Student Email Skill: How and When to Use CC and BCC

 

As students become more adept at using email to communicate with teachers, learning to use the Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy functions of an email platform is valuable. These two, simple functions can help students be more efficient, same time, provide privacy and demonstrate some digital citizenship. The screenshots below are designed to show students where to access these functions and how they work. Feel free to share these examples with your students.

Where to access the Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy functions

In Gmail, at the right side of the first row/line of an email message, you will see the symbols for both. Cc stands for Carbon Copy and Bcc stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Clicking on either one will add a row/line below the first row/line. 

The names or email addresses you put in the Cc line will receive a Carbon Copy of your message. This is used when you want other people to be aware of the message you are sending to an individual or group. The people you Cc are those you do not expect to reply to the message. 

Bcc is a tool for protecting the privacy of people's email addresses when part of email groups and mailing lists. Names in the Bcc line will not be visible to each other. If you put multiple names in the Bcc line, they will not know the message is being sent to other people. They will receive the message and not know who else can see the message. 

When might students use these functions?

Students could use Carbon Copy when sending a general inquiry message to all of their teachers. For example, if communicating about an upcoming absence, they could Cc all of their teachers and counselors. 

Students might use Blind Carbon Copy when sending a message to multiple classmates. Leadership students who are tasked with messaging large amounts of classmates for school events would use this to ensure they don't get a flood of Reply All messages. Another example for use of Bcc is in a community service project when students are sending messages to community organizations and members.

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Dear Students, It's Very Important You Learn to Properly Compose An Email

 

Composing an email is more important than ever. For today's generation, this is the equivalent skill of my generation learned when we were taught to compose handwritten letters. If you are reading this blog post, I am willing to bet good money that you have at least one story of receiving an email from a student where the entire email message was written in the subject line or the message was written in all caps or composed like a text message. 

When I work with students, I try to educate them on how email is a more formal way of communicating. It's used for communication with employers, teachers, etc. Students are already very adept at writing a text messages, but email is different. Text messages are informal communication for less formal things. 

Upping students' email skills is crucial in distance learning. These skills can improve the communication between teacher and student. It can positively affect their ability to learn and achieve now and in the future. A poorly composed email could be the difference in passing and failing a class. Below is a series of screenshots that you can share with students to show them the basics of composing a proper email. 

Step 1: Go to Gmail and click the Compose button in the top left corner. Other email apps and platforms follow a similar format.

Step 2: In the pop up that appears, this is where you will compose your email. In the first row, type out your teacher's name or email address. In the second row, type your Subject. This is only a short preview of your message. 

In the example below, the subject says "Questions about my grade". The subject should be a short sentence at most. In the third row (larger space), compose your message. Do your best to use proper grammar and spelling. Start with a greeting like "Hello" or "Good afternoon". End your message with a "Thank You" and add your name at the end. 

Below is a series of screenshots of how NOT to compose an email. 

Your message should NOT be composed in the Subject line. 

Compose your message here, but do NOT type it the way you would type a text message. Do your best to use proper grammar and spelling. This is important to remember when you are communicating with teachers, professors and employers.

The examples shown are with Gmail, but all email platforms follow similar formats. The suggestions given can work with any email platform as well as email apps on mobile devices.

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Three Options for Digital Timers for Zoom/Google Meet Lessons

 

Helping students manage time and stay on task during synchronous lessons is very important. One way to do that is the use of a digital timer. Many educators out there have made great use out of various timer programs such as the Kagan timer app among others. If you don't want to download another app, I have three options, all web based. 

The first digital timer option involves YouTube. This option works when you have a second monitor attached to your computer. In a nutshell, you will be dragging a "smaller" window, with a YouTube countdown timer video, into a larger window. The larger window is the window you are presenting synchronously to students. If you have students working independently, drag the smaller window into the larger window. In the larger window, you can display instructions and other info for the independent work while the smaller window counts down the time. Take a look at the screenshots below to learn how.

Step 1: On your other screen, open YouTube. Search for a countdown timer for the amount of time you want to give students. Once you've found the video, make the window smaller (as seen below).

Step 2: Drag the smaller window over to the window you are sharing on your Zoom/Google Meet call. The example below is from a class a recently taught where I gave students 10 minutes to build vocabulary with Quizlet. I shared the screen with Quizlet and dragged the "timer" window over. When finished, you can close the smaller window or drag it back.

Another option is to add Eggtimer as a search engine into Google Chrome. This is a trick I learned years ago at a demo slam conducted by my good friend Joe Marquez. What you see below is the finished product. Essentially, what you do is "train" Chrome how to start a timer right from the address bar aka Omnibox (Yes, that's what Google calls it). Once "trained", simply type "eg" in the address bar, click the spacebar, then type the time you want for a countdown.

Here is what it looks like when I set it to countdown for 10 minutes. This is something I use almost daily during synchronous lessons on Zoom/Google Meet. I use this option when I want the timer to be full screen and don't want to share anything content related on my screen during independent work.

Step 1: In the top right corner of Chrome, click the three dots. In the dropdown menu, click Settings.

