Control Your Email!

If you would like to take control of your overflowing email inbox, here are some strategies that work for me...

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Settings

Part 3 - Amnesty

Part 4 - Keep It Clean

Part 5 - Searching

Link to YouTube playlist

How to Create and Edit Extra Pages in Your Blog (Part 6 of 6)

This is Part 6 of a series of posts on using a blog for your class website.

Click "Pages" in the left-hand list menu. You'll get a screen that looks very much like your list of posts, but empty.

You create, edit, and publish new pages just like you create, edit, and publish new posts. The difference is that these pages do NOT appear on your home page in your stream of posts. The extra pages you are creating are static pages, meaning that they are not updated when you add new posts to your home page. For that reason, they're good for keeping information about the class, or about you, or about some special long-term project the students are working on.

Once you've created a few pages, you need to put a gadget on your home page so students and parents can get to them. Click on "Layout" in the left-hand list menu. Click on any spot that says "Add a Gadget", then click on "Pages" in the box that opens. This will open your options box for the Pages gadget:

Under "Pages to show", check the pages that you want to include in the gadget. (This is also where you can add a link to an external website, like the school or district website, or Aeries.) Under "List Order", drag the pages to the order in which you would like them to be shown.

This box will appear like this no matter where you have added your gadget. However, whether the pages show up horizontally (like tabs) or vertically (like a list of links) depends on where the gadget is added. If you want to have horizontal tabs, move the gadget to be underneath the blog header. If you put the gadget in the sidebar, it will appear as a list of links. You can move the gadget around after you click "Save", in the layout screen.

For this example, I've added my Pages gadget underneath the header, so it will appear as a horizontal series of tabs, like this:

How to Customize the Look of Your Blog (Part 5 of 6)

This is Part 5 of a series of posts on using a blog for your class website.

Click “Template” in the left-hand menu. Here is where you can choose the look for your blog. I recommend keeping things simple rather than ornate; it’s easier for more students and parents to read that way.
To make things even easier, especially for younger students, you probably want to make the font larger and darker than the default. To do that, click on “Customize”.

Then click on “Advanced” at the upper left of the screen.

Here you have control of the font size and color for “Page Text” (as well as everything else). Be restrained with this. It’s much easier to make your page harder to read than it is to make it easier to read.

How to Add Items to Your Blog's Sidebar (Part 4 of 6)

This is Part 4 of a series of posts on using a blog for your class website.

Click “Layout” in the left-hand menu. Here you see the different elements of your blog. You can edit things here as you like, or you can leave them as-is.
In the circled region on the right are the “gadgets” in your sidebar. This is where you can add boxes that make your blog more appealing and useful. Here are some of the better ones and what they do:

• Follow By Email – allows a reader to enter their email address and then receive an email whenever you update your blog 
• Pages – if you create additional pages for your blog, you can list them here so readers can find them 
• Search Box – allow readers to search for terms or keywords in any of your posts 
• Text – you can add a static text message; this might be good for your contact information or your availability for after-school help 
• Image – add a picture 
• Slideshow – add a slideshow that includes multiple pictures 
• Poll – survey readers 
• Blog List – include a list of other blogs you like, maybe other teachers’ classroom blogs 
• Link List – include a list of websites; perhaps useful resources for your class 
• List – include a list of items; anything you like 
• Labels – if you label individual posts, this gadget displays the labels you’ve used and lets readers filter posts and search for a label 
• Profile – information about you, including contact information (New blogs have this automatically added.)
• Blog Archive – this lets readers go back and find blog posts from previous months or years (New blogs have this automatically added.)

You can change titles or options for any of your gadgets by clicking on the word "Edit" in the lower-right corner of the gadget in the layout above. From your "public" blog screen, if you are signed in, you'll see a small "tool" icon on each gadget, which will also let you edit the gadget. To remove a gadget entirely, click on the word "Edit", then click "Remove" in the options box that opens up.

How to Post on Your Class Blog (Part 3 of 6)

This is Part 3 of a series of posts on using a blog for your class website.

There are multiple ways to create a new blog post. Blogger makes it easy and gives you many buttons to use. Anything that looks like a pencil or says "New Post" will bring up the editing page.

The editing page looks a lot like Google Docs or Word or any other writing tool. There are a few options along the right side:

• Labels allows you to tag posts with a keyword, or category, to make it easier for readers to find them. You can include as many keywords as you like.
• Schedule allows you to set a post to be published automatically at some future time.
• Permalink lets you customize the URL for this particular post; this is not very useful.
• Location adds a marker to the post indicating from where it was posted. This might be useful if you are posting from vacation or a field trip; otherwise, probably not.
• Options lets you enable or disable comments specifically for this post, overriding your settings for the entire blog.

