All Things Google

This coming school year the district has decided to give in and finally embrace Google in all its glory. About the only thing we could use Google for before this coming year was the search engine!  Google drive has never been accessible to us at the school.   I have used drive for personal things since its inception and have pushed for this to happen for several years.  In any case, I'm glad we are jumping on board and hope other teachers will use the tech as well.  To that point, I have been selected to conduct a one-day training workshop in August to teach HOW to use google in the classroom.  Not a short order.  Luckily, my master's classes are aligning perfectly for me to get the job done.

A few things about the workshop.  It's only a six hour day.  I'm not certain I can show them the arsenal of Google products in six days, let alone six hours.  I'll have to choose wisely and begin with the basics. I think they need to understand the wealth of things that can be done through Google products without overwhelming them into not using the technology.  Secondly, the workshop is not mandatory for our teachers.  I tend to think I'll get teachers who have an honest desire to use the tech (or at least I hope so!) 

I think the best place to start will be with simply explaining some things about using Google Chrome.  I think most will be familiar enough with the browser to show them a few tricks like bookmarking sites and and Apps toolbar.  Then, I'll dive into the drive.  I hope to just get through the fundamentals of the google drive suite (docs, slides, sheets, forms, etc.), making sure to give them time to investigate on their own as well.  I plan on creating an assignment for them to collaborate in small groups. If I can get through those 2 things, I'll consider that a day well spent.  

I think as long as it is designed with thought and intention, it will be well received and having the ability to create while still earning some credits for school is a bonus.  Wish me luck!

The Other Class

When I was an undergraduate, I always assumed I be doing the typical things of an English teacher; assigning and grading essays, reading classic novels, teaching a little Shakespeare.  I thought about how I could make English a subject that ALL my students not only wanted to come to, but one that they wanted to come to learn.  Ever the idealist, I foresaw classes where the students were diagramming sentences just for the fun of it. 

For my first several years, that was, in fact, what happened. I got a job at a middle school and I felt I was creating a positive learning environment (minus the love of sentence diagramming - I still haven't solved that one.) 

When I received an offer to teach 9th grade English in the same town where I lived, I couldn't be happier.  I was setting up my classroom when my new principal, Steve, walked in the door. After the formalities of making sure I was getting everything I needed to begin the school year, he hit me with the question that forever changed my direction in education: 

"How do you feel about teaching broadcast journalism?"

I was a little taken back. This never came up in my multiple interviews. I had taken a journalism class in college, but broadcast journalism? New job. New principal. I was planning on being here for the remainder of my career. I wasn't sure how to answer.  Steve recognized my hesitance and quickly interjected that I would have plenty of support.  I would be co-teaching with a technology teacher who would be able to take care of all the tech issues. It was a class he felt would really be a good fit for me. His reassurance worked and I accepted the challenge.  

In the six years now that I've been teaching the class, I've come to identify as a broadcast journalism teacher. The one class I started with has sprouted to include a variety of associated classes. It has almost become a department on its own. I've learned things that I never would have experienced as an English teacher and in the end, it was the best decision I ever made for my career. 

An Unexpected Surprise

I was given a bit of exciting and unexpected news this week that has a correlation my summer graduate classes.  Even more exciting is the fact that it will have a direct impact in my classroom next year. Let me set the scene. 

During the final few weeks of school this year, we had a new principal begin working at the high school. (We went a majority of the year without a principal - but that is another blog post entirely.) Previous jobs had her teaching at a well known cyber school where she eventually became an administrator and principal. Needless to say, she is tech-minded and seems to have a clear vision of the direction she was to establish and maintain.  

I was a little taken back last week when she interrupted our elementary basketball camp and asked to see me in her office.  She told me that because of my involvement with technology in the building that the ninth grade would be piloting her 1:1 initiative this coming year! She had just received the green light from our superintendent and couldn't wait to tell me.  Even now, a few days later, I'm still contemplating all the possibilities that exist.  

First, one of my primary goals for the coming year was to create a paperless classroom, and with students each having a computer - my challenge to do so became extremely feasible.  

The kids are going to get chrome books and we'll be rolling out google drive w an email address for each student as well.  I think I'll be able to use google classroom to its full extent and should be able to integrate our grading system as well.  My summer to-do list grew exponentially. 

I'm excited to give this endeavor my full attention and hope to be a good case study to allow other grades to eventually become 1:1 as well.  

Postnote: I wouldn't have been able to create this blog post even just a few years ago.  We are taking a family vacation to Florida for the next week and I am working on this blog post on the road somewhere south of Atlanta.  After a 12 hour trip to North Carolina, we embarked on the second leg of the trip this morning. While the kids are fast asleep in the back of our van, I am able to continue to work on the blog. It really is amazing.  Let's just hope they sleep for the next four hours (but I doubt it. 😀)

Blogging Lock Down?

I've blogged with my students for the past 5 years.  I used a few different blogging platforms (KidBlog, Edublog) to accomplish not only a classroom blog, but also individual student blogs.  Every year, blogging becomes a bigger and bigger part of the class.  But it is always under a close eye with stern privacy settings. I have everyone very much regulated to 'Just Us.'  Students are required passwords even to access each other's blogs to comment.  Simply put, I've always been afraid to open them up to the outside world.  

However, my viewpoint about this in the past year has been slowly changing.  I'm starting to think that maybe I should let go of some of these privacy settings.  I think my concerns about student privacy were warranted, but I believe with the right education about how to stay safe in the cyber world, I can open these blogs for others to see.  I think I'll still moderate posts/comments as the students write them, but a quick review and I should be able to approve it for the world to see.

I also think that by allowing them to use a service like Blogger or Wordpress, I will be assisting them to establish a positive digital footprint which will be essential for them in the future.  The intent of the blog then changes itself.  From just using it to record reflections and thoughts in their 9th grade English class to something they can take with them and continue to use as they move through high school and beyond.  And if I can create that for just a few of my students, then its well worth the effort.