Today’s 10 minutes of connecting is a beginner’s look at collaboration with Google Docs.
There are very few places that don’t use Google Drive today to collaborate on notes, projects, presentations, thinking, etc.
Google Drive allows you to create different types of shared files, like spreadsheets and presentations. Google Docs is a starting place for getting used to using cloud storage and sharing documents with others.
We have embedded two instructional videos that begin at the very beginning – creating your own Google Drive. It’s a bit longer than 10 minutes, but we suggest that you watch them as far as you need to, and then go to your own Google Drive and practice.
For those already using Google Drive, this would be a great time to nurture others in learning to collaborate online using this tool.
If you are a Google expert, what resources would you suggest for those just beginning to use collaborative documents?
If you need more help with Google Docs or Google Drive, please feel free to tell us in the comments, or on Twitter @OSSEMOOC
If you came to this page to share, please scroll down to the form at the bottom of the page.
(If you are just starting 30 Days of Getthing Connected today, please see the links to Day 1 and Day 2 on the right side of this page.)
Finding that 10 minutes to connect might be challenging today, but learning to be a connected leader will help your students in so many ways.
You can do it!
As we continue to look at how we collect information online, we will spend some time today looking at resources for educators. By the end of the month, you will be curating and sharing these resources with others, but for today, we will just survey some of the valuable resources available to you to help you with your professional learning.
Yesterday we focused on reading some of the blogs written by Ontario educators and other educators.
Take 10 minutes today, and look at some of the valuable information available to you online.
If you already take time to read and learn from websites like these, what other sites would you suggest? Please fill out the form below, and we will share the responses here for readers.
Consider how much easier it will be when you are connected with other educators and you share the best information from sites all over the world!
Responses (it may take awhile for new responses to populate this page).
I typically listen to Craig Norris on CBC KW 89.1 on my morning drive into the office and yesterday was no different. I happened to catch an interview Craig did with Roger Farwell, the new CEO of Creative Enterprise Inc.
What caught my attention in the interview was the idea of one’s “change stance”. In a time of rapid change you can sit back and see what happens OR actively ‘play in the space’ to position yourself for the best possible outcome.
Lets apply this notion to education. This is a time of rapid change in many areas of the K12 environment.
instructional practice: facilitated, inquiry based, PBL, collaborative etc.
assessment practices
technology enabled learning
SAMR
TPACK
owning your own professional learning
sharing
reflecting
collaborating
making your thinking visible
mobility
technology trends
bring your own devices (BYOD)
etc.
Summer reflection challenge: What will your approach be to educational change? Will you sit back and see what happens OR actively ‘play in the space’ to position yourself for the best possible outcome?
I think the real question is: what does is look like in the classroom? – or the work place for that matter. Rows of cubicles are no different than rows of desks. Learning, and collaborating, in messy mode requires a shift.
How do we build greater comfort and capacity to let go, let the messiness happen and let the students/staff benefit from less control and increased socialization?
Please share. What does this look like, sound like and feel like in your classroom or work space?
This post by David Culberhouse (Educator, Senior Director Elementary Ed, Previous Principal CA Distinguished School, Co-Moderator West Coast #satchat) is the fourth in a series called “The Creative Leader”.
Here he explores the notion of ‘T-shaped’ people. His message is clear: leaders need to understand what creativity and innovation look like, and they need to intentionally build a staff with people who have depth of knowledge in one area and who can also branch out and work creatively and collaboratively in another.
Shared by: David Theriault, English Teacher in southern California (@davidtedu)
The work of leadership is not just to ensure that educators have deep knowledge of their disciplines, but that they have the flexibility to move laterally across the building, across disciplines, across grades to be innovative and creative.
I love this post because I do think that we need to figure out how to become more interdisciplinary in high schools. We need to not just have ‘open doors’, but flattened walls. We need people who can think and create and innovate and initiate from their deep curricular and disciplinary knowledge and who can also take that thinking, creating, innovating beyond their curriculum and discipline to uncharted waters.
Bring on the Ts!!
Shared by: Julie Balen, High School English Teacher, Wikwemikong Board of Education (@jacbalen)
The power of co-construction as a tool for learning…”the power of the process”…is about engaging students in deep thinking, analysis, and thus understanding. Isn’t that the purpose of education? To develop such a depth of understanding that it changes our thinking and behaviour?
Shared by : Nicole Morden Cormier, School Effectiveness Lead/Early Years Lead, Superior-Greenstone District School Board (@nickimc40)
Of course, not all our learning comes from our online connections. We learn from our f2f co-workers as well, when we take the time to sit down (or go for a walk) and talk about our work.
I am very fortunate to work in a center that highly values the building of personal relationships and the informal sharing of our work and learning.
We take time each month to celebrate birthdays and eat a special lunch together. It amazes me how much learning and how many new projects arise after we take this time to share the work we are doing in our different branches.
