Google Custom Maps and CNN Student News

Our seventh grade social studies teachers, Mrs. Kust and Mrs. Brittnacher, would like students to create a custom Google Map based on events discussed in CNN Student News episodes.

On a Chromebook, students will watch a CNN Student View episode, record in some way (digitally or on paper) the cities or countries that are featured, some details about the event, and place all of that information on a point on a map. Students can also share the map with their instructor similar to sharing any Google document.

Watch Tutorial


The instructor asked me to include specifics about the information that students should include in their summary of information for each point on the map. This occurs at 2:17 of video.  In addition, the teacher did not want the sharing option at the end as she did not want in email inbox to be flooded.  The sharing part has been removed from the end of the tutorial.

View Updated Video

Google Account Notification To Seniors

Our high school librarian assistant, Mrs. Fenendael, wrote a fantastic email to all seniors informing them of the deadline that is imposed for their school Google account to stay active. I used ifaketext to create the image at the left.  I know there are not many high school students that DON'T read a text message!

Hello Class of 2014

Congrats on your upcoming graduation.  We wanted to make you aware that as of July 1st, 2014 your current google account will be deactivated. There are steps you can take to transfer ownership of documents if you create another google account.

To those that are OWNERS of a document for a club, please make sure you share all documents with another student that will be here next year. In addition, we are recommending that you share documents with your club advisers.  The instructor or student that you share the document with will need to "make a copy". This will allow the new OWNER to have full access. Please talk to your club advisers or come to the HUB with further questions.

If you are unsure of how to share a document, here are further directions.  If you have an enormous amount of information, you may want to use Google Takeout.

You can also create an automatic message on your old/current Google email in case you need to get responses from people to indicate you are transitioning to a new account.  This automatic response will give them the new email address. This is especially helpful if you are working with colleges.  

Again, please let us know if we can be of any further assistance, best wishes for a BRIGHT future!

The HUB Staff

What's Your Clock? - Moving From Substitution To Augmentation

In the last month, our district has tripled the amount of devices present in departments throughout the high school.  Chromebooks and iPads are more accessible than ever.

With that our Lunch N' Learn topic is focusing teachers on how to move up on the SAMR model.  We discussed the SAMR model earlier in the year, but the lack of devices limited teacher's accessibility.

Now we have devices and are looking at restructuring the lessons to move up from Substitution to Augmentation.

The Lunch N' Learn Presentation:


Slide 2: The amount of devices available has tripled.
Slide 3:  Thinking about restructuring a lesson so that the time phrase is broken into four quarters can be a start.  Think about each of the "clocks" as the lesson and how it is perceived from a student and a teacher perspective.
Slide 4:  There are five clocks per class in each week.  Can you restructure one of the clocks (lessons) to incorporate.
Slide 5:  The first part of the lesson could be review from previous day/direct instruction/proposing driving question.  The second part could be students using the tech tool (Chromebooks or iPads) to investigate information to support the driving question, disprove information, add to information, cross check references, provide something unique to share with class.  The third part could be collaboration and discussion using a medium that allows for print, video, or audio input.  The fourth part could be creating the solution to the driving question or follow up direct instruction for finalization of the topic.  Don't forget the Top Tech Tools for choice by the student.
Slide 6: So many parts to a learning experience.
Slide 7: What's a clock that you created?  Bring it next week.

To follow up with this, an infographic was found that could help teacher support staff with "what to look for" while viewing lesson structures!

Get Infographic

What's Your Clock?

What: Lunch N' Learn
When: Tuesday During Lunch
Why: Integration Creates Efficiency

Teacher Effectiveness Survey - Formulating Neutral Questions

Source

Our Lunch N' Learn was designed toward analyzing data received from students after they completed our "Teacher Effectiveness Survey".  Some teachers have inquired as to "What makes a good question?"

To answer this, I asked our high school stats teacher, Mr. Martinson, to provide some examples as to what makes a valid question.  In his course work, students are instructed to always collect valid data and analyze it. He sheds some light on specific examples that could be included on a survey.


- Questions should be neutral, meaning they don't encourage a particular response. 

Example: 

Neutral:   How does today's lesson compare to yesterday"s? 

Leading:  Didn't you like today's lesson better than yesterday"s?

Neutral: How does the use of technology affect your learning?

Leading: Many students feel technology helps them engage in their learning. How do you feel about technology?

- Avoid terms all students may not understand. 

  example: use the terms tests, quizzes, instead of formal assessment.

