Tech Tip Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! A couple tech ideas for you this week:

Class Dojo + Growth Mindset

NPR had an article recently of how Class Dojo can tie in with Growth Mindset - they've created a series of videos to help kids understand the topic. A little cheesy, but cute!

75 Google Apps Tutorials

As we use Google Apps for Education more and more in our day, there is always something new to learn! (growth mindset ;-) These tutorial videos range from 1-5 minutes on a variety of topics, from searching in Google, to YouTube and Google Drive. 

Tech Tip Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! Here's a couple tech tips for you this week:

PBS LearningMedia

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

PBS LearningMedia is your destination for direct access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. PBS LearningMedia builds on the strength of public media and is designed to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Resources are aligned to Common Core and national standards and include videos and interactives, as well as audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans. You can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections. You can also favorite and share resources with your class and colleagues. Best of all, PBS LearningMedia’s basic service is free for PreK-12 educators.

The Work Collector: Students Upload Files Straight to YOUR Drive

http://www.thetechieteacher.net/2015/11/the-work-collector-students-upload.html

The Work Collector is a Google Script that allows students to scan a QR code and then upload files directly into YOUR Google Drive account! If you are not using Google Classroom, but want students to submit work to you that you can share on your website, etc, this would be an easy way to collect their projects from computers or iPads. Thanks to The Techie Teacher for sharing this great resource!

Also... Don't forget that the Hour of Code is this week! If you want to try it with your students, feel free to join in during tech class, or visit https://hourofcode.com/us and check it out! The kids are loving that the new tutorials this year include Minecraft and Star Wars :-)

October Reading List

From Twitter to Instagram to Bloglovin' and all the email blasts I subscribe to, I get a lot of resources in my inbox on a daily basis! Here are some of my favorites to start the month of October:

Back to School with Google Chrome: The Complete Guide

Thanks to Shake Up Learning for putting this resource together about my one and only browser: Google Chrome!

Richard Byrne from Free Tech for Teachers just blogged about Google Keep is a new app that lets you take your to-do lists on the go AND allows to you to have collaborative to-do lists! I just downloaded the app and am excited to start using it more, for personal and professional uses. I'll do a blog post once I get to play with it more and share what I learn!

Julie from The Techie Teacher wrote a few guest blog posts last month that she highlighted, including 5 Reasons to Love the iPad Camera and Learning to Program with MaKey MaKey in Elementary School. 

October is also Connected Educator's Month and Bullying Prevention Month!

Check out the Connected Educators website for resources to staying connected with other educators all month long - you know I am :-)

And how cute is this Kindness Bingo from Edutopia?! Perfect for spreading kindness during Bullying Prevention Month!

What are you reading lately? Share in the comments below!

Google Tone

Last week at the NICE Share-O-Rama, I learned about a Chrome Extension called Google Tone. This one is a life changer my friends!!

As a tech teacher, I often have limited time with students, and need to get them links and resources quickly. Especially for my younger kiddos, typing in a URL can take several minutes. Enter Google Tone!!

So here's how it works in my tech lab:

1) I installed Google Tone on Chrome on my laptop and on Chrome on all the laptops in my lab. {I made sure there was no one signed into Chrome when I installed on the laptops.}

2) I go to a URL on my computer I want the students to get.

3) Press the Google Tone icon.

4) Students get a popup message that looks like this:

5) Students click on the message and are taken to the website.

BOOM! Done!! 

I just tried it with a class of first graders and it was <<SO fast and easy>>. And when things are easy, its a beautiful feeling :-) 

Google, Evolved

Have you been to Google today? They unveiled their new logo, and have started rolling out updates to many of their products - including Docs & Slides!

First of all, did you know that Google has been around for 17 years?! <<Mind-Blown>>

Check out how they've evolved:

A couple of the updates that I am so excited about are in Docs & Slides:

Docs now has a template gallery! You can choose templates for reports, letters, resumés, newsletters, etc.

And Slides has new templates too! #awesomesauce

I can't wait to see all the other updates that Google unveils! 

Google Forms - New Themes!

For a long time, Google has not updated the "themes" for their forms. We had a very limited selection, but today that all changes! 

Google Forms now has 24 new themes to choose from, as well as the option to customize your own theme by choosing a heading and background image. 

To choose a theme, click on the usual "Change Theme" button in the toolbar, and you will get a sidebar with new options:

Once you click on "Customize", you get several options:

You can choose an image from your computer for the header and page background, as well as customize font options. 

So you can go from old:

To new!