Diary of a Math Teacher: Getting Googly, Part II

At the beginning of the school year, I blogged Part I of Getting Googly in math class. Now, I continue with more “If I’d known then what I know now” sentiments. Feel free to listen along while you read. Just substitute “Google” for the word “you.”

1. Students need the most basic of overviews. Veteran teachers are shaking their heads at my naiveté right now. Honestly, in an age of technology, I figured that students would be more Google-literate than I! Not so. Just because a student can play a game or check an email doesn’t ensure tech fluency. One student did not know that the paperclip icon meant “attach.” Several students still think they have to plug their phone in to get a photo off of it, not realizing they could simply Airdrop/email/upload to the Google Classroom App.

Lesson Learned: Go over the smallest of things. Don’t want to lose class time? Make a video and have students watch it, then attach a practice photo.

Student view in Google Classroom

2. If they bookmark in Firefox, it won’t be in Chrome. I know it sounds obvious, but I was walking students through bookmarking important sites, yet I wasn’t explicit about them logging into Chrome first. Then, the bookmarks were localized to the computer, rather than the Chrome user.

Lesson Learned: Explain the difference between browsers… and what a browser login is.

Can’t get to the Chrome Sign In screen? Type “Chrome Sign In” in URL bar.

3. Using Google Forms? Make the first question a spot for their name. There is a setting in the “gear” that you can check “collect email addresses,” yet I am still struggling with that. I think (from my trial runs) that if you automatically collect them, A) they must be logged into their school account, and B) they can’t re-do the quiz multiple times (which I thought I wanted, yet I realized that practice makes perfect… and I should let students practice).

Lesson Learned: It’s easier for me to ask students for their name (Last, First) in Question 1. And now, when I export responses to a Spreadsheet, I can filter the Question 1 category to align with my roster.

Inside the “gear” symbol, I leave this unchecked:

And add this first question instead:

Stay tuned for future updates, and keep me posted with anything you’re Google-i-fying… Google-i-tizing… applying Googleification to… at krhodes@clarity-innovations.com.