Using Captions in Google Chrome

One question I heard the other day was about captions for a video. My idea was to upload it to YouTube and get the captions from there. But not all videos have them.

Another option is to use Live Captions in the Chrome browser [Chrome]. The advantage of using them in Chrome is that they can be used for any audio that is run through the browser. 

To start using them open Chrome

1. Go to Settings
2. Accessibility
3. Turn on Live Caption at the top of the list.

After they are enabled, the captions appear at the bottom of the screen in the middle. This can be a little busy and hard to read.

Fortunately, it is possible to move the textbox by simply dragging it to another position on the screen.

There are some tools here: a pin, something that looks like it makes the text box bigger, and an "x". The pin keeps the box from moving and the "x" closes the box, but for some reason (probably an extension) the middle button, that one that should be to make the box bigger, didn't work for me.

Chrome translations on an audio file in Google Drive is also very solid.

Live captions even work with audio files played through Google Drive

For more information, see the Google Support page: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en

Change the Question

This might become my new header.

ChatGPT is causing a lot of panic -- in me. On the HS side of the school, I have seen two instances of students using it to write out their work.

I am not panicking because ChatGPT can write for you -- I am panicking because students and teachers are not ready for it.

When I saw that a student was using it, I immediately messaged the IT team to let them know that it was happening. I got a reply that there will be a workshop in January for the upper school teachers. 

That's good, but still, I wish I would be there. My talk might go something like this:

• Ask the audience for a prompt - an assignment they just gave their students,
• Type it into ChatGPT and hope it doesn't produce an error,
• ChatGPT does its thing and we talk about it.
• Repeat with a different assignment,
• Show how similar they are (ChatGPT gives very formulaic answers to questions like a 7th-grader),
• We would then talk about what would need to change in our teaching - maybe more oral answers, maybe more in-class work, better questions perhaps, but something would need to change.

Search Websites from the Omnibox

* Omnibox is the URL/search area at the very top of your browser.

The Omnibox on the Brave Browser

I recently reinstalled my browser and some of my settings were changed. One pain point for me was that I could no longer search YouTube and Drive right from the Omnibox. It is easy to go to the site and type in the search terms, but it takes time - every click counts.

What I could do before was to type in youtube.com and press the TAB key*, and I would be able to search right from there. It was really convenient. 

I was trying to remember the fancy code like below:

https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=%s

Today I went into the Chrome Settings and found that Chrome has these settings right in the browser.

To activate it:

1. Open Settings
2. Click on Search Engine on the left menu
3. Click Manage Search Engines
4. Click activate next to the sites you want

* TAB can be changed with the space bar in the settings.

Using Data for Student Support

While in an SEN team meeting, I was a little confused about the data we were looking at in the system. We were looking at data from an online reading app, but the data was in ranges. All it showed us was the average from certain ranges, but we didn't know when interventions happened and what the intervention or strategy was so we could see if it worked.

My idea was to collect baseline data before a strategy was implemented. Then once that was collected, we would start tracking the progress.

In the example below, there are four reading skills we are tracking. At the top is a dropdown that will show the skills. When a skill is chosen, the average appears.

Then I thought of a scenario where you would want to see scores in a range. I don't know how to do that off the top of my head, but I knew I could do it with checkboxes. So the second way is to use checkboxes to find the average of the scores. 

The Schedule for a Virtual Festival

This post was in my drafts folder from a few years ago now. It feels like forever, but it was just 18 months ago or so.

My big contribution to the 2021 International Festival was to make a schedule that could be shared with the community. 

Looking at the above, I think it turned out all right, but I can also feel the stress that was attached to it. 

It was extremely challenging to make the times and the events line up. Also, there were several people working on this at the same time, so sometimes, pieces would be moved without my knowledge.

If I were to do this again, and I have 18 months of space between now and then, I would create a table and fill in the table cells. Also, I would think about how much trying I'm actually spending on this thing - maybe I could have spent less time on this and more somewhere else.

