Using the calendar feture in google apps

As teacher’s many of us wish that students would write down assignment, tests, project and other events in a planner or a calendar. You can use the calendar feature to do this with the students in your class. When you go to the “Calendar” feature on the left hand side it list the calendars that you can view. To create a calendar click on the “create” link below the calendars you are currently viewing. All you then have to do is create a calendar for each class. Those of you that are coaches or group sponsors could also make calendars for your groups. You can then share the calendar with all of the school district or specific people (like just the students in a class- or grade or part of a group). Like google docs and the email, all you have to do is start tying names of students and it will add them. You can manage if they can view the calendar or if they can also edit the calendar. This is a great way to communicate assignments, especially long term assignments and tests. For groups and sports teams it is a great way to easily have them have the calendar of games or other events. If you are consistent about adding or updating the calendar, it can be a great communication tool. Even if you don’t use this for your classes, it is a great feature to point out to students to teach them to use to be more organized.

** FYI** For a future note, I am probably planning to use the google calendar feature next year, especially if we will be moving to this as our main or only email. While I still need to play around with things, what will most likely happen- each item that can be signed up on the current calendar, will be a separate calendar (i.e. LCD 1, Mobile Lab, multimedia cart). So for those of you that are a little unsure of technology, this is the time to ask questions, learn, and try things. Please don’t freak out about this yet, I will give trainings not this at the beginning of next school year.

Taking notes from an article in a google doc

If you decide not to email an article you also can copy and paste an article into a Google document. This can allow you are students to use a highlighter and comment feature. This can be an additional way to take notes, practice study techniques and note taking- students can share articles they are looking at and their comments can be what use to be “note cards”

Using this highlighter technique can be a great way to demonstrate, use and check for understanding for learning strategies like selective highlighting. By doing this in a document, students have the option to do multiple colors in their highlighting. For example they can do big topic in once color and supporting details in a second or third color.  

Additionally, instead of handing in current event article in print as an email attachment they can copy and paste and have it all in the shared google doc and write their summary at the top. You also could ask them to high light important information from the article that would help them write their summary. The teacher can then use the comment feature when grading.

I copied and pasted an article in from EBSCO. I have highlighted information and added a comment to demonstrate this. This type of document could also be shared with students from teachers. Teachers could add comments about pictures or additional items in an article that could help supplement a lecture or activity.

Emailing articles to google apps email

After learning about Google Apps during our all day professional development, I thought it would be helpful to remind everyone that you can email many articles that you read to an email account. Now that all students 6-12 will have an email account, this is a great way for them to have access to articles that they are using for research. It is a great way for them to have access to them regardless if they print it off or send it as an email.

If you are able to email through the resource there will be an icon. Typically this is on the top of the screen or at the top or bottom of the article. For many of the databases, this simply involves clicking on the icon or the link. This will bring students to a screen asking them to type in the email address, subject and message. Some of the databases will have additional options with regards to how you send it and the format in which you send it.

EBSCO host 2

 EBSCO is a great resource compiling mostly periodicals (newspapers and magazines).

When logging in to EBSCO from AEA’s website (www.aea11.k12.ia.us) and after you log into EBSCO using our school’s user name and password, you will have a number of different databases that are a part of EBSCO. one option that you have is EBSCO 6-12 search history. When you click on this link, there are a number of options and different types of searches you can do. Some of these I have already highlighted or discussed briefly. Some of these other searches I will identify how they might be helpful in what you may be doing in the classroom. The more specialized searches include:

Professional Development Collection, ERIC, MAS Ultra: School Edition, Newspaper Source, Middle Search Plus, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Primary Search, Academic Search Elite, Business Source Elite, Master File Premier, Topic Search, Health Source: Nursing/ Academic Edition, Vocational and Career Edition, Health Source: Consumer Edition, Regional Business Edition, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, Teacher Reference Center, Advanced Placement Source, Literary Reference Center, Newspaper Source Plus, History Reference Center, Science Reference Center.

Below each of these links for a search is a brief description about each search and item that are included as part of the search.

EBSCO host

EBSCO is a great resource compiling mostly periodicals (newspapers and magazines). Other resources I have highlighted that are part of Ebsco are: Kids Search, Student Research Center, Searchasaurus, Literary Reference and Points of View.
Besides the general Ebsco search, there are more specialized searching for certain topics and content areas, targeted especially for high school students. Some of these more specialized searches include: “Advance Placement Source,” “ History Reference Center,” “Newspaper Source Plus,” “Science Reference Center,” and plain “EBSCO”. There are links for each of theses through AEA 11 http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/ under the “Resources and Research Tools.”
All of these searches (General EBSCO and all specialized searches) are also available through Iowa AEA online http://www.iowaaeaonline.org/ and selecting EBSCO as well. After logging in with the user name and password scroll down and you will see links for these specialized resources that are a part of EBSCO. While you can search the general EBSCO and get the same articles, it helps in providing an ease in the search for a particular topic in the subject area.
In searching any of these you can type in a key word in the search box or use some of the advanced search option to include multiple words or the type of article you might be looking for.
Ebsco, can be effective if you are including current events or news articles as a part of your classes. Additionally if you are requiring students to do research on a topic, this can be a place for them to get information from reliable sources.

Kid’s Search, Student Research Center and Searchasaurus

This resource is also available through AEA 11 http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/ under the “Resources and Research Tools.” You will need to go through EBSCO to access them. While you can get to this through AEA you also can use EBSCO to get to this as well which is linked through Iowa AEA online http://www.iowaaeaonline.org/ and selecting EBSCO as well.
What is it: This helps to find articles and information on topics students might be researching. This searches current newspapers, magazines, books and encyclopedias, animals, biographies, radio and news transcripts, state and province reports, primary source documents, and photos.
A student can search and have all the results or limit the results by clicking on the type of information they want (i.e. just magazines or newspapers). Additionally when students get their list of results on the left they also can narrow their topic down. For example with “Volcanoes” it gave options for “United States” and “Volcanic eruptions.”
One advantage of the magazines is the inclusion of the Lexile scores which helps to give the reading level and difficulty of the text. This way if students do know their lexile range, they can look at an article and know it’s difficulty prior to even opening the article. Reading level is also sometimes included for the state reports. The photo option when selected individually, will give a thumbnail of the photo if it is available. Lastly there is an additional encyclopedia and dictionary that students can search for information. This can be a great addition to Encyclopedia articles that students might find through Worldbook. Searchasaurus - K-5 (left)
Kids Search 6-8 (pictured above) Student reseach center 6-12 (right)

Novelist k-8 plus and Novelist plus

This resource is also available through AEA 11 http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/ under the “Resources and Research Tools.” While you can get to this through AEA you also can use EBSCO to get to this as well which is linked through Iowa AEA online http://www.iowaaeaonline.org/
What is it: This is a great source when looking for titles of books. It searches both fiction and nonfiction. It additionally provides information on the books. Novelist k-8 is for elementary and middle school while Novelist plus is for middle and high school.
At the top you can do a basic search typing in the title, author, or subject. If it is something that it recognizes, it may prompt you underneath trying to finish what you are typing. On the left hand side there are other searches you can do. These are some of the topics under Browse: Award winners, author biographies, book talks, recommended books, book discussion guides, and curricular connections.
It also allows you to do more advanced searches and search for “alike” books by reading level or genre. Additionally it also allows you to focus on a target audience. You also can focus on fiction or nonfiction.
You can also get additional information on a particular book result that you get in a search including subjects/themes that are covered, a short summary, awards the book has won, book reviews, author websites, and other recommended reads.