My colleagues know that I like to run a paperless classroom. From time to time they like to have a little fun with me by asking how I will manage if some sort of paper is required for use in my class. Comments like, “What will your students do if they have to write something on paper?” or “I didn’t know your kids knew how to use paper!” can often be heard during PLC’s or when chatting in the hall. While I take this in the funny way it is intended, I want to use this as a springboard for a larger discussion. My big question for this blog post is this. What is good teaching and where does technology fit into this equation?
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Good Teaching AND Technology
My colleagues know that I like to run a paperless classroom. From time to time they like to have a little fun with me by asking how I will manage if some sort of paper is required for use in my class. Comments like, “What will your students do if they have to write something on paper?” or “I didn’t know your kids knew how to use paper!” can often be heard during PLC’s or when chatting in the hall. While I take this in the funny way it is intended, I want to use this as a springboard for a larger discussion. My big question for this blog post is this. What is good teaching and where does technology fit into this equation?
Saturday, June 23, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #13: Converting Microsoft Files to Google Files
If you have PowerPoint or Word files you want to use as Google Drive files, fret not. This tutorial explains how to convert your files in a couple of easy steps!
Friday, June 22, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #12: Converting PDF to Google Doc
Have you ever wanted to use a PDF as a Google Doc activity but realized it can't be edited? Now you can convert that PDF into an editable Google Doc. Watch how here.
Thursday, June 21, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #11: Uploading Files to My Drive
If you gave ever wondered how to get your files from the desktop to your Google Drive, wonder no more. Check out this tutorial!
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #10: Translating Your Google Doc to a different language
Need to translate that Google Doc to another language? This tutorial will show you just how its done.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #9: Moving a Shared Folder to My Drive
In this lesson, learn to take a shared file or folder from Shared With Me and add it to My Drive.
Monday, June 18, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #8: Changing the margins in a Google Doc
Ever wondered how to increase or decrease the margins in your Google Doc? Watch this tutorial to see how easy it really is!
Episode 3: Failure as a Means of Learning
featuring Jared and Kari Wall
SHOW DATE: June 18, 2018
SUMMARY: Why teachers need to embrace failing in their own classroom in order to show students that failing is a valuable teacher.
SHOW NOTES:
News and Notes:
Our conferences and what we learned
Shout Out links:
featuring Jared and Kari Wall
SHOW DATE: June 18, 2018
SUMMARY: Why teachers need to embrace failing in their own classroom in order to show students that failing is a valuable teacher.
SHOW NOTES:
News and Notes:
Our conferences and what we learned
Shout Out links:
- Dr. Tammy Seneca
- West Baton Rouge Technology Department
- Weston Kieschnick (Bold School)
- Lightspeed
- Amplified IT
- LACUE (Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators)
Listen to "Episode 3: Learning from Failure" on Spreaker.
Technology Tools & Trends
Google Keep-We have used this tool more this week than any other tools. While attending conferences, it was a quick way to take notes
Notes
Checkboxes for listing items, tasks, and such
Change the color
Pin the note to keep it at the top of Keep
Share the note and add collaborators
Copy to Google Doc
Add images (pics of business cards)
Archive notes
Add drawings
Label your notes
Remove yourself from a note
Memes-How I use them in the classroom and how my students use them
Failure as a Means of Learning
This is the topic I have most been looking forward to! I love talking about failures in the classroom with technology!
As educators our whole purpose is to promote learning. We enjoy seeing a struggling student finally get a concept or skill. It makes our day better when we see them have their “ah ha” moment. But what did it take to get them there? How many times did you watch them try and try and continually fail? Failure is vital to the learning process! But what about us, the teacher? Why is failure so hard for us?
Failure is often viewed as a weakness.
Failure shows your students that you don’t know how to do something or have the answer.
Failure means you are wrong.
Failure opens you up to criticism.
Failure means you are learning!
I watch my students mess something up really bad and them tell them to fix it. I remind them that in the process of getting it really wrong and trying to fix it, they will learn something. At the very least, they learn what NOT to do.
When teachers are not comfortable using technology, they are reluctant to try it in the classroom. Why would you want to try something in front of all your students if you are not 100% sure you will succeed?
I have stood at the back of my room on too many occasions to count and watched the computer screens while holding my breath wondering if what I was having my students do was going to work. When it does work, I silently breathe out and I’m thankful it was successful. The opposite is also true. I’ve stood watching and was at a loss as to why the new technology did NOT work.
I am always up front with my students and tell them I am trying something new today and I hope it goes well, especially to my first class of the day. We all know the first class of the day is the one where you work out all the kinks. I also display my screen for all of my students to see and they will often offer suggestions to help me. Hey, what if you click there? What if you change that? Do you want us to refresh? They watch me figure things out. In this process, they see me do what I encourage them to do all the time….struggle and learn. My students are always patient with me and will often joke about “remember that time when we first tried using that?”.
My favorite example of my students seeing me fail is when I was creating a class website. I have maintained websites for years, but had never created one completely from scratch on my own. I knew I could easily as Mr. Wall for help, but I wanted to do it on my own. It took a whole lot of googling what something was even called in order to google how to make it happen.
Each day, I projected my screen and got feedback from my students as to what they wanted the website to contain. They watched me google, try, fail, get frustrated, walk away, and come back. The again, offered suggestions and we tried together. In the end, we have a beautiful and useful class website that they also felt part of. As the school year progressed, they continued to make suggestions on ways to improve the website. They were proud of the website they had a hand in creating. This made it even more meaningful for the students.
