Showing Google to Principals

today I was able to meet with the principals in our district to show them the world of Google.  I use part of the same presentation I gave to the high school staff in early February.  This was different because I was not going to be teaching them how to use Google but just get them into the world of what Google Apps is and how it can be used.

there was great discussion about how it can be used and what it can do for productivity and students.  What I didn't have a clear picture of at the end of the session what who and how.  I get that people need training and time.  I know not everyone is going to spend their own time/money to learn everything Google like I did.  I find it interesting that they don't attend tech training, or even WORSE they come and they do absolutely nothing with what they learned.

Is it because:
a) they didn't learn anything new
b) they didn't learn anything
c) they don't know how to use what was demonstrated in their own classroom
d) they don't have they technology support needed to use these tools
e) all of the above

This is what keeps me thinking about what to do to help pull people forward.  The early adopters are on the train and we are pulling out the station, I am concerned for my peers who car is not even at the train station to get a ticket to board.

Anyone have any ideas?

Presentation to Faculty and Principals

Update on my hours.  Through the week of March 30 I have document 1,620 hours.

Chromebooks

Had conference calls and several, several emails, but we are getting some Chromebooks. I have been looking for a way to get Google Apps more streamlined into teacher's classrooms. The lack of availability to computers and the very slow boot up time to our older laptops does not make it conducive to use the equipment. I can not even say how excited I am for the new piece of technology to come to Seymour.

 I just hope that I have some colleagues that will jump on the technology wave and use it to change how they work with students. I am not looking for go to the computer lab and type a paper, but change the type of assignments and interactions with the students to online.

 I have been doing more Google Doc assignments. I had students review websites and then share their assignments with me for grading. Much easier than printing documents (and greener too). Students do not seem concerned with going with this technology, at what point to my fellow teachers become leary of using it. I struggle with this because I always look for ways to learn and use more technology.

Google Apps Education Individual Qualification

Well it has taken me almost the entire 90 days but I did finish all 6 of the exams to become a qualified. I did learn a lot and I was really glad that I set that as a personal goal. Going through all of the apps and reading got me very prepared for the training session I helped organized for my high school. I felt very confident that I would be able to answer questions that individuals had. What I became more concerned about closer to that day was "did I help to prepare my peers who were assisting me in presenting enough". This though and worry did cause me to lose some sleep and eat more chocolate. In the end it went great and we got some great feedback on what was liked. In my latest meeting with my Ninja trainers from Seymour I am looking at offering a Lunch and Learn where I would go over some Google "stuff" during lunch in my computer lab. Nancy tossed out the idea of calling "Gobble with Google". I am now looking at planning the course of presentations and trying to market this to my district. The techie people I talk to think it will go over and people will attend, only time will tell. I can certainly tell that I am glad to have taken myself down the road of become Google Apps Education Individual Qualified. Now I just have to become a Google Certified Teacher. I am ready for the challenge of making that video. On my hours count it is mid/end February and I have for the school year a total of 1448.5 hours in already (if I did the math right counting for 40 hour work weeks that would be already 9 months worked).

Google Ninja 1st Meeting

I meet with 4 great co-workers today who are going to help me pilot and rollout Google Apps at the high school.  I can not even express how excited I am about working with them.  I have a great mix of content areas (modern language, science, english and of course business).  I had use first start using a google doc and collaborativly writing what some of our goals are for using Google Apps for the school.  Then we went through and tried to categorieze them as immediate, intermediate and long range goals.

We did not have a lot of time on this but we got a start on it.  I also tried to give a couple Google tips that I have learned to help them hone their Ninja skills.  I do believe everyone did learn something with my tips.  I have been going through the Google Apps Certification test to make sure that I have the skills needed to lead our school down the Google Path.  So I took our goals and put it into a Word Cloud using a Spreadsheet Google Gadget.  Here is what our word cloud looks like.

I hope this document continues to grow and evolve as we look for ways to engage students in more of a digital lifestyle in school.

Google Apps Certified Test #2 - Doc

Whew!  I just took my second test and it was harder.  I already new I would struggle more because I had to read the content over 3 days (non-sequential).  The site said it would take 4 hours to go through and it did.  I read the last 2.5 sections tonight and told myself I need to take it now, before I forget I what I read earlier this week.

I passed the section but I was not happy with a couple of the questions.  There were specific questions on the Doc List view (which I could find some information on the search bar of the site, but it was not directly linked to the table of contents of the section).  Also it gave directions for the old view of Google Docs and I have been using the new version for well over a month.  So did I get information wrong because it is presented wrong??

