5 Tips for YouTube

 

YouTube is a great resource for teachers. There are tons of videos that relate to almost anything you are teaching. In previous blog posts I have given very basic tips like use shorter videos to keep students engaged, and make sure to preview any video you show to your students so you don’t end up in an embarrassing situation. In this blog post I am going to give you 5 more tips to get more out of YouTube. 

 

1 Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts allow you to perform functions in YouTube super fast. Below are some that I like to use, but if you want more shortcuts go to YouTube and click shift and question mark to see all the keyboard shortcuts. 

 

Shortcut	Function
Spacebar	Play/Pause
m	Mute/ unmute video
Numbers 1 to 9 on the seek bar (not on the numeric pad)	Seek to the 10% to 90% of the video.
0	Seek to the beginning of the video
i	Mini player
f	Full screen

 

2 Playlists 

The best way to save videos you want to show later is to create playlists. What playlists you create is up to you but one suggestion is to create a playlist for every standard you teach. When you find a video that relates to a standard go ahead and save it to a playlist. If you haven’t created a playlist, you can do it by following the steps below. 

Click Save at the bottom of the video you want to save

 

Click + Create New Playlist 

 

Give it a name and decide if you want it to be public or private. 

 

Click create

3 Share from a specific point 

I think every teacher has found a video that has a few minutes that would be perfect for class, but those precious minutes come in the middle of the video. If this happens you can right click on the video and “Copy Video URL at Current Time.” You can then share the video with student with Google Classroom or on a Google Doc by pasting the URL as a link. The link will take you or your students to the exact moment you want to show them. Remember to tell your students where to stop if the video goes on past where you want them to see. 

4 Loop 

Sometimes you want to show a video more than once. Maybe you are playing relaxing music for you students to work by, or maybe you have a video with instructions you want students to follow. No matter your reason, you can right click on a video and click “Loop.”  When the video reaches the end it will automatically restart at the beginning. 

 

5. Transcripts 

As stated many times before you should watch videos before you show them to your students. The problem is it can take a lot of time to go through a video just to find out it doesn’t even cover the content you were hoping to share. One way to quickly find out if a video covers the content you are looking for is to use transcripts and find. To turn on transcripts for a video click on the three dots next to the save option at the bottom of the video, and then click Open Transcript.

 

A transcript window will open to the right of the video. Next type Ctrl and F on your keyboard to pull up the find window. Type in a keyword for the content for which you are looking. If the word doesn’t appear, try another keyword. If it doesn’t show up after a few keyword searches, it probably isn’t in the video. If it does show up, click on it and it will take you right to that part of the video. 

Finding Help

 

For many teachers, the transition back to virtual learning has been pretty stressful. Sure, you may have done a pretty good job with it last year, but that was a while ago and there have been a few technology changes. If you are having trouble with technology or need a refresher on how to do something, don’t worry, you are not alone. Below are a few ways you can find help. 

1. When you need a quick “how to” try YouTube. This is something that even the most tech savvy users do. Chances are that someone has made a video about the most recent Google update or a step by step guide on how to do something in Classroom. Bonus Tip: When you first do your search, use the filter and search for videos made "This Year." This will keep you from wasting time on videos that were made a long time ago. If you can’t find a video with the filter on, you can always just turn it off. 

2. When something isn’t working or you need additional training contact the IT Department. If something isn’t working, submit a work order (located on the staff page). You can also request a one-on-one session to have your specific technology questions answered, or you can sign up for a session just to get a few tips that might make your job a little easier. 

3. When you need ideas for instruction or assignments, try finding a podcast that deals with educational technology. There are a lot of great ones out there, but below are some good ones to start with: 

• The Cult of Pedagogy

• Easy Ed Tech Podcast

• Shake Up Learning Show

• The Chromebook Classroom Podcast

Without support, teaching virtually or trying to add technology in the traditional classroom can be overwhelming. If you find yourself feeling this way, try one of the suggestions above, reach out to a colleague, or join a teacher group on Facebook or Twitter. You might be surprised at how much help you can find. 

3 Things to do for the New Year

 

1. Archive old classes in Google Classroom and GoGuardian

There was a sigh of relief when the 2020-2021 school year came to an end, and now that it is a distant memory, it’s time to archive those old Classes. If you are unsure how to do this, take a few minutes to watch the following videos.

 

2. Confirm your settings in Google Classroom. 

Chances are you changed some of the settings for Google Classroom last year. Your new classes will use Google’s default settings, so make sure you review the settings in your Classrooms and make any needed changes. Most settings are left up to each teacher, but if you are unsure ask your administrator if they want your classroom set up in a specific way. 