Work smarter, not harder. 

via GIPHY

Creating Student Login Cards With Google Workspace and Autocrat

In my years of teaching, I have used several EdTech products with my classes. The elementary students I teach usually have difficulty remembering login names and passwords. Many sites I use with them has a built-in account card generator, that allows for students to keep track of their credentials.

(When I was a homeroom teacher I had students keep a notebook of their information. The technology coach in me has some problems with it, but the homeroom teacher liked not having to look up their passwords each class period.)

I am using a site called Code Avengers for my coding class and club that I am running. It is a great program, but I needed login cards for the 200 students I had. Most of these kids did not use a computer - ever - so they were a necessity.

I ended up using Google Sheets and Autocrat which gave me a Google Doc with every student's own login card on it. The video below will show you how to do it.

I did have to do some formatting so the cards were not half on one sheet, and half on the other, but other than that, it worked well. 

The one thing I would do differently next time is to design the cards a little better. I could have made it easier for the students to read their information, but I think that is a part of the learning. 

Black and White Thinking

Photo by American Heritage Chocolate on Unsplash

Today I was working with a student who dismissed a website because of "bad grammar". When I looked at the site, I didn't see anything that would have caused me to dismiss it. 

Is it so easy?

The other day I was in a classroom where the teacher was having students use the CRAAP test. The website's tagline in the screenshot above says, "Evaluating sources easily". It is not easy to evaluate sources online. The C in CRAAP stands for current. Are current sources more reliable? Are John Dewey or Marie Curie not reliable sources?

A framework is a good starting point, but if we are not teaching students to look laterally, leave sites and check the author's credentials as well as reviews about the site, we are in danger of leaving them to think that if one of the criteria is not met, a site is not reliable.

It needs to be made explicit that one little miss on the test does not mean that the whole site is trash.

Flipping Groupings

Having students work in groups is something that happens in all classrooms. Many teachers will give students roles to help focus their work. 

Recently I have seen a new kind of role enter the groupings - where teachers have students take on the role of a scientist, an economist, an environmental activist, it could be any sort of job, with the intent of having students use a different perspective when looking at a problem.

For example, I am calling a group that is formed by many roles a team, when the same roles come together, I am calling that a group. I hope I can keep them straight.

In the following team, the roles are artist, scientist, and journalist. This team would work together to solve the problem presented to them. 

Role	Name
Artist	Maria Anders
Scientist	Alfreds Futterkiste
Journalist	John Smith

 

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

However, instead of starting with the groups, start with grouping the roles. Put all scientists [insert role here] together. They will then research and build knowledge together. After a period of time, form groups. 

This would allow them to build and share knowledge which they could then bring back to their team.

This idea came to me when supporting an MYP Physics class and I made a connection to some research I have come across that stresses that content knowledge is a bigger factor in comprehension than reading skills.

Handling People Problems

Photo by Juri Gianfrancesco on Unsplash

Ugh, people problems are the worst to deal with. Unfortunately, I tend to avoid conflict so I don't think I have ever learned to deal with them properly. 

Fortunately/unfortunately I have recently been getting a lot of practice.

Recently, I was in a meeting that was a little ... contentious. This meeting was the result of a long and drawn out series of meetings that have brought us to this point. In one of the more recent meetings, I had felt attacked, so I attacked back.

This is my reflection for how I should handle this kind of situation next time.

• Listen

Everyone should listen without judgement, but especially leaders. When listening we should not jump to conclusions, but listen to understand the other side. Does the other side have a point?

• Apologize early and accept responsibility

It is better to apologize and try to move on than dig in to your position or double-down. You might win the battle, but end up destroying your reputation or the culture around you. Leaders think of the collective before themselves.

• Look for win-win situations

Are there any win-win situations? Could you as a leader turn down the temperature and give in a little bit?

• Pause before speaking

This is something I am working on. I tend to, and especially in this situation, I was always listening to respond right away and not fully listening to what was going on. I have wanted to respond right away, instead of letting myself take in what was said first. 

