Everything Google Suite, My Professional Practices Project- Julie Nugent

  My Inquiry

     For this project, I was very excited to find out we were allowed to explore and inquire into something we wanted to learn more about.  I have always wanted to spend some time really learning and doing a deep dive into how to use the parts of Google Suite. With that in mind, my inquiry became "Everything Google Suite and Beyond."

The Course Essential Question for this project was 

B. How might we use technology to enhance real world, collaborative, learner centered education?  This project goes with this question because in doing my project I learned many ways that the parts of Google Suite, such as Google Docs, Slides, Classroom, Youtube, Gmail, Gchat, Jamboard, etc. are used to enhance real world, collaborative learner centered education.

 The two course outcomes I am demonstrating proficiency with are:

2. Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints of such tools to support educational practices. By earning my Google Educator Level 1 Certification I was able to show that I am now fluent with the GSuite Educational tools to support educational practices. I will also show my fluency with these tools in my day to day educational practices and what I am now able to accomplish now that I have completed the Google Educator Level 1 Training.

7. Read and synthesize literature and research on educational technology to support personal experiences and deepen conceptual knowledge. For this project I have read a book, Google Apps by Mary Stevens, and read various articles about using Google in the classroom. This has supported my personal experiences and deepened my conceptual knowledge.

     My Professional Practices Project Plan

     I have been teaching since 1992, so I have a few years of teaching under my belt.  In my daily teaching routine, I have always been jealous of my many of my counterparts and how they could seemingly seamlessly use technology in their classrooms.  I have been using Google Suite for a few years now, but I always felt there was so much more to it that I wasn't utilizing because I just didn’t know much about it and I was very intimidated by it.  This project forced me to really delve into the Google Suite and see what I can do with it in my classroom. This is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but have never had the opportunity to do. I wanted to become one of the teachers other teachers in my school come to for help with technology, instead of the teacher always needing help. 

      So with this goal in mind, I set out on my project.  My plan for this project was to read the book, Google Apps, by Mary Stevens, read 3 scholarly articles found in the library, complete the Google Educator Level 1 training, take the Google Educator Level 1 exam and become a Level 1 Google Certified Educator, join a few social media groups on Twitter and Facebook affiliated with Google, and spend some time exploring and trying the Google Add-Ons for Teachers.

Step 1 Readings

     The first thing I did for this project was to read the book Google Apps by Mary Stevens.  

     This book is a good book for new Google Suite users.  It provides a general description and how to use each of the following: Google Drive, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Keep, Google Photos, Google Calendar, and Gmail.  It then goes into detail about tips and tricks that can be done within each feature that you may not know about. I found that in reading this book, I actually knew more about Google Suite, than I thought I did. I did know how to use the basic functions of and knew something about each of these apps.  I did learn many new tricks and I am glad I have the book to refer back to because there were so many new things I learned and so many tips and instructions that I can now look up easily if I forget how to do something. 

     The first article I read was Cool Tools for School: Twenty-First-Century Tools for Student Engagement by Johns, Troncale, Trucks, Calhoun, and Alvidrez.  This article talks about how teachers of today can incorporate technology into their classrooms to engage their students. It talks about how technology can be used to engage students in active and meaningful learning while taking advantage of the digital platforms students use in their daily interactions. (Johns, Troncale, Trucks, Calhoun, and Alvidrez, 2017) This article states that by using Google Classroom, teachers can empower students to be learners and take ownership of their learning. This platform can help teachers and students create, collaborate, gain and share information, and think critically. The various apps in the suite can maximize student learning in the classroom as well as help students stay engaged in learning throughout the school day. This article helped me to see the value of using the Google Suite for student engagement and ease of collaboration. These were things I already knew from my own but it was reassuring  to see my thoughts justified in the article.

     The second article I read was the article, Google Docs in Elementary Education Gifted Education by Frances Dendy Mahaffey, Widad Kinard, and LeaAnne Daughrity. (Mahaffey, Kinard, and Daughrity, 2020) Writing is a deliberate process that requires students to display effort, patience, and openness to receiving constructive feedback to improve their craft. The article talks about how gifted students are often perfectionists.  They can take just the slightest criticism very hard. Google Docs is a way of teaching writing where the feedback in writing can be done with commenting and sharing documents with the teacher for revision.  This can be done in a more positive way then the student getting back a piece of writing covered in red ink for revision.  Google Docs also provides a way for students to share and collaborate on their writing with other students, their teacher, or other adult writing coaches in a way that paper pencil does not allow.   

