Six useful ‘Google in the classroom’ posts

There are just so many posts about how to use Google in the classroom that it is quite mind-blowing. Today I thought I would list a few of them that I have found helpful. Four excerpts come from come from one of my favourite blogs, the TeachThought blog. .

1) 5 Simple Ways To Use Google Docs In The Classroom (from the TeachThought blog)

from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-simple-ways-to-use-google-docs-in-the-classroom/

This is a great post that you must read. It outlines:

• how to introduce collaborative writing using the integrated reference tools and smart spell checker 
• how to use Google Forms as an inbox for collecting assignments from students, 
• how to use Google for online, collaborative brainstorming  sessions that provide students with opportunities to work together to develop ideas.how to provide students with immediate feedback and increase motivation by creating a simple self-grading quiz with a Google Form.
• How to use and create Google Doc templates as a virtual copy machine to save time.

2) 25 ways Google can help you to become a better teacher (from the TeachThought blog)

from http://www.teachthought.com/featured/25-ways-google-can-help-you-become-a-better-teacher/

This post has 25 very useful tips on using Google in your daily teaching. It is definitely worth a read.

3) 21 Google Chrome Extensions For Increased Productivity (from the TeachThought blog)

Google Chrome is an amazing browser for both teacher and students for many reasons. One big plus is that you can sign into your profile from any compyter and have all your bookmarks, history, settings come up immediately. You’ll see all your extensions appear in a  shot and these make browsing an absolute breeze because everything is right there saving hours of time.

This post highlights 21 really useful extensions for encouraging productivityin the classroom.   You need to take a read of  21 Google Chrome Extensions For Increased Productivity

4) 20 Useful Google Search Tips You Probably Don’t Know (from the TeachThought blog)

Searching the Internet is such a vital skill these days. There is a lovely embedded plugin that shows the 20 useful lovely tips. (Would love to know which application was used to create this!)

from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/20-useful-google-search-tips-you-probably-dont-know/


5) 52 Tips And Tricks For Google Docs In The Classroom 
(from the TeachThought blog)

This post raises the question ‘Are you using Google to its fullest potential?'  It outlines 52 great ideas for getting the most out of Google Docs including awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive. This post is definitely worth a read….52 Tips And Tricks For Google Docs In The Classroom 

6) Paperless Classroom Series: Google Drive
Andy Marsinek shows how he moved from being a teacher who collected everything on paper, to introducing the paperless classroom. This is made possible with Google Drive. He says “students and teachers can access, edit, and work on assignments almost anywhere. And I am certain these mobile device features for Google Docs will only get better.” Take a read….Paperless Classroom Series: Google Drive

Webinar recording: So how does a Google hangout work? (25/03/2013)

Google hangouts are a free video chat service from Google, connected to Google +, that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to ten people at a time. There are enormous benefits to this for education. This is the webinar recording entitled 'So, how does a Google hangout work?

Summary of the webinar

Google hangouts are part of Google plus. This video chat feature allows you to invite nine others (total of 10) to video chat, IM chat, watch YouTube videos together, share documents and much much more. These are perfect for professional development or planning sessions

I am running an exciting, free digital storytelling course and writing opportunity for South African educators, 2013. Please sign up…

This is the course that I have created and will be running on behalf of the African Storybook Project soon. Here is the sign up form if you are a teacher wishing to be involved. If you like, you can read about the exciting new African Storybook project before you sign up by clicking here

A request to share a true story based on Internet-sharing from Alan Levine

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If you are a South African teacher reading this we would like to tell you about a writing opportunity and a free online writing course that is coming up with SchoolNetSA  as part of the amazing African Storybook project and website that is being developed for Africa. Our 30 days of writing posts will lead up to giving more information about this. WATCH THIS SPACE!
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Alan Levine is someone I have come to appreciate when it comes to writing ideas - in fact I would call him a digital writing guru! His two wikis, Cogdogroo (found at http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com) and 50+ Web2 ways to tell a story found at http://50ways.wikispaces.com/  give loads of wonderful ideas for writing. 

