Terry's Tech Tips

You may already know I am a big fan of keyboard shortcuts.  Simple keystrokes like Command + C (Copy) and Command + V (Paste) shave hours off your work time over the course of a year! Paste without formatting:  Shift + Command + V: My favorite keyboard shortcut is probably Shift + Command + V or  Edit>Paste without formatting .  Why?  I work a lot in Google Slides and Documents.  I often find I copy text from one place and paste it into my slide or document.  Then I need to spend time highlighting the text, changing the font style, changing the font size, and changing the font color to match my slide or document formatting.  That can take a lot of time! Instead of Pasting (or Command + V), I add the shift key:   Shift + Command + V.   The text automatically uses the formatting already set up in the document or slide! My first attempt using Control +  paste in the image below demonstrates what happens when ju...

Google has developed a new series of fonts explicitly designed to enhance reading speed and fluency for Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Google teamed with Education Therapist Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup and typographer Thomas Jockin.  Dr. Shaver-Troup found that perception-based solutions were more effective in improving reading performance and cognition than cognitive-based ones.  Together with Thomas Jockin, they developed the Lexend font series.    What benefits do the Lexend font series provide to readers? Bonnie Shaver-Troup theorized that reading issues may be a result of student's sensitivity to typographical factors like size and spacing.  The Lexend font series provide a clean Sans Serif font base with spacing options helping the reader improve both reading speed and cognition.   (Sans Serif fonts assist students with Dyslexia and other learning issues.)  Lexend is especially suitable for readers who are bothered by visual crowd...

Have you ever faced a situation where two Google documents exist that are similar, and you want to quickly figure out the differences?  Last week's blog post covered how you can use Version History to compare a single document's changes over time - and even restore a previous version if you had an 'oops'! This week we explore the newly introduced option to compare two separate documents. If you are a teacher who has students submit one document as a 'rough draft,' and students submit an entirely different document as their 'final draft,' you should love how easy it is to see what suggestions students incorporated into the last version. Comparing Two Google Documents: To analyze the differences between the two documents, open the first document.    From the toolbar, select Tools > Compare Documents. In the dialogue, click on Choose document to select the second Google Doc to compare against.  In the “Attribute differences to field,” ent...

Students are writing across the curriculum - essays in English, papers in Social Studies, and lab reports in Science.    For any significant piece of writing, teachers usually provide students with valuable feedback to better their written assignments. Grading written work with feedback: Grading these assignments can be confusing.   It can be challenging to determine what changes the student made (if any) to improve the writing.   Many teachers like to have students turn in a 'rough draft,' give feedback with comments, and then have the students resubmit 'final' drafts.  Sometimes, teachers do this within the same document, while others have separate documents. If you face this problem, here is a solution you might want to use! If you use one document as both 'rough draft' and 'final draft.'   If you like to use one document to see the comment threads, you may already know you can click File>See Version History  to view how...

Google introduced a lot of updates over the summer.  As a Google for Education School, we work in the Google Suite all the time.  We create for our classroom or assess work students create. Below are some highlighted changes for Google Docs and Slides. Google Slides Present Mode: If you use Google Slides in your classroom, Google has added these capabilities while in Present mode : Resize speaker notes and slide thumbnails in the presenter view  Navigate to a specific slide with a keyboard shortcut   -   For example, 7 followed by Enter sends you to slide 7. Control video playback with keyboard shortcuts: View all available Present mode keyboard shortcuts by clicking the new “tips” button in the presentation control bar.  Read the full Google post here. New Customization Features for Google Docs Headers and Footers: Previously, Headers and Footers in Google Docs had to remain the same on every page except for page 1....

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.  Yo...

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...

Most of us use Google Docs daily.  Are you tired of using the same font, or changing the font to the one you prefer all the time?  Perhaps you want a different default font size?  Check out how to set your default font (and size) in Google Docs quickly!  Follow the process shown in the graphic below, or the step by step directions that follow! Image courtesy of Julie Spang While in a Google Doc,  select the font (and size) you want as your default. Select the box to the left of your font selection (sometimes it says Normal Text, other times Heading 1, etc.). Click the arrow by Normal Text and select Update 'Normal text' to match . Last, under this menu, select Options>Save as my default styles. From now on, when you create a Google Doc, this font and size will be used as you start typing!

Do you use Google Sheets or tables in Google Docs?  (I personally love tables for making complex information clearer!)  Both Sheets and tables allow you to add additional rows and columns, but one at a time.  Here is a quick way to add multiple rows or columns with a few clicks! While in Google Docs: Using an existing table (you can determine how many columns/rows when you create): Highlight the number of existing rows or columns you would like to add Click Format>Table>Insert Row or Column (you specify where in the table) . The number of rows or columns you highlighted will be added to the table in the Doc! While in Google Sheets: Highlight the number of rows or columns you would like to add Click Insert>Number of rows or columns Left or Right The number of columns you highlighted will be added in the Sheet in the location you specified!

Learning Menus and Choice Boards have been getting a lot of attention in the teaching community recently.  They provide built-in student choice, a key component for activating Student Engagement. Learning Menus and Choice Boards have been around for a long time in paper form, but have seen resurging interest with the incorporation of digital tools.  They are so flexible, they can be structured in many ways.  Teachers use them to provide choice for the following reasons: Accessing your content - students have a choice of activities to access course content Show What you know - students have a choice of multiple activities to demonstrate their understanding Capstone Project - students have a choice of project for the end-of-unit or 'capstone' project. Choice Boards: Choice Boards give students multiple options for a single assignment or a small number of related assignments.  If you are a seasoned teacher, you probably have lots of already cr...

Google has been busy re-arranging the menus in Google Docs and Slides.  Everything is still there, just in a different place! Google analyzed usage data and feedback to re-organize the menu options to be more user-friendly.      (Click the  found in Google apps to give feedback.) Where are the tools now? Tables: If you have looked for the Tables menu option in both Slides and Docs, you may have noticed it is gone!  The Table tools are now separate: Add a Table:  Insert>Table Note that the Insert menu has been reordered slightly. Edit a Table:  Format>Table: Text Formatting Menu: Text formatting options like bold, italics, and underline now appear under the Format heading as a submenu.    These tools still appear on the toolbar found beneath the Format tab, and can still be accessed using the appropriate keyboard shortcuts.  Google Docs Only: Separate Text & Highli...

As promised, this week's post highlights the ways Google Keep can help you both in your professional practice and personal life.   You can catch last week's post using Google Keep with Students here  (especially those with Executive Function issues) . Many teachers use the Sticky Notes app found on every Apple laptop.  They are visual reminders of things you need to do or remember.  The only problem: if you aren't using that device, you don't have access to those notes!  Google Keep provides the same function, but on every device! Professional Practice Google Keeps's integration with Google Docs and Slides provides some really helpful applications for teachers.    Access your Google Keep notes in Google Docs or Slides by clicking Tools> Keep notepad. Frequently used comments: Providing feedback is so important....but can be so time-consuming!  If you are providing feedback on Google Docs or Slides, using Google Ke...