As a teacher, who wouldn't want to save time? So that’s why I invited Lauren Ellis on to the show to share a few tips on how we can easily systematize things in our classroom to allow us to work more efficiently. Let’s get started.

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Seven Math Teacher Must Haves

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Johanna Kuiper 0:00

As a teacher, what is the thing you always want more of time? Right. So today I invited Lauren Ellis onto the show to share a few tips on how we can easily systematize things in our classroom to allow us to work more efficiently, while saving time and energy for the things that matter most. Let's get started.

Johanna Kuiper 0:19

Welcome to solving for the undefined podcast. I'm your host, Johanna, founder of Miss Kuiper's Classroom, the place that equips teachers and creating a healthy math classroom where students can thrive, no matter their academic abilities. But it's not always about the numbers. And that's why I'm here, bringing you the formulas to solve your problems, math and otherwise, plus strategies on cultivating that necessary math mindset. And that's what you can count on.

Johanna Kuiper 0:49

All right. Hello, hello. Welcome to a brand new episode. Today, we're joined by Lauren to share everything about using Google in your classroom. Welcome. Hi. Go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Lauren Ellis 1:04

So I am in year two year 10 of my education career, I spent my first nine years in the secondary math world and was a teacher. And just recently, this past year, I have transitioned to the administrative side of things, and I am now an elementary assistant principal. And so I've got a lot of, you know, range of diversity with my experience. And I've learned a lot this year, but especially over my last nine years of just what does education look like. And now getting to do it from the ordinary world has been super, super cool, very humbling every day. But really, really cool.

Johanna Kuiper 1:44

What do you find is like the biggest difference between like the elementary world and like the secondary world for teachers,

Lauren Ellis 1:51

I truly thought it would be the kids. Um, but I guess if you're a secondary person, you know that our kids are just little kids in a big kids body. And so it's not been that mine has been the teachers of just the different personalities between elementary and high school. And it's not been a bad thing. But I feel like I had prepared so much for the kid part of it and was like, you know, yeah, like hyping myself up and didn't even give thought to the teacher side of things and just how different teachers do things, you know, the same activities you do in high school, you don't do an elementary, I feel like both of them can learn from one another. I feel like we can take some things from elementary world and apply to high school. And I feel like we can do some things from my high school for elementary. But I would say teaching teachers have been my biggest jolt of in trying to teach a kid to read like, Whoa, I have not learned how to read and you know, 27 years. So, going in there. They're like, Miss Alice, do you want to read it? Oh, gosh, I don't know how to spell things now. It's fine. I've had to learn a lot, but huge differences, but not at the same time. So

Johanna Kuiper 3:11

that's crazy. I guess it makes sense, though, because as a math and eighth grade math teacher, I literally would probably die if you asked me to take on kindergarten. But some of my friends who are kindergartener teachers, or kindergarten teachers would, they're like, No, never, I will never step foot into a middle school ever. So it makes sense that the personalities and stuff would be different between elementary and middle school, because it was a very special person to be a middle school teacher.

Lauren Ellis 3:40

And I did it for a year and said, If I have to do this, again, I may not be a teacher. I really thought my first administrative job was going to be middle school because like, joke's on you. And so it was like that Elementary. I was like, you know, mad, mad props to the middle school people because it is a whole different. I don't even know the word. It's a whole different realm of education that the first day I walked in, and I had bus duty, I truly have never felt more awkward in my entire life. And that still to date that I felt every bit of those emotions and the hormones like it just was super overwhelming.

Johanna Kuiper 4:25

Crazy.

Lauren Ellis 4:26

It's a lot. Oh, eighth graders. Yeah. And they grew up and they're so great. And it's so that's the cool part of high school that I missed, is that you getting to see them. You know, Gijsbert I taught freshmen for a minute. And they're still kind of like eighth graders that let's be honest. But by that time, they got to their senior year, and they had grown up and they were these productive citizens. And they were, you know, talking about their goals like oh my gosh, it's so cool. So, so cool.

Johanna Kuiper 4:54

That is awesome. I guess that's one thing I missed because as I teach eighth graders, so I don't get to see them the next Hear, unless they come back to visit. And so I missed that that growth piece. So always, in my mind, they're still those little graders.

