Make a Video of Your Students to Use as a Google Classroom Header

So, what teenager doesn't want to see themselves? Everything I do for my class is done via Google Classroom, so even though I loved my Denver the Guilty Dog GIF for my header, I upped my game today. Now I have this bit of awesomeness so they can look at themselves on the daily.

Quick steps for how to make your own:

1. Take a SHORT (3-4 second) video with your handy-dandy, ever-present cell phone.
2. Upload it to YouTube. You'll need your own YouTube channel, but if you have Google, you have one. I have one follower and 3 or 4 videos all from the last week, so if I can use YouTube, you can too.
3. Use the Chrome Extension GIFit! to turn your video into a GIF. 2-3 seconds only and set the size at 800 x 450. Save it to your downloads or desktop or wherever you like to save stuff.
4. Go to your Google Classroom and click Upload Photo. Done. You're welcome.

Recycling Questions from Google Form Quizzes - It's Not Just For Lazy People Anymore

Google Forms, probably due to budget cuts or global warming, didn't make it possible for me to swipe a question from my Week 1 AP Lit Terms test and stick it on my Week 2 AP Lit Terms test like I wanted to. How can I make a good cumulative test without, ya know...accumulating questions? So I have a fix that works pretty well. Wrote a little blog about it! Like to read it? Here it go! (If you didn't just read that in the voice of En Vogue, we can't be friends.)

In your second test, add on Form Recycler (from the Get Add Ons little puzzle piece icon). Follow the prompts - it will ask you to pick your first test and then pick the questions you want to swipe. I'll save you one headache - if you added cutesy test questions with images, they aren't coming...you can stop waiting. Just swipe your regular old text-based questions and they'll import to your new test just fine. The answers will too.

Fast fix! Your students will appreciate the extra effort you are putting into your job. Carry on! 

Google Classroom Updates & How to Make Your Google Classroom Cooler than Everyone Else's

So you've probably realized already Classroom has made some changes. I beta tested the updates over the summer, but I didn't fully appreciate the changes until I had students in my classroom. I use Classroom at the district level to post things like calendars, polls, board agendas, etc. That class has been around a while, and I didn't want to make employees rejoin a new class for the new school year, so that class still has two tabs in the header - Stream and People. The About tab is still fully functional, and it's a good spot for resources.

My new Classroom that I created since the changes rolled out has three tabs - Stream, Classwork, and People. I use Classwork more than anything now, with Stream just being for announcements, which is kind of annoying. I wanted to be able to add something to my Classwork stream without attaching an assignment to it, but now there's two spots for students to check instead of one. I don't love that. Also, the About tab is basically useless now. You can't add to it; it just displays the join code.  I don't love that either. Also, I read somewhere you could rearrange the assignments, so I tried grabbing the snowman and dragging the assignments up or down. Nope. You have to click Move Up or Move Down over and over until you get them where you want them. Basic. Color me disgruntled.

We're positive people over here at AuthenTech though, so let's talk about what's good! Want to have the coolest looking Google Classroom in your school? Add a GIF for your header. You can do this in an old class or a new class and have (probably) the only animated Google Classroom in your students' list of classes.

The easiest way to do it is download the Google Chrome extension GIFit! Grab that extension at the Chrome Webstore. When you add it to your Chrome and watch a YouTube video, there will be a GIFit! button on the YouTube video. Now my favorite YouTube video ever is Denver the Guilty Dog. When I watch it (btw, remember to sign into Chrome, not just Drive), I will have a GIFit button pop up on the YouTube video.

See it in the bottom right of the video? You click that button, pick a few seconds to create a GIF from, save the video as a 800 x 450 size, and upload it to your Google Classroom where it says Upload Photo (underneath About). Super easy! I made a Classroom called Google for Superheroes for some PD and went and found a video of some Marvel characters and made a GIF header for that class. I usually just change the width to 800 and let the height say what it wants, which is usually 800 x 450.

You will have the coolest Google Classroom; being cool in person is up to you!

Introvert-Friendly Student Introductions for the First Days of School

First things first (who just said "I'm the realest" in their head?), when I was in school, even in college, I hated class introductions. I never listened to anyone else's introduction because I was too busy planning what I was going to say. Now I use two Google activities to let students tell me and their classmates whatever they want to share in a way that is as painless as possible.

