Google Docs for Planning

On twitter a few people have been talking about using google docs for planning.  It's great and provides lots of flexibility.  One of the huge problems I found with google docs is that in the 'document' using tables was unbearable!  So I moved to using spreadsheets.  Which to be honest at first just made me scared - I've never been a big fan of spreadsheets and have often avoided them.

Once I got started planning in google docs spreadsheets I found a huge raft of pluses that made it easier to plan in spreadsheets than in a document.

The fabulous merge button found in google docs spreadsheets

One of the biggest pluses was being able to merge cells to create larger spaces within my planning.  Another bonus being the ability to use the same document for a term or year by using new sheet tabs along the bottom.

Our team has also created our class descriptions in this manner - allowing us to break up certain parts of our class description to make it more easily accessible for certain parts of the information we gather.

Another great feature of using google docs for planning is the ability to merge all your documents together on a google site with ease.  It allows you to easily click once to embed a document into the page you want.  For ease also allows you to quickly click out to the editable document from a link at the bottom right corner of the embedded google doc.

This link will take you to an example google doc for a yearly overview - you are welcome to make a copy and adjust or use how you need to.  It shows simply what is able to be done with your planning via a google doc spreadsheet.

Hashtags & Conferences

It's that time of the year again. uLearn has rolled around and it's a great opportunity to meet up and catch up with the people of twitter, learn, teach and share.  This year the Google Apps Summit is also happening in Auckland - a Google Apps for Education 1 day feast at Albany Senior High.

Both provide a great opportunity to learn new things even if you aren't at the conference.

"How?"  You say...

Easily through Twitter.

Each of these upcoming conferences have a hashtag that people will use when sending out a tweet.  You can easily follow the tweets this way, whether you are at the conference or not and whether you are on twitter or not.

A hashtag (#) acts like a collection agent - allowing people to group together tweets on a similar topic or subject so they can easily be collated on the internet.

Here's how it works...

The wonderful people of twitter who are at the conference taking part in keynotes, presentations or marvellous conversations will hopefully add a hashtag to their tweet.

Here is a tweet that I sent with the hashtag #GAFENZ

This tweet will then be picked up in hashtag searches when looking for the hashtag #GAFENZ.


Here are links to help you follow the tweets from both of the conferences:

The Google Apps Summit on Tuesday has the hashtag #GAFENZ or #GAFESUMMIT
#Gafesummit - You can follow the tweets that are posted here on tweetchat.

#Gafenz - You can follow the tweets that are posted here on Twitter or here on Tweetchat

ULearn is using the hashtag #ULEARN12
You can follow the tweets that are posted here on Twitter or here on Tweetchat

On tweetchat you can search for a particular hashtag and it will group them for you together so you can easily read through the tweets being sent.  You don't need to sign up to use the site, but this is an option.  You can also change the speed that you would like it to check for new tweets - just click on the 'refresh speed' at the top of the page.  This is great for when there are a lot of tweets happening - it allows you to work through the tweets without them refreshing too fast!

So whether you are at the conference or not you can keep up with the conversations, ideas, links and more that will be coming from the conferences.  If you are feeling a bit bold - you might even sign yourself up for twitter and join in the conversation!  Just remember to use the hashtag in your tweet so we can join you!

Image used under Creative Commons: Shovelling Son

Word Work Bingo

Via Twitter PrimaryPete was asking about activities and games to support spelling.  Word Work Bingo is a not a new concept, if you have a look around Pinterest there are lots of versions of this.  For this one I have rearranged other versions with some of my students favourite spelling tasks like Pyramid Writing, Rainbow Writing, Sign Language Words and the Word Search.

But the form of Word Work Bingo, is a new(ish) format in my class and my students seem to really be enjoying using it.  They work through the tasks and colour in an activity as they go.  Over and above this we also use buddy time and spellingcity to work on words (words and meanings to be able to use the words properly!)  

These form the basis of Working With Words as 1 part of the Daily 5 activities we use.

Click here to download a version of this Word Work Bingo

Click here to download the Code

Click here to download the Word Search Template

With SpellingCity I create a Google Docs spreadsheet that has each groups words for the term.  I can add to them each week but students can view their words from home, school or wherever.  At the bottom you'll see a Spellingcity link.  This links to their individual list where they can click on it and head off to SpellingCity to complete activities based on their words.  It also allows any extra games or activities I come across to be placed at the bottom for kids to come back to.

Using the Google spreadsheet acts as a nice way to collate all the information for each access both by my students and I.

