Lessons Learned

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way

                                                                                               Napoleon Hill


Today was a really interesting one full of learning and no small degree of laughter at my inadequacies. As I try to create the resources to support participants in the project, I am discovering how much I need to learn about the tools we plan to use. I love nerdling. I love the fiddling and tweaking and collaborations that help build my skills so that I can help others. 

Today I made three sets of Google Sheets which would have probably worked but in a cumbersome way. Click on the images below to see them more clearly.

This seemed a natural starting point but how awkward would it be to navigate between pages?

I am lucky to have a friend well versed in all things Google and he helped me to re-image and tighten my original plan so that now, rather than have three cumbersome sets of sheets which would have been difficult to manage, I now have a Google Form to collect my data which feeds into a sheet where I can apply filters. Participating teachers will be able to find a range of stimulus materials which can be filtered according to target age, themes et al.

The information then gets collated in the Google Sheet like the one below 

The Google Sheet looks like this

Our intention is for participating teachers to help build a repository of texts, both literary and visual, which everyone can access. Texts come in so many different forms and it is wonderful that we will gather such a range across participating countries. We are excited to hear the poems, read the articles, novels and stories, see the photos and videos that allow us to learn about other cultures and also the gift of sharing other people's perspectives in their responses. Google Forms have so many options that allow for data to be gathered. I love learning the nuances of each tool and understand that it really is an ongoing adventure.

It was also pointed out that the project needs its own website outside of my own one. This was something I hadn't thought of and frankly was absolutely on point and so I created a Google Site and embedded materials I had created using Adobe Spark. This is a collaboration and as such needs to stand alone. This blog as well as one I will encourage Maria to create, will be embedded in the site. It might be nice to have each participating school create one and share the links too. So watch this space.

Lessons learned today:
1. Have a clear view of your intention and be ready to look at different iterations.
2. Don't be precious. Be prepared to learn and tweak and delete. The aim is to create the best version rather than tick an objective off the list.
3. Google Forms is far more versatile than I imagined and I LOVE the spreadsheet collection of responses.
4. Using forms means that group members can contribute and view but not upset the spreadsheet formulas.
5. Google Groups allow for a shared folder to be accessible and that I am also able to keep other material separate.
6. Enjoy and learn from those generous enough to share their expertise and passion.