Weekly Tech Tips and News for January 13, 2017

K.Szczytko 2014

This frazzled cardinal, captured via photo in my front yard a few years ago during a blizzard, is how a few teachers looked last week after too many indoor recess days due to below zero wind chills. This is also how some educators look at the thought of trying to use new technology ideas in their classrooms. As the dreary winter days continue, it's always a good idea to add some sparkle to keep your students engaged. Not to worry! No need to reinvent the wheel, there are so many ideas that have been tested and perfected by other teachers. I'm also here to help you out. Don't think of technology as a storm to be weathered, but rather a new adventure to try. Not only will it engage your students, but it will keep you fresh as well. Here are some ideas to use with your students, as well as a resource to expand your Infinite Campus skills. Feel free to peruse the labels in the right column to find previous articles for even more ideas. Please let me know if you'd like help with any new tech ideas you'd like to try.

• Learn More About Tutorials in Infinite Campus
• 8 Strategies to Give Better Student Feedback
• 2 Brand New Tools to Help Students Display Work, Reflect
• Digital Text Sources and Tools
• 4 Hidden Features of Google Classroom
• 10 Great Virtual Field Trips to Check Out in 2017

Learn More About Tutorials in Infinite Campus

Ever wondered how to do something in Infinite Campus but didn't know how to find the information? Take a look at this a tutorial on how to use the tutorial in Infinite Campus's Campus Community.

8 Strategies to Give Better Student Feedback

8 Strategies to Give Better Student Feedback, From Learn Lead Grow by Michael Bergman
Of course there's the obvious commenting in Google docs, but there are also many more options for getting your point across with students online work.

2 Brand New Tools to Help Students Display Work, Reflect

2 Brand New Tools to Help Students Display Work, Reflect, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
Two new extensions that speed up the process of adding images to Google Drive, and putting those images into Google Slides. Keep in mind, students are not allowed to add Chrome extensions themselves, so let me know if you'd like these extensions pushed out to your students. It only takes a few moments. The Save to Google Drive extension allows you to right click on an image and save it to Drive. Follow that up with the DriveSlides extension, and by selecting those photos within a folder, it will automatically create a slide presentation with each of the images on a slide. You can then resize, or annotate those images for your presentation, book, etc. There's a full video tutorial in this post, along with lots of ideas for ways to use in different projects.

Digital Text Sources and Tools

Digital Text Sources and Tools from the Kent ISD EdTech Blog
Not only does this article list several sources for text to use with your students, but it also gives reasons why they are so useful.

4 Hidden Features of Google Classroom

4 Hidden Features of Google Classroom, from EdTechTeacher by Ben Sondgeroth
If you haven't had a chance to check out some of the newer, helpful features in Classroom, here's a guide to using the assignment calendar, the work area, topics to organize the stream, and the Classroom extension.

flickr.com

10 Great Virtual Field Trips to Check Out in 2017

10 Great Virtual Field Trips to Check Out in 2017 from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
Use Skype or Google Hangouts to transport your class to some very cool destinations. There are so many more than the ten mentioned here as well. If you are interested in trying out Skype or Google Hangouts, please let me know. I'll be happy to help you get started.