​​So, has this reduced my marking load? Yes in some ways but the next phase in my less-marking-world is split into 5 key suggestions, all of which are currently works in progress for me:

1. Voice notes - Right within Google Docs and Slides (and even if you want to use it in Keep), you can use Voice Typing from the Tools menu or CTRL+SHIFT+S. Although not 100% accurate, this is a pretty good timesaver because most of us speak faster than we type!
2. Video feedback (through screencasting) - showcased by the legend @olivertrussell at a recent @AppsEvents summit in London, screencasts are a great way to show tone and facial expression when marking a piece of work. This is really personalised and goes down well with students across the age ranges! A great How-To video for Screencastifymy favourite extension!) can be found here.
3. Keep Comment Banks - Google Keep should be every teacher's best friend - organisation has never been so easy. You can create Checkbox lists with common marking phrases and then drag and drop these using Keep Notepad from the Tools menu. This is definitely the best timesaver I have ever used. I will be writing a blog post on Keep really soon so watch this space!
4. Verbal Feedback stamps - Many times we duplicate work by giving verbal feedback in the classroom and then feeling like we have to write something on the piece of work when we mark it! Instead, get a Verbal Feedback Given stamp (physical or digital). Use it when you talk through answers in class. You can even get customisable stamps online - here is one company that does it!
5. Self-Marking Quizzes - Google Forms is quickly becoming the go-to app for teachers to gather assessment material. And with quiz features and great add-ons like Flubaroo, so much time can be saved with pre-designed rubrics and answer keys. Don't ever mark keyword tests again.

My latest read is a fantastic book by Professor Damian Hughes, Liquid Thinking. It has the premise of being clear about setting targets, surrounding yourself with like-minded yet driven people and ensuring that your beliefs affect your behaviour in the manner you want them to. He discusses the concept of Possibility vs Probability Thinkers, in reference to those who are "Yes and..." vs "Yes but..." people. I know I have been more a probability thinker in the past - looking for potential pitfalls and sizing up the chance of things going wrong! Hughes asserts that we need more Possibility Thinkers - those who stand with you and your dream and believe in you.

I think his point is not that we should be overtly optimistic (although Duckworth and others suggest that this is a fantastic trait to have) nor should we be dramatically pessimistic. Perhaps it is all in the balance again - when you are formulating a dream you need both types of thinkers to shape it and make it better. When you get on the journey, you need both too - people to help you refine when things don't go well and realign when you've lost focus. However, too many times we fall into the trap of sticking with too many Probability Thinkers or Dream Snatchers as another called them. I want to be a Possibility Thinker for myself and others. Who do you have that is standing with you, spurring you on?

In the last part of this blog series on the G-Suite, I focused on tips and tricks for using the hub of the GSuite, Google Drive, effectively. I acknowledged that if used as intended (and kept organised!), the Drive can be a repository of all your files, it can be fully searchable and can save time and money for schools. Today, we will be looking at Google Slides - the presentation application within the G-Suite. Many people will be familiar with PowerPoint or Keynote and many of the features do cross over (which is good and saves times eh?) but I would love to showcase a few of the specific tools and features of Slides (and it has had a recent overhaul in September 2017 which is exciting!).

I decided to call Google Slides, 'The Reel', to harp back to the good 'ol days of cinema film reels. I am not quite old enough to remember the reels having to be changed part way through a film but I do remember the whirring of the machine and the 'man in the back'. The Old Cinema I used to frequent in Blackburn is now a church (yes, that way round!) yet I still remember the excitement of queuing up to go and see such timeless classics as Titanic and Jurassic Park (the first one!). Slides, Google's answer to PowerPoint, Keynote and Prezi is an amazing tool for showcasing just about anything. 

Feel free to download and share this infographic, especially to those already using Slides - we don't always see all the feature updates and this one is amazing. Next up in this series we will look at Google Docs - the most famous of the apps within the G-Suite.

The notion of Data-Driven Improvement (DDI) has come to the forefront in education over the last few years, most notably as part of Paul Bambrick-Santoyo's seminal works, Driven by Data and Leverage Leadership in which he argues that 'data-driven instruction' is central to good educational leadership. This work has formed the basis of a movement in the U.S. through Uncommon Schools, which is gaining traction as a model in the U.K.

