Google Forms for Administrators

It has been a busy summer planning and preparing for the awesome school year that lies ahead! In addition to organizing teacher training and getting ready for iPad distribution, I have spent some quality time working with the administrators in our district as they get ready for a new year.

Here are a few of the ways administrators are using Google Forms!

Teacher Information Form

In years past, I started each school year by completing a green information sheet at my school, which the office staff then entered into a spreadsheet for mail merges, faculty phone lists, etc. When a Google Form is used to collect the same information, data is automatically entered into a spreadsheet.

Click HERE to make a copy of a sample responses sheet.
Once you make a copy, click "Form > Edit form" in order to make changes and personalize.

Because my school district has set up a GAFE Domain, it is easy to automatically collect email addresses from those who complete a form. Simply, check the first two boxes under "Form Settings."



For more help, check out this awesome Google Forms Quick Start Guide created by Alice Keeler.

Walk-Through Observation Forms

This has been a very popular request from administrators this summer, and I have enjoyed showing off how using a Google Form paired with Autocrat makes managing observation feedback a breeze!

Try this Sample Observation Form. After you submit the form, you should receive an email with your feedback as an attached PDF. In addition to the PDF you receive, the feedback is stored in the Responses Spreadsheet and in a Google Drive folder. The best part is that once everything is set up, it all happens automatically!

Setting this up involves three components: a Google Form, a Google Docs template, and the Responses Spreadsheet with Autocrat add-on. To get started, check out the step-by-step instructions that I created for administrators in my district. (If you are looking for another type of observation form, here is another template created by Brad Moore and Melissa Tollison.)  

Discipline Referral Forms
It has been exciting to see those I've helped this summer find other ways to apply and personalize what they've learned about Google Forms. Many found that they were able to use a variety of add-ons and features in Google Forms to expedite and improve upon their process for dealing with discipline referrals.

Assistant Principal Lauree Cole and I came up with a Google Form (based on PowerSchool data) for teachers to complete that notifies the administrator team via email when student behavior is referred to the office. The administrators can use the spreadsheet to communicate with one another about who is dealing with the behavior issue and what consequences are being given. We also found that using Autocrat is a great way to email a final copy to teachers and/or parents once the student has visited the office. If you'd like to learn more about how this form was created and set-up, click HERE. 

A1 Core Apps Symbaloo

An important aspect of my job as an Instructional Technologist is to pull together resources for my teachers to use. In the same way that creating recorded Math lessons for my students allowed them to "take me home" with them each night, curating and providing quality resources is a way that I can provide help even when I am in another building! It is important for the resources to be organized and easy to access, so last school year I created an organized Google Drive Folder full of cheat sheets, video tutorials, and student samples to share with the teachers in my area.

Though the teachers and I love the accessibility, organization, and ability to search in Google Drive, I wanted to find a more visual way to show what resources were available. Yesterday, I decided to try using Symbaloo to share file and folder links from Google Drive.

One of my favorite things about this is that I can easily update and make changes! As I add files into my shared folders, they will automatically become available here. As app icons change, it is easy to edit a tile and change the image. If we want to add or delete an app to our core, it is also simple to add or delete a tile from the Symbaloo. I hope this will be useful way for my teachers to access the resources that our A1 Digital Innovation Team is pulling together.

Get a Jump on Technology

Powdersville teachers are excited to use Google Classroom with their students next year, and the summer is an excellent time to give it a test run!

As a way to support teachers over the summer, our A1 Instructional Tech Team put together four tasks to help teachers "Get a Jump on Technology" before August arrives, and we are using Google Classroom as a platform for the course. This is a great way to experience Google Classroom from the student perspective before diving in with students in the Fall. The tasks listed below are designed to give teachers an opportunity to create things that will be useful in the year ahead.

Task #1 Make Google Forms Work for You
Teachers are asked to create a useful Google Form for next school year, (i.e. a student introduction form, reading interest survey, parent night survey). Then, create a QR code that links to the form and turn in the QR Code image. (Thanks to Alice Keeler for sharing her Quick Start Guide!)

Task #2 The 4Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking
For this task, we asked teachers to watch a Common Sense Media video on the 4C's and use a Google Docs template to transform a particular unit of study to include the 4Cs and technology tools. I have enjoyed getting to see the exciting things that teachers are planning and adding comments to the doc. Adding comments to a Google Doc is simple and effective!

Task #3 Creating Task Cards to Spruce Up Your Centers
This task has been my favorite! We asked teachers to watch a video from Learning in Hand, view some sample task cards, and create their own station/center task cards in Google Slides. Instead of turning in the presentation as an assignment, I asked my teachers to post the link as a comment and mark the assignment as done. This is a great way to have students share work for the entire class to view! I created a Padlet Wall to share their work here.