Lauren Ellis 5:09

And they come back with these deep voices and like these, like, you know, they've matured and you're like, oh my gosh, you're not like 14 anymore. I know, you're almost a whole adult, you know, but its favorite part of education is seeing a kid grow up and you know, seeing them what they want struggled with. Now, they're, they figured it out. And like, you had some part in that. Yeah, you know, and it's a cool not that you did at all or anything like that, but just that you get to see them overcome challenges that they weren't even sure that they were going to overcome. And they do. And it's just, Oh, it's my favorite.

Johanna Kuiper 5:43

Yeah, that's the best part about being a teacher. Yeah. Okay. So one thing that you are really passionate about is all things Google. So what started or what sparked that interest in maximizing your skills and all things, Google.

Lauren Ellis 6:00

So I am a super, super organized person. And ah, you know, you have in your brain the way you want to do things, and you're like, I know that this can somehow be tweaked. And so I had spent so many hours just trying to figure out like, one workaround for something, or how do you do this? Or how can I make this work? To fit my needs, like, I love that resources that people create, but it wasn't for my kids. You know, like, I had my own ideas, I knew who they were, and you can always tweak stuff like the teacher, entrepreneur world is fantastic. But I think people have different ways to do things. I knew that I wanted to do it differently. And so really, really trying to figure out like, how can I make these things work for me, was super important. And I transitioned from a new district. And before that, I was on Microsoft. And so and I love so Microsoft back then like, then I came to my new district, and I hated it. I hated Google. I was like, why would we do this? Why don't we do not have access to you know, I was so upset. And I was like, Well, I can either get on board or not. And realized, oh, my gosh, what have I been missing out on? You know, and just realizing that Microsoft is great, and Office products are fantastic. But Google is so much more user friendly, and so much more accessible for everybody, versus just like a small population of people. And so realizing that if people just had access to this and knew what to do, and like just knew this little trick, or knew this work around how much they could use it to their benefit, and to get them organized, and to save time. And so all the hours that I wish I could get back. But it is really helped me help others and teach them these things and to make their life easier. And it's like it kind of just like a weight lift. All right, well, that was easy. If that's all I had to do to help you like I should have done this. But believe that Google products can truly ease your life and can make it more simplified. Versus it's not all the bells and whistles. And it's not, you don't have to have some in depth knowledge, it takes a little bit of knowledge, and you can do a lot with it.

Johanna Kuiper 8:28

So tell us some of those ways that you have used Google to simplify things in your classroom.

Lauren Ellis 8:35

That is so cool. I feel like you've shared so much information about some tools that I don't even use yet. Like, I'd never considered using Google Slides as an interactive notebook. But I know what you're talking about, of how when you update yours, it updates others, because that's how they do it for like our staff PD notebook. So I think that is so cool that that is a possibility. That is mind blowing. And it's not hard,

you know, like, I'm a big person of like, I want to be efficient and effective. And so I'm going to spend time doing one or the other, you know, and so yeah, I can spend 20 minutes on the front end, but it's gonna save me time on the back end of You know, answering questions that they already have from the get go. And making resources was super important, because I could kind of troubleshoot those questions. And if they chose this answer, I knew why. And then how to change that train of thought. And so I feel like educators are spending so much time doing different workarounds, that we can customize it to our kids and make it easier. So which way you're a big question is like, which way are you going to use your time? You know, and it's, it's gonna be dealt with no matter what. So what do I want to do with it? And how do I want to use it.

And that's a great point, too, because as teachers, we have such limited time, because we are asked to do so much and we have so much we want to do. So anytime, anytime we can save time is going to be a good deal.

And that's, I think that second turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours and hours turn into days. And so anywhere where we can save time, I'm going to take full advantage of it, you know, because it's gonna come back eventually. But how can we make it work for us to in the process and not like, kill ourselves trying to do it either, you know, like, how can I make something just a tad bit simpler, so that my quality of life is also better.

And that is kind of like the perfect segue into one of my favorite things that you talk about. You shared this, I think back last year, when we were making our opt ins, and it has been a game changer. So can you tell us about autoCrat and break it down for us?

