Guardian Email Summaries in Google Classroom

For many of us Google Classroom is our go-to base for assignments and resources for our students.

Without their students' login information, parents cannot see what assignments are coming up nor resources you have posted.

Under the "People" section in Classroom you have the option to "invite" guardians.  Some of your students may already have guardians listed.   To invite them all you need to do is add in their email address.  Open House / Parent Teacher conferences are a good time to get those addresses.  Otherwise they are in eSD.

How to get parent email addresses in eSD

Check to See if Summaries are Enabled!

At times by default they are turned off....  be sure to turn them on for your courses!

Note: A student only has to be added to 1 class.  Therefore if all homerooms, or advisory periods created a classroom, and added the guardian email addresses, all students would be covered, and it would carry over from year to year.

Once the email address is added the guardian will be offered the option to receive periodic summary emails for their student's Google Classrooms.  Parents will not have full access to your classroom, they simply will get an update on Missing Assignments, Upcoming Assignments & Announcements.  

Check out this video to see how a parent signs up.

Examples of Summaries: 

Wakelet - Resources Where & When You Need 'Em

If you are like me, more and more of your ideas for lessons and resources that you use in class are online.   At this point in the game it may be overwhelming to figure out a best practice for saving and storing all of those links.

• There is the bookmark bar at the top of your browser...

• Or, you can hyperlink resources in your UBD Curriculum map or a Chapter Resource Page for students...

• And of course, Pinterest has been a popular option for many of us, especially K-5 teachers!

Today I would like to offer you one more option for organizing your digital teaching resources.   It is this time of year that we are getting to that "To File" pile behind our desks, yet we still are accumulating more and more ideas that we want to try next year.

For this, I bring you Wakelet.  Wakelet is very much like a personal Pinterest account.

You curate collections of resources based on topics of your choice.  Some ideas of teacher collections could be:

• Unit Resources
• Tech Tools
• Project Ideas
• Strategies to Try in 2019-2020

Within each collection you can add any of the following:

• Links to Websites
• Images
• Text Descriptions (Notes to Self)
• YouTube Videos  
• PDFs
• Google Drive Files
• Tweets! 

With the Wakelet Google Chrome Extension, it is easy to add resources as you use/find them.

Not sure how to create your own account?  Follow me as I sign up for Wakelet and add the Chrome Extenstion in this video tutorial.

Wakelets can be shared between teachers and students alike.   Encourage students to curate a portfolio or a resource set to explain key concepts as an alternative assignment! 

That said, click HERE to access & make a copy of my Formative Assessment Tools Wakelet.

And be sure to share your Wakelets with your colleagues and students!  

Top 10 Chrome Tips for Teachers & Staff

Trim your tree this year with these tips for using your Google Chrome Internet browser.

With Gmail and Google Drive, along with the thousands of websites we use every day, we are constantly using an Internet browser to research, communicate and interact with technology.  It comes as no surprise that Google Chrome is my browser of choice, and today's post is here to enhance your daily web surfing experience.

#1 Search Google Drive & YouTube right from your address bar!

If you are looking for a particular file or folder in your Google Drive, simply type "drive" into the address bar (or omnibox) and hit TAB.  It will automatically prompt you to search within your Google Drive. Then, type the name of the file you are looking for and you will be automatically directed to your results!  

If that frosts your nose, try it with YouTube!    youtube + TAB

The TAB search feature can be setup with any website that has a search bar.   Make an appt to set up other searchable sites.


#2 Duplicate a Tab

Say you are researching on the Internet and you click on one of your search results. Now you want to keep that tab open, but also be able to go back to your original search.  Right click the tab and then select DUPLICATE TAB.  Now you can keep one search result open while going back in another tab to see the original list of results. 


#3 Reopen a Closed Tab

This one is so good I had to mention it again this year!  Ctl + Shift + T  will open up the last tab that you closed.  Great for when you close something by accident, or if you want to see what game your student was just playing instead of doing his lab report!

#4 Guest Window / Incognito Mode


I can't stress this one enough.  If someone is logging into their account on your device, have them use a Guest Window or Incognito Mode.  This will keep from account confusion later on with Mail, Drive, Docs & more. 

Incognito Mode - Ctrl + Shift + N  
(This is also a great way to test links that you plan on publishing for your students or colleagues.)

Guest mode can be found under your profile name next to the minimize button in the upper right.   (If you don't see your name, please click the person and sign-in to Chrome)  

#5 Arrange Your Icons

If you use your "waffle" to find icons for your Google Tools, you may want to consider reordering them to meet your needs.   Simply click on the icon you want to relocate and drag it to a new location in the menu.

#6 Create Your Own Desktop Shortcuts

Throughout the years we have found that teachers love nothing more than a good icon to click on their desktop that will take them exactly where they want to go.  Now with a click and drag you can make your own! 

1. First change your browser window so that it does not take up the whole screen. 
2. Go to the exact page on the Internet for which you want a shortcut (Flextime, PowerSchool, SAMS, etc)
3. Highlight the entire web address
4. Click and drag it onto your desktop. 
5. Voila! - Shortcut!

#7 Bookmark Your Favorite Sites By Dragging

Desktop Icons are convenient, but if you are already in your browser, it can be cumbersome to minimize everything to access your desktop.  (And for me, that is a lot of programs to close to find the top of my desk. Same is true for my physical desk these days!)  

Bookmarks can be made the same way as icons, simply drag them to your bookmark bar.   Don't see your book mark bar? Try Ctrl + Shift + B to show/hide your bookmarks. 

Already have bookmarks ?   Want to clean it up ?  

Right Click > Edit 

Here you can shorten or remove bookmark names all together for more space!

#8 Flip Through Tabs Without the Mouse

This one is for my keyboard ninjas out there! 

Ctrl + 1, 2, 3...  Will give you the first, second, third tab in your browser. 

Ctrl + TAB will flip through your tabs in order until you find the one that you want. 


#9 Find What You Are Looking For.... Faster

This next tip can help you find what you are looking for in Chrome & elsewhere.  Ctrl+F will give you a "find" search box in the upper right.  Say you are looking for the part of this post about icons. Type "icons" into the box and hit Enter.  It will let you know where your text is matched throughout the page. 


#10 For The Last Minute Online-Shopper

I found this gem while Cyber Monday shopping this year.   When searching for bargains, or lesson resources ;-), hit Alt + → or Alt + ← to go back and forward.  Smart shoppers (& teachers!), shop around allowing this key can save you time. 

What are your favorite tips for using Google Chrome?  

Share below!