I also had questions on drawings.  I did not find an specific trainings on Drawings from the table of contents, but when I searched I did find some specifics relating it to Chapter 7 in Module 4 (but again not in table of contents).

But I passed.  Now I have to schedule to get through: mail, calendar, sites and other tools.  The are all estimating 3 hours to go over materials (other tools is only 2).  So I have 11 hours of studying to do and 6 hours of tests to complete.

Google Apps Module 4 - Docs

So I started my 2nd section of Google Apps.  It is the longest section in the training material but the one I will get hit the hardest with questions.  I have made it through the general sharing explaination (did you know you can share a document with up to 200 people, but only 50 can edit it at a time) and docs.  I am saving spreadsheets, presentation, and forms for later.

I will say I learned some really cool time savers that if I had not decided to go through this training I would have never know.  I love learning this stuff.

Did you know that there is a addon to work with Microsoft Office and Google  Docs that you can download.  You can work in office and in docs at the same time.  I have downloaded it but have not tested it out yet.  You can bet I will do that Thursday!  It is called Google Cloud Connect.



Also a nice time saver I learned is that in using Google Chrome or current Firefox you can drag from your desktop to google documents.  You don't have to click upload.  WAY BIG TIME SAVER.  That is a two thumbs up for me.

This module does say it will take 4 hours to go through and I don't have that much time at night to devote to it.  So I will be chunking it to get through it all.  I hope to take the test within a week, so I don't forget it all.

Tools - Mathematical equations

Tools - Mathematical equations

Looking for a way to use Google Docs when you are writing equations?  This site will help you use it.

Google Apps Test 1!

I have had a hard time coming up with what to write on my blog now that the school year is in full swing.  I am doing a lot of different activities and projects, but I truly believe that all educators do the same amount of work that I do, so why am I special.  A couple of items I do have on my burn to blog about would be the Google Midwest Summit (so awesome), so keep your eyes open for that.

That conference did inspire me to take a step to become a Google Apps Certified Teacher.  There are 6 parts to becoming certified and today I took part 1, Admin.  I have been using this the past couple of months to get our school ready to go Google.  I read through the training materials (on the site it said 45 minutes), of course I thought I would be able to breeze through it because I have been using it already.  It did take me that long to go through the materials.  No shortcut to get the information.  I also knew that I wanted to study the materials and then take the test in the same setting.  Since part 1 only said 45 minutes, I figured that would be the easiest of the 6 to get under my belt.

The exam is 60 question and they give you 90 minutes to take it.  I did use a full hour, because I didn't want to get tricked by all/none questions.  I reviewed 8 questions before I submitted my results.  I did change a couple of those answers so having the ability to mark questions I want to go over was VERY nice.

I clicked the submit button and waited to see if I passed.  I paid the testing fee of $15 out of my own pocket, because I believe it need to have this training to lead the staff in my building.  Maybe I will see if I can get reimbursed (probably not), but maybe.  They also stated that you can take the test over again only once if you did not pass it (and you have to pay for it too).

The results came and AHHHHH!  I passed with a 95% so I got 3 wrong out of 60.  Pretty good, now I have to carve out time to do the other 5 sections: Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, Other Tools.  We will see when that fits into my schedule.  But it will get done.  I will keep you updated!

Google Webinar - Personal Experiences

I was in on a Webinar on Wednesday.  Deforest High School in Wisconsin shared with the group how they moved through being a Google Apps school.  It was really nice to hear from someone in Wisconsin on what they had to do to be successful.  I know Google Apps can really change how teachers and student share work and complete tasks, but if the implementation goes awkwardly then it can stop it before it takes off.  Luckily or unluckily this is falling under my task list for the year.  I have a great tech person to work with, but roadblocks are a big concern of my for faculty buy in.

Here are some of my notes from the Webinar:

Deforest has gmail for grades 9-12, switching to 5-8 in next two weeks.  They don't have a curricular need for email for grades 3-4.  They can lock down(walled garden) the lower levels to only email within the domain.  They have not had a problem with bullying online with email.  Teach the teachers how to supervise

No minimum age to make gmail available through google apps

Deforest uses graduation years as a way to group students.  This is a mirror for how they organize the network.  That way when students move up a year and need more apps, they become available easier than using the group 1st grade etc.