Purely by chance I came across this video of his on YouTube made in January 2013 asking people to… (he can say it better than I can) ...“Yes, it is another call for what I call "True Stories of Open Sharing" - examples of people's experiences of unexpected outcomes when they share something openly online. I will be building a new collection at  http://cogdogblog.com/stuff/truestori... - and if you have one to share, either make it a video response here or submit a URL for a video to http://bit.ly/truestories13.”

If you go to Alan’s blog http://stories.cogdogblog.com/ you’ll find a collection of these stories to listen to.

Listen to what he says on the video below and then decide….

A great way to get your students writing for 60 seconds - with oneword.com!

More and more one can see how amazing it could be if all the students in a class have tablets. Imagine having just one or two minutes each day to get the students writing! This website http://oneword.com is designed for just that. All you have to do is:

• You’ll see one word at the top of the following screen.
• You have sixty seconds to write about it.
• Click go and the page will load with the cursor in place.
• Don’t think. Just write.

Advantages of daily writing practise:

• This could get students into the habit of just writing and thinking out of the box.
• By writing every day, the students gain fluency while getting a chance to practice important punctuation, spelling, and style skills in context
• The students will soon start writing more fluently.

Get started with Twitter – a must for every teacher

 Nowadays, in the era of social networking,  it is vital for a teacher to get on to Twitter in order to find out what is happening in education. I have learned SO much from Twitter and am connected to fantastic educators all over the world because of using it.

How ten minutes with Twitter can get your creativity soaring
For example I was looking through my Twitter stream and I saw a tweet from Julian Wood, a teacher in England whom I follow. It said:



Since I am attending a TeachMeet on Tuesday next week, this sounded interesting so I clicked on the shortened link which took me to http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2013/03/09/how-can-i-webstream-an-event/ where I can across an amazing Mentor Mob collection of articles on the topic created by Wesley Fryer.



Well, that was very interesting and then when I scrolled down I saw the Wesley Fryer had just delivered a workshop on creative writing so I opened that link which took me to Alan Levine’s wiki post http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php where he outlined a great writing idea using five photos. 



Very soon my mind was buzz, buzz, buzzing with new ideas for varied creative writing exercises that will inspire a student to write.

Another teacher’s post on what happened using TwitterIt All Started WIth A Little Tweet.....And Turned Into A Game of Jeopardy, Searching Together, Google Hangout, and Becoming Online Classmates in Edmodo http://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-all-started-with-little-tweetand.html 

How to join Twitter1) A YouTube video showing the process of joining Twiitter

Getting started with Twitter (a five minute tutorial)

2) A SlideShare from Maggie Verster to show you how to join Twitter

Getting started with twitter from Maggie Verster

Twitter tips

• If your account is hacked, all you need to do is change the password immediately.
• Try to add a photo to your profile as "noone likes to follow an egg" (quote by Maggie Verster). An egg shape is the default icon.
• Start by following @Schoolnetsa, @PILNAfrica, @maggiev. @fibeal, @micheleb2011, @artpreston  and see who they follow or who follows them. 
• Try and send a tweet every day.
• Join our Twitter chat for South African teachers on Monday nights fromm 8:30 - 9:30pm. It is great fun to have a debate using 140 characters.

See you on Twitter!

Further reading
5 Baby-Steps for Using Twitter to Begin a Personal Learning Network

Web Tools #30: Add speech bubbles to a photo online and then download the photo

Submitted by Fiona Beal. This is the last in my series of 30 Days of Web Tools series - but of course I continue adding many web tool posts in the days to come
I came across the coolest website today called Phrase.it (http://phrase.it.)  It is a very easy to use tool where you simply upload your photo (or select it from Facebook), add your bubble and text and then save it.  Let’s go through it.

1. Open Phrase.it

2. Add your photo
You can import from Facebook, upload one or use a random stock photo. I added one from the TeachMeet in East London on Tuesday. I notice that the image must be over 400kb. Phrase.it gives you little messages as it uploads – it goes very quickly. I am using a photo from the TeachMeet at East London on Tuesday.

