Sunday, January 31, 2021

Organizing Extensions You Can Do

Google is good at many things ... one being change. One change you may or may not have even noticed is dealing with extensions on your Chrome account. I know I noticed it for awhile, but didn't pay much attention to it. [Could that be because of the pandemic, one might ask???]

Now that I've explored it, I've found it to be an excellent addition to the extensions area. I went from an extension tool bar that looked like this:

To an extension tool bar that now looks like this:


So much better! I choose to "unpin" extensions I do not frequently use. I didn't delete them, I just don't have to see them all the time. Yes! To better explain and demonstrate this, here's a video:


Take 5 minutes and clean up your extension toolbar. It's 5 minutes you won't regret! And if you are looking for additional ideas on extensions or Chrome tips, check out the two Wakelet collections below.







Have a question or comment? Feel free to leave it below ... or connect with me on Twitter (@kiefersj) or Facebook (Sarah Kiefer) ... or email me (Sarah@TechYouCanDo.com).

Sunday, January 24, 2021

9 Google Slides Tips You Can Do

I have said it before & I'll say it again ... Google Slides is probably one of the most versatile apps in the Google suite. And one of my absolute favorites! During a session with one of my teachers, we had about 10 minutes left and the teacher asked me to show him "anything". He was eager to learn. I asked him to open a Google Slides activity he already had - I had noticed something the week prior I wanted to show him, but we ran out of time. We covered a handful of quick "tips" in those 10 minutes and it inspired me to create the resource below and share it with all of you!

Google Slides is an app many teachers are really comfortable with. There is SOOOOO much to Google Slides that I would never profess to know everything - I'm still learning! Today I've pulled together nine tips/items in Slides that you may not know about. Hopefully there will be a nugget or two you find helpful. And if it's helpful to you, please do share with friends! And if you see something you aren't familiar with in Slides, hover over it to find out what it's called ... and then click! You might teach yourself something new!


Looking for more about Slides? I've got a Google Slides Wakelet Collection you can check out. 


Do you have a Google Slides tip you think others would find helpful? Feel free to leave it below ⤵

Connect with me via any of my links above - Twitter, Facebook, Wakelet, YouTube, or email.


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Sunday, January 17, 2021

2021 One Word I Can Do

I've seen so many people share their one word for 2021. It has taken me a bit longer and like so many things in my life, last year has shaped my one word. I've done some reflecting while also looking forward. It dawned on me that as difficult as last year was, I ALSO saw so many bright spots - so much good. I am tired of hearing about all of the things we "can't" do and the complaining about what we've "lost" ... so, in 2021, I am choosing to focus my attention on all of the blessings in my life. And that is my word - BLESSINGS.

Now, before I go too much further, I am well aware that I cannot ignore the things we can't do or that we've lost. I will be sad and upset about them. And there will be times I will be down right angry or hurt. That's just part of being human. At the same time, I know that I am very blessed in my life and I want to make sure I do not loose sight of that. There is a lot of negativity happening and I want to make sure that I also see - and highlight - the good that is happening, too. 

I have been journaling every day for the past year and I've made an adjustment to incorporate my one word. Rather than write down things I'm grateful for, I've adjusted that section to be where I write out my blessings. Topping my list everyday is my family & our health. These are two of the greatest blessings I have. The rest of my list will vary from day to day, but some of my top blessings recently are having a job (and a job that I love), music, a good team, warm days in the winter time, the ability to connect with educators near & far, my girls able to attend school face-to-face, quiet time in the morning, and so on.

This year, I want to focus on the blessings around me; give blessings to others; and to BE a blessing.   


Through my blog, I try to BE a blessing to all of you by sharing my adventures and activities I am lucky enough to be part of. I also hope that I can inspire you to look to the positives. 

One final note - on Monday, Feb 8 at 6 pm, I will be appearing on Kim Mattina's podcast - The Suite Talk. I will be sharing about using Google Sheets in the classroom. (Hint: it won't be limited to spread sheets! And yep .... templates will be included!)

I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment below - reach out on Twitter & Facebook - or even email me at sarah@techyoucando.com

 

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Boundaries You Can Do

Personally, I struggle with this week's topic. It's tough and it's been even tougher the past twelve months. Today, I am focusing on BOUNDARIES. 

A little background ... my district has been in-person from the start of this school year. I dared to hope we could remain this way for 2 weeks. Two weeks came and went. Then a month. Then the entire first quarter. Yes, we had positive cases and plenty of quarantines. But we stayed in-person. We switched to remote learning for the final two day prior to Christmas break and for the first week after break. Computers were sent home with the kindergarten through 4th grade students who needed them during this time. (They don't take them home on a daily basis.)

Here's the story. I was sitting at my daughter's indoor soccer game the day after we sent computers home. I received a text message from Laura, a friend who teaches 4th grade. Laura is an amazing teacher and was reaching out for advice.