Conversations and Collaborations

Educamps.
A fairly common word now in New Zealand education, but one that doesn't lose any of it's stamina as the years go by.  This year saw my 5th year of attending Educamps and I love them.  It's such an awesome chance to catch up with amazing tweeps, bloggers and educators from around New Zealand.

Christchurch - Burnside High
This year I travelled to Christchurch for their first educamp run by Pauline and Anne.  It was great to be surrounded by a new set of faces and people.  They are such strong educators who have been pushing through some pretty hard times.  It was hard to be in the centre of town and see the devastation that has occurred in Christchurch.  Being there was so much more than seeing it on the nightly news.  But the educators that were in the room were passionate, keen and had a great sense of humour.  The conversations that went on ranged from BYOD, Daily 5 through to iPads and mobile technologies.  It was great to finally get to meet awesome edutweeps like Judykmck who has helped me a lot with Daily 5/CAFE understanding and ideas through her sharing.  Paulinehendog and many others!  I had the chance to take along a educamp newbie from Christchurch Aimee and converted her to the educamp way.  She's already looked to sign up her husband and a few others for padcamp in a few weeks time!  Find out more and see some more pics about eduCamp Chch here in a post from Anne.


Auckland - Stonefields School
I arrived a bit late and educamp was in full swing.  A packed room, in fact so packed that the participants were listening from the outside of the room.  It started with a full on smackdown with a list of people to share that got bigger as people were standing up to present.  From here we broke off into each of the different areas.  It was nice to have a chance to have a look around Stonefields and see a new school.  Some nice spaces and areas and a fabulous play area for the kids.  We had a great bounce on the bouncey floor in the playground at the end of the day (who said they were made for kids!)

There was another huge array of conversations of offer in Auckland.  BYOD, iPads, Daily 5, Minecraft... just to name a small array of topics.  For more information check out the shared Google Doc that gets created at each eduCamp to help capture the day.

I had the chance to be involved in another great round of discussion about Daily 5 and CAFE with a bunch of teachers who are already using it and those that are keen to use it.  It was great to talk to some other teachers who had been implementing it in their class and look at how they adapt and change elements to work for them.  This year Daily 5 has unfolded into different parts in my class and the CAFE element has as well.  I've been able to pick the best of the best from last year and am using it to suit the students I have in front of me.  One of the great things I love about the management and set up of Daily 5.

The day was another great chance to network and catch up with another round of fabulous bloggers and edutweeps.  I had a chance to meet some new ones too and form some new twitter connections.  One of the best things about this day is the people.  There is something powerful about being in a room full of passionate and keen educators and being a part of those conversations.  So, if you are interested... or just curious... check out the educamp wiki to see when the next one near you is happening!

Long live Educamps!

Just a couple of the reasons I go to eduCamp - amazing educators!

Anne K, Fiona Grant and I

EduCamp Akl - 21st July

Tomorrow - or today - depending when you are reading this is EduCamp Auckland 2012.  If it is Saturday the 21st July and you are reading this... it is not too late!

This is the 5th year of EduCamp Auckland and having attended from the start I can honestly say that every year exceeds the year before.  More people attend, meaning more conversations and connections are created.  Whether you can come for the whole day or just an hour... I promise you will meet some like minded people and learn something fantastic!

Head down to Stonefields School in Mt Wellington to join in with EduCamp.  It's a unique and vibrant unconference - where nothing is set in timetables and the conference is connected and created by the participants on the day.  It's a tremendous day of conversations, connections and learning.

So - come meet and make connections with some like minded, passionate and inspiring people.

Stonefields School
10am - 3pm

To find out more information click here for the EduCamp Wikispace.

Adding a Google Calendar to your blog

At uLearn I spoke about how I use a Google Calendar embedded into my class blog to help support communication to students and parents.  I've been contacted by a delegate from the conference to find out a bit more about how to make this happen.  So here is a quick and (hopefully) not to painful way to embed a Google calendar into your blog or wiki!

Log into your gmail account - you may need to create one if you don't already have one.

From here click on the 'Calendar' icon at the top of the page (alternatively log straight into your calendar using your Google account details).

Once you're into your calendar it's pretty simple to add appointments into your calendar by double clicking on the calendar and adding in the relevant details.

You can also add in stock standard calendars such as the NZ holidays calendar.  This is as simple as searching within the Google library of calendars down the left hand side of your calendar - click on 'Browse Interesting Calendars'.

