TCC 7-1 Cindy's Links

Always short and sweet here are this issue's finds.

Things Google:
Google as a portfolio site provider...Sites and Drive work together. The teacher makes the overall site adding pages appropriate to the type of information the students will add. Then publishes it as a template and the students customize from there. Link to how...collaboration is possible.
My favorite Google teacher, Alice Keeler tells how to use Google Keep to  turn paper handouts into digital on the fly.
I already mentioned one of the parts of this Google for Education post  in the TCC 7-1 Old, but Golden post in the  section about Remind., but other things here include Classroom’s mobile app, Expeditions, and more. One of the more features is a Chrome app that will allow wireless mirroring of devices 1-to-1 called Cast for Education. Expeditions offers virtual field trips with 3D viewers...this one isn’t free...Cardboard viewers us smart phones for a BYOD less expensive option. There are 3D videos on YouTube.
This last Google item is a testimonial to an Alice Keeler post about making collaboration space specific for students. It is from a teacher, Christy Monge who tried giving each student a page named for them in the document (slides, in this case) Read and view the result of this hint.

Things Other than Google:
A launch page with links has become Hyperdocs??? A blog post if this is new to your...here.
Differentiation is an education buzz word.  We are to give students the opportunity to learn the way best for them. But listening to read??? Look as the post on whether this is cheating. Audio books can help many students absorb material they would not get from a book.

ENJOY!

TCC 7-1 Old, but Golden

As usual we will begin our year by reviewing our logins and looking at some new features of these old friends. This Tech Professional Learning Community (PLC) topic has to do with a song learned in Brownies: new friends are silver, old friends are gold. The old friends are: ERO, SchoolInsites (web host), Outlook (email), Enrich, StreamlineSC (Learn 360 portal), Discus, We are also reviewing phone/voicemail setup and a password addition to our work order system, School Dude.
But as usual there is modeling involved with the session. The main new friend for the year is ClassFlow from Promethean. We will be looking at some of the features more closely next month when teachers join a class. At Google Classroom schools the “always start in Classroom” rule is in effect. Having to join two classes may seem tedious, but they will have access to all the archived lessons in our classroom site.
Now for some outside sites which have become important over the years..Chrome has eased the need for online bookmarking since with a login your browser looks the same on any connected device. But EDU.Symbaloo is still the most visual bookmarking tool which can be very helpful for younger students. This link is to a Twitter webmix which has ideas for following chats as part your personal learning network. Using Symbaloo as your Personal Learning Network (PLN) home can be shared with students, too.
Remind was the first “messaging to parents anonymously” site. There are several others now and Google Classroom has a share with parents email feature now that combines all classes the student is in-volved with in one message. Can be daily, weekly or monthly. And ClassFlow has an app called ClassFlow Moments which mimics many of Remind’s features. Parents must be invited to join. Remind has grown since beginning. You can now add attachments and apply read receipts for documentation. Link to the Top 10 Ways to Use Remind. Still free...still private! ClassDojo is another first of its kind site. This has also morphed due to copy cat sites. They offer support with student video series. There has been a yearly set for several years.. The new set is here.
Many old friends have moved to subscription/membership, but are still useful enough to invest in. Edu.Glogster is one of these. I have been an Ambassador and used it as my presentation tool some years back. This was one of the first curation tools online….it offered a digital poster format which allowed students/teachers to add video, pictures and text to a background. These had URLs and could be shared or used to present. $30 will get you a personal account. It is a onetime purchase not a yearly license. Voki is a talking avatar and is itself is still free, but it has many additional educational features Voki Classroom, Voki Presenter, and Voki Teach which are paid. These all have 15 day trial with various levels which include combinations of the products from $5/month for 50 students to $10/month for 150.
So that gets Florence 3 started for the year...ENJOY!