Terry's Tech Tips

Are you one of the lucky people who have a 'clicker' that allows you to control your Google Slides presentation.  Controlling your slide presentation from anywhere in the classroom is an excellent strategy for keeping students engaged and on task.  Google Chrome has an extension called Remote for Slides  that turns your phone into a 'clicker'! Watch the 55-second video below to learn how to use Remote for Slides: Steps: If you prefer text directions, follow these steps: Step 1: Click here  to navigate to the Chrome Web Store Remote for Slides extension.  Click Add to Chrome.    The Remote for Slides icon now appears to the right of your Chrome address bar.  Step 2:   Open any Google Slides presentation.  You will now see a Present w/ Remote button on the top right-hand side of your Slides.   Click  Present w/ Remote. Step 3: The Slides presentation automatically changes to...

Google Forms are magic - they are so flexible!  They give you an easy way to:     collect information get feedback or check for understanding collect digital assignments gather student reflections of lesson or unit obtain formative assessment data create review packets Click on the caption below the graphic to see some samples of Google Forms hard at work in the classroom.  Many of the examples are from your fellow colleagues! Click here for active links Creating a Form: Navigate to forms.new  to create a new Google Form.  Or go to  forms.google.com where there are Forms templates, or New>Form from Google Drive. (Tip:  You can create any new Google app by typing in Slides.new , Docs.new , or  Sheets.new for example.) Google Forms offer many different question types, allowing you lots of flexibility to accomplish your goal for using the form!  Note that you can  collect student work  u...

Are you teaching a new course during semester 2,  or maybe looking for something new to use in your classroom in the new year?  You may want to consider using a visually engaging and fun tool found on the website Flippity.net .  I was introduced to  Flippity.net  at a workshop I attended in August.  Flippity.net's tools let you build engaging experiences for students based on simple Google Sheets.   The programs are written by a teacher in Western Massachusetts, so they are simple but effective without a lot of extras you don't need.  Here are a couple of options that I found intriguing: Flippity Random Name Picker The Random Name Picker on the Flippity website was the first to catch my attention.  Master teacher Peter Atlas has always used a random name picker in his classroom.  He feels it provides students a safe space to learn.  Students are randomly picked to answer a question, so it feels fair....