Chris Bell

How to Create Your First Google Classroom

November 13, 2019

Google Classroom on a Computer

Wouldn’t it be great if you could organize assignments, resources, and grades for your students in a single location? Fortunately, Google for EDU listened intently to teacher needs and designed Google Classroom to do just that. It’s what I like to describe as the anti-LMS (learning management system) because it’s both simple and effective. Students have a single source of information for assignments, parents can see missing assignments and student progress, and educators are more easily able to manage digital assignments and communication.

Google Classroom makes teaching more efficient and meaningful by giving educators a hub for student assignments, boosting student collaboration, and fostering communication. Educators can create classes, distribute assignments, send individual feedback, and see everything in one place. Classroom also seamlessly integrates with other Google tools like Calendar, Google Docs, Slides, and Drive.

Signing into Classroom

Since we are talking about using Classroom with students, I am going to assume you are in a school or district that is using G Suite for Education. I am also going to assume you know your login information for Google that has been provided to you by your school or IT department. And finally, I am going to assume you will be logging into Classroom from an internet-connected desktop or computer. I recommend doing this before trying it on mobile or tablet.

To sign into Classroom, go to classroom.google.com

Create a Class

As a teacher, one of the first things you’ll do in Classroom is create a class. In a class, you can assign work and post announcements to students. If you teach multiple classes (at the secondary level), then you would create a class for each section you teach. For this exercise, I’ll only have you create one class.

To create your first class, follow the steps below:

Go to classroom.google.com and sign in.
Select the Teacher role
On the Classroom Home page, click the + symbol and then choose Create class
Give the class a title that is meaningful to you and your students
The following are optional, but may be relevant to your personal teaching situation:
1. To enter a short description of your class, grade level, or class time, click Section and enter the details.
2. To add a subject such as Algebra I, click Subject and enter a name or click one from the list that appears when you enter text.
3. To enter the room location for the class, click Room and enter the details.
Click Create.

You will now see a class code displayed, but you won’t need that right now. We’ll come back to that at a later time when you are ready to invite students to your class. If you ever need to see the code, you can view it on the Stream page.

Congratulations! You have now created your first Google Classroom. You’re well on your way to using Google Classroom to support student learning. In the next post, you’ll learn how to add assignments and resources to your class before inviting students.

The video below walks you through this as well.

6 Strategies for Using a Zero-based Calendar for School Leaders

November 2, 2019

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Every day we come to work as leaders, we have the opportunity to advance our schoolwide or district goals…or stay in the same place. It’s a daily choice that is often complicated by the realities of leading a school or district office. You never know what will happen on any given day and this often means working on your goals can fall by the wayside due to the tyranny of the urgent.

Over the years, one thing has become clear to me. If we don’t utilize our calendars effectively, then there’s a really great chance that we’re going to not allocate the time needed to actually achieve our goals. This is why I operate from a zero-based calendar every single day. I even do this on weekends despite my partner’s misgivings.

The philosophy behind a zero-based calendar is that you schedule EVERYTHING. You schedule your morning routine. This might include exercise, breakfast, mediation or whatever is important to you. You schedule appointments/classroom visits, time to connect with your staff, time to work on projects, time to work towards inbox zero, and so forth.

If a task or goal is not planned and on my calendar, then there is an EXCELLENT chance that it won’t get done. Just ask my partner 🙂 On the other hand, if you plan for your time, then you will see visible progress on your important goals and projects.

Below are some best practices with a zero-based calendar that I have discovered over time.

First, you should start small and pick just one or two days a week where you operate from a zero-based calendar. By doing this, you can find a rhythm and identify which times work best for varying tasks. I have also found that starting small avoids feeling “overscheduled” and instead gives you an opportunity to dip your toes in the water. I suggest trying this for the first week and then keep adding on days.

Second, for tasks that require creativity or deep thinking, you should overestimate how long something will take when just getting started. Reality dictates that you probably won’t be very good with time estimates in the beginning. For example, I initially blocked out an hour to write this blog post. And by the time this gets published, I will have spent 2-3 hours through various edits and modifications. My aspiration was to write this in an hour, but I know that I will probably spend upwards of three hours writing a great blog post. At least, I hope you’ll think this is a great post 🙂

Third, with a zero-based calendar you will often find small pockets of time in your day that need to be filled. I suggest using those times for tasks or steps toward a goal that don’t require deep thinking. Examples might include reflecting on your goal progression, organizing and responding to email, returning phone calls, taking a break to walk your campus, check in with staff, or even listening to a podcast. The key is to mix up the activities based on what works best for your day and when you work best.