Oh, my gosh, autoCrat is like one of the best kept secrets because that's another thing with Google, there's a lot within it, you know, and like, it can get really overwhelming. And that's a huge thing. Like if I feel overwhelmed, like I'm gonna go into my shell. And so there are 10s of 1000s Google extensions. And so autoCrat is you know, not the top of the list, but it should be. So I don't know if you're familiar with like mailmerge, like, circa like 2000 ish air. And so this is what it has evolved to be it autoCrat is more, I'm trying to think of the word it is more updated. And so it is a way that you can automate the creation and sharing of personalized documents. And so that document can be a certificate, it can be a letter, it can be an email, it can be a PDF, it can be a picture, it can be so many different things. It really is whatever you want to automate within your classroom, you can do and so there are two ways you can do it, you can start off with a Google form. And then whenever I press the submit button, it can generate whatever document I want it to be. And so some things that I did, and still do. But I'm trying to keep it classroom. So for my PSD or RTI, so kind of like your MTS s process before referrals and all that, it's a lot of paperwork, and it's a lot of things that you have to check off. And so having this Google form, to where like I would fill in student information, and what teachers needed to know. And here is our plan, I would could press submit, and it would disperse to who all I needed it to. And this plan is written for me. It wasn't handwritten, it was on everybody's drive, it was in an email, and it was saved. And I feel like for anything like me, you go back here, look at their emails, like I know that I sent this like, and paper is great. I'm a hardcore paper planner, girl. But when it comes to documents and stuff, and like school things, I need to have it accessible at all times. And paper doesn't allow me to do that. And so being able to push that out and have access to it and have others have access to it, we were able to streamline a lot of processes, and save so much time because everybody had it at their fingertips. And then obviously, a battle that I face still is grades and attendance. And so we are constantly trying to make sure our parents are aware, we give them many avenues of being aware of both of those. And so if a kid dropped below a certain grade level, not grade level if they dropped below a certain grade and my gradebook is going to pop up a color. And I knew like hey, I need to go fill out my Google form. And it's going to trigger a response to these parents. And they're gonna know exactly what their grade is, what how many absences they've had, how many tardies they've had, and they know that and it's not me having to type out all these different emails. It's just taking 17 seconds to fill something in, and it's done for you. And so again, it's things that we have to do and they already keeps a documentation log for you like Hey, when did you email this parent and once you talk to this parent, it's all right there for me and it's there is no double the work it's not I'm having to fill out a letter and go back and do this submit one Google form. And it does it all. For me. I think my biggest game changer was just realizing I can take things off my plate, and I can cut down something that takes me 15 minutes, it can now take me three. And I can be done a whole lot sooner certificate, again, pretty things really, really motivated me and I love or certificate, a set of story I have a certificate is I had a kid because it was seven years ago who he slipped in my class. And we oh my gosh, it was the end of the day. It's freshman, and we love freshmen. But oh my gosh, freshman at 230. It's tough. And we just weren't on the same page to begin with. And we finally got on the same page. And he was my most improved student. And at the end of the year, we did like an awards day. And he got a you know, I'm like, we had the student in our class, you know, just hyping it up like he has, you know, he was not doing his work at the beginning. But now he is busted out and like he has grown this month, you know, seeing that? And he said, I was sitting there thinking to myself, who could she be talked about, and I said his name. And I truly wish in that moment, I could capture what his face was, and just how much of a difference that made. And he told everybody he knew. And he came back a few years later, he said, you know, that certificate is still on my wall. And so yeah, it seems silly, but something that I can literally press one Google Form button with and fill in their name, and like a happy and give him print off and give it to him. And it sticks with that child like I could have, you know, given a speech Do you know, there's a lot of things I can do in its place. But that took me a minute and a half. And it stuck with him. You know, it's not just about like our processes, like we're obviously doing our work because we believe in kids and their potential. So that one little thing could also help with relationship building to

crazy how one thing called autocorrect can make such a huge difference. And not only for us in time, but also impact kids in such a positive way. And again, that's

not like, oh, my gosh, I did this. I just, again, small things that have big benefits and big rewards and big impacts. That's an easy thing for me to do that I can you know, take a second to do. And it makes a difference. You know, so I'm all about big bang for your buck. Like let me get a lot from it. So,

yes, I agree. So what other hidden gems are there about Google that we could use in our classroom?

