Google 2019 Year in Review

What were all the new additions to Google in 2019

Created by Scott Aten, December 20, 2019

With the end of 2019 at hand, I thought it would be a good idea to show all the new features that have been introduced in G Suite during this year. I have listed them by product.

Google Facts

• Chromebooks are the #1 selling device in the US K-12 schools
• 90 million students and teachers use G Suite for Education
• 30 million students worldwide use Chromebooks
• 40 million students and teachers use Google Classroom

Google Forms

• June - question import in Google forms (see image to the right)
• August - locked mode for quizzes finally arrives
• October - fresh new look to Google Forms

Google Slides

• April - Add audio files from Drive into Google Slides (they had a little trouble with this and I don't think it made the April deadline, but is there now)
• October - new accessibility options for closed captions

Google Docs

• April - comparison in Docs allows you to compare two Google Docs and review the differences as suggested edits.
• May - grammar suggestions added (underlined in blue)
• July - new grammar tools in Docs to help students with spelling and grammar
• September - you can now see the word count while you type
• September - new fonts introduced to improve reading speed (see Lexend)

Google Classroom

• February - move posts to the top added in Classroom's Stream
• April - topic filters on the Classwork page is added
• April - new items will post to the top of the Classwork page
• April - thumbnails for the way that attachments appear in assignments
• June - rubrics added in Google Classroom
• June - grades section added to get a holistic view of students grades over time
• June - ability to sync grades to ProgressBook (Biggest new add of the year!!)
• June - rubrics now embedded in the student view of Classroom
• June - teacher can now archive a Google Classroom on iOS devices
• August - originality reports introduced to reduce plagiarism
• September - classroom celebrated its fifth birthday
• September - rubrics on mobile devices (beta)

Google Drive

• April - you can now edit Office files from Docs, Slides, and sheets without converting file types.
• April - you can now edit the metadata in Drive to better organize and search by tagging files

Google Sheets

• April - connected sheets will let you collaborate on up to 10 billion rows of BigQuery data - FINALLY :-)

Gmail

• April - added the ability to schedule send email

Hangouts Chat an Meet

• April - classic Hangouts in Gmail is replaced with new Hangout Chat
• April - live captions now available in Hangouts Meet

I am sure we can expect more great features to come in 2020!

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Google Classroom Rubrics

Now you have the ability to reuse rubrics from other assignments.

Created by Scott Aten, December 17, 2019

When you create an assignment in Google Classroom, it is possible to add a rubric for the students to see as a part of the assignment. This feature was added this past summer. When it was first introduced, you would spend a lot of time making a rubric and it was only available in that assignment. This has now been changed! Now you can reuse a rubric that has been created in a previous assignment.
Another new enhancement is the ability to use other teacher's rubrics. When you add a teacher to your
classroom, any rubrics they have created become available to you as well.

Creating rubrics is a lesson I made available in our training center - "Creating a rubric for an assignment"
- Google Classroom Level 2.

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Create a Custom Google Search

Keep your students on track with their research using a custom Google search.

Created by Scott Aten, December 13, 2019

The internet can be an overwhelming place, especially for students trying to use it for research. All too often students rely on the Wikipedia's of the world wide web and look no further. For our younger students a simple Google search can lead to websites with information too technical for them to understand. The solution to all of these issues is to create your own custom Google search.

Here is how it works:

• Go to the Google Custom Search Engine website
• Click the "Create a custom search engine" button
• In the "Sites to search" box, add the websites you want your students to use. Only these sites will be used when a student does a search.
• In the "Name of the search engine" box, give your creation a name. I usually name it something similar to the assignment - "Animal Research", "Biography Reports", etc.
• Click the "Create" button
• On the "Congratulations!" page, click the "Public URL" button
• The site that opens is the URL you need to copy
• Include the copied URL in the directions for your assignment or post it in your Google Classroom.
• Instruct students this is what they should use to do their research NOT the Google homepage.

If you want make any changes to your newly created search engine, simply click the "Control Panel" button or go back to the website above and click "Edit search engine" in the left menu. You are able to go back and add more sites to your list of searchable site. In the Edit section you can also play with the "Look and feel" of your search engine with layouts, themes, and font and color customization.

Here is an example I made to limit choices on a biography report assignment. - try searching for "George Washington" and you will see that there are fewer websites being found as a result of your search.

These are very easy to create and will help make the internet a little bit smaller for your students.

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Animated GIFs and JamBoard Bring Creativity to Vocabulary Words

Animated GIFs and JamBoard

Bring creativity to Vocabulary Words.

