Gmail Labs

One of the most beloved features of Gmail is the Labs (beta versions of possible Gmail features).  Labs are turned off by default because they are experimental features that may or may not make into future releases of Gmail.  Because the lab experiments are, well, experimental, they can act erratically and are sometimes half-baked.  Despite that, I have had good luck over the years with several of the labs.  Here are a few of the labs that I love.

Mark as Read Button:  Adds a button in the top menu bar that allows you to mark an email as read without having to dig into sub menus.  It is a huge time saver.

Canned Response:  I seem to write the same email over and over again to parents.  Canned response makes the process a lot less painful.  You type an email and save it as a canned response.  Next time you need to send out the same email, you just insert the canned response and press send.  You can find a how-to on creating canned responses here.

Apps Search:  There are times that I am tired of swapping between Drive and Gmail to find things.  Was it emailed to me as an attachment, or shared via Drive?  With the Apps Search lab you can use the Gmail search bar to search your Drive as well.  It searches only the titles of items in Drive so it isn't as powerful as the search feature in Drive, but it has saved me a few headaches.

Preview Pane:  I miss the preview pane in Outlook.  In fact, it is about the only thing I miss from Outlook.  This lab brings that feature to Gmail.  You can put your preview pane either below or to the right of the the message list.

Undo Send:  There are times that I send an email only to regret pressing send.  Undo send gives me an option to unsend an email.  The only drawback is that I have to make the decision within 30 seconds because that is all the leeway they give you with this lab.

You can find instructions on how to enable Labs at Google's help site.  If you would like to know more about Gmail labs you can visit the Google Guru or checkout his YouTube channel.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and what Labs you love.

Using Filters in Gmail

Gmail is a powerful email client based in part on its ability to apply an infinite number of filters on incoming and outgoing emails.  If you are unfamiliar with the concept of email filters, they are a set of rules you set up that determines what happens to certain emails when they come into your inbox or out of your outbox.

You can create filters in at least three different ways (there may be more, but this is what I have found so far).  The first is from the search bar at the top of the Gmail tab in Chrome (please tell me you are not still using IE).

The search bar looks like this.  Notice the small down arrow to the left of the magnifying glass

The down arrow to the left of the magnifying glass gives you quick access to creating filters.

Here you can set what emails will be filtered.  They can be filtered by incoming/outgoing email address, subject line, key words, or lack of key words.  You can even filter based off of attachments and email size, or combine multiple parameters.  This is useful if you want to filter emails from a certain person on a specific subject.  Once you have put in the parameters select "Create filter with this search" in the lower right corner of the dialogue box.  This will take you to a new window.

This window lets you determine what will happen to emails that match the parameters you set up in the previous window.  A quick run down:

• Skip the Inbox automatically archives the message so it never makes it to your inbox.
• Mark as read delivers the email to the inbox but as an already read email.
• Star it flags the email for easier access via the "Starred" tab on the left hand menu.
• Apply label will automatically label the email for quicker searching and organization.
• Forward will auto forward the email to a specified email address.
• Delete will delete the email.
• Never send to Spam will white list the email to make sure it doesn't get delivered to the spam.
• Send canned response will auto reply to the email with a pre written response.  (You have to create it).  You can find directions here.
• Mark as important will mark email as important.  (Useful if you use the priority inbox).
• Never mark as important is the inverse of the previous
• Categorize allows you to sort the emails into predetermined inboxes.  (You must have the inboxes set up before you can categorize emails).

Once you set up your filtering options you can apply the filter to emails currently in your inbox by checking the box at the bottom of the screen.  Now that everything is set up as you want, click "Create Filter" and you are done.  You can now rest assured that your inbox is working for you instead of against you.

The second way to create filters is through the settings cog on the right side of the screen.  Click on the Cog>Settings>Filters.  From their you can create and edit filters to your heart's content.

You can create a new filter by selecting "Create a new filter" at the bottom of the screen.

The third is from within an email itself.  To the right of the reply button there is a down arrow.  Click on it and then select "filter messages like this".  Follow the same steps as above.

Bonus Tip:  If you don't want to give out your email address because of fear of spam, throw in a couple of periods into the first part of the email address.  Gmail doesn't recognize the periods so they still get delivered to you.  You can then create a filter to automatically trash any email that comes to that period ridden email address.

Back in the Game

So, its been awhile.  Keeping up a blog can be daunting when you feel like every post should be some profound testament to who knows what.  After some sage advice and time to reflect, I have come to realize shorter and more frequent post will give rise to more timely and useful information/advice for those who so graciously read this blog.

I wax too much, time to get to the good stuff!

I just started to using Inbox, a new take on Gmail.  It automatically categorizes emails, grouping them together by content, and encouraging a tidy inbox by marking all emails as "done" or setting reminders to take a look at the email later.  Check out the link above and the video below for more info.  Right now, it seems that Inbox only works on personal Gmail accounts (or maybe just needs to be enabled by your GAFE admin) and is by invite only.  If you would like an invite, leave me a comment and I'll see if I can hook you up.

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.