So the idea of basing everything on data and a continuous cycle of improvement is at the crux of this model. In fact, the mantra of "aggressive monitoring" is held up as good practice. My question: is it crucially about the data we have or the children we teach? I admit the two are not mutually exclusive - children create data - but that is the very heart of my argument: children come first. I believe in our data-heavy (as opposed to data-rich) schools, we are measuring the impact of everything (which in itself is not an evil but often leads to such, including marking for the sake of marking, reports and analysis that look nice but tell us very little) and proverbially placing the cart before the horse. Perhaps the 'data' we gather and drive from needs a rethink. 

I don't think anyone would argue with this message. We have all sat through (and probably even delivered) lessons that are just the teacher spewing out information without any consideration for whether students understand the material. Indeed, there are probably young people right now sat in classrooms thinking, "What is the point in this? I don't even know what he's going on about!" Aimless teaching is neither use nor ornament. However, what I am trying to say is that there is still too much assessment OF learning (despite insets or guidance otherwise on AFL). How many times do we as teachers sit with marked assessments or verbal question answers in front of us before we plan the next session? Rarely, I guess. Isn't it simply enough that we have covered it? The answer is no! We must KNOW our students and how best to cater to their needs. This does require data but the amount and frequency of collecting thus is perhaps unsustainable and gratuitous.

I am advocating a common sense approach (no pun intended). Students' lives matter. So do teachers'. We cannot continue working at the rate and intensity that is expected from all - parents, SLT, OfSTED, whoever is placing the demands this week. So, perhaps rather than data-driven instruction, it should be child-centred - if the data is about the child, then gather it; if it's not, let's not waste the time. Let the children drive the curriculum and their learning. Data is, in fact, a great servant but a poor leader. It does matter but not as much as we give it credit for!

In my last blog post, I focused on tips and tricks for using the preferred browser for all things G-Suite, Google Chrome. In this article, I aim to look at tips, tricks and ideas for using Google Drive effectively. If used as intended (and kept organised!), the Drive can be a repository of all your files, it can be fully searchable and can save time and money for schools.

Despite freaking the world out in September 2017 when Google announced that Drive would be disappearing, what they actually meant was that Drive Sync - the offline version - was being discontinued. The fully fledged hub of all Google files, drive.google.com (by the way, (insert app name).google.com is the address for almost anything Google), is still alive and kicking. Below are some reasons for using it and also some useful tips and tricks for making the most of this brilliant cloud storage facility.

In my previous post, I discussed reasons for Going Google - the foundational rationale for integrating G-Suite into education and not-for-profit settings. Here, I will be starting a series looking at individual tools within the suite (and some that are cool add-ons/apps that make sense to discuss here). NB: I do not intend this to be full descriptions or how-tos for these tools; in fact, I want to create a little bit of intrigue to encourage readers to step out into the unknown. Here goes...

According to Digital Trends, Chrome is the best internet browser. When you are on the internet, some might ask if it really matters which you use (the most common other browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari). An estimated 67% of all browsing is now done through Chrome and I can tell why. (Some more recent statistics suggest 77%).  Below I will outline a number of reasons for using Chrome and tips & tricks for maximising your browsing.

1. Chrome is ubiquitous - it is found everywhere. Most computers will already have it built in and mobile devices can easily download the Chrome app from the relevant store. This leads on to...
2. Chrome is consistent - whatever computer, device or country you are in, as soon as you sign in with your Google ID (email address), your bookmarks (see later), extensions and content is all readily available to you.
3. Chrome has a thriving extension, apps and add-on ecosystem. I can't believe I never knew these excited before! Cool little buttons to develop your experience. Kasey Bell over at ShakeUp Learning has written a fantastic article about apps and extensions that you could use immediately. My personal favourites are Bitmoji (I think you'll know that by now!), Grammarly and Google Docs Quick Create. 
4. Chrome easily manages bookmarks. I know that bookmarks have been around for ages and each browser has them. However, one nifty little trick I have found only in Chrome is to delete the web address in Bookmark Manager and it will simply leave the icon in your toolbar. I have made a screencast of the process here.
5. Chrome's mobile integration is excellent. This is a bit of a minor aspect but the fact that the browser is so intuitive is worth mentioning.

