My experience creating my own web page using Google Sites was not bad but definitely time consuming. I suppose I am an overachiever because I wanted to make sure I included all the elements that were on the grading rubric (I'm such a nerd). Also, I feel that if I am going to spend all this time making something, it better be worth it and include things that I would want to see if I were a student or a parent searching for information. It is also really important to me to change the public's persona of what PE actually is. It's really NOTHING like it used to be. Any respectable PE teacher is not only teaching the core skills necessary for sports, they are also teaching many health concepts, fitness activities, incorporating new technology into their programs, along with teaching good character traits through their activities. I want my students to have fun and learn about all these things along the way. Creating this website is a great way for me to showcase my program to parents and students; it's much more than just "playing" all day.
I would have to say that managing the layout to get the page to look like I wanted was probably the hardest thing for me to figure out. I think that if I had chosen a different template (one that is more formatted from the start- like the teacher format) rather than a blank template, that would have been more helpful for me due to my lack of knowing how to organize my sidebar. (Honestly though, I don't know if there is a template that is already "pre-organized" so this might not have been an option). Once I got my format figured out a little bit and got my main categories created along my sidebar, inputting information, drive documents, links to websites/pictures was rather simple. I was pleased with my final product and think it will be a useful and informative tool for my students and parents. The only downfall, at this time, would be that I already have a SchoolWires webpage with my district so I am uncertain as to when this webpage will be used unless we switch over to Google (we are introducing Chrome books this year so it could happen). For those that don't have a website, however, this is a great way to create one. I also liked how you can use it to create a professional portfolio.
This week I got to experiment with some new ideas for utilizing YouTube as well as getting to know my way around Picasa (an app I've never used before). I enjoyed using both and they are pretty easy to use and navigate your way around.
YouTube
YouTube is so great for searching for anything from music videos to tutorials. It covers a wide range of subject matters; I doubt you could do a search and come up empty handed. If you really like something, you can subscribe to it so you don't have to search for it every time (you must have a google account to do this). There is also a YouTube for Teachers and a YouTube for Education. The education site has allows you to choose your level of teaching, as well as the subject matter you are looking for.
The YouTube Education site kind of reminds me of Google Scholar in the respect that it has more "reputable" videos. Most of the videos (not all) seem much longer and more in-depth in their detail. If you want to learn more about YouTube Education, click HERE. Another site that shows videos that I thought was really good for education was WatchKnowLearn- check it out!
Another feature of YouTube that I got to play with this week was a tool called "TubeSnack." This is a free service that you can sign up for (or use your google account) that allows you to put together a reel of videos to create your own personal playlist. I like this because you can choose your topic and only put in the videos you want. I made one on the topic of Zumba for my daily warm ups. Instead of searching for a video the morning of my lesson, I pre-picked these so I can go right to my stack and it's ready to go. Also, by having this prepared ahead of time, I already know I like them and I know they are easy enough for the kids to perform them (thus, customizing my TubeSnack to fit my needs). It's almost like making a video lesson plan; pretty cool! Check out my TubeSnack of Zumba videos.
Click HERE to watch a video on how to create your own TubeSnack.
Picasa is an awesome photo (image) program that allows you to organize, edit, upload and share your images with others. As I stated earlier, it is not something I have used before this week. The cool thing is that once it is downloaded, it automatically searches your computer for images and uploads them into Picasa. From there, you can create new albums, slideshows, collages, edit and label your pictures, tag people or locations, or even order prints from a local store. To download Picasa, click HERE.
After downloading, here is an introductory video to help get you started.
I got to create and play around with two cool features this week: create a collage and create a web album. Creating a collage is easy and fun with different templates, borders/background colors, etc. I created the collage below of from this school year's track pictures (girls & boys teams).
Creating a Web Album was fun also. It really is a great way to share photos and allows you to showcase them in a nice format for others to view. Also, you can choose who you send it to and who can view it (only you, anyone with the link, or public). To learn how to Create a Web Album, click HERE.
