Asynchronous Thin Slides with a Dash of Flipgrid

 

Thin Slides might actually be my favorite of all the EDUProtocols. It's quick, easy and it gets all students listening and speaking in a short amount of time. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to evolve the way we teach and EDUProtocols are no different. The beauty of EDUProtocols is that they are highly adaptable. 

In distance learning, a buzzword, one we hardly ever used before, is asynchronous. I've said this word more times in the last 10 months that I ever in the previous 15 years of my teaching career. Asynchronous lessons have become something most of us have to plan for each week. Normally, Thin Slides is done live and as part of synchronous lesson, but I have an idea for facilitating this activity asynchronously.

Before we jump into how to do it asynchronously, here are the steps for how I adapted it for synchronous lessons in distance learning.

1. Create a template Assignment in Google Classroom and add the basic Thin Slides instructions

2. Click Create, select slides and create a template for students to put their one picture and one word. Make a copy for each student.

3. When kids are finished building their slide, open the Assignment on the teacher end of Google Classroom, share your screen and you can quickly scroll through each kids' submission. Students unmute to do their 5-7 second micro-presentation when their slide appears on the Zoom. Click here to read my blogpost that shows how to do this in greater detail.

My idea for asynchronous Thin Slides takes the steps listed above and adds Flipgrid to the mix. 

Below is an example of a template slide for students to put their one picture and one word. The beauty of this is that you can reuse this assignment over and over without having to recreate slides. Each time you simply edit the topic.

Here is where the asynchronous Thin Slides adds Flipgrid to the mix. Open a new tab and go to your Flipgrid account. Create a new topic, title it and add instructions for the kids to use the Flipgrid screen record function to record themselves presenting their slide.

Normally, in Thin Slides, students have 5-7 seconds to present, but the minimum in a Flipgrid topic is 15 seconds. Be sure to keep Topic Moderation turned off so kids can see each other's videos.

After setting up your topic, add the link to the Google Classroom assignment.

On the student end, after building their slide and recording their micro-presentation with Flipgrid screen record, they will watch their classmates videos and leave comments. Do this so students can see the different takeaways and ideas classmates have.

To hold them accountable, set a rule that they must comment on at least three classmates who had a different takeaway or idea as them.

Record Immersive Reader as Scaffold for English Learners

 

If you haven't added the Immersive Reader Chrome extension, you're going to want to ASAP. This Chrome extension allows you to select text online, right click and have it read aloud in virtually any language. Parts of speech can be color coded in addition to other features. If it all possible, coordinate with whomever is in charge of your school's Google domain and have this extension pushed out to student accounts. It is a valuable tool for English learners accessing content.

If you have access to the Chrome Web Store, add it to Chrome. If no access, speak to whomever is in charge of the domain ask them to push it your account.

Go to virtually any web page and highlight/select some text.

Right click on the highlighted/selected text. In the menu, click Help me read this.

After clicking Help me read this, the current tab you're in will be taken over by Immersive reader. To return to page where you found the text, click the back arrow in the top left corner (not shown here). On this page, you'll see the text in big letters and a play button at the bottom. The play button will immediately read you selected text in English.

To translate, in the top right corner, click the icon that looks like an open book. This will open a menu with many options on the right side of the screen.

Below where it says Translate, click the dropdown menu and select your desired language. At the bottom of this menu, turn on the switch for Document. This will translate the entirety of your selected text.

Almost instantly, you'll see the language of the text translate. Click the play button to have it read in the new language.

If your English learners need further assistance or an extra scaffold, use your favorite screencasting tool to record the reading of the translated text. You can share the video with the student and have them follow along the English text while hearing it in their language.

The example below was created using Screencastify. 

Reply All: Please Stop

 

We all have horror stories of incessant notifications from a Reply All email. Nobody wants their inboxes filling up with replies that often are irrelevant to you. Now I am not trying to demonize Reply All as it is a useful function for collaboration, but the issue is that it gets used too often, usually inadvertently. Let's take a look at a couple of ways you can defend yourself and others from the scourge of Reply All.

In Gmail, you can set it that your default reply behavior is to reply only to sender. Start by clicking the Settings gear in the top right corner. In the dropdown menu that appears, click See all settings.

