gear icon in the upper right corner>upload settings>Convert uploaded files to Google Docs format.  (See below)

Now that we have that out of the way we can upload the files.

1. Open a Chrome browser tab and access your Drive.
2. Press the upload button to the right of the red "Create" button and select "Folder" from the menu.  (See picture below.)

3. Another menu will come up and from there you will select the folder that you created earlier. Press "Upload" and a new window will open showing the progress of your upload.  I will warn you that you if you have a lot of files to upload it will take time so start the upload in the morning.

Unpacking

Now that you have all your files on Google Drive it is time to unpack.

1. Open your newly uploaded folder and click on the check box next to "TITLE".  This will select all the items in the folder.



2. Next, select the "Move to" icon (it is a gray folder) and select "My Drive" from the menu that appears.  Click done and you are unpacked.



3.  Now you can go back to the original folder you uploaded and delete it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the easiest way to upload all your files from your computer to Drive while still keeping everything organized.

I hope you enjoyed, or at least learned something.

Cody

Websites for the Classroom

This will be the most ambitious post of this nascent blog.  You might say a little prayer that you and I can get through this.  What I will attempt to do is give you a synopsis of all the websites, excluding the obvious ones like YouTube, I use with my classes.  I also tried to stay away from websites that are purely ELA related like OWL at Purdue.

Good luck, may the odds ever be in your favor, may the force be with you, God speed, etc.

1. Storybird 

I thought I would get the most limited in terms of cross curricular out of the way first.  Storybird is an awesome site for anyone that does any type of creative writing or prompt writing.  Students create short stories, poems, children's books, and novels using high quality art as their inspiration.  Students can collaborate and share their stories before publishing them.  There is even an option to create printed versions of the student's work to use as fundraisers.

2. Kaizena  

Kaizena, as strange as the name sounds, is a highly usable website for teachers.  The premise is simple.  The students complete an assignment and submit it to Kaizena and you make verbal annotations to the assignment.  It is then sent back to the students.  What I love about it, other than being able to record my comments, is that it is tightly integrated into Google Docs.

3. Tinyurl 

The next two are URL shorteners.  I am including both because there are pluses and minuses to each website.  First, Tinyurl is the more spartan of the two.  You can shorten the URL and create a custom link if you so wish.  The main benefit, as I see it, to Tinyurl is that the links are not Google indexed so you don't have to worry about student's work floating off into the either for others to steal or risk FERPA violations.

4. goo.gl 

Second, we have goo.gl (I'm not sure if that should be capitalized).  As you can probably discern goo.gl is a part of the Google ecosystem of services.  It has some nifty features such as automatic QR codes and all goo.gl URLs are saved for later use.  The downside is they are Google indexed by default so I wouldn't use it to share sensitive information without ensuring that those who find it on the web can't access it without your permission.

5. Diigo 

Diigo is a website annotation tool with an accompanying Chrome extension.  It is great for research of any type.  

6. Evernote 

I was introduced to Evernote roughly five years ago and I thought it was a niche product at first.  Even so I thought I would give it a try.  I found that it is anything but niche.  Besides its excellent notetaking and journaling tools, it is useful for creating simple ad hoc websites and presentations, collaborating with peers, and storing/archiving everything from recipes and lesson plans to worksheets and certificates.  

7. Blendspace 

I cover Blendspace in a little more detail in another blog post but I want to mention it here again.  Blendspace is the ultimate web based presentation tool.  You may even find yourself spending less time with Keynote and PowerPoint.

8. Twitter 

You may not think of Twitter as a tool for education but it is quickly becoming a preferred way to get ideas and help from colleagues across the globe.  You should check it out.  You can check out this link if you are not sure who to start following. Another thing to think about is that you don't need a Twitter account to view tweets.  Its like a henna tatoo:  all the cool without the commitment.

9. Edmodo 

Let's just say that Edmodo is the "social media" tool for the classroom.  I use "social media" loosely because it is more of a digital classroom and less of a social network, yet it still has the feel of Facebook.  You can run your entire class online with Edmodo.  I do not have enough room here (not to mention my hands are starting to cramp up from all the typing) to sing praises to Edmodo so go to their website to get more information.

10. HaikuDeck 

HaikuDeck is a simple presentation site that is easy for kids to use and create beautiful presentations.  It is not as fanciful, or complicated, as Prezi or as all inclusive as Blendspace, but it is great for students to use for presentations.

11. Picktochart 

I have to fess up here.  I have never used Picktochart, but I want to.  It is a site that easily allows you to create infographics.  It is great for review and whatnot.

12. Pixiclip 

Pixiclip is an online whiteboard.  If you don't know what that is imagine this, you can record your lesson with everything you would write on a board as a video and send that to students to watch as homework.  You can even send it to absent students or the ones who through a series of poor choices landed them in ISS.  Pixiclip is the first of a few of these I have used, but be warned it is still in beta.

