Students – Google Drive – Mobile Devices

Students are not always aware that they can download Google Drive on their cell phones and tablets. It is especially handy for them to have Drive on their devices if they plan to take and share photographs with other students when working on group projects. 

Organize a Schedule Document Before Inservice Day

You can write on the walls in the classrooms at Buffalo Grove High School.

I attended the EdCampChicago unconference held today at Buffalo Grove High School and one of the best take aways is the Google Document created before the event which was completed collaboratively during the day. This is normal procedure for many conferences and I would like to suggest that it could be used on Inservice Training Days or other personal development training sessions when several sessions are being held at one time. People in your district could see the notes others took and who attended each session in case they want to make further inquiries.

Teach Freshmen How to Find and Cite Photographs for Blogs and Sites

Students enjoy creating Google sites and love to fill them full of photographs and illustrations they find on the Internet. Photographs often help to emphasize their story or post. They are not always familiar with the terms copyright free, public domain, or creative commons. Going over the basics at the beginning of the term will help them throughout their years at your school and on into their future. All of this is vital if you want your students to share their work publicly.

Leyden Symposium 2014 Day 3

Today at day 3 of the Leyden Symposium I decided to attend the Google Apps is the Key session led by Mikkel Storaasil since I enjoyed it so much last year. Mikkel asked us to tell him on TodaysMeet what we were hoping to get from the class and then he led the discussion along those lines. My favorite area of discussion was screencasting on Chromebooks. Mikkel suggested we try Snagit or Screencastify.  I decided to give Screencastify a whirl. I had to update my Chrome

Leyden Symposium 2014 Day 2

I’m not going to try to relate all the many magical things that happened today at the Leyden Symposium. I don’t think I can do justice to the first two speakers of the day. First Jennie Magiera spoke about From Ideas to Action: Creating Tangible Transformation. There were many take aways from her talk and I only wish I had an hour

Leyden Symposium 2014 Day 1

The Leyden team welcomed us to the Leyden Symposium in the auditorium this morning and offered us an overview of their Digital Evolution. To find out a bit about ourselves we answered questions on Kahoot. The keynote speaker Dean Shareski, Community Manager for Discovery Education Canada, spoke on the topic of Is Joy Still a Thing? Do you use the term “rigor” when talking about education? Have you

Importing Favorites from IE and Show and Hide Chrome Bookmarks Bar

Most of our staff have been using Internet Explorer and have lots of websites saved in their IE Favorites. We are initiating a one-to-one Chromebook initiative and one of the features we demonstrate during Google training sessions is how to import IE Favorites into Chrome. It’s quick and useful. Here are the steps:

Peltor 10 Earmuffs and Google Educator Exams

It can be hard to think creatively, study, work on the computer, or just read at home when others in the household are watching TV or listening to music. Sometimes a neighbor kicking a soccer ball repeatedly can drive one batty. I solved this problem by buying a pair of Ultimate 10 Peltor earmuffs/headsets for about $20.00.

ICE Conference – Day 3 – I Commit

The New Orleans Ballroom at the ICE Conference 2014 had the atmosphere of a revival when I walked in on Friday. There she was, up on the stage, yes, Tammy Lind! Although people were already packed in like sardines, my friend and I worked our way forwards and found two seats together in the second row.

ICE Conference – Day 2

Thursday was the first day of the ICE general conference but day two for me since I attended a workshop Wednesday.  Here are the presenter notes for Thursday.

My first session was led by Nino Alvarez, Renee Fitzsimmons and Enda Kelly and covered student digital portfolios.  An idea I’m taking back: ask students to complete a section at the bottom of their artifacts stating which district standards are being met.