Step 2: Scroll down and click Manage search engines.

Step 3: Where it says Other search engines, click Add.

Step 4: In the Search engine line type Eggtimer. In the keyword line, type "eg" (Make it lowercase because it's easier to remember). In the URL line, type this exactly e.ggtimer.com/%s then click Add

After Step 4, exit the Settings. Open a tab in Chrome. In the address bar aka Omnibox, type "eg" (lowercase) and push the spacebar. When you do, it will say Search Eggtimer. In the address bar, type the time you want for the countdown and hit enter. 

The screen will turn white with the countdown in big black numerals in the middle of the screen.

A third option is to insert a YouTube countdown timer video onto a slide in a Google Slides presentation. This is a very common and popular option. If this is new to you, check out the screenshots below to learn how. This is very useful when teaching on Zoom or Google Meet with a slides presentation and you want to give students some think time. This option allows you to not have to exit your presentation to access the timer. 

Step 1: On the slide(s) of your choice, click the Insert button and select Video.

Step 2: Click Search and use the search bar to find a countdown timer video for the time you want. For example, type "2 minute countdown timer".

Step 3: From the search results, click on the video you want and then click Select.

Below is what it looks like on your slide when in Edit mode. 

When in presentation mode, click the play button on the video to start your countdown timer.

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Use Unscreen to Add Transparent GIFs to Jazz Up Lessons

 

Animated GIFs are great, fun way to engage students with content and get them thinking creatively. GIFs are a huge part of popular culture and students love using them in their personal lives. When adding GIFs to our presentations, slides and lessons, there are occasions where the backgrounds of GIFs don't quite fit well. Aesthetically, it would look better if the object moving within the GIF didn't have a background. 

Unscreen allows you to take GIFs and remove the background creating a transparent GIF. For example, if I taught an ELA lesson on examples of rage in literature, I could use Unscreen to create a transparent GIF of "Angry Tom" to really drive home my point in the lesson. Below see the difference between using a normal GIF and transparent Gif.

 

The GIF on the top has a background. That may not necessarily fit within the scheme or colors of your slides/lesson/presentation. The transparent GIF on the right will fit in your slide/lesson/presentation like a sticker. It will have a more natural feel. It gives you more creative flexibility. Using transparent GIFs can be a great way to power up your Bitmoji Classroom as well. Below is a series of screenshots that shows you how to get started using Unscreen.

Step 1: Go to Unscreen.com. If you have a GIF or MP4 file saved on your computer, click Upload Clip to import. If you want to search already made GIFs from the Giphy.com site, click Search GIF. Search GIF is probably the easiest way to get started as a first timer.

Step 2: If you chose the Search GIF option, in the window that appears, you can type your search query in the search bar. Click on the GIF of your choice. 

Step 3: Once you choose your GIF, it will process in seconds and you'll see the background removed from the image. This is evident as you will see a gray and white checker pattern behind the animated GIF. 

Step 4: Click the arrow next to download and select GIF. This will download the transparent GIF to your computer and it can be imported to any lesson, slide or presentation.

Below is the transparent GIF I downloaded from the screenshots above. 

Tools like Unscreen, Remove.bg and the GIFit! Chrome extension are great for upping the aesthetics of your lessons, slides and presentations with GIFs and transparent images. Removing the backgrounds from images and GIFs can add a whole new dimension. Click here to read a blog post I wrote recently on getting started with Remove.bg. Click here to read a blog post I wrote recently on getting started with the GIFit! Chrome extension. How will you use GIFs and transparent images to jazz up your teaching?

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Jazz Up Your Slides with GIFit!

 

Animated GIFs are all the rage these days. They allow you to express yourself in a creative, fun manner. They can also be useful for jazzing up the slides you use when teaching both synchronously and asynchronously. There tons of great GIF websites out there in addition to filtering your Google Image search for animated GIFs. Sometimes those sites or your Google search doesn't quite have the GIF you want. Sometimes you are thinking of a gesture, motion or scene you saw in a YouTube video that would make a great GIF, but you can't seem to find it anywhere.

Learn to use GIFit! to pull selected motions, gestures or scenes from YouTube and transform them into an animated GIF that can be used to jazz up slides, lessons and presentations. Below is a series of screenshots to help you get started.

Step 1: Go to the Chrome Web Store, search for GIFit! and Add to Chrome.

Step 2: Once the installation process is complete, go to YouTube and select a video. You'll see a GIFit! button appear in the bottom right of the video (all videos now). Click it.

Step 3: While watching the video, determine the "time period" in the video you want to convert to an animated GIF. Enter the Start and End time then click the red GIFit! button.

Step 4: It will take a few seconds depending on the length of the animation and download onto your computer.

Below is the GIF I created in the screenshots. This is great GIF for showing emotion, agreement and many other concepts. 

Once downloaded onto your computer, the possibilities are endless. Insert the GIF into lessons, slides, presentations, Google Classroom banners. etc. What GIFs will you create and for what purpose?

