Technology Training Tutorials for Staff
Professional Development Technology Training Opportunities for GPS Staff
We are looking for GPS teachers interested in offering refreshers, workshops, presentations on digital tools for teaching and learning as we transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 school closure. Suggested topics include G-Suite training-Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Google Classroom (Introductory or Intermediate), School Messenger, Remind, YouTube (creating and editing videos, adding captions, cropping), Webpage, etc. For example, teachers could create a 30-min training Zoom workshop for easy topics and 60-90 min for longer topics that other teachers could "sign up” for. This would be a great service to other teachers!
If you want to share your skills, please fill out the PD Training form to indicate your areas of interest. Simple topics would be fine.
If you'd like us to post a digital tool training tutorial or presentation that you've created, please contact Carol Holzberg (carhol1@gpsk12.org)
Training Resources and Tutorials
If there are additional links you'd like to see posted below, please contact Carol Holzberg (carhol1@gpsk12.org) and share the link.
Please note that many of these links can only be accessed through your GPSK12.org username and password. Best to use the Chrome browser as well with Google resources.
- UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) Virtual Teaching Hub-Teacher Tech Tutorials: How To's for slideshows, XZoom, Mee, WebEx, Google Classroom, SeeSaw, Kahoot, Digital Whiteboards, Bitmoji Classrooms, Document Cameras and more.
Clever
- Watch a 60-second explanation of Clever
EdPuzzle Pro
All registered teachers are already taken care of and upgraded to Pro.
New teachers should register for an Edpuzzle account via 'Sign in with Google' using this unique school link to be automatically upgraded after verifying their email: https://edpuzzle.com/schools/
join/xhwmee
- Edpuzzle: https://edpuzzle.
com/resources . We recommend:
- Edpuzzle and Google Classroom 101 webinar
- Edpuzzle and Google Classroom Level 1 teacher course
GoGuardian Teacher
- How to Best Use GoGuardian Teacher for Remote Learning
- Create Your Classroom
- GoGuardian Teacher Training Guide
- FAQs for GoGuardian Teacher
- Teacher Support
Google Classroom
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Google Classroom Teacher User Guide (https://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/546/teachers_guide_to_google_classroom.pdf)
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Guide to Google Classroom (https://sites.google.com/site/gclassroomguide/home)
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Google for Education: Teacher Center Welcome to Your First Day of Classroom
- Creating Individual Student Documents for a Google Classroom Assignment, Nicole Slowinski, GMS
- Google Classroom as presented to the GHS Guidance Department (Video recording), Mrs. Boucher, GHS
- Meaghan's training consisted of a Google Slide deck presented to the GHS guidance department regarding both the student view and the teacher view of Google Classroom at a fundamental level. The overview included tips on posting, grading assignments, adding and removing students from the Classroom, and some basic student troubleshooting.
- How to Search in Google Books
- Google Classroom Student View Slideshow, Mrs. Boucher, GHS,
- Why a Classroom Assignment may not display in the New Assignment Area in Google Classroom
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When attempting to create a new assignment in Google Classroom, do not upload the file from your device hard drive. Instead, save the assignment to your Google Drive first, then upload fromGoogle Drive. If you try to post the assignment from your hard drive, the file will display correctly, but you will lose the ability to select options such as "create a copy for each student."
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As a workaround, just store the file on Google Drive and select it from there, rather than attaching a file from the local machine to the assignment.
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- A Deeper Dive into Google Classroom Posting Options, Sara Kiefer. Practical suggestions for setting up your Google Classroom.
- Connecting to a Google Classroom at the Greenfield Middle School
- Google Classroom Resources from Eric Curts (https://www.controlaltachieve.com/p/resources-google-classroom.html)
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Google Meet Integration with Google Classroom (6 minutes) - YouTube link - Blog post link
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How to use Kahoot in a Google Classroom (https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2020/05/how-to-use-kahoot-in-google-classroom.html)
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Common Sense Media Parent Guide to Google Classroom
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Tech Republic's "Google Classroom: 8 Answers to Common Questions"
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Google Classroom and Google Resources Training Sessions, presented by Casey Daigle-Matos (CES), September 14-15, 2020
Google Meet
- Google Meet: New Features (video demonstration by Jessica Pollock, available for viewing with your GPS email address and Chrome).
Google Meet has introduced a couple of new features.
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Raise Hand - students can now alert you that they want to speak by clicking the "raise hand" button in the lower right hand menu. Teachers can click on the "people" menu at the top right to see who has their hand raised and lower it when the student has had the change to speak.
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Q&A - The top right menu offer a shapes menu, which has an option for "Q&A". This feature allows students to post questions, upvote questions other students have posted that they also have, and to sort the questions posted. Teachers are able to see the questions, sort them in multiple ways, mark them as answered, delete questions, and make questions not visible.
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Turn Off Chat - In the lower left hand menu, there is a new security menu. In this menu, you can turn off chat to students, so they are not able to post in the chat by toggling to the left and greying out that menu option. If chat is turned off, students are still able to access and use the Q&A feature.
- Google Meet During Remote Learning, Session 1, Slideshow Intro-Jessica Pollock, GHS [Login with your GPSK12.org email address.]
- Google Meet During Remote Learning, Session 1, Video Recording-Jessica Pollock, GHS
- Google Meet Elementary School Training, Session 2, Video Recording-Andrew Lippman, Discovery School
- How to prevent unwanted callers from disrupting your Google Meet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMhn03z-IQE
- Start watching around 5:00 minutes in to about 6:30 minutes or watch the whole video. It has some great tips.
- Or follow these directions from the IT Department to turn off incoming call option. The directions speak to the information presented in the video
By turning off Quick access, you prevent unwanted callers from entering your Google Meet. But if a student requires a phone for audio, the meeting host can still add the student manually by phone number.
