Google Forms: Setup Email Notification for When Form Has Been Completed!

As we get closer to the start of the new school year, many of us may be creating and organizing Google Forms to gather beginning of the year student data. Or we may be refreshing old (or creating new) Google Forms.  Whatever your Google Forms purpose, I want to share a quick and handy setting with you that could make your life a few steps easier!  Yeah!

When someone fills out your Google Form, wouldn't it be great if you received a notification that new data was available?  Follow these quick steps.... and that is exactly what will occur!


In your Google Form Response Sheet (or the spreadsheet view of your Form data),

Then, 

For more information on how to create and use Google Forms in the Classroom, please check out Tech PDhttp://techpd.weebly.com/getting-started-with-forms.html.

Using Twitter to Get Creative Writing Prompts

Want to get creative writing prompts for your students using Twitter?  Here is one way you can do it:

1.  Compose a tweet that looks like this:  @youarecarrying i or @youarecarrying inventory








2.  Then, in your Twitter timeline, click on the Expand link from your tweet.  

3.  Finally, this is the type of reply you will get.  Imagine the creative responses students will give you.  Once you have tweeted to @Youarecarrying, you can reply to the first tweet to get more writing prompts.

I Want to Create a Classroom Twitter......

One of our favorite primary teachers to follow for inspiration is Kathy Cassidy.  One way she connects her classroom to the world is by using a classroom Twitter account.  Many of us are intrigued and want to get started.  

Here are a few articles to read to learn how to use this tool effectively in the classroom.

Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog:  Twitter in the Classroom
5 Ways to Connect Your Classroom
Resources to Help You Start Your Own Class Twitter Account
50+ Tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom

Why is Twitter a good choice for communicating with today's on the go parent (and what to do if a parent doesn't have a Twitter account)........ 
Read this to find out!

Twitter in the Elementary Classroom

What questions or comments do you have about using Twitter with students?

Communicate with Others from the 21st Century Classroom

21st Century classroom communication looks different than the traditional weekly newsletter and note home.  It can even be more than a frequent email to parents.  How can we as teachers embrace the power of technology to communicate with parents and other stakeholders...to provide more than just one way communication and also provide communication that is mobile and easy for others to access.  Here are some resources and tools that may help us, as teachers, be better at communicating in a 21st century style.

To learn more, read these articles:

Building Parent Engagement: Telling your School (or Classroom's) Story
An example:  Who is telling your story?     I love this! 

Parent Communication: From Print to Digital

Why Have a Class Blog?

How to Promote a Family Blogging Month

Upgrading Blogs Through the Lens of SAMR

Free and Easy Ways to Communicate with Staff and Parents
A Classroom Photo Journal ~ A Real Example 

To explore tools that can help:

Class Dojo ~ class management and parent communication tool

Remind 101 ~ send reminders to parents via text and/or email

Smore ~ online newsletters

Sign Up Genius ~ great tool to manage any classroom sign up tasks

• 
  

Could you Stoodle?

Check out this new to me tool:  Stoodle

Stoodle is a online collaborative whiteboard that works on a desktop computer or an iPad. One thing that makes this tool unique is that you have the ability to type, write, draw, upload images, and as you collaboratively do this, you can communicate with voice chat.  

No login is required; you will just launch a classroom to get started.  Then, share that classroom's URl with your "friends" and work together to brainstorm, problem solve, research.  Stoodle gives you as many pages as you need to do your task.....

Watch this video to learn more:

Try out my sample classroom:  http://stoodle.ck12.org/class/53c01f0f5b6e5

What could you do with this tool in your classroom?

Classroom Backchannels Allow All Students to have a Voice and Venue to Share and Ask Questions

A backchannel is a, typically, online conversation, that occurs hand in hand or along side another activity.  It may occur as a conversation while students are watching a video in social studies.  It may be where students post their questions during a conversation or learning session in science.  It may be where students post their question or comments about a story they are reading.  It may be where the teacher poses a question and then watches the responses to see if the proper depth of learning has occurred.

In any case, it is a place where the extension of the discussion and questioning can occur. What is great about this is that a backchannel is not inhibited by time or speed.  If a student needs more time to think, they can take the time they need to process and think through their questions and then post them.  In a real time discussion, the speed is determined by the students and some students get left in the dust.  The other great benefit is that most backchannel tools create some sort of transcript file of the conversation.  To read more about the power of a backchannel in your classroom, read this article on eduTopia.  

Great tools to use for creating a classroom backchannel
Padlet 

How to use Padlet in the Classroom

Padlet Examples and Resources
Padlet:  Create a Virtual Wall and Engage your Students

Try out this sample Padlet

BackChannel Chat

Try out this sample Bachchannel Chat

Today's Meet

20 Useful Ways to Use Today's Meet in the Classroom

Try out this sample Today's Meet