• Question instead of accusing

There was a point in our negotiations where something was said about the timeline to make criteria for the process. The response was three weeks. I lost it. After six months of going through this conflict resolution, and after two years between when the events happened and now, there was no thought of criteria. (That is basically what I said.)

Another chap in the room said, "Let me ask this in another way. How many hours would it take you to complete the criteria?" The answer was 3 hours - which still made me furious. But I was impressed with the rewording of my question. 

Leading Tech Certification PD Sessions

This plan is not going according to plan.

Everything was worked out in our heads. It seemed good on paper. I put my doubts away because after all, this was the way we did it and it worked for us.

Sound familiar?

via GIPHY

This year one goal I/we had was to upskill the faculty about the different technology tools we use. It was decided we would focus on Google and Seesaw. 

When I got my Seesaw Ambassador certification way back in 2017, it was just a series of videos that one had to watch. Now Seesaw has a few different options for certifications beginning with the Seesaw Pioneer. After that, with time and watching different PD webinars, it is possible to be invited to become an ambassador. From there, you can then become a Seesaw Certified Educator.

So back to my plan, teachers would get the Pioneer certification. We would then move on to putting teachers on the path to becoming a Google Certified Educator Level 1. Google has great resources for this. 

It was decided that teachers would go through the Google-made resources, complete the quizzes, get ready for the test, and take it, and, of course, pass with flying colors.

My own journey with GCE was:

• Read the first module
• Take their quiz
• Get bored reading
• Take the test

And I honestly thought this was the path some would take as well. 

After the second session, I knew it was not a good model. The problem was that I was in a committee and we could not change course so quickly. 

I was able to mix in some mini workshops that were received well. 

Going into this year my plan was

• more choice
• more mini-workshops in this time

Coming back from summer, the team was really excited to make learning modules in Canvas. That would fulfill my first criterion of giving teachers more choice. The issue I saw in our first session this year was that it was kind of aimless. We told teachers to start with Canvas 101, but then who knows what they were doing?

Draft of Must Do, Should Do, Could Do, Aspire to Do

I would like more transparency, so I decided to take a page from the Modern Learners Project and create a checklist for them. Next, as I would do in my class, I created a Google Sheet where teachers can put the link to their spreadsheet. I might change this to a Google Form and just collect the links and put them in myself.

Comparing Places with Google MyMaps

The other day a student in one of my classes blurted out, "What is the largest lake in the world?"

Being from Minnesota, and having gone there many times in my life, I told them it was Lake Superior.

"You know about the Five Great Lakes?", I asked. They blankly stared back at me. 

So I pulled up Google Maps and showed them the Great Lakes in the US. "When you are looking across them, they look like the ocean", I said to them.

"Are they as big as Lake Biwa?", one student asked me. (Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan.)

This is where I got the idea to actually compare the lakes.

Compare areas or things on a map in Google MyMaps

Using Google MyMaps, you can add a shape or line to your map by clicking the connection tool. 

When drawing a shape, click often in small increments, trying to make the basic outline. 

To draw in a more detailed manner, zoom into the map. If you find that you run out of space when drawing, move your cursor to the edge of the map to move it around.

When you have a shape, you can click it and drag it to what you want to compare it to. Below is Lake Biwa, which is ready to move to North America.

This tool does take some practice, so don't become discouraged when using it. When I moved my object, I couldn't drag it off the screen and get the map to move at the same time so I had to drag the object, then move the map, drag the object, then move the map, and continue until I reached Lake Superior. 

Using a map to actually compare the sizes of two objects will allow the students to actually see the difference. While Lake Biwako is a pretty big lake, when compared to Lake Superior, it's as big as Isle Royale (to the upper left of the red, Lake Biwako cutout).

Use the Drop Down Menu for Differentiation in Google Docs

Not too long ago Google Docs introduced drop-down menus. These are great for project management, and Eric Curts has used them for close reading lessons. 

