The end of #NaBloWriMo 2016

So this is the last night of #NaBloWriMo 2016.  I will take a moment to reflect on the process..

Things that were tough...

1. Writing. Every. Day.  I was often writing late at night and I am VERY tired.
2. There were some days I just could not think of anything of substance to write. 
3. Not knowing if I had an audience.
4. Feeling comfortable putting out my vulnerabilities for others to critique. 

Things I love...

Grandpa & me...picture #1

1. Growing my PLN.
2. Having the posts to look back on and use as resources
3. Doing it!  I am proud that I actually stuck to it.

So, today is brief...I would love to elaborate but my Grandpa passed away and it has been a long few days.

Until next post....which will come...and #NaBloWriMo 2017

Giving Google Feedback

I did some training today around GSuite for Education.   I gave the delegates some advice that I thought I would share more globally.

From what I have heard, google puts most of its money into R&D, leaving support to be crowd sourced.  While I sometimes find this frustrating, I do love how Google is constantly improving their products based on feedback from their users.

Last year I was frustrated that I couldn't schedule posts in Google Classroom.  I started sending feedback every time this annoyed me by pushing the little question mark icon (in the bottom left hand corner).  Low and behold, soon after scheduling was added.  The same thing happened with parental communication and viewing in Classroom.  Same thing for tagging topics (although that one could still use some work).

I now use that little check mark (or Help --> Report a Problem) every time I see something I want improved, and I really encouragee you to do the same.

What's the Hype with HyperDocs?!

"We want our students to be creative,  collaborative, critical thinkers and communicators - and then we ask them to sit quietly while we explain everything and tell them exactly how to do a task."

-The HyperDocs Handbook

This past summer, while on Twitter, I kept hearing about HyperDocs. The more I saw, the more intrigued I became. I went on Amazon, bought the HyperDoc Handbook, and I was hooked.

HyperDocs are Google Docs, with interactive elements, designed to replace the worksheet method of delivering instruction. By sharing a link to a HyperDoc, teachers can get students thinking, exploring, collaborating, and creating all on their own, shifting teachers from the lecturer to listener. teachers are now able to personalize the learning experience and better connect with students.

In every lesson, be it a single lesson, a series of lessons, a unit, or an entire course, students cycle through activities for engagement, exploration, explanation, application (I like to call it creation), sharing, reflection and extension.

The lessons speak to individualization and deep learning. Hyperdocs allow for easy differentiation. It is a perfect way to go paperless. Every time I have introduced it to teachers, they create one the next week.

The best part? The community. Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis (HyperDoc creators) have created a great site - Teachers Give Teachers (a deliberate play on that other site) wherein teachers share documents they created. Follow the twitter hashtag #HyperDocs and you'll see all the hype.

Become a GSuite Wizard

About a month ago, I was asked to do some PD in the last hour of a Friday PD day.  I knew the topic was great and important, but I also knew that the audience would be fried from a long week, in a long month.  I was struggling with how I would present this topic and get buy in when it dawned on me...I needed to let the learners control their own learning.  Moreover, I needed to give them tools that would guide them, but that they could come back to at a time when they were more fresh.  

Taking a page from the HyperDoc Bootcamp I did earlier in the fall, I decided to to create a Multimedia Text Set (MMTS).  This curation of links to videos, infographics, docs, slide decks, etc, is now a rich resource I share often.  It offers the learner a place to go to hone skills, and come in at different entry points.  I have a section for general tips and hacks, beginner, intermediate, and expert tips for each app, and an area for experts.  I add to it often and it has become a great primer for the GSuite (imho).  There is a link below; feel free to explore and learn.

Have a look at the MMTS here

  

Unlocking the Small Powers of Google Sheets

Tonight I worked on a presentation I am doing on Google Sheets. I think it is a very underused tool in education. I need to learn more but here is a beginner's primer. Note: This is mostly a curation from other sites and I will be adding references when it is not after midnight!

Unlocking the Small Powers of Google Sheets

Hiding Columns

To hide a sheet: Click the sheet you want to hide. On the sheet tab, click the Down arrow . Click Hide sheet. This option won’t show if your spreadsheet doesn’t contain two or more sheets

To unhide a sheet: Click View → Hidden sheets. If your spreadsheet doesn’t have any hidden sheets, this option will be grayed out. Click the sheet that you no longer want hidden. The spreadsheet will reappear.

Use Autofill to Complete a Series

1. In a column or row, enter text, numbers, or dates in at least two cells next to each other.
2. Highlight the cells. You’ll see a small blue box in the lower right corner.
3. Drag the blue box any number of cells down or across.

• If the cells form a series of dates or numbers, the series will continue across the selected cells.
• If the cells don’t form a series of dates or numbers, the list of values will repeat across the selected cells.