Today, I learned so much about the Aboriginal perspective on mathematics education. This is a completely new area of learning for me, and for those who are interested in learning more, here is a fabulous place to start your understanding: showmeyourmath.ca
Thank you so much to my colleague, Yvonne Morrison (EO, Aboriginal Education) for sharing her learning with me.
I hope you find this topic as fascinating and engaging as I did.
I overthink things to the point of not even beginning something that should be a relatively easy task, if I were to just begin. I am constantly trying to think of an even better way to begin or set things up or roll out a plan. To the point of sometimes sitting very still for a long time.
What’s the best way to organize my garage? What’s the best way to switch my winter clothes out of my closet and start bringing out my summer stuff? What’s the best way to sort out the content on my sister’s Greenhouse website? By the way, none of these 3 tasks have been started. I get stuck.
A few weeks ago, I was quite geeked to be a part of a 4 day professional learning experience involving a “Google Bootcamp” and a “Google Summit”. Many ideas streamed by me for 4 days at lightning speed… people sharing ideas… apps to try… extensions to add to Chrome… and solid pedagogical practices that were shared. For 4 days, I tried to organize it all in my head and figure out a strategic way to implement some of the possibilities with my staff. I struggled with how to “dial it back” a notch to begin at a reasonable speed.
I had a great discussion tonight with a few colleagues as we shared and brainstormed about “what would be the best way” to share ideas with our staffs regarding curriculum, pedagogy, and integration of technology. We shared our ideas of our weekly newsletters that are sent electronically. We shared our attempts at organizing blogs according to strategies we see in our schools. We shared our face-to-face discussions.
And then I started to talk about my vision of how I’ve always wanted to start a separate page on my website that I could begin sharing weekly ideas with my staff, that would be archived online for future access as well. And as I listened to myself say “I’ve always wanted to do that, but haven’t figured out a way to organize it all yet”, I realized that I could be putting it off for a very long time. I stared into space for a brief moment, and I realized… stop trying to organize it all and just begin.
The process just repeats with me.
Learn… reflect… do.
It’s the timing of each that seems to vary with me.
What have you been spending too much time organizing your thinking around? What can you begin tomorrow?
Kelly-Ann Power is a Vice-Principal in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board serving as a Vice-Principal representative for the WEPVPA Executive. Her previous role for 10 years prior to being a Vice-Principal was as a teacher consultant in the area of Assessment & Evaluation for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board. As a facilitator of professional learning, she was afforded the opportunity of working along side both elementary and secondary colleagues in the school and classroom settings. Her 12 years of classroom teaching experience, prior to becoming a consultant, in the St. Clair Catholic District School Board spanned Grades 1 to 8, as well as Special Education.
I’m learning about feedback, and the intense process involved with it. Yes, I said “intense” – you’ll see why. 🙂
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Comprehension Test
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Lyrics
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Interview
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Comic
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Collage
Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Journal Entry
Bulletin Board – Back Wall of Classroom
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Bulletin Board – Student Samples
Individual Google Docs, with Hyperlinked Feedback
Individual Google Docs, with Hyperlinked Reminders & Feedback
It’s all of 15 seconds – certainly a VERY SMALL PART of the 100 hours of video that is uploaded to youtube every hour!
But it’s a lot more than 15 seconds to the Grade 8s. To them, it’s a reminder of the steps involved in using teacher feedback. Steps? Yes, there are several steps actually. And sometimes they don’t remember them – which totally disheartens me because I know I was late getting home for a supper my hubby made last week! Late – because I was recording audio feedback to guide my students in their next day’s assignment.
So, it’s really, REALLY important to me that they use their feedback – important because I know they need the feedback to do their best job, and important because I was late for supper when my husband was cooking (a rare event indeed!). So, if I’m going to take the time to give feedback, I need to make sure they are using it for their learning.
In the flowchart (which was actually recorded on a whim for a friend, and not at all intended for its 15 second spot on youtube!), there are 7 steps.
1. Pick a book you like. 2. Read what other people did to be amazing (see bulletin board photos in slideshow). 3. Listen to the reminders for that task (audio recordings for each task were embedded in the google doc) 4. Listen to the feedback given on previous tasks (audio recordings were hyperlinked in each student’s google doc) 5. Use the planner, set goals to show what you know (see planner photos in slideshow) 6. Monitor your brain’s activity – check on what you’re doing (we talk about metacognition whenever I remember to!) 7. Hand in your best work!
The Grade 8s were advised that they needed to follow the chart as they prepared for their work. It was fabulous to see them moving around the room. Some were reading the bulletin board and some were conferencing with their peers (sometimes my feedback directs them to a peer who can provide a specific example of a particular skill). Others were listening to feedback and writing down their goals. A few were grabbing the planners and success criteria handouts. I was circulating, providing some one-to-one support where it was needed. I was able to focus my time on some key issues and struggling learners because every student already had some feedback to guide them in their next steps.
Now if only I could figure out how to remove the nasally tone from my recorded feedback – whose voice is that anyway?
Michelle Parrish is a learner and teacher in Northwestern Ontario, and she is most happy when working alongside her grade 8 students.
OSSEMOOC 