Why do I need a website?

For many teachers, the idea of creating a website is infuriating. Teachers have enough to do, and most teachers find Google Classroom meets their needs when it comes to organizing digital content for their students. Why then should teachers take the time to create a website? Here are three reasons you should consider creating a class website.

1. A website saves time and resources. Even if you are a teacher that is fortunate enough to have a great textbook, there are still dozens of supplemental materials that need to be printed, and copied, and distributed to students, and redistributed when the student loses them. I'm sure you get my point. Printing materials takes time and money that could better be used somewhere else. You might be asking yourself, "Can't I distribute those resources through Google Classroom?" The answer to that is, "Yes." However, there are some limitations to Google Classroom, which leads me to my second point.
2. A website brings all your content together. You can organize content in Google Classroom, but you and your students will need to jump back and forth between content in different tabs. With a website you can have all the content on one page making it easier for you to present and students to follow. Using traditional terms, think of Google Classroom as a workbook, and a website as your textbook. 
3. A website reaches a larger audience. Students and parents can keep up with what is happening in your class by logging into Google Classroom or PowerSchool. What about grandparents, people in the community, or other teachers? How can they keep up with what's going on in your class? Posting student work or information about what your students are doing is a great way to motivate students to do their best, and shows that our schools are doing incredible things. Just remember that anyone can access your website, so get parent permission before posting pictures of students, and never post information that should be kept private. 

Here are a few ideas of how you can use a website: 

• Replace the paper version of your class newsletter. 
• Post student work for people to see
• Create an online "textbook" for your class
• Embed a blog to post updates on your class. 
• Show progress towards a class goal such as a fundraiser or improved class attendance. 
• Or, do all the above!

There is so much you can do with a class website. If you decide that a class website is something that you want to do, click here for a video showing you how to create a Google Site, or click here if you want more ideas on how you could use Google Sites in your classroom.

In the comments below post a link if you have already created a class website, and if not tell us how you would like to use a website for your classroom!

Capture Your Class Digitally

   Your class is brimming with sights and sounds. Don't you wish you could share some the excitement of your classroom with students, parents, and colleagues? Well, if you have a cell phone or tablet, you can!


Before You Get Started: You will need Google Drive, Google Photos, and an Audio Recording app to add images and audio to your Google account. Check you phone's/ tablet's App Store to download these apps if you don't already have them.


Pictures and Videos 

Step One: Sync your district account to Google Photos. Just open the app and it will prompt you to log in. Make sure to use your District Google Account.  IMPORTANT: When you first set up Google Photos it will ask if you want high quality or original quality. Choose high quality. This will give you unlimited storage for your photos.


Step Two: Check your settings in Google Photos. In the app go to settings and make sure that sync is turned on. If you don't have a lot of memory on your phone you might want Google Photos to delete the images from your phone once they have been synced. You should also check the Cellular Data options. Unless you have Unlimited data, make sure this is turned off.


Step Three: Start taking pictures and videos.


Step Four: Upload your images. Depending on your sync settings you might need to connect to a wireless network and open the app to make sure your photos and videos are being backed up. There will be a small notification icon that tells you it is backing up or if it's already up to date.

Step Five: Use your images/Videos. Now that your images are in Google Photos, you can access them from any computer that is connected to the internet by going to photos.google.com and logging in.

Audio

Step One: Open the audio recorder on your phone/tablet and record your audio. Remember the microphone on your phone is meant to be used close up. If you are recording students, try not to have the phone more than a few feet away. If you want better quality recordings, you can purchase a microphone for your phone/ tablet. Just make sure to get one that is compatible for your phone.

Step Two: Save the audio recording to your phone. (If your app let's you upload to Google Drive skip this step and Save to Google Drive).

Step Three: Open Google Drive and upload the audio recording from your phone.

Step Four: Use your recordings. Log into drive.google.com and access your recordings.


Now that you have pictures, videos, and audio recordings of your class you can easily share them with parents via email or students with Google Classroom. You can also use the audio/video files to assess and document student progress.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you have permission to publish 
students' images before sharing them with others.

In the comments below tell about what classroom 

activities you would love to share online. 

Email Drab to Fab Part 4: Formatting in Gmail

There is nothing wrong with using a small simple font for writing an email, but there is nothing exciting about it either. Changing the formatting of your email is one of the easiest things you can do to give your emails a professional look, and make them stand out.

Option 1: Change your format in a specific email. This is great if you have single email for which you want to use special formatting. 