The first is a Student Info Google Form I create with some general parent phone number, email, etc questions. I add questions about grade or period to help organize responses later. I also like to add a little writing prompt so I get a feel for who is who. Always include a question like "Tell me something I need to know as your teacher." You'll appreciate the answers more a week or two into class than you do on night one.  Here's one you can copy and use. 

The second is my favorite, and it's easy for the teacher to create. The teacher creates one Google Slide with a few instructions and posts the instruction slide to Google Classroom with every student being able to edit the same file (don't use each student get their own copy). Each student will add their own slide to one presentation.  

These are the instructions. First slide. All the teacher really has to do. 

This is my slide. I added it to the presentation as slide two.  This isn't required, but it lets you tell students about yourself. There's that pic of me again!

Tricks to make this easier, tell the students to pay attention to not typing on someone else's slide. Some recommend adding initials in the notes part of each slide to "call" a slide. I've not found that I've had to require that. Tell students they can find great quotes on Pinterest if they can't think of one. Those quotes will already be attractive with a pic behind them. Don't give too many instructions and you'll be surprised at what they do with their slides.

I've done this activity with first graders, second graders, teachers, and my own class of sophomores. I absolutely love it. Three things they learn: how to use Google Slides, who their Classmates are, who you are, and how to work on a collaborative Slide activity. 

I do make each student present their slide and talk about why they chose each image on their slide, but I don't make them get up in front of the class. This activity takes about 20-30 minutes, depending on age and familiarity with Google Slides. 

Back In The Classroom Again!

Soooo...long time no posting to this blog. OK, let's just be honest here. I have never posted to this blog. This is my 3rd post since 2016. I think I created this when I was applying to present at ISTE 2017 and the app asked for a link to my professional blog or website, so I created both, probably the same night.  My professional website has a picture of me and that is all.  Just that 1 pic. Rule #1 for professional persons: Don't start projects and abandon them. Rule #2: If you are going to post a picture of yourself for your website, make sure it is a good one. I think we followed one of our rules.

Actual screenshot of my website. There aren't any other pages to click to.

So what brings me back to the blog now?

I am a curriculum director. I'm in charge of Curriculum, Federal Programs, Personnel, Communications, ESL, Dyslexia, and probably some other things I can't remember. I call myself Director of Academic Affairs because why not. Our district had a scheduling conflict and found ourselves in need of a teacher for a few students who needed Pre-AP English 10 and couldn't take it when it was already being offered. We offered the course to several retired teachers, none of whom wanted to come out of retirement for 1 or 2 periods a day. I agreed to teach the class because it's a course I've taught before. I knew I was good at teaching at one time and kind of wanted to see if I still was. Since I left the high school English classroom, I've been a literacy coach, an administrator, and a Google Certified Trainer. I still am the last two.

Now I am back in the saddle again and want to see if all the technology stuff I recommend is actually doable and logical. Is it beneficial and fun, or is it a waste of valuable teacher time?

My pledge to myself since I am currently my only reader? Update this blog at least weekly with what I am trying tech-wise.  Give teachers a place to find some AuthenTech tips to make their teaching lives better. See if I can practice what I preach about building authentic relationships with students using technology.

My YouTube Channel Now Has 4 Subscribers!!

So we can't all be YouTube stars, but my YouTube channel now has 5 whole videos, none of which are great. And four subscribers. Not four million or even four thousand. Four whole people. One of which is probably me.

Clearly you need to check it out!!

Leann's YouTube Channel

Guess who is presenting at ISTE in 2017!!

My session on Using Google Apps to Build Authentic Relationships was accepted for ISTE 2017!!

What a huge honor! 


My description:
Educational technology is fun and exciting and absolutely necessary to prepare students for their futures. At the same time, there is also a wealth of information about the need for authentic relationships between educators and students. What is lacking at this time is how to marry these two aspects of education. How can we use technology to build relationships? How can classrooms interact with technology in a way that draws people closer together and creates a community of learners instead of isolating students from each other and their teacher? This session, led by highly-engaging presenters, will demonstrate how to build relationships using Google Apps for Education. We will show you how to gain insight into your students, how to quickly and easily provide meaningful feedback, how to differentiate instruction, and how to practice authenticity with your students. Attendees will not only leave with inspiration, but also with all of our materials shared digitally for use in their own classrooms.