     I have been using Google Docs for a number of years now, but I had never taken the time to think about how my teaching of writing had changed since my students were no longer writing with paper and pencil. This article really got me thinking about how the teaching of writing has changed and in what I believe is a really good way. It was also interesting to see the perspective of how this has changed the way our gifted students learn to write.

     The third article I read was Google Docs As A Tool For Collaborative Writing In The Middle School Classroom by Meagan Woodrich and Yanan Fan.  This article discusses whether student participation in writing using Google Docs can lead to more successful writing products in a linguistically diverse classroom. According to Woodrich and Fan (2017) students of varying language fluencies participated more equally when they were able to collaborate anonymously with other students and students enjoyed writing more when working on Google Docs than with paper and pencil. I found this article very interesting as I had never thought of the effect using Google Docs might have on second language learners.  Using Google Docs was very helpful for them as they could use the tools of Google Docs to help with their writing. It saved them time and frustrations which motivated them to be more engaged and want to write more  in the classroom.

Step 2 Google for Education Training

     The next step in my plan was for me to do all of the training units in the Learn the basics of G Suite for Education.  This training had 13 units in it and took about 13 hours to complete.  I did two or three units each day until I had completed all of them. 

     Also during this time,  I went on Twitter and started following Google for Education.

This took me much longer than I thought it would and was exhausting.  I learned a tremendous amount from doing these units and I highly recommend them to anyone else who wants to learn more about G Suite and its use in Education. It is a huge amount of information. Click here to see the 13 units and what they involve.

     Also during this time,  I went on Twitter and started following Google for Education. I found that they had a chat on the previous Tuesday at 2 PM, but I was not able to find a Google chat going on during the time I was working on this project.

I joined the Google Educators Group in my area, which the closest one was GEG Massachusetts. This has been a really interesting group to be in as people regularly email questions and multiple people email back responses.  I have enjoyed reading them and have learned a lot from the responses.  It is really an interesting group to be a part of.

I also joined a Facebook group that regularly posts about technology and using Google Suite in the classroom. The group is Teacher’s Using Google Suite for Education. I have found I LOVE this group on Facebook.  I have been getting constant ideas from the group since I have joined.

     After completing these units and joining these groups on Twitter and Facebook, I registered to take the Google Certified Educator Level 1 Exam.  It costs $10 to take this exam and you have 1 week to take the exam after they send you the information. When I first started the exam, I thought I had plenty of time as they give you 3 hours to take the exam.  Then about 2 hours into the exam, I realized I was not going to have enough t

      Mostly I wasn’t sure what they wanted me to do on certain questions and it just took me a long time to do each question.  When the test ended, I felt like I must have failed as I hadn’t finished. I was super excited and relieved when a few days later, I received an email saying that I had passed the exam and I am now a Google Certified Educator, Level 1. This may not be a big achievement for some people, but this was a big achievement for me!! I was super excited to add this to my gmail signature. 

     The last thing I did to end this inquiry was to take a few hours to just explore some of the Apps for Educators /Google Extensions in the Chrome Web Store.  It was very overwhelming.  There are so many extensions available and they are constantly being added to.  The ones that I was able to use and found most useful were Peardeck, Just Read, Screencastify and Jamboard. I feel like I could do another whole Professional Practice Project just on exploring those alone.  If I had had more time, I would have explored them more.

     This inquiry definitely supported my professional growth because I learned a tremendous amount.  There were times in the past two weeks when I felt like I was definitely on information overload, but I accomplished the goals I set out to do.  I am much more knowledgeable about all aspects of the Google Suite.  I feel much more confident and I know I will be a resource to the other teachers instead of the one needing help. I know that my work has advanced my learning because I was already able to complete a data spreadsheet for my team at school.  I was able to freeze columns, put borders, add colors, etc.  I was able to organize my Google Drive with color coded labeled folders.  I was able to send out an email with an agenda attached and sent up a task to an email I was sent.  I was able to start a YouTube playlist.  It has just been a whirlwind of new things I am now able to do that I could not before I completed the Google Trainings

Support From my PLN Group

     My small group decided to use Twist as our communicating platform.  It has been great to be able to post questions and get their feedback.  It has also been really interesting to be a part of their journey and see what they are doing along the way.

The four best resources I have found in this work are:

Google for Education Training Site

The Book Google Apps by Mary Stevens

Google for Education

Google Site for Certifications

Other good resources

Schoology Exchange (For information on Google Extension)

Facebook Group-Teachers Using Google Suite for Education

Next steps

     The next steps in my inquiry will be to actually push myself to use all of the new information I have learned on a day to day basis. I have already shared with my teaching team many of the things I have learned. I will continue to teach the other teachers I work with the things I have learned. I am going to add more to my Google Classroom and use more of the extensions I have learned about in my daily teaching. 