- How to Prevent Students from Joining a Meet Before You Arrive in your Google Classroom/How to Ensure Students Cannot Join a Meet After You have Left the Google Classroom (Video Step-by-Step Created by Jessica Pollock, GHS Librarian)
- Judy Bennett (GHS) created this wonderful text-based step-by-step providing instructions on how to refresh your link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AS2pkjteOQQtk-JEHjkEijPGg7pcXdcScAMAh96geoM/edit. Use Your GPS username to access the shared document.
- If your students are getting locked out of your Google Classroom and you already reset your Classroom link before class, follow these instructions:
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Manually add the student back into the class
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In the top right corner of your Google Meet, click People
to show the list of attendees, then click Add people.
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Enter the student's email address and click Send Email.
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This will send an e-mail to the student who is locked out with their own link, which they can then click and rejoin.
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- Google Meet 101 For Teachers
- See up to 49 people, including yourself, in Google Meet
- Turn off Chat and manage other Host Controls for Meet (Jami Witherell video)
- How To See Your Students While Presenting in Google Meet Tutorial, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIpGdCaguss; https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GmzgW4K8-0E&feature=youtu.be
Google Chat
- Work from Home with Google Chat. Using Google Chat within Chrome provides instant messaging capabilities with individuals and/or groups. Great for team meetings with colleagues when working remotely.
Google Forms
Google Sites
- Google Sites: Part 1: Getting Started (Jami Witherell)
- Google Sites, Part 2: Adding Content to Your Site (Jami Witherell)
Google for Education
- Teacher Tutorials for Drive, Slides, Sheets, Docs, Drawing Forms, Classroom Calendar, Meet and Sites
- How to: Quick Tutorial of the New Google Docs 2020
- Google for Education has created the Tech Toolkit for Families and Guardians, which provides resources for educators to share with families and guardians on the Google tools their students are using to learn.
- Google states that its toolkit includes a Google for Education video series with training videos on main Google products such as Google Classroom and Meet (and stars a few familiar Innovator/Trainer/GEG leader faces!), a Google terms glossary which provides an overview of our products, a one-pager with best practices for family engagement, and a Tech FAQ that answers the most frequently asked tech questions. You’ll also find an email template that has all of the above linked that you can customize and send home with families
- You can find Google’s Resource toolkit at goo.gle/techtoolkit-families, on the Google for Education site under Teaching Resources, Teach from Anywhere (g.co/teachfromanywhere) and the Teacher Center.
Kami
- GPS teachers/staff can go to https://web.kamihq.com/web/
viewer.html , then use their GPS email (Google) to log in.- In Kami at the top right, click your Google initials. When you do this, the last option on the list lets you enter a license number (sent to your building principal)
- Kami How to use various features in YouTube video format
- Students: step by step guide to completing Kami assignment with Google Classroom
- Kami Handbook
If you need the Kami license number for product activation, please contact Carol Holzberg (carhol1@gpsk12.org)
Pear Deck
- Click on Teacher Login.
- When prompted, log in with their GPS Google account credentials
- After sign in first time users will be on this page, https://app.peardeck.
com/home - Please click Create a Lesson
- This action will link the Teacher's sign-in to the GPS subscription so that the next time the user wants to access Pear Deck to enrich a Google Slides presentation, the teacher has only to create a Google Slides slideshow and launch Pear Deck Add-on directly from within Google Slides.

- Login in, if necessary.
- On the Pear Deck Home page you can watch self-guided tutorials, get lesson ideas, and connect their Google Drive to present an already existing slideshow
- Getting Started
- Cool Things to Do
- How Students Join a Pear Deck Session
- FAQs
Other Pear Deck Help Resources
- Pear Deck Demo for GPS Staff (Rachel Cummings) adapted from a presentation by Ashley Winn
- Pear Deck Help Videos
- Learn Pear Deck
- Student Paced Lessons
- Lesson Templates
- Pre-Made Slide Templates
- The Teacher Dashboard
- Quick Tip for Remote Instruction (videos)
- Enhance Remote Learning with Audio in Lessons
- Student Paced Lessons
- Weekly Wonders, one template for elementary, middle, and high school each week
- Newsela Daily Decks, includes links to Newsela curated articles with Pear Deck activities to practice literacy and critical thinking and encourage global awareness
PowerSchool
- Finding Student Information in PowerSchool (Jami Witherell)
Remind
- How to set up your classes, https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/206144916-Create-a-class
- Add people to your class, https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/202547989-Add-people-to-your-class
- Remove people from a class, https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/203179817-Remove-people-from-your-class
- Voice Calls with Remind (we have this feature with our Remind subscription)
- Remind Learning Center-Self-paced lessons for deepening your Remind knowledge
Screencastify
I’m excited to announce that we now have Screencastify [Record, Edit, and Submit Unlimited, which provides everyone with [unlimited recordings, edited videos, and unlimited Submit assignments! If you haven’t tried Screencastify, it’s super easy to get started facilitating video-based learning and making learning more personal. Your license will automatically be upgraded the next time you use the Google extension. I could also get to the tool by going to https://www.screencastify.com, then signing in with my GPSK12.org email address and password.
- Classroom Resource Page - They have an amazing resource page filled with ideas and inspiration for using video in your classroom.
- Certification Courses - You can sharpen your screencasting skills with these brief, easy-to-follow courses
- A Beginner's Guide to Screencastify for Educators
- Family Letter -If you want to let your students’ families know that you will be using Screencastify this year, click the link, download a copy of the letter and update it with your contact information.
- Screencastify for Remote Teaching (https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2020/03/screencastify-remote-teaching.html)
Please tell us about all of the amazing videos you create for student learning.