Terry's Tech Tips

In the spirit of the holiday season, here are a few more of my favorite things! Google Slides Google Slides are the Swiss army knife of the Google Suite in my opinion.    They are so versatile.  Slides are so much more than a presentation. I have almost abandoned Google Docs.  Most of my work involves directions - images with arrows and circles added.  I love the tools Google Slides and Google Drawing provide.  (The tools are the same in both apps.) If you use Google Docs, you can access these same tools by clicking Insert>Drawing.  You have the best of both worlds with the drawing embedded in your Doc for editing! Page Setup: By clicking File>Page Setup you can make Slides any size you want.  This means you can use Slides for way more than just presentations!  I use this feature to create slides that are: Directions  like these  in 8.5 X 11" format. Cool templates like this  National Geographic  template by Ryan O'Donnell.   Images for TV'

Around this time of year, the iconic Sound of Music song ' These are a Few of My Favorite Things ' always seems to be playing in my head.  For the second year, I'm publishing a list of my favorite things that help me do my job faster or better.  I use many of these daily. Keyboard Shortcuts 8 Days per Year Would you be interested if someone showed you how to save eight days a year working?  Of course, you would!  Without question, teachers nationwide name lack of time as a top (if not THE top) obstacle they face in their professional practice. Keyboard shortcuts are a way to gain more time.  Watch this video to learn how the time savings were calculated by BrainScape, an education platform that provides flashcards based on brain research.  Or view the formula below: [2 wasted seconds / min] * [480 min / workday] * [240 workdays / year] =  64 wasted hours / year! (2 seconds is the amount of time it takes to move your hand from your keyboard to your mo

Google Slides has just introduced the ability to close caption your classroom presentation/discussion!  When in Presentation mode, simply click the CC icon on the slide navigator toolbar  or click Command + Shift + C.  Any speech picked up by the presentation computer microphone will be closed captioned! Watch this 21-second video from the Google blog to see how easy it is! Can closed captioning your direct instruction and class discussion help learning? Students can hear/understand: Sometimes we have students in our class with a documented hearing loss.  In this case, we think about and use the Redcat microphones provided in every classroom.  (Though I would suggest the amplification of your voice really helps ALL learners!)  In a classroom where you don't choose to utilize the Redcat microphone, there may be students who are: located in a part of the room where they can't hear as well. near noise from another student, the hallway, the next classroom,

Providing feedback to students is critical, but time-consuming, work for teachers.   Whether students are writing an essay, an analysis of history, or a science lab report, students work using Google Docs and Slides.  Checkmark is an extension for the Chrome browser that allows you to insert pre-set comments with a single mouse click!  You can even edit the existing comments and add new ones to suit your style and your students' work! How does Checkmark Work? Once installed and enabled, the CheckMark menu appears dynamically when you highlight text in a Google Doc or Slide.  Simply click the button representing the feedback you want to add.  The full comment appears in a comment box.  Students then follow the typical protocol to resolve the comment. Courtesy of CheckMarkclass.com How do I get CheckMark? CheckMark is a Chrome extension found  here in the Chrome Web Store.   Click the blue Add to Chrome button to install Checkmark.   The Checkmark icon now

Have you ever added a text box to a slide, and discovered your text font and size is your Slides default, not the Slide Theme default?   You can spend a lot of time re-formatting the newly created text box!  Each time you add a new text box, you have to format again. Google has just improved a rarely used tool (by me, anyway) that can be really helpful.  You've seen it many times, but probably have never used it before! The paint roller is officially called the Format tool and is found in  Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides .  Google has recently updated the tool to include  Persistent mode.  Here's how it works: Highlight a text box or object that uses the formatting you want  Double Click the Format tool (Paint roller) for Persistent mode* Create a new text box, or highlight an existing object Voila!  The text changes to match the highlighted object you selected when you entered Persisent mode.  You can format as many objects as you want in Persist

You are working on a document with bulleted or numbered lists.  Everything starts out fine.  Then you make some edits.  Suddenly, the spacing is weird, or the numbers or letters are off.  And you end up spending too much time trying to fix it, or worse, you end up just starting the list over.  Has this ever happened to you?  I have definitely experienced that!   If so, Shift + Return is your best friend! How does Shift + Return Help? Bulleted & Numbered Lists: When working in bulleted or numbered lists, place your cursor at the end of the line where you want to add a space or move down without creating a bullet. Hold down the Shift key, and while continuing to hold Shift, press Return .   You will see the space added without a bullet or number! Use the buttons pictured below located on the Google Docs or Slides toolbar to move items in or out within the list.  Place your cursor at the front of the text of your list item, and click the appropriate butt

#FlipGrid Fever is a 'real' Twitter hashtag!  Many teachers love to use FlipGrid, which allows students to respond to questions via video.  Students can watch and comment on each other's videos (if you choose) to increase learning and understanding.  FlipGrid has recently become a completely free product to all teachers, thanks to Microsoft's purchase this summer! FlipGrid ensures: you hear from every student in the class. student learning is visible. Our colleagues in World Language have been using FlipGrid for some time now.  They ask students questions and have them respond in the language they are learning.  As a result,  Cynthia Laflamme will be leading the FlipGrid session during our Mini EdTech Camp on Tuesday, November 13th.  Join her to learn more about using FlipGrid in the Classroom! Examples - FlipGrid can be used by all Disciplines! Below are some examples of teacher posted FlipGrid Questions in different disciplines.  Note that FlipGrid allow

Web pages contain all kinds of information relevant to your content.  They include scholarly articles, websites devoted to your topic, and current events.  You likely assign web-based resources to students as part of their learning all the time!  You may wonder: did they read the online article/paper/assigned web page? did they understand the content of the article/paper/assigned web page? what conclusions or opinions did they develop based on the content presented on the webpage? Why Use InsertLearning? Use InsertLearning to: add clarification for words/phrases that your students may not understand.   enhance student interaction with your web material by inserting questions for understanding .   ensure close reading by asking them to highlight (using the Insert Learning tools) who, what, where or anything that is appropriate to the content.   ask opinions about the content that will be shared with classmates for a class discussion. insert videos or links for addit

As an educator, you spend a lot of time finding 'just right' resources for your students.  Cultivating your curation skills means finding the right content for your students and being able to access it easily! If you are like me,  you sometimes can't find a resource when you need it,  and have spent precious time trying (and sometimes failing) to find it again! YouTube has been with us for a long time now.  As teachers, we are used to searching YouTube for great content to educate and engage our students. I have been familiar with the Playlist feature YouTube provides, and have used it a time or two to create playlists for students to watch.  For some reason, I never thought about using this feature to help organize my curated videos for various courses!  While preparing for my Google Educator exam this summer, the benefits were a blinding glimpse of the obvious! Navigate to YouTube using your @concordcarlise.org Google account.  (You can use the 'Grid'!)