Created by Scott Aten, November 25, 2019

Another cool lesson idea coming your way! Jennifer Alacchi is a third grade teacher at GPS. She found an idea online and scheduled me to come assist her in working out the details. The idea was to use animated GIF images to help her students work on their vocabulary words. Jamboard was selected as the tool that would be easiest for the students to assemble this type of project. For each
vocabulary word the students were instructed to add the following on a Jamboard page:

• Use the insert image feature to put an animated GIF on the page
• Use the "sticky note" feature to add the word, a definition, a synonym for the word, an antonym for the word, and use the word in a sentence.

Check out their progress on this assignment. Mrs. Alacchi plans on using this Jamboard project as a possible replacement for their written vocabulary sheets and allow the students to build on to this project with the new vocabulary words as they are assigned. Here is a sample I made to show her
how Jamboard would work with her project idea (NOTE: there is also a link in the presentation to a site
that allows you to make your own animated GIFs).

Jamboard is a Google App that is simple to use. It is really designed to be "whiteboard" software. Google sells an actual piece of hardware called Jamboard, but you do not need the board to use the app as we have demonstrated in this project. If you have ever used Padlet, Jamboard is a scaled back version with all the benefits of Google (sharing features, saves in Google Drive, can be assigned through Google Classroom, etc).

Amanda Popovich, GHS Spanish teacher, has used Jamboard with her class as well. This project is an example of students collaborating on a single Jamboard to develop their Spanish skills. This lesson shows that you can use a Jamboard activity collaboratively much like other Google apps.

The tools used in these projects are available to all Green Staff and students:

• Google JamBoard
• Google Image Search (done inside JamBoard)

If you would like some help using Jamboard, feel free to schedule me to come and help you plan

and develop your lesson idea.

I would love to see any lessons you have created using technology in an innovative way. I am hoping to continue to create posts like this one to share with the district. Just let me know when your lesson is happening.

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K20 LEARN ~ Strategies for the Classrom

K20 Learn ~Strategies

Filterable list of strategies to help with the OIP 5 step process.

Created by Scott Aten, November 21, 2019

During a recent DLT meeting, a teacher in my group expressed some frustration with Step 2
of the OIP Improvement Process. As I am sure you are aware, Step 2 deals with "Research
and Select Evidence-Based Strategies". The frustration came from selecting a "strategy" to
implement as a part of this step.

This summer I attended a session called "High Yield Google" and it focused on instructional
strategies through Google that work alongside "insert your favorite educational theorist here". [link to the session notes in case you are interested]. One of the items discussed was the K20 LEARN website created by the University of Oklahoma. While this amazing tool was not Google based, I feel it may help address some frustration you and your TBT may be feeling during Step 2.

Here is how the K20 LEARN site works:

1. You determine what is the size of the group of students (Small, Whole Class, Individual)
2. You determine how much time do you have to complete the strategy (less than 10 minutes, 10-20 minutes, 20-30 minutes, more than 30 minutes)
3. Select the strategy to see an explanation of how to use it

NOTE - The advanced filter allows you to also filter by placement in the lesson, intention/purpose and grade level.

For example - if I choose "small group" and "Less than 10 minutes" I will see a strategy called "Sticky Bars" is one strategy from 22 available to me.

This strategy quickly assess students' ideas concerning a concept or question and can be used as either formative or summative assessment (but is most appropriate for a formative assessment). Sticky Bars helps students see that there is often a range of opinions concerning a concept.

When I click on the image to the left I am provided with a summary and procedures to use that strategy.

All together their are 121 different strategies that a teacher can examine along with an explanation on how to implement in the classroom.

Hopefully you will find this to be a useful tool during your next TBT meeting when it come time to talk about what strategy to try with you students.

Remember I would love to see any lessons you have created and would like to share with the
district including the implementation of some of strategies from this site. Just let me know
when it is happening. I would love to come see them in action.

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GIS Students Participate in a Digital Breakout

GIS Digital Breakout

The students in Nicole Marchick's class use the four Cs to "break out" in class .

Created by Scott Aten, November 12, 2019

Many times we hear about the 4 Cs as they are related to Technology Integration - Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. Today I had the opportunity to witness an activity that hit all four. If you are a forth grader in Nicole Marchick's class you get to experience
a "Digital Breakout" activity several times during the year. In Nicole's class a story theme runs
throughout the year and different activities merge into this theme. Today's activity was a "Digital
Breakout' that reviewed several concepts the students had been learning:

• Compare and contrast in text structures
• Sequencing of events
• Cause and Effect

In a "Digital Breakout" students are provided clues to "unlock" various "locks". In this case the clues allowed the students to apply what they had learned about the topics above. The "keys" to these

locks are not obvious, the students have to use critical thinking to come up with the correct solutions.

Nicole structured this activity as a whole class collaboration, but on upcoming breakouts they will work in small groups and the clues will become more and more challenging. When a student comes up with a solution it is shared to the group on the board and as a class they moved to the next "lock". Communicating the correct "key" that unlocks the puzzle is important or part of the group will be left behind and thus part of the collective brain power too. There is a little pressure as a countdown clock is running limiting the time the group has to escape the activity. Fortunately in today's class, the students worked together and were able to successfully "Break Out". This was a very creative way for the students to review what they have been studying and the students I talked to, all loved it.

