Monday, January 30, 2017

Tuesday Tech Tidbits January 31, 2017

Exeter High School

Tuesday Tidbits: Technology

January 31, 2017

by Sandy Blanc

Technology Tool of the Week: Prezi

Prezi is a tool that can be used to enhance presentations that you have created in PowerPoint or Google Sheets, or that you want to create from scratch in the application.

It is a slide-based presentation program that utilizes a unique zoom feature. There are many images and drawings that can be added to enhance the slides. You can also insert YouTube videos, images, add text, labels, etc. Prezi is offered for educational use for free, and there are many pre-made templates that can be used to get you started.

Please follow the sign-up procedure in my Prezi (this gives you an idea of what Prezi looks like also), to ensure that you are signing up for the Educational plan.

Once you are signed up, watch this tutorial to get you started! If you need help, please email or call Sandy Blanc.

DRAFTBACK (Chrome Extension):

Draftback is a Chrome extension that allows you to “playback” any Google Doc to see how the document was created. Draftback is a great tool to view student documents to see how much time they spent, and how they wrote their document.

Here is a short screencast I created to get you started on Draftback!

Go HERE (to the Chrome Web Store) to add it to Chrome.

How can I use this in my class?

Prezi can be used to present information to students (you can even import your existing PowerPoint or Google Slides).

Students can create presentations for projects using Prezi.

Draftback can be used as a backup way to see how your students wrote their papers. If you have questions about how much time was spent, or how they obtained the information (such as copy and pasting), this could be seen in the playback mode.

Teacher Tech Days- Wednesdays!

TOMORROW: Open Technology Questions- if you have questions about something, come on up!

Where? A223

When? Wednesday at 2:30-3:30 pm on January 31, 2017

See the link for upcoming Tech PD!

Teacher Tech Days

Monday, January 23, 2017

Tues Tech Tidbits January 24, 2017

Exeter High School

Tuesday Tidbits: Technology

January 24, 2017

by Sandy Blanc

Technology Tool of the Week:

Screen Shot 2017-01-22 at 3.26.22 PM.png

I am so excited for the New Google Sites! It has been out for a while, but I have had a chance to get familiar with it, and it is awesome!

Check out the new EHS Technology Corner Website, created on the New Google Sites! I was able to copy and paste most of my content directly from my old site and in no time I had moved it to the new platform.

I have worked with many of you assisting in creating a Google Site for your classroom. I am excited that the new Google Sites is up and running and ready for you and your students to create eye-catching, professional looking websites in no time! The new interface is MUCH easier to use, very user-friendly, and intuitive. From what I have been reading, there will be a suggested migration method from your current Google Site into the new Google Sites coming soon. Eventually, in about another year, the old Google Sites will be no longer available.

Please watch the below tutorial and feel free to share this in your classes if you want to use it a tutorial to your students on how to get started on the New Google Sites!

How can I use this in my class?

Students can use the New Sites for projects, portfolios, and group projects! Teachers can use the New Sites to give a fresh look to their existing site with much less hassle than the old Sites.

As many of you know, EHS has had difficulty with students viewing and accessing the websites they created using Wix, WordPress, and other platforms. This is because the website created in these platforms generate a unique URL that is not recognized by our network filter and blocks the sites from being viewed while on our network. Our school is a G Suite School (Google Apps for Education), therefore Google Sites works flawlessly with our network. Students and teachers can create, share, and send websites to each other without fear of the final product being blocked by the network.

Teacher Tech Days- Wednesdays!

TOMORROW: Open Technology Questions- if you have questions about something, come on up!

Where? A223

When? Wednesday at 2:30-3:30 pm on January 25, 2016

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Tues Tech Tidbits January 17, 2017

Exeter High School

Tuesday Tidbits: Technology

January 17, 2017

by Sandy Blanc

Technology Tool of the Week:

Talk and Comment

Talk and Comment is a Chrome extension that works in G Suite. Talk and Comment allows you to create voice notes and attach them to a Google Doc, Facebook, or anywhere that you usually type. I recommend that when using any kind of voice feature on your laptop or Chromebook, that you use a microphone. I use the headphones to my iPhone (they have a built-in mic). These work great!

Google Voice Typing feature is an excellent tool for those who struggle with spelling or typing skills! (I have not yet found how to voice type comments, however).

There are many voice commands that allow you to edit, punctuate, space, add bullets, etc. Below is a short list of common voice punctuations. You can find all of the options HERE.

Add punctuation

You can use these phrases to add punctuation to your text:

Period
Comma
Exclamation point
Question mark
New line
New paragraph

Note: Punctuation works in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian.

