Twenty-First Century Learning in Action at Chi-Hi

We've heard of the 4 C's of 21st century learning. If you haven't, don't worry, you can Google it. I heard words just like that from an encouraging English teacher this week. Knowing what the 4 C's are is easier than incorporating them into a 15-minute class activity, but Pam Bowe did just that in her English 9B class.

Collaboration- students worked in groups of 2-3 to read a section of an article on theaters through the ages

Creativity - students found an image to represent the information they read. They added it to a visual timeline.

Critical Thinking - students had to summarize their part of the article into three main points; determine an appropriate date for the timeline based on all of the given temporal information in the article, like which century it occurred.

Communication- after working in partnerships and adding events to a collaborative visual timeline with the other groups, partners shared responsibility for presenting their findings orally to the class.

None of the students had used Timetoast, a visual time lining tool, before, so they also discussed and problem-solved some technology work flows while experiencing the content.

And, there you have it: an activity based on common core state standards that incorporated the 4 C's of 21st Century learning. (And, I heard through the grapevine two other teachers are going to try this activity in their classes as well).

Creating Gmail Templates

This video will walk you through how to create a template in Gmail. You might use templates to quickly compose frequent emails that include similar information. Gmail templates could also be useful for students learning to write formal emails.

Creating Contact Groups in Gmail

With the switch to Gmail, you may be missing some of your email groups.  You can re-create them in Gmail pretty easily as long as the people are in your contact list.  Click here for the video to show you how, or find the video on our Google Video Resources page on the Google Tutorials menu of the Tech Coaches website.

You may also be missing the district wide email lists that we had been using.  Dara has been diligently re-creating those as well.  The new list is available to you with this link when you are signed in to your Google account.

Presenting Keynotes Without the iPad!

We've often heard (and said) that the Apple devices we have on carts in our schools are called "i"Pads, not "we"Pads. They are designed to be personal devices and we've placed them in a cart, created check out procedures and shared them between students. This is a stumbling block on the way to more personalized learning, but it serves it's purpose and there are many obstacles we can work around if we think about it hard enough.

One of the most rewarding tasks we do as technology integration coaches is figuring out how to realize a teacher's dream outcome. I worked with Chelsea Anderson on some project planning today - she mapped out the unwrapped standards she intended to reach toward with her students and explained the content she hoped to incorporate. What happened next was she put her teaching pedagogy, knowledge and content expertise together with my technology skills and expertise and we discovered something that I hadn't thought of before.

Chelsea wanted her students to be able to do research and create a presentation on the iPads. She has the cart checked out for three days, long enough to produce the project, but probably not present it. So, we developed a workflow that could work for other teachers as well:

1. Students research and create a presentation in Keynote
2. Students upload their presentation as a Power Point to the Google Drive app
3. Students share their  Power Point with Chelsea
4. Chelsea clicks the box next to student's Power Point in her Google Drive and clicks More->Download
5. Power Point opens the presentation on Chelsea's desktop PC so that the presentation can be projected in the classroom for sharing.

If you'd like help with this process, please contact Cara Schueller or Sarah Radcliffe

Using Google Templates

Google Templates are available just as the Microsoft website hosts templates to use in Microsoft Word or Excel. Dara created templates for each school with the school letterhead and administrative contact information listed on the left side.

To access Google templates, you can create a new document, then click File-> New -> Open from Template.

You can also add Google templates to your "Create" button options by opening your Google Drive, clicking Create, then 'connect more apps.' 

This will open up a window allowing you to add more apps to your create button. If you type "drive template gallery" into the search bar, you should get the option to add Drive Template Gallery. Hit CONNECT. Next time you use the Create button in Google Drive, you will see the option "From Template" right there.

Templates can also be used with students. If you create a document that you want to keep and use as a template, simply go to the template gallery (as listed above) and click Submit a Template. Google will walk you through submitting a template to the gallery. It takes a little while for the changes to take affect. 

You may not need to create templates very often since you can also create documents and share them with students with view-only rights, requiring them to select File->Make a Copy before they can edit the document. Templates might be useful when more than one class is using the same template, like for writing Cornell notes where students from an entire grade, school, or even district would utilize the same template to take notes on various subjects and topics. When you use a template, Google automatically creates a copy for the student and preserves your template for future use.

If you have other ideas for templates, leave them in the comments. If you need help using templates, contact the Technology Coaches.

Sarah - radclisa@chipfalls.org

Cara - schuelcc@chipfalls.org

Sharing Notifications in Your Gmail Inbox

Some teachers have been asking about how to decrease the hundreds of emails they get in their Inbox from students when they are sharing documents. If students use direct sharing from Google, meaning they click the blue "Share" button and type your name in, they can choose to unclick the box that says "Notify people via email." The students have to uncheck that box each time they share a document with you.

If, for some reason, you don't trust that your students will always remember to uncheck that box, there is a video below explaining how to create a filter. The video is only 3 minutes long, so it shouldn't take long to do.

Help! Where's My Google Calendar?

Although Google likes to change things up from time to time, they are not cruel enough to actually get rid of your Google Calendar. It is still there.

However, some of us are mourning the loss of the black bar across the top of the page. Many people used this black bar to access Mail, Calendar, Sites, Contacts, etc.

Now, similarly to accessing your apps via the Apps button on a new tab, you will need to access your productivity apps, such as Mail and Calendar, via an Apps button on the top right of your Mail/Drive/Calendar screen:

If you missed our post about accessing your Google Apps from a new tab, please see our previous blog post here.

Another option would be to place a bookmark on your bookmarks bar that links to your calendar. When you are on your calendar page, simply drag the green lock icon that appears in the address bar down to your bookmarks bar.

Any questions, give us a call!