As you are writing your post, Blogger will save the post automatically, just like Google Docs does. If you want to make extra sure that your post is saved, you can use the Save button in the upper right. If you want to see what your post will look like on your blog, click the Preview button. You can use the Close button to get back to your blog dashboard. But the important button here is Publish. Once you have written your post and previewed it, you need to click Publish to make it public.

In this picture, you can see that I've written two posts. The top one, however, has not been published, so it is still marked as "Draft". You can remove a post that has been published by using the "Revert to draft" button. You can also edit a published post by clicking on the title of the post in this list. You have several options to make edits, corrections, or additions, even if you have published a post.

How Often Should I Post?
Many teachers like to post weekly. Personally, I would post daily. At the end of each day, I wrote up what we did for that day while it was fresh in my mind. How often you post is up to you. Just make sure you can keep up with the schedule you decide, so students and parents know what to expect.

How to Set Up a Blog for Your Class Website (Part 2 of 6)

This is Part 2 of a series of posts on using a blog for your class website.

To set up a new blog, go to www.blogger.com and use your district username and password to log in. You'll see a screen like this. Click "New Blog" to set up your classroom blog for the first time.

1. Pick a name for your blog. This will show up at the top of every page.
2. Pick an address. Since this has to be unique, it’s probably a good idea to include your name in it somehow. Try to keep the address short and easy to remember.
3. Pick a design for your blog. (I recommend staying away from the Dynamic Views. Anything else is fine.)

4. You’ll be able to change all of these options later, if you change your mind. Click “Create Blog!”

Once your blog is ready, you’ll see it listed on your Blogger home page. The options in the menu here are the same options you’ll see on the next page. Click on “Overview” or click on your blog’s title to go to the Overview page.

This is the “behind-the-scenes” look at your blog. You see your main menu options down the left-hand side of the screen. You also see two (2!) buttons that will create a new post for you.
Click on “Settings” at the bottom of the menu options.

The Basic Settings page lets you change the title, description, or address of your blog. You can also add additional authors to your blog here, if you want someone else to post.
The two circled options (Privacy and Blog Readers) let you set some limits on who can see or read your blog.

The Privacy settings determine whether or not Blogger or search engines can find your blog. These settings do not have any effect on who can read your blog (assuming they can find it).

The Blog Readers setting determines who gets to read your blog, no matter how they found it.

Click on “Posts and Comments” underneath “Settings”. This lets you decide who can comment on your blog posts. If you are using this blog only for your classroom calendar, you probably don’t want students or parents to leave comments. To turn comments off, you would click “Only members of this blog”. That way you are the only one who can comment.
If you do allow comments, you may want to enable comment moderation. If you turn on moderation, that means that readers can leave comments, but they will not be posted until you approve them. It’s an extra step for you, but it might be worth it.

Why You Should Use Blogger for Your Class Website (Part 1 of 6)

If you want a class website that is easy for students to find what they need; easy for you to post information, files and links; easy for parents to keep up to date on what is going on in your class; and flexible enough for you to tailor it for your own tastes, you want to use Blogger.

I've become convinced of this after helping teachers create class websites in Google Sites, watching teachers deal with the difficulties, confusion, and limitations. Other teachers have chosen to use Edmodo or Weebly instead; still others continue to use HTML editors and build sites hosted on our own district server. What pushed me to Blogger was a session at the GAFE Summit in Coronado earlier this month, presented by Jen Roberts (@JenRoberts1) of Point Loma High School. Jen made a great case for teachers using Blogger as a class website, and convinced me whole-heartedly. Since then, I've tried out Blogger on a couple of teachers, and they've been very positive about it. I think it's easier to use and set up than Google Sites, and allows you to give a better view of your class to students and parents. (Here's a link to Jen's 9th-grade English class blog, as an example.)

Blogger is part of the Google Apps suite, so you already have an account through your district login. As with Sites, you can create as many blogs as you like, so you can have separate blogs for different classes, as well as a personal blog for reflection, if you choose. You can post daily or weekly updates for your class, as you choose. Each post can include photos or videos, formatted text, links to class files, or links to outside resources. You can add separate pages for particular projects, topics, or resources. You can have a sidebar with gadgets like a search bar so students can search your site, or an email subscription tool so students or parents can get your latest post sent to them automatically (look to the right of this post). You can schedule posts to appear at a future time, like at the beginning of your class the next morning. You can enable or disable comments for your entire blog or for individual posts. Blogger can do so much that Google Sites cannot. You should be using Blogger for your class website.