Today I was supporting an MYP Design class. The teacher had a table with questions on the left side and a response cell in the middle (see above). I don't have examples of the questions she asked, but here is what she spent a lot of time on:

• clarifying the questions she wrote
• adding answer prompts
• clarifying vocabulary.

I was thinking about how using a Google Sheet could let her change the questions by using a drop-down list. Then I remembered that Google Docs has that function as well. 

Google Docs

In the Insert menu, there is an option to create a dropdown list. Using this, a teacher can make a list of questions and change them. They could be asked in a different way, or the vocabulary could be changed. 

The first example I thought of was for Japanese. The level of kanji could be changed based on class ability. 

I thought about the situation when there are students who speak another language in the class. For example, would it help if the teacher added the other foreign language to the list of questions?

For this example, if the teacher wanted to do this same format, I would suggest putting the drop-down menu in the cell above the response cell. If the cell is too small, the whole question will not display and will be cut off where the cell ends.

Showing Off Our Stuff with Seesaw

I was invited into a Kindergarten class last week to help get them reacquainted with the Seesaw app. The teacher and I know each other well, so there was not a pre-lesson meeting to discuss much more than "how to do Seesaw".

Explaining the task

Working with each other

Making a final check before uploading

We put the students into pairs and had them take a picture of each other. They then shared with each other and looked over the pictures to see if they were OK to post. At this stage, the students are not ready to do much more than that at this point in the year.

We are working on trying to bring the design cycle into the younger years this year. 

I also liked how we were able to include asking others about uploading photos and checking before posting. 

Tips for Supporting Students

This year my role was extended to include MYP/DP learning support. 

After reflecting on the teacher orientation, I thought of myself as a student and what I would want teachers to change.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Speak slowly

There are many students in the school whose first language is not English. But this is not only for BMLs, sometimes there are other noises or echoes that can make it harder to hear. 

Make it visual

Many sessions were all talk. Sometimes we were asked to go to a different page or look at a different graphic, but since it was not shown, I saw many participants who were confused and didn't know where to look. 

A few suggestions I have for teachers:

1. Make text large
2. Keep the text to a minimum
3. Use visuals related to the content.

Another suggestion would be to create an outline that could be handed out to students during the lesson.

Vocabulary

Thinking about students new to a program, the vocabulary can be overwhelming. Especially in the IB, there is so much to learn. When people do not know a word, most will be hung up on what they do not know. This can break focus and then attention might shift elsewhere. 

One idea for the classroom is when introducing command terms teachers could have students rewrite them in their own words. If they are an EAL student, they could also try writing in their home language. 

I would also suggest showing students that command terms are on a continuum as well. For example, "list" is lower than "develop". Maybe this could be a sorting activity.

Make URL links and vocabulary obvious

Sometimes on a Google Site, the URL links get a little buried in the text. They do have an underline, but they can sometimes be a challenge to locate. It is a good idea to make it very obvious by changing the color of the text, underlining, or 

separating out a link or main idea.

Presentations

This can be said for presentations as well. Using graphics more than text will help those (like me) who cannot see very well. It will also help keep the audience focused as they will not be distracted reading and will be able to focus on the main idea.

Have a flow to your page/document/presentation

It is really hard for me to follow a talk that jumps around. It is especially hard for me to try to follow a document or a talk that keeps jumping back and forth. Try to organize your talk so it moves linearly.

Start with Tuning In - if you have a game, start with the game

Here's something I saw - the presenter went up in front of the audience, talked a lot, went off on a tangent, and then went into a game. 

How about starting with the game to get your audience thinking about your topic? 

By starting with a game, the audience could get warmed up and start thinking about the topic, activating their schema, or prior knowledge, in a low-stakes situation. It will also make the talk less boring.

Another idea is to think of a skill your class is focusing on, like presenting and incorporate that into the game. At the beginning of the year, this could be a formative assessment, but more practice is always better.

Maybe hold back on talking about how hard the year will be

One thing I heard was how hard the year will be. 

What a bummer! When I heard that my mind stopped focusing. 

I think talking about challenges is OK, but try to stay positive.

