Collaboration is Key!

I attended a P.D. session today for instructional leaders. I found the afternoon very helpful, as we were provided time to talk with a number of other teachers about what they were doing with GAFE in their classrooms, as well as the challenges encountered.

The teachers at my first table had some great ideas to ease students into using Google Drive and Presentations. They also shared some great websites: (http://newsela.com/, http://www.readworks.org/).

I raised my concern with the package of third-party Apps that is automatically loaded on each student's GAFE account. We require parental permission for students to use these, however there is no form yet created. I went home this evening and modified a Blog permission letter and rules (from Ferdinand) so it would apply to third-party Apps. The third-party Apps Permission Form and GAFE Account Rules will have to be used for the time being so we can move forward with our projects. If you have any comments or suggestions, they would be much appreciated!

The teachers at my second table gave me some great feedback on my Project Plan and how to modify it to suit my class abilities and computer lab access. We also spent some time exploring different apps.

I'm hoping to get started next week setting two other teachers up with their Chromebooks and GAFE accounts. Next week I begin an online AQ course on teaching and learning through e-learning. I hope this will give me further insight into how to lead my students through online learning!