Google Tools Meets Middle School

Internet Safety with Google Admin Console

Teachers: Contact your tech coordinator because this is a real deal. 

Your Google Suite Administrator of the Domain has the ability to put students in a "penalty box." This means when the hormones kick in around 8th to 9th grade and students start to explore anatomy during their "independent study time" Google Admins or their designees can place certain students into a restricted category where only whitelisted websites are viewable. This not only happens inside the school filters but also at home. It works by managing Chromebooks through the Google Admin Console. 

In the case of Westside High School in Jonesboro, Arkansas where I am the principal we have 715 students take home their school-issued Chromebooks. We have a general rule that if a student messes up and looks up a boob or call's Sally fat using the school device that we manage, then we punish, redirect and provide tools for the offending student to overcome this negative use of technology. We do not take the technology away. It is the way they learn, just like a textbook. I am sure I would be immediately fired if I took away each student's pencil or pen when they write a dirty note on their books or paper. How is it different with technology?

So, in order to keep Johnny learning and using technology to do so, we place them in the box for a limited time. We whitelist Google Slides, Gmail, Docs, Sheets and other essential websites, even when they go home on their own Internet without our CIPA filters, it is blocked on through the Chromebook Management Console. 

Ask your Google Apps Administrator about this. We currently have our assistant principal managing this when teachers report students off task or looking at inappropriate content while in class. 

Chromebooks and G Classroom in Math?

Special Guest Post by Mrs. Mosier

But How Can I Use Chromebooks

in My Math Classroom?

Here are just a few ideas about how math teachers can use Google Chromebooks in their classes.

1. Download these Google apps and/or extensions onto your chromebook to use with lessons.

• Geogebra (and the Exam extension)
• Desmos (graphing calculator)
• Wolfram alpha (and has a website)

2. Use these websites to learn and perform interactive activities.

• Mathtalk.com
• Mathlab.com
• Woot Math (for pre-algebra readiness, probably grades 3-7)
• Mathplayground.com (has interactive games)
• Mathisfun.com (good videos and interactive activities)
• Funbrain.com
• Hoodamath.com
• Artofproblemsolving.com
• Math-play.com (has interactive games)
• Tylertarveracademy.com (good teaching videos)
• Getkahoot.com (very interactive way to assess for learning)
• Quizlet.com (very interactive and you can create quizzes and study index cards for vocabulary)
• Khanacademy.com (basically teaches any course for you and gives them practice along with help in trouble areas)
• IXL.com (parts are free but you get more when you pay for the services)
• There are also lots of sites where students can take practice ACT assessments such as mathplanet.com.

3. The following are examples of how I use my Google account.

• In Google Docs I create notes for the lessons. I use my Mobi pad to write and draw (since I teach Geometry) on the notes when first presenting a lesson, but then I can share the notes with students as well. This is helpful to students who are absent and it is an easier way to give my notes to students that have it written in their IEP accommodations that they get a copy of my notes instead of copying them from the screen.
• Students can create Google Slides of their math vocabulary and present them to the class.

The most useful though are Google Forms and Google Classroom.

• Google Forms can be used to create quizzes, tests, and/or surveys. The best part is that the results are placed in a Google Sheet for you which decreases teacher workload.
• Any website, Google Doc, Google Form, etc that I choose can be linked in Google Classroom so that students have only one place to look for the work I assign them. However, I mainly use it to announce the homework for each day. That way students never have to come to me for their missed work when they are absent. They can look online. It also serves as a reminder for those that were present.

4. If your school uses ebooks then teachers can use the interactive tools there and make assignments within the site.

5. Finally, I would recommend you search and read the article by Alice Keeler called “60 Ways Math Teachers can use Google Classroom”. It has additional ideas on ways to use the Chromebooks in your math classrooms.

