I get these harebrained ideas sometimes and then like a ding-dong...I TELL someone about those ideas! This time I told my district's tech director, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a summer book club for teachers?", I say. And he says, "Do it!" which brings me to this post.
A few months ago I read this ridiculously awesome book called, Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess...maybe you've heard of it? Even if you've only been on Twitter once in your whole entire life, I bet you've heard of this book!
It's wonderful! It's easy to read, crammed full of ideas that teachers can use right away and it makes you really think about why you chose this profession in the first place. (Click on the photo above to go to the author's website.)
It's wonderful! It's easy to read, crammed full of ideas that teachers can use right away and it makes you really think about why you chose this profession in the first place. (Click on the photo above to go to the author's website.)
Here's a perfect place for a Google Form!
I made a google form asking if anyone would be interested in joining the Pirate book club? I sent a link to this form to all of the teachers in my district and I got quite a few "Yes"s! 36 to be exact! I'm excited!
In the google form, I also asked for information such as; email addresses and preferred days/times to hold our meetings. Once everyone had a chance to complete the google form, I opened the responses spreadsheet and I saved all the email addresses. Then I created a group in my Gmail and pasted all the email addresses into this group. Now, I can quickly and easily send out information to my Pirate "crew". By looking at the Summary of Responses in my form, I can see which day my "crew" chose. Cool, huh?
In the google form, I also asked for information such as; email addresses and preferred days/times to hold our meetings. Once everyone had a chance to complete the google form, I opened the responses spreadsheet and I saved all the email addresses. Then I created a group in my Gmail and pasted all the email addresses into this group. Now, I can quickly and easily send out information to my Pirate "crew". By looking at the Summary of Responses in my form, I can see which day my "crew" chose. Cool, huh?
"The Heat Is On..."
Now I'm on the spot! I want to make this book club easy, relaxed and fun...so what did I decide to do? Hold virtual meetings via Google Hangouts on Air! (you get the irony, right?) "Let's make this easy by incorporating super spiffy tech!", I say to myself. Ugh!
The reason I want to do Google Hangouts on Air is that once our hangout is over, it will be automagically uploaded to YouTube. So, if anyone was not able to watch the "live" hangout, they'd be able to watch it later at a time that works for them.
The reason I want to do Google Hangouts on Air is that once our hangout is over, it will be automagically uploaded to YouTube. So, if anyone was not able to watch the "live" hangout, they'd be able to watch it later at a time that works for them.
...oh, and I'm totally procrastinating here. I'm supposed to be planning for our first Google Hangout right now! Next Tuesday will be the first of these virtual meetings, so stay tuned and I'll let you know how it goes!