She tells me a student of hers had already sent 14 comments through Google Classroom. (This is the NEXT morning ... a Saturday morning!) Laura hadn't answered any of them yet and I could feel the guilt oozing through her words. She goes on to say she is trying hard to be present for her own children. But her final comment made me pause ... "Am I being a meany?"

Wow. How many times have YOU been in that spot? Exhausted. Given all you have AT school that day/week and it's the weekend. But a student asks for help. I knew exactly what Laura was feeling. Every bit of it. I also knew she KNEW the right answer. She just wanted to hear it from someone else.

I responded quickly with "Not. At. All.

I went on to suggest she respond ONCE. Tell the student she is excited the student is eager to learn, but it's important to enjoy the weekend and if the student really wanted to work on the schoolwork, read and follow the directions. I also suggested to Laura she tell the student that she'll answer additional questions on Monday and even do a virtual meeting if needed.

Laura responded with relief. Like so many teachers, she was exhausted. She just needed to hear it's ok to put school work to the side on the weekends. I told her "Computer access doesn't mean you have to be accessible 100%."

I knew this would help this student, but it got me thinking about ALL of her students ... all of OUR students. I told Laura that students need boundaries with computers, too. The students we sent chromebooks home with might not have regular access to a device of their own and therefor this was big for them. I suggested she spend some time during her virtual meeting with her students creating agreed upon boundaries - very similar to what she'd done at the beginning of the year in-person. I firmly believe we must specifically TEACH our students the boundaries. We cannot expect them to just "know".

Laura's guilt quickly turned to excitement and she told me she was definitely going to have that conversation with her students on Monday. She agreed - this was really our first extended remote learning time. Remote learning was new to our kiddos. She wanted to everything she could to set them up for success!

Here's my thinking - boundaries WILL work, IF everyone knows where they are. We cannot make assumptions. Teaching & learning is no exception. We HAVE to make boundaries - both when we are in-person and virtual (or hybrid or whatever the case might be). I believe it is important to bring our students in on this conversation.

Our remote learning week has come and gone. Laura shared notes with me about this process and I'm excited to say she has agreed I can share the story with you, too! The first image is Laura's classroom rules, created at the beginning of the school year. Our elementary has had a pride pledge for longer than I've been working there. They say it everyday during announcements. "I am respectful. I am responsible. I am a peaceful problem solver. I can learn and I will learn." Laura's class based their rules on this. And I think it's brilliant!


Laura shared her updated classroom created rules for virtual learning. They kept the rules based on being respectful, responsible, and a peaceful problem solver. How awesome is this???


It's never to late to set boundaries with your students. 
It's never to late to set boundaries for yourself. (I work on my boundaries daily.)
I promise, you won't regret it.


Do you have a comment? Feel free to leave it below. Connect with me on Twitter & Facebook - my links are under my picture near the top right. You can also email me at sarah@techyoucando.com 



Sunday, January 3, 2021

Google Classroom: Reuse post You Can Do

 ðŸŽ‰ Happy New Year! I haven't been super active on social media over the break but I did see a quote that I absolutely LOVE and I think it speaks loudly to what we all need to hear at the beginning of a new year and I want to start off sharing it with you:

"TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO." 
~Robert H. Schuller

You are tough. We've made it though tough times and we will make it through more tough times. Because we are tough. We have each other.

Now ...

I am returning to Google Classroom to focus on one of the possibilities we have when creating a post. The "Reuse post" option. This might not register as a valuable option, but it absolutely is! The value really comes in as a time saver. When you reuse a post, you are making a copy of the original post, but you have the ability to change what you need to for the new post, whether that is the due date, topic, students it's assigned to, point value, title, description, or the attachments.

As a classroom teacher I would use the same wording over and over for my students. I would also reuse most of the wording when assigning a modified copy of an assignment to a group of students and only assigning to them. Not having to retype it ALL and redoing all the settings is a HUGE time saver! I could repeat this as many times as needed - copy the title, directions, topic, due date, point value & only have to change the attachment and students it is assigned to. Talk about being able to differentiate in a timely manner! Yes!!!


Two cautions when reusing posts with attachments: 

  1. Do yourself a favor ... make NEW copies of any attachments like Docs, Slides, or Sheets.

  2. If you have a Google Form attached, delete the link it automatically brings over and take the handful of seconds it will take to relink it. 
I've seen so many teachers have weird and unexplainable issues and they all seem to trace back to reusing the attachments rather than creating new. 

I do hope you will use the reuse post to be a tad bit more efficient in your Classrooms. If you are looking for additional tips, tricks, or resources related to Google Classroom, please check out my Google Classroom Wakelet collection. I am continually adding to this collection.

Have a question or comment? You can find me on social media by clicking any of the links under my photo in the upper right corner. Feel free to leave your question or comment below ⤵ I'd love to connect with you!


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