2nd Annual Midsouth Google Summit hosted by DigitalEdAlliance and Trumann School District July 18-20, 2016. Registration We have worked hard to bring this conference to Northeast Arkansas. We are approved by Google and will have national speakers from across the USA. http://midsouth.gafeevents.org/registration Tickets are first come first serve the max capacity is 400. Pre-Summit Workshops July 18 Google Certification Prep Google Admin Console (Made for Tech Coordinators) w/Jim Rob Googleverse for Educators - A Beginner's Journey Pre Summit Workshops are limited to 40 participants Small groups with big impact. Summit July 19 - 20 Keynote Breakouts Featured Speakers: Ketura Rush -- Arkansas -- Monticello Jason Borgen -- California -- Santa Cruz -- TICAL Susan Gilley -- Arkansas -- Harrison Michael J. Graham -- Arkansas -- Westside High -- TICAL Lori Bush -- Arkansas -- Lake Hamilton High Jill Heard -- Lake Hamilton Jr High Will Kimblee -- California Anthony Owen -- ADE, Computer Science Merlina McCullough -- ADE, Learning Services Jim Rob -- Arkansas - West Memphis Trent Saracini -- APSRC - Little Rock

Google Voice : Guest Post Ashley Kincannon

Google Voice:

By: Ashley Kincannon, Teacher--Lake Hamilton Junior High School

Are you tired of having to find a phone to call parents? Do you wish that you could just use your cell phone to call parents? Would you like having access to multiple devices when calling parents? I don’t know about you, but I can definitely answer YES!!! to every one of those questions. Last year, if I wanted to call parents, I would have to go find a phone. I found it extremely awkward to call parents from the office or from the conference room because there was always someone nearby. To be completely honest with you, I just decided that unless I absolutely had to, I was not going to call parents because it was just not convenient. I know what you must be thinking-- this would have gotten me a “Basic” or “Unsatisfactory” rating in TESS. Oh no! Thankfully, I found a great solution to my problem: Google Voice.

Google Voice is a free telephone service powered by Google. By using Google Voice, I am able to contact my parents safely without using my personal number. I can even call my parents using my:

Cell Phone iPad Chomebook     Desktop Laptop  Landline (and more!)

The best part about Google Voice is that it is absolutely free! All you need to have is a Gmail account and access to the internet! You also have access to customizable features such as the following: voicemail, call screening, call forwarding, contacts, text messaging and more! I absolutely love using my Google Voice account to call parents. It is so convenient and safe.

Here is what you need to do to get started:

***Please note, you only get one free number, so you cannot change your number after you select it unless you pay to change it. Additionally, it can be very challenging to select a number via the “Area, zip code or city” option due to availability issues. It is usually easier to find a number via the “Word, phrase, number” option, and you can be most successful by sticking to a 4 letter phrase such as your school  or subject abbreviation such as (LHJH/Math).

Dive in and get started!

Midsouth Google Summit

July 29 Pre-Conference - July 30-31 Conference 

Trumann High School

Arkansas 

DigitalEdAlliance is proud to announce the first annual Midsouth Google Summit. This event will energize educators, provide excellent professional development and help your students create, collaborate and share their learning. 

Click here to get updates.

Midsouth Google Summit:

Planned Differently.

National Presenters in Education Tech

Google Certified Trainers

Google Certified Teachers

Fun

Student Presentations

Imagination Stations

Demo Slams

Goo-aid

Follow up learning through Crowley's Ridge Education Service Cooperative

Memphis. Little Rock. Southhaven. Jonesboro. Kennet. Poplar Bluff. Fayetteville. Mt. Home. Jackson. Paragould. All Schools. All Teachers.

Google Extensions: Tab Scissors and PARCC

Educators everywhere know that technology readiness skills need to be practiced for students to be successful on the PARCC or SmarterBalanced tests. Students are being asked to perform task such as drag and drop, highlighting text and scrolling through passages to read and answer questions.

Teachers will need to create practice performance task so students can get familiar with the various tools. One particularly difficult task for students is to read a passage with a scroll bar on the left and take notes or answer questions on the right. The picture below is an excerpt from the PARCC practice test for 11th grade English.

In Google Chrome the teacher can use the extension Tab Scissors to split the screen and allow students to be able to read a passage and do something with the information on the right. For example, a teacher could assign a primary source text such as Dr. King Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail and have the students take notes or answer questions. 

Forms Just Got Better with Add-ons

Forms just got better. Add-ons are features that have recently arrived in other Google Apps to help with certain functions. For example, in documents there are add-ons for mail merge, chart creator and a bibliography tool. In forms, the add-ons are geared toward making forms more user friendly and adding features.

For example gMath Forms will allow you to place equations into the Google Form question for math assessments. It will even allow you to answer questions about graphs.

FormLimiter: Will allow you to limit the responses to a form.

Check out the entire list buy opening a new Google Form

• Click Add-ons
• Get Add-ons

For more information check out my book Google Apps Meets Common Core