When you are ready to share it you need to go to the cog on the top right hand corner of the screen which holds all of the setting options.  Here you need to click on 'Calendar Settings'.

Next is to click on the tab underneath the google logo that says 'Calendars'

All of your calendars will show up underneath the 'Calendars' tab -  you can have multiple calendars and set different audiences.

The first thing you need to do is click on 'Shared: Edit settings' and to then click on the tick box to make your calendar public.  This will allow people to be able to view your calendar without logging in.

Go back to your calendar settings, into the tab 'Calendar' and then click on your calendar.

You will then get another screen which has all your sharing settings.  This is where you have 2 options to either take the web address of your calendar or to take an embed code to embed into a blog page/wiki page etc

 To embed: copy and paste the code from the box on the right into your blog.

I use the calendar address link as I prefer using the standalone page format for the calendar.  So, where is says 'Calendar Address' click on the blue HTML button and copy the page url that it gives you in blue.

You have finished with your calendar for now - it's always a good idea to leave your calendar open in a tab to come back to.  Just incase you want to go back and make changes to your calendar.

The next step is to take a screenshot or find an image that you want the kids to use to get to the calendar.  I used a basic Google calendar text image for the kids.

Now head back to your blog - this tutorial is using blogger so you will have to adjust it slightly if you are using a different blogging format.

In blogger click on your blog title e.g. Electric Eight and then down the left hand side select 'Layout'.

When the layout page comes up - click on the button that says 'Add a Gadget'

From the selection choose 'Picture'

You could also use a range of different gadgets here e.g. the html or text gadgets but I prefer to use an image that the kids can link to the calendar from so I use the 'Picture' gadget.

The Configure Image box will pop up.  This is where you need to paste the link you copied earlier from your calendar into the 'Link' box.  In the 'Title' box give your calendar a name e.g. What's on? Our Calendar! etc  You then need to click on 'Upload an image' and upload your image from earlier.  Once this is loaded it will show up next to the work 'image' in the box.  Lastly, click on 'save'.

You'll see in the layout window that your gadget for your calendar will be at the top.  You can click and move this gadget around within the list so that it's in the place you would like it to be.  It doesn't have to stay at the top of your sidebar!

Last step! Click on 'Save arrangement' to save your new gadget.

Then click on 'View Blog' and down the left hand side of your blog you should see the gadget you have just added!

Click on your image in the sidebar to make sure that your calendar is showing up!

You now have a class calendar!

Extra goodies for people that like pretty things!

Just a little bit of an extra step here if you are interested in tweaking your calendar or changing the way it looks.  Go back to your calendar settings, into the tab 'Calendar' and then click on your calendar.

You will then get another screen which has all your sharing settings.

Where you would take the embed code there is a small piece of writing in blue that says

'Customize the color, size and other options' click on this to customise your blog.

It will give you a screen where you can change the look and format of your calendar.

One bonus here is that if you click on 'Agenda' under 'Default view' it will give you a list format of the calendar that can easily be embedded straight into your side bar using the embed code and a html gadget.

Example of what an Agenda view is:

Hope this helps you get started with adding a Google calendar to your class blog.  If you have any questions or would like anything clarified or if you have a great tip to make this process even simpler leave a comment!

ULearn '09 Reflection...

ULearn is a fantastic conference to go to... 1750 delegates from all over NZ, with a growing contingent from overseas who both present and attend. A huge variety of workshops, spotlights and keynotes to satisfy nearly every e-learning enthusiast!! It's definetly one conference to plan for in your diary each year!

Once again it has been and gone for another year. As I said earlier, this year I didn't get to attend any breakouts unfortunately but went down to hang out at the bloggers cafe with Dragon09 (my very first blogger/twitter friend!!) and see some of the amazing twitter and blogging people I get to collaborate with, learn from and talk to on a daily basis. My friend from Christchurch who attended ULearn for the first time was so amazed by the friendly atmosphere that greeted her from the bloggers cafe. She was most amazed at the fact I had met all these bubbly people through twitter and blogging... I am extremely lucky for the people who I am surrounded by! I was stoked to have the chance to meet Lilylauren and Chris Betcher for the first time, who were over from Australia, but unfortunately missed Helen!