13. Remind 

Remind (formally Remind 101) is by far the best way to communicate with students and parents.  It allows you to send reminders and messages to groups or individuals in a safe and confidential manner.

14. Showme 

Showme is another online whiteboard.  Showme is a weird beast.  Some content is only available on their site while the actual whiteboard content is created with a free iPad app.  That is a huge negative for those that are iPadless, but there are plenty of useful lessons on their site.

15. Ustream 

I don't often pretend to be an online television start, but when I do I use Ustream.  Ustream is a free service that allows you to record and stream, live might I add, yourself or others via the internet and a webcam/mic combination.  You can even record your stream for others to watch later.  It is a great resource for teaching when you or your students will not be in the room.  I will warn you that the free accounts are ad supported so you need to beware of what ads may pop up as you are streaming.

16. Mixlr 

Mixlr is to audio what Ustream is to video.  Mixlr is the easiest way I have found to record and stream a podcast for students to listen to.  It is a great study tool for students because you keep a library of short lessons and reminders for students to refer back to regularly.  You do have to download an app to your iOS device or computer to start broadcast but it is a painless operation.

17. Screenleap 

Screenleap is the only screen sharing app to make it on my list this time around.  The idea is quite simple.  You download the application to your computer and then share the screen code with whomever you want to see your screen.  They go to the link you give them and they are in essence seeing a "real time" video of your screen.  Now I am using the term "real time" loosely because the stream will have a bit of lag to it, but it does have some value none-the-less.

18.TED 

The next two are companion sites TED and TED-Ed.  You have probably heard of TED Talks before; you know the short inspirational talkie-talks of the learned and wealthy.  Some of the videos are great for discussion and sparking interest, and others are best left unseen.  The topics cover the spectrum so I am sure there is something on TED you could use.

19.TED-Ed 

TED-Ed is less about videos of people talking from behind a podium and more about teaching with videos.  The TED-Ed videos are education focused and comprised of narrated animations.  They cover a wide variety of topics, even the history behind the spelling of onion, which is nice.  With each video there are activities and questions to prompt discussion and further learning for the kids.

20. Keepvid 

If you need to access a YouTube or Vimeo video but the internet has slowed to a crawl or the service is blocked by our overzealous but well meaning web filters, then you appreciate the need for Keepvid.  Keepvid will download videos from popular sites in several different formats and save them wherever you like.  There are some important caveats:  it uses Java and most browsers block Java, and it has something against the marriage of OSX and Chrome.

21. Socrative 

How many have heard of Learner Response Systems?  Who has wanted to be in the AFV audience to cast your vote?  Well Socrative will let you do that in your classroom because it is the Learner Response System for everyone.  Socrative lets you create quizzes online that students can then respond to using any internet connected device.  They also keep a repository of previously created quizzes so you don't have to create everything from scratch.

22. Kahoot! 

Kahoot! is similar to Socrative but with a twist.  Instead of a straight up response system it is designed to be game-like.  The kids compete against each other to answer first.

23. LiveBinder 

I have to admit first off that I have a love/hate relationship with LiveBinder.  It is an excellent way to store all of your websites and resources online in an organized fashion, but the older version that I used for a few years made it cumbersome to add content.  They have since updated the site and I hope it improved the workflow as well.  I recommend checking it out, especially if you glean many of your resources from the internet.

24. StudyBlue 

This is more of a student focused website and app but I wanted to share it with you anyways.  StudyBlue allows students to create flashcards and review quizzes and then share those with other.  It has a sleek design and is easy to use.

25. Easybib

I teach ELA and one of the things that constantly frustrates me is the breath and fluidity of MLA and APA citations.  There are so many different ways to cite a source and the format keeps changing.  Easybib solves that problem for the kids and helps them find credible sources online by verifying that sources are accurate and relevant.  They also have a Chrome extension.

26. Pinterest

I have never been on Pinterest but my wife swears by it, and not because of all the arts and crafts ideas.  Apparently Pinterest is a treasure trove of resources and ideas for teachers.  It has been such a helpful tool for teachers that Pinterest begin curating part of their site just for teachers.  For the more manly among us you can check out Gentlemint. (Okay, they may not have much in the way of teaching, but it is a cool site none the less.)

Well folks, I made it through the list and I hope you did too.  As a parting word I want to remind you that many, if not most, of these websites also have apps (web and/or mobile) to accompany their sites.

Cody

P.S. I do have some honorable mentions, Todaysmeet, Canva, and Flubaroo.  I have not used these in a classroom but teachers that I respect have which is why I wanted to include them on my list in some fashion.