ECSD Technology Newsletter

]I am a sucker for top 5 lists. Those of you who know me know that I am a big music buff. I love listening and going to live music concerts (though haven't been able to do that any time recently. Thank goodness for YouTube). I really enjoy reading articles about the "Top 5 albums of the summer" or "Top 5 albums of the decade". I also love looking at the standings in Sports. I always check the top 5 in the national league to make sure the Braves are still there or the top 5 in the Coach's poll for football. I have been sad that one of my favorite teams, Atlanta United, is out of the top 5 in the MLS. During the free agent period in the NBA I always enjoy seeing who the top 5 free agents are. So in that vein. .This technology newsletter is about the Top 5 in Instructional Technology.

1. ToDo List - The ToDo List is a FANTASTIC way to keep caught up with Google Classroom. Our middle and high school students are in multiple Google Classrooms. Teachers have to keep up with multiple assignments and classes as well. ToDo (located on the side of individual classes and at the top of your classroom landing page) makes it easy to see what to do, when all of your assignments are due, and what to grade. Here is a video about using the ToDo List

2. Originality Reports - All teachers in our district now have access to Originality Reports. This is a fast and easy way for teachers to check for authenticity and check for plagiarism. You can also check the originality against other student created work. Here is a video about Originality Reports

3. Create a Question - This is located in the classwork tab. This is a great way to do a quick multiple choice or short answer question within Google Classroom.

4. Google Meets - Google Meets can now be incorporated in Google Classroom. The classroom teacher can now have 1 place to conduct Google meets with students. When using Google Meets from here you have more control with who can be in your meets

5. What's new in Google Classroom- This is the #1 place to keep up with new features in Google Classroom.

1. Undo Send - One of my favorite features in Gmail! Undo Send gives the user up to 30 Seconds to undo an E-mail once you hit send. To Enable this feature open up Gmail - Click on the gear icon - and find the undo send setting then choose 30 seconds

2. Schedule Send - Also one of my favorite features! Now you can schedule when you want your messages to be sent. If you have an important message but it needs to wait till next Wednesday AM then you can schedule that message to be sent that day. Here are instructions for schedule send.

3. Create Filters and Labels - Filters and labels make organizing your E-mail even easier. These are "rules" that you make for your inbox. For example, I may say anytime I get an E-mail from my administrator I can automatically put a label on it to be able to identify it from my other E-mails. Here are instructions on creating filters and labels.

4. Google Tasks and Google Keep Integration - Its hard to keep up with everything that is asked of us via Gmail. I am often worried that I will let something slip through the cracks if I don't answer it right now. I now use Google tasks (which is located on the right side of your E-mail) to create a task list that I can mark off. If it is a group project I may use Google Keep (more on that later). Here are instructions about google tasks and google keep

5. Archive Email - We have unlimited space with Gmail. You never really have to delete anything unless you absolutely want to. Archiving E-mail means that it goes out of your inbox but you can still search for the E-mail. Here is a link about archiving E-mail.

1. Record Meeting - If you choose to record a Google Meet it will record the Google Meet in its entirety. This can be used for screencasting, or recording a class for students. Once the teacher ends the meeting then in a few minutes they will receive a link to the meeting that is automatically saved to your Google Drive! You can then share the meeting with your students. More information HERE

2. Blur background - This a brand new feature that rolled out last week. Now both teachers and students can blur their background. This might be a good feature for student privacy. Soon, students and teachers will be able to pick their own background.

3. Go Live - This is a neat feature where all memebers of an organization can view a live stream of a google meet. Some examples would be sharing:

• Real-time employee and staff training
• Academic information with students
• Conference materials that can’t be shared in person.
• Organization-wide presentations with multiple presenters
• Guests may be designated as view-only.

More information here

4. Change the Layout - Also a new feature - If you were here in the spring we downloaded a program to be able to see all participants in a meeting. This is now intergrated into Google. You can now see many more participants in a meeting. More information here

5. Jamboard - You now have the option to have your own whiteboard in a Google meet. This is a feature that many teachers asked about during the spring.

More features for Google Meets will be rolling out in the days and months ahead.

Clint will be offering the following Virtual PL classes after school during September. All courses will be virtual and will last from 3:30 - 4:30. These are offered for any staff in the district You can sign up HERE

September 29th - Top 5 Features in Google

October 1st - Hyperdocs in the Classroom

October 8th - New features in Illuminate Education

Google has recently published resources for teachers to share with families to learn more about the Google Suite for Education. I think that this is a great way for us to be able to better familiarize our families with Google for Education. Below is the link to the document

TECH Toolkit for Families and Guardians

We are fortunate to be able to have the new tool "Pear Deck" in Elbert County. This is a tool to make google slides interactive for all students. Teachers who attended the 1:1 bootcamp before school started were able to hear about these features. Below are a couple of resources about Pear Deck. If you would like to learn more I will be leading a virtual training at 3:30 on August 24th. You can sign up HERE

Getting Started with Pear Deck

Cool Things you Can Do

Pear Deck Knowledge Base

Joe Dawson - Elbert County Elementary School

Matt Johnson - Elbert County Middle School

Sherri Rampey -Elbert County Primary School

Hector Santiago - Elbert County Comprehensive High School

Bruce Stewart - Technology Director Elbert County School District

Clint Winter - Instructional Technology Coordinator Elbert County School District

Website: elbert.k12.ga.us
Phone: 706.213.4000
Twitter: @elbertcoschools