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...

You may have noticed a couple of new options when adding assignments to Google Classroom.  One of the new options is Originality Reports.  This option is in Beta, which means that Google is testing Originality Reports.  Typically, after 6 to 9 months, Google releases the product fully with the desired features.  Please feel free (always!) to click the Question Mark at the bottom left of most Google Products and suggest new features. Let's take a look at Originality reports in-depth: What are Originality Reports? Originality reports are used when students are submitting Google documents to you through an assignment in Google Classroom.  The document can be an English writing assignment, a Social Studies paper, or a Science lab report.   Originality reports check the student's work against websites and books to ensure that students haven't plagiarized - on purpose or inadvertently.  Google announced choosing our own private repository...

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...

HyperQuests (also known as Hyperdocs) have been receiving a lot of teacher attention lately.  HyperQuests support differentiated student independent inquiry learning.  They leverage the use of technology (though not all activities are digital), embed collaboration, and build in student critical thinking and problem-solving! The concept works because it begins with strong lesson design, curates quality instructional content, and packages learning experiences in ways which engage learners.  (1) Note:  While the rest of the world calls them HyperDocs, the CCHS Tech Leaders prefer the term HyperQuest .  HyperQuests are based on the old WebQuests, and the name HyperQuest eliminates confusion with an older application actually called Hyperdocs! What are they? HyperQuests can be any digital tool and are often built in Google Slides.  They provide a visually engaging digital framework leading students through a lesson or unit of carefull...

If you feel overwhelmed by your email, you are not alone! 95.2 GB    Space to store my email  28%   Time in the workweek spent handling email.  (1) $10,000.00 Cost of an average worker per year due to email distractions. (2)  38% The percentage of emails that are "important".  (3) Email overload is a real problem, both in the business world and in Education.  The costs above are a little astonishing.  This research highlights the real cost of interrupting your concentration to check your email, impairing your decision making and leading to stress.  Many studies suggest that once interrupted, it is difficult to immediately return to the task you were working on, and some conclude that you can lose up to 40% of your productivity. (4)  The good news is that efficiency experts are suggesting strategies to overcome email overload.   The strategies are based both on 'habit of mind' and effec...

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...

Storms the past two weeks have really impacted our schedule!  This blog post should interest you if you want to gain more time in class for important student learning! Buy Back Class Time: Do you have a process that indirectly impacts student learning but takes precious class time to show students?   (Installing an app, extension, or using a website specific to your class?)  Do you have a particularly difficult topic requiring extra support or explanation?    Consider recording your screen while modeling the process or explaining the topic using a Chrome extension called Screencastify !  (Note that QuickTime Player also has screen recording options.) Once you have created your video, you can assign it as homework, saving class time you would have spent modeling the process or clarifying the difficult concept to your students. Using my laptop, I made the screen recording below demonstrating how to add the Screencastify extension to Chrome.   T...

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...