MODEL for all before releasing

The last item on my list was to model a task before releasing the audience to do the task. I saw a lot of talking - but when it came to actually doing the task, the audience was confused.

Conclusion

I know everyone is doing their best, I simply think that by making a few adjustments, the messaging could be more effective.

* I just realized that I also didn't include visuals to help illustrate my points. That'll have to be a follow-up post.

Resources for Media Literacy

Photo by Pinho . on Unsplash

I am very interested in media literacy. Below are several resources for questioning sources. The webinar is worth a listen as they talk about the importance of making media literacy more a routine and not just a one-off activity. It also gives good questions to ask about advertisements: perspective, what does the author have to gain, etc.

Media Literacy matches both program's ATL Skills:
PYP Research > Media Literacy
MYP/DP Research > Media Literacy

GO-TO SITES

• Civic Online Reasoning from Stanford University
• Question Formulation Technique from the Right Question Institute
• News Literacy Project

Presentations for Teachers

• [15 min Video] Media Literacy Routines

Presentations for Class

• Five Adverts paired with Questions
• News Lit Quiz: Is it legit? Vetting news sources for credibility
• Fake News Classrooms (presentation)
• Real Or Fake? Websites to use for evaluation

Other Resources

• Shifting Schools on Twitter
• Link to Text Fragment Extension

• Link directly to a part of a website with this extension

A Post Copied from another Blog

This is a description of an MYP Individuals and Societies unit I helped work on at KAS. Since I am afraid it will be taken down, I decided to copy it over here. 

This post was copied over from the Share blog where we could help spread the good teaching at the school. That was one of the many ideas I copied from SIS.

===

Jen and I met about this unit way back in October. She wanted to design a unit that incorporated elements of gaming.

After meeting with her to discuss which unit she would be doing, when it would happen, what she wanted to accomplish with this unit [student outcomes], we both went off and did a little research to gather more ideas.

I came across many articles, but then I came across Paul Swanson’s blog. He is a technology coordinator at UNIS Hanoi and had experience assisting a middle school humanities teacher, Kelsey Giroux, gamify her unit.

At our next meeting, Jenn had a better idea of the direction she wanted to take, so I added what I had found — most notably to add a narrative to the unit.

See how the unit has unfolded so far – Unit 3- Medieval Europe

• She created a Google Site in which the sections (levels) are divided by pages.
• For her first level, the students each created their own coat of arms. They then took a picture of it and used Thinglink to explain their thinking. (This also pushed students to more critically evaluate their own work.)
• The students then voted on the best coats of arms.
• Throughout the unit, pictures are uploaded to Instagram and displayed on the class blog through an Instagram feed widget. This has led to authentic discussions about digital citizenship and responsibility.
• The Thinglinks were then embedded into a Padlet where all of them could be displayed at once.
• Each unit has Google Docs with directions, creating independence amongst the students.
• Students independently move through the levels after they have attained the point requirement.
• There is a leaderboard so students can see their own progress. This has freed Jenn from reminding them what to do next.

The unit is still in the toddler stage — and all that stage implies — but what has become most apparent is the increased motivation and engagement from the students.

A Parent Guide to Technology

I gave a parent presentation on how to support children at home.

On Giving Feedback

WHY DO YOU GIVE FEEDBACK?

This might seem obvious to you, but have you crystallized why you are giving feedback? Have you thought about it? 

Do you plan how you are going to give feedback? 

At its best, feedback can 

• motivate 
• teach
• correct

However, if done improperly, it can also

• demotivate
• demoralize
• depress

WHEN

Who is the feedback for?

It is strange to ask, but when you consider this question, you start thinking with an empathy mindset. So, it is best to ask the receiver when the best time will be. Chances are, they will always say OK.

It is always best to ask:

Can I give you some feedback?

When is the best time to give you feedback?

Feedback is probably best given sooner than later. Given too late it is almost torture.

HOW

Have you ever had a superior only give you negative feedback? 

Employees who experience negative feedback can become demotivated, detached, and can actually start to avoid contact their the manager. 

