I am a lazy environmentalist. In fact, I am so lazy about it I can’t even get the word environmentalist out of my mouth before I have shoved another recyclable item in the trash can. Yes, I want to save trees. I love trees. I abhor landfills; they stink both literally and figuratively. I want clean drinking water and all of those other things. Unfortunately my environmental responsibility ends with me picking up litter and not throwing trash out of the window of my car. I did make adorable jack-o-lanterns out of empty glass bottles, I am sure that must count for something. And, this post is all about going green with Google.
If we are using Google Drive in a classroom setting, it
makes sense not to print out every piece of writing a student does throughout
the writing process. It makes a lot of environmental sense to hand in
assignments electronically, especially in writing. The teacher then can comment
and provide digital feedback as well. No more lugging around canvas tote bags
filled with reams of paper. The final Publishing step in the writing process is
the only step that dictates that printing could be a necessity. And we all know that Publishing no longer
refers to just printing out and stapling to a bulletin board or even rewriting
in our very best handwriting. In fact, once this writing piece goes to my
editor (yes, I learned my lesson) and I reread it one more time to make sure it
is really what I want others to read, I will copy and paste it into my blog
program and click the publish button. Ta-da…published but not printed.
Ok, so back to the task at hand, how to actually go green
and not print everything students complete in the classroom. Remember all the
previous posts about sharing? Well, that’s what this is about, too. Students
creating folders in their My Drive and adding you, the teacher, to that folder.
(See, it’s not magic or rocket science.) And, the steps could be reversed so
that the teacher is creating the folder and adding the students. It is all a
matter of preference. So without further delay, here are the instructions for
using Google Drive to collect student work.
·
Students create a folder in their My Drive
·
Students name their folder. The naming
conventions should be uniform from class to class and student to student. For
example: Year_Period_Student Name (13-14_Period1_ITGirl)
·
Students then share their folder using the “Add
people” section. (Remember that is the little folder icon with the person and
the plus)
·
The student should give the teacher “can edit”
rights. This allows the teacher to provide feedback, notes, suggestions, and
grades.
Note to the teacher: all of
the students’ shared folders will show up in your list of shared folders under
“Shared with Me” in Google Drive. If you have a lot of students this can appear
to be an overwhelming mess. So the best thing to do is organize the folder list.
(This is a one-time thing. So think of the time investment up front as sanity
savings in the long run.)
·
Click in your “My Drive” section and create a
new folder for the current year (13-14)
·
Open the folder you just created. Now create new
folders, one for each class period.
·
Open your “Shared with Me” section. (Remember
this is where the shared student folder clutter is.)
·
If your students followed directions J and name their folders
to include the class period, you can sort the folder list. (Click on the “Sort”
button in the top right hand corner of the screen.)
·
Select the students for a particular class
period and drag and drop the selected folders into the Period/Class folder you
just created.
·
Repeat for the remaining student folders and
class periods.
Now you have student folders ready to collect assignments. J
When students complete an assignment, they just add it to
their folder and the document will now be available in your “My Drive”.
Now, where is my I-just-saved-the-world-super-hero-cape? I
know this one act does not qualify me to call myself an environmentalist but it
is a step in the right direction.
Until next time.
--- IT Girl
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