Google Expeditions: Leader and Followers

Google Expeditions (Get The Scoop) enable teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space.  Read Google's Expeditions Help Page



Learning Opportunities in School (suggestions):

• Metals: "Explore a Car Factory" - relating classroom experiences to world experience
• English: "Slavery in America"- book settings
• Geography: "The Art of Yangzhou" - culture, museum, poetry
• ELL: "Field Trip to Hispanic Historic Sites in the U.S." - relating to people in our school
• Spanish: " Field Trip to Spain" - See the places speaking the language
• Math: "Nasa's Modern Figures" - STEM in the world
• Social Studies: "World War I" - Visit recreated trench system
• Business: "Girls Power to Beat Poverty in Bangladesh" - beginning own business
• Chemistry: "Hydrogen Burning" - Inside a burning hydrogen reaction and explanation
• Autos: "Subaru of Indiana Automotive" - Inside a "zero waste plant"
• Speech: Students lead tours with other students in class to practice public speaking skills

Currently there are roughly 600 expeditions!  Plenty of opportunities for use!

Things that I was impressed with while leading a group through Expeditions:

• Teacher as the leader
• Direct students to the exact places you want them to go
• Read word for word information on each item in the expedition
• See exactly where every "follower" is on your tour

Things that I was impressed with while following a leader during an Expedition:

• Student as follower
• With an arrow, I was directed toward the site of the information being explained by the leader
• Amazing real images
• Felt like I was there

Since we do not have viewers for every student in the class, we have shown students how to use their iPad to experience the expedition.  For high school students, I think the iPad isn't as good as a viewer, but good enough to experience the images and information.

I really like the "List of Available Expeditions" that someone created.  Combined with the free lesson plan presentations, and these really are a special experience for students who may never get there in reality.

The video below was created by Pioneer RESA Tech and displays both screens well.

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

Alternatives To Written Sub(stitute) Plans

Teachers don't expect or want to be absent, but it happens.  In terms of writing lesson plans, there are numerous digital options for teachers.

All options can be integrated into Aesop Online which is our online absent request for teachers. Aesop is also available through your mobile browser.

ITEMS TO CONSIDER:

• NEVER provide your username & password to subs
• They are provided a temporary username & password when arriving at our school
• Writing lesson plans is ok, you just might not want to write everything out!
• Use a Google Doc template to find the perfect lesson plan template for your content. View Mr. Mannings easy to use version. View Amy Uelmen's CCSS related lesson plan.
• Don't worry about being perfect when you "speak to the sub" through a digital tool.
• Include pictures or video!  This will greatly reduce your typing time when "writing up lesson plans"  
• Include audio!  It is so much easier to speak your lessons versus writing them.  
• If you want to use a combination of typing, voice, or video combine them all into a Google Doc for a cloud based link that can be added to Aesop Online.
• Include a QR code created by Google URL Shortener and it would be easy for the substitute to obtain the link using their smart phone.  Use shortened link for description in sub plans.
  This picture can be 
• Example
• Scan The Picture!  Need a Scanning App? iPhone      Android
  

Tools
Google Drive: Any video recording, audio recording or picture of any document can be uploaded. If the blue sharing button is clicked and the settings changed to "anyone with a link", the link can be pasted into the "Notes to Substitute" section.  Include a small note stating, "copy and paste the link below into a new tab on your web browser" and substitute teachers can view your digital documents.

Cellphone:  If you own any smartphone (iPhone/Android) you can use the camera app to either record a video or take pictures of information the sub will need to see.  Use the Google Drive app for uploading the picture/video to the cloud.  Share the link containing the content.  Don't forget that using the Skitch app can annotate the information on the picture. Get Skitch for iPhone or Android.
Video Link


iPad/iPod:  Using the camera, consider talking through the content that you want the substitute to cover during your absence.  The video below was uploaded to YouTube and unlisted.  However, with the ease of Google Drive, simply upload the video and share the link associated with the video.



iPhone/Android YouTube Capture App:  With one click, record your lesson or instructions for your lesson and send them directly to YouTube.