Now, don't get me wrong: many of the other browsers over many similar features and it is a little bit about personal preference. However, if you are using the full G-Suite it is a no-brainer to use Chrome.

Hope this has been useful and keep posted for the next part: Google Drive - The Hub...

So I made another infographic this week that I will be sending to all my PD partners and the schools & colleges I will be making inroads with in the next few weeks. Having been excited about Google Edu stuff for a while and pioneering some ideas in my last setting, I often find people asking me - why Google? Isn't it just where you search for answers at the click of a button? Alas, I have not yet face-palmed nor face-slapped yet...But it did get me thinking about the key reasons why it is important to 'Go Google'.

According to an African proverb, "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." This absolutely is at the heart of G-Suite. Working together gets the job done. But it's not just about getting stuff done - it's about stuff being done right. This is not just another job; young people's lives, futures, dreams, mortgages, children all depend on it. That's the truth - we need to take seriously the fact that young people (and all learners for that matter) depend on us as educators to do things properly, for the long-haul not just the instant win. G-Suite allows us to work together on projects that have meaning (e.g. Google Sites allows students to have an authentic audience for their projects). The G-Suite is grounded in collaboration - many of the Core apps allow up to 50 people to be working on them SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Imagine this scenario (because it's probably not too far from your normal teaching experience): a department or faculty needs to write a new Scheme for Learning (SFL) for a year group. They will probably take the following steps:

1. They meet together (co-ordinating schedules was a nightmare but people had a 45-minute window that everyone could do next Tuesday).
   
2. They discuss the learning objectives, the assessment to 'work backwards from', the key concepts that need to be covered and all the examination preparation that must be addressed.
   
3. They split this into individual lessons.
   
4. They then rush through allocating different lessons to different members of staff and agree to write their part of the SFL.
   
5. They go away pleased that they have initial ideas.
   

This is when the first problem arises: two members of staff are planning to get straight on it that evening (when teachers always plan!) but one of them (the one whose kids are later into bed because they needed a second story!) gets to the planning document later than the other, only to find it is 'Read Only' and to 'Make a Copy'. This leads to 'local' copies of the same document that need to be 'synced' at a later point and then 'version1' is added as an appendix to the filename. By the time, the fifth person gets on, no one knows which version they are working on and the collaboration grinds to a halt. Cue Google Docs as an alternative to the same scenario: Points 1-5 remain almost exactly the same (although there is scope to do this remotely through Hangouts if the physical location is difficult to agree upon). It is the work away from the original collaborative meeting that sets Docs apart - the same two members of staff can both be working on the document at the same time (and can even use Chat & Comment functions to discuss each other's ideas whilst working on it in real-time) and then because of Auto-Save and no need for 'versions', Person 5 simply adds their lesson to the existing document. No copying. No versions. No emailing or saving to USB sticks. No 'read-only' files. Collaboration in real time.

I haven't even mentioned creating collective slide decks in Slides where each student has responsibility for a different topic area and they all work on the Slides together for homework. Or, perhaps collaborating on a classwide Google Site to showcase their learning for the year. Or, what about the staff who create a consistent assessment model in Google Forms that they share to all students and collate data automatically in Google Sheets? It really makes working together work.

Singapore is generally regarded by many as one of, if not the best, education systems in the world. A BBC article highlighted how they have placed creativity at the centre of their curriculum and moved to more "holistic education". In fact, "there is strong evidence from across the curriculum and age-range that where children and young people are given some control over their learning and supported to take risks with the right balance between structure and freedom, their creativity is enhanced" (Davies et al, 2013).

One of my greatest epiphanies came in a Y13 Religious Studies class when a certain young man came into the room excited to tell me that he had been watching a video the previous evening on YouTube which proved that I knew what I was talking about with Kantian philosophy (which was a good job because it is a tough gig to get your head around!). It made me realise that students didn't need us to teach them anymore. They needed us to facilitate their learning. No longer is the teacher the sage on the stage or the font of all knowledge. Many students even spend their time researching ways to counter-argue what is being taught anyway from their real 'teacher': the Internet! 

