Friday, October 28, 2016

Weekly Tech News and Tips for October 28, 2016


Mrs. Szczytko enjoying a surprise "no school" day.
Hopefully you are all well rested from the unexpected day off yesterday, brought to us by the elementary boiler. While most of you are excited about an impromptu day off, a handful of us look forward to a quiet, productive day. I can't speak for the rest of the staff, but I actually get excited about these days. Yesterday, for example, I took advantage of the day to update all the PCs, as well as update and disinfect every Chromebook at the middle school - that's about 78 devices, if you're keeping count. (Not to worry elementary staff, I did yours last month.) The gloves, earbuds and disinfecting wipes come out and I go to town. I try to disinfect the student devices every other month or so - it's a little more challenging now that we have over 100 Chromebooks and iPads. Now if we could get our students to do their part by actually putting them back in the carts and PLUGGING THEM IN. I actually found many Chromebooks scattered all over the WIN Cafe - not even near the carts, as well as some stacked on top of the carts instead of inside. Don't even get me started on how many were just crammed into the carts in both the WIN and TLC every which way, and left unplugged. The students have definitely gotten quite lax in their device care habits and could stand for a refresher and some supervision when getting them out and especially putting them back. Your help is truly essential and appreciated in reinforcing these habits with our kids. (stepping off soap box now) Speaking of devices, if you are looking for a way to add a device to your classroom, or for yourself, and feeling a little lucky, you can enter for a chance to win an Acer Chromebook R11, which is a hybrid chromebook and tablet. Only one entry per person is allowed. Click the link to enter. Good luck!

Enjoying it while it lasts.
...and speaking of lucky! Your Holy Rollers bowling team is currently in first place. There is some dispute if this is due more to luck, skill, or a combination thereof, but we're doing our best to represent!

As always, if there is a new tech idea you'd like to try in your classroom, let me know & I'll be happy to help you with it. Leave a comment below if you saw something you liked, or would like to see news on a topic I haven't included.


The Forward All vs. Forward Function in Gmail

We've all received a forwarded email thread that is difficult to read. You need to scroll to the bottom and start reading from bottom to top to follow it. Well, there is a button for that. The Forward All feature (More-Forward All) rearranges the conversation in chronological order so it is easy to read. Check out the blog post for instructions.


Two Helpful Tips for Navigating PDFs

From Free Tech for Teachers, by Richard Byrne
When you or your students are researching a topic online, here are a couple easy ways you can quickly find what you are looking for within a PDF. 


8 Ambient Sound Websites to Help Students Focus

8 Ambient Sound Websites to Help Students Focus, from Control Alt Achieve, by  Eric Curts
Do you concentrate better when there is some background noise, such as a fan, rain, or quiet music? Your students may as well. Studies show ambient sounds can not only help people concentrate, but also promote creativity. If you need help boosting your, or your students' concentration, here are some sites you can try. Tip:  In addition to the standard forest, beach, fire, etc. sounds, Ambient Mixer has several Harry Potter related, and historical, such as The Year 1612 or On a Ship at Sea to help you create a mood your students will like.

How Video Games can Help Students in Class, at Home

Those of you who use Kahoot! with your kids can already attest to the popularity of using gaming in class. If you are wondering about the benefits of introducing gaming into your classroom, there are some surprising benefits.

How to Build a Custom Google Map Using Addresses in Google Sheets

How to Build a Custom Google Map Using Addresses in Google Sheets from Better Cloud Monitor
Would you like your students to plot all the battles of the Civil War, or maybe all the places they have visited during vacation? Here's an easy way to do that with the Sheets Add-On, Mapping Sheets. Click the link for both a video and step by step instructions.

Similar to Classkick, from last week's blog, Formative also allows you to make your PDFs interactive and monitor your student's work on them in real-time. Students can type in fields you add to your PDF, show their work with drawings, or submit images. You can watch them work in real-time and intervene as necessary to make sure they understand the concepts. Accounts are free for teachers and students, and both can sign up using their Google accounts. Read Amy's blog to see how she used it in her classroom.

