Tech Tuesday - November18, 2014

Overview of November 18, 2014 Tech Tuesday:

3rd Grade Teachers:

• Discussion of Google Classroom
• Teachers learned how to log students into the Google Classroom through the class code
• Students log into the chromebook they will see a second tab (classroom.google.com)
• Click on Students
• Click on + in the top right corner
• Type in the class code
• Students are now enrolled in the class
• Discussion of new features of Google Classroom
• Teacher permissions
• Students can post and comment

• Students can ONLY comment
• ONLY teacher can post and comment
• MUTE a student (in Actions)
• Delete (in the stream)
• Reply to comments
• Discussion of Assignments and how to do group assignments
• Teachers participated in group activity
• 2 teachers worked together on one document; 3 teachers on another document
• Discussion of difficulty (and success) and how students could work on group projects
• Discussion of interactivity between Google Classroom and Google Drive
• Session ended with teachers all leaving with an assignment for students to do in the Google Classroom (or an idea for how they want to move forward with their Google classrooms)

Suggestions for the future: If we continue focusing on Google Classroom with Third Grade then see how the teachers have used the tool (Classroom) and discuss some of the successes and difficulties.  Also work on curriculum integration next time (i.e. bring in a unit of study and see how we can use Google Classroom to integrate the tools into your curricula).

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K-2 Teachers and Specialty Teachers (AIS, PE, etc).

• Discussion and Updating of Google Sites
• How to Navigate Google Site
• Edit Pages
• Open More Actions (Cog)
• Manage Site
• Edit Site Navigation
• Google Sites Document

Suggestions for the future: Most teachers were able to update parts (if not all) of their sites today, but one hour for Google Sites (for most groups) was not enough time.  One particular session had approximately 12 people in it.  For Google Sites (as everyone has very specific needs) and this is a very individualized topic, this session size should be kept smaller (there was MUCH more success in the sessions of 6).  Overall, EVERYONE was able to make their site live (public) and most were able to “clean up” parts or pages.  The Phys Ed teachers and Science Department began creating sites and were enthusiastic with the initiation of their sites.   I believe that more time needs to be spent with some of these individuals as some of the sessions felt rushed today.