Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Handy Google Tip: Force a Copy

Have you ever wanted to share a Google Doc with a colleague or a student, but you wanted them to be able to edit the document for themselves? Sharing it with viewing or commenting privileges isn't an option then. Giving them editing privileges lets them alter your original file. You can ask them to make a copy for themselves, but sometimes they forget to do that or they don't know how.

Problem solved: force them to make a copy!

It is really quite simple:

Open the document you want to share with the other person and copy and paste the link to the document into an email message.

Now here's the important part: delete out the "edit" at the end of the URL up to the final slash and replace what you deleted with the word "copy".

Send the email.

When the other person clicks on the link to open the file, they will be prompted to make a copy. That is the only way they can actually get the file then. Like this:


Here's a quick video that demonstrates how to do this:




Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The End Is Near!

We are at the middle of May, and we are really close to the end of the school year! It's actually a bittersweet time for me -- I am looking forward to summer and the plans I have, but I also get lonely and bored kind of quick during the summer now because my kid is all grown up and lives away from home. So I get itching to get back to work kind of quick!

The end of the school year is also a stressful time -- there are so many little things to do and not nearly enough time! So, let me add to the pile :-) Here are two things for you to CONSIDER doing at the end of this school year -- or even during the summer, sitting on your patio sipping a sweet tea:

  1. Archive your Google Classroom.
  2. Upload all your H drive files to Google Drive.


Archiving Google Classroom
At the end of the school year, you may want to archive your Google Classroom. This removes it from your list of active classes as well as from your students' list of active classes. You (and your students) can still access the archived classes; they just can't be modified. This access is good for you so you can look back to see resources you used and use them in your next Google Classroom. It's also good for your students so they can go back to see resources you shared (might sound something like this: Do you remember way back in 2nd grade, Mrs. Byers had those weather websites in her Google Classroom for us to use? I could sure use those now as I work on my Dream Lab project about developing a helmet people who work outside can wear if they get stuck in a hailstorm!). Archiving is easy and quick -- a few mouse clicks! Here's a big THANK YOU to Rachel at Three Rivers who put together this terrific document explaining archiving and giving step-by-step directions how to do it (if you need help beyond this document, feel free to reach out to your building-level tech (BLT) -- Mary Jo at NBG; Robyn at PP; Rachel at TRS; or me at CJHS.

Upload Your H Drive Files to Google Drive
We had a full year of Google this year, so why not take the next big step and ditch the H drive? By uploading all your files to Google Drive, you can access them from anywhere -- no more having to be in CSD 17 to access your files! No more emailing them to yourself at home and then back to work! No more saving to a flash drive! You might be thinking that MS Office files can't go in Google Drive, but that's not true! They CAN go in Google Drive -- but they are only viewable there, not editable. If you need to edit any of those files, all you have to do is open them as a Google file:

  • Word = Google Docs
  • PowerPoint = Google Slides
  • Excel = Google Sheets
Then you'll have an editable copy to work with! (Full disclosure: if you have a highly formatted file created with Office -- lots of fancy fonts, text boxes, tab settings, etc. -- that formatting might not transfer over to Google perfectly.)

Ready to make the jump from H to Google? Just follow these steps:
  1. Open your H drive.
  2. Create a new folder called “H Drive Files”.
  3. Drag all the files/folders in your H drive into your new folder.
  4. Open your Google Drive.
  5. Click New.
  6. Click Folder Upload.
  7. Locate your H Drive folder.
  8. Click Upload.
Again, if you need help, just get in touch with your BLT!!!

Enjoy the last couple weeks of school, then have a restful, rejuvenating summer!

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Backchanneling

Have you ever been to a professional development activity (conference, grad class, etc.) where the presenter asked the audience to log into a site and ask questions or have a discussion while the presenter was presenting? If so, the presenter was asking you to backchannel.

Backchanneling is a way to extend the discussion and the learning that is taking place. It allows participants the opportunity to discuss among themselves, ask and answer questions in a non-threatening and non-disruptive way.

In your classroom, backchanneling can do the same things. It can also be a great way to engage students who might not be comfortable speaking up in class. They can still participate in a discussion without having to have all eyes on them while they speak. It is also great for you as a teacher to have an archive of the discussion and questions asked; you can go back and review the transcript of the backcahnnel to see what insights kids had or what questions they need answered.

Some ideas for using backchanneling:

  • Ask kids to generate questions they want answers to when introducing a new topic.
  • Ask kids to discuss a movie while they are watching it.
  • Use the backchannel during Socratic seminars.
  • Use a backchannel discussion while reading a story or a novel.
The backchannel I like to use the most is Today's Meet, which is free and gives you lots of control. You can keep chat discussions open or closed for as long as you want. You can archive discussions and print out transcripts, too.

Here's a short video that will give a nice overview of backchanneling. 


Let me know if you'd like to get started using this technique in your class -- I'd be thrilled to come help you with it! This can be an especially powerful method next year in particular once we are 1:1!