Google Keep, Padlet changing pricing model, New Google Sites

More Ways to Use Google Keep

Over the last two weeks there's been a lot of conversation at the secondary level about different ways to use Google Keep. 

Google Keep is a digital sticky note tool integrated into your G-Suite apps. Find it by clicking on your nine boxes and scrolling down. On the teacher side, it's a great way to collect and share resources with co-teachers and to provide students feedback.Students can use Keep for notetaking and learning.

• Students can use the color palette in Google Keep to organize bibliography and corresponding note cards. Bonus, the cards can't be lost!
• Students can use a Keep note as an exit ticket by recording their learning, taking a screenshot, and turning the screenshot into Google Classroom.
• Students can click on Tools in Google Docs or Slides to access their Keep notes from within the document they're using to access resources and  previously taken notes or to record new thoughts and questions. Since notes can be dragged/dropped directly into Slides or Docs, one of the middle school teachers had her students put their screenshots on a shared Google Slide to create her own Padlet-like board.
• Teachers can use Keep to create a library of feedback for common errors or stickers for informal feedback.Kasey Bell of ShakeUpLearning has great ideas on her Google Keep Resources page.
• Teachers can drag Keep notes into docs to create checklists for their students. Like the idea of a checklist for students but aren't ready to explore Google Keep? Check out Control Alt Achieve's post on creating interactive checklists in Google Docs. 

• (My fav trick? Personalizing notes by inserting a picture on the top of the note.)

Padlet Is Changing Its Pricing Model

Last week Padlet announced that it will be making some changes to its pricing model. Users will still be able to access a free basic account but will be limited to 3 Padlets, 10 MB of file uploads, and will see banner ads. Padlet Pro is $8.25/mo. Read more here.

New Google Sites is Amazingly Easy to Use

Really! The new Google Sites, which has been around a couple of years, has a click and drag interface that makes website creation a breeze. So, if you're looking at that sweet spot of time between STAAR testing and the end of the year to get a jump on next school year, you may want to consider updating your website or creating one with the new Google Sites. 

Goo.gl, Google Drawings, Social Media, Privacy

Goo.gl is being retired

If you have been using the URL shortener goo.gl, you will need to find an alternative, as Google is retiring that tool. 

See Brenham ISD's post or Free Technology for Teachers post for several good alternatives.

Insert Diagrams Into Drawings

Looking for a quick and easy way for your students to take notes, show understanding, or process learning? Consider using Google Drawings.

Last week during one of the BHS PLC meetings, I learned that diagrams can be inserted into Google Drawings. Just open the drawing tool, click Insert, and select Diagram. There are a variety of diagrams including grids, hierarchies, timelines, processes, relationships, and cycles. The Drawings can be shared just like any other G-Suite document or they can be downloaded as a .pdf or .jpg.

If you have teens or teach teens...

With social media in the news this week, now is a great time to review privacy settings on devices with your students or children. The topic became personal this weekend when I received a Snap from my teenage niece. Her location was tagged. Needless to say, this aunt's alarm bells sounded. It was a great reminder that we need to help our kids navigate privacy settings on their devices and apps.

What's a parent/teacher to do? Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit that aims to provide trustworthy information to help families navigate 21st century tools, offers some great suggestions for adjusting location and other settings.  This link addresses the safety of teens using location apps, and this link offers suggestions for privacy settings for computers and smartphones. My top two suggestions to my niece? Turn off geotagging on photos and restrict location settings on apps.

Turn off geotagging of photos on devices

Restrict location settings on apps

Poetry resources; Leaving BISD? G-Suite tips, #BISDAwesome Digital Learning Spotlight

April in National Poetry Month

Celebrate poetry this month!

• Listen to Americans read their favorite poems at Favorite Poem.org
• Select one of Terri Eicholz's poetry ideas at her Engage Their Minds blog. Terri is a teacher in SA and presents regularly at conferences and workshops. *This is my personal fav!
• Explore poetry lessons for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 at ReadWriteThink. When you click on a lesson, you can click on State Standards to locate the related TEKS.

• Check out the Poetry Quote-a-thon at Sylvia Vardell's Poetry for Children blog. There are some great examples of linking poetry and visual media. Canva (13 and older) or Adobe Spark (13 and older with own log in. K-12 with teacher login) are great tools to use for poetry visualization, as is Google Drawing.
• Use Flipgrid with your students to post their favorite poems and/or their original poetry.
• Ask your campus librarian for content-related poetry. Yes! There are math and science poetry books!