Steps: 

1. Log into your Gmail account and click compose. 
2. At the bottom on of the email you have options to change the font like you would in any word processor.
3. Choose your settings before you start typing to change the formatting for your entire email, or type your email, highlight the text you want to change, and then change the settings. 

Option 2: Change the default formatting. This is great option if you want all of your emails to have a specific and consistent format. 

Steps: 

1. Log into your Gmail account and click on the settings icon in the top right. 
2. Click settings 
3. Find the Default Text Style: 
4. Change the Font, Size, and Color to look the way you want it. 
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes 
6. Click Compose and start Typing. The formatting should  match your changes. 

In the comments below, tell about how you have turned your emails from Drab to Fab

Email Drab to Fab Part 3: Subject Lines

Let's be honest. When you are going through your email you tend to read the ones that have clear or interesting subject lines first. Emails that aren't clear or have no subjects get read later if at all. So, why are do you send out emails with boring subjects or no subjects at all? 

When you are sending an email out to parents or students you are competing with every other email in their inbox. Some people are really good about reading every email they receive, but most people scan the subject lines and delete anything that doesn't grab their attention. That is why it is useful to compose your emails with a really impressive subject.

Email Subjects

Please Don't Do This:

Forget to include a subject: If you can't be bothered with typing a short explanation of what is in the email, why should the recipient take time to read it. 

Use unclear subject: Having one word or vague subjects are almost as bad as not having a subject at all.

Do These Things Instead:

Make Your Subject Specific: When your recipient reads the heading they should know what to expect.
Make Your Subject Powerful: Your subject should grab your recipients attention.
Make Your Subject Cleaver :  A catchy or fun subject will make your recipient want to read your email.

Vague: Parent Meeting	Specific: Information about Parent Meeting October 15th
Weak: Parent Meeting October 15th	Powerful: Urgent Information about Oct 15th Parent Meeting
Dull: Information about Parent Meeting October 15th	Creative: Information Proud Parents Need for Oct 15th Meeting

If some of these examples seem like something you would get from advertiser, you are right. Advertisers spend millions of dollars every year researching what grabs people's attention. If you don't want your emails lost in your recipient's inbox, you should use some of the same practices.

HINT: According to campaignmonitor.com,  you want to keep your subjects to between 41 and 70 characters, or around 7 words to be most effective.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all educators. The hard work that you do for your students everyday might seem to go unnoticed, but it is truly appreciated.You are helping to shape young people into outstanding adults and from a parent and a colleague, "THANK YOU!"  

Enjoy the Thanksgiving break, you deserve it. 

Email Drab or Fab Part 2: Adding Images

In a previous post we covered how to add a professional signature to your emails, but there is more you can do to help your emails make a great impression. So, let's jump right in. 

Images are a great way to jazz up your emails as long as they meet a few requirements: 

1. The image(s) relate to your position or email subject. Seasonal images would fall under this category as well. 
2. The image(s) don't overpower the email. They should not be too big, bold, or dramatic. 
3. The image(s) are those which you have created, or images that have creative commons licenses. You don't want stolen images on your emails!

Here are some examples:

Background photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com

Each of these images has a Creative Commons License. The first 3 came from pixabay.com and did not require attribution, and the last one came from freepik.com and required attribution.

The pencils would make good dividers for longer emails with multiple subjects, and the other images would make for great headers. 

How to do it:

Option 1: When using Gmail, you can add images by inserting the image or dragging an image into the body of your message. This is great when you want to use the image one time, however, there are some images that you will want to add on a regular basis. For this, you will want to add a canned response. 

Option 2: Creating a canned response: If you aren't sure how to create a canned response, go back to  Can it! Using Canned Responses in Gmail. Create a blank email with the image(s) you want to use and save it as new canned response. HINT: Don't include a signature in your template if you already one set up. It will be added automatically.  

In the comments below, tell about images that you think spruce up an email, and which ones make them look cheesy.  

Email Drab or Fab Part 1: Using Signatures

Take a look at the two email signatures below: 

Thanks, Chris

Thanks,

Which one of these looks like it came from a professional that is excited about his job and wants to work with you, and which one looks like it came from someone that would have rather not sent you an email in the first place?

That question doesn't actually need a response, and chances are if you end your emails like the example on the left, it's not because you don't care, it's because you are busy or just don't think about things like your email signature. The reality is having a strong email signature matters. It's like your digital business card. Not only does it make you look more professional, but it also gives you a chance to share important information with the people with whom you are communicating. 