They use the domain name deforestschools.org.  They already owned the domain name.  They are going to switch over all teachers and students to gmail and get out of groupwise.

The use of calendars was huge for signup labs and communicating with parents/peers

These notes will help me to move forward on getting our school up to speed with technology tools, if I can get more teach buy in.  Does anyone have any advice for me on this?

32 Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom - Webinar

Working at school and I attended a webinar in which they discussed ways to use Google Apps for classroom teachers.  I am working with the high school for them to become a Google Apps school and my role is going to be to help roll out how to implement it for the building.

I had troubles getting into the webinar and having audio.  I tried for over 15 minutes to call into the conference call number but could not get it to work.  Very frustrating for me because I was so excited to listen to the ideas.  So here is a list of some of the ideas I got from the webinar

Google Docs

Journals, instead of bringing home

Translate Letter to parents in a different language

Parent Sign up Sheet

Science Experiment, then used a motion Chart as a Google gadget, Google lookup 

Flash Cards (Google gadget), use a center for classroom.

Forms:

great way to collection information, give immediate results.  Get some pre-assessment and the results and can use fluburu (? spelling)  to grade forms and Google spreadsheet.  They do recommend changing the template to make it more exciting.  

Ways to use forms:  student surveys, observations, online reading records, discipline referrals, collect information from parents/teachers, spelling tests or multiplication test, collecting science data, 

Calendar:

Sending invitation for meeting and including a Google document, show standards mapping, add fun calendars such as Brewers or Packer's schedule.

Gmail:

Methods translation to work with parents who are not using the same primary language, global pen pals, 

Talk:

Doing a video chat to bring in guest speaker or conference.  Meet with students to help with work.

Sites:

Website creation tool, you can edit and publish it live instantaneously.  embedding calendar, calendar or any other  apps is easy.  Can create e-portfolio, can create projects and reports, curriculum sharing.

Blogger:
Run classroom and use  for lesson plans, easily intergrates with forms and documents.

Google Moderator

Reflect on daily learning.  Students can read each other's reflections and vote up the responses that they like the best.

I will be going back and rewatching this webnair to get all the tips and you may see another post on this area.

Google Webinar - Google Apps for Education

I watched a webinar today that was advertised through Wisconsin CESA as help for school to roll into the use of Google Apps.  I have watched one previous webinar and had our Tech Guru watch the integration one.  The one I watched today was truly an overview of what Google can offer a school.

One of the best points I got out of it was: Why not go to the cloud.  This is an interesting point, I have been moving to the cloud for a while, just for the pure fact that I don't want to carry around a flash drive, burn a CD, or email back and forth a file and remember which email as the most current version.  I have to take a backseat and think about the rest of the people in my building.  I need to think more like them, but it stumps me.  I just love to use technology to make my life easier.  I know I sometimes get sidetracked trying to find an easier way of doing a job, but in the end I will do tasks more efficiently 

Just this week I met the new Principal at our elementary school.  I got a quick introduction and then she asked the Tech Guru a question on how to link files from the server to her Ipad, she got the response of it can't be done.  Then I  pipped up and said, use dropbox.  It is free and works great.  To me this is second nature, find a solution to the problem.  With my new role of tech integration at the high school I will need to consider lots of fears that people have in technology and embrace the role of bring them along.

Also in the Webinar I got an overview of all the apps that are available, but one of the nicest features with Google apps is the single sign-in.  It alleviates the issue with student not remembering username and passwords.  They will always have access to their files instead of saving it to the network and not being able to work on it at home because they don't have the file or don't have the program.  The only limitation is they need to have a device and have access to the internet.  I did a survey with our school to see how much access we have to the internet, of course it is not everyone but it is getting better.

My next step in rolling out Google Apps is going to be looking over the agreement with CESA.  But I really don't see why we need to go with them when we are already signed up.  Again more research.  Anyone out there know why I should sign the Wisconsin state Google agreement vs just keeping with registered domain name I setup last year?

FBLA Seymour Officer Make a Calendar & More Google Apps

It is so wonderful to work with students and see them excited for what they want to do.  Today was the day where Seymour officer plan their year.  I had prior today worked with Taylor (our president and current state officer) on ideas and thoughts for the year.  This was easy to do because we have spent over 2 weeks together this summer as well as the constant emails and text messages about projects.  Using gmail accounts I am hoping will make it easier to communicate, but I have to get the entire officer team use to login in and checking email (it is too slow and cumbersome, I will probably text them to check email).