Scroll down to Default reply behavior. Make sure to check Reply. This sets it so clicking Reply means you are only replying to the sender and not all included in the message. You still have the option to Reply All if necessary, but it's no longer default.

Another way to limit Reply All fiascos is how you include others in the messages you send. Usually, you just start entering recipients into an email message as seen below. Sending this way, all recipients will know that who else is included in the message and they can be subject to any Reply All's. 

Often forgotten is the BCC option. BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Clicking BCC means that recipients will not know who else has been included in the message. It feels like the email was sent to them only. When they reply, the reply goes to you the sender. I learned the value of BCC when I began my blog mailing list and accidentally didn't use BCC and everyone's email was available to be seen by all on the list. If you're on my list, you can rest assured I don't make that mistake anymore.

After clicking BCC, a new row will appear where you will enter the names or addresses of recipients.

When you receive a BCC email, seen below, you will know you have been included in this message via BCC and this means others also received the message. If I were to reply to this message, the reply goes back to the recipient only.

If you are to click the little arrow next to BCC, seen below, you'll see details of the message confirming BCC and you will not see the addresses and names of other recipients.

Using BCC and setting your default reply behavior are two small things that can be done to combat the tyranny of Reply All. Use Reply All when necessary, but not by default. Do these two things and your colleagues will thank you. 

Gmail: A One Stop Shop for Educators

 

Over the years, Gmail has evolved into quite a productivity suite. It is a one-stop shop for many tasks educators do daily. It is a hub for communication, a platform for collaboration, and a tool for organization. Without having to leave the Gmail tab, you can access not just your emails, but your Chat conversations, Google Chat Rooms, schedule and join Google Meet video calls, see your Google Calendar, access Google Keep notes, use Google Tasks and view your Google Contacts information. 

Below, on the left side of Gmail, you have access to your Email, Google Chat, Google Chat Rooms, and Google Meet video calls. 

Chat, in my experience, is often an underutilized tool. In a nutshell, it's free text messaging within Gmail. You may be thinking that why would I need this when I can text on my phone. Within your school's domain, you can send a Chat message to anyone in your organization by simply knowing their name. There is no need to have everyone's phone number or switch back and forth between your computer and phone. 

Each day, we get many emails. Many of these emails are quick, informal messages asking a quick question that are better off as a text message. Instead of cluttering your inbox with informal text messages, let those messages be handled by Chat. This will free up your Gmail inbox for formal communication from colleagues and admin. Using chat for informal communication will make it less likely that you will miss an important email. 

As you use Chat more, below your Gmail Inbox and Labels, you'll see a list of your most recent Chat conversations, the most recent being at the top. When you click on one, it will pop up at the bottom of your screen for you to type back and forth. 

Google Chat Rooms is a relatively new feature added to Gmail. Click here to read a more in-depth blog post about Chat Rooms. The integration of Rooms makes Gmail a powerful collaboration tool. Rooms is more than an offshoot of Chat. Collaborators invited to a Room, from within Gmail, can participate in threaded discussions, share files instantly (no having to go to Drive and share) and assign tasks to project team members.

Below is the threaded conversation feature of Rooms. You know you are seeing the threaded conversation because, at the top, you will see Chat underlined. As of now, there is no ability to title each thread. Until then, the first post of a thread should be the title. In the example below, the thread is titled "Kaplinsky Mini Courses".

If you were to continue scrolling in the Room from the example above, below, you would come across the next thread, titled "Spring CUE 2021".

When files such as Google Docs are shared within a thread, all members of the Room can access the Doc right within Gmail. If edit access is shared, it can be edited here too. You can see a Google Docs toolbar across the top. This can eliminate the need to open the Doc in another Chrome tab.

In each Room, you can see a tab for Files. Click it and you will see a list of each file posted in the various threads within the Room. It shows you who posted it and gives you options for adding it to Drive or organizing within Drive. 

Each Room also has a Tasks tab. This allows you to assign tasks to members of the Room. When assigned, these Tasks will appear in Google Tasks on that person's side 

panel. 

