Plan, then plan some more, then plan even more. 

I have always felt that I have had a pretty good grip on things such as lesson planning, technology, anticipating problems, multi-tasking and technology integration. 

Well, setting up 100 students to have Gmail accounts that can be used for Google Docs, Google Drive and Google+ Communities will make a person feel oh so less then competent in all of the above, and more. This year’s foray into using Google Docs to assist in the implementation of a variety of creativity culturing activities in all my classes has morphed into a beast. And all we did was set up Gmail accounts!

Let’s take this a step at a time, so those of you interested will learn from my headaches, and as a whole we will not personally fund the rise in Tylenol stock.

Creativity activities take on many forms in my classroom, from critiques promoting higher order thinking to brainstorming activities. We work on creativity visually, verbally and in writing.

Over this past summer I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time investigating creativity, creativity assessment and digital art journals. This investigation led me to the decision to create Google+ Communities with all my classes in order to implement some of these activities. I also plan on using Google Drive and Google Docs for storage, surveys, and digital journals and brainstorming activities. All of these things I think will integrate very nicely into our Google+ Communities, enabling my students thoughts to be shared with their peers both in and outside their classes and with other stakeholders such as parents.

First however, all 100 students needed Gmail accounts. I had a simple plan. Take each class into my computer lab, have them set up a new account using a screen name and password of my choosing, through which they would send me an introductory email, then take them back to my art classroom, and I would simply plop them into the appropriate Google+ circle and Community later that evening using the email they had each send.

I swear I had it all planned, I tested it at home, I had printed, easy to understand instructions, I even anticipated the problem of forgotten passwords by assigning them easy to remember ones. Our Google+ Communities are being used as a school sponsored social network, so there should not be any presumption of privacy anyway.

Immediately I ran into the first snafu. Apparently Google requires most new users (it didn’t when I set up a new account from home though) to authenticate their account using a code sent though text or voice mail. OK, not a problem, we all have cell phones right? Yeah, cell phones with no reception on school grounds, cell phones at home or back in the classroom, cell phone numbers that Google will only allow to be used a few times for different codes. We muddled through class one, my phone number was successfully used 8 times until Google locked me out, and we had enough students with phones with reception to finish the class. As the day progressed though, I had less success with having students be able to receive texts, less students with cell phones (and my number no longer worked), and when some students were able to successfully create an account, more chaos as they discovered the new world of Google+! Yup, I forgot to take into account that my social media savvy students would immediately jump on Google+ and start playing as soon as their emails were activated. And since I was otherwise occupied with the nightmare of activation codes, hilarity quickly ensued. Google+ is pretty timid though, so while nothing of the job-losing variety occurred, I realized that I have got to be 5 steps ahead of these kids, because, man, they are FAST at picking up any type of social media sites.

Now, 24 hours later most of my students have active Gmail accounts and letters have been sent home informing parents of the creation of the Google+ Communities. My work, however, has just begun; all these students need to be added to my circles and then invited to join the appropriate Community. They need to add me, accept my invitation, and not get in too much trouble until those parent letters come back.

Friday begins iPad Fridays. What have I done to myself?!