Google Earth allows you to see the Earth in updated satellite 3D images that give you way more perspective and realism than looking at pictures from a book (that may be really old or out of date). You can explore any part of the world as far away or as close as you'd like. Street level view is great if you want to stand on the ground at your selected location and check out your surroundings. You can search for a specific destination, address, business, structure, landmark, or even get driving directions. In addition, you can explore beyond by going into the galaxy and looking at the stars or planets. You can also go deep into the ocean and explore what's beneath the big blue sea. Teachers could use to for all kinds of subjects. To see a brief tutorial on how to use Google Earth, click on the video below.
To see how to Create a Google Earth Tour, click HERE.
Why Teach with Google Earth? Click HERE. (additional links for "how to teach with google earth" and "examples of google earth activities" are also in the column to the left in this link)
Need some Google Earth lesson ideas? Click HERE....or HERE....or maybe HERE! (you could also do a google search "google earth lesson plans" for endless links)
Google Tour Builder is an awesome extension of Google Earth that allows you to create a "slideshow" presentation with text, pictures or video while mapping out and viewing your destinations as you go using Google Earth (it's like PowerPoint and Google Earth got married). While adding your locations, you can still zoom in if you want to showcase a building or landmark or you can simply zoom out to show a broad location. You can also choose different markers (i.e. school building, flag, etc) to showcase your locations. I really think this is an awesome way to showcase a nice looking presentation for any type of information you want to share (biography, pictures from a trip, family history, countries containing "X" species, plants or wildlife, comparing terrains...the possibilities are endless). To see a brief tutorial on how to use Google Tour Builder, click WATCH VIDEO.
To watch my tour builder presentation, click on Michael Jordan.
Need some Google Tour Builder lesson ideas? Click HERE....or HERE....or, once again, HERE!
No matter your preference, both of these are great tools and only you can decide which one will work better for you in your classroom. I say the more resources the better!
Google Calendar is a really easy way to keep track of personal, school or business events. You can create as many different calendars as you wish and share them with as many people as you'd like. You can color code your calendars and events, as well as view your calendar in different ways (day, week, month, etc...). The video below will give you a brief tutorial of Google Calendar.
The personalized features in Google Calendar really get fun and more helpful when you start to utilize some of the things in your "Settings" and "Labs." I will share with you some of the features I enjoyed setting up in my Calendar this week. 1.) Sending Google Calendar Daily Agenda to G-Mail Inbox; 2.) Hiding Morning & Night; 3.) Getting the Weather Forecast in your Calendar; 4.) Adding Interesting Calendars
Sending Google Calendar Daily Agenda to G-Mail Inbox
I check my e-mail first thing in the morning and several times throughout the day. By setting up this feature, google calendar sends my daily agenda to my inbox at 5 am showing me all the events for that day. Just in case I can't or don't check my calendar, this is a surefire way to get that information so that I don't miss a morning meeting or an after school event. Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.
Hiding Morning & Night
This is a Lab feature that allows you to block off unused portions of time (aka "inactive hours") that you are not likely to use most of the time (i.e. 12 am-5 am). This really comes in handy when you use the daily or weekly calendar as those are sectioned off into hours. Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up. Additional Tip: To hide weekends: Go to Settings (gear icon on top right), scroll to "show weekends," click No and Save.
Getting the Weather Forecast in your Calendar
Being a PE teacher, I tend to go outside several times throughout the year for my team sports units (mainly baseball, football, soccer). However, the weather is on it's own agenda and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Getting a "heads-up" ahead of time does help if I need to make changes or adjustments to my lesson plans for the day or several days. Setting up the weather forecast feature gives me a 4-day look at the weather in my area. Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.
