Google Suggested Edits Feature

The Google Suggested Edits feature is now active!

To turn it on, from inside a Google Doc in which you have permission to edit, select View / Mode, then click on SUGGESTING.

Turning on Suggesting Edits

If you do not see MODE under view menu, it may not have rolled out to your domain yet. Another place to change the Edit mode is on the right side of the screen inside the document:

Once the suggesting mode is activated, you will see a green suggesting box on the right side of the screen. Proceed with any desired edits. They will be highlighted, and a comment box on the right side will be automatically generated which identifies the editor making the suggestion.

Suggested Edits in Action

The primary document editor can then examine the suggested edits, click on the Check Mark to implement, or the X to delete the suggestion.



Are you a teacher and curious to see how the Suggested Edits occurred, which students contributed, etc.? Go to File - See Revision History.

Then look to the right of your screen and in the bottom of the Revision History box, select Show more detailed revisions.







Now you will be able to see what edits were suggested, implemented or deleted:

Detailed Revision History with Suggested Edit Displayed

Thanks Google for another great collaborative feature!

Anatomy of a GT Student Conference Session

Researching on the fly

Last week I had the pleasure of collaborating with two fellow ESC20 Specialists, Ana Villarreal-Simpson (Social Studies) and Kerry Haupert (ELL), on a presentation for the ESC 2014 GT Student Conference session - Fun in Social Studies? Who Knew!

When we began planning the presentation, we realized that whatever activity we chose would have to be quick (each session was only 50 minutes long), and able to be replicated 3 times during the day. We were expecting between 18-26 students per session. Students attending the conference would be 6th and 7th graders; we wanted to tie into Social Studies knowledge they should have based on studies in 5th, 6th and possibly 7th grades. Creativity, movement and collaborative learning were essential. And of course we wanted to utilize technology!

After tossing around several ideas, Ana, Kerry and I decided a digital mystery county hunt would be our activity. First we identified the 15 counties in our ESC20 Region. We are fortunate that on the first floor of our conference center (where our presentation would take place) all of the rooms are named after the counties in our Region! By including historical information about events taking place within the counties, we were hoping to challenge the activation of student's prior knowledge and ability to quickly research and locate information. We wanted students to create a product to share, so organization was essential to allow time for them to identify counties based on the clues, then return and create a project. We decided to have students self-select partners and work in teams of 2 or 3.

Here are the steps we took to prepare:

Step 1:  Created a shared Google Doc to gather research and notes.

Step 2:  Specialists filled in County information, research on historical and modern day facts, County seat, Geographic coordinates for County seats.

Step 3:  Selected two historical facts and one modern day fact for each county. Created a Google presentation and made one slide for each county with the mystery facts. This step was the most time-consuming, but most fun for us - who knew that bat guano was used to make gunpowder during the Civil War?

Answer book for the Crazy Hat Ladies

Step 4:  Copied the slides and made an Answer Book for each of the presenters to have, scrambled the order of the counties and assigned a number to each one. The answer book contained the Geographic coordinate for each county seat in case students needed to "phone a friend" if they couldn't figure out the clues to locate the county. Printed the answer books 4 slides to a page, then cut horizontally across the page and stapled to make mini-books.

Student Clue Sheets

Step 5:  Printed the slides 3 up and randomly assigned 3 counties to each group (we planned on a total of five groups, each assigned 3 counties, and made 2 group envelopes for each session).

Step 6:  Copied the Name of the county, geographic coordinates and clues into http://www.qrstuff.com/ in plain text to generate the QR Codes.

Room Sign QR Codes Ready

Step 7:  Cut the QR codes in half. Pasted one half to the clue sheet next to the proper county. Saved the second half to hang on room doors morning of conference. Copied the second half (for room signs) to have an extra set in case any were destroyed day of conference. We left the slide outlines in place so that students would have something to line up when scanning.

Student Clue Sheet with 1/2 QR Code

Step 8:  Copied the pages with the pasted down QR codes for each team to have their own copy in each session. This allowed for the pages to be very flat, important for the QR Codes to work properly.

Step 9:  Tested the scanning ability of each QR code with the original that would be hung on the room sign. Decided to have at least 2 QR readers available for students to use.

Team Envelopes Ready to Go

Step 10:  Assembled Envelopes for each team. Envelopes contained: Map of Conference Center with names of rooms, Clue sheet with 1/2 of QR Codes and pencils. Also gathered clipboards for each team.

Step 11:  Prepared 10 iPads. Downloaded Google Earth, i-nigma, QR Reader, Sock Puppets and Puppet Pals. Arranged for charging, made sure iPads were updated. Changed Google Earth settings to only display borders and labels and to display Geographic Coordinates in decimal form.




Step 12:  Created Google Presentation to introduce information to students at beginning of each session, provide guidelines for how the hunt would operate.

iPad Sign Out Sheets

Step 13:  Created a sign-out sheet so we could record which students checked out which iPad.