Here is how to make your own professional email signature for Gmail: 

1. Open a browser 
2. In the address bar go to docs.new (this will open a new Google Doc). 
3. Insert a table (Start with 1 row and 2 columns to start with). 
4. In the left column insert a picture or yourself or a school related logo (remember to keep it professional). 
5. In the right column type the information you want to share. 
6. Change the font style, size, and color to make it look the way you want. 
7. You can add rows or columns as needed to make sure things are spaced the way you want them to be. 
8. Highlight and copy the entire table 
9. Open Gmail
10. Click on the settings icon
11. Click settings
12. Under the General Tab, scroll down until you see Signature: 
13. Paste the table into the box provided. 
14. Click in the box that says "Insert this signatures before quoted text in replies..."
15. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes 

That's it. Now every time you send an email your signature will be fabulous.

Note: Here is a video of how to set up signatures in Outlook.

Please leave a comment below with what information you like to include in your signatures. 

Dressing Up Google Classroom

I thought that because this blog is being posted on Halloween,

 Dressing up Google Classroom would be fitting topic. 

One the features that is lacking in Google Classroom is to manipulate text. In order to get around this and to make your assignments and posts stand out here are a few tips.

Tip 1

Go to a site such as Cool Fancy Text Generator  or Fancy Text Generator. Enter in your text. Next copy a version of the text you like.

Finally, go to your Google Classroom and past the text into your post or assignment. Note: text might look different on Chromebooks than on PC's, so make sure you look at it on a Chromebook before you post.

Tip 2

Download the Google Classroom App to your smart phone.
Use standard emojis to jazz up assignments, posts, and topics.

Tip 3

On a windows computer press the windows key and the period at the same time to get an emoji keyboard. Use it to put emojis in your posts or assignments. 

In the comments below, tell about a time your class was scary.

KonMarie Your Google Drive

Marie Kondo is a world-renowned expert in organization. She's well known for her book
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and her Netflix show Tidying Up.
This might seem like an odd piece of trivia to start a technology blog with, however, for
many of us, keeping our digital lives organized is an ongoing struggle. In this blog post
we are going to use a modified version of Marie Kondo’s strategy for organization known
as KonMari to help organize our Google Drives.

Step 1:  Commit yourself to tidying up.

 Ask yourself if any of these scenarios apply to you:

• your Google Drive has  dozens of files that you haven't used in years
• half of your file names start with Untitled.
• there are files that you aren't sure where they even came from

If you said yes to any of these scenarios, then you need to organize your digital files.
Schedule a time such as  during a planning period, or when you're at home away from
the students, that you can focus your full attention on organizing your files. 

Step 2: Look at all your files and think about how they should be organized. 

Textbooks are organized into units and chapters, and because of this you can easily find
the information that you want to cover. However for most people, files are often lumped
together regardless of what they are. As you start seeing patterns in your files, make
folders so that similar content can be stored together. For some teachers this will be as
easy as making a folder for each standard or topic but remember that you can put folders
into folders. One way  how I organize my classroom folders, is a Subject folder, Course
Folders, Topic Folders (such as content), Unit Folder, and Instructional Type Folder. 

Step 3: Does the file bring you joy?

This seems like a stupid thing to ask about a file, but the truth is some things that you
have made or found for your classes are really great, while others are lousy. If you are
proud of something you have made, keep it. If you aren’t ditch it. Also really reflect on
how the file helped the students learn the content. Just because you have a worksheet
that lines up with the standard, doesn’t mean it will help the students.
If it doesn’t, get rid of it!

I know it might take some time and effort, but it will be well worth it. During the process
you will most likely find some great activities that you forgot that you had. You will also
see areas of your content that don’t have as many resources, which will show you areas
where you could improve instruction. Best of all, when you are ready to use something,
you know right where it is and you don’t have to open dozens of untitled files to find the
one you want. In the words of Marie Kondo, that will, “Spark Joy.”

In the comments below,

tell how you organize your files!

Digital Coexistence- Syncing your home and work calendars and email.

In a previous post we talked about how you can be more productive by using your phone. One of the tips was to sync up your work email and calendar on your phone so that you can quickly see everything from your personal accounts, as well as from work. There will be times you will not want to see details from work, so you can easily change from one account to another, or when you need to, you can see both.  Below are the basic steps for syncing your district email and calendar to your phone (note: phone updates might change the steps, but it should remain similar).

iPhone: 

1. Open Settings
2. Select Passwords & Accounts
3. Tap Add Account > Select Google
4. Enter your District email address > Tap Next
5. Enter your District Google (same as Google Classroom) password > Tap Next
6. Choose to sync Email and/or Calendars. 

