How to Break Up With Your Phone & Google Certification

Congratulations on another year in the books! This week I am sharing How to Break Up With Your Phone. I want you to take the time for a good digital detox over the summer and practice good screen life balance. I encourage you to scroll to the bottom and sign up to Take the Challenge. You will get 7 daily emails with steps to take to internalize and achieve better screen life balance. Enjoy the outdoors and your time off! 

Google Tip: Google Certification

If you are interested in becoming a Google Certified Educator, check out the Google Teacher Center. Summer is a great time to do this! For Level 1 certification, go through the Fundamentals training and then register for the exam. For Level 2, go through the Advanced training and then register for the exam. If you would like to meet for a study/tutor session prior to taking the exam, I’m happy to help you out.

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Wakelet

Google Tip: Wakelet Extension

There is a great bookmarking tool extension called Wakelet. This makes it easy to save and organize content you find on the web. The beauty of this is that Wakelet is Free and what you save is viewable on all devices. Imagine how this extension can transform teaching and learning! Check out the Educator’s Guide. Click here to add Wakelet to your Google Chrome extensions.

Story Speaker & Goals in Google Calendar

This week I am sharing another Google Experiment with you called Story Speaker. It uses voice to create interactive stories. This can be great for writing units and speaking skills. To get Story Speaker, get the Google Docs Add-on. Start from scratch or use a template to guide you through creating a story. This can be a fun activity to do with students whole group, in small groups, or individually.

Google Tip: Goals in Google Calendar

Google Calendar can help you set goals for yourself! These goals could be personal and/or professional. As we reflect on this school year and come up with goals for next year, this is the perfect tool to help hold us accountable for achieving our goals. To use the goals feature within Google Calendar, open the Google Calendar app on your mobile device, in the bottom right, tap “+”, tap Goal, choose a category or create a custom goal, follow the prompts, tap done. Sessions automatically add to your calendar and when life gets in the way, Google calendar will add it to another available time in your schedule. Check out their commercial here.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Google Tip: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego

Google Earth has a new Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Game! Check out Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego and share with students to get them acquainted with Google Earth in a fun engaging way.

BoClips & Google Search Education

The resource I have to share with you this week is called BoClips. This website curates educational videos that have the proper licensing for educational use. Their platform sorts videos by subject area. The affordance of BoClips is that it is free of clutter and inappropriate content. You may recognize many of their content providers. It is also free to sign up for an account. Check it out today! Don’t forget about Classhook for educational videos from popular TV shows and movies, too.

Google Tip: Google Search Education Lessons

Google has a library of lessons to help students learn how to navigate the web effectively and efficiently. These lessons are great for growing search literacy skills. 

Shared Drives & Adding Audio to Google Slides

The news I have to share with you this week is about Team Drives within Google Drive. “Team Drives” will soon be renamed to “Shared Drives”. This renaming will NOT change its functionality. It will still “live” in the same spot on the left-hand side panel of your Google Drive. You will notice this change happen sometime this month, regardless of if you are using the web or mobile versions.

Google Tip: Add Audio to Google Slides

Google Slides will be adding a new feature this month. We will now be able to insert audio into Slides! When you click Insert and then Audio. The audio can be voice, music, narrations, sound effects that you already have the file for. *Note: This is not a way to create audio.

Global Day of Design & Diagrams

The resource I have to share with you this week is for Global Day of Design, May 6th. The purpose of this event is to promote students to create, make, and build. Design Thinking is a process that helps guide you through problem solving. Sign up to participate on the Global Day of Design website and access many design thinking activities you can do with your students. Check out #GDD19 on all social media platforms. If you’d like to know more about design thinking, please let me know. I have plenty of resources to go along with it!

Google Tip: Insert Diagrams

Did you know Google slides has a variety of diagram templates to insert into your presentation? In the tool bar, choose Insert, choose Diagram and a sidebar popup will appear. From this sidebar, select your options and click insert. You can choose from several types of grids, hierarchies, timelines, processes, relationships, or cycles.

Screen-Free Week & Voice Typing Speaker Notes

The resource I have to share with you this week is for Screen-Free Week, April 29th-May 5th. Visit screenfree.org to learn about ways to celebrate. They have a variety of resources for educators and families to enjoy life unplugged!

Google Tip: Voice Type Speaker Notes

Did you know that you can dictate directly into your speaker notes in Google Slides? Go to Tools and select Voice type speaker notes. This is great for struggling writers or anyone! Take note and think through what you want to say.

Earth Day & Customizing Videos in Google Slides

The resources I have to share with you this week are great for Earth Day activities. Use Google My Maps, Google Streetview, Google Earth, Google Arts & Culture, Google Tour Builder, and Google Tour Creator to explore the Earth. Google Earth Education is a great place to start. Check out Nasa’s #PictureEarth event too!

Google Tip: Customize Start & End Time for Videos in Google Slides

When you insert Youtube videos into your Google Slides presentations, you have the option to customize the start and end time for the video. This is great when you only need to reference a certain clip of a video. To do this follow these steps: Insert your video on the slide, right click on the video and choose Format Options, go to Video Playback, select your start and end times. You can also choose to autoplay while presenting and/or mute the audio.

Poetry Month & Photo Add-Ons for Google Slides

The resources I have to share with you this week are great for National Poetry Month, which is April. Eric Curts has some Great Googly Poetry Projects and templates available. NCTE and Academy of American Poets also have some nice resources. Lastly, Storybird has a section for poetry. If you would like help implementing any of these into your lessons this month, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

 

Google Tip: Photo & Icon Add-Ons for Google Slides

Two great add-ons for Google Slides are Unsplash and Icons by Noun Project. Photos from Unsplash are free to use for commercial and personal purposes. Implementing this add-on can create great teachable moments for copyright and fair use.