Earlier this year, I decided to start a coding club at my school to provide an opportunity for students to explore computer science. I had looked into Google CS First and decided it was the easiest way to start a club, seeing as it offered free curriculum, training, and materials, and required no experience whatsoever. It was perfect! I also loved that it uses block-based coding via Scratch and offered a variety of themes. I decided to go with the Music & Sound theme and opened it up to grade 8 students only for the first session. I had about 20 students sign up and their overall feedback was great. Some of their projects were really impressive, especially given the time constraint of 45 minute blocks during lunch hour. While I would recommend at least an hour block, I was just so happy to see an interest among students who had never before coded a program. Not to mention having some girls show up to coding club!

As a TCDSB 21C innovator, I prepared a presentation to share my experience hosting a Google CS First Coding Club with my colleagues. Below you will find a copy of my slideshow in which I cover the following:

Last fall, when I attended the second annual Toronto GAFE Summit, I attended a session that introduced me to a brilliant classroom tool known as Plickers. I know, I know. Plickers has been around for a few years and I've seen plenty of teachers tweet about how much they love using Plickers in the classroom. But it wasn't until I experienced it first-hand that I realized it was a neat tool worth trying with my own students. The best part? It is pretty low-tech. And in a school of around 600 students with only 30 netbooks and 30 iPads available, that spells good news!

Plickers is a simplified version of clickers where students can share their responses in real-time. The catch? Students do not need any devices. All they require is a Plickers card with a unique shape similar to a QR code. Each side of the shape is labelled A, B, C or D and will correspond to the multiple choice selection. 

Teachers will begin by creating a class list on Plickers.com, thereby assigning students a unique number, and distributing Plickers cards to students based on that number. The teacher can either dictate questions and answer choices out loud or create questions on Plickers.com and project them onto a screen. Once students have selected their answer, they will rotate their card until the letter representing their choice is on top and show the teacher. The teacher will scan their response with the Plickers app (available on iOs and Android) which uses your smart phone or tablet's built-in camera to record their answers within a matter of seconds. 

Plickers is a simple tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices. You can use Plickers for quick checks for understanding, anonymous voting, self-assessment, exit tickets, and more. Plickers also gives all students the chance to participate and engage in learning without feeling self-conscious. 

As a fan of Plickers, I recently decided to become a Plickers ambassador and share my experience with this fun low-tech tool. In the upcoming weeks, I hope to post tips and tutorials such as how to store Plickers cards and how to export reports, but in the meantime, if you ever have any questions, you can always post them below and I will do my best to help.

For our Professional Activity Day yesterday, one of the items on our agenda was Google Apps for Education. The TCDSB became a GAFE board just last fall and so many teachers in my school haven't had the opportunity to explore the benefits of GAFE. As such, I volunteered to put together a little presentation to highlight a few of the key features that teachers and students may find useful as they delve into the world of Google Apps for Education. I struggled with this preso since there is so much I wanted to share but didn't want to overwhelm them with it all. Hence, this is merely a basic intro and by no means is it meant to be exhaustive nor comprehensive.

Now that the Toronto Catholic District School Board has introduced GAFE to elementary schools, I have finally taken the leap and started using Google Apps For Education in some of my French classes. Right now, I am focusing on Google Classroom and getting the students to become more familiar with Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drive and Google Chrome. One of the things that is a bit different with our board is that teachers do not have access to Gmail because our board email is based on Outlook Web App. This means that any GAFE notifications or emails sent to our Gmail address (username@tcdsb.ca) are automatically forwarded to our OWA address (username@tcdsb.org). The end result? Our OWA inbox becomes inundated with email notifications whenever a student leaves a comment, submits an assignment, etc. via Google Classroom. The solution? Inbox Rules.

By creating Inbox Rules, you can filter any incoming email either by:

You can even have OWA send a text message notification. Here is a quick tutorial to help you create your own Inbox Rule that will filter any incoming notifications from GAFE.

Step 1: After logging into OWA, access your settings by clicking on the gear icon next to your name at the top right corner.

Step 4: Click on the + sign and select "Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder...".

Step 5: A pop-up window will appear. Here you will name the rule "GAFE" or something similar and then click on "Enter words..."

Step 6: In the new pop-up window, type in the following: GAFE. Click on the + sign, then click on "ok".

Step 7: You will return to the first pop-up window where you will need to select a folder where you'd like all your GAFE notification emails to be directed. Either select an existing folder or create a new folder called "GAFE" by clicking on the "new folder" button. Click "ok".

Step 8: Ensure that you have typed in the correct words and have selected the designated folder, then click "save". 

From here on in, any GAFE notification emails will be directed to your GAFE folder instead of your inbox. By automating your inbox to filter these emails, you will end up with a less cluttered, more organized Outlook. 

If you have any questions about Inbox Rules or any related matter, please feel free to leave a comment below. Happy GAFE-ing!