 

- Questions should have as many good options as bad options. 

  example: strongly disagree,disagree,agree, strongly agree

- People will often pick the middle if given an odd number of option (if providing an even number of options you can avoid this)

- Make sure every possible response has a place and that options are 

mutually exclusive (response should fall in one category, not more than one)

Breakfast Bytes Organizing Google Form Data

We have all been asked to complete a survey as a requirement for Teacher Effectiveness.  Most of us have used a Google Form to gather our information.

Now What?

Many features in Google Forms/Spreadsheets will help us organize the data.

Breakfast Bytes
Thursday, February 20, 2014
7:05 AM In The Hub

I used Canva to create the visual above.  It is a fantastic tool for creating media desings for social media, presentations, posters, blog graphics, cards, photo collages, business cards, and invitations.  It can be used on a Chromebook!

Student Survey Responses - Analyzing The Data

You've given the student surveys using a Google Form or utilizing a paper survey and results have been tabulated in a Spreadsheet.

You've received the data.

Let's analyze it.

Averaging Numerical Responses

Rounding The Numbers

Count If (Great For Multiple Choice Questions)

Filter

Conditional Formatting

Video Directions via Tech Pulaski

After analyzing the data, complete the "Survey Analysis" in My Learning Plan.

 

Please complete by the end of February even though the "Survey Growth" states October 15.  Next year, it will be October 15.

Green Bars In My Learning Plan

Lunch N' Learn Organizing Google Form Data

We have all been asked to complete a survey as a requirement for Teacher Effectiveness.  Most of us have used a Google Form to gather our information.

Now What?

Many features in Google Forms/Spreadsheets will help us organize the data.

Lunch N' Learn
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
During Your Lunch

I used Canva to create the visual above.  It is a fantastic tool for creating media designs for social media, presentations, posters, blog graphics, cards, photo collages, business cards, and invitations. It can be used on a Chromebook!

Teacher Sub Plans For Substitute Teacher Via iPad and YouTube

Because of our "Digital Alternatives To Written Lesson Plans" Lunch N' Learn, Mrs. McCumber created a 3:34 video detailing the day.  She created video clips of resources and classroom layout.  She inserted and edited the videos in iMovie on the iPad.  A key addition was the title clips of text for each class during the video.

As the substitute teacher stated to Mrs. McCumber, "It was great; no teacher has ever done that for me before".

I believe creating digital sub plans is an efficient method for the classroom teacher who can provide a visual insight into their classroom for the sub.

View Sub Plans


Need another example?  View It

Google Sign Out From Anywhere

Process:

• Sign into Gmail from any computer
• Scroll down to the bottom of all your mail
• Click Details (small, on lower right)
• Sign Out All Other Sessions

View Process

Impact On Students:
Citizenship:  Students and staff need to be diligent in protecting their digital reputation and representation on the web.  Logging out is probably the one thing that students forget to do on a regular basis.  Continue to encourage students and staff to be diligent in protecting their digital citizenship.

Student Created PicCollage Uploaded To Teacher Blog

Step 1:
Set Up Email On iPad



Step 2: Create PicCollage and "Send To Library"

Step 3: Tap Photos App, Choose Photo, Send With Email

Step 4:  Give email address to students found from screen shot below.

Step 5:

Students need to log out of their mail on the iPad.

Google Presentation To Explain Everything

For students to discuss a Google Presentation that was created on a computer/Chromebook, we used Explain Everything to annotate and/or record audio notes to enhance the presentation.

Process:

• Create Google Presentation on Chromebook/Laptop
• On iPad, Use Google Drive App
• Find Presentation
• Touch i button for information
• Open in -->
• Explain Everything

Every Google Presentation slide will be placed on a separate Explain Everything slide.

Begin to enhance the presentation with audio and visual cues.

View the Process

Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:  Creating a slideshow is one thing, however, annotating and recording audio to explain aspects in detail takes script writing and planning.

Top Tech Tool For iPad and Chromebooks

We have multiple devices in our district.  I am often asked "What tool can I use for..." and then the task is unveiled.  With that, I decided to create a Top Tech Tool Infographic.

I chose the Pro version of Piktochart for creating the interactive infographic.  The amount of icons to choose from and the ease of uploading my images was fantastic.  To make all the images uniform, I chose to use Publisher to create a shape on a document.  I was able to right click on the shape and format the shape with a "fill in effect" of a picture.  I then saved that picture as a new picture.  Worked perfectly.

A huge thank you to Tony Vincent for inspiring me to finally put this together.  His "Show What You Know" was the motivating factor for creating something that can be used by our district and the educational world.  I love his infographic because it provides tools for creating assessment pieces of knowledge.  I included a number of other "tech tasks" that always seem to be asked of me.  Reviewing each of these tools helps to support our teachers, because they can spend less time finding the tool and more time creating with it.  This impacts students in their educational setting.