Here are some of the settings I use: 

Stream: Only teachers can post and comment. I like to start with this so students can’t randomly post things that don’t need to show up on the stream. If I want students to comment on something I would change it to students can only comment. There is nothing wrong with Students can post and comment, but you will need to regularly monitor your stream if you use this setting because it will allow students to post comments at anytime.

Classwork on the stream: Hide Notifications. I use this because I want my announcements to stand out and because the stream can become cluttered when all your classwork is posted there. Students can always get the classwork from the classwork tab which is more organized than the stream, and students also get email notifications unless they have turned that feature off. Classwork also shows up in the calendar and the to-do list if the assignment has a due date, so leaving classwork off the stream shouldn’t be problem for students. 

Show deleted items: Off. There was a reason you deleted posts from the stream, so why would you want someone to see them?

Guardian Summaries: On. Not only should this be on but if you have a verified guardian email, invite them to see what your students are doing. Guardians will be able to decide how often they want summaries, so this could keep you from getting the “how is my child doing” phone call or email. 

Grade Calculation: No overall Grade. For our district a student’s official grade can be found on PowerSchool. Students can still see the grade for each assignment without seeing an overall grade in Google Classroom. 

You should check with your administrator before you change this setting. 

Check out this video if you are still unsure about settings. 

3. Organize your Google Drive. 

This is something most people, including myself, struggle with. If your Google Drive has hundreds of documents and half of them are named “copy of” or “untitled,” then it’s time to organize. The video below has some good suggestions on how to organize your drive, but you don’t have to do it all at once. Start by creating folders for your current classes and make sure everything you make moving forward is given a descriptive name that you will be able to find whenever you need it. As time permits, go through older documents, and delete or move old files until your Drive is the embodiment of organization. Remember you should NEVER DELETE YOUR CLASSROOM FOLDER. This is where Google Classroom keeps all student files and assignment templates. 

Google Meets Update

 

Throughout this school year, Google has already made a lot of updates to Meet, and they don't show any signs of slowing down. Google has announced more updates and have already started rolling them out. While these updates improve the remote learning experience for teachers and students, getting use to these tools can be frustrating. Watch the video below to get an early look at some of the changes coming to Meet. Teachers should start seeing these changes in the upcoming weeks. 

 

Google Classroom Update

 It has been a while since the last blog post, but this update was too good not to tell teachers about. Finally, Google Classroom is offering Rich Text Format in Assignments. In non-geek speak that means you can make text bold, underlined, italic, or bulleted. Many teachers have been asking for this for a long time, and now you can actually do it. Some of you may have already noticed this, but if you haven't, you can see the video below for more details. 

Websites for students

Teachers have recently started to ask me what kind of assignments they can do to keep students interested. The newness of doing work on a Chromebook wore off quite some time ago, and most teachers use the same types of assignments over and over again making the situation even worse. While there are thousands of different types of assignments students can do, learning how to create them and then teaching students how to complete the assignments can be a real problem. With that in mind, I suggest adding one resource that will excite students and give you as the teacher many options for assignments.

Google Sites is an easy to learn application that allows students to create websites. If you and your students are familiar with Google Workspace (formally G-Suites), you should quickly be able to learn and use Sites. Once you start using Sites you will be able to give your students new kinds of assignments or add some engagement to assignments students are already familiar with. Knowing that other people can see their work is also a great motivator for your students to do their best work.

Ideas for using Sites with Students

Blogs

One of the simplest ways to use Sites, is to have students create a blog. You can have them write a summary of each lesson or give them a daily writing prompt.

Portfolios

Sites allows students to embed other Google files such as Docs and Slides into their web page. Have students post major assignments along with a reflection of what they learned and have them share it with the world.

Reviews

At the end of each chapter or unit have the students create a new web page with all the important information they need to know. Creating the page is a good review in itself, but at the end of the course they have everything they need to study for the final exam. 

Extension Activities

There are always a few students that finish work before everyone else. Have those students create a page about the content you are covering with additional videos, games, and other resources and then share it with the class. 

Creating a Classroom Website

 

I have heard from many teachers about how beneficial Google Classroom has been, and I have been impressed to see how much content you have been able to create for your students.  The flip side to that is that many of you have recognized some of the limitations of Google Classroom. One of the biggest issues is that every resource has to be accessed separately. Classroom is a great way to assign students work, but if the assignment requires the students to do other things first, such as read a PDF and watch a video, all of those tasks have to be opened individually and the student has to jump back and forth. This can lead to students skipping steps or missing important information while moving between resources. The solution for this is to create a website for your classes. 

Think of your classroom website as a textbook of sorts and Google Classroom as the workbook. With a website, you can present text, images, Google Docs, Google Slides, PDFs, Youtube Videos, and more on a single page so students can easily see how it all fits together. You can even link to the assignments in Google Classroom so that when students finish reviewing content they can move on directly to the work you want them to complete. 

