Remember Folks -- There is a Pandemic Happening

 

I came across this tweet from @meghan_lawson that really got me thinking about our work as educators. All too often administrators pile huge burdens of work upon teachers because in the end they know our love of the students will prevail. We will take the extra duty, another class, coach another team, etc, because we don't want kids to miss out on opportunities. Which is why as administrators, we need to do the ethical thing and not put more work on the plate without taking something off. It is OK to end an initiative or push it until later; especially now with this pandemic happening.  It isn't a mark of failure or something to be ashamed of. It is humane. We also need to model it for teachers; we need to show them that we say no to things as well. That we take care of ourselves and encourage them to take care of themselves.

More Meet Updates

 

Google continues to improve Meet with features that are helpful to teachers during remote learning. This round provides the host with more control over chat and screen sharing, the ability to add a Jamboard to to the Meet, and polling. The features are being rolled out over the next few weeks, so you may not have access yet. I don't have the polling feature as of yet, but I was able to watch another teacher use it in her video, which I have embedded on this post.

Enjoy the new features!

New Meet Security Settings

Google Meetings has added new security settings. You can now turn on/off the ability for students to share their screen and the ability to use chat. 

New My Meetings Button in Gmail

 

A new feature has been added to Gmail! Now you can check and manage your Meetings from your Gmail account. I have right-side chat enabled, so mine appears on the right-top corner of my screen. If you don't have right-side chat enabled, it will be on the left-hand side of your screen beneath your labels. This makes managing your Meetings even easier. Nice!

Director of Professional Development

I'm pretty excited to start school year 2020-21, even in the face of Covid-19 and the realities it brings. I'm excited because I have started a new position at Cheongna Dalton School as the Director of Professional Development. The school asked me to move from EdTech to PD to support the entire school community with their continual growth as educators and professionals. As much as I love EdTech, this was an opportunity that was too great to pass up. I have created a Google Site specifically for professional development at CDS. Part of my role is to facilitate the WASC accreditation process as well, which is happening this school year. My first task is to get accreditation work rolling and then to help with teachers create their Professional Growth Goals for the year.