How can I use these in my class?

Talk and Comment is an excellent way to create personalized voice feedback on Google Docs! You can leave the feedback in the “Comment” box as seen on the screen cast! Talk and comment is a time saver!

Google Voice Typing can save teachers and students time and frustration if they have difficulty typing or spelling. There are a wide variety of languages available also!

Teacher Tech Days- Wednesdays!

TOMORROW: Open Technology Questions- if you have questions about something, come on up!

Where? A223

When? Wednesday at 2:30-3:30pm on January 18, 2016

See the link for upcoming Tech PD!

Teacher Tech Days

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Tuesday Tech Tidbits January 10, 2017

Exeter High School

Tuesday Tidbits: Technology

January 3, 2017

by Sandy Blanc

Technology Tool of the Week:

CHOOSE YOUR

OWN ADVENTURE!

with...

Google Slides!

Here is the gist of using the storyboard and Google Slides to create a “choose your own adventure”....

This is a Copy of Storyboard Template I found online. You can use this and make your own copy to get you started!

How can I use this in my class?

Art- Students can explain the process of their art and link to thumbnails, different ideas, or explain art concepts.

Social Studies- Students can write about a current issue in society and give three different ideas of ways to remedy the issue (local or global).

English- Creative writing or “choose your own adventure” to come up with different endings to the same story.

Math- Write a word problem and students show three different ways to solve the problem.

Science- Students can show concepts in science, the scientific method, or differences in something related to science for example.

* Working on a topic? Need some brainstorming for how to connect technology? Give me a call or email! I am happy to assist!

Teacher Tech Days- Wednesdays!

TOMORROW: Open Technology Questions- if you have any questions about something, come on up!

Where? A223

When? Wednesday at 2:30-3:30pm on January 4, 2016

See the link for upcoming Tech PD!

Teacher Tech Days

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Tuesday Tech Tidibits January 3, 2017

Exeter High School

Tuesday Tidbits: Technology

January 3, 2016

by Sandy Blanc

Happy New Year! Welcome, 2017!!

Welcoming in the new year, I have made a goal to include how you could apply the Technology Tool of the Week to your classrooms! I am hoping to give you more practical examples and explanations.

Technology Tool of the Week:

(Image from https://goo.gl/P5bbs9)

Recently, I sent out a survey to EHS teachers to collect data on teacher use of Google Classroom. Here are the results!

(There were 69 teachers that participated in the survey).

Screen Shot 2016-12-28 at 10.02.22 AM.png

The best times for offering Google Classroom Help Sessions were; 1- During a Department Meeting, 2- After school during Wednesday, Teacher Tech Time

(2:30-3:30pm), and 3- During your prep period.

From the responses that were given in the survey, I realized that there may be some confusion with understanding the differences between Google Classroom and Google Sites.

(The information below are excerpts from this Teacher Cast article. I highly recommend reading the full article, as it does an excellent job with detailing the differences of Google Sites and Classroom).

Google Classroom

What is Google Classroom?

Google Classroom is a simplified blended platform that allows teachers to create, distribute, collect and grade assignments quickly and efficiently

What isn’t Google Classroom?

Google Classroom isn’t a website. Unlike a website, It is “closed environment” where parents cannot access and other students cannot access. Google Classroom also isn’t a full LMS because it doesn’t have a grade book and work cannot be organized into units.

Google Sites

What is Google Sites?

Google Sites is another component of Google apps. Essentially, it is a free service to build and maintain a website.

What isn’t Google Sites?

Google Sites is not a learning management system. Students and parents can interact with a Site by visiting, reading it, and downloading the files. However, they cannot turn in assignments like they can on Classroom. In training other teachers, I say that Classroom is for the students, while Sites is for the students, teacher, and parents.

HOW CAN I USE GOOGLE CLASSROOM WITH MY GOOGLE SITE?

My aplogies for the watermark! I am trying a new program. :)

(I am happy to help you at any time if you want to try this!)

Did you know there is a “Share to Classroom” Chrome Extension??

Screen Shot 2016-12-28 at 10.44.17 AM.png

When you have the “Share to Classroom” Chrome Extension, you can share any page online that you are visiting directly to any of your classes set up on Google Classroom! This includes if you are working ona Google Doc! Students can ALSO share to the Classroom if they have the extension as well!

“35 Awesome Applications that Integrate with Google Classroom” Article from https://goo.gl/nXD2F3

“Use this list to explore apps you may already be using, or find new ones that will allow you to share easily to Google Classroom”.

* (Just found this one!)
Actively Learn

(create reading assignments with added notes, images, and quiz questions embedded into the document)