Creating a Class Portfolio Using Google Sites

Throughout the course, you will compile your work into your own running digital portfolio. Part of this course will teach you how you can have students take ownership by giving them a voice and allowing them to develop their very own digital portfolios as well. Upon completion of the class you will submit your Portfolio's URL via a Google Form. This will generate a class list with in a Google Sheet that we can then share out to the rest of the class allowing others to view your work and your lesson samples. In the end, we want everyone here to be able to take away lessons that they can use and apply readily to their classes, and you may see a lesson idea in another classmate's work that you can adjust and make your own.

As for your own students, Digital Portfolios allow them the opportunity to showcase their work, what it is they know and are able to do, and gives them a sense of pride in their work since they will be sharing it for the world to see. Below is a preview to a template to follow when building your portfolio (Click the link below to view the full site). In addition, you will find a link to a brief tutorial page for the New Google Sites. Happy Creation!

Class Portfolio

New Google Sites

Email Notifications for Forms

Ever create a Google Form and needed or wanted to have notifications sent to you or others when someone has submitted the form? With Email Notifications for Forms, you can do just that! By going to your "Add-ons" icon within your Google Form, you can search for this tool or you can click on the link provided below:

Email Notifications for Forms

Google Slides Add-Ons

Google Slides Add-Ons can help bring your presentations to life. As there are not as many add-ons in Slides as there are for Docs, there are a few notable ones you may want to check out. Keep checking back with Google Slides Add-ons as more and more get added over time!

• Pear Deck (the obvious add-on!)
• Top Stock Photos for Google Slides (Allows you to insert free-to-use images directly from Pexels!)
• Photo Slideshow (Allows you to insert photos and slideshows from your Google Photos)
• Insert Icons (Insert icons from a large bank of searchable images that can be color controlled.)
• Lucidcharts Diagrams for Slides (insert or create diagrams for your slides)
• AudioPlayer for Slides by EdTech Team (Insert background music from your Drive to play during your presentations. You can put your music on a loop, but remember to beware of copyright infringement. Just because you've purchased and downloaded music, doesn't mean you have the right to play it within a presentation publicly. With that in mind, check out the Free Music Archive for free music that you can download and then upload to your Google Drive!)
• Slides Progress Bar (display a progress bar at the bottom of your Slides)

CIF Connection:

• Writing To Learn: Through Writing to Learn, students can develop their ideas, their critical thinking Abilities, and their writing skills. Writing to Learn enables students to experiment every day with written language and to increase their fluency and mastery of written conventions. By taking time to write in low-stakes exercises, students actively engage in thinking about a concept. Writing to Learn increases equity within the classroom since students have time to try out their ideas in non-evaluative activities before they have to present them to a group or as individuals. Writing to Learn can also be used as formative assessment and as a way to scaffold mid-and high-stakes writing assignments and tests.
• Collaborative Group Work: In Collaborative Group Work, students engage in learning by constructing group solutions, texts, experiments, or works of art. Effective group work is well planned and strategic. Students are grouped intentionally, with each student held accountable for contributing to the group work. Activities are designed so that students with diverse skill levels are supported as well as challenged by their peers. They are planned around meaningful tasks in the subject area that are conceptually rich, engaging, and have multiple entry points for all students.
• Classroom Talk: Classroom Talk creates the space for students to articulate their thinking and strengthen their voices. Classroom Talk takes place in pairs, in Collaborative Group Work, and as a whole class. As students become accustomed to talking in class, the teacher serves as a facilitator to engage students in higher levels of discourse. Teachers introduce and reinforce the use of academic language and encourage students to use that language in their classrooms.