April 27 is Poem in Your Pocket Day

Leaving BISD? Here are some G-Suite Tips

1.  Migrate or download your data.

• Sign into your @banderaisd2.net account and click on your personal icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
• Click on "My Account"
• In the "Personal info and privacy" section, click on "Control Your Content"
• Follow the instructions to download or migrate your data to a personal Google account
• Good to know: don't delete things out of your  "Shared with Me" folder or your "Classroom" folder, as that may remove access for other users. 

2. Move files to Team Drive

• If your team/department/grade level/organization has a Team Drive, move files that you own that you need to leave for your colleagues to the Team Drive. 
• If you are creating a Team Drive, add the necessary members to the Team Drive. This will ensure that no one loses access to important information that you have housed in your Google Drive. 
• Good to know: you can only move files that you own to Team Drive. Click HERE for more information on Team Drives.

BISD Digital Learning Spotlight

In our monthly tech integration discussions, we've been talking about transforming learning. And over the last couple of weeks, several elementary teachers and their classes have taken up that challenge. 

The first grade teachers at Hill Country Elementary have set up a common Google Classroom so their students can easily access research materials. The beauty is that the teachers can work together in a common classroom, and the computers can be logged into the generic student account. The teachers even built resource lists in their Epic book accounts and shared the lists in their Google Classroom. In the words of one of my administrators, "That's awesome!"

At Alkek Elementary, the first grade teachers are teaching their students to log in to their very own @banderaisd2.net accounts, join their teacher's Classroom, and access a variety of resources. While reading print books and writing with pencils and paper is still the important focus in these primary classrooms, the teachers are equipping their young learners with tools that will extend instruction and provide a foundation for good digital citizenship.That's awesome!

Last week the AES second graders logged into their Google accounts, joined their teacher's classroom, explored animal adaptations at BuildYourWildSelf, printed their creations to their Google Drive, and turned the file in to their Google Classroom--all in 50 minutes. Talk about awesome! This week, the students are logging back into Classroom to locate and explore two databases and a website in preparation for their animal research project. They are learning that curated resources like Britannica School and National Geographic Kids offer quality information in a safe environment. Great job, second grade teachers! That's awesome!

Ready to get started in Google Classroom or want an extra pair of hands getting your students logged in? Email sgroff.

Math Resources, App Smashing, and Curated App List

Math Resources

Looking for math resources for  math remediation, extension, visualization, or manipulation? The sites below are a great place to start.

First up are some free math apps from the Math Learning Center. These apps allow students to create visual representations to demonstrate understanding of key math concepts. The apps are available from the Apple app store, the Chrome Store, and for web browsers.

Mathbots.com offers math manipulatives, question generators, starters and drills, and other tools such as Times Tables Patterns, Place Value Charts, and Function Machines.

SolveMe Puzzles offers mobiles, mystery grids, and Who AmI? puzzles to support algebraic and mathematical thinking.

A great big thank you to the awesome elementary administrator who shared these with me!

Overwhelmed by the avalanche of apps available for digital learning?

Check out this awesome blog by Learning in Progress. Heidi Neltner breaks down several learning apps into the 4C's: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. Best of all, she indicates whether the app is free or paid, includes any age restrictions, and offers possible uses. This is a great post for anyone just starting to integrate digital learning into his/her classroom and for the experienced digital teacher looking for something fresh.

Flipgrid Appsmash Madness 2018

Many BISD teachers are using Flipgrid in their classrooms. As part of its March Madness celebration, Flipgrid has invited educators to share how they are combining apps for learning with Flipgrid. Short on time? Check out the championship round. Have a little time to web surf? Check out some of the other tournament tiers for some great digital learning ideas.

Did you know? Google Slides

Did You Know Google Slides Has Keyboard Shortcuts?

A great big Bulldog thank you to the BHS teacher who forwarded me the link to the keyboard shortcuts for Google Slides. These keyboard combinations can eliminate the need to navigate through your slideshow with a mouse or trackpad, making your presentation move more smoothly, especially if you are doing a screencast. Below is a partial list of shortcuts. Click the link above to access the full list. 

Did You Know Google Slides Can Be Used For Stop Motion Animation?

Earlier this month Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning posted about using G-Suite for dynamic learning. Embedded in her post was a link to instructions for using Google Slides for Stop Motion Animation. This post by Control Alt Achieve would be great to share with your students as it provides clear, step-by-step instructions. 


If you are interested in using stop motion animation in your classroom, the above post offers great examples for using it with vocabulary and calculating area of irregular shapes in math.   


For the truly geeky: If you've ever needed to speed up a slideshow that you have published to the web, the post also gives instructions for altering the URL to make that happen.