Again, organization is huge for me, because, again, we're asked to do a time. And I see that from both sides now, like there are times to ask teachers to do stuff. And I'm like, I'm so sorry. Like, I'd hate it. This is one more thing on your plate. But we have to do it in an FCM fortunate part of it. And so I wish that people knew that you could customize it to your liking. And you can make it fit. And it's not hard, you know, it takes five minutes of setting up and then it's done. I feel like Google Sheets is super popular right now we've had, we know some people who have launched and who've done really well with sheet courses, because it is an incredible tool, you know, but I would say my organization heart loves Google Keep it is like a electronic posted note. And I'm able to sync it from my phone from my computer from anywhere. And so like all these Braindumps if you're anything like me, like your mind is going down to nothing. And I'm not always at my computer, obviously, I've not been able to use my computer at school for a few days, weeks, actually. And so my brain still going but I have the Google Keep app on my phone, and I'm able to jot stuff down, and it syncs over everywhere. And within every single Google product, there's like a sidebar that I'm able to pop it up and I can see it. And so it's I can see it across everything at one time. And so all these things would have thought that I look back at my stuff and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that was a really great idea. And I have not remembered it since then. Like, you know, I wish that I had more real estate space in my brain sometimes. So just being able to like dump it and get it out and being able to move on to the next thing and then whenever I do have a second to go back, I'm able to still have that and it's not a completely fleeting thought, you know, it's the backend left forefront and so it keeps you organized. But also it gives you a chance to like breathe and get it off your plate. I don't I don't know if you're like me where if I can just get it down I feel better, you know, like it not that it's done and there is still another action part to that. But then I'm done and I've you know I've I've at least written down I know I'm going to come back to it. Did that is super helpful just for my mental health and my mental space that I can still keep it all organized. I can Moving around, I can copy and paste to another one. And I can set like reminders on it too. So again, I'm super bad at remembering stuff. But it can send me an alert that, hey, this needs to be done. And I don't have to worry about it again. I love Google Keep that sounds

awesome. Because if you could see my my desk, it is like, post it notes. Oh, I am definitely going to check out Google Keep, because I didn't know about it. I didn't know that's what it did. Yeah, so now I'm going to be so organized, I'm gonna get so much done, because I'm very similar to you of, if once I write it down, like I don't have to keep it in my brain anymore, cuz it's remembered for me elsewhere. But then I get lost in the field of all my post it notes. So here's what you

can do, you can color code it. So like blue is business because my favorite color and so like blue business bees, we got to go in on my pink is my school. And so I know that anything on pink is gonna be done. And like, you're able to prioritize it. And like you can color like the font to like, it is truly my brain on a computer screen. And so I really like it's got a million things going, you know that I don't have to keep it confined to like a three by three space. And it can. I am not killing tree trees either, which is like, hey, you know, I'm not as passionate about that as I should be. But if I think about like, oh, my gosh, I wrote, I know I have that written down at home, you know, because I think I have sticky notes on my computer monitor here too. But I can't always see that. But I can see it if I write down on my phone because it syncs everywhere. And so that also helps my like, little bit of anxiety if I had that written down. And then I have four sticky notes with the same thing written down for like, it's the same thing. So it's so great. So, so great. And it's like a Google extension. So like a Google Chrome extension, so you can have it literally everywhere.

That's amazing. I'm so excited to dive into that and do more with it. So thank you for sharing that. That. Absolutely. That's probably my biggest takeaway from our episode today.

Yes, I love it. And that's, I was talking to somebody else. And you're like Google Keep I'm like, Why Does anybody else know? Like, what? And so that's when we were talking and like, I wonder if other people know about it, like, you know, it's in there's a ton of Google products, you know, and so again, they can get very, very easily lost. But oh, my gosh, if you love a post it note, you should check it out.

I will. So we have talked a lot about of things of Google, we talked about Google Sheets, Google Slides, autoCrat Google Keep. So all of this is a lot of information. So what other resources can teachers have to learn more?