My fourth strategy is to actually schedule time for social media check-ins. It’s really easy to go down the rabbit hole of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and lose track of time. I find that by scheduling the time I will spend on a platform, I am more intentional and seek out better content and interactions.

A fifth strategy is that you have to be willing to be flexible if an emergency, real or otherwise, comes up. The ‘emergency’ could take the form of a phone call with an upset parent, a student meeting, or a sick spouse or child. Those are things that you would and should deal with in the moment. If your blocked out time is taken up by something like this, then you should take the opportunity at the end of the day to schedule it for your next available time that week.

Finally, one of the daily activities that I recommend completing with a zero-based calendar is to:

spend a few minutes at the end of the day reviewing what you were able to accomplish and identify if anything wasn’t handled that is a priority and part of your goals.
look ahead to the next few days on your calendar and identify any available time slots
reschedule anything you weren’t able to complete during the day

I hope you find these strategies useful in your day to day work as a school leader. If they are helping, I’d love to hear how these strategies are enabling you to reach your goals. Tag me on Twitter or LinkedIn and use the #leaderhacks hashtag and join the conversation!

Best-

Chris

P.S. If you’re looking for more productivity hacks, then I suggest checking out my colleague Dr. Mark Wagner’s digital workshop that’s all about getting the most out of your time.

3 Steps to Setting Achievable Goals

August 13, 2019

What’s preventing me from being a great leader?

This is a question I often ask myself. I find that some days the answer comes easier than others. Leadership is a constant work in progress with constant action, inquiry, and reflection. But what I have really discovered is that in order to become better at leadership, you have to set goals and track progress. It’s not much different from an exercise plan.

Humans have been setting goals for thousands of years. And yet, statistically speaking only 9.2% of us will actually achieve our goals. I believe this low success rate is due to poor process and planning.

Pre-Planning Your Goal Setting

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” -Benjamin Franklin

Just like any solid plan, you will need to set aside time for the process of goal setting. I like to find a quiet space where I won’t be interrupted. If you have a favorite place where you do your best work, then definitely use that space. If you can’t find a quiet space at school, then perhaps head off campus to a coffee shop. If your schedule doesn’t allow for that, then I’d suggest doing this on the weekend at a time and place where you can work uninterrupted for at least 45 minutes at a stretch.Before I even begin goal setting, I like to use a three-step process that takes about 45 minutes. This first phase of goal setting lays the foundation for informed and detailed goals that you will definitely want to accomplish. It’s also a great opportunity to simply pause and think. As a leader, I find it’s challenging to do that as frequently as I would like to. The “tyranny of the urgent often gets in my way of reflecting on a daily basis as well as making sure I’m focused on goal attainment. Let’s explore this process in detail.

Reflect on your wins (10 minutes)

As busy leaders, we don’t often focus on what we did well, but rather, we focus on what we didn’t get right. We didn’t implement the new math curriculum with fidelity; we didn’t get staff using the new Chromebooks effectively; we didn’t reduce absenteeism, and so on. That’s because it’s much easier to look for what we didn’t accomplish when we are trying to achieve so much. I don’t believe it’s because we’re pessimistic at heart. Rather, as leaders, we have so many different things on our plates at any given moment that it’s difficult to pause and celebrate what we accomplished.Additionally, we often have our stakeholders telling us everything we’re not doing well. Teachers may be disgruntled about issues ranging from class size, to behavioral issues, to resources. Some of these issues you may have control over, while often it’s the case that we do not. Parents may be upset over a myriad of issues which often make their way to your desk. Your supervisor may not be satisfied with the academic achievement at your site or within your department. It’s a challenge to serve so many stakeholders and it can be rare when they celebrate our wins with us.What I want you to do is flip this concept on its head. First, silence all notifications on the device in front of you (or your phone). You don’t want to be distracted by anything while you’re goal setting. Second, take out a piece of paper, grab your favorite journal, or fire up a Google Doc, then set a 10 minute timer on your phone. Use this period of time brainstorming everything that has gone well since the start of the school year. I encourage you to look for the bright spots no matter how small! Examples could include a new teacher becoming better at classroom management with your guidance, a student coming up and giving you a hug when you conducted a campus tour, or a school board member personally thanking you for your work. You will find it takes a minute or two to get into the rhythm, but then it starts flowing.

