Why try something new?  it's the end of the year and it would be easy to cruise. If that's what's up with you and all is fine, then cruise away. However, if you are up for trying a few changes to end the year on a positive and more efficient note, read on.

The time between Spring Break and June can can be perfect for testing out changes you might want to put into place for next year. Your current students will enjoy the change of pace and can help you catch the snags and assess what works since they already have a good relationship with you. ( And if they don't, then all the more reason to shake it up rather than spend each day praying for June to get here soon. )

Here is a post from gamification guru and all round  eduvisionary Chris Aviles on ways for any teacher to change up your grading and feedback to make it more effective. Love his ideas (record yourself explaining the feedback a la the whole flipping idea) and writing style ("the stinkeye")

If you're feeling radical , pair it with Pernille Ripp's "No Homework No Grades No Punishment" Resources (I swear it's really not as radical as it sounds. If you want some ideas for easing into changes like no-coercion teaching, I'd be happy to talk it through with you.

Also check out the other posts this week for more ideas like new Chromebook apps to try, storytelling tools, and Educational Video Games to use with students or just share with them.

Here are useful resources for the latest news in GAFE- Google Applications for Education 
Google Classroom is a new Edmodo-type learning management system and Google Slides is now available on ipad.
 Below are details

Intro and instructions for students http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/student-introduction-to-google-classroom

Intro and instructions for teachers http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/piedmont-pd/how-to-use-google-classroom-teacher-instructions


Basic tour, including a Rollout Video herehttp://www.google.com/edu/classroom/


Google Classroom Thoughts so far:
It's not perfect yet, but ultimately this should be a great feature for your class, especially as it gets more integrated features.  
Good points:

• Students who use the dictrict chromebook logins or  google drive are automatically signed in, 
  
• you can make copies of any document for each student (doctopus), 
• there is automatically a folder of resources connected to your google drive account so anything you throw in that folder in your drive is automatically shared with each class. Also anything you post in the stream automatically goes there

What I'd like to see  

• a parent access code
• full integration with flubaroo 
• ability to co-teach
• more ability to have subsections of each class
• and a few more Edmodo like features but NOT the Edmodo style social networking communities that can fill up with spam and people hawking educational paid sites and apps. (I do love a nice badge though, everyone should be able to get a sticker or at least show others what they've mastered .)

Please send your feedback and suggestions for features to Google .( The bottom right of the teacher Classroom page has a "feeback" button. Please use it to request features YOU need)

Basic intro of Google Classroom in 7 easy steps-

1. Discuss the benefits of online learning (asynchronous, xplain what Classroom is and how it is alike or different than Schoology, Edmodo or whatever else they may have used.  http://www.google.com/edu/classroom/
2. Have students to go to the web address https://classroom.google.com
3. once there it should give them a login screen that looks just like a google drive or chromebook login.(IF they do this on a chromebook they will automatically be logged in already so they will go straight to the Google Classroom introductiory webpage !)  
4. Have students log in THE EXACT SAME WAY THEY LOG INTO THEIR SCHOOL CHROMEBOOKS- 7th and 8th graders should already know but if not firstinitial of first name plus entire last name (no dots no dashes) plus last 4 of their student ID@cms.gaggle.net and password is their bday yymmdd example ppirate5678@cms.gaggle.net would be student Pete Pirate's login . If his birthday is August 28th 2014 his password would be 140828
5. if prompted, they should select "I'm a student"
6. once they are logged in to Google Classroom, ask them to find the plus sign (+) next to their name at the top right of the page and choose join classroom. They will then be prompted to enter a code. You get the alphanumeric code from YOUR teacher page (it is visible in a box at the bottom left of the class homepage) and that is it! they now have access! they can click around from there and explore.
7. Photos and step-by step of all this plus instructions for how to use the site for turning in work for students are here http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/student-introduction-to-google-classroom

Using Google Classroom with iPads:
http://www.edudemic.com/ipads-with-the-new-google-classroom/
Google Classroom Presentation Slides by Geeky Gafe Girl via Jacob Standish 

These two images are the view as a teacher and the view as a student of the same page. 

Google Slides is a presentation tool  instead of PowerPoint. It lets students work from home without Powerpoint and also lets them collaborate. This link includes templates and instructions

http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/p/google-docs.html?m=1


NEW! Slides is now an iPad app
Many teachers have been disappointed that students can't work on their presentations if they are using iPads.
The Google slides app is a step toward equalizing the options of working in GAFE across devices.

this is a good blog review about the new powerpoint-type app's uses and limitations  http://jonathanwylie.com/2014/08/25/review-google-slides-for-ipad-is-now-available/U

My last post was all about GAFE ---I introduced how to log into google classroom and announced the Google Slides app here http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/news-and-thoughts/google-classroom-omg _

This post is a bit more about Google Apps - I just did a great training. First with Jake Standish and today with Heather Nussbaum of CMS

I took lots of photos of what I found most useful for teachers or students using Google Docs for Research and Translation and Google Classroom for Sharing files and assignments:

Here's my second summer book report (blog report) on the best of what I've been hearing about education:
If anything you read below inspires you or if you just want to get a head start on your PDP next year, click here:
http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/piedmont-pd/take-charge-of-your-professional-development

All You Ever Needed to Know about Personalized Learning
http://pl.cmslearns.org/
Amazing Personalized Learning site that explains the direction CMS is heading and offers all the latest tools in one spot thanks to Jill Thompson.  (Note the shout out to Piedmont on this page  as Ms. Newburger transforms the media center into a 21st century makerspace showplace. )

Mr. Parkins' Summer Faves:

If it's recommended by Mr. Parkins you know it's good.

Try the links below for a few easy ways to go 21st C. this school year- invite a backchannel or other audience response into your usual lessons- it increases engagement, participation, feedback, and some even make instant data graphs for you. To start, all you do is call one of these up on the projector and invite students to participate via their BYOT devices or chromebooks or ipads. (You will get a code or address for them to join you)




www.socrative.com

www.mentimeter.com

www.todaysmeet.com

www.polleverywhere.com

Speaking of BYOT, Mr. Parkins also recommends If you have a smartphone or tablet try Apps Gone Free- download it in your app store - saves tons of money and lets you try new apps to get new ideas of how to use i-devices in the classroom. Share this with your students as well.
Speaking of Students, besides remind 101 there is a new site people like called Remind.com https://www.remind.com/

Hovercraft, anyone? This 1 minute video only scratches the surface of how we use Digital Learning everyday in our rooms.

I've basically been filling up my storage every time I head out of the office because I run across something film-worthy each step I take down the halls of Piedmont!  

For more photos, videos, and information, check out the Digital Learning Day Post , the 21st Century Piedmont Wiki Page or my Twitter media feed.

(The video was made for a  Digital Learning Day contest on Edmodo. Thanks to Ms. Newburger for finding and spearheading and directing this video contest effort.)