We started the day talking about ideas and thoughts for the day and goals for the chapter.  We did a lot of talking at Local Officer Training in the Dells but three officers could not make it, so this was to be the time for the entire team to pull it together.  Unfortunately two officers did not show (I know they were out of the country early this summer but they had said they would be back by August 10, which is why we picked this date).  Anyway we had to work, so ides and projects were just assigned to them.  I took the ideas and dates and put them into the shared google calendar that I created.  Again I am hoping this will help them to realize time commitments.

Here is a screen shot of just one of our months that we planned.  We still don't have concession dates in the calendar because . . . . well I am not going to talk about it.  It makes my blood boil.  Anyway here is a screen shot.

Such is the day and life of an adviser of FBLA  I do really enjoy working with the students but you can see how my calendar is pretty busy and that does not include work assignments and of course family.

The day went very well, after I was done finishing the calendar for everyone the work for Freshman Orientation was completed.  We have a presentation to all incoming Freshman on the importance of being involved in extra-curricular in high school.  We don't just focus on FBLA, but all activities and sports and what it can do to help.

Also planned was permission slips for trips to Madison and Milwaukee.  The homecoming float design is done and I will have pictures after the parade (it should be fun).  We are having committees to work on all of this, so we have to get officers ready to have club members help with the projects.

I was at school from 8 to 4.  I did have a lengthy converstation with Andy our Tech Guru about Google apps and what he learned in a Webinar he did today, because I knew it was over my head.  He said he would do the serve side work, BIG SMILE.  He did give me some research on cost and size issues with a depolyment the size of the high school.  So I will be having more blog post on that topic.  I estimated that I would like to have it ready to roll out to the entire building at the start of 2nd Semester, but deploying and testing with students and staff during 2nd quarter.  I hope that is not too far off, but I also want to plan some training in there with my new Technology Coaching hours.

After work at school I came home and finished two photobooks I wanted to have done for FBLA.  I would say I have had 3 hours of work to create these albums for FBLA and tonight I can say they are ordered.  I will then have them for Freshman Orientation on August 22.  Here is a link to the blog post with one of the albums.

11 hours of work today.

Google Apps Webinar

I signed up at watched a Google Apps Seminar today.  It was for IT admins (which I am not), but I wanted to have an understanding of what needs to go into rolling out Google Apps for our school.  One thing I now know is that I need to know more.

The topics covered were: Organizational Layout, Mail Flow, User Provisioning, Data Migration, and Authentication

Organizational Layout:
Making sure that you have groups setup in order to set policies for different users.  For example students to use gmail but the teachers still continue to use exchange.  In order to do this it is important to have a seperate domain name for students.  Teachers would have seymour.k12.wi.us  but what should we give to students?  students.seymour.k12.wi.us  that seems logical but is a very long address for the students to remember and they already don't like to use email because it is so slow and cumbersome vs texting.

Mail Flow:
My understanding is that teacher email would be unaffected but I will need to research wether we need to have student emails archieved.  If they do then we may need to set up and use postini? I don't know our school's policy so research will be needed.

User Provisioning:
This is my biggest concern!!!  Who is going to update and maintain all the users. I know I do not want to type in 800+ users.  They did talk about using a CSV file to upload but then at the end of the year you need at add more users and delete graduating students and who is going to take the time to do that (not ME).  They did discuss the use of active directory sync to manage users and I strongly feel that is route to go.  I don't know how that will integrate with PowerSchool so again more research.  Another plus of active directory sync there doesn't need to be anyone with a work ticket to reset passwords when a student forgets it (which is all the time).

Data Migration:
Ok, by this point my mind was wandering.  But who is going to migrate the contacts/calenders?  Does it go to to the users to do?  Or does the IT department do  it.  There are pluses and minus to each.  If IT does it all data is migrated even if it is old and isnt' used, and you are only limited by your bandwith size. Users migrating means that they have to understand what to do, which is training.  I think we need to do more technology training, but not this type of training.

Authentication:
You can either authenticate using Google Authorization or SAML 2.0 SSO (I don't know what the second option is).  I like the thought of using Google Authorization because you can log in anywhere using any Google login site.  That means on your mobile device or any Google page that has a login.  I did get that the second options was for organizations that wanted to security and passwords on their servers.  It seems like more work to me.

The end of the presentation suppose to be about Wisconsin Google Apps for Education but there was a problem with the presentation.