Shift+Z = Happy Me!

Here's a little Google Drive tip that I have found especially helpful lately...

Unlike the traditional file folders on your desktop or laptop, Google Drive allows you to save a document in multiple folders on your Drive. Save really isn't the right word here. There is only one copy of the document, but Drive allows you to access it through more than one folder. It's sort of like how you and I can both access the same document through our own respective Drives. Two different paths. One destination.

For example...I have some English curriculum documents that were also part of the September 3rd inservice. I wanted to be able to have those documents at my fingertips while working on the inservice, but I also wanted the documents to remain with my English curriculum files.

The magic combination of Shift + Z allowed me to do both.

Here's how to tap into the magic.

I first created my document, saving it in my English curriculum folder. Then, instead of right-clicking on the document name to pull up options, I left-clicked one time to highlight it.

When I held down the Shift key and typed Z, an "Add To" box appeared, allowing me to designate a second home for the document.

Those few steps provided me with easy access to my documents from both folders. Why Google didn't just add that as an option to the right-click menu is beyond me, but as Bill Nye always said, "Now you know!"

FREE Google Education On Air Online Conference

This spring, Google is hosting a free two-day online conference called Education On Air. Join other educators from around the world, and participate in online Keynotes, panel discussions, and mini-sessions. It appears to be the sort of thing that you can jump in and out as your schedule allows, so if you are unsure of committing, register just in case! Remember, it is FREE!

Friday, May 8: Leading for the Future (9 am - 2 pm CST)

The Friday online Keynote and panel sessions are marketed towards those in leadership positions (anywhere from admin to a team leader to IT), but the posted topics sound applicable to classroom teachers as well. The full schedule will be released in April, but here are a few of the currently posted sessions:

*Creating Student Ownership

*Fostering Innovation in Schools

*Making Technology Work for Learning

*Communicating Change

Saturday, May 9: Shaping the Classroom Today

The Saturday online sessions are meant to be convenient and applicable to the classroom teacher. As Google puts it, "run by educators for educators, designed to be immediately useful to you." Sessions range from 15-45 minutes, and they are led by Google Certified Teachers, trainers, and general Googlers. Again, the full schedule is set to be released in April, but here are the posted teaser sessions:

*Supporting Literacy in Early Learners

*Fostering Collaboration with Google Docs

*Empowering Digital Citizens

Register Here!

Impossible to Fail Quizzes?

An impossible to fail quiz? What would be the point in giving that?

Tom Mullaney, author of the Sustainable Teaching website, posted recently about why they just might be worth trying. From his perspective, this "quiz" is not meant to be a summative assessment. I would argue that it is not even a formative assessment since the teacher doesn't gain much feedback regarding student learning through it. The students receive immediate feedback, however. Thus, it is a non-assessing quiz (if that is possible).

So what exactly is it if it is not an assessment? An impossible to fail quiz is a learning tool, it provides students with immediate feedback, and it is in fact quite impossible to fail. It is a digital quiz that customizes the next step based upon correct and incorrect answers. If the student responds correctly, the student moves on to the next question. If the student responds incorrectly, the student is instructed to view a video reviewing that particular concept. Then the student tries the missed question a second time. When the student correctly answers the question, the student then proceeds to the next one. (Try/view an impossible to fail quiz here.)

Clearly, it is not an assessment because every student should (in theory) earn a perfect score by the end of the quiz. The purpose lies not in assessing student knowledge but in giving students an opportunity to test their knowledge and practice as needed. (How in-depth the practice goes depends upon the teacher creating the impossible to fail quiz.) In theory, each student will eventually correctly answer each question because he/she either knew the material or learned the material through the review videos.

Think you might be interested in giving one a go in your room? Mullaney posted a very thorough tutorial on how to create an impossible to fail quiz using Google Forms. If you give the impossible to fail quiz a try, I'd love to hear about your experience!

Beyond Google Presentation Templates

Tired of the templates provided in Google Presentation? SlideCarnival offers 26 free templates for you and your students to utilize and customize in Google. While 26 isn't a huge number, at least it is a place to start...

Once you find a template you'd like to use, follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Options" sprocket found on the black "Google Slides" bar at the bottom of the template.
2. Click on "Open Editor." (This will open a "View Only" version of the template in your Google Drive as long as you are already signed in.)
3. Under File, select "Make a Copy."
4. You should now be able to utilize and customize the template as you desire.

How to Make a Timeline Using Google Spreadsheets and Timeline JS

I stumbled across this tutorial yesterday on my Google+ stream. Apparently, it is quite easy for students to create interactive digital timelines! Students use this Google spreadsheet template to chart the progression of an event, including event start and end dates/times, event headings, descriptions of each piece of the event, and links to images or videos that go along with the event. Once the template is filled out, the student publishes it to the web (under "File"), and then copies and pastes the published link into a box on this website created by Northwestern University (IL).