     After this class has finished, my next step will be to do the next set of Google Training Modules that they call Advanced Training for G Suite for Education and then take the Google Educator Level 2 Exam. I am going to set a goal for myself to do this during Christmas break.

Reference List

Johns, K., Troncale, J., Trucks, C., Calhoun C., & Alvidez, M. (2017).

      Cool tools for school: Twenty-first-century tools for student

      engagement. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 84 (1), 53.

Mahaffey, F. D., Kinard, W., & Daughrity, L. (2020). Google docs in

      elementary gifted education. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 86(5),

       23-29.

Stevens, M., (2020). Google Apps. Amazon.com Services LLC.

Woodrich, M. P., & Fan, Y. (2017). Google docs as a tool for

        collaborative writing in the middle school classroom. Journal

        of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 391-410.

        doi:10.28945/3870

Professional Inquiry Introduction

 About Me

My role, learner age(s), technology environment, and technology stance.

     I am currently a Math and Reading Interventionist.  I do all the assessments, writing of Tier 3 plans, and teaching of all Tier 3 plans for students in my elementary school.  The students I work with are in grades 1-5, ages 6-11. I do not use a lot of technology with my students, but I do use a lot of technology in my professional environment.  I have to do a lot of report writing, presentations to administrators and staff, and professional development for staff.  I do coach teachers who ask for help with their teaching or in writing their Tier 2 plans. I plan and implement.  I plan and run 2 Family Night each year for our school.  This year I planned our Fall Family Fun Night to be a totally virtual night.

      My school is currently teaching students 5 days a week remotely and in person at the same time.  I currently have 8 small groups that I teach.  5 are in person groups. Two are totally remote and 1 has remote and in person learners. 

     The students in my school each have an iPad, each of our classrooms has a camera and class monitor for remote learners, an Apple TV and overhead projector. Teachers all have MacBook Airs.

     I believe students need good teachers and that technology cannot replace that, however, technology can be used to help teachers teach better and allow students more flexibility in the way they learn and show their learning

 Strengths

     My strengths are that I have been teaching for many years at this point and I know the programs of my school district very well.  I have a master’s degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in math so I have a strong math background and I am good at assessing my students and determining what they need.  

     I love learning and am always taking classes or reading books to learn more about teaching my students.  I am a mentor to many of the teachers in my school and they regularly come to me with math questions or help with teaching their students.

Improvement

     I would like to see improvement in the way I am collecting data on my students, how that data is presented to students, teachers, and parents, and how that data is used to teach students.  Right now, my school puts a lot of stock in NWEA test results. We spend a lot of time going over the NWEA results and determining our school goals and Tier plans based on that data.  I would like to see us use NWEA data as one data point, but not the only data point. 

     I would like to see students have multiple data points before determining their plan and to see their whole picture.  I would like to see standardized testing in general be something that is looked at, but not something that is stressed over.

       In my district we compare teachers from one class to another and from one grade to another and even one elementary school to another in the district.  Teachers with lower scores are asked to go and observe the teachers with higher scores to see what they could do better. This creates a very toxic environment.

      I would like to see portfolios made for students or some other way of assessing students which could show a student’s learning and have standardized testing only be one snapshot of what the student knows. I would like to see teachers and schools not be judged on standardized testing results.

     I would also like to see improvement in my school schedule so that I am able to work with my students for longer periods of time and to have a more fluid schedule so that students can move in and out of my program as needed. Right now I see students from 20 to 30 minutes per day and a student needs to finish a cycle with me before they can be dismissed or before I can start seeing a new student.

List 5 topics, ideas, areas or specific readings that you have wanted to explore.

 Everything Google, I would like to find out more about being Google Certified and time to explore all the Google Extensions, and all parts of the Google Suite.

How to teach adult learners. How to put on really good professional development for my staff. How to keep my staff interested in what I am presenting. 

What are ways of showing student growth-Portfolios, Summative assessments, standardized assessments, etc. so that the best overall student picture is seen.

Math Coaching- How to be an exceptional elementary math coach.  How to be a successful math coach and math integrator. How does the schedule work? How are things managed between the two. Can they both be done together?

 3D Printing.  How do our school 3D printers work, what can be done with them? How can I use the 3D printers in my school with my students?

Explain why or how any or all of these impact your learning environment or personal growth? 

     These all impact my learning environment because they are all things that I need to improve on in my teaching or have been curious about.  I have gone from being a classroom teacher to being a math/reading interventionist and advisor to other teachers.  It has been a very different role after being a classroom teacher for so long, but I feel like the change in position has energized me again.