So, um, I have two freebies, that one of them is specifically about autocrat, and I go ahead and give you templates that you can use. So there is a certificate template, there is an attendance letter. There's all different kinds of things within that one. And so you can check that out. I also have my top 10, Google Chrome extensions that have I found to be the most productive and the best that I just keep going back to over and over again so that you can save some time. I also have a course it is called Tiki educator you and it goes through all these Google products and more that we've just talked about that dives in of what is each button do? But also how can you use it within your classroom to fit your needs, so that you can get organized and at the same time, save time, so that you can focus on other things. Obviously, we're more than just educators. And there's a lot happening with us. You know, we're had a kid telling one time you don't sleep at the school, and how was fine? No. Like, he was astounded. He was like, I was like, you know, like, I have a first name, right? Like, I'm a whole human, you know that this is a huge part of my life. And I love it. But I like go home a little while, you know, that's so cute. Bless them they are. Again, I don't understand how I could love doing anything more because of things I hear like this every day. But it tells you everything that you could possibly do and stuff that I've learned along the way. So there are Google certification trainings, and there are different things. But I feel like educators kind of looked over in that of really, how can I specialize to what I need, and a time where there's a plethora of information. Being able to take something that's specifically designed for you, I think, is super important. Because we don't have time to research for hours. You know, we're just not in that day and age anymore to where, you know, time is the most important thing I think that we can give ourselves and so learning how to use it for your needs is super important. Yeah,

Those are some great resources. I definitely recommend the one about autocrat. That's where I learned about it. And I use it for sending emails because parent communication was not my strong suit. But I can't say that anymore because I am using streamlining stuff. Yes. All right. So as we're kind of wrapping up today's episode, was there anything else Google related that you wanted to share that we haven't chatted about yet? I don't think

so. I think that if you're like me seven years ago, and you're like, I don't need one more thing, or like, it cannot be great. Like, just give it a shot. And you, you very much could hate it. I don't think that you will. But I had some I talk about, you know, I'm gonna Microsoft school totally fine. But also how can you refine it for your personal life to, you know, there are some things that if you could save time in your personal life, it could give some more time to education, if you you know, there would be a balance. And so I think just giving it a shot and seeing, like, what is the hype about because there is a real one.

And it's free? Yeah, guys will try it.

Like that's what I'm like, we have such phenomenal things at our fingertips that like I don't have to pay a 999 monthly subscription. Like it's free. And oh, gosh, yes. We love I love free stuff. It is one of my love languages. And so I'm very passionate about free. And so something that can save me time and it's free and I'm not to pay for it. Like How much stuff do we pay for Delve simplify our life? No shame in that because I do have monthly subscriptions. But this could be a free part of it. You know, that could help? Yes. Agreed.

Anything free is definitely for me. Yes. Yes. I'm glad you loved that. That was good.

That was really good. I bet it's like T shirt where the slogan I see on a shirt like, that is me. And they definitely

found it here on this podcast, for sure. All right, so I asked this in every interview that I do. What is your favorite math related joke or pun?

So one of my most favorite things is a joke. And I have my high school math teacher used to sell us Laffy Taffy jokes. And so this is probably my most favorite question I've ever been asked in my life just so we're clear. Because this is my time to shine like this is every corny joke I've ever told this is it? So my personal favorite is what did the acorn say when it grew up?

I've never heard this one. What does it say?

Geometry?

Guys, I've never heard that. That is geometry. That is awesome. Oh my gosh.

Man, I can I'm literally crying

definition of a corny joke right there that is. I'm done. I love math related jokes. They're

great. And they're just a special kind of humor in it. And it's so great. It's my kids will look at me like another one. I'm like, and you gotta laugh. And get your bank laughs on

y'all to actually one of our math teachers at my school is very into like dad jokes. And we got a new bulletin board and the math hallway. And so he decided to take it over. And it is full of like math, jokes and puns. It is literally the best.

Do you smile every day when you all die? I do. I do you send me a picture of that. Yes,

I will take a picture tomorrow.

Oh my gosh, that would brighten my day like oh my gosh, I think that jokes are so needed. And oh my gosh. I think that might be my next bulletin board.

Like yes. Oh,

goodness, of like, the teacher world is doing a bulletin board to like I could I could do that.

Yeah. I'll send you some inspiration. Yes. Yes. All right. Tell people where they can find you.

So you can find me at my website and it's Lauren ellis.org. Or you can find me on Instagram at Lauren Ellis underscore move like mov into math. I love a good fun I love cows and animals. Like it's true like just to fix who I am. Alright. And I would love to connect with you. If you have questions about anything Google or you have a way that you use it in your classroom that I didn't mention that you think others should know about. Please let me know that because I'm constantly learning things and trying to evolve in a better educator so that I can Help others as well.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise on all things Google.

Thank you so much for having me. This was incredible. Yes,

indeed. And with that, Oh calc-u-later Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. To find all the links and resources to things talked about in this episode, head on over to Miss Kuiper's classroom.com and click on podcast

Transcribed by https://otter.ai