Voila! Interactive digital timeline created!

Here is a small example timeline that I made using Act I of Romeo and Juliet. (I took some liberties with the date and times...)

Bonus: Students don't have to go through the publishing step each time they update their spreadsheets. The default settings make it so the timeline is updated any time the spreadsheets is altered.

Turn In?
There are many ways students could turn in their finished products. Here are a few:
*Post an assignment to your Google Classroom, and have students share the timeline link via the assignment. (This option would keep the link sharing private between teacher and student.)
*Create an announcement on your Google Classroom stream, and have students paste the timeline link into a comment box. (This option would allow students to view each other's timelines.)
*Create a Google Form asking for two things: Student Name and Timeline Link. (Perhaps the easiest for grading?)
*Have students post their timelines to a Padlet page.
*Have students email you the timeline link.

Possible Uses?
Have students create a timeline...
*for a short story, novel, or play
*for a famous person's life story
*to brainstorm for or draft a personal narrative
*to outline an event in history

Overall, this combination of tools has the possibility to be quite powerful in not only helping students visually see an event's progression, but also showing their understanding of the event. Why not let them chart it out?!

NaNoWriMo Google Collaboration

Google is celebrating NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is November) by inviting three authors to collaborate on a short story live via Google Docs on Tuesday, November 18: Edan Lepucki, Tope Folarin, and Mike Curato. Google is giving the authors one hour to complete the collaborative writing project. (Time is yet to be announced.) There is also an opportunity to submit ideas for the first line of the story. Read Google's post about it here.

There are a number of ways to possibly incorporate NaNoWriMo into the classroom during November, and no, they don't all include writing an actual novel. Here are just a few ideas:

1. Present the challenge to your students and let those who are interested run with it. (That's the obvious one. And who knows? Maybe our school libraries will soon have displays of books written by students!) PS - If you or a student take on the challenge, you can use Cameron Matthew's NaNoWriMo word-count spreadsheet to stay on target.

2. Encourage writing every single day, like the NaNoWriMo writers. Model this by starting each class with writing. It could be for a certain amount of time or you could have students aim to write a certain word-count each day. Bonus points for doing it with them. If you want students to be able to track their word-count throughout the month, give each of them access to this spreadsheet.

3. Tune in to all or part of Google's one-hour short story challenge on November 18. It is followed by a Question/Answer time with the three authors.

4. Have a journal prompt or assignment where students submit a first-line suggestion to Google's collaborative short story challenge. (Due November 12.)

5. Mimic Google's collaborative short story challenge. Use a recently read short story as a model text and let the students be collaboratively creative.

6. Although many NaNoWriMo "novels" are never published, there are some that have spent time on the NYT Best Seller list. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen and Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern are just two examples. Create a literature circle experience using NaNoWriMo novels.

7. If there is no time for a literature circle during November, encourage students to read published NaNoWriMo novels for independent reading.

Any other ideas? Please leave them in the comments!

Google Drive Facelift

If you haven't had a pop-up appear on your Google Drive homepage yet, you might still have the ability to access the new Drive format. (They are apparently pushing out the update to batches of people instead of all at once.) Click on the gear icon on your Drive homepage. Click on "Experience the new Drive." You should now have the new format. If you want to see the new format before switching, you can read about it here.

Convert Spreadsheet Responses to Google Docs!

To convert spreadsheet responses to Google docs, follow the steps below.

Add the Add-on

1. Open the spreadsheet with the responses.
2. Click on "Add-ons" on the spreadsheet toolbar.
3. Click on "Get add-ons" in the drop-down menu.
4. Search for "Save As Doc" in the search bar.
5. Click on the blue "+ FREE" button for the add-on called "Save As Doc" by thebowles.org.
6. "Save As Doc" is now added to your spreadsheet.

Use the Add-on

1. Back on the spreadsheet, click on "Add-ons" on the spreadsheet toolbar.
2. Hover over "Save As Doc;" in the pop-up menu to the right, click on "Start."
3. A "Save As Doc" box will open on the right-hand side of your spreadsheet.
4. Name your new doc in the "Save Doc file as" box.
5. Check the box for "First row of selection contains headings" if this is true for your spreadsheet. (It should be true because the first row should be your quiz questions.)
6. Check the box for "Add a page break after each row" to place each responder on a new page in your new doc.
7. Click on the "Select all data" button to highlight all boxes of text on your spreadsheet. (Alternatively, highlight what portion of the spreadsheet to include before you start the add-on.)
8. Click "Save as Doc."
9. Your new doc should show up in your drive (most likely on the "My Drive" page).