Classroom

Google Classroom: Invite Another Teacher

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Today Google Classroom has made yet another improvement! Teachers have been wanting to share their Classrooms with other teachers. Today, Google has given us this opportunity.

Invite Another Teacher

Choose the Classroom you would like to share with another teacher. Once in the Classroom, navigate to the ‘About’ page (1.). Once there the teachers the Classroom have been shared with are located on the left (2.). Notice that the owner of the classroom is listed first. Below the teachers is an ‘Invite’ button (3.). Once this is chosen, you find the teacher you would like to share the Classroom with – within your domain. It will send an Invitation to the teacher. All they have to do is accept.

Submit Group Work

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Google Classroom has made my workflow seamless. Recently I had a teacher ask how to have students, who are not document (or slides) owners, ‘submit’ work. I’ll admit, my workflow made my life a little harder. Then, one of my students – Frankie (I told him that he would get a shout out) – simply suggested having the non-owners submit the link for the assignments. So being the collaborative classroom, we gave Frankie a Class Dojo point for helpfulness, and celebrated his brilliance.

How Do Students Submit a Link?

While the students are in their Assignment, they have the option to ‘Add’, ‘Create’, or ‘Mark as Done’.

Assignment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If your students have been working collaboratively on a project, they most likely have created it within their Drive and shared with others. Now, the owner is the only person who has rights to submit the document. They will do this by choosing ‘ADD’ then ‘Google Drive’ and proceed to find the project.

Add

 

 

 

 

 

The non-owners, will need to locate the documents link, and be sure that ‘anyone with the link can view’.

Share 1

Share 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They will then Copy this link in the assignment. However, they will choose ‘Link’ and paste the code there.

Copy Link

Transcontinental ELD

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A few years ago a friend of mine, Ruth,  contacted me with this crazy (BRILLIANT) idea – to have our students become pen pals. I know, you’re thinking, “That’s not crazy, in fact it’s not even a new idea.” Yeah, I know. You see, my friend lives, and teaches, in Spain – the Basque Country. Ah, now you see how cool this is.

  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(greater_region)#mediaviewer/File:Euskal_Herria_Europa.png

Ruth had a group of ‘less than enthusiastic’ 6th graders. They had little desire to go to school let alone learn English. She thought if our classes became pen pals (yup, pretty much the old fashioned way), it would motivate them AND get them to practice reading and writing in English. She started it off with her students writing letters on a computer. We shared a Dropbox folder (I said pretty much the old fashioned way) to ‘deliver’ the letters. The result, it worked so well, the next year her students asked when they would get to write to kids in America.

Admittedly, Ruth and I thought it would be a one-off sort of thing that first year. However, last year when she asked if I was interested I couldn’t wait to get it going again. Last year we upped it to 50 students on my side and around 40 on hers. The students shared about themselves and figured out how to take photos on the computer to share on their letters.

This year…

Ruth and I upped our game! Okay, it was all Ruth. She is at a new school and she quickly reBeginning of Videoalized that writing to us in English would be a struggle. We had discussed the idea of videos before, but she was up against some rules preventing images of the students from appearing online. So this year, we are sending videos! We are sharing our videos privately. Yesterday, we received our first video from our pen pals. The students were FANTASTIC! Ruth relayed a story about a girl in her class who was so excited, went onto Google Translate to help her get started. The student did all this on her own time! What a great activity this is already turning out to be.

Her students hard work was noticed. My students were impressed with their efforts. They asked if the Basque students were reading from something, because they wanted to be able to read from their notes too. I think they realized how scary the whole thing can be. They were so excited to get started on making a video for them some didn’t even wait for their video to be over before they started asking me when we can start.

Many of my students speak Spanish at home and asked if they could speak Spanish in their video. I said that they absolutely could. I even challenged some of my non-Spanish speakers to learn a few things to say in Spanish. Upon hearing that, a few students went onto Google Translate, while others volunteered to help translate for students. So my students will introduce themselves, in English, and hopefully send an additional message along, in Spanish.

I’m excited to see where this leads.

Google Classroom Evolves

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Google has listened to teachers’ feedback yet again. Since Classroom’s Beta rollout last summer, Google has continued to ask teachers what WE want, what would make their product better. We spoke, and they responded…again.

Today Google announced a few improvements based on OUR feedback.

1. Groups Integration

If you use Google Groups, you can now pre-populate classes with this newest iteration.

2. View Deleted Items

It’s a simple on/off toggle switch.

Classroom 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Control Class Commenting Feature

When in ‘Students’, you choose whether students can post, comment, or if the teacher is the only one with those rights. This feature will hold true for ALL students in the class. If you would like to control the ability for individuals to post/comment see below (number 4).

Classroom 2

 4. Mute Individual Students

Every now and then a student tests the waters, and drowns. You now have the option to Mute those individuals. Muted students will not be able to post or comment in the Classroom.

Classroom 10

5. Sort Students

Some teachers prefer to sort by last name, while others prefer first name. Google has given teachers the freedom to sort as we please.

Classroom 3

6. Downloading Grades

The ability to download ALL assignment grades at once (to CSV file) makes it easier to upload those grades into whatever grading program you or your district are using.