Watch a short video of the lesson and students doing the activity together.

If you would like to see what Nicole made, here is a link to the activity. This type of activity can work
at just about any grade level or content area.

I have worked with other classes and created "Digital Breakouts" with teachers to use.

• Famous People Breakout (used as an introduction to Biography Reports)
• Reach For Reading Unit 5 Review Breakout

The tools used in these are available to all Green Staff:

• Google Forms (to make the locks)
• Google Docs (for some of the clue documents)
• Google Sites (a great way to assemble all the pieces)

If you think this is something you would like to try. Feel free to schedule me to come and help you plan

and develop your own "Digital Breakout"

I would love to see any lessons you have created and would like to share with the district in a post like

this one. Just let me know when it is happening. I would love to come see how teachers are using

the chromebooks creatively.

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Understaning Google Drive Stream

Understanding Drive Stream

This is the solution to your U-Drive and network drives going away.

Created by Scott Aten, October 16, 2019

This was mentioned during opening day and I wanted to give you some time to get the year going
before I brought it back to your attention. Several of you have asked me about moving content from
U-drive and network shared drives and so what I have done is created a video that will show you...

• How to use Google Drive Share
• Move files from your U-Drive to Google Drive with Drive Share
• How to use non-Google files with Drive Share (i.e. Publisher, Smart Notebook, Photoshop, etc.)

There are exactly 44 school days left until your U-Drive/network share drive will not allow you to save
new files into them. You will still be able to open the files in both locations, just not save anything into
them. Saving to the desktop or hard drive of your computer is not wise, so this demonstration will be
the answer to all your questions on how to move forward saving files beginning in January and into the future.

[Understanding Google File Stream] (7:57 long)

If for some reason you don't see "Drive Stream" listed as a program, please put in a help desk ticket
and it will be pushed to your laptop/desktop computer. Special thanks goes out to Marc Clendaniel
for setting Drive Stream up for us making it easy to work between Google and our computers.


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The Chromebook Classroom

Looking for ways to use the Chromebook in your classroom?

Created by Scott Aten, October 9, 2019

Many times I listen to podcasts as I fall asleep at night. Most of them are for personal enjoyment, but one that I occasionally listen to is by Josh Sowash called "The Chromebook Classroom". In this podcast he offers ideas on how teachers can use the Chromebook to help students learn. In the first
podcast this month he featured several links to provide ideas for teachers. I wanted to pass along
some of them to you...

1) Halloween Hyperdoc (grades 6-8) - If you are unfamiliar with Hyperdocs, this would be a good intro. Hyperdocs is a digital document—such as a Google Doc—where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. They usually incorporate student as a part of the lesson.

2) Six Chrombook shortcuts to save time (grades 3-12) - Learning a few Chromebook shortcuts can be a real time saver for students and teachers. This blog post offers shortcuts to: Dock the browser windows, switch between browser tabs, recover closed tabs, use the cap lock, and launching apps
that are in the "shelf" or task bar.

3) Google Slides Journal Template (Any grade where writing is important - hint ALL) - Do your students journal? This template done in Slide and is expandable and flexible. If you set this up in conjunction with your Google Classroom it can be used all year long. Great way to get your students writing, simply add a new prompt as an announcemen in your Google classroom and students just add a new slide and continue to journal.

4) Carve-a-pumpkin in Google Slides - (grades K-2) - Skills reinforced here are drag and drop as well as an opportunity to do some writing.

5) SAMR Student Choice Matrix - (grades K-12) - I have given a presentation in many staff meetings about the tech integration model known as SAMR. The purpose of the model is to have teachers evaluate their activities to see how they are integrating technology into their lessons. This Choice Matrix can help provide you with some ideas and tools to evaluate some of your lessons through the SAMR lens.

6) Is your Chromebook broken? - (grades 3-12) - If you are looking to become a little more knowledgeable on how to do some basic trouble shooting for your students, then this site is a great place to start. The site offers a few things teachers can do to help their students before you send them to the library. Help reduce the loss of instructional time by educating yourself on these tips.

7) Four Ideas for any Classroom - (K-12) - Josh is holding a FREE webinar TONIGHT. This webinar will explore 4 simple ways you can use Chromebooks in any classroom. The webinar is Wednesday
October 9th from 8:00-9:30. You can also request a replay of the session if you are unable to view
the live session tonight.

Hopefully one of these links will be of interest to you. I know sometimes the biggest hurdle with having
Chromebooks is finding good ways to use them, so I will continue to look for resources and provide
tips like this post to help you help your students.

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For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

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