Summative Assessments don't have to be BIG

Summative assessments don't have to be BIG assessments. They can assess small, targeted skills. One nice way to do this is to use the Question feature in Google classroom. To assess whether kids can write an effective thesis statement for example, you could ask students to submit their thesis statements as an answer to a Question in Classroom. Classroom’s format makes grading the answers to Questions very quick. And remember, no comments on summatives!

Make a great looking website in 10 minutes

As a parent, I'm finding myself on school and teacher websites quite a bit these days and I've got to say that they really do make an impression. Unfortunately, a bad website can make a pretty bad impression.

If you've looked at your splash page recently, you might think that it's not a very good representation of you as a professional.  Until recently, there wasn't much we could do about it - that tool was the only tool we had.

But not anymore. The "New" Google Sites makes slick website creation very, very easy.  I made this website in about 10 minutes, including the time it took to type in my schedule.  This can come in handy if you are updating your district splash page for a more professional look, or if you are creating websites for your classes or activities.

How to create a quick great looking website

To get to the new google sites, follow this link.  Once you're there, you can start a new page by clicking the red plus circle on the bottom right side.

Once you've clicked the red plus circle, you'll get a blank website and menus along the right side.  As with any tech like this, feel free to play around and see how it works.  

A little more help

One nice feature is called Themes. It's in the menu on the far right side.  If you scroll to the bottom and choose the theme Impression (no pun intended from the intro!), it defaults to the Hinsdale Central color scheme!  This is the theme I used for my quick website.  

After you've chosen your theme, all the other menus are simple drag and drop editing. The Pages menu can get a little tricky if you try to layer pages, but I can help you with that if you need it.  

A lot more help

For those of you interested in a little more guidance, click on the More Menu (Just to the left of the Publish button) and click on Take a Tour!

For a comprehensive set of directions, check out Google's resources here.

When you are finished

Put in a helpdesk ticket to update your splash page link.  They will need your name and the link to the published site.  To get that link, make sure your site is published (the button on the top left). Then view the published site to copy the link from your browser.