Documenting the year

Back when I was a 5th grade teacher in Italy I decided to have my students to the bulk of documenting what happened each week in our class.  I created a class responsibility (job) for one students each week.  They would have the person from the week before to assist them in understanding the responsibility.  If they were out sick I turned to my substitute to fill in. At the start of the next week the reporter would turn their notes about our week into a news cast and during recess video tape themselves and then upload it to our class YouTube site and I would add it to the Google page.  I did some editing with them but for the most part it was completely student generated.

When I began this endeavor I did so with very clear instructions that their best parts of each  day had to be something that involved our class or happened in the classroom.  The students understood that the soccer game at recess was not something could write about, but that the game we played in math to practice learning fractions was.  Some students were more successful at documenting the week than others.

Since teachers here at TCHS have to post to their class streams weekly I started reflecting on what I did back then circa 2011 to share with parents all the was going on in our class.  Back then I did all photos and would share those as often as I could usually once a week or so.  I recently read about having a Classroom Photographer and thought what a great idea!  This would have made my class reporter job far more dynamic and less stressful because the kids would have posted the photos each week with their writing about the best parts of the week in their eye.  The video recording on the mini dells and editing in movie maker (which I taught them to use) was a time consuming process at the start of the year. I do not know that I would take it to the level this teacher has but the idea of having a student each week responsible for helping to document what happens in class might be very interesting.

Since I am still new to the Stream I cannot say how this concept of student documentation of the week would play out, but since we are a school with iPads readily available to us it might be well worth experimenting with.

Here are a few other ideas to help elevate the amount of time and energy that the Stream gives you:

Create a Photographer responsibility/job for your classroom. Encourage kids to sign up to take photos around the classroom for the week.  Or assign different students to different weeks. Turn the digital camera, iPad or other device over to the students and ask them to tell their story. Provide students an online space to publish their work, such as a classroom Google Classroom group, a Google Doc or The Stream.  I believe grade 4 is already using Google Classroom so they would be your best in house resources for implementing this tool

Participate in a Project 365, this is when you take one photo each day for the whole year.  You could use a topic for each day like Fat Mom Slim does with her weekly challenges. These photos will be less academic in nature but still a wonderful glimpse into what your students see. By taking a photo each day, you're also reminded of the good around you. You can use Picasa, this is a part of your Google account, for easy uploading each day or week. This will give you and your class a day by day photo log of the entire year.  You could just try it for a month first to see if you like it.


For older students have a short written piece, done in perhaps a shared Google Doc, to accompany their photo or photos would also be fun for the parents and us as teachers to see.  This would be to enhance what you typically do for your STREAM postings.

**I honestly do not know how well the written part would work in the younger grades (Kindergarten and grade 1) but it still might be worth experimenting with especially if your someone who doesn't have an easy time remembering to take photos of your class.

Creating a Filter in Gmail

Gmail has lots of neat features but today we're just going to look at one: Filters!  Filters are great because they help keep your inbox organized.  Filters will apply a label directly to an email the moment it arrives if you tell it to.  Today we will be setting up a filter for the Teacher Tech Tidbit Emails I will be sending every Tuesday!

Step 1: Log into your Gmail

Step 2: Click on the small gray triangle in the search box.

Step 3: A drop down will appear as see below.

In the image above are some arrows and details to help you fill in the box.  Once it is all filled in click on on Create filter with this search. (below the purple arrow).

Step 4: You should get a pop up like this one:

Click on OK.

Step 5: Select Apply the label; then pick the Teacher Tech Tidbit label from the dropdown. Then press Create Filter.

If you followed these steps carefully you should see this: 
appear on your main email screen.



Here is a little bit more from Google about Filters if you're interesed.

Making Labels in Gmail

Gmail unlike other email systems does not use folders instead it uses labels to help organize your emails.  So this week I am modeling for you how to create your own!  Below you will find a series of screenshots with arrows and some written instructions.


Step 1: Log into your Gmail on any computer

Step 2: On the left side of your screen if you mouse over and down you will find the More at the bottom of the list of labels that comes preset for you in Gmail.  NOTE: If you do not see More, simply grab with your mouse the gray dividing line and drag it down to show more labels).

Step 3: Click on Create new label.

Step 4: Type in the name you want for your new label, in this case it would be Teacher Teach Tidbits.  Then click Create.

Congratulations you've just created a Label in your Gmail account!

Here is a link to a Wiki that will show you several other ways to create labels!