Newsela - a Kinder, Gentler Current Events & Election Source

Having students research current events, or the current election, is definitely more tricky these days. Too often, the content is just not appropriate for students. Enter Newsela. Newsela takes all the news and converts it to age-appropriate levels that are safe for students to use. So for example, if you wanted your students to read information about the presidential debates, instead of headlines about the details of Donald Trump's "locker room talk", or Bill Clinton's history with interns, the headline simply reads, "Bitterness, insults dominate Trump-Clinton debate in St. Louis".  As a teacher, you can set up a free educator account, and sort by text set, grade level, or even reading standard. There are sections for news, but also for biographies, famous speeches, issues, history, and so much more. Your students can join your class and read the articles you've designated. They can also just search the site on their own. Give it a try and see what you think.

Punctuation Practice with Google Docs

Punctuation Practice with Google Docs, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
Here's a step by step guide on how to quickly create your own punctuation worksheet using Google Docs and an add-on called Doc Tools.

Teaching Through the Camera Lens: 10 Activities with Photos and Video

Teaching Through the Camera Lens: 10 Activities with Photos and Video from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
These ideas can include having students use the iPads or their phones to take the photos and videos, and creating the finished product either on the iPads or Chromebooks. Will any of these ideas work for your class?

SoundBible - Free Sound Effects for Multimedia Projects

From Free Tech for Teachers, by Richard Byrne
Here's a free resource to find sound effects for podcasts, videos and slide presentations...or any other multimedia project.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, October 21, 2016

Weekly Tech News and Tips for October 21, 2016

It's definitely feeling like fall now. There's a chill in the air, the leaves are displaying their beautiful color show, and Halloween is right around the corner. (Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.) Here is an assortment of updates and ideas to inform and inspire you in your classroom - or just for general use. Feel free to add comments in the space below to let me know if you found something helpful, or if you'd like to see information on a particular topic.




G Suite Updates: Action Items and Forms

Recent updates make it easier to keep track of who is taking care of which tasks. You can assign action items automatically and manually. To assign tasks automatically, enter phrases in Docs such as "Andrea to schedule a weekly check in", and a prompt will appear to assign an action item.
You can also manually assign action items to others in Docs, Sheets and Slides by mentioning their name in a comment.

Once those task items have been assigned, it's now easier to find the files that need attention. The next time you visit Drive (or the apps Docs, Sheets and Slides), a badge will appear on any files with action items assigned to them. 

Forms has also recently received a couple handy updates. To save time, when you are entering a common question, Forms will now automatically suggest answers that go with it, and in the correct format (check boxes, multiple choice, etc.). In addition, with forms that are shared within our organization, in our case within DOGR, there is now a new File Upload type question. Respondents can upload a file as part of their response to the question. 

7 Reasons Why You Need to Use PBS Election Central

From Learn Lead Grow by Matt Bergman
This is a great, nonpartisan tool to explain all facets of the current, and previous, election cycles to your students. PBS Election Central includes Election Collection to understand democracy, the US government and why we have elections, The Election Process, Understand the Presidential Debates, a Classroom Debate Toolkit, We the Voters Films, the Electoral Decoder, an Interactive Map, and Virtual Field Trips. There are also posters you can download, videos you can show, and lots of links to related resources. Truth be told, we could probably all use this - especially this year.  Click here to read the full article.

5 Ways Tech can Truly Improve Learning (with Examples)

From Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
Get beyond the buzz words to see practical ways tech can enhance what and how you are teaching. Click here to read the entire post.

5 Ways Students can Find Free Images

5 Ways Students can Find Free Images, from Practical Ed Tech with Richard Byrne
It's important to teach your students how to find images for their slide presentations and videos, that are free to use without permission. (No it's not actually legal to just pull any image from the internet and use it if they are copyrighted.) It this blog entry, Richard Byrne shows 5 sources for public domain and Creative Commons licensed images that are free to use.


Game On World

From Free Tech 4 Teachers, by Richard Byrne.
This game is similar to Kahoot, and has several types of games in geography and science. Students also do not need to create a login, they just go to gameon.world and enter the class code. As a teacher, you would also go to the same site to start the game. Unlike Kahoot, it does not appear that you can make your own games up, but there are many to choose from. 