Classroom 4

7. Students Can Mark Assignments as ‘Done’

Recently I had my students working on a Presentation in groups. I posted the assignment, but only the owner of the Presentation needed (or had the rights) to ‘Turn In’ the assignment. This left 40 ‘Not Done’ assignments – which looked messy and inaccurate. Now those students can go into their Classroom, and mark the assignments as ‘Done’.

This feature is handy when assigning reading, viewing a video, or other tasks where nothing needs to be handed in.

Student View in their ‘Stream‘. It has marked the assignment as ‘Late’.

Classroom 5

The student needs to ‘Open’ the assignment and ‘Mark As Done’.

Classroom 6

A pop-out window will appear asking if the student is sure this is the desired action. Notice the student can add a private message to the teacher.

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In their ‘My Assignments’ View the student has the option to ‘Unsubmit’. The completion of the assignment is noted in the right corner. It will also be reflected in their ‘Stream’ View.

Classroom 8

 

classroom 9

My First Dot Day

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TOur Dot Day Doorhis was the first year that I have participated in International Dot Day. Boy am I glad we did! We first began by reading the book, The Dot, by Peter H Reynolds. It’s a story about a girl who begins to leave her mark, literally, on the world. In art class, she produces one single dot on a piece of paper. With the help of her teacher, she begins to create more and more dots. She explores and experiments with her ideas. And in turn, helps a boy – and us – learn to leave his mark.

After reading the book, we discussed what we could do to leave our mark on the world. Some wanted to open restaurants, others wanted to help animals, and still others wanted to help those in need. They cited helping those with illnesses and those less fortunate. One girl wants to help those who don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, by creating urban gardens and wall gardens.

After our discussions, we were ready to ‘Make Our Mark’! The students eagerly began creating their dots to be placed on our door. This door has been ready for them for the past week.

Dot Day AROriginally, I was only going to decorate the door, but then… I copied off the Dot Day paper by ColAR Mix. And again, I’m glad I did. I forgot the pure joy one has when experiencing Augmented Reality for the first time. So many of the students were taken by this, that they went home and downloaded the App for themselves. I had a few come in the next day to tell me all it.

I guess it’s safe to say that I ‘left my mark’ with my students this week.

Genius Hour AppSmashing

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Let’s get a few things out of the way. You may be wondering what is Genius Hour? And what is AppSmashing? If you are familiar with these, then you can skip on down to the next paragraph. Genius Hour – Researching what YOU are interested in learning (you being a student). AppSmashing (See also: Jon Corippo) – creating a single project – photo, movie, etc. – using two or more apps.

So all last week, one of my students begged to take home one of the class iPods. He wanted to create movies using Lego Movie Maker (stop animation video creation). I applaud this student. He had NO clue how to use the app, wanted to try it out; and he ASKED if he could do extra work! He did what most kids do best – he played around with it! Were they the best movies ever? No, but each one got better and better. So on Friday, before we have Genius Hour, said student wasn’t sure what to do. I suggested AppSmashing. He was up for it. He imported 2 Lego Movies into iMovie on the iPod.

Now, I know little to nothing about iMovie on mobile devices. Give me a Mac and I’m good to go. I’ve used it a bit on the iPad, but never on the iPod. So needless to say, I was of no help. Note: The iPod version has many limitations (at least from what I could tell). Being the adult, I tried to teach him a bit and inevitably screwed everything up. So I wisely walked away and let him create. What he came up with wasn’t bad for a first try. He ‘imported’ is music by holding up his mobile device (where the music was stored) to the iPod. Here is his results:

Yeah, I think I’ll keep encouraging him to take risks and make movies.

Customize Google Forms

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Recently Google updated their Themes in Forms. I, for one, was happy to see this. I use Forms for homework and try to change the Themes as often as I can. This being said, if you’ve been using forms, you know how limited the Themes were. Now however, my choices are endless! The first time I customized a Form, I put a picture of my dogs on it. The next day, I showed my partner teacher (our students do the same Form for homework), and she put a picture of her baby on it. We’ve decided to start taking silly selfies and use them on our Forms.

So this is how to customize your Forms:

Choose the ‘Customize’ feature on any form:

Choose the area in which you’d like to customize:

Class Dojo

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Screen Shot 2014-09-14 at 9.34.44 AM I was introduced to Class Dojo by a Kinder teacher who gave our staff some Professional Development about it. I thought it was great for younger grades, but how would 5th graders respond? So, I let the idea go. Then I started hearing about middle school teachers who used it. That’s when I became intrigued. If middle school students liked it, then 5th graders might be more responsive than I thought.

So here I am writing about how much my students, parents, and I LOVE Class Dojo! It took me a few years, but now I am a believer. I have students who check to see how many points they received. Others who see me get out my phone and get excited (or bummed if they’ve been off task) because they know points are coming. My students listen for the positive ‘ting’, change up their avatars (which are really cute), and expect to see the Class Dojo screen daily. Parents love the communication feature. Check out some of the messages I’ve received:

Class Dojo Parent Communication 1

Class Dojo Parent Communication 2And to make things interesting, students use their points to ‘buy’ prizes at a classroom auction. They bid on items with their points. They LOVE it.

Avatar 1I admit it, I was wrong. Class Dojo is great for any grade! This is why I’m sharing my #ClassDojoLove with everyone!