Technology: Test Before Going Live

Google Docs is magnificent.  ...when it works the way you anticipated.

I'm student teaching in a class that has a class-set of acer netbooks and all students have Google Accounts set up through the district.

Google Docsis gaining traction with many of the teachers at this junior high.  I was a little surprised that this technology wasn't used that much in my high school placement, but it's very popular here.  Even some of the teachers that aren't inclined to use technology are enthusiastically using it.

Though Docs is very easy to use, it requires a certain method and a bit of planning to make the student experience as pain-free as possible.  Today was my first exposure to seeing the students actually using the netbooks with Google Docs.  Initially, it was smooth.

The students were able to grab their netbook in an organized fashion, log into their Google accounts (mostly), and get to the document.  Then chaos.

The teacher didn't have time to test it her document.  It broke.  Pandemonium ensued.

One thing I've learned about 8th graders, if they have a comment or a problem, they'll tell you about it.  There are 35 of them in this class and each one of them felt it necessary to tell the teacher they were having problems.  Not only was the teacher trying to find out what went wrong, but there are now 35 hyped junior highers all making recommendations, laughing, and demanding attention to tell you that they can't get their document open...again.

My Document

I'm preparing a lab where the students will be measuring the density of an object and my master teacher would like to use the netbooks to record and graph the data in Google Spreadsheet to make a comparison between the objects.

The easy part was creating the Graphing Data Spreadsheet.  I tested it out and it should work.

Here's how I tested it:

1. Create the spreadsheet and share it with anyone with the link. (Chrome)
2. In another browser (I used Firefox) I opened the link.
3. Sign in with a separate Google Account (I have one for teaching and a personal one)
   I also shared it with my master teacher who was able to view and save the document.
4. Make a copy of the document.   Rename it something nice before editing the document as your own.
5. Share!

All's Well

Fortunately, we were able to fix the teacher's document before the next period.  The next group of students were able to type away on their saved documents the way the teacher wanted.

Teaching First: Project Worksheet

Well, here it is.  My first Project Worksheet (pdf)!

I adapted it from several sources to meet the needs of the our classroom.  Teachers, please note the appealing lack of Comic Sans.  I used Arial, a font for grown-ups.
The method of the project I found at the University of Georgia website.  Click here to look at the entire packet; it was created for a much more extensive project that includes a 10-15 minute presentation.
I also took the rubric method from a book on grading from Robert Marzano.

I'm sad that I have to send it to the district copier.  In a perfect world I would make the project worksheet available online and the students could refer to it electronically and print it out themselves only if they wanted a hard-copy.

This will accompany a poster the students will use as a model when I present the project.  This helped keep the worksheet to one page.

I'm really looking forward to the student's response to the worksheet.  I'm sure there will be a version 2 to stick in my electronic filing cabinet to pull out and adapt for next time.  The biome projects should be pretty good.  My students have proved themselves to be rather creative.

Here's how I created the published PDF worksheet

1. Create document in Microsoft Word
2. Save as PDF
3. Upload to Google Drive
4. Find document in Google Drive, select it, and then hit share.  Under the "Who has access" section, click on the "Change" link.
   
5. Click on the "Public on the web" radio button, then click "Save."
   
6. Distribute the resulting link.  Copy and paste it into your favorite electronic platform.
   
   I would use the Google URL Shortner to make communication easier.  Bitly also works nicely.
   See the Wikipedia article on URL Shortening here:  URL Shortening
7. Resolve to print fewer pieces of paper.