Terry's Tech Tips

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...

Grading is definitely NOT one of most teachers' favorite tasks.  Feedback is so vital to the learning process, yet providing that feedback is time-consuming and sometimes soul-crushing.  In a previous blog post , I talked about using your phone to grade a rubric quickly using Google Forms while students were presenting.  Today we'll explore the useful tools automatically created for you when using Google Forms as a rubric. Using the simple rubric example from the previous post, we assigned the grade ourselves.  Using the Individual tab in the Responses section , you can see each individual presentation you graded.  You can click the three dots and select ' Print all responses ' to print a copy of the graded rubric to share with your students.  Automatic Grading with a Rubric Creating a related Google Sheet: One of the fabulous features of Google Forms is that you can create a linked spreadsheet with one click.  Click the Gre...

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...

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!

Do you use Google Sheets?  Here are a couple of quick tips to help make your experience more efficient! Search: If you have a lengthy Google Sheet, looking for specific information in cells can be hard!  Click Command + F , and a search box appears!   Type in your search, and click the up or down arrow next to the search box.  Sheets will take you to each instance there is a match on your search text and highlight the cell in green!  (Ignore the static green cells you see on this sheet to the right!) Move text to a new line within a cell: It can be really handy to start a new sentence or thought on a new line within a cell.  To do that, place the cursor after the line existing in the cell.  Click Command + Return to go to a new line within the same cell! Enjoy a restful and relaxing spring break!