Is there something of a feedback framework?

Can you find something good in what happened? Or do you only focus on the bad?

Do you plan how you are going to give feedback? 

https://knowyourteam.com/blog/2019/09/24/when-to-give-feedback-to-an-employee/

https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/employee-feedback-examples/

School is an Infinite Game

I enjoy all things Simon Senek. 

In this video, he talks about how often in business you hear about sales targets or goals being made. But he argues that they are meaningless because nothing happens if those targets are not met. He says business is an "infinite game" where we are always striving to be better and we should be looking at how much growth has been made. 

Isn't that what school should be for - to move people forward?

What is a Risk Taker?

Is public speaking taking a risk?

This is one of the IB Learner Profiles that I see many teachers having a hard time understanding. When I was starting as a teacher, I went down the route of risk-taking meaning when you walk on a tightrope, you take a risk. When you speak in public are you taking a risk?

Maybe?

I have rethought what it truly means to take a risk. Really, when you take a risk, there is the possibility of loss or the possibility of taking a hit to your reputation. When something is the right thing to do but is hard, that's taking a risk.

Standing up to bullying.

Pushing back against injustice when your job is on the line.

Got My Mojo Back

Photo by Daniel Minárik on Unsplash

I had what I thought was a better image for this post. It was the scene from The Simpsons when Homer gets a helper monkey. By the end of the episode, the helper monkey has turned lazy and got out of shape. It's a good episode, but I probably shouldn't use copyrighted images. 

Morals foiled me again!

Then I went on Unsplash to find an image I could use. I typed "confidence" into the search bar and I found this image.

I didn't choose it because I agree with it, however. I chose it because while it is a nice catchphrase, I think things are not as simple as "Prove Them Wrong". 

What if you are in a place where you don't have the confidence to prove them wrong?

On Learner Agency

If you had asked me to define learner agency a few years ago - I probably wouldn't have been able to give a cohearant definition. Fast forward a little bit and my definition would have had something to do with independence -- which I still believe, but now my definition is including other terms I wouldn't have thought to include. 

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

According to the article What is learner agency?, learner agency is a term that is both hard to define, and one that encompasses several ingredients.

Terms such as ...

• engagement
• autonomy
• self-regulation
• active learning

all make up the term learner agency. 

One term I would have addedm, and I don't see, is something about independence or self-efficacy. 

When I think of an independent learner, I think of a student who understands the goal, is able to plan to reach the goal, and 

The term, self-regulation, is defined as

self-regulation, as learners need to know themselves well, to plan and monitor their progress when they take action. Learner agency often involves taking action with others and knowing how to organize ways of acting together in collaborative activities.

So actually self-regulation encompasses what I think of as independence. 

A Boxing Tale - Using Video to Tell Story in PE

If you count up all the drafts, I am a prolific blogger.

Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash

I was approached with the idea of collaborating on a summative project for the MYP Grade 7 and 8 PE Boxing unit. The idea that was pitched was a grand event where students would share their movies. The image in my mind was of a PYPx or some other kind of exhibition. My role was to be the facilitator for the exhibition.

The first question I had was what were the ATLs? What were the skills students were to focus on? 

My next question was about adding the ATL of Information Literacy or Media Literacy as seen in the enhanced PYP ATLs. I am not up to date on the MYP ATLs, so it seemed that might be a logical starting point. 

Then I wondered what could be the "hook" for the students on this project. As I understood the unit when I came out of the initial meeting, I would just be supporting the final exhibition. I assumed the students would play their movies on their laptops, so I wondered if we could use AR to do something creative with movie posters. I had recently seen an art teacher on Instagram [link coming] that does some pretty amazing things with the AR app, EyeJack. 

So I went away with a little more of an idea of what was going on.

Some ideas for next time:

• Get the unit plan
• Have the teachers articulate their objectives
• Have the teachers tell their ATLs [skills] and how the students will show them
• Make time to talk with the teacher before the unit starts to see the bigger picture and to ask clarifying questions