Did You Know Google Slide Presentations Can Be Recorded with Voiceover and Annotations and Linked in Google Classroom?

Screencastify and Screencast-O-Matic are screencasting tools that work on PC's, Macs, and Chromebooks. Both are freemium platforms that offer free recording with paid access to pro features. The beauty of the products is that they can record your webcam or your screen while recording your voice and any onscreen annotations you make. 

Screencasts are great tools for sharing presentations or tutorials with students and parents. Teaching a new concept in math? Send home a quick tutorial for parents to help their students practice the concept. Missing students in class due to the spring onslaught of athletic events and other activities? Record a screencast when you run through your Google Slide presentation in class, and put the link to the recording in your Google Classroom. 

Need help getting started? Check out the tutorials for Screencast-O-Matic or Screencastify or email sgroff.

Image Search Tools, Classroom Screen, Blended Learning

Searching for Images?

One of the first grade teachers at AES emailed last week to ask about alternatives to a Google image search for her students to use for their research projects. Great question!

Richard Byrne of Free Technology for teachers has two excellent blog posts regarding image searches. His 12/16/17 post offers five alternatives to a Google image search and includes videos showing how to use add-ons or to add a site's search engine to your website.

His 8/25/17 post provides an easy-to-read chart that compares the features of nine sites that are alternatives to Google image searches.

Check out his posts to find a site that is most appropriate for the age of your students and the topic they are researching.

Classroom Screen

Classroom Screen markets itself as "the best screen for every classroom," and it may be on to something. This site offers 1-click navigation to the following:

• random name picker
• sound level monitor
• qr code generator
• on screen drawing
• on screen text tool with changeable backgrounds including lined paper, graph paper, and blank paper
• work symbols to re-direct classroom behavior
• a traffic light for students to gauge work time limits
• a timer
• a clock
• simple exit poll tool

In the upper left corner of the site, click on the three lines for how-to's and tips and tricks for using the site. I particularly love the idea of using the drawing feature in combination with other tools to direct groups of students in the classroom. 

Check out Brenham ISD's blog for more ideas for using this site with your students. 

Video Spotlight: Blended Learning

We may not be ready for the experiences highlighted in this video in every classroom yet, but this video offers a glimpse into what is possible when access, connectivity, and creativity meet. The video features a secondary setting, but there are take-aways for elementary in it, as well. It's a five-minute video, but it's definitely worth a look when you have five minutes.

My favorite line: "If a teacher is doing something that works really well in a face-to-face situation, [they] should continue to do that because it works well. If they can find something else that works better, is more efficient, or more effective that's digital, then that would be implemented." 

The right tool for the right job with the right student at the right time.

Elementary Research Resources, Free Icons, Digital Footprint

Getting Ready for Research in Elementary?

Many elementary classrooms are gearing up for research this spring, and teaching even our youngest students to recognize and use quality resources is important. 

All district libraries have access to databases including TexQuest, National Geographic Kids, Britannica, and more. See your campus librarian for login credentials.

Epic Books offers many free non-fiction ebooks and videos. And thanks to an awesome Alkek first grade teacher, I was introduced to Ducksters last week. Wow! The teacher said that her first grade students clicked on Science, clicked on Environments, selected their assigned biome and were able to complete their assignment pretty independently. If you are working with primary grades, this easy-to-navigate website may be just the ticket for your students.

Using G-Suite For Elementary Research

Conducting research with a class can be a daunting prospect. Add in a technology component, and teacher stress levels can increase exponentially. Let G-Suite tools take away some of that stress in three easy steps while allowing students to create, collaborate, and share in a digital environment.

1. Create a Google Classroom, if you don't already have one. Post links to resources your students can use. Customize which students see which resources by sending them to selected students instead of all students.

2. Create a Google Slide template for the assignment that includes the information you want your students to locate. Send a copy to each student when you make the assignment in Google Classroom. 

3. When the students are done, they turn in the assignment through Google Classroom, which makes collecting work a breeze.

Need some help getting started? Email me, and I'll be glad to help you get set up and be an extra hand in the classroom when you're ready to get your students started.



Free Icons: The Noun Project

When I read Brenham ISD's technology blog the other day, I wanted to do the happy dance. Gone are the days of searching Google images for an icon to insert into a presentation. Just visit the Noun Project, type in a search term, and, gloriously, you've got just what you're looking for.

This would be a great site to share with students who are sketchnoting or creating presentations, or you could provide a bank of the icons for students to use to digitally annotate text in a Google Doc or Google Drawing.

Video Spotlight: Teaching Digital Footprint (Elementary)