Step 14:  Gathered crazy hats for presenters to wear in hallways as we were assisting students (allowed students to identify the teachers quickly). Crazy hat ladies had the geographic coordinates for the county seats in case students needed to 'phone a friend'. Over the entire day only a handful of students needed the coordinates.

Crazy Hat Ladies: Ana, Susan and Kerry

Step 15:  Finalized timeline:

Timeline to keep us on track

• 10 minutes for introduction, team selection, distribution of iPads
• 25 minutes for Mystery County hunt
• 10 minutes for creation of Puppet Pals or Sock Puppets presentation highlighting one of their 3 mystery counties
• 5 minutes for Gallery Walk and return of iPads.

Scanning QR Codes

Step 16:  Morning of the conference we posted 1/2 QR codes using blue painter tape on door signs. The most challenging part of the activity was matching up the QR Codes and scanning! We opened iPads and set alarms for the time students would need to return to our room to create products (3 alarms per iPad, one for each conference session). The 25 minutes was more than enough time for most groups, many returned with 5-8 minutes to spare so they had more time to create their product and we had more time for the Gallery Walk.

All the preparation was essential in the final success of the project! What we loved was that several of the GT teachers who were attending the conference also asked to participate in the mystery county activity, and we are hoping they will look at the use of QR codes in their classrooms in the future.

Teachers try out the activity!

Lessons learned? 

1. One of the best things we did during the wrap-up was to ask each group what they wished we had told them at the beginning of the activity. This helped us clarify misunderstandings for later groups. 
2. We were very thankful that our iPads had a foam style cover and handle. No iPads were dropped! 
3. Test your wireless coverage. We discovered several dead spots in the hallways, so just adjusted our directions to include "stand by a door or return to our room for research". 
4. Make no assumptions. When we told the first group they would come back and make a Sock Puppets or Puppet Pals presentation, we assumed they knew we were referring to apps. Some students came back in looking for the socks to make puppets with!

All in all it was a great day and we look forward to next year.

Students at Work

Edmodo

I recently had the opportunity to participate in Edmodo Certified Teacher Training. The experience was a great lesson in how teachers can structure learning activities through Edmodo. If you haven't experienced Edmodo recently, I encourage you to explore it. Accounts are free and students do not need email accounts to participate. If your district has created a district domain, you may need to find out your school code in order to create your teacher account.

One of the ah-ha moments for me in the course was how it was structured using small groups. The leaders organized our class materials in small groups, each small group represented a week's worth of assignments. It made it very easy for participants to locate assignments without having to scroll through an entire feed. Once you click on your group, Small Groups will appear under your group summary (if any Small Groups have been created):

Another ah-ha? Having students turn in assignments (especially comments on other's posts) by capturing a direct link to the post they were responding to and turning that link into the teacher on the TURN IN assignment link. This avoids the teacher having to scroll through and manually locate endless postings and responses. Here is how it works.

Students will create their group postings, or respond to a post in their group. They will then locate the gear icon to the right of the post, click on that and select Link to this Post:

When the window pops up, copy the link: 

Return to the assignment from the teacher, click TURN IN and copy link to turn in: 

If you're interested in Edmodo training, contact me at Region 20. I'm doing a class this June, check out our summer digital learning catalog here: http://learn421.net/content.php?pid=214879.

iPad Screencasting

I made a wonderful discovery today. If you have the AirServer software, it now allows screencasting recording of your iPad. Requirements are a Macbook, AirServer software and updated iPad. When I made my first test recording I noticed the microphone is automatically muted, but a quick click on the AirServer screen on your Macbook allows the audio recording to capture simultaneously.

More information here: http://support.airserver.com/customer/portal/articles/1479754-how-to-use-the-recording-feature-currently-mac-only-

This will be a great tool to demo activities for teachers and students!

Graphite from Common Sense Media

Anyone who has spent any time teaching digital citizenship over the past few years has hopefully discovered the wonderful resources available for teachers, students and families that are available through www.commonsensemedia.org. Direct access to teacher oriented resources is here: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators.

Recent additions to the Common Sense Media site include the Digital Passport, where teachers can set up accounts for students in grades 3-5. Digital Passport includes educational videos about digital citizenship issues and engaging games for students to play at home that reinforce the messages we are teaching at school. Teachers start here to setup your accounts: https://www.digitalpassport.org/educator-registration.

Another new resource released early this summer is Graphite. Graphite is designed to assist teachers in selecting the best apps, games, websites, and digital curricula rated for learning. Watch this video for an introduction to Graphite and sign up for your free account! Don't forget to contribute ratings and reviews for your favorite digital resources so that this collection will grow in scope over time.

iPad Resources

It has been a very busy summer settling into my new job at Education Service Center, Region 20. I am loving the opportunities I have to meet teachers throughout our service area. I have been teaching a lot of different iPad Basics and iPad integration sessions as many districts are deploying iPads or going to 1:1 initiatives.