Filters

Filter your data To filter your data: Select a range of cells. Click Data → Filter. To see filter options, go to the top of the range and click Filter . To turn the filter off, click Data → Turn off filter. Filter by condition: Choose from a list of conditions or write your own. For example, if the cell is empty, if data is less than a certain number, or if the text contains a certain letter or phrase. Filter by values: Uncheck any data points that you want to hide and click OK. If you want to choose all data points, click Select all. You can also uncheck all data points, by clicking Clear.

Create, save, or delete a filter view Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Click Data → Filter views → Create new filter view. Sort and filter the data. To close your filter view, go to the top right and click Close X. Your filter view is saved automatically. To delete or duplicate a filter view go to the top right and click Options →  Delete or Duplicate. Note:  If new data is entered on the spreadsheet the filter view will apply to the new data

Conditional formatting

Cells, rows, or columns can be formatted to change text or background color if they meet certain conditions. For example, if they contain a certain word or a number.

1. Select the cells you want to apply format rules to.
2. Click Format →  Conditional formatting. A toolbar will open to the right.
3. Create a rule.
• Single color: Under "Format cells if," choose the condition that you want to trigger the rule. Under "Formatting style, choose what the cell will look like when conditions are met.
• Color scale: Under "Preview," select the color scale. Then, choose a minimum and maximum value, and an optional midpoint value. To choose the value category, click the Down arrow.
4. Click Done.

Data Validation

Use data validation rules to control the type of data or the values that users enter into a cell.

1. To use data validation on a set of cells, select Data → Validation
2. Next to Criteria, choose an option:
1. List from a range: Choose the cells that will be included in the list.
2. List of items: Enter items, separated by commas and no spaces.
3. The cells will have a Down arrow. (You can remove the arrow by uncheck "Display in-cell button to show list.")
4. If you enter data in a cell that doesn’t match an item on the list, you’ll see a warning. If you want people to only enter items from the list, choose "Reject input" next to "On invalid data."
5. Click Save. The cells will show a drop-down list.

Useful Add-ons

Copy Down - automatically copies formulas to new rows. Just add the formulas to a top row in the spreadsheet worksheet where your form results will be added—row 2 by default—and turn on copyDown. Then, as results are added to your spreadsheet, it'll copy those formulas down to each new row, calculating values, evaluating results, and more automatically.

rowCall - creates a new sheet for each unique type of response and sorts the data into the appropriate sheet automatically, so you never have to search through and filter form data again.

autoCrat - AutoCrat is a multi-purpose document merge tool that allows you to take data from a spreadsheet and merge it into a document via a template.  Tell autoCrat which fields to merge via <<merge tags>> and then let autoCrat mass-generate personalized documents.  Optionally send the documents as email attahchments.  Optionally tell autoCrat to run when new forms are submitted to created truly automated processes.

Split Names - Quickly split full names to several columns with first, middle, last names, titles, and/or post-nominal letters.

formMule - sends targeted, personalized emails from a Google Sheet.  Run as either a manual email merge or -- more powerfully -- as a triggered merge that runs automatically on form submit or on a timer.  Can use up to 15 different user created templates.

Symbaloo - All your favs in one place

This summer I did a course wherein I learned about a site called Symbaloo.  It was developed based on the idea to make surfing the web easier.

It is a free tool wherein you customize tiles to link to different websites. As they say, it helps you organise the best of the web.  It is easy to use and have a lot of great educational benefits.

1. It can be used to as a resource for students for direct links to all important course related sites.  This would also be a great way to have parents in the loop about course content.
2. It promotes safe surfing.  For my own children, I have a Symbaloo page as a homepage on our Chromebooks.  They know these are the only ones they are to visit.
3. It would be an easy way to curate all class blogs.  Off one site, all the students could access each other's work.
4. I have a lot of ed blogs and pages I love to check on from time to time.  I use symbaloo as a one stop place to link them all.
5. Symbaloo boards can be shared...great for collaboration.

Check it out and build one yourself.

Reaching your Audience

In my role, I often feel like I have so much knowledge to share, but so little time to share it since I have so many teachers to support.  I have this blog, but I have not shared it with my schools at large. I have twitter, but not all teachers are on twitter...though they should be.  I thought about creating a G+ community, but not everyone checks that regularly...and notifications are often turned off.  I had yet to find a solution, until now.

I was listening to podcasts (as always) on the way to work a couple of days ago and the speaker was talking about using Remind to push information out to the system.  It suddenly dawned on me that I could do this.  Since we are a GSuite for education district, I have decided to use Google Classroom. Since many teachers use Classroom, I think this vehicle will see a lot of traffic.  I am not totally sure how I am going to use it yet (please leave suggestions in the comments) but here are some initial thoughts.

1. Push out operation items via announcements about relevant tech and modern learning PD.
   
2. Share documents of interest - resources, learning materials, etc.
   
3. Post articles that might inspire and advance rich pedagogy

It is a start...now to sit down and get it done...