Google Drawing Challenge

Google Drawing Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

• What did you create, and why? 

         I created a Google Drawing. The students in my classes this fall will learn about Google Drawing. The Google Drawing that I created will be used as an example of how to create one and what the expectations are for their Drawings.

• What went well for you?

         Most of it worked well for me. I was intrigued by one of the resources about Math and Google Drawing. I will watch it when I have an hour to devote to it. The tutorials were very helpful.

• What was challenging?

        The video I was really interested in watching is going to take an hour to watch. I didn't have that amount of time to give today. I will watch it another day. It took me a little bit to figure out how to size the Drawing correctly so that it would fit onto a page in a Google Doc.

• What did you enjoy? 

        I enjoyed creating the Google Drawing. I'm excited to teach this lesson to my students and see their "Numbers about Me" Drawings.

• What ideas do you have for using this tool with your students, grade level, staff or to communicate with families? 

         I will use Google Drawings in a "Numbers about Me" lesson during the first few weeks of September. I could see using it throughout the year at various times to have students show their understanding of particular concepts - fractions, multiplication, etc. I don't really see a use for communicating with families or colleagues, but I'm sure there's a use for it.

Google Calendar

I created a Google Calendar in order to be more organized and able to share with my grade level team and parents.

The step by step instructions and creating the events went well.

The challenging aspect of the task was listening to all the training modules even though I am not going to use some of them.  Such as video call or booking a room/resource.  At times it was information overload.

I enjoyed creating something I'm going to use in the classroom.  The ground work is already set so it will be easy to maintain.

I will be sharing the calendar with my grade level team so they know when I'm available for collaborative meetings.  I will create another calendar with school and district events to share with my students' parents so they are inform using another resource.

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=edmonds.wednet.edu_enbld29plraorgj39h6h6t8uvc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

Google Drive

Google Drive Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

         Google Drive is more than just online storage of files. I have used Drive for two years now and thought I was pretty knowledgeable in this area. I learned that I still have a lot left to learn. I was super excited to learn that I can change the color of my folders which will make it easier to find my "most used" folders now that they are color coordinated. I even added a star to a couple of folders that I use a lot. I was impressed to learn that I could share any file type. I don't know why, but I always thought it had to be a Google Doc or Google Sheet. I took some time to re-arrange some things in my Google Drive and changed some settings while I was there. Thanks for a very helpful lesson.

Chromebook Apps & Extensions

Chromebook Apps & Extensions Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

The Extension - Symbaloo

         This extension puts all of your bookmarked websites on one screen. You can search for popular websites and add ones that are less popular. I set up my homepage to look like this:

This will make it easier to get to my most visited sites. If students have access to this extension, it could help them as well.

The app - Google Translate

         This is an awesome app. I have always gone to Google and typed in "Google Translate" and then copied and pasted what I needed to translate. Now I will be able to just click on the app in the toolbar and paste in what needs to be translated. I'm excited to use this app next time I need to translate an email.

Google Sheets

Google Forms Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

• What did you create, and why? 

         I created a Google Sheets spreadsheet to track returning students' summer growth or slide data. I used formatting, formulas, and conditional formatting in order to make data easier to interpret.

• What went well for you?

         Most of it worked well for me. I was excited to hear about the "Explore" button! I have always had issues with creating charts so it's nice to know that Google Sheets has already done what I was probably going to do anyway.

• What was challenging?

        Two or three of the tutorials froze and would not resume playing, even after rebooting and starting them again. That was frustrating. I also couldn't figure out how to create a header or footer other than by typing them into the spreadsheet itself.

• What did you enjoy? 

        I enjoyed working through the tutorials and setting up the spreadsheet. I am hopeful that I will enjoy creating a chart that will be easy to interpret when I get the data in September.

• What ideas do you have for using this tool with your students, grade level, staff or to communicate with families? 

         I will use Google Sheets a lot! I like the fact that the Sheet can be shared. I will teach my students how to use Sheets during the first month of the year and am thinking about having them keep a spreadsheet of some sort that they use to track information throughout the year. My department tracks IEPs on a shared Google Sheet. I don't see a use for this in order to communicate with families.

Google Forms

Google Forms Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

• What did you create, and why? 

         I created a Google Forms quiz. I will give students this quiz once they get their Chromebooks. It is designed to see if they pay attention to details. I used the new "quiz" format which allows for selection of correct answers and feedback to students. 

http://goo.gl/forms/WwdxaRqGWkCntPvn1

• What went well for you?

         Most of the challenge went well. The Synergise tutorials are very helpful. I was finally able to learn how to change the "theme" of a form as well as collect email addresses. I wish there was a way to set it to collect email addresses as a default. I was excited to try the new "quiz" format. I was able to assign points to each question as well as provide the correct answers and feedback to be given based on whether the student got the correct or incorrect answers.

• What was challenging?

        Nothing was too challenging. I wish I knew a way to make it default to collecting email addresses. 

• What did you enjoy? 

        I enjoyed setting up the quiz and creating the feedback for each question. I'm looking forward to using this in class the first week of school.

• What ideas do you have for using this tool with your students, grade level, staff or to communicate with families? 

         I will use Google Forms to assess student knowledge (formative and summative). I will use it to assist in creating seating and group assignments. I could use Google Forms to get information from parents at the beginning of the year (for those that have computer access at home).

Google Calendar

Google Calendar Challenge

by Katherine Ramsey

• What did you create, and why? 

        I created a Google Calendar to use with one of my classes. I will use this calendar to help students know when assignments are due and when important dates are coming up. I hope this shows the embedded calendar here:

<iframe src="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=edmonds.wednet.edu_hqikee9abdb4g2a22t93eld5og%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Vancouver" style="border: 0" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

• What went well for you?

       Most things went well. The Synergise lessons were easy to follow, although I wanted more information than they gave in those lessons.

• What was challenging?

        The instructions were to embed the calendar in my website. I don't have one that I use right now. I communicate with my students through Google Classroom and with their parents through email and phone calls. I should probably set up a class website, but don't have one right now. One challenge will be to make sure that I know how to give the parents access to the calendar just for their student's class. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

• What did you enjoy? 

        I enjoyed setting up the calendar for fall. I look forward to organizing my lesson plans on here so students can see what's coming up and "What did you do yesterday?" questions can be answered on their own.

• What ideas do you have for using this tool with your students, grade level, staff or to communicate with families? 

         I will use Google Calendar to organize information for my classes. I will use it to schedule all of my IEP meetings for the year and will share that calendar with all of the teachers at our school. Now that I know I can make it public, I can use it to communicate with parents as well.