Adobe Spark for Simple Multimedia Projects

from The Electric Educator by John Sowash
Here's a first hand account of how John used Adobe Spark with his 8 and 6 year old kids to create a video on pollution. He also includes some cautions when using Spark. This is a great way to use the iPads to take the photos, store them in Google Photos, then use Spark on the Chromebooks to create a polished video quickly with both elementary and middle school students. Read the entire post and see their video here. Access Spark at spark.adobe.com. 

Classkick for Chromebook and More!

This is a great program for creating interactive slides that students can work on at their own pace - and you can watch their progress real-time. This app used to only be available on iOS, but now is a web app, so is available for Chromebooks, Macs and PCs too! This can be used by elementary and middle school students, as no account set up is necessary. Students just enter the class code to join.

Creating Green Screen Videos for Education

by Sam Gliksman
We already have the green screens and iPad apps if you'd like to try this fun project for video reports with your students.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Weekly Tech Tips and News for October 14, 2016

Fall definitely seems to be upon us now. The school year is well underway, and we are moving on with classroom plans and activities. It's a great time to infuse some new technology ideas into your routine to insert some excitement.  As always if you see an idea you'd like to try, or are having trouble with, please let me know and I'll help you out. If there are topics you find interesting... or not... make a comment in the section below.



How to Insert Columns into Google Docs

from Free Tech 4 Teachers, by Richard Byrne
We've been waiting for this feature for a long time. I touched on it in last week's blog with the rest of the Google updates. Here is a video showing you how to insert them into your document.


5 More Overlooked Google Slides Options

from Free Tech 4 Teachers, by Richard Byrne
This is a follow up to last week's post. These five options include importing slides from PowerPoint, rotating images, including charts in your slides, custom personal dictionary, and making comic templates.



A Foolproof Solution to Tech Breakdowns in Class

A Foolproof Solution to Tech Breakdowns in Class from Ditch That Textbook, by Matt Miller
It happens. We've all experienced it at one point or another. The website that crawls, the app that eats up too much bandwidth and won't load for everyone, the internet goes out...  It's always good to have a plan B, but sometimes how we handle it is more important than what we end up doing instead.

A Creative Approach to Project Based Learning

I was fascinated by this teacher's account of how he simulates real life in his classroom to promote learning to which all students can relate. Because it is something that resonates with their lives, they are more likely to retain what they have learned. An added benefit is that his test scores have been boosted as well. See what you think.

Who'd Have Thought? Sporcle to the Rescue!

Who'd Have Thought? Sporcle to the Rescue! from A Lever and a Place to Stand by Amy Roediger
Do you have facts you want your kids to memorize? Maybe some terms they need to be able to recall at a moments notice? States? Addition or Multiplication tables? Sporcle takes flashcards to a whole new level. Students try to get as many answers correct from a visual hint (images or words) in a timed period. You can either create your own quizzes or use some of the million quizzes already created by others.

5 Neat Things Students can do with Google Drawings

from Free Tech 4 Teachers, by Richard Byrne
Did you even remember Google Drawings existed? Have you ever used it? It's actually a very useful tool for things like cropping or changing the shape of images, applying an image filter, having students label an image or diagram, word art, and creating charts. In addition to these suggestions, I've also seen teachers use Drawings to create thinking maps with students. 


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, October 7, 2016

Weekly Tech News and Tips October 7, 2016

This is a very belated welcome back to school post. My own back to school preparations and MAP testing have truly monopolized my time for the past two months, so I apologize for not publishing any new posts in quite awhile. I'm sure you have been under the same pressure getting your classrooms ready, lesson planning, getting to know your students, and establishing procedures and routines with your new classes. Hopefully we can now settle down to more normal school days and get down to all the wonderful learning that takes place at ASA. Read on for tech tools and updates you can use to accomplish your goals. As always, if there are any new tech tools or projects you would like to have help exploring, please let me know. I'll be happy to help you!


Drive Search, Columns and More Google Updates

Recent Google updates include the ability to search for files in Drive using Natural Language Processing, or what you and I would call plain English. You can now search the same way you speak. The search feature will also suggest spelling corrections, just like it does in a Google internet search.
Credit:  G Suite Updates

Other long awaited updates include being able to use columns in Docs (finally!), and being able to open, convert and edit non-Google files in Docs, Sheets and Slides. You'll be able to view or download the non-Google source file in its original format in the Revision History (File-See Revision History). Click here to read the entire post.