If you're not yet convinced, here are the resources from Jen's presentation; she makes the case better than I can. If you're ready to get started, the next several posts in this series will show you how to create a blog, how to post on it, how to create extra pages, how to format and customize your blog, and how to add widgets to the sidebar. Let's start blogging!

Reflections from EdCamp San Diego 2014

These are my random reflections from EdCamp San Diego 2014. They're very much from my own perspective as an organizer, not as an attendee. I'm hoping they will be useful to organizers of other EdCamps.

• They started coming about 7:45. Up until that time, I still had the "pre-party jitters": What if nobody comes? By 7:50, I didn't have to worry about that any more; instead I had to go find more people to work the registration desk.
  
• This was our second EdCamp and easier by FAR to put together than the first one. We probably did about a quarter of the work this year as compared to the previous year. Which makes sense, since we were really feeling our way along last year, with no one in the group who had put on an EdCamp before. By this year, we were seasoned veterans. We had set up a Google+ community to organize our resources and discussions. We had a total of two Hangouts to discuss planning; most of the discussion happened in the G+ community.
• We also had control of our own website this year, which saved some work. Jo-Ann had experience with Eventbrite, as well, making that part easier. And we were more confident about attendance (or lack thereof) than we were last year. In 2013, we were very conservative about the signup page, because we did not want to exceed the capacity of our venue. This year, we knew that we wouldn't get more than 50% attendance (if even that), so we just put out 300 invites at the beginning and didn't worry about it. All 300 were taken by a few days before the event; we ended up with about 130 people actually attending.
• I would very much like to know how many people who attended this year had also been there last year. I think we should include that in our pre-survey in the future.
• Our session board went well. I liked having two colors of cards, one for "What I want to learn" and one for "What I want to lead". How I think we handle it next year is to NOT put the "learn" cards on the session board, but instead put them off to the side. The idea would be that people could read the "learn" cards, pick what they might be able to "lead", and then put that on the board. By putting the "learn" cards on the board directly, it was a little confusing, and I think may have discouraged some people from putting their own sessions up, as the board appeared to fill up.
  
• I didn't get to see the introductory session, but I heard that Jo-Ann and Jeff did a great job. This is the second year I've missed the intro session, because I've been entering session descriptions into the website and mobile app so they're ready for session 1. I'd love to think of a better way to do that, but haven't been able to come up with one yet.
• During session 1, I finished entering session descriptions into the mobile app while Leigh Murrell helped me out by doing the web side of the task. Then I dropped in to a few sessions and took some pictures. Everything seemed to be going well, and I noticed what seemed like a better balance in session turnout than last year. In 2013, it seemed like there were some sessions that were packed, and others with only 2 or 3 people in them. I didn't see anything like that this year; most sessions (that I saw) were well attended but not overcrowded.
• In session 2, I spent most of my time in the ToSAs brainstorming session. I went to that room only intending to stay for a few minutes, but got drawn in to the discussion and didn't leave until I had to go check on the lunch trucks. It was really interesting to hear different districts' models for ToSAs, and the various responsibilities. I offered an invite for our ToSAs Unite Google+ community before I had to leave.
  
• Lunch trucks should have been a great idea. Apparently, it was more difficult than it needed to be. Joe Hartmann was our lunch truck wrangler, and he's already called "not it!" for next year. We were concerned about timing: could everyone get their food in the hour that we had set aside for lunch? To help with that, we tried to take "pre-orders": when you check in, look at the menu and write down what you want on an index card. According to the lunch truck workers, that didn't really help at all. In any case, there did not seem to be any problem with timing. We had 3 trucks to feed 130 attendees, some of whom either brought their own lunch or had already left, so let's say around 100 people purchasing from trucks. I get the sense that we're kind of on the low end of the numbers these trucks want in order to make it worth their time to show up. Maybe next year we only get two trucks? Or maybe we go back to the "donated pizza" model. We'll have to see.
• In session 3, Krystle Miller and I led a session on professional development. It turned out to be more popular than I thought it would be (probably 25 people or so), and an easier topic to discuss than I was afraid of. Krystle had said that the ideal EdCamp session leader introduces the topic and then doesn't talk at all for the rest of the session. That's exactly what happened in our session, so I think we have to count it as a success!
• For the last session, I was in the Board Room helping Jo-Ann and Krystle get ready for the prize giveaways. Jo-Ann had suggested (based on seeing it at a different EdCamp) that we do the raffle tickets differently than we had in the past. Instead of one big bin that everyone puts their ticket in, getting selected for a random prize, we had individual containers labeled for each prize. Attendees got to pick which prize they wanted and put their ticket in that bin. That way, no one would get a prize they really didn't want. It seemed to work very well, and quickly, which is important for the closing session at an EdCamp.

