Electronic Advisory Attendance

• January
• 26

As hard as I try, I can’t seem to always remember to bring my advisory attendance sheet with me to chapel every morning. On the days where I forget the sheet, I will scan my group and memorize who isn’t there. When I get back to my classroom I’ll fill out out the attendance sheet and turn it in. With so many steps in the process, it’s no surprise that it frequently falls apart.

So, I just came up with an easy solution. I created an STJLabs Google Docs form listing each of my advisees as a question, and then “Yes” and “No” as the possible answers. When I hit submit on the form, the spreadsheet, which is securely located in my STJLabs Google Docs account, is populated with the answers to the “questions” along with the time stamp. What this means is that I no longer have to ever bring my attendance sheet with me to chapel. Instead, I take out my iPhone, load the form (which I have book marked so I never have to enter in the URL), click a few times, and then hit submit. When I get back to my classroom, I fill out my attendance sheet based on the information that’s sitting in the online spreadsheet.

Additionally, this give me a great easy to manage digital record of my advisory attendance. I’ve been liking the idea so much that I have thought about doing the same thing for each of my classes.

Here’s what the advisory attendance form looks like on my phone.

Give the system a try. I think you’ll like it!

Tip: To take a screenshot on your iPhone, hit the power and home buttons (briefly) at the same time. The screenshot will be placed in your “Photos” app.

New Mission – No More Paper

• January
• 25

In the past I have carried students’ notebooks from Newell Hall 25, to the language office, back to NH25, to my car, to my kitchen table, back to my car, back up two flights of stairs and then had students never pick them up, never read the comments I entered, never compare the score they gave themselves on the writing to my grade.

This semester I decided to follow an idiom I should be teaching “there’s no time like the present.” In the spirit of this thought, I put a journal up in google docs. I told my students that I didn’t want to carry their notebooks back and forth any longer. If I want better biceps I will start to visit the gym. I explained to them that they needed to create the document – title it Journals Spring 2012 ESL 504, and then put a title and date on every entry. Now I can read them wherever I have access to my gmail.

It worked so well, that i’m having them do their first essay that way. Put it in google docs and let me look at it there. I tag the mistake and write (subject/verb agreement discrepancy – please fix this) if they want full credit they have one week to fix all the editing marks I’ve entered.

The best part – they can no longer say “you lost my paper” or “you never handed that back to me” or “I turned it in I know I did.” if it’s not a shared google document I didn’t get it.

Now the question is, how to use this for the major class project we are about to do: KIDZ WORLD V. Though I left the business world years ago, it seems that the planning, meetings, etc I used to do are probably all done through technology, but my skills are so rusty? Could we hold meetings with the college? Could we share documents through google instead of going up to the college to see drafts, etc? It seems we could find a more efficient way to do what we need to do.

Starting out on a Mac?

• January
• 23

If you’ve recently found yourself using a Mac computer for the first time, I highly recommend checking out these resources:

Mac 101: Get started with the Mac
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

Switch 101: Moving from Windows Explorer to the Finder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2512

Switch 101: On Windows, I used to…
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2514

AP French google group

• January
• 23

Thanks to Josh for helping me create a new google group for AP French teachers. This is meant to help replace the old College Board listserv, which is being phased out.  Here is the link to the new group:  http://groups.google.com/group/ap-french-discussion-group

Please help me spread the word to other AP French teachers you might know!

Merci,

Clickable tech taxonomy

• January
• 23

Jim Mazzonna just shared a great visual representation of many educational web tools arranged in a clickable pyramid. It’s definitely worth taking a look at!

Three new support docs

• January
• 20

I just added three new documents to the support page:

How to access any class portal page: You can access any active class through the Class Directory.

How to add students to a portal page roster: Teachers can add or delete students from any of their class portal page rosters.

How to add STJLabs email to your iDevice: It behaves just like Gmail and is super easy to set up.

SOPA PIPA Update

• January
• 18

Here’s a simple chart comparing the legislation and issues surrounding SOPA, PIPA and the OPEN Act, prepared by the American Library Association which strongly opposes both.

Site Updates

• January
• 15

The Tablet Program page is now online. Applications are due 2/1/12.

Submit information on how you use technology in your classroom by 2/1/12 to be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to a downtown St. Johnsbury business of your choosing.

Help documents outlining how to shorten URLs and link to archived class resources are now online on the Support page.

STJLabs Google Slides

• January
• 13

Here are the slides from a presentation I gave this afternoon in the Library covering the basic outline of the STJLabs Google Docs services.

Kim’s Video

• January
• 11

Here is the video from Kim’s presentation.

Horses from Kim Darling on Vimeo.