Android: 

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Click Accounts and Backup.
3. Click Accounts.
4. Click + Add account (If you don't see this option, scroll to the bottom).
5. Choose Google from the list that appears.
6. Follow the directions on the screen to sign in to your District account.
7. Once you are logged in, select the features you want to sync.

If you have trouble setting it up, please contact Mr. Coffey and he will be glad to help.

One Password to Rule Them All.

Wouldn't it be great if you could have just one password for everything? Some of you might be saying to yourself, "I only use one password for every website." Well, that is not a recommended practice if you want to keep yourself safe online. Let's say you use the same password for Facebook that you use for your credit card's website. If Facebook is hacked (like it was in 2018 where around 30 million people had their data compromised), hackers now have your email address and password. They can try to use your email and password on every bank and credit card site until they get in. Once they do they can cause you real trouble. So, you shouldn't use only one password for every website, however keeping up with dozens of different passwords can be difficult.  This is where Password Managers come in handy. 

Password managers are apps/extensions that help you create strong passwords, save them, and retrieve them. You only have to remember the password to your password manager, and the password manager does the rest. Many people immediately think, "How can that be safe?" The answer is that it is safer than using one password for everything. Password Managers like LastPass and RoboForms have been around for a long time and haven't had any major breaches. So, along with being more secure, password managers can be used with most browsers and cell phones.

Here are a few Password Managers that you can start using (most are free, but they might charge for specific features).

• LastPass
• Dashlane
• RoboForm
• KeePass
• 1Password

Click here to see a video about setting up Dashlane (which is similar to setting up any Password Manager).

Click here to read a Washington Post article about Password Managers.

In the comments below, tell about a time that forgetting a password has caused trouble for you. 

Teachers on the move. Using your phone to be more productive.

Teachers are asked to work such strenuous hours, why would a teacher want their work to follow them around everywhere they go? It's simple, the easier it is to access information you need, the less stressed you will be. Think about it, as teachers most of us don't want to think about our checking account, but when you need to see how much money you have left until payday, pulling it up on an app is a lot less hassle than going to the bank or calling an automated response center. The same is true for information about your classroom.  Being able to pull up information about your class means you don't have to go back to your computer every time you need to check on something. This can be even more helpful if you aren't near your computer. Here are a few suggestions of ways to use your phone to be more productive inside and outside of the classroom.

1. Add a PowerTeacher link on your home screen. You can meet your students at the door and take attendance at the same time. (Android, iPhone) 
2. Download the Google Classroom app. Post announcements or make changes to assignments while you are on duty. (Android, iPhone) 
3. Sync your email and calendar to your phone. You can set reminders so events don't sneak up on you, and your inbox wont be overflowing when you sit down at your computer. (Android, iPhone)

Bonus: Set up your notifications, or the Do Not Disturb option, so that when you are done with work you will not be annoyed by school-related messages. After all, you work hard and you deserve some free time.

Power Up with Podcasts

While working with teachers for one-on-one trainings, or stopping by to fix a technology issue, I keep hearing similar comments. They go something like, "I like that we have technology in the classroom, but it's just so overwhelming. I don't really know what to do with it, or where to start."

I find that a great place to start is with podcasts. Depending on who you follow, podcasts can teach you how to use technology or give you ideas on creative ways to use technology in the classroom.

Podcasts are like radio talk shows, but unlike random shows you may come across on your radio, you can subscribe to podcasts that cover the topics you are most interested in. Most podcasts can be found and played online, but the best way to listen to podcasts is on your mobile device. By having it on your phone you can listen to the podcast whenever and where ever you are.

To start listening to podcasts you will need to get a podcast app. Both Apple and Google have free podcast apps so it doesn't matter if you have an iPhone or Android device.

Here are a few podcast apps that should get you started.

• Apple Podcast (iPhone)
• Google Podcast (Android) 
• Stitcher (iPhone & Android)
• TuneIn Radio (iPhone & Android)
• Spotify (iPhone & Android)

Once you have the app, you can start searching for topics in which you are interested. Try searching for things like, "Ed Tech" or "Teaching".  You will be amazed at how many shows will come up.

Listen to a few and if you like them click the subscribe button (sometimes it's called follow) and every time a new show is uploaded you will see it in your app.

Here are a few shows that I follow to get you started.

• The Shake Up Learning Show
• Making Better Teachers 
• The Cult of Pedagogy 
• 10 Minute Teacher Podcast

Leave a comment below with podcasts that you enjoy listening to.