Created with Padlet

Task #4 End of Summer Presentation
For the final assignment, teachers are to create a multimedia presentation to document their summer using one of the following apps: Adobe Voice, Adobe Clip, Adobe Slate, Book Creator, Haiku Deck, Flipagram, or PicPlayPost. Again, I asked teachers to post a link in the assignment comments for all to view their final product. I'm excited to see the fun things Powdersville teachers create!

Upstate Technology Conference 2015

Each summer, Greenville County Schools hosts UTC at Wade Hampton High. This was my third year attending, and I enjoyed presenting with others from Anderson One and making some new contacts over the course of our two days at #2015UTC. It was also exciting to meet some of my Tweeps in person! Here is a quick look at what was shared during my sessions...

Turning the Tables
Flipping the idea of an expert panel, in this session our Anderson One Instructional Tech team provided a list of questions and issues for the room to discuss. As a facilitator of this session, I left with a lot of new ideas and friends to follow. The small group setting, with a handful of people sharing each day, encouraged an authentic and interactive discussion in which everyone was able to participate!




Documenting the Journey with Flipboard
In this solo session, I shared how I combined Twitter and Flipboard to create a "Year in Review" magazine to document and highlight the amazing things happening with 1:1 technology in my area during the 2014-2015 school year. Check out the resources in the Thinglink below:




Flipping Out in Math
My good friend Melissa Wilcox and I shared some helpful tools and tips for flipping instruction in elementary and middle school Math. There was also time to share some excellent Math resources. Feel free to interact with the Thinglink here!



Discover. Transform. Excel. @ PD
Reflecting on our first year going 1:1 with iPads, our Anderson One Instructional Technology team shared the variety of professional development opportunities we've offered to support or teachers and administrators. Looking at our presentation, I am so proud of the things our team accomplished this year, and I look forward to creating new and exciting learning opportunities for Anderson One teachers next year!

Transform 2015

Each year, Anderson One hosts two-days of professional development for teachers and administrators from within our school district to end the school year. One of the coolest things about this event is that nearly all of the presentations and course offerings were led by teachers and administrators from within our own district! As part of the Instructional Technology team, I had the opportunity to be directly involved in planning this event, and I'm excited to share some of the great things we were able to put together.

A Quick Look...

Teachers used #a1digitalinnovation to tweet about #Transform2015 throughout our conference, and I used Flipboard to pull together photos and tweets.

View my Flipboard Magazine.

Technado

Based on an idea inspired by The Daring Librarian, our team of Instructional Technologists put together a session in which we presented 60 Apps in less than 60 Minutes. Each of us selected and shared 20 apps for teachers followed by a fun "Brain Break" to get everyone up and moving. Because of the volume and pace of information, we made sure to share the link to our presentation: Technado 2015 Slides. Feedback from this fast-paced session was excellent!

Weapons of Math Instruction

As a veteran sixth grade Math teacher, I am always pumped to put together PD sessions focused on Math instruction. For this Weapons of Math Instruction Session, I pulled together 8 stations with activities and resources for Middle School Math teachers and invited attendees to self-select stations and the length of time spent at each one. Teachers worked collaboratively and shared with one another in groups and via Padlet. 

Innovator's Lounge

Our team came up with the Innovator's Lounge as a way to allow teachers a time and space for spontaneous collaboration during the conference. As a facilitator in the Innovator's Lounge, it was encouraging to see how this time was used to put learning into action!

App Gallery

Instead of a traditional vendor hall, we decided to ask our A1 iTeachers to help us create information stations for 36 educational apps to put on display in the gym. Teachers were then able to drop in and peruse the tables, scan QR codes, pick up donated swag, and gather ideas at their leisure. Our iStudents were on hand to answer questions and provide feedback as teachers visited the stations. 

 

Tech Gadget Table

For my App Gallery table, I pulled together a Collection of Tech Gadgets to share. This was a "hands-on" station where teachers could play with a variety of my favorite gadgets. Though many of these were pulled from my own tool bag, I was also able to get donations from several companies and to borrow gadgets from students and colleagues. 

AppMazing Race

Over the course of the two-day event, we had several groups of teachers working to complete the AppMazing Race, a list of ten creation-based challenges. Click here for details. This was a fun way to encourage teachers to experiment with many of the creation apps that we would like to see students using the in the classroom! During our closing session, we were able to show the final submissions on the "big screen" before we announced the winning team. Click here to see the winning entry. 

Family Feud

The closing session of Transform 2015 featured our own version of the Family Feud based on a similar session done at ISTE and posted online. To put this together, our team sent out a Google Survey and gathered these responses. Next, the presentation was created using SMART Notebook, and our "host" Todd Binnicker was selected and trained. Finally, two teams of participants (Elementary vs. Secondary) were selected, and we were ready to go. The final show was HILARIOUS and an excellent way to end!