The Friday Tech Tip

Happy Friday and Happy Holidays, This will be the last Friday Tech Tip of 2015. Congratulations on making it through the first semester. Last week I blogged about Star Wars Text. Alicia Coughlin at Coile used this for a  Digital Opener. You can check it out HERE . Great job Alicia! As we start the new year Google Classroom has launched a few new features that you may be interested in. You can find out more on their blog HERE. Below is a run down on the new features from the Google For Education Blog : Export Grades to Google Sheets : In addition to .csv files, you can now export your grades directly to Google Sheets. The Sheets template includes a class average and an average per student Easier to update grade point scale : We know not all assignments are out of 100 points. You've always been able to change the point value, but a lot of teachers had trouble finding this feature. So we’ve made it easier to change the grading scale to any number you need it to be.  Keyb

I am not going to lie I'm a huge Star Wars Fan. Next weekend cannot get here soon enough to be reunited with my 1980s buddies Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.  My goal from ages 6-12 was to make the Kessle run in under 12 parcecs That's my level of Star Wars Geekiness.      Your students may be excited as well (maybe not) but Classtools.net  has a great tool where students can insert text  to make  the Star Wars opening title complete with theme music!  Students can go back and edit the scripts at a later time. This might be a good activating or closing strategy in your classroom. If you have questions about how to use this let me know.Have a great weekend! Take Care, Clint And if you ever wondered how you can make the Kessle Run in under 12 parcecs

Happy Friday! This week Google Read and Write has announced some  new features that may be beneficial to you and your students. ScreenReader - Students can highlight text in a google slide OR webpage and the screen reader will read aloud ONLY what is in the box. Previously, it would read until you pressed stop (See directions below Speech Input is now integrated with Google Voice Typing Spanish has been added as a language tool.  It’s still in Beta, but it’s an option to try out. Steve Piazza has put together the following tutorial (see below). Please let me know if you have questions. Google Read and Write is a tool that all students in Clarke County can access. Please let me know if you have questions. Take Care, Clint Read&Write for Google just added three new features: 1. Screenshot Reader (highlight text on a webpage and it reads the words aloud). In the above clip, where you see the moving highlight, the text is being read aloud. To get started,

Happy Friday before Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a relaxing break.  I have had several requests this fall for resources for making Word Clouds. Word Clouds are great because students can see what words they are using often or make great visuals with their writing. With  the Word Cloud Add on For Google Docs  Students can now make word clouds straight from their google docs! Click on Add ons - Search for Word Cloud Generator  - and add it. When students are finished all they do is click on the word Cloud Generator button and it will create a word cloud for them.  Students can screenshot the image and save the picture to their Google Drive. I have created an animation below to demonstrate how you and your students can create wordclouds.  If you have questions about using the Word Cloud Generator Please let me know. Have a great Thanksgiving Break! Take Care, Clint

Happy Friday, Last week I learned about s site where students and teachers can create and view amazing images from around the world.    Gigapan is a s technology where photographers can take 360X360 images and stitch those together to make interactive high resolution pictures  (See below).  Students can zoom in on these images to explore the area. Thinking about the SAM-R model this would be a good source to Modify lessons where students are evaluating or analyzing geographic regions, famous places, or events. If you have questions about using this resource in your classroom or any other instructional technology questions please contact me. I hope you have a great weekend, Take Care, Clint

Happy Friday everyone! I've had a few emails over the last week about the new Youtube Changes.  We've been working to come up with a way to limit some of the things are students are doing on Youtube. Now, students are able to view limited videos that are  approved as education or videos that have been approved by a teacher. When you Approve a video it is approved for everyone in the district. I have created a screencast below walking through the process of signing into Youtube and also approving a video. If you have questions please let me know. Take Care, Clint

Have  you ever wondered what it would be like if there were Google Docs and collaborative typing in our American History?  Maybe not, but now you can replicate it with Google Story Builder. Google Story Builder is a tool where students can write from the point of view of different characters or historical figures as if they were writing in a Google Document. I like this idea because it challenges our students to think differently about how things might have happened in the past if there were collaborative tools in place. For instance, I made the Google Story builder below about Lewis and Clark being charged to explore the Louisiana Purchase.   You can find out more about Google Story Builder by going HERE (Click on here). If you have questions please let me know.   This is an example of  one that I built .  I hope you have a great weekend. Take Care, Clint