Adding Interesting Calendars
If you are a sports fan like me, or you like to know when the holidays are in, say, Brazil, you will like this feature. For example, I am a KC Chiefs fan so I subscribed to that team. On my calendar, there is a football in the corner on the days that they have a game scheduled so I know all the dates and times. In addition, it tells me if it is a home or away game (i.e. GB @ KC or KC @ Oakland). In addition to the professional level, they also have college and international levels to choose from as well (that means that KU Jayhawks basketball will also be added to mine--ROCK CHALK!). Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.
Those are just 4 of the many settings and labs that you can choose from to further customize your calendar to make things easier and more convenient for you. Please check out the links below if you want further information.
For more information on Google Calendar Settings: Click HERE
For more information on Google Calendar Labs: Click HERE
For Information on Creating & Editing Events: Click HERE
For information on Sharing Calendars: Click HERE
MORE Tips for Google Calendar: Click HERE
This week I got to experiment with Google Drive and all it has to offer. A huge advantage of drive is that you can access it anywhere in the world once documents are stored just by logging in to your Google account. This is great for people who travel, work a lot from home, or for those that can't collaborate face to face every day. Teachers, this is also awesome for organizing your class files, assignments, etc. Drive allows you to store, share and send documents, as well as work on a document together at the same time (if you have editing rights to it). In reference to my last statement, when someone sends (shares) a document to another individual, the owner can choose to allow the recipient to view, edit or comment on the document(s). If working together, you can see the changes happen right before your eyes. Everything in Drive is in real time. Your documents are autosaved while you are working so you don't have to save them manually every time you make a change. In addition, there is also a "revision history" section that allows you to revert back to an older version if you don't like the updated changes that you made to a document. You can go back and forth as much as you want from version to version because it continues to save as you go. This is a pretty cool feature, especially if you mess up a lot like I often do.
In many ways, Google Drive mirrors Microsoft Office in the respect that it has many word processing functions inside of it (i.e. Presentation = PowerPoint, Document = Word...you get the point). When uploading a file that is saved on your computer, you can keep it in the original form or convert it to one of the processing tools inside of Drive (if you convert it, you have a lot more options on editing). Drive also allows you to create a form, which lets you to make a questionnaire, survey, test, etc. This is an awesome feature, especially for teachers! A drawing is another item you can create for diagrams, charts, etc. This feature is pretty cool for brainstorming and "webbing" activities for research or writing projects.
For an introduction to Google Drive, watch the video below:
I am going to talk a little bit more about my top 2 features in Drive: 1.) Creating a Form and 2.) Creating Folders, Organizing and Sharing Documents with your students (and colleagues).
Creating a Form
As stated earlier, creating a form allows you to make a questionnaire, survey, test, assignment dropbox, etc. You are allowed to choose your background and the format of your questions (multiple choice, text/paragraph response, checkbox, etc.).
You can then choose how you will receive the results (spreadsheet format, etc.)
Click on the example to view a questionnaire that I created for back to school night. (Tip: if your URL is too long for people to remember, shorten it by going to tinyurl.com- my URL for the example is now tinyurl.com/KParentSurvey- try it out)
To watch a video on creating a form, click the video below.
Want something to help you grade your quizzes/tests? It's free! It's called Flubaroo...check it out!
Creating Folders, Organizing and Sharing Documents
I am pretty meticulous about organization. I also have multiple classes so creating a folder for each class is a must for shared articles, assignments, etc. for each individual class. In addition, google allows me to create separate contact lists and put them into groups so each class can have their own e-mail list for sending out and receiving information.
The video link below is really good at explaining how to break up your classes into sections, upload and create assignments, grade assignments, etc... It also shows you the student view. Click here for google drive for teachers video! (The other video link at the bottom on organization is pretty good too)
Want more information on creating documents? Click here
Want more information on sharing documents? Click here
Want more information on files, folders and organization? Click here
In my Physical Education class I teach a lot of different health concepts (hygiene, nutrition, bones, muscles, etc.). My 4th grade students also participate in an 8-session health and wellness program sponsored by our local hospital that focuses on nutrition, fitness and smoking. I created a Custom Search Engine that would help my students and parents do additional searches for any nutrition and health topics that they wanted further information about. The great thing about creating a custom search engine is that you get to choose the websites that the search results come from so that you can narrow down the search to the site(s) that you know will be relevant and, in my case, kid friendly. If you want, you can give my search engine a try down below.