Creating websites might sound like an overwhelming task, but it is actually pretty easy to learn, and you can use the resources you have already compiled to create a well organized, content-filled website. Watch the video below for more on how to get started, and keep checking the technology training schedule because I will be offering sessions on website development throughout the semester. 

What to do with my Google Classroom

 

As we move forward into a new semester, many teachers have questions about what to do with their Google Classroom.  There is no one right answer to this question. The answer will vary depending on the grade you teach, the subject you teach, and just your own preferences. Below are some suggestions that might help you decide what to do with your Google Classroom for the 2nd semester.

Do Nothing

If you teach a year-long course and you feel that your assignments and materials are laid out in a way that is easy for students to find,  then you don't need to do anything. You and your students are both accustomed to the current layout. So, as long as you aren't running into issues of cluttered assignments or hard to find materials, don’t change something that's working.

Start a New Classroom

 This is a great option if you meet one of the following criteria:

• Your teaching a new subject

• You teach a yearlong should object and want to keep the content from 1st semester separated from 2nd semester

• You only want to reuse specific assignments in material from the 1st semester

Duplicate a Classroom

Duplicating a classroom is a great option if you are going to use most or all of the resources and assignments from a previous semester.   When you duplicate a Classroom, Google will create a draft of all your assignments in materials. All you have to do is set the due dates and you are ready to post them for students. 

A duplicated class can be overwhelming if your previous class was not well organized or you are only reusing a few assignments. For a lot of teachers, it's easier to make a new class and reuse posts from previous classes. 

Archiving Classes

Once you are finished with a class, it's always a good idea to go ahead and archive it. Even if you want to reuse posts from those classes, you can go ahead and archive them. This helps to keep your classes page from getting cluttered with classes you no longer teach.

 

Ultimately, what you choose to do with your Google Classrooms is a personal choice and there's really not a right or wrong way to do it.  Just ask yourself, "is this going to benefit me and my students?" If the answer is, "yes," go for it, otherwise just keep doing what you're doing.

One last note.  

Most schools require that you share your Classroom with an administrator. So, if you create a new Classroom  make sure to administrators as a co-teacher.

Happy New Year

 

Almost every teacher I talk to says the same thing about the 1st semester.  They have never worked as hard or have been as stressed as they were during the fall of 2020, and that is so understandable. Teachers were asked to teach with technology they weren't familiar with, and in a way they had never taught before, to students that felt just as unprepared. 

Now as we move into the spring semester, many teachers are feeling a sense of relief. They have finally got the hang of posting assignments to Google Classroom and holding Meets. Students are starting to turn in assignments. And, for some lucky teachers, they are going to get to reuse the assignments they painstakingly created in the first semester with a whole new group of students. 

There is no doubt about it, teachers have worked hard to clear the massive hurtle that was thrown at them. I want every teacher to know how proud I am of what they have accomplished. There are countless stories I could share of teachers that, only a year ago, could hardly send an email, and now they are posting engaging digital assignments every day. Way To Go!

I know many of you want to continue on your journey towards edtech mastery. Here are a few suggestions of things to try as we move into the new year and new semester. 

1. Reflect:

Reflecting is one of the best things you can do to improve your digital instruction. Just taking an hour or so to look over your previous posts can really make a big difference. Ask yourself things like: 

• Did this assignment/lesson really help students learn the content?
• What could I add or take away from this assignment/ lesson to make it more beneficial to students?
• If I had to create this assignment/ lesson from scratch, what would I do differently? 

2. Get Organized

Most of us were so busy during the first semester creating content that we really didn’t take the time to organize our content. This is completely understandable, but as you get more and more content it is critical that you are organized. My suggestion is to create folders for your content and try not to go more than 3 deep. Here is an example layout

:

Level One- Class folder(s) (e.g.US History)

Level Two- Standards folders and Collective Folders (e.g. USHC-1, USHC-2) 

Level Three- Specific resource folders (e.g. Presentations, Tests, Individual Assignments)

 

3. Choose One Area for Improvement: 

During the beginning of all this digital instruction, teachers had to learn so much so fast. Chances are you have found ways to get by, but there are areas you would like to improve. Don’t get discouraged by a long list of things you still don’t know how to do. Pick one. Talk to other teachers, search for videos online, or set up a one-on-one session with Mr. Coffey to learn how to do that one thing better. Once you feel comfortable with that skill move on to the next. We should always be learning, but you shouldn’t burn yourself out in the process. 

As I look towards the Spring semester, I hope to help each one of you as you continue to master the skills that this new reality requires of us. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have, and I wish you the best in 2021.