Weekly Tech Tips and News for June 16, 2017

Hopefully you are staying cool and enjoying
your summer like these boys on the beach.
K.Szczytko 2010

Summer is here! The halls are quiet, lockers are empty and the building is nearly deserted. The weather even kicked in with instant summer and gave us 90 degree temperatures most of the week. Those of us still at school are thankful for the air conditioned sections of the buildings. Most of you are off, taking a break from school, and having fun in the sun (or maybe fun in the air conditioning or water). Hopefully you remembered to turn on the vacation responder in your school Gmail account, or you can check out the first article and forward your school email to your personal account so you don't miss anything while you're away. Summer break is a great time to experiment with those new tech tools you didn't have time to play with during the school year. Check out the ideas in this post, or take a look at the list of labels in the right column to link you to past posts. If you need help working the kinks out of anything, please let me know, I'll be around all summer and will be happy to help you. Enjoy your time off!

• How to Forward Your G Suite Email to a Personal Gmail Account
• Visually Appealing Google Forms
• How to Split Text Into Columns in Google Sheets
• Be Internet Awesome - Google's New Internet Safety Curriculum
• How Many Words Per Minute Can You Type?
• Create Simple Animations With ParaPara Animation
• Make Stop Motion Videos on Your Chromebook

How to Forward Your G Suite Email to a Personal Gmail Account

How to Forward Your G Suite Email to a Personal Gmail Account, from Free Tech for Teachers by Richard Byrne
It's summer! If you're tired of remembering to login to your school account, just forward it to your personal account so you won't miss any important messages.

Visually Appealing Google Forms

Visually Appealing google Forms, from www.edgaged.net by Lance Yoder
The video in this post has some great ideas for making questions in Google Forms look so much better! It solves the lack of formatting options within Forms.

How to Split Text Into Columns in Google Sheets

How to Split Text Into Columns in Google Sheets, from Better Cloud Monitor
This is a huge time saver when you get a list that you need to split into two or more columns, such as first and last names.

Be Internet Awesome - Google's New Internet Safety Curriculum

Be Internet Awesome - Google's New Internet Safety Curriculum, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Your students can play a game in Interland, and learn about Internet safety at the same time. they navigate through the game by answering questions correctly. There is also a 48 page PDF containing lesson plans for the game.

How Many Words Per Minute Can You Type?

Do you wish you could touch type - or type faster? Here's a good summer project - improve your typing skills. Ratatype is an online typing tutor and test that will help you improve your typing skills. Start here by typing in a sentence to see how many words you type per minute. Teachers are also invited to use this free online program with their students.

Create Simple Animations With ParaPara Animation

Create Simple Animations With ParaPara Animation, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
This is a very basic, free animation program either you or your students can use. You can create simple animations to demonstrate a concept in pretty much any subject area. Your kids can use it to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular concept. No login or account creation is necessary.

Make Stop Motion Videos on Your Chromebook

Make Stop Motion Videos on Your Chromebook, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
If you're wondering what stop motion animation is, think Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. This classic Christmas special was created using stop motion animation. There is a free app for chrome called Stop Motion Animator. This app uses either the webcam on your PC or Chromebook, or previously saved videos. Thrill your students by creating some videos demonstrating particular topics this summer and using them in class next year. This is also a tool your students can use instead of a traditional report to demonstrate their knowledge - students do not have to create an account to use it. Keep in mind, please let me know if you want your students to have access to any Chrome apps or extensions so I can push them out. ASA students do not have access to the Chrome Web Store.