This week I got to explore many of the awesome search features that Google has to offer. There are so many tools that can help you find information quickly and easily (i.e. weather, sports scores, dictionary, movie showtimes, etc). For a brief overview of these, click on the video below:
The two search tips that really caught my eye were: 1.) Searching by Reading Level and 2.) Filetype Searching. Both are great if you are looking for something specific for either yourself or your students.
Searching By Reading Level
When conducting a search (any topic), you can go into your settings and choose the reading level you want results for (basic, intermediate, advanced). So, for example, if you chose Intermediate as your reading level, only that level of results will show up. This is great for your students who struggle with reading fluency or comprehension because they can actually find material they can use and understand. Your advanced students could also have access to more challenging reading material. In addition, at the top of your search results screen, you can see a reading level box showing you what category of reading material you are currently looking at. You can then click on and change your search material from intermediate to advanced, or down to basic if needed, instead of having to go back into your settings area. The bar also shows you the percentage of results in a particular reading level. An example of what the reading level box looks like is posted below:
To watch a video on how to "Search by Reading Level," click HERE
Filetype Searching
If you are looking for a specific file type (i.e. a PowerPoint presentation) when conducting a search, you will really like this feature. Simply type in your search topic, add a space, and then filetype:(abbreviation of the type of file you wish to search for). Make sure you don't have a space between filetype, colon and the abbreviation. An example would look like this: five food groups filetype:ppt. If I used that example, my search results would only render PowerPoint presentations on the five food groups. From there, I can view or download any of the PowerPoint selections from the search results. This is a great time saver if you know exactly what kind of file you want, or you need to find something specific to help you supplement or guide a lesson idea. Below is a list of some of the abbreviations of file types, as well as a picture of my search results for the example above:
To watch a video on how to perform a "Filetype Search," click HERE
If you are accustomed to using a different browser (i.e. Firefox or Safari) and don't know anything about Google Chrome, it's a little intimidating at first. However, once you get used to it, I think you will enjoy all the great features that it has to offer. I will share some (not all) of those features throughout this post to help give you a brief overview. First, I would recommend watching a few videos (like the one below) after installation to help you navigate and set up the browser the way you want it. Once you get your settings completed the navigation process is very fast and easy. Your Omnibar (aka- the address bar) performs multiple tasks, which is a great feature. You can type in a known web page (without using www), use it as a calculator, or you can use it to perform a search by typing in a subject matter. You can also change the search engine that you use in the "Settings" section, which is nice if you are not finding the search results that you want from your current search engine. If you have multiple tabs and would like for two of them to be open at once, you can drag one out to create a new window so that both tabs can be viewed at the same time. This makes it a lot easier and faster to view both windows rather than having to click back and forth between tabs.
A huge advantage of Chrome is that it syncs to all your devices (through your google account) so that you can access your information when working with multiple machines (i.e. tablet, desktop, etc.). Another advantage that I really like is that I can find all my apps or extensions in one place and open them without ever being asked to update anything (i.e. flash player) because they are already embedded in Chrome itself. They are always updated automatically by Chrome and ready to use when I open them. Also, most of the apps that I use are free so I don't have to spend any extra money to have access to them. If you're like me, I love anything that has FREE attached to it! The last advantage that I will share with you is the ability to open a new window in Incognito Mode. While in incognito mode, you can use all the same browser features but your history will not be recorded so there will be no internet trail. Basically you will be under the radar in "stealth" mode. I recommend downloading Chrome if you want to take advantage of all the wonderful amenities this browser has to offer.
If you would like some tips on how to use Google Chrome more effectively, watch the video below (it's lengthy but the information is well worth it - a Mac version is also available on YouTube):
