Printing on specialty paper

I had a post last spring with a quick tip about how to print double-sided to our school printers... or how to turn that feature off.  Click here to check it out.  This should help reduce the paper waste that piles up in the recycling bins.

You may also want to consider this:  There have been a number of times that I have seen where paper is wasted because it is printed out on regular white paper and then photocopied onto colored paper, cardstock, or some other specialty paper.  This is a perfect place to use the Multi-Purpose Tray instead.  It's that side tray that flips down on the right side of the printer.

In the picture below, I am printing out one of the ClassLink Quickcards that our K-4 students use.  Since it gets heavy use, I print it out on card stock.  Note the settings I used.  I am printing here from Preview app.

When you load your paper in this side tray, an alert will pop up on the printer.   When printing with heavy paper, be sure to change the paper type to Heavy 1 paper.  Otherwise your printer be jammin' like Bob Marley.

Please consider where digital tools can replace or improve teaching and learning.  Send me a note if you would like to learn more.  Let's save a little of that paper.   

SeeSaw Best Practices

SeeSaw is a digital portfolio tool that is finding wide adoption in our elementary classrooms.

There are some best practices that I wanted to share about this tool:

1:1 Devices

Make sure that your class is set for a 1:1 device environment and NOT a 'Shared' environment.  This should be done when the class is created.  (IF you need to switch this, it will force your students to log out/log back in)

While you are in the Settings, you will need to decide whether or not you want students to be able to see each others' work.  This will be important, depending on whether or not your students will be in a collaborative environment.  Please check the other settings to see that they are where you want them to be.

Logging in:

In general, it is best practice for students to log into SeeSaw using their school Google account.  This allows students to very quickly switch between their different classes.  Students will remain logged in as long as they don't close out of SeeSaw.  This is preferred for grades 3-4.

When a student is primarily in a single classroom OR if little hands make logging in very tedious, then signing in with a QR code would be more appropriate. This is preferred for grades K-2.

IF a student is logged in via QR code in one class and Google for another class, then they are treated as two different students.  Parents would then also need to connect twice then, too.  (If we had the purchased version of SeeSaw, then these could be merged together.)

Parent Connections:

Parents can view their student's portfolio with the family SeeSaw App.  It is free on the Apple or Android stores for either smartphone or tablets.

Please either you or your students post at least one item to their journal before connecting any your parents.  When parents first connecting, they should be able to see something for student work.  As a teacher, you may share a post to all students as an Announcement, but it is much more meaningful if it is from their child.






It will be important to print out the parent invitation and send home with the students.  If a student has several posts without a parent connection, then please invite again.   As the teacher, you should be routinely providing constructive feedback for your students on their posts.  They enjoy having their audience see their work:  fellow students, teachers, and parents.

If you are just getting started, there are several model teachers that would be happy to show how they have been using this tool.

Pictures and Video:

Since this is a portfolio, it will provide a brief snapshot of the learning going on in the classroom.  In general, it is best to take pictures and video on the iPads with the Camera or Clips apps and then upload them to SeeSaw.  You can then select the best of your library.  You may also take pictures directly from SeeSaw, but you may have troubles using those resources in other places.

I appreciate your feedback.  Let me know if there are more details that you would add to this list.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks

New Google Drive Feature 2019

A new feature was just added to your Google Drive that can help keep your work organized.  You may want to check this out ahead of the upcoming school year.

From Google Drive, you will notice a new option, labeled Priority.  From here, you can create a Workspace and include any combination of Google Drive items that you are working on, regardless of what folder they are in. This is different than a Shared Drive, which is a souped-up shared Drive folder.  A Workspace is a private way to keep yourself organized and will be very useful for those tasks that include several documents.

You may also want to consider using Google Keep to 'keep' your world organized. Some of you may use the Stickies app on your computer.  Google Keep is similar, but has many more features available, including the ability to share with others and convert to a Google Drive document. Either of these items are also available for all student and staff Google accounts.  You will also see that these are available on your personal Google accounts, too.

Let me know if you have any questions.