Two on Tuesdays... Chrome Browser Tips & Legos!

1. You may not need these three tricks often but when you do need them, having them at your fingertips can be very helpful. 

●      If you ever accidentally close a tab while browsing in Chrome (this happens often to me when I have a zillion open at a time), if you hold down Ctrl-Shift-t, the last tab you closed will reopen. You can continue to do this and open other previously closed tabs. The "undo" button in Google Docs/Microsoft Office has always been a necessity in my life and this shortcut is right up there with that!

●      If you right-click on a tab in Chrome and choose "Pin Tab" and then you can no longer close that tab by accident ~ no more black x.These tips work as long as you have that Chrome experience open.

●      The Chrome extension OneTab will take all your open tabs and put them in a list for you in your browser. All thirty tabs you had open instantly become one… a nice way to clean up a cluttered screen and help free up computer space (RAM if you are technical) so your machine runs more efficiently.

2. Want a less expensive, not-painful-if-you-step-on-one, and neat way to have your students use Legos? Or are you a Lego fan? Try this online version and see what you think! https://www.buildwithchrome.com/  You can play without attaching your Google+ account (and for our students that will be how they will have to use the site as they do not have Google+ enabled).

Did you recognize me in the picture above? I created an avatar and can now have my avatar share all types of messages all through the extension Bitmoji… she can say hi, give praise, show disappointment, whine, say thanks, etc.  It is a fun way to add some spunk to items you share (this is not one I would recommend for student use, as you will see if you try out the options, so I suggest keeping your avatar-making methods secret).  

Two for Tuesday... Google Drawing and Forms

Greetings!  I was able to attend a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) Summit this weekend and I have so many new things to share... it is so hard to pick just two! If you ever get the opportunity to attend one of these conferences, I highly recommend you do so. You will leave inspired!

1. Google Forms is getting a facelift. If you haven't been asked to switch over yet, you will likely get a notification to do so in the coming weeks. If you don't want to wait, you can go here and force the switch: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6281888?hl=en .   (Experienced users: From what I have heard the form add-ons you are working may not yet be available in the new forms, yet. The add-ons in the resulting spreadsheet are still available. You can currently toggle between the old and new version; see the link above for all the details).

Conference tip: I attended a session on using Google Forms for assessments. This presenter, a fifth-grade teacher, creates her assessments with each question on a different page (easy to do in forms) so the test more closely resembles the SOL testing format and so students don't freak out when they see the length of the test. She indicated that keeping the question count hidden helped keep the students calmer and focused. She also mentioned she often uses the check-box type questions to practice TEI questions because more than one correct answer can be selected.

2. The session I attended on Google Drawings was fantastic and I will share more down the road but in a nutshell, Drawing is so much more than the Paint program you may be envisioning. It can easily be used for creating signs, posters, illustrations, graphic organizers, website headers, and so much more. To create a new project, head to your online Google Drive and choose "New" and then "More" and select Drawing. Or, if you are looking for premade materials, take a look at these useful items: Graphic Organizers & TEI for Math/Reading (I only know the "owner" of these files is listed as Tim Grant... I found the site pinned in Pinterest. If anyone finds out if there is a more specific URL I can share, please let me know.  Also, for my LCMS colleagues, the above materials are saved in our LCMS shared folder.).

Enjoy!

Two on Tuesday... Review Programs and To-Do Items

1. If you are looking for a fun, interactive way to review your course content, and your students have computers, I know there are several teachers in our building who are using Kahoot and are reporting that students are engaged and learning.  I recently read about two similar sites: Quizalize and Quizizz. 

I personally have tried Quizalize. I created a quiz and once it was ready, a code was provided. Students use that code to play the game; students do not login but are asked to provide a name when taking the quiz. In Quizalize, students work at their own pace, are provided the correct answer if they are incorrect, are given a complete summary of their answers (and the correct ones as needed) at the end, and can replay games (making this an option for home review as well). At the same time, if used in class, Quizalize randomly assigns students to teams so there can be a group competitions as well. Teachers can create their own quizzes or use premade ones (choices are limited), choose how long students have to answer questions, and are given feedback based on the results including both individual student mastery levels and results overall by question. This would definitely be a fun way to review content!

2. I seem to have a Google Calendar for everything, including one I named "To-Do" because I'm in Calendar so much that I knew having my to-do items there would be convenient (a good number of my colleagues love Google Keep for lists if you want to try that out!). Today I found this website:  https://www.hashtagtodo.com/todos .  Once you sign up, it accesses the Google Calendars you want it to access. As you add events, if you put #todo after the event name, the program will add a checkbox in front of the event title in the calendar and if you do not check the box by the end of the day, it will move that to-do item to the next day. It also puts the entire to-do list created from this add-on at the top of your calendar.  

So, I still am going to use it on my to-do calendar but now I get the satisfaction of checking the items off when I'm done (and the security of knowing they won't get forgotten if the date passes). 

Enjoy! Please contact your ITRT if you have any questions or would like to know more!

Two on Tuesday: A new favorite Chrome extension and student project samples!

1. Today's first Two on Tuesday topic is a Google extension submitted by LCMS teacher Mary Eden, 8th grade English, and the moment I tried it out, I knew this was an extension I would be using often too!

From Mary... "I am terrible about keeping an eye on the clock. Too often, the kids and I are working, working, working, and suddenly the bell rings! We’re stunned; we scramble; it’s inefficient. But now, thanks to Chrome Extensions, those days are over. Introducing (trumpet herald) Clock for Google Chrome 

(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clock-for-google-chrome/emakkfldeggiinnfcdjkakdfcppbfhdg?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon) :

 

 

I like this extension because it puts an analog or (more visible) digital clock to the right of the address bar in Chrome. I can set as many alarms as I need—for me, that’s FIVE, one to sound off a five-minute warning before the end of each class."

 

 

2.  I bookmarked this blog entry back in the summer and now, with so many more Google users in our building this year AND with the additional focus on projects to demonstrate learning, this seems the perfect time to share. Click here to read how a middle school teacher has his students use Google Slides and Screencastify, both great tools that are readily available, to showcase their knowledge:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/06/student-created-videos-google-slides.html?m=1

Enjoy! Thank you again Mrs. Eden for sharing! I have a few other extensions/ideas from other faculty & staff members that will be shared in the coming weeks.  

Contact your school's ITRT if you need more information!