The New Gmail: 3 Helpful Tips for a Better Inbox

If you're anything like me, you've already seen the new Avengers movie. How insane was that scene where [REDACTED] [REDACTED] like [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] with a [REDACTED] of his [REDACTED]?! 

Oh, man.

If you're anything like me, you're also excited by the improvements Google makes to its suite of educational tools, right? Let's talk about that first--then geek out over movies later.

Gmail Gets a Makeover

Google released its first big update to Gmail in over five years last week. You can turn it on today and try it out by clicking on the gear icon and selecting "Try the new Gmail." 

But what does the new Gmail do differently?

You can instantly see any Drive attachments on your emails

Whenever you get a Drive attachment, you'll see them under the preview text of the email. You can click on it to be taken directly to the document!

You can snooze emails until you're ready to respond

Click the clock on the right to set a reminder time (I'm personally a fan of responding Someday) and it will appear again at the top of your inbox when you wish!

You can access your Calendar, Keep, and Tasks right from Gmail

Click on any of those icons and you'll be able to check your daily schedule and add an appointment, jot a quick note to yourself, or check something off of your to-do list--all without opening a new tab!

If you're as excited as I am about new email layouts, give it a try! If you're unsure, book some time with your DLS to go over the features in person and make sure you're confident with all the changes.

How to Make Awesome Drawings with AutoDraw

AutoDraw

If you are like me, you probably have a difficult time using your computer, phone, or tablet to draw. AutoDraw is a web-based tool created by Google that makes it easy to turn your scribbles into great pieces of artwork.

How does it work? AutoDraw uses artificial intelligence as soon as you start drawing and tries to recognize what you meant to draw by using pictures created by artists.

You can color, resize and move your drawing. You can also add text.

When you are done you can download it as a PNG file, share it on social media, or grab a unique URL.

AutoDraw is a great option for students (and teachers) in many situations including:

• Sketch Notes

• Fliers

• Posters

• Infographics

• Illustrating a story

• Creating a scene

Here is an example of an image created by a student using AutoDraw.

Please see your DLS if you need help using AutoDraw with your students.

Skyward individualization and Reserve Teacher Plans

Skyward has some great options that have recently been updated. Here is a video on personalizing your skyward gradebook. You will notice that Skyward has many other helpful tutorial videos on this page.

Student Indicators help us understand the needs of our students. Wish you could remember what each letter or color indicator is? This document explains the student indicators in Skyward. You may want to add this to your drive or google keep for further reference.

One of the most important changes for classroom teachers is that you will be able to see a list of your gifted/talented students along with other important student information.

Last week Cassie’s tech tip was about best practices for sharing lesson plans with a reserve teacher. Many teachers are currently using an online plan book, such as planbook.com. Please make sure you share the link either by email or within Aesop (Frontline).  If you are using a reserve teacher folder the following video is for you!

Here is a tutorial that shows you how to add your plans to the reserve folder.

Here is a tutorial that shows a reserve teacher how to access the reserve folder. Feel free to leave this link on Aesop (Frontline).

Important information about what you leave in your reserve folder and what to not leave in your reserve folder.

Do leave:
Daily Schedule
Class Roster
Today’s Plans
Important links

Do not leave:
Student IEP, 504 information- This is available to reserve teachers for the day on Skyward
Student PIN numbers
Student Passwords
Your password (Don't leave your username and password for a Reserve Teacher!  They have their own sign in information.)

If you have included any of the above please delete from your reserve teacher folder immediately. This is also a great opportunity to check your reserve folder.

If you have any questions please ask your DLS.

Best Practices for Sharing Lesson Plans with Reserve Teachers + Book Creator

The Do's and Don'ts of Sharing Lesson Plans and Other Resources with Reserve Teachers

DON'T...

• Share your computer, Google, or Skyward login information with reserve teachers. This puts your information and your students' information at great risk. Depending on what passwords your computer might remember or passwords that are the same across platforms, a reserve teacher could access your bank account information, student data, your social media accounts, etc.
• ALL reserve teaching staff have computer and Google logins of their own. Building secretaries assign 

DO...

• Share or leave a link to your lesson plan. 
• PlanbookEdu is a great platform for keeping your lesson plans. You can share your lesson plans with colleagues or reserve teachers. 
• Click here for a 60 second overview.
• bit.ly is a great way to leave a link to a long URL, like a Google document. Using bit.ly you can shorten a long URL and even customize it. 
• Click here for resources to get started.
• Use the reserve teacher folder. 
• The reserve teacher folder is shared with teaching staff and reserve teachers in Google Drive. Within the reserve teacher folder there are folders for each school and within the folders for each school there are folders for each teacher. If you don't see a folder for yourself within your school you can create one. Your DLS or building secretary can help you with this if needed. Reserve teachers that attended the reserve teacher training have been taught how to access this folder.  
• Designate a classroom technology helper to assist the reserve teacher if needed.
• Share your lesson plans with a colleague or your building secretary as a back up plan.
• Communicate your expectations for lessons directly with students through your classroom management platform (i.e. Google Classroom) when appropriate.

Book Creator

Book Creator is a flexible tool that allows students of any age to create, publish, and share digital books.

When a book is published, the pages turn like a real book with audio and video playing right inside the app. In addition to a student creation tool, this tool would be wonderful for teachers to use as an instructional tool. 

Online GCE Bootcamp + Grades From Google Classroom to Skyward

Google Certified Educator Online Bootcamp

We are happy to announce that our online Google Certified Educator Bootcamp is back. This course is self-paced and can be completed within Google Classroom. 16 hours of CEU credits will be given upon completion. 

The session starts Monday, April 9th with completion needed by the end of May.

To access...

• Go to Google Classroom

• “Join Class” through the + symbol in the top right corner

• Enter the access code: db72xm

The scenarios you work through will help prepare you to pass the Level 1 Google Certified Educator exam. Click here to learn more about the program.

We now have 40+ Level 1 Google Certified Educators in our district. Awesome job!

Grades From Google Classroom to Skyward

          

If you are a person who uses Google Classroom to grade multiple items that eventually you will want to pull over to the Skyward Gradebook, there is a way in which that can be done without manual doing each and every grade. The video below will walk you through the process steps so that grades can be imported over.

Please contact your Digital Learning Specialist if you would like additional information on anything mentioned above.