If you have no interest in Google Meet changes, scroll down... I feel like I could fill a book with just the recent week's changes from Google! We are an Education Enterprise district, so all of the promised changes are coming along. Although the promises were for "October", no date was given. What have I seen come thru the pipeline?
(https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/g-suite/introducing-some-new-meet-features. accessed 9.29.20)
Handy ToolsThis Google Classroom popsicle stick video was posted online and although I like the idea, it is only on the mobile app, not on the web. So, if you use Google Classroom on a phone or an ipad, perhaps this is just what you need. If not... there's always Flippity.net. I love this site- so many easy to use tools. Check out this whole site filled with cool ideas using Flippity.
If you love Slidesmania, you will love this post "by Paula Martínez, the creator of Slides Mania. Paula has a 9 to 5 job that has nothing to do with design or creativity or education! Making presentation templates has become a fun hobby that allows her to express her creativity. This led to SlidesMania being born." Check out the 20 free Google Slides or PPT templates with lesson ideas and activities. Even more Google Slides templates, collected by Eric Curts. Incredible Teachers Sharing on LinktreeLooking for collections of read-alouds? Check out Ms Menji's digital library. https://linktr.ee/ms.menji Check out the amazing creations from The First Grade Creative.
https://linktr.ee/thefirstgradecreative . She got special permission from Unite for LIteracy and created leveled reader libraries, among a ton of other great resources.
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Converting Worksheets
Putting aside the question of why use worksheets for the moment... many of the questions I have been getting are around converting paper worksheets of one sort or another over to digital worksheets that remote students can complete. I was hedging away from using Wizer.me, mostly because I just hate worksheets, although many claim that it is a game changer for them. But lately I have seen many teachers online claiming that Teacher Made is the cat's pajamas... so- I tried it. It is easy to use for what I was doing- just the basics. I did not try assigning it, collecting or grading it- although it says it does all that. Why don't you check out the 2 main contenders and then some other workarounds using Google Slides?
An example below from WIzer. I found Wizer a little harder to figure out what I needed to do, but that is just my take. It also seemed like they were trying to get me to upgrade to premium, whereas Teacher Made is just plain free.
Annotating PDFs
Some folks like to use various chrome extensions to annotate on top of pdfs. You can use Kami, you can use Doc Hub online , but...
If you are at HPS- you have the tools you need already!
Everyone has Read and Write for Google Chrome... the pdf reader allows kids to annotate.
Here are a couple of quick how to videos... essentially save the pdf as an image or screenshot it, upload to background ( not insert image) or master slide. Then use tables or text boxes for kids to fill in.
Never used Master Slides or have slides that you want to convert?
What about Math?
Put your worksheet on Jamboard as the background and you can do the same thing. Or use equatio on slides, etc...
Math Manipulatives
Kris posted this intriguing view of Mathigon polypad on Twitter. I went to check it out- and it's a whole textbook, plus a whole bunch of courses- many still under construction and some really cool games. Even if you're not a math teacher, these are really fun!
Check out his tweet, but beware, you may also fall down the rabbit hole.
Another math site I found interesting this week is Math Curious. Here you will find worksheets, puzzles, math storybooks and task cards. There are lots of great sites if you need to find manipulatives for games that you are making, or for student use at home. My favorites- Toy Theater for manipulatives and Math Playground for games. (Just to note- Colleen King Whalen is really strict about ads and the kinds of games she puts on Math Playground, making it a great educational, safe site.)
Free Math Manipulative Sites
https://toytheater.com/category/teacher-tools/virtual-manipulatives/ https://www.didax.com/math/virtual-manipulatives.html https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps https://www.mathplayground.com/
Before I got lost in the math manipulative world, I actually wanted to share a quick video with a tip on duplicating objects in Google slides or even Jamboard.
Online WhiteBoards
I saw a new whiteboard recently and here's Richard Byrne to walk you through it.
Of course you know there are several options now for online whiteboards. You can go back to AWWapp the online whiteboard, orGoogle's Jamboard, or the whiteboard.fi. You can even add draw features in a Pear Deck Slide. Check them out and see what works best for you.
Stuff to Share
This came from Wes Fryer- on Media Literacy. I hadn't seen it before. Spot the Troll.
I have a giant pile of bookmarks to share, but have a feeling that most of us are still a bit overwhelmed as we adjust to a new year with more changes. So, what would be useful right now? A little bit of YouTube, a few Google Slides Tips and some more on the new features in Jamboard. I also wanted to share EdTechTeacher's new RemoteLearning Guidebook.
YouTube Tips
Many teachers are creating and posting videos to YouTube. A couple things about YouTube that I find useful are being able to embed a video without all the ads and nasty stuff. It was a bit disconcerting earlier in the week when safeyoutube was hacked and teachers around the country found links to inappropriate videos instead of the edu links expected. This short video from Brigid Duncan will show you how to get rid of the junk. Essentially: put_popup in between the word watch and the question mark in the url.
One other site that I find useful gives me a way to set the start and end time for a video I want to share with students. Yes, you can poke around in the url and set the times, but this is easier. Just go to YouTube StartEnd.com and input your times and it pops out the correct url for you.
Richard Byrne also put out a short video this week about ways to show clean videos. Math Reps
Jon Corippo has a great collection of Eduprotocols Math Reps that you may want to check out. If you haven't started using Wakelets for bookmarking and making curated collections, it's time to check it out! Easy to use and at least for me- I don't get lost down the rabbit hole like I do on Pinterest.
Google Slides
I love using Google Slides,as they are incredibly versatile. Our district purchased Pear Deck, so that we can use so many of those interactive features as well.
Jamboard
Back in July Kris Szajner wrote an excellent guest post on Matt Miller's blog and shared some great templates- all ready to use in Jamboard. Here's the post. Check out the templates!
Richard Byrne has a nice short video on using Jamboard in Google Classroom
Tom Mullaney just put out a series of real short videos to help you use the new features.
Want to get fancy and do some app smashing? Check out Greg's video.
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AuthorMaureen Tumenas Archives
June 2021
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