Seating Charts in Sapphire

Here is a very simple screencast of how to make seating charts in Sapphire. The first chart is in alphabetical order, and the second chart is in random order.

Dyslexic Accommodations Update 12.16.16

I added some information and a screencast to the post on Simple Accommodations for Dyslexic Students about the extension Force Font. Check it out!

New in Sapphire Tips and Tricks...

Information has been added regarding how to Set Gradebook to Show Community Portal Grades and Viewing Sapphire Portal Information and Logins. This information was provided by Kelly Yohe and Steve Vogelsong, respectively. Check it out!

Edit Calendar Notifications

Manage Your Calendars and Notifications

You can set notifications for all of your Google Calendars. You can receive notifications via email or SMS, depending on which you select. Check out the basic steps for changing your notifications below as well as quick screencast.

1. Open your Google Calendar through the app or calendar. google.com.
2. Click on the dropdown arrow next to the specific calendar for which you wish to set/change notifications.
3. Click Edit Notifications from the pop-up menu.
4. If you wish to create your own notification for each event, click Add Notification in this section. It will basically set a reminder however many minutes you choose before the event begins.
5. If you wish to create all day event notifications, click Add Notification in this section. It will basically set a reminder the day(s) prior to the event based on your specified information. You can also select the time of the notification in this section.
6. Select how you would like to be Kept Up To Date. This section allows you to choose notification via email, SMS, or both for each type of update--new events, changed events, cancelled events, event responses, and daily agenda. Be aware, if you select notifications for the daily agenda, you will receive an email, text, or both each day at 5am!
7. When you have made your selections, click SAVE at the top or bottom of the page. This is one of the few places in the Google Suite where you must click SAVE to keep your changes.

Adding a Google Calendar with Email

Adding Someone's Google Calendar to Your Google Calendars

If you have a friend, coworker, family member, etc. who has a Google calendar, it is quite easy to add that calendar to yours (provided you have access to see the calendar items). Follow these easy steps and check out the screencast below!

1. Open Google Calendar, either from the app or calendar.google.com.
2. On the left-hand side, look for Other Calendars.
3. Click on the dropdown arrow, selecting Add a Coworker's Calendar.
4. Type in the person's email address, and click Add.
5. Events in that person's calendar should now show up on your calendar.
***Remember, you can choose which calendars you want to see events for at any given time. You can also add or edit notifications for the calendar. ***

Using TOPICS in Google Classroom

Organize the Information in Your Google Classroom!

What Is It, and Why Use It?

Often, the inundation of information bogs down both students and faculty. This was easily the case in the past with Google Classroom. For instance, I post a daily synopsis of class each day for absent students. This is awesome if the student is absent, but it also makes finding other information such as assignments, reminders, and resources, much more difficult. Luckily, over the summer Google crafted the solution to this overwhelming onslaught of information: TOPICS.

What Do Topics Look Like?

If you previously used Google Classroom, the topics section is actually easy to miss. While it is very user-friendly, it assumes that the user knows it is there. Basically, the purpose of the topics, as far as I have seen, is to allow students and faculty to categorize the information within Google Classroom. This makes searching for a particular post or assignment a breeze. Let's take a look at how it all works. Here is a snapshot of my generic Google Classroom page.

On the left side of the screen, a box shows the following Topics: Absent Synopsis, Agenda, Assignments, and Resources. Clicking on any of these titles filters the Google Classroom page to show only stream items tagged with the particular topic. 

If you look at the post in the stream above, you will also notice that the post "Organizer for Infographic" has a box labeled ASSIGNMENTS underneath the directions. The box indicates this post belongs to the topic Assignments. 

Here is a scrolling screenshot of my RESOURCES posts:

Notice that only posts tagged RESOURCES appear in this view. 

How To Use the Topics Feature

When you create a post, assignment, question, etc., a box pops up that looks like this:

1. Fill in all of the assignment/post information as you normally would.
2. Click the drop down arrow beside the heading Topic.
3. Select Create Topic.
4. Type in the label you want to use for the topic.
5. Click post as you normally would.

***Once you have your topic labels created, you simply select them from the dropdown menu instead of selecting Create Topic. ***

Easily Convert Word Documents to Google Docs Using Save as (Leanne Sanders)

Using SAVE AS to Convert Word Documents to Google Docs

There is a Save As type that saves a Word document in a Google doc format. Thus, you do not need to retype or even copy and paste previous Word documents  into Google Docs. Follow the steps below to perform the Save As:

1. Go to File Tab in your Word document
2. Click Save As
3. In the Save As drop down box look for the Open Document Text format (.odt).
4. Click Save
5. Go into your Google Docs
6. Click on the Open File Picker icon (looks like a manila folder)
7. Click Upload
8. Find the saved .odt file
9. Click Open
10. Click Open again to exit the Upload screen.

Be aware that some of the formatting might be different but overall look similar. Hopefully, this helps some of you.

Many thanks to Leanne Sanders for this helpful tip!

Remove a Student from Google Classroom

It's not difficult to do, but you'll need to look in the right place to remove a student from your Google Classroom. Watch the screencast below!

Remove a Student Screencast

Adding Teachers to Your Google Classroom

Sharing Your Google Classroom with Another Teacher is Easy!

In certain circumstances like co-teaching or with ELL or Special Education students, you may want another teacher to have access to your Google Classroom. You could technically add this person as a student, but the person would not have the same "teacher" functionality as you.

Fortunately, Google Classroom allows you to easily add another teacher to your class. Once you know where to click, the process is actually rather simple.

• First, select the ABOUT tab in your Google Classroom.
• Then, click on the INVITE TEACHER button on the left-hand side of the page.
• Next, type in the teacher's name.
• When the correct teacher name appears, mark the checkbox beside his or her name and click the blue NEXT button.
• A box pops up asking if you really wish to give this person the same permissions as you.
• Click the blue INVITE button, which will add the teacher. 
• Now this additional teacher can access the same functions as you except deleting the class.

INVITE TEACHER screencast

Inviting Students to Google Classroom

Adding Students

• You can share your class code with students, so they can join your class.
• You can also INVITE them to your class as well.

To INVITE them, you simply need the student's name (or part of it).

   Here is a screencast of the process, which involves selecting the STUDENTS tab, entering the student's name, selecting the checkbox in front of the student's name, and clicking the blue INVITE STUDENTS button.

Screencast of Inviting Students