The G-Suite certainly allows students control over the learning, and not just through Google's monopoly on the world's two biggest search engines (Google Search & YouTube, which it acquired in 2006 unbeknown to most people at the time). The creative opportunities are immense within the suite, but with amazing add-ons, extensions and third-party apps, there is an even wider plethora of choice. For example, I used EdPuzzle as a method of making/editing educational videos (even using screencasts to showcase 'how tos' for staff and students) and then creating assessments or ongoing questions to check the learning throughout. This was an amazing homework project and allowed us to extend the learning beyond the classroom. 

Einstein suggested that, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." It's time to get rid of the box, never mind think outside of it.

Going Google has never been easier and more necessary. I urge you all to start the conversation. If I can be of any help on that journey, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Purpose, priority and productivity - a simple formula for extraordinary results. Productivity - work or effort - is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the visible that shows priority and purpose from below the surface. I heard a preacher once say that if you want to know where your priority is let me see your calendar and your bank account - where you spend your time and money tell you what matters most.

Every venture needs productive people. Keller says that "Great businesses are built one productive person at a time." I am convinced that we need more people working harder. But not just harder, smarter too. Working hard at what matters most. People in purpose on purpose for purpose.

How much more satisfying would it be to not only do what you love but get paid for it too? In my role as Director of Sixth Form and looking after EdTech I absolutely did. I loved it, got paid for it, was pretty good at it and certainly it was needed. However, life is seasonal. I am convinced that purpose may be too. Or it could be that there is a fourth P - place. You can be working on purpose, prioritising and being productive but if the placement is wrong, it doesn't necessarily mean the results are your best. You may well achieve extraordinary things but whether you are placed correctly is worth re-evaluating. Sometimes situations make the place untenable despite it being productive.

Know the Why as Simon Sinek would say. Helen Keller then says if we know this we can deal with almost any how. The what & when come next. Perhaps the where is worth another think too. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent. Practice in the right way (and place) can make perfect.

I definitely thought this blog piece was just going to be two parts but there's so much in this little book that I need to break it down further! So here is Part 3

Having an ability to determine the ONE Thing comes from asking the right questions according to Keller. He uses the term 'The Focusing Question' to help us frame the important question:

He breaks this into a few categories:

1. ONE Thing I CAN do - what's within the realms of potential or possibility? What ONE Thing instead of multiple things on a to-do list?
2. Such that by DOING it - what actions can I take? How can I take responsibility?
3. Everything else becomes easier or unnecessary - what will have knock on effects? Think long game.

He then suggests that we must be BIG & Specific in our questioning to get appropriate answers, e.g. What's the ONE Thing I can do today to double sales in the next six months?"

By looking at these 7 areas, he asks some excellent questions and he has them in order starting from spiritual life and then clockwise around the diagram above.

I am blown away by how practical and applicable this concept is to my life. Thinking about priorities and then asking challenging questions - these two ideas will help me focus on the ONE Thing. This season certainly requires that I refocus and reimagine possibilities.

Thinking about balance and counterbalance today. This is a mental concept. We try to fit as many things into our 24hours as is possible to "live life to the max" or because of FOMO. We want to make the most of every moment (which in itself is admirable and desirable) but EVERY moment? Is it possible to be 'on point' at every point in time?

I have lived by the mantra of "It's all about balance" for many years - all things in moderation, don't go overboard, The Golden Mean. But I am thinking - is maintaining the balance what is required for a maximised life? Keller suggests that nothing of value is found in the middle, it's always at the extremes. Scientific breakthroughs, educational wins, political revolutions, personal triumphs. How many times have we heard heroes or athletes talk about "coming to the end of myself" or "pushing myself further than I thought possible"?

Perhaps, life isn't about balances. Perhaps it isn't about fitting everything in and spinning all the plates that our three-score-years-and-ten offers. Perhaps in giving yourself to a few things really well or even ONE thing wholeheartedly, there is freedom, purpose, significance, greatness, happiness, wholeness.

Just a thought...

That said, it is not all about extremes. Keller suggests that there is a need for counterbalance instead of balance - the ability to swing back where necessary from the extremes. Civil servants who worked 55+hour weeks were 67% more likely to die from heart disease! I couldn't put it better than he did:

So...in work, you can be extreme and in personal life you need more counterbalance is his conclusion. Not a bad little thought. Is it really possible? The jury is out on that.