It is crucial for students to see that we are people who are continually learning as well. They need to see us fail and keep trying. We are modeling what we expect them to do. Failure does not mean you are ignorant or weak, it means you are growing.
Technology Tools & Trends
Google Keep-We have used this tool more this week than any other tools. While attending conferences, it was a quick way to take notes
Notes
Checkboxes for listing items, tasks, and such
Change the color
Pin the note to keep it at the top of Keep
Share the note and add collaborators
Copy to Google Doc
Add images (pics of business cards)
Archive notes
Add drawings
Label your notes
Remove yourself from a note
Memes-How I use them in the classroom and how my students use them
Failure as a Means of Learning
This is the topic I have most been looking forward to! I love talking about failures in the classroom with technology!
As educators our whole purpose is to promote learning. We enjoy seeing a struggling student finally get a concept or skill. It makes our day better when we see them have their “ah ha” moment. But what did it take to get them there? How many times did you watch them try and try and continually fail? Failure is vital to the learning process! But what about us, the teacher? Why is failure so hard for us?
Failure is often viewed as a weakness.
Failure shows your students that you don’t know how to do something or have the answer.
Failure means you are wrong.
Failure opens you up to criticism.
Failure means you are learning!
I watch my students mess something up really bad and them tell them to fix it. I remind them that in the process of getting it really wrong and trying to fix it, they will learn something. At the very least, they learn what NOT to do.
When teachers are not comfortable using technology, they are reluctant to try it in the classroom. Why would you want to try something in front of all your students if you are not 100% sure you will succeed?
I have stood at the back of my room on too many occasions to count and watched the computer screens while holding my breath wondering if what I was having my students do was going to work. When it does work, I silently breathe out and I’m thankful it was successful. The opposite is also true. I’ve stood watching and was at a loss as to why the new technology did NOT work.
I am always up front with my students and tell them I am trying something new today and I hope it goes well, especially to my first class of the day. We all know the first class of the day is the one where you work out all the kinks. I also display my screen for all of my students to see and they will often offer suggestions to help me. Hey, what if you click there? What if you change that? Do you want us to refresh? They watch me figure things out. In this process, they see me do what I encourage them to do all the time….struggle and learn. My students are always patient with me and will often joke about “remember that time when we first tried using that?”.
My favorite example of my students seeing me fail is when I was creating a class website. I have maintained websites for years, but had never created one completely from scratch on my own. I knew I could easily as Mr. Wall for help, but I wanted to do it on my own. It took a whole lot of googling what something was even called in order to google how to make it happen.
Each day, I projected my screen and got feedback from my students as to what they wanted the website to contain. They watched me google, try, fail, get frustrated, walk away, and come back. The again, offered suggestions and we tried together. In the end, we have a beautiful and useful class website that they also felt part of. As the school year progressed, they continued to make suggestions on ways to improve the website. They were proud of the website they had a hand in creating. This made it even more meaningful for the students.
It is crucial for students to see that we are people who are continually learning as well. They need to see us fail and keep trying. We are modeling what we expect them to do. Failure does not mean you are ignorant or weak, it means you are growing.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip# 7: Adding comments w/ notifications/tasks in Google Docs
Learn how to add notifications and even assign tasks in your Google Docs/Sheets/Slides!
Saturday, June 16, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #6: Adding comments to your Google Docs/Sheets/Slides
Here is Tech Tip #6 on how to add comments to your Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
Friday, June 15, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #5: Starring and Coloring Folders in Google Drive
Here is tip 5! Learn to better organize your Google Drive folders by adding color and starring important information for easy access.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
60 Days of Tech Tips for Teachers - Tip #4: Searching your Google Drive
here is Tech Tip #4 (only 56 to go!). Today, learn to locate files and folders in your Google Drive using the handy search function.
60 Days of Tech Tips - Tip #3: Voice to Text Tool in google Doc
Sorry for being late! This one was posted yesterday on YouTube and Twitter. Here it is in the blog. Happy learning!
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Monday, June 11, 2018
60 Days of Google Tips for Teachers - Tip 1: Sharing Files and Folders in Google Drive
Here is tip #1. We will be bringing you one per day until school resumes in August. Check back to learn some small helpful tips about Google for Education tools.(Podcast) Episode 2 Show Notes: From T Drive to G Drive (PLC in the Cloud)
Episode 2: From T Drive to G Drive (PLC in the Cloud)
featuring Jared and Kari Wall
SHOW DATE: June 11, 2018
SUMMARY:
News and Notes: Jared and Kari are Level 2 Google Certified Educators. Look for upcoming series with back to school countdown with Google Tools and Tips each day. Tools and Trends: Analytics and Digital Citizenship. Show Topic: Why teachers should shift their thinking from network based storage drives to the collaborative cloud based solution of the Google Drive for PLC sharing and creation.
Flipgrid Feedback or tips from our listeners: https://flipgrid.com/fc470d
Email Feedback: jared@walledtech.com or kari@walledtech.com
featuring Jared and Kari Wall
SHOW DATE: June 11, 2018
SUMMARY:
News and Notes: Jared and Kari are Level 2 Google Certified Educators. Look for upcoming series with back to school countdown with Google Tools and Tips each day. Tools and Trends: Analytics and Digital Citizenship. Show Topic: Why teachers should shift their thinking from network based storage drives to the collaborative cloud based solution of the Google Drive for PLC sharing and creation.
Flipgrid Feedback or tips from our listeners: https://flipgrid.com/fc470d
Email Feedback: jared@walledtech.com or kari@walledtech.com
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