Back to School with ProgressBook

Tips for getting the school year started in your ProgressBook Account

Created by Scott Aten, August 21, 2019

Software answers has provided us with some "Back to School" tips for ProgressBook. In the first article "Back to School for Teachers" you will find information on the following topics:

• Assignment Details
• Assignment Marks
• Attendance
• Class Rosters
• Grade Weights
• Gradebook Grid (new features here)
• Seating Chart
• Student Profiles

[View the article here]

The second article titled "Back to School (Extended Features), covers the following topics:

• Assignment Banks
• Assignment Mark Import
• Assignment Types
• Class Groups
• Excluding Lowest Mark
• Parent/Teacher Meeting Reports
• Sharing GradeBook Assess
• Teacher Preferences

[View the article here]

I will also be creating a new Blog post very soon that shows how to push assignments in Google Classroom directly into ProgressBook - this will allow you to do all grading directly in Classroom! NOTE - Grades 5-12 only. Coming SOON!

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

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Teacher of the Year Series

Teacher of the Year Series

Inspirational stories from various State Teachers of the Year

Created by Scott Aten, May 8, 2019

For the second year in a row Google has collected a series of stories, ideas, and inspiration from the teachers that were selected "Teacher of the Year" from their states. Google has titled this series "Lessons from the Teachers of the Year". As the year wraps up and you prepare for some time off, I thought some of these stories might get your creative juices flowing to prepare for next school year.

[View the YouTube Playlist of "Lessons from the Teachers of the Year"]

Who knows maybe you will be featured next year!

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

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Latest Google Classroom Classwork Changes

Classroom Classwork Changes

Latest changes to Google Classroom Classwork Area

Created by Scott Aten, April 23, 2019

Google Classroom seems to be the Google tool that has been getting the most changes lately. These latest changes are involved with the "Classwork" area. This article will highlight these changes that are now available in your Google Classroom Classwork area:

• Filter topics on Classwork - If you are in the habit of using topics on your Classwork page, your students will now be able to filter by these topics from a list in the left side of the Classwork page. Clicking on any topic will filter the topics and only show posts with that topic. The purpose of this addition is to make it easier for students to find what they are looking for faster.
• Post to the top of Classwork - In the past new posts to the Classwork area go to the bottom of the list. Moving forward new items will automatically be posted at the top of the list.
• New attached material view - Another update is a new attached material view. The change will include more space for the title, and the ability to see the entire title by hovering over it. A thumbnail preview for the attachment will also be available.

Stay tuned, I anticipate Google to continue to make changes to Google Classroom. If you remember we saw a significant change right before the start of school this year. Once addition I know for a fact will begin to show up soon is the "Grades" area showing up. Here is a preview of what this new addition will look like.

This feature creates a grade book grid similar to what we are used to in ProgressBook. I also have it on good authority that ProgressBook will begin to accept grades directly from Google Classroom beginning next year! A lot of great things coming soon!

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

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

G Suite Accessibility Features

Make learning accessible to all your students.

Created by Scott Aten, April 2, 2019

Research shows that nearly 14% of students live with some sort of disability. Many of these students and their parents rely on some form of visual or audio accommodation to accompany their learning. In truth many of these accommodations benefit all students. This article will
provide information on some of the built in features of G Suite that can help make learning accessible to all students.

• Closed Captions in Google Slides
• Alternative text (Alt text) on images
• Voice typing, editing and formatting
• Braille
• Screen reader and Magnifier
• Chromebook accessibility features

Learn more about these features and more on the Google Accessibility page. This site provides a complete list of all the accessibility features available in each Google app.

Google has put together this document to help illustrate all the accessibility features including features available on Chromebooks themselves. We are always available to help. Schedule a time with me using the link below.

[Schedule me to come and help]

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

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Add Background Music to Slides

Finally Sound in Slides

Play music in the background of Google Slides

Created by Scott Aten, March 12, 2019

Getting music to play in the background of Google Slides has been something that has been difficult to do like we used to be able to do in PowerPoint. In the past I have recommended teachers and students use the "Audio Player for Slides" add-on. This add-on was a little clunky and did not really do what we wanted it to do, but was the best option. Recently Pam Mattiazzo discovered that the add-on was no longer being supported, BUT they had an extension that did replace it. I have taken a look at this extension and found it to be exactly what we have been wanting for Slides.

• You can play sound files (mp3) on one or more slides
• You can play sound files (mp3) as background music

The MP3 file needs to be already saved in your Google Drive, but other than that the extension runs really well.

Here is a video of me

Here is a [short video] demonstrating it in action.

If you would like to schedule a time for me to come and help you setup this extension or assist your class in getting started, please use my scheduler to pick a time.

[Schedule me to come and help]

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

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team