Leveraging Gmail for Better Communication

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Efficiency of Use

Here is my list of super simple ways you can become an efficient, power user of some of the different Google products for communication. You don't have to master all of these at once. Rather, pick one or two methods at a time and build your repertoire as time goes on.

Gmail Etiquette, BCC, Reply All, and You

Sending an all-staff email can be stressful. Did you remember to attach every document or link you promised you would? Did you check and double-check your spelling and grammar? Take a little off of yourself by at least doing the following:

• BCC your email. Blind carbon copying makes it so your receivers do not accidentally REPLY-ALL with a personal or awkward email. While sometimes hilarious, let's avoid those very public snafus.
• If you do not receive a BCC'ed email, please remember to reply directly to the sender and not to everyone else.
• Think about the tone of your email. Many things can get lost in translation without facial cues and body language to smooth things over. Try reading your email out loud before you send it. DOES IT SOUND LIKE YOU'RE YELLING?  

Advanced Search

How many of you have more than 100 unread emails? 1,000? 10,000? (The worst I've ever seen was 100,000 unread emails). Trying to find an email in that mess can be daunting. Take advantage of Google's most powerful tool: its search algorithm. Instead of merely typing in someone's name or email to find what you're looking for, use the advanced search parameters by clicking on the filter button on the search bar in Gmail. Instead of giving you 1,000 possible results, narrow it down to more manageable numbers to find what you need.

PS You can do this in Google Drive as well

Undo and Scheduled Send

Listen we've all probably sent an email and immediately forgot to add an attachment, or realized there was a spelling mistake or whatever. Anytime you send an email, there will be an "undo" option that appears on the bottom left corner of your screen. it'll appear for 5-30 seconds depending on your preference in Settings. Hit undo and it'll come back as if it never left your inbox.

Ever finish writing an email at 11:30 pm and wondered whether to fire it off or not? Our kids certainly don't mind sending those late-night emails. Sometimes I'm shocked at how late (or early) in the night I get emails from students. You can easily schedule an email to be automatically sent once written by clicking on the arrow next to the blue send button and choosing the scheduled send option. You'll see a variety of options, or you can pick your own date and time. 

Google Chat

Don't be afraid of using Google Chat for quicker, more informal synchronous talks. You can even create a "space" for multiple people which are akin to the old AOL chatrooms. Look here for a previous FTT blog on Google Chat.

Change the Paradigm

As a last thought, perhaps outside of simple mechanical changes like those mentioned above, we can change the paradigm on communication and foster communication between those who can really need some formal talks: students and their guardians. In a past FTT blog, we mentioned an option for students to keep their parents and guardians in the loop by writing a weekly/biweekly message about what's going on in their classrooms. While some of this may occur at the dinner table, I'm sure we all know by now that that type of communication might not be as effective as we'd like. Here is a sample format your students could use right away:

Here's a link to the Google Doc above (Credit Sean Crevier @ Vernon Hills). Feel free to make a copy yourself and change/enhance it to fit your students. If you have any other thoughts on bettering communications, please comment below!