This year I presented 2 sessions - I will post the presentations up in seperate posts. After a long haul of putting my presentations together and touching them up - I was stoked to present them in breakouts 6 and 7 to 2 groups of keen and interested teachers. A big thanks to those teachers in the graveyard Breakout 7 shift who participated in the session with enthusiasm. I was even more excited on reading the feedback forms and getting an overwhelming positive response to my sessions. I liked that fact that many of them thought that the workshops and content were "realistic" and "engaging" among many other adjectives within the written comments! The number scale is great, but the written feedback, whether postive or negative is worthwhile as I learn much more from this! It does make the hard work worth it, to know that your audience is leaving enthused, keen and with some new ideas! It was interesting to see how many people talked about the fact I seemed so passionate about what I was talking about - this I was very happy with!

One thing I was extremely careful with was trying to work closely to what I had placed as my abstract for the workshops. When I sent in my proposals these were to be 2 new workshops that I hadn't presented on, but had a HUGE passion and interest in. So I made sure that I worked closely to what I had written. Many people have previously complained of attending workshops that didn't match their abstracts - this is a huge disappointment for these people.

I think I am becoming more confident and relaxed with my presenting and my presentation style. I enjoy working with the keen groups of teachers who have chosen to attend the sessions. It was good to see also, that I sparked some teachers into sharing ideas and tools that they have used in the classroom and were willing to share these via my presentation wiki page with others from the session - great collaboration!! I think that the more I present and work in front of adults the more fluid I will become in the way I present and interact with my audience. I know this time around, I felt I was a lot more relaxed than I have been in other years. It's really not that long ago the idea of talking in front of a group of adults was an absolute no go for me!! But that being said, I look forward to having the chance to share with others in the future!

Image of the ULearn09 stands used under CC: coreednz

Unconference Notes - May 9th

Twitter - The Basics
twitter.com
Create a network
Share in conversations
Share links
tinyurl

Blogs - Connecting and creating an audience
Hyperlinking - link to others in your blogs
Digtal Footprints - Leave your link everywhere
Sidebar Traffic - Link to others in your blog
Participate in Conversations
Subscribe to the RSS comment feed
Teaching the etiquette of commenting - thank yous, comments and leaving questions
Send out emails - Signature - leave your url
Postdate your content over the holidays (post options in blogger)
Stop waiting - just post.
Photos of what is happening with captions
Tracking - follow the links to your blogs
Promotion
Be a proud kiwi - have a point of difference
Use Twitter - publicise your updates
Linking to your blog:
< href ="Red = the URL
Blue = The words you want people to click on
(Leave space between A HREF - take away other spaces)
Google Analytics
Have your profile - who? what? where? why?
Teachertube vs flickr vs youtube videos
Visitors, newspapers etc - pass on links to your pages
Be careful about widgets etc as they may not show in some schools
Blogger - followers bow - push to the bottom, doesn't show for some schools

Blogs:
iThink09
Mega 25

Bubble Tweet

Check out this fun little tool.. shared on twitter by the talented (and slightly bored at the time) P-Money.

Bubble Tweet is a fun way to send a 30 second video tweet easily with no sign up required.

Just head over to bubble tweet and enter your username, record your video tweet, check it and then tweet the link.

When people click on the link it takes them to your twitter home page then a bubble pops up with your video tweet in it. Once it has played the bubble pops away leaving the viewer on your twitter page.

Here's my simple bubble tweet as an example!

Twitter

Yesterday I had a chance to work with an awesome group of student teachers (that's another post altogether) for an hour on what was supposed to be Interactive Whiteboards. But while there we got sidetracked down many e-Learning roads.

One of them being Twitter.

Most had heard of it, unsurprisingly as it seems to be the new buzz word. Radio stations and tv shows have adopted the 'Top 5 Tweets' for the day segments and more. What I enjoyed about this was sharing the idea that Twitter wasn't just about sharing what I had had for dinner or trying to find help to pick my outfit of the day. It was about sharing the philosophy and idea of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) that extends further than the boundaries of our particular schools. It was about having a community of like-minded and keen individuals who even though you may not know some of them - who support you (and vice-versa) day after day .

Unfortunately during the time they only had the chance to see one response to my twitter request, but by 30 minutes or so later, there were around 23 responses from around the world.

Below are just some of them... thank you. :)

Sharetabs

Sharetabs allows you to send a group of links in one go. It allows your viewers to see the links with a snapshot of each site and then be able to go directly to them via the tabs at the top of the page.

Click on the image above to be taken to an example. I set up this example for a workshop I am running at L@S '09 on 5 Frame storytelling. It will allow all my workshop particpants to have easy access to links as I talk about them in the workshop. It will also mean that I won't have to spend time reading out or worrying about incorrectly typed weblinks during the workshop.

Sharetabs via @langwitches on twitter