Google Forms

Google Forms are a great way to survey an audience, collect information, and even create assessments.  They are simple to create!  Here are some ways you can use Google Forms in your classroom:

• Create a survey for students to get feedback on classroom learning or routines.
• Create a survey for parents to get feedback about classroom communication.
• Create a parent information form and collect information (name, phone number, email address, etc) digitally.
• Create a form for students to fill out to give feedback during class presentations.
• Create a reflection form for students to fill out at the end of a lesson.
• Create a form to use as an exit ticket.
• Create a quiz

The new quiz feature in Google Forms allows teachers to turn a form into a quiz & create an answer key.  The students can see their grade/results as soon as they have submitted the form.  The form will grade the assessment for you!

For more information about Google Forms, check out these resources:

• Google Suite Learning Center - Google Forms
• How to Use Google Forms YouTube Tutorial
• Google Forms Blogposts by Alice Keeler

Reflector 2 & ShowMe

Reflector 2 is software you can have on your teacher computer that will allow you to display your iPad using your projector.  

Wirelessly displaying your iPad on the projector will allow you to move around your classroom while:

• Showing students how to work a problem by using a whiteboard app like ShowMe (see below)
• Demonstrate to students how to use an app
• Display student projects from an iPad on the projector for the class to see

Note: In order to use Reflector 2, your iPads must be updated to at least iOS 9.

Reflector 2 Support:

• BISD Helpdesk Directions for Installing Reflector 2
• BISD Helpdesk Directions for Using Reflector 2

App Store Link:

• Click here to download ShowMe  

Description:

• ShowMe is a simple to use whiteboard app.  You can insert pictures and annotate/draw on top of them.  ShowMe also has a recording feature, where you can record what you're doing on the screen while also explaining with your voice.  The videos are saved for free on the ShowMe website 

Examples:

• Decimals & Place Value ShowMe
• The Water Cycle ShowMe

Support:

• ShowMe Tutorial & Suggestions
• ShowMe Website

BISD G Suite for Education Accounts

BISD has gone Google!  We are a G Suite for Education district.  This means all BISD staff members have special Google accounts that can be used to access Google Drive, Google Classroom, and even YouTube! In addition, our 3rd-5th grade students have G Suite accounts to access Google Drive, Google Classroom, and even Gmail!  Please explore the information and resources in this blogpost to learn more about G Suite and how you can begin using it with your campus, team, and students!

Staff Google Account Information

Staff Google accounts are created at the time their district login account is created. You can log on to your G Suite account by visiting http://drive.google.com. The username for staff is firstname.lastname@g.birdvilleschools.net. Your password is the same as your computer password. Google passwords sync with our computer passwords. If you change your computer password for any reason, your Google password will change too. Staff can access more information about using Google by visiting the BISD Knowledge Base.

Student Google Account Information

Grade 3-12 Student Google accounts are created at the time their district login account is created.  Students can log on to their G Suite account by visiting http://drive.google.com. Students use their birthday as their password: mmddyyyy (no spaces, no slashes, no dashes. The usernames for students can be seen here:

G Suite Account Benefits

• Use Google Drive to store all of your important documents and access them anywhere you have internet on any device!
• Create shared folders in Google Drive to save and share documents with your students, team, or campus!
• Use Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (inside Google Drive) to create collaborative documents where everyone can edit at the same time and the work is saved automatically!
• Exclusive access to Google Classroom (a digital classroom for you and your students).  Google Classroom is only available through our @g.birdvilleschools.net G Suite accounts.

Resources

• Google on the BISD Helpdesk Knowledgebase
• Digital Learning News Brief September 1, 2015
• Digital Learning News Brief September 8, 2015
• Shake Up Learning Google Resources

If you would like help getting started with Google, please email your Digital Learning Specialist!

MySimpleShow - Show what you know!

Your students can create great explainer style videos in 4 easy steps with MySimpleshow!

Step 1: Choose a template.

• There are many templates to choose from.  
• The "Introduce a Physical Law" template is great for having students create vocabulary videos.

Step 2: Write a script. 

• Each template has various "chapters" for the script.  
• Students write what the voice-over will be saying during the video.  
• Each chapter includes some example text to use as inspiration.

Step 3: Choose visuals.

• Mysimpleshow chooses visuals to represent the key words in each chapter of the script. 
• Student can replace the chosen visuals easily to choose an image that better represents their key words.

Step 4: Add voice & captions.

• Choose the built-in text-to-speech voices or record your own voice.
• Turn on captions so the text of the script will appear on the screen.
• Finalize your video!

Videos can be easily published to YouTube and shared!

Here is an example:

3 Ways to Teach Media Literacy

Media literacy refers to 21st century learning competencies that enable students to analyze and evaluate information during research. Students create messages in a wide variety of media modes, formats, and genres and need to know how to access, analyze, evaluate, and create using all communication tools available to them. Being an informed digital citizen requires media literacy skills. It is important to encourage students to consider the following questions when accessing online information. What is the message? Who is the message for? What is the purpose of the message? Whose point of view is presented? Are credible sources linked? When was it published? What have I learned about the topic?

Teach students how search works.

Teaching students how to search online is a critical component toward becoming a strong digital citizen. There are many search engines, meta-search engines (a query that uses many search engines) and directories on the Internet, which can seem a little overwhelming.  Not all search engines populate or rank results tin the same manner. Encourage your students to utilize a variety of search engines. 

Kiddle is a search engine designed to afford elementary classrooms safe search results to include web, images, news, and video that "satisfy family-friendly and privacy" requirements. Search results populate with a larger easier to read font along with language tailored to students under the age of 10.

Partner with your Campus Librarian and Digital Learning Specialist. 

Your campus librarians and digital learning specialists are a great resource and can assist teachers toward selecting the best resource to fit a targeted need. Check out our elementary library resources to assist in preparing your students toward becoming media literate.

Encourage students to think like an author and create media.

When creating their own media, students should apply the same set of questions mentioned above to understand how others might view their message. When curating content, teach students to follow copyright and fair use guidelines and encourage the use of the creative commons meta search engine for curation purposes.