Papers, Papers Everywhere

   

 Papers here, papers there, papers, papers everywhere I usually chant to myself while looking for a certain paper. Sometimes I feel like I am looking for a needle in the haystack. My desk looks like an explosion happened and papers are strewn everywhere in neat unorganized piles. “When I get a chance, "I say to myself , “I will file that away.” Sometimes I remain true to my promise of filing it away; other times it remains in a pile for another day. Most of the papers are of my students' work. Low and behold Covid -19 shut down our physical school building. I, as were many other teachers, was scrambling to figure out this whole virtual schooling. My tech savvy skills were pretty limited to turn on and click this. Because my school has a wonderful support system, a site was set-up for me to use. I quickly found myself immersed in Google Drive, Google Site, You-Tube and Safe-Tube. I also had to learn how to take my hard copies and get it on my Drive.

    As the weeks dragged on, my tech skills improved. (It also helped that one of my colleagues is a gifted teacher in many areas, but especially in the elusive tech world. You know who you are and I am so thankful for you!) Now instead of having papers everywhere, I had digital copies of student work visually overloading my Drive. My Drive looked like an explosion of digital papers. I had trouble keeping organized of who did what and where it was. Eventually it came to me like a vision--- I said to myself (Yes, I admit I constantly talk to myself) , “Terry, to make it visually easier to see each student’s work, first make a folder for each grade level and then make a folder for each student.” I felt like I could have been in that V-8 commercial. (You know the one when you slap your forehead and say I could have had a V-8.) I had a V-8 moment. That one thought of individual folders stopped the tears😂 and brought on the smile😁. I now knew what my students were doing, if they handed in their work and if they needed more help. At this point in my virtual teaching I became a bit more organized thanks to Drive and folders. Hopefully, when we go back to school in September, I am thinking about creating individual folders for my students to use as portfolios. Right now most of my work is paper pencil tasks. But, I now also know how to scan papers from my phone to my Drive. (I found this wonderful app called CamScanner that saved my sanity.)  These portfolios will help show the growth made throughout the school year. Thank you Google Drive.

    Google Sheets still scares me.👀  Out of all the applications in GSuite, I find this one the most difficult to use personally. After the videos, the application of using Sheets and the readings, I know in my heart💗 Sheets can help me as a teacher. My head tells me I must be crazy because trying to use Sheets often causes mental breakdowns. (My husband, an excel guru, brings me back from my insanity to sanity. He helps me see that Sheets really isn’t that scary.) So, how can I competently use Sheets in my class without driving me personally crazy? My students and I run a monthly school store. Sheets could help me track and tally how much we spend and how much we make. Right now I don’t really know exactly how much I spend on inventory each year.😕  Another way Sheets can help me is with tracking and grading my math fact quizzes. Every week we have a quick quiz on facts. To keep track of grades, I put each result on a hard copy chart. Then, at the end of the marking period I manually figure out the average. When I saw (and actually tried it myself) how easy it is to average grades using the function button in Sheets, I had another V-8 moment. Using conditional formatting can help me visually identify who is struggling. And to top it off, I can even have a graph/ chart made to view my results visually. If I start out slow with Sheets, my confidence and usage of Sheets can grow--- leading to possible integration of Sheets within my class. It’s a good dream and a reachable reality. 

     If my future self came to me and told me that I would not only be using tech in my class, but embracing it as well, I would have thought my future self lost her mind.  My mind (not so much my memory) is still in tact. So, I was remembering that song See You in September.   Hopefully in September I will be seeing and using Google Sheets and Drive more.