I will continue to update the infographic if and only if a more efficient tool finds its way into my educational learning environment.

I have created a number of options that join the Top Tech Tool Infographic Family.

• The Top Tech Tool Infographic (Full Size)
• The PDF of the Infographic (Tools Not Accessible Through Links)
• The JPG of the Infographic (Tools Not Accessible Through Links)
• The JPG of the Infographic in High Resolution (Tools Not Accessible)

Educreations For Individual Tutoring

Mrs. Whitens has discovered Educreations for creating mathematical lessons specifically pertaining to her classroom content.  As she states, "It (Educreations) frees up my time to work with more than one student on an individual basis at a time."

A site was created by Mrs. Whitens to provide step by step directions for completing math processes.  However, other people's creations don't always meet the exact needs that need to be met in classrooms.  Having teachers create their own "screencasts" allows for specific directed details to be broadcast to the students.

The beauty of this is that students who understand the material can move at their pace.  While students who don't understand the concepts can still go at their pace, but with additional support from the instructor.

Educreations was chosen because at the current time, YouTube is blocked at our school.  Educreations allows for quick recording on an iPad and hosting on their server.

Three effective screencasting tools are available on the iPad.  Two free, one paid.  See how I explained them at #SLATE2013.



Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:  Students have an individual tutor with them via a screencast.  This focuses students to think about the process of completion of a task while following directions from an instructor.  They are also encouraged to seek assistance when questions or clarification is needed pertaining to a concept.

VideoNot.es For Reviewing The Presidential Roles

Last April, a Lunch N' Learn session focused on VideoNot.es.  The incredible tool that allows questions and comments to be synced directly with specific times in a video.  Following the learning session, one of our high school English teachers utilized this tool for implementing an assessment on her SMARTboard.

What makes our teachers fantastic is there willingness to learn something new when it hits them, "There must be a better way!"

That's exactly what occurred when Mrs. McCumber wanted to have her students analyze the latest Presidential State of the Union address from the perspective related to content in her class.

VideoNot.es allowed her to focus on "Presidential Roles" that occurred during the speech.  While it did take some time to review the one hour speech, it took mere seconds to find the exact spot in the speech in which she wanted to focus on.  Simply click on the time that you would like to view in the note and the video corresponds!

From a technical stand point, VideoNot.es saves all the notes in Google Drive.  This allows for sharing and easy access.  A newer feature is the integration with Evernote!  An additional feature is the speed of the video and how that can be adjusted.  This could be used in analyzing science experiments or sporting clips.  It would be great if the VideoNot.es could be embedded into a site or blog.  As it is now, only a link can be obtained for sharing.

View the Speech and Mrs. McCumber's notes.

Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:   Analyzing anything requires a thinking process.  While Mrs. McCumber did the critical thinking for this activity (breaking the down the speech), students could do the same thing in an upcoming learning experience.
Collaboration: Since VideoNot.es is synced with Google Drive, students can analyze a video as a group.  Simply share the VideoNot.es with group members giving them editing rights.

Connecting With Canada

 Our high school!

Our Desired Destination!

                                                    Photo Source

Yesterday, our High School Human Geography teacher stated to me, "I'm standing in front of my class talking about the regions of Canada, and it hit me...Why don't I (Google) Hangout with a school district from those regions and get a true insight of what it's like to live there?"

Boom.  Idea!

Since we are 2,414 miles from the Northwest Territory and 2,184 miles to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, Canada, traveling there is unrealistic.  Enter Google Hangouts!  Our school Human Geography teacher would like to "Google Hangout" with a school district in every region of Canada.  

Possible? Hope So!  

Still Not Sure?  View the introduction from our students!

Please complete this form if your school would be willing to share culture and traditions about your Provincial Region of Canada in a "Google Hangout".

The Google Hangout would take place the week of February 17-21.

We are getting some options!
Using Twitter: 

Two Potential Connections?
Could You Help?

Evernote Researching Tool For High School English

Today, students in Mrs. Deprey's English 10, will begin using Evernote as a researching tool.  Students will use Chromebooks, Evernote, and the Evernote Web Clipper Chrome Extension to organize information on past and current leaders of the world.

As an introduction, students will learn:

• The overall concept of Evernote: Remember Everything
• Why Evernote, notebooks, and tags can simplify and centralize researching.
• How to sign up for Evernote.
• How to install the Evernote Web Clipper Extension from the Chromestore
• How to use the Evernote Web Clipper Extension
• How to log out!

View Presentation

Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking: Students will need to determine the notebook and tags that they will create to organize their information found during research.