Google Meet is another tool that is fully accessible within Gmail. No need to go to the Meet website or Google Calendar to start a video call. Simply click New meeting to start one from scratch or click My meetings to see meetings you've scheduled or been invited to.

If you click New meeting, what you see below will appear. This gives you options to invite guests and join the meeting now.

If you click My meetings, in Gmail, you'll see a list of your scheduled meetings or meetings in which you've been invited. Click on a Meeting to see details on the right. 

In Gmail, the side panel, seen on the right side of the screen, gives you quick access to Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Tasks and Google Contacts. In addition, click the plus button at the bottom to access a "store" for third party apps that will appear in the side panel for easy access.

Google Calendar in the side panel gives you an at-a-glance view of Calendar without opening it in a separate tab. Clicking in here can give you options to start an event or edit events.

Google Keep in the side panel is great for productivity. Notes you've taken and saved can easily be inserted into emails and Chat conversations. I use this daily when adding details to this blog before sending to my mailing list.

Google Tasks in the side panel is probably my favorite feature. At a glance, I can see my repeating tasks and "to-do's". It's a great feeling to see this list shrink throughout the day. It shows productivity. I can easily add action item emails to Tasks so I don't forget to do them throughout the day. 

The newest feature of the side panel is Google Contacts. If you click on an email, then click the Contacts button in the side panel, it will show detailed information about the sender and others included in the email. This makes it easy to save and update contact information.

Force Copy in Google Workspace: Don't Forget To Change Permissions First

Not too long ago, I wrote a blog post about how to create a force copy in Google Workspace files. On more than one occasions, people have brought it to my attention that when they open a force copy link, they get a screen that says You need access. This issue is easily remedied and it's an easy oversight when created a force copy link for colleagues.

The example below is for Google Forms. The steps are applicable to other file types as well. Start by going to Add collaborators. For Docs, Slides, etc. go to Share. 

If it says Restricted, click Change.

Change it to permission where only members of your domain or Anyone with a link can access the file. If it's only for teachers in your district, choose the domain. If consultants or outside teachers need it, choose Anyone with a link.

Once your permissions have been changed, what you see below is what it should look like.

If you've already sent the force copy link, the next time someone opens it, it should work properly. If you are creating the force copy link for the first time, follow the steps seen below. 

Start by going to the file's URL in the address bar (Omnibox). In the URL, where it says edit, delete that word and change it to copy. Push enter. After pushing enter, your screen will show the force copy page. Copy the URL and send to anyone you'd like to have a force copy.

Sent Email To Wrong Person or at Wrong Time? Undo Send in Gmail

One of my favorite movies in the last decade is called The Internship starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. In this movie, they play a pair of veteran salesmen who lose their job due obsolete nature of the products they sell. To shake things up, they apply for internships at Google and are competing with applicants half their age. A challenge they have to do is come up with a cool new app. In one scene, one of the younger teammates wants to "drunk text" a girl. It is there where they decide to develop an app to prevent yourself from such a social blunder.

Gmail has a similar feature built in. Distance learning has caused me to send more emails than ever before. On more than one occasion, I have sent an email to the wrong student or colleague. Though not a faux pa in the same category of a drunk text, a wrongfully sent email can be annoying. In your Gmail settings, you can set it to give yourself up to 30 seconds to stop a mistakenly sent email from being delivered. This is also useful if you meant to schedule an email a specific time and you send it immediately by accident. Click here to learn more about scheduling emails.

After composing an email and clicking Send, to the bottom left of your screen, you'll see a small pop up that states Message sent and gives you the options to Undo or View message. If the email was sent by mistake, click Undo to stop it from being delivered. Gmail settings allows you to set from 5-30 seconds time to Undo any sent message.

To access the Undo send settings, click the Settings gear in the top right corner of your screen. In the dropdown menu, click See all settings.

Scroll down to where it says Undo send. Click the box next to where it says Send cancellation period.

You will be given the option to change the "grace period" to 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. I recommend setting it to 30 seconds.

As a teacher, this has been useful when I sent whole class reminders to the wrong class. As a coach, when I schedule on-call video chat emails, this has been helpful when I accidentally send the message immediately instead of schedule it for a later time. When have you needed to Undo send an email?