This site is designed to support teachers and leaders when connecting with and engaging their learners.
This is the slide deck for the 2020 Term 3 workshops on Google Sites, Google Meet and Hāpara Teacher Dashboard.
Recordings of workshops from earlier in the year can be found here.
Things To Think About
Keep things simple. Think about what your priorities are and do them well. Use Google Meets to connect with your students, not teach all your content.
Some of the most successful activities during distance learning have been ones that involve the whole whānau.
How do you plan to encourage collaboration so that students are staying connected?
Make sure lessons are robust enough, with clear instructions so that they can be completed independently. Screencastify can be used for longer instructions.
Are learners motivated and will they stay engaged? Commenting on student blogs is one way to keep engagement up.
How will you check in on students' wellbeing?
Give lots of opportunities to create rather than just consume. Remember that not everything has to be online. This is a great opportunity to think outside the box!
Google Meet
Top Tips:
-Use your Ako Hiko login (see your lead teacher) to set up a Meet that you can link to an image of you like this.
OR
-Use a nickname (see the YouTube video) if you want to use your school domain and not have to worry about links. Pros and cons of the two options are here.
-Ctrl + d will mute / unmute your mic.
-Make sure you record the sessions and that you're the last one to leave.
-Make sure students have their back to a wall so you don't see into their homes too much.


How to split your screen on a Chromebook.

How to put Google Meet recordings on your class site.

How use spotlight to make the presenter's screen bigger.
Sites
Top Tips:
-Have you checked your class site, by going incognito, to see if all your docs etc are visible (no 'you need permission' pages)?
-Can students easily get to their learning in a few clicks
-Are you visible on your site so that students feel connected to their teacher? e.g. Screencastify videos
Here are some examples of how class sites could look during distance learning.
New Entrant Class
Junior Class
Year 2/3 Class
Year 3/4 Class
Year 5 / 6 Team Site
Year 5/6 Class