Reflect on what didn’t work (10 minutes)

Now that you’ve found all of the bright spots in your work, it’s time for an easier exercise. I want you to set another 10 minute timer and begin writing down all of the things that didn’t work out since the start of the school year. I don’t want you to waste time thinking about the why. Rather, use this cathartic exercise for what it is intended to be—getting it all out. I’ll share one of my own reflections. This past fall, I wasn’t able to accomplish many of my goals that I had set for the remainder of the calendar year because I agreed to go on the road for EdTechTeam in September and October. While I enjoyed working with teachers and students both in the U.S. and internationally, my goals were pushed out to the point where I forgot about them, or they were not a priority as other issues bubbled to top priority. I was frustrated, but I was the only one to blame. Additionally, I felt like I let some of my team members down.

K.I.S.S. (15-25 minutes)

You probably know the acronym above as “Keep it simple stupid!” In this case, the acronym stands for Keep Improve Stop Start. This will take a bit more time than the prior exercises, but I promise it’s worth it. First, I want you to think about everything you are doing that is working. Did the new staff meeting format work out well? Was staff engagement higher? Were the Friday updates you sent to your staff via Flipgrid minimizing the time you spent on trivial things freeing you up for discussions about teaching and learning? Is your staff more comfortable with informal classroom walk throughs now that you’re out from behind your desk and in classrooms? Great! Once you determine if your current habits, processes and mindsets are working you can decide if you want to keep them as continuing goals.Second, I want you to think about what you would improve. Is there something you set out to accomplish that was almost great, but just needs some tweaking or modification? Can you glean anything from the past year’s staff survey? Great ideas can spark at a moment’s notice but you may not have the resources, time or support to enact them as solutions or improvements. Determine what those may be and find ways to implement these new processes or procedures to accomplish your goals. Third, I want you to think about this question: what will you stop doing? What are the things you will stop doing in the coming school year that are counterproductive and hinder goal achievement? Are you staying too late at school and it’s impacting your home life?Are you micro-managing a staff member? Are you feeling overwhelmed?Are you spending time on things that don’t improve the community at your school or district? Are you spending time on activities that don’t empower teachers?Are you not the instructional leader that your staff needs? Are you avoiding prioritizing your day? Are you avoiding difficult decisions?Do you criticize yourself? Are you saying yes to everything? You can do anything you want, but you can’t do it all. I want you to take the time to be vulnerable and honest with yourself. It’s time to take off your armor and have a tough conversation with your own worst critic. What are you doing in your days, weeks, and months that is counterproductive to yourself, your family, and your stakeholders? I know this is a tough exercise, but once you acknowledge what you need to stop doing you can focus on what you can START doing.

Finally, what will you start doing in the new school year?

I want you to think about all of the possibilities for your school, your community, and your life. I want you to think about all of the positive habits that you want to form. Now, I want you to write down as many of those ideas as possible. Here are some of my own:I will start using the digital well-being feature on my phone to limit social media in order to spend more time with my family.I will make a point of checking in on the well being of each and every one of my staff at least once a week.I will seek out a leadership mentoring network.I will commit to reading more books about leadership along with fiction.I will start a leadership podcast.I will lead professional learning opportunities at least once per month. I will blog more. Okay…so I did that….Now what?

First of all, congratulate yourself for taking the first steps in goal achievement. You’re off to a great start! Doesn’t it feel great to stop and reflect on where you’ve been, while also taking the time to think about where you want to go? In our next post in this series, I’ll dive into goal setting and how to set up a structure for goal achievement. I’d like you to brainstorm some goals you want to achieve between now and the end of the next school year. Your goals might be informed by the process you completed today, or you may have additional goals you want to accomplish. The key is to start writing them down! This way you’ll be able to pull together a list that you can work from.

Chris Bell is a former teacher, school leader, and district administrator in K-12 now supporting educators to transform learning experiences for all students! Book hoarder, professional learner, executive officer, and always looking for new and interesting challenges.

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