3. Add your speech bubbles

4. Preview what you have done

5. Save and download
You have various options. One is to email it. I chose download. A little box comes up as you download to see if you want to display it on any social media.  There is also an option to make an optional monetary donation.

6. View the final result

I must confess, I need to play around with it a bit. I couldn’t get the speech bubbles to go any smaller, for example. I also couldn’t raise them so that the end bit didn’t overlap with a person’s face. But I love this idea of adding speech bubbles to photos quickly. Phase.it is quick and easy.

Classroom use
1. Use this in the classroom for a board display.
2. Let your students upload a photo of themselves and add something that says something about themselves, their charactger, their opinion etc.
2. Just have fun with it.

Introducing the African Storybook project

I am particularly interested in this African Storybook Project as I am creating and running the free online Digital Writing course (through Saide as part of my SchoolNet work) that will be presented to South African teachers later this year. Exciting!

Saide (South African Institute of Distance Education) has launched an exciting new project aimed at contributing to the improvement of reading and literacy for young African children. The project, known as the African Storybook Project,  is funded by Comic Relief in the United Kingdom. The exciting thing is that SchoolNet is participating in this project so you'll be hearing a lot more about it from us!  I have previously submitted a post on the initial workshop of the African Storybook Project in Johannesburg – Introducing the African Storybook Project.  Tessa Welch of Saide is the project leader in this exciting venture.

What is the African Storybook Project?
The African Storybook Project (ASP) is a project that will create and encourage the use of a digital library of stories for the first few years of reading in digital formats, openly licensed, with a process and tools for translating and versioning stories for local African languages and contexts. These will be shared on a website which is in the process of being created. This will enable users to upload and share versions of the stories in their local languages, providing numbers of stories in a range of languages way beyond the scope of conventional publishing.
In this way we aim to provide African children with sufficient familiar language stories for enjoyable reading practice to create a firm basis for literacy development.  The initial pilot will take place in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

The initial workshop
An initial workshop was held  on 10th November 2012 to explore the key issues before starting the project. The poject leaders thought it would be a good idea not only to discuss but also to experience different ways of creation, presentation and translation/versioning.

The presentation on the Japanese art of Kamisihibai by Jemma Kahn held us spellbound, and this was followed by a discussion  of how the techniques and rules of Kamishibai could work digitally for children’s stories.

Jemma Kham illiutrating the japanese art of  Kamisihibai

A session of games, riddles, and tongue twisters was led by Sheila Drew. One of the activities involved taking a portion of a cut up puzzle picture, finding the group members with the rest of the picture and creating a story together. One member of each group related the group's story to all the participants.

Sheila Drew

The group creates a story

The presentation of child created/illustrated stories, with ideas for how this kind of project could described and replicated was given by Glynis Clacherty. Glynis elaborated on the process of story development she used with refugee children during a holiday programme in Johannesburg.

Glynis Clacherty

The translating and versioning of stories session was based on a humorous story called Refiloe and the washed chickens. It centred around performances of a section of the Refiloe and the washed chickens story in Setswana and isiZulu with a discussion of translation issues in treating comedy led by Nicholas Welch and Jeremiah Mntonga. We were exposed to improvisation techniques which encouraged all the workshop participants to contribute to the version.

Nicholas Welch and Jeremiah Mntonga

Jefferson Shabalala led us in a humorous performance of the Xhosa weatherman.

Jefferson Shabalala

A project of partnerships
The African Storybook Project will be a project of partnerships - we do not see ourselves in competition with other projects, but cooperating with and complementing existing initiatives in ways that are mutually beneficial.

Through the work of Judith Baker over a number of years, the project has a list of over 40 potential partners in the three pilot countries of Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, but also in Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone,South Sudan and Zambia. In addition, there are possible partnerships through organisations that work across Sub Saharan Africa such as the TESSA programme and the Canadian literacy organisation, CODE.

Judith Baker

Judith Baker leading a discussion

Story Acquisition
We need a critical mass of stories in a range of languages in order to be able to start work in the pilot countries in the middle of this year. We are aware that there is quite a lot of free material already on the website and we already have a process for exploring, assessing, downloading and categorising this material systematically.