Flip Camera/Bloggies:  These cameras are available for checkout from the library. There are plenty to go around.  One touch record, USB connection, one hour record time, upload video to Google Drive.

Digital Camera:  Most digital cameras take photos and videos.  If you can snap it or record it you can upload it to Google Drive.

Laptop (SMART Recorder/Screencast-o-matic.com):  If you would like to be present in the classroom, but not physically there, create a video recording of your computer screen using the SMART Recorder or Screencast-o-matic.
SMART Recorder


Screencast-o-matic


Google Presentations: Similar to PPT, but so easy to share with teaching using a public link. View the three part series to making great presentations.

Vocaroo: One click audio recording only.  No username and password needed. Example

Soundcloud: A great place to store multiple recordings.  Listen to an example.

• Video Link

Audacity: On our computers to record audio.  Create file and upload to Google Drive.

Share This With Fellow Teachers By Sharing This

Inserting Bookmarks In Lengthy Google Documents

Mr. Pratt has implemented Google Documents as his "Lesson Plan" document.  This allows for links to be inserted for instant access to resources.  It also allows for students to view his lesson plans during the day or if absent!

Because he has multiple lessons on one document, he needed a way to quickly access areas in the document without scrolling through the entire document.

Solution?  Insert Bookmarks...

Written Directions

Video Directions


Video Link

Embed Google Calendar Into Google Sites

Google Calendar as Lesson Plans and Embedded In Blog

Today was a great day of learning!  Teachers set up calendars for each of their classes or subject area.


To communicate with parents and students these calendars will be used for their lesson plans and embedded into their classroom blogs.  The step by step process is in video and presentation form below.






The entire process of creating a lesson plan in Google calendar and embedding the calendar with a week's lesson plans into a Google blog took one hour.

Setting The Message In (Virtual) Stone

While I am impartial to iPads, I realize that many digital devices will make my following point!  Having verbal guidance from a teacher is one thing (an effective thing), having visually appealing pictures, written language, or video substance can make or break a student's ability to succeed.

Since we have iPads and every student has digital access during school AND after school, I decided to place all three lessons (Algebra, PreAlgebra, Social Studies) in written form and visual form on our classroom blog.  I am finding that many students struggle with following directions!  In the past, students may only hear the instructions while in class or receive the instructions on paper (but subsequently lose the paper).  Placing instructions on the web, allows for the content to be relatively "written in stone".

Digital Tools Used By Instructor OR Students During The Three Lessons

• Camtasia  Could also use Screencast-o-matic  or Screenr
• Whiteboard App
• Educreations
• YouTube
• Blogger
• Skitch App
• Google Docs (great tool to publish documents to web)
• Laptop (Windows)
• iPads 

Without a digital device, iPads!, this would not be possible.

Become a student and see what they saw, read what they read, and view what they viewed.

Algebra

PreAlgebra

Social Studies

Digital Lesson Plans For The Substitute Teacher

Once again, as I am creating tasks that need to be done this year, the question always pops in my head.

• "There must be a better way to do this!"

As I created my lesson plans for the substitute teacher, I decided to go digital.  I created my instructions using my iPad2 camera and uploaded them to YouTube.  As with everything this year, I have reflections below which will make the product better for the next time that I do this.

Reflections:

• I need to slow down.  Originally, I thought I would directly email them to her.  This would have limited me to 50 seconds as emailing video from iPad2 only allows 50 seconds.  
• I eventually uploaded them to YouTube and placed them as UNLISTED.  This limits the number of people that can view them, but provides a lengthy opportunity to explain details.
• Needed to have substitutes email, which I obtained from the sub list.
• In the email, simply included the link to the YouTube page of the video.  The thing that I love about YouTube is that it doesn't matter if you are on a Mac or Windows, have QuickTime or Windows Medio Player, usually all computers will play YouTube videos.
• I know that the work the students are doing looks "old fashioned", but with a blog post, it is the easiest way for me to ensure that some learning will take place during the days that I am absent.
• In addition, I sent an email to the students explaining that I am not on another planet!  They may contact me with questions at any time and I will respond to them.
• Overall, I believe this is a much more visual way to present lesson plans to substitute teachers!

Try it!  Let me know what you think!