These aren't the only resources I've ended up using, and I certainly don't use all of them, but this is a collection of resources I've gathered that could be useful to you as you figure out the best way to make your classroom a little more tech-y and a little more environmentally friendly!
Collaboration, Discussion, and Formative Assessment
- Today's Meet - this tool lets even the quietest student chime in with thoughts during a discussion, and then there is a record for the teacher to assess learning levels later.
- Kahoot - students can use either phones or Chromebooks to participate in paperless quizzes and quick, formative assessments of learning. There are a ton of quizzes online already that you can use, and students get very excited about using this tool.
- Socrative - another formative response website that teachers can use to get paperless, instant feedback from students. I use this tool often as a formative check-in tool, and you can run it on your iPad or phone while moving around the room.
- Quizziz - a new formative response website that many teachers are a fan of - another option similar to Kahoot.
- Padlet - This is another easy to use tool for gathering student ideas in a potentially anonymous way - an online wall that students can post to. One of my favorite things to do is whip up a graphic organizer in Google Drawings and have students use it to place their answers on accordingly. Here is a link to a screenshot of one of my Padlets after I asked students to evaluate a sample memoir I had written while reviewing the elements of effective memoirs. As you can see, they didn't hold back once given the chance!
- Advanced Assessments with Google Forms - Advanced Assessments with Google Forms for teachers who have more complicated needs when assessing students, along with some neat Google Forms tricks.
- Improving Writing with Google Docs - I use a lot of these tools already, but this is a very comprehensive document with ideas for Writing teachers specifically.
- Peer Evaluation with Forms - I cooked up my own version of this that is a little more complicated, but this is a great way for students to complete the peer feedback piece without wasting paper.
- Who Deleted Student Responses? - this gives a great overview of how we can track changes in Google Docs, discussions we need to have with students about digital citizenship, and should hopefully address any concerns you may have about protecting student work on a collaborative document.
- Flubaroo New Feature - Grading By Hand - I am SO excited about this new feature. As a writing-only teacher, I rarely found a reason to use the add-on Flubaroo because my content wasn't suited to multiple-choice quizzes. With this new feature, I can have my students use Google Forms for exit slips and check-ins during mini-lessons, and I can assign scores for data collection or provide feedback that gets emailed back to students.
- Plickers - There is no reason you can't use some technology even without student devices to gather information. Plickers allow for quick checks with multiple-choice questions. Students can each have four reusable cards, and the teacher can use their phone or iPad to scan the room to register which card students are holding up and collect data. Check out the website for a much better explanation. I've now tried this tool one day when we had to loan out the Chromebook cart, and while I certainly prefer technology-based options for assessment, it is a great fallback for when technology either fails or isn't available.
- Video Not.es - this is a very cool tool I saw demonstrated at a Demo Slam recently. Fully integrated with Google Drive, this allows you to import a video or link to one, add time-stamped notes, and then share those notes with others, with timestamps functioning as fully clickable links to that point in the video.
Differentiation
- Digital Differentiation with Google Forms - there are easy ways to differentiate instantly based on the responses to a Google Form. Students who miss a question can be linked to videos, PDFs, or websites to help them practice the skill, students who show mastery can get a next step, and students who already show that they are far beyond the given task can be given an enrichment activity.
- Google Drawings Graphic Organizers - Lots of free Graphic Organizers for a different way to represent learning for students - these could easily be attached to an Assignment in Classroom, and students could pick the one they like the best.
- Chrometastic Ways to Support Struggling Readers - another resource from the great Twitter follow Kasey Bell. Lots of great ideas for how you can utilize Chrome and its features to help support your students as readers.
Communication
- Create a class Google Site. I have already done so, at https://sites.google.com/a/isdschools.org/msshelton/. There are lots of free templates you can use, which is how I got the basic structure of mine set up.
- Remind - I have used this all year to remind students about weekly homework assignments, but it can be used for weekly updates about what happened in class that week for parents or upcoming deadlines for longer projects.
- Sample Google Form for Parent Emails - this is a great example of how to use Google Forms and a few different Add-ons to customize emails home. I've set up my own, but this is one way to go about it.
- Common Sense Media - If you have parents who are concerned about letting their students have Gmail access or a class that isn't making great choices online, you can utilize some of these great free lessons from Common Sense Media.
- CheckItOut - I haven't personally used this, but if you have a classroom library, this is an add-on for Forms that students can use to check out books to eliminate any paper tracking methods.
- Using Google Classroom for Writing Journals - this is one of my big plans for the upcoming school year to go paperless. I had wondered about the best way to have students gather their journal writing in one place beyond process pieces, and I am very excited to try this method.
- Rock Your Classroom With Google Forms - there are a ton of great same Google Forms that you can automatically make your own copy of and customize for your need. This person is also a great follow on Twitter!
Professional Development Resources
- Join a Google+ community of educators. You can pose questions, look at the answers others are getting, and find out about great new tools. Here are a few that I look at frequently:
- Follow a Twitter chat - ever notice those hashtags on tweets? If you follow them, you can learn a lot of great information. One great chat that I follow, along with their archives, is #gafechat
- If you are nervous about getting a teacher Twitter, there are some great guidelines to be found here.
General Google Product/Ed-Tech Product How-Tos