Zdravei
Welcome back to school! I’m starting out early this year with the BWB and some tips to get you off to a more organised and efficient way of using your school Google account. Already sorted with these? Then check here for some other top tips (feel free to send me your own).
Here’s my three top tips (if you need help, check out the how to guides here first, ask a colleague, or let me know):
1) Use Chrome as your default browser: all things Google just seem to work better with the web browser they developed. I’ve ‘solved’ a number of issues where teachers can’t get something Google to work by just using the Chrome browser. So add the icon to your Dock, go to the Chrome menu-> Preferences and set as your Default browser
2) Sign in to Chrome: for those of you with multiple G-mail accounts, this will save you some headaches. By signing in to Chrome with your school account it will ‘remember’ all the add ons, bookmarks and even saved passwords. Link to ‘how to’ video.
3) Set up Google Drive for Mac: This is an application either already on your Mac or you can download here that syncs all the files from your Mac to your Google Drive. Not only good as a backup, but also as a way to have access to your school files on any other internet device (smartphone or home computer). So no need to take your work computer home to continue school work! To make this sync easier, drag your ‘Documents’ folder into the newly created ‘Google Drive’ folder.
As with last year, you can still ‘Book a Beaker’ at this link: http://goo.gl/pZDeGZ
This shows the times I am free. Just make sure to include a description of what you want help with so I can come prepared.
Sbogom
Andrew
Google +: http://goo.gl/EwwPef PL website: http://goo.gl/qB0Uve
From the TBC PL Google+ Community
14 STAR WARS POSTERS FOR EDUCATORS
With the popularity of last BWB’s Star Wars theme, here’s some education based posters. Enjoy!
Motivational Posters with QR Codes – Tomorrow’s Learners
If you have some blank wall space, blow the department budget and print out some of these motivational posters from Sam Gibson’s blog.
Tips, Tricks and Traps
Google Classroom – Archive and delete a class
Did you use Classroom last year? There are a couple of different ways to reuse the content for the upcoming year. One option is to archive last years class and here’s a link to ‘how to’. This will preserve the class materials, assignments, and any postings to the class stream.
Add the TBC Term Diary to your Google Calendar
Yes, a repeat but still a goody for the beginning of the year. Can’t wait till the weekly 
‘What’s on’ to find out what is happening in the school? Add the TBC Term Diary to your Google calendar by going to this link on the TBC website and clicking on the plus sign at the bottom right. Google calendar is a great way to ‘layer’ other calendars on top of your own. For more tips – go to Google’s help centre here.
More tips and resources @ TBC PL Website
Things that make you go hmmmm….
LEARNING LEADING CHANGE
From Claire Amos (DP at HPSS). “So, what happens when you take 15 years of teaching
and leading at four different fairly traditional, fairly engaging, high performing secondary schools, add three years of innovation incubation as part of the establishment Senior Leadership Team at Hobsonville Point Secondary School (HPSS) and throw in a bit of Most Likely to Succeed (documentary and book)?”
6 Tips for Getting Started with Google Classroom
Ready to Get Started with Google Classroom? Here’s some tips from Shake Up Learning: “Google Classroom is a free application designed by Google to help students and teachers communicate, collaborate, organize and manage assignments, go paperless, and much more! This is the ONLY application that Google has developed specifically for students and teachers, and they want it to be your go-to assignment …”