A constant question I get is "Where do you find your lesson ideas?" Honestly, I like to start with the educational goals, and then work into what type of student outcome/product I think will allow students to express their learning. At that point I pull upon my knowledge of various apps, and I have a list of my favorites that I turn to over and over because of their ease of use, intuitive design and flexibility (Popplet, Strip Designer, Educreations, Videolicious, Screen Chomp, Haiku Deck, Doodle Buddy, Trading Cards, Notability or PaperPort Notes, Puppet Pals, Scribble Press or Bookabi or Book Magic).

For teachers new to iPad lesson design, it is often helpful to see what other teachers have come up with. Here are some of my favorite resources:

Tech Chef 4U - Download the free App, and visit Lisa Johnson's blog for extensive blog postings with lesson ideas from a wide variety of teachers and content areas. I used to work with Lisa and she is an amazing enthusiast and advocate for all things iPad!

Lisa and Yolanda Barker (another former colleague - I have had the pleasure of working with some very talented folks over the years!) also wrote a free iBook called Hot Apps for HOTS (available for free in the iTunes store). This book provides lesson ideas aligned with Blooms Taxonomy to inspire teachers to use a variety of apps to support all levels of Blooms.

For the Pinterest fans out there (I must confess I'm not one of them!) Lisa Johnson also curates a huge collection of iPad lesson ideas here.

There is life outside of the tremendous resources Lisa has collected! Here are just a few of my other favorites:

• Texas Computer Educator Association iPad Apps and eBooks listing, organized by content and grade levels. Even includes suggestions for administrator and productivity apps.
• Kathy Schrock's iPads in the Classroom. You name it, this site has it, from recommended lists of apps to terrific app evaluation rubrics, how to create iBooks, and training materials from her many presentations around the country. You can spend endless hours benefiting from Kathy's resources.
• Tony Vincent Learning in Hand. I've had the pleasure of learning with Tony at several conferences and he shares a tremendous amount through his website and Twitter.
• Learn Moore Stuff Another former colleague, Laura Moore, blogs about a wide variety of technology topics. Check out her iPad task card resources and many other technology integration tips. Laura also curates a Listly list of Apptivity Task Cards, don't reinvent the wheel, start here!
• Lisa Carnazzo is an incredible teacher who began with a 1 iPad classroom (and now has 8 iPads). Here is her class wiki to see what 2nd graders can accomplish with iPads.
• APPitic list from Apple Distinguished Educators.

Feeling overwhelmed? Bite off what you can chew! Master a few of the basic project creation apps and be willing to learn from your students. Provide student choice in app and project use and you will be amazed at what they will create. 

Do you have any resources you found helpful as you began on the iPad educator journey? Share them through the comments!

How much do I love Gmail? Let me count the ways...

Like many people, my Gmail inbox sometimes feels overwhelming. Too many emails which are not of immediate importance, perhaps group emails that I have delivered in daily digest format, alerts from social networking sites such as Twitter and Google+, just to name a few. I often worry that while rushing to delete unnecessary emails that I am going to accidentally delete an email from a friend or work colleague.

Google has provide a way to reconfigure your email box to automatically sort your incoming email into separate tabs depending upon several categories:

You decide which categories you want to turn on, then your incoming email is automatically sorted into the appropriate category. Social media emails go into Social, business emails go into Promotions, email from individuals goes into Primary. Email list subscriptions go into Forums. A flag at the top of each tab will alert you when you have new messages in that category. Want to move a message from a tab into your Primary tab? Simply click on the Star next to the email and the message will be moved.

I'm hoping this new tool will increase my efficiency in sorting through incoming messages! If you're interested in turning the feature on, here are directions:
1. Click on the Gear icon

2. Select Configure Inbox

3. Decide which tabs you wish to utilize. Place a checkmark next to them, along with a checkmark next to Include starred in Primary. Click on SAVE.

Return to your inbox and preview how it looks. Don't like the tabs? No problem, return to the gear, Configure Inbox option and uncheck all the boxes, your email box will return to the previous one big list style.

NEISD Teacher Web Resources

One of the life lessons I have learned the hard way is that when you leave an institution, your teacher web pages often are deleted. The following resources were created for NEISD teachers to assist them in using their Teacher Web system to schedule and send reminders to parents for teacher/parent/student conferences. Although the menu alignment has changed slightly since these videos were originally created, they detail the key components of the tools.

I have learned my lesson and now create everything on sites/blogs that I own/control, however I wanted to preserve the links to these videos for my former colleagues. I hope NEISD teachers will be able to take advantage of them in the future!

How to Use NEISD Teacher Web to Schedule Parent Conferences




How to Send Parent Conference Reminders via NEISD Teacher Web




How to Duplicate a Previously Created Teacher Conference Schedule

Stamping Images Using PowerPoint

If Paint isn't your speed, or if you have a large number of images that you want to collect all at one time, try using PowerPoint to stamp image credits onto your photos. Watch this movie for a demonstration:

Stamping Images on a Mac

How to use Preview to quickly stamp image credits onto photos using your Macbook.