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Encourage Students to Act on Teacher Feedback with Google Classroom

Feedback is such an important part of the learning process. The key word in that statement is "process". Authentic learning that sticks comes from mistakes made and adjustments done based on teacher/mentor feedback. Whether you are in distance learning, hybrid or face to face, speed of teacher feedback and student reaction to it is key.

In distance learning, it's easy for teachers to leave quick feedback on student work through platforms like Google Classroom. A big issue, though, is how students ignore feedback or are not used to replying or acting upon it. Getting students to see the feedback and use it to iterate and improve work is a challenge. Often times, students aren't aware of the tools available to them for receiving feedback, acting on it and resubmitting work. Below is a series of screenshots that shows teachers how to quickly leave feedback on Google Classroom assignments and how students can view teacher feedback, act on it and resubmit.

The Teachers

In Google Classroom, open an assignment to view student work. On a Google Doc, Google Slides Presentation, Google Drawing or PDF, you can leave a comment. This can be done by right clicking on a portion of the document and selecting Comment. On PDFs and images, there is a Comment button on the top right of the grading window. Leaving comments this way puts the comment directly on the document rather than just a Private Comment on Google Classroom.

Below is an example of what a comment box will look like on Google Slides.

The Student

Below is an example of an email a student will receive when a comment is left. The student will see the feedback left and a link that takes them back to the document.

After acting on the feedback, in Google Classroom, students can click the Resubmit button to turn in the newest iteration of their work. If a Resubmit button is greyed out, it means the teacher hasn't returned the assignment to the student. Be sure to leave comments and return work to students promptly so they can iterate and resubmit.

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Coaching Trumps PD

 

Coaches build relationships. PD facilitators train on tools. 

What is your focus? Where do you spend the majority of your time? Is it what or who that is most important?

Though many of our classrooms are virtual in 2020, the reality is the same - edtech coaches are most effective when they are with teachers, providing job-embedded support. Join educators in their video calls, demo lessons for them, celebrate their successes, make connections with their students. When you spend time in classrooms, whether physical or virtual, integration will occur naturally - easily fitting in to the context of each teacher’s learning environment.

Want more support? Keep an eye out for our upcoming book The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, and in the meantime, visit techcoachjuarez.com and wonderexplorelearn.com for a growing bank of resources designed for you.

Remain True to Your Title: Coach

 

In the midst of school closures, distance and hybrid learning, and the need to increase technology use in education due to COVID19, edtech coaches across the country are being called upon to create and facilitate PD sessions to train on new tools. While it is vital that teachers feel comfortable with the tech tools they will be using, it is even more important that coaches do not become so focused on PD that they forget their main role - coach.

Tips for Remaining a Coach First & Foremost

• Follow-Up: After delivering a PD, be sure to speak with the educators you serve. Have conversations. Ask what you can do to support them. 

• Be Available: Offer open office hours and Q & A sessions. Let teachers know they can drop in to chat about anything education related. Support must extend beyond the PD session itself.

Want more support? Keep an eye out for our upcoming book The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, and in the meantime, visit techcoachjuarez.com and wonderexplorelearn.com for a growing bank of resources designed for you.

Technology Integration - An Organic Approach

 

It can be tempting to focus on a particular tech platform, app, or tool for to be used universally across a single school site or district. This can appear to be a way to maximize training time, streamline an approach to integration, and ensure all teachers are on the same page. While it may seem counterintuitive, a grass-roots organic approach, rather than a top-down mandate, fosters greater sustainability and better learning for both educators and students.

Why an organic approach? Why move away from a mandated, one-size fits all approach?

• We serve people, not initiatives. Just as students come to us with unique strengths and opportunities for growth, so do our teachers. 

• Decision makers own the work. When we empower educators (and students!) by guiding them toward technology integration options, they are more invested in making it work in their context.

Want more support? Keep an eye out for our upcoming book The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, and in the meantime, visit techcoachjuarez.com and wonderexplorelearn.com for a growing bank of resources designed for you.

Virtual Office Hours BRB and Bathroom Signs

 

Coaching looks very different in a distance learning environment. Most of our coaching interactions take place virtually. A common coaching practice is on-call, virtual office hours. This is something I do daily. I am on-call for 2-3 hours at a time. During those hours, situations arise where I need to step away to assist a teacher or head to the restroom. When that occurs, what happens to colleagues who join the video call and I am not there? 

To deal with those situations, I created a slide deck in Google Slides called "Signage". This slide deck has slides, with built in timers, for when I am on a restroom break or away helping a colleague. This can be done if you are doing office hours or on-call help as a coach, admin or classroom teacher. The videos below show what my screen looks like when I am away. 

Once you've created your "away from the screen" slide, have open in another tab and share it just like you'd share your screen in a video call. Below, you will see how to do this in both Zoom and Google Meet.

Zoom

Google Meet

If you have any questions and would like a follow up, contact me via Gmail or Hangouts at ajuarez@techcoachjuarez.com. If you would like to unsubscribe from this blog, go to bit.ly/tcjinbox.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is due out in October/November of 2020. It will be published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Keep an eye out on this blog and on social media. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.