How to Share a Google Form

Google Forms are wonderful!  They allow you to survey any number of people in a professional manner and all responses are collected in a Google Spreadsheet.  If you'd like to learn more about how to make a Google Form, I encourage you to check out this video.  Google allows provides great tutorial at their own support site which you can find here.

Recently I was asked how to share a Google Form once you have created a survey.  In this short screencast, you will learn how to share a Google Form via email or hyperlink, add collaborators to the form, and embed it.

Best Practices in the Use of Blogs in K-12 Education

The use of blogs in K-12 classrooms is becoming more and more prevalent.  Recently I had the opportunity to deliver a Professional Development session for teachers titled, Blogging in the Classroom.  As you consider starting a blog for your own classroom, here are some tips:

So now what?  Here are some things to think about...

What will be your student guidelines?  If you need some inspiration, check out Kim Cofino's student blogging guidelines.

Which blogging tool would best suit your needs?  As I was making this decision for my own professional blog, I turned to Richard Byrne for some advice.  Check out his comparison of five popular blogging tools, including Blogger, EduBlogs, and KidBlog.

What might your first few lessons on blogging entail?  You might want to cover what makes a quality blog, online safety, composing quality posts and commenting on others' blogs.  For detailed lesson ideas, skim over Kim Cofino's descriptions of her first five blogging lessons.

How are you going to make the blogs interactive?  Will you have students respond to each other's posts? If so, you'll want to teach your students how to compose a quality comment.  This short video (also embedded below) will likely be a hit in your own classroom as you hear from other students about how to leave a meaningful comment on a classmate's blog.

How to Compose a Quality Comment! from yourwonderfulteacher on Vimeo.

And, finally, if you're looking for some topics of what students might blog about, here are some ideas:

• post a prompt
• the week in review
• critique a site
• comment on current events
• continuing stories
• share recipes (as you study world languages and difficult cultures)
• question blog (similar to a KWL chart)
• report on a field trip or virtual event
• role-play a point of view

HAPPY BLOGGING!