      If I am able to learn more about any of these topics will help me to be better in my position which will in turn help me to be a better resource for the other teachers in my school.

Do you know what direction you already would like to go? 

      At this point, I have not made a definite decision, but I am leaning towards doing research on Everything Google.  I use parts of Google so often, but there is so much I don’t know and could be using.  I feel like if I took the time to see what applications are available, I could really save myself a lot of time and really be able to make better presentations and provide better reports and professional development for my staff if I knew more of the features I could use.

     The other thing I am really interested in learning about is becoming a math coach.  I currently do a small amount of coaching in my school, but many people have told me I should pursue being a math coach instead of being a math interventionist so I am thinking I could look into what that would entail and would I want to make that transition.

Do you see alignment with the course central questions or outcomes?

     Yes, If I were to explore all things Google, I would definitely be learning a lot more technology so it would align with the course and central question or outcome. If I pursue math coaching, it would be somewhat because I would see how the math coaches use technology to coach. 

Learner Inquiry Project

Overview

 How might we support our local food pantry with gardening?

     This is the HMW question I will be using to motivate my 3rd grade class in our Learner Inquiry Project. The age of these students is 7 or 8 years old. The class size is 18 students and it will be taught at the end of March beginning of April.

     I would begin this unit after first teaching my class about poverty and community involvement.

     I would begin by talking to my students about how the local food pantry in our community helps people inflicted with poverty and food insecurity by providing them with food. I would then have them come up with ways we could support our local food pantry with gardening.

     I would have the class do an interview with the person who runs our local food pantry.  She will give them a challenge, which will be how can the food pantry give their patrons fresh fruits and vegetables with their dry and canned goods that they receive.

     The class will then have to come up with ways, they can help the food pantry by designing, growing, and harvesting their own garden. The food they grow will then be donated to our local food pantry.

     The class will have to research on, what types of gardens there are, what plants grow best in our area, how to plant seeds, what fruits and vegetables do people want to eat, how to get/buy seeds, how to take care of the plants, and when to harvest the fruits and vegetables.  They will then have to plan out their gardens and plant them. They will have to maintain their gardens until they are ready to be harvested.  The fruits and vegetables will have to be harvested and delivered to our local food pantry.

Resources

Discussion

Reflection

Digital Citizenship Post

 

Digital Citizenship Post

1.      Digital Citizenship should be taught at the beginning of each school year.  Before students are even allowed to have their devices, they should have to complete a digital citizenship class or classes that are appropriate for their grade level. 

     In my classroom, either myself, our school guidance counselor, or our school technology integrator always taught my fifth grade class digital citizenship/etiquette, and rules for using technology in the classroom. We use the free lessons found on Common Sense media.  After the lessons are taught, each of the classrooms in our school puts up posters reminding the class of what the Digital Citizen Rules are for our school.  Having the poster up is very helpful for reinforcing the rules, I simply have to point it out to any students forgetting the rule(s). They also sign a digital citizenship contract saying they will obey the digital citizenship rules before they are able to use their device. It is very important to teach our students and it is very important to do it right in the beginning so that they form good technology habits right from the start.

 2.    In my elementary school digital citizenship is not embedded in the curriculum, but it is something that was taught by our guidance counselor or our technology integrator for many years.  I have taught it some years when the guidance counselor or technology integrator were not available. I have followed this path because I have been in the room while it was taught to my class and I have seen what a difference it makes in the way my students use technology in the classroom.  I also think technology is such a huge part of their lives they need to have safety and information training on how to use technology.  If they don't get that training in school they won't get it at all and there are so many ways they can be taken advantage of on the internet etc. if they haven't had any education on it.

3.  I do believe digital citizenship should be part of the school curriculum because our students use technology so much in the classroom now.  They need to know how to do research on the internet.  They need to know how to find a good website for research and how to know when things on the web are fake. They need to know what is OK to do in school, what is not OK to do in school, but is OK to do at home and what is just not OK for them to be doing at all. The web is so huge.  They need to have guidance in how to negotiate it and they are not getting it from their parents at home. 

If your school has technology integrator that is the best person to teach digital citizenship because they tend to be the teachers in our school who are most up to date with what the latest things going on are and can best teach the class about it.  If they are not available, the classroom teacher should do it at the beginning of the year, before passing out the technology devices. The common sense media sight has free lesson plans that I have used and that are available to anyone. There are other lessons available for free if you just search them out.

4.  Technology has become such a huge part of our lives.  Why would something that we use so often not be something we need instruction in?  It is also something that is constantly changing, therefore, we need constant training and education in it. It is our responsibility as teachers to help our students become productive responsible citizens and that means being responsible, productive digital citizens also.