First Week of School with Google Glass

It's been quite a ride this week! Glass has taken up most of my free time...

1. I've spent quite a bit of time just trying to figure out how it works. There are many connections to set up, passwords to enter, etc.  I'm excited about posting all my adventures on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
2. My students and I took hundreds of photos and videos this week.  I spent many hours on Google+ organizing and figuring out how to share these with my blog, my students' parents, and my family.
3. I had to organize lists of students.  I have one list that keeps track of which students have used it.  I have another list that reminds me which students can't be in photos and videos so I can make sure they don't end up on the blog or Facebook. 
4. A big chunk of time was spent trying to figure out the easiest way to get the photos and videos from Glass to the blog.  I want to share these with the parents, but with several hundred students, I needed to figure out a time-efficient way for me to share these.  After several different tries at several different ways, this is what I settled on:
• The Glass automatically backs up to Google+ photos privately when plugged in to an outlet and connected to Wi-fi.
• Google+ organizes the photos by date.
• I can go in and select personal photos/videos and move them to my own album.
• I can then select the rest and copy them to an album to share with parents.  I still end up going through all the videos and pictures the students took, but it's fun to see their point-of-view.  

I did not wear the Glass out and about at school last week.  I found that the students were NOT sharing what they had seen with their peers.  So my lesson throughout the week continued to be, "Here's Glass, here's what it does, and by the way I got one for our class!"  The surprise element was enjoyable - to see the look on their face was exciting.  I will start wearing it full time this week - in the hallways, during class, etc.

I did wear Glass out in public quite often.  Some of the interesting reactions:

• The cashier at the pizza place looked up and said, "WHAT is that?"  with what could have been construed as rudeness, but I took it in stride that I just startled her.  I explained what it was, and she said, "Oh, ok!"
• While waiting for a table at a local restaurant, we ordered some sodas from the bar.  As I was filling out the receipt, the bartender said, "Ok, Glass, add a $2.50 tip!"  I got a giggle out of that and told him how funny I thought it was.  The manager came over to look and was all, "Sorry I'm staring, but that's really cool!"

Interestingly enough, it took a full week before my principal was able to try out the Glass.  We had both been so busy I had only seen her once or twice all week!  We discussed uses of the Glass in the classroom, and she became excited when we talked about teachers using them during a video call so that others could see them teach without being in the room.  The possibilities are exciting for both new teachers and veterans! I'm glad she's excited - she has been a big supporter from the beginning of this project to help me get it off the ground.  I couldn't have done it without her!