We are also inviting all interested parties to submit stories to us. If you are interested in helping us by donating a story, here are the guidelines:

• Our main interest is stories that children can read themselves when they're in the first stages of reading - a few words or a sentence a page, with an accompanying illustration - although there is place for more difficult read-aloud stories as well.
• We're looking for African stories in languages spoken in Africa that will appeal to African children up to the age of 9 or 10.
• You can send us typed up stories with or without illustrations, or scanned PDF stories with illustrations, or recordings of stories, songs and games.
• When you send us a story, please also send the information about the story as per the attached form.
• Send the stories to: tessaw@saide.org.za and jennyl@saide.org.za.
• If your stories are too large to email, let us know and we'll invite you to our Dropbox folder where you can upload large files free of charge.

If you are a teacher that would like to get your class writing stories for this project, please consider participating in our free online four week course Digital Writing for the African Storybook project which starts in mid-April. Please watch the SchoolNet blog's Free online courses page to sign up and to see the requirements for the stories that are subitted. . A teacher from the school that submits the most useable stories will be invited to accompany the African Storybook project to an international reading and Writing conference in Niarobi in August 2013. 

You’ll be hearing a lot more about this exciting project in the months ahead.

Google glasses? This is INCREDIBLE technology!

What are Google glasses?

I have been reading bits and pieces about Google glasses, and today I thought I would investigate further. All I can say is ‘Wow, wow, wow’. it is quite mind-blowing. You wear them like glasses but they appear to give information, record experiences and allow you to connect with others.

from http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

 http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-unveils-augmented-reality-glasses/story-e6frfro0-1226319356168 

Take a look at this video that Google has put on YouTube about the glasses ‘How it fees through glass’ that I have embedded below. First, here is their write up which was first of all published on Feb 20, 2013:
“Want to see how Glass actually feels? It's surprisingly simple. Say "take a picture" to take a picture. Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live. Directions are right in front of you. Speak to send a message, or translate your voice. Get the notifications that matter most. Ask whatever's on your mind and get answers without having to ask. All video footage captured through Glass. Welcome to a world through Glass. See more at http://www.google.com/glass/start”

Now for the video…you MUST watch this! 


http://youtu.be/v1uyQZNg2vE

Well, the future is definitely changing very rapidly. How do we keep up!

Google #17: Webinar recording ‘Let’s explore Google Chrome and its extensions’

Google Chrome is definitely a fascinating and very user-friendly browser.  Some of the things I love about using it are:

• You can easily create many different profiles for Chrome so that each email address you have uses its own profile.
• The URL bar is called an Omnibox because you can search from it just as if you were operating in Google Search. 
• One can paste all sorts of bookmarklets in the bookmarks bar. i.e. Pin it for Pinterest, ‘Scoop.it’ for Scoop.it etc.
• There are so many wonderful time-saving extensions to add to the top right portion of the browser.
• There are many applications that one can install on to the Google Search page for quick access.

Webinar recording
Last night SchoolNet hosted a webinar called ‘Let’s explore Google Chrome and its extensions’. Here is the recording link.

Webinar presentationThis is the webinar presentation on SlideShare.

Google chrome from Fiona Beal

Webinar recording: Let's explore Google Chrome and its extensions (05/03/2013)

Google Chrome is definitely a fascinating and very user-friendly browser.  Some of the things I love about using it are:

• You can easily create many different profiles for Chrome so that each email address you have uses its own profile.
• The URL bar is called an Omnibox because you can search from it just as if you were operating in Google Search. 
• One can paste all sorts of bookmarklets in the bookmarks bar. i.e. Pin it for Pinterest, ‘Scoop.it’ for Scoop.it etc.
• There are so many wonderful time-saving extensions to add to the top right portion of the browser.
• There are many applications that one can install on to the Google Search page for quick access.

Webinar recording
Last night's webinar which supported our current onlne course 'Google for Professional Development' was called ‘Let’s explore Google Chrome and its extensions’. Here is the recording link.

Webinar presentation
This is the webinar presentation on SlideShare.

Google chrome from Fiona Beal