I absolutely loved getting to see my friends and colleagues from other districts, as well as getting to meet many of them face-to-face for the first time. Every time I go to an EdCamp, whether or not I'm one of the organizers, I meet more great educators, get more great ideas, and become a better professional. Thanks to everyone for helping to make EdCamp San Diego 2014 a success!

UPDATE Oct 24: Apparently, our attendance was closer to 150 than 130. Great to hear!

Fifteen Things You Should Know But Maybe You Don't

1. Students do not have email accounts through their district accounts. Their login name (like "smithj1234@my.sduhsd.net") looks like an email address, but we do not have email enabled for students. (This may change in the near future; watch my weekly emails for information if it does.)
2. Blogger and YouTube are owned by Google, and therefore are part of our Google Apps. Your district email account lets you sign in to Blogger and YouTube as well.
3. Nothing will import grades into Aeries. When you find yourself asking "I wonder if this program can import grades into Aeries..." just stop. The answer is no. Sorry.
4. You should be using the "SDUHSD" wireless access. If you're using "guest_SDUHSD" or "School", switch over. You'll be glad you did.
5. Every Emily Dickinson poem can be sung to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas."
6. You can access files in your H: drive remotely by going to files.sduhsd.net. If you're on your own computer, try "Advanced Mode" first. If that doesn't work, or if you're on a shared computer, use "Basic Mode".
7. You can save any type of file in Google Drive, not just documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. Just "Upload" a file (or click "New" if you're in the new Google Drive).
8. Wait, there's a "new" Google Drive? Yep. Click on the "gearbox" in the upper right of the screen. You should see a menu choice that says something like "Try the New Drive". Soon it won't be a choice, so the sooner you get used to it, the better.
9. You can drag files from your computer to Google Drive instead of clicking "Upload". You can also drag and drop files to different folders within Google Drive.
10. Student Google accounts are wiped out every summer, so if there's something students want to save, they need to move it to a personal account. (This is another thing that may change in the near future because of changes to the way Google handles accounts.)
11. iPads are not the only tablets that exist. Look into Android tablets, and you just might find something you like, for much less.
12. You can use the Windows Logo key on your keyboard for shortcuts:
• Windows Logo + P : switch projector display
• Windows Logo + right arrow : move the open window to the right half of the screen
• Windows Logo + left arrow : move the open window to the left half of the screen
• Windows Logo + L : locks your computer and requires your password to open it again; useful if you're using your computer in a classroom of students
13. In Chrome, you can use an "Incognito" window to let someone else log in to their email or Google Drive temporarily. From the Chrome menu (the three stacked bars in the upper right), select "New Incognito Window". Then the second person can log in without you having to log out. This can be useful if a student wants to load a class presentation from their Drive on your computer, or if you're working with a colleague who needs to use your computer for a few minutes.
14. If you type "1-minute timer" into a Google Search box, guess what you'll get. Try it out.
15. Google Docs has a "Research" option from the "Tools" menu. If you highlight a word or phrase, then select "Research", a side panel will open up with a search for that term. You can then insert links and citations directly into your document from the panel.

In Its Most Basic Form, Everything is Simple

In an otherwise unobjectionable column about the difficulties facing the current and any future superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, columnist Steve Lopez opens with perhaps the most ridiculous statement about education that I have ever read.

In its most basic form, the idea is pretty simple. The bell rings, students file into class, and teachers share knowledge and tap into natural curiosity.

Well, sure, if you want to be ultra-reductionist about it, everything is simple. Let's try some others:

In its most basic form, the idea is pretty simple. The patient is wheeled into the room, you cut into the chest, fix the heart, and close it up.

In its most basic form, the idea is pretty simple. The judge enters the courtroom, you tell the jury why the defendant is guilty, then everyone goes home.

In its most basic form, the idea is pretty simple. The astronauts enter the rocket, someone pushes "Fire", and the rocket lands on the moon.

In its most basic form, the idea is pretty simple. You sit down at a computer, write an intelligent column, and give it to your editor.

Hey, this is easier than I thought! I don't know why I've ever worried about anything!