In an earlier September post, Google also added a feature to eliminate duplicate files for those who download a Google file to modify it on your computer, say in Word or Excel, then upload the new version again. Sometimes this process makes it difficult to tell what the current version of the file is. Now when you upload a file that has the same name as an existing file, you will be offered the choice to append the current file (earlier versions will be available in the Revision History) or keep it as a separate file.

Just this week it was announced that an update to Table of Contents in Docs now provides the option to show page numbers in addition to just the bookmark link. To show page numbers, just select the numbered option when inserting a table of contents from the Insert menu.

Does Your Chromebook Have a Virus?

Does Your Chromebook Have a Virus? from The Electric Educator by John Sowash
The answer is no, but this is is a great description of how you end up seeing those messages, and what NOT to do when you see them. Please always contact me before clicking on anything. If I'm not immediately available, try to sit tight, but never enter any personal or login information. As always, be very careful before clicking on any email or web site links. While the procedures will be slightly different for PCs, many of the same rules would apply.

12 Tips for Using Google Apps with Young Students

12 Tips for Using Google Apps with Young Students From Ditch that Textbook by Matt Miller
This expands on a previous post about using Google Apps for Littles, with 12 specific suggestions, such as focusing on icons, color coded indicators, terminology and more. There is also a section on Google Apps activities for littles to give you ideas.

The Apps Show: Back to School with Google EDU

In this episode from early September, see new features demonstrated such as Google Cast for Education, where students can share their screen with the projector via the teacher (the app is already installed for you), sending parents updates via Google Classroom, annotate anything via the Classroom mobile app, and Google Expeditions.


How to Use Images as Answer Choices in Google Forms

From Practical Ed Tech for Teachers by Richard Byrne

We've always been able to insert images as questions in Google Forms, but now you can also insert images as answers choices to your questions. Watch and learn, all the while you'll be humming a tune from Sesame Street. (My apologies if that song has now become an earworm.)

12 Ways to use Google Cardboard in Your Class

12 Ways to use Google Cardboard in Your Class, from Ditch that Textbook by Matt Miller
Here are some great ideas to use Google Cardboard in your class in an inexpensive way. This is very "doable". If you are interested in a used smartphone drive, here is a list of compatible phones. If you'd like to experience Cardboard, let me know. I have one, with some apps already loaded on my phone. I'll be happy to give you a test run.

Slides Features Every Student (and Teacher) Can Use

From Practical Ed Tech for Teachers by Richard Byrne

Here are some great features that will help you with your presentations. You can also share them with your students to help them with their presentations as well. They include changing your slide background for one or all slides, masking and cropping images, slide transitions, taking questions from audience members, and using the built in laser pointer.

14 Ways to Create Great Classroom Video with Screencastify

14 Ways to Create Great Classroom Video with Screencastify from Ditch that Textbook with Matt Miller
Now that Techsmith no longer offers Snagit for Chrome (it's still available as paid for Windows or Mac software) I've been exploring Screencastify (which is free!) as a replacement for the video tutorials I create. Those video tutorials can be of anything on your screen or in view of your web cam, not just for tech tutorials. This blog post identifies not only ways you can use video in your classroom, but also why to use it. Sometimes it's so much easier to understand a video demonstration or explanation of something, than follow it in writing. - not to mention, your students will prefer it as well. If you would like students to have access to this app, please let me know and I'll push it out to them.

Google Apps is Now G Suite

From Shake Up Learning by Kasey Bell
You are used to the Google Apps we use being referred to as, well, Google Apps, Google Apps for Education, or GAFE for short. Apparently Google has now renamed Google Apps to G Suite. Apparently it's just a name change, and all the same Google Apps are included in the suite. With the new name, however does come a couple improvements, one is Explore in Docs, Sheets and Slides, which makes it easier to use the Research feature, as well as to search for features in plain English. Read the full post for demonstrations of how Explore is used. 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)