The Best Way to Hold a Meeting

The Rayder Tech Coaches have decided that the best way to hold a meeting on a beautiful summer day is virtually.  We used Google Hangouts and did both a text and video chat.  The total time for the meeting was 64 minutes-- way less than it would have been if we had driven to school and met in person.  Despite the husbands and kids and dogs who all wanted to be on camera, we still accomplished everything on our quite extensive list in a relatively short amount of time.  There were some minor glitches and lags, but nothing that really interfered with our discussion.  Overall, we are very pleased with ourselves and plan to have all our meetings this way.

Want to have your own virtual meeting?  Google Hangouts are VERY easy to set up.  Just go to your Google + page and click "New Hangout" to start a text conversation or "Start a new video Hangout" next to the green video icon.  You will need to know the other person's Google + name or gmail address.  There will  be some options for you: both audio and video mute are available, as well as screen sharing.  If someone is inviting you to a video hangout, you'll get a giant green quotation mark jiggling on your screen.  Click it and then click the green "join" button.  When more than two people are meeting, the pictures or icons appear at the bottom of your screen.

If you need help setting up a Google Hangout, just ask your friendly neighborhood tech coach!

Collaborating

Okay, everyone, I know Google Docs has been around a while, and I really have been using it myself for several years.  However, today was the first time I really saw the beauty of working on a shared document.  A colleague and I were writing a letter together.  We had each been working on the shared document at various times over the course of a few days.  With the deadline approaching, it seemed like we should get together and hash out a final version.  And we did get together, sort of.  With Google docs, we were both working at the same time, using the chat feature to discuss changes and make suggestions.

Because we weren't at our usual coffee shop meeting place, we were more focused on our task, we didn't spend a lot of money on mochas, and our "meeting" only took half an hour instead of our typical 90 minutes.

If you need to collaborate on a document, presentation, or some other Google item, remember that you don't necessarily have to meet face-to-face.  Sometimes not meeting can actually be more productive.

Best Places for Digital Collecting

If you are feeling overwhelmed by all the digital tools you're discovering, don't despair!  Along with all the other websites and apps out there are some great ways to help you collect and organize your digital "stuff."

Here are some suggestions for you:

Evernote:

This is a website and an app, so you can use it on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac seamlessly.  Think of Evernote as a virtual 3-ring binder.  Everything is saved as Notes that can be organized into Notebooks (Standards Based Grading, Poetry, Books to Read) and you can include notes, links to websites, pictures, and other files.  My favorite part is the Web Clipper button you can add to your Mac.  Whenever you come across something you want to save, you click the Web Clipper and it allows you to save an article, a simplified article, a full page, a bookmark, or a screenshot.  You can also annotate what you're clipping before you save it to Evernote, so when you look at it later you'll remember why you saved it!  Evernote is also linked to the clipping and annotating app Skitch.

 Evernote Notebooks keep you organized!

Bonus: you can share your Evernote Notes and Notebooks with others.
















Pinterest:

You may have thought that Pinterest was just for hairstyles and recipes.  Think again, my friends!  Pinterest is an excellent place to collect ideas.  Like Evernote, you can install a button on your Mac, making it easy to "pin" ideas from any website.  You can also easily add your own pictures to Pinterest using your iPad or iPhone.  See a great idea for a bulletin board?  Snap a picture, add a note, and pin it to your "Classroom Ideas" board on Pinterest.  You can invite others to add to your Pinterest boards as well.  This is another one that you can use across your various devices with ease.

Pinterest isn't all about hairstyles.

Google+:

Yes, this is similar to Facebook, in the sense that you have "friends" and you can "like" things (it's called +1 in Google-land).  However, you can also easily collect and share ideas on Google+.  You already have an account through your school email, so just go to google and click the +YourName icon and get started!  There is a Rayder Staff Community all set up and ready for you to join.  On the left you will find tabs that cover a variety of topics.  You can all add to these and share your ideas.  It's also easy to "follow" other users and join other communities that interest you.

Join our Rayder Staff Community on Google+.

Please try these out and let me know how they work for you.  Remember to check in with your friendly neighborhood tech coaches if you need help!

Open House

Our Back-to-School Open House will be Tuesday, August 26.  I can't wait to meet all my new students!