Google Maps offers students and teacher the ability to create their own  custom made  maps. Students can create their own maps, pin important places, and measure and draw distances between places. For instance, Students may be studying American Authors. Students can create a map pinning the birth places or events in the life of that author. Once pinned, students can write a descriptions of that pin, insert pictures, videos or links. I have created a Screencast tutorial of some of the tools that are available in Mymaps.  If you need help please contact me at winterc@clarke.k12.ga.us or tweet me @ClintWinter

Happy Friday! There have been lots of changes in Google Apps for Education in the last 6 weeks. Everything from new themes in Google Slides,  Changes and enhancement to Google Classroom to Voice Typing!  I have tried to highlight some of these changes with you in PL or during planning periods. HERE is a comprehensive list of all the changes and enhancements that have happened over the last 6 weeks. (You can also click on the picture to the left).  If you have questions please feel free to e-mail or ask me in person. Also, as I am buildings I've seen many of you starting to use Lanschool. If you have questions about lanschool or need help setting it up please let me know. I think that Lanschool is a great way to monitor our students on their digital devices. Finally, I often get asked, "Clint what day are you here?" or even more important "What day is it?" These are also to questions that I ask myself on a daily basis.  My schedule is as followed. Monday

Do you have a video that you found on Youtube that you want to show your class? Problem is that the video is 12 minutes  but you  only want to show from five minutes  on? For instance, I only want to show part of a Kahn Academy video but not the whole thing. You can now pick where you want the video to play. By clicking the share button you can adjust the time.   (See video below). Sometimes, this may not work if you are inserting  the video into a Google Presentation or hosting the video on your website. If   you copy the new link and paste the link into  a new document, slide, or e-mail it will work. Your students can watch the video right where you would like it  to start.  If you have questions about this or any other techtip please let me know .   Take Care, Stay Dry, and GO DAWGS! Clint

Happy Friday! I wanted to share with you 2 chrome extensions that can be benificial with Google Classroom. You might be asking yourself "What is an Extension?" Extensions are small software programs that can modify and enhance your Chrome browser.  You Can find these extensions in the Google Chrome Store.  Students can also access the Chrome Store but they are only allowed to install extensions that are whitelisted for Clarke County School District. There are 2 extensions that can be beneficial for those of you using Google Classroom.      Share to Classroom is an extension where you can push out websites in real time to students in your classroom. For example, you have created a quiz using  Google Form and you are ready for your students to take the quiz. You would click on the "share to classroom" extension pick your class and send out the link and it would automatically open up a tab with the link to all of your students if they are logged into classroom. Her

Happy Friday everybody!  This is not a long blog post but I think it is a pretty good one.  Google for Education has created a really nice interactive graphic on how students can take ownership of their Google Apps account.  Here is a picture of the webpage. Students and teachers can click on each box to get more information about the particular Google App.  There is everything on here from learing how to organize your Drive to finding resources to code your own program. You can find this webpage HERE (Click on the Blue uppercase  Here). Thanks and let me know if you have questions.  Have a great Weekend!

Read and Write for Google is a program that ALL students in the Clarke County School District have access to. Read and Write is a program that allows students to Heat text read aloud with dual color highlighting Have words explained with text and picture dictionaries and translated  into other languages   Get suggestions for the current or next word as you type with Word Predictions ( Now can be used on Google Forms! ) Highlight and collect text; build vocabulary lists Simplify and summarize text on web pages Annotations, including typewriter tool Leave and Receive voice comments on Google Documents (New Feature!!) Teachers, if you would like to experiment with Read and Write for Google you can download a version for free HERE .    Students with Chromebooks automatically have Read and Write for Google installed. For students with Windows Devices they will need to sign into Chrome and "Accept" the Read and Write for Google accept screen. Once signed in they

Happy Friday everyone. . . . . . I know everyone is looking forward to the 3 day weekend. I hope everyone enjoys getting a chance to do what they love and rest  from your Labors.        I also like Labor Day because that means that I've made it through almost one whole month of school. If this is your first year teaching,  Congrats. You made it through August. That was easy right? 1 down 9 to go.        Now that you may be settling in more of a routine it might be a good time to start creating a Professional Learning Network.   Teachers can  benefit from creating their own Professional Learning Network or (PLN) Google it. . . . . One of the ways that I stay current is through my Professional Learning Network on Twitter. Twitter is free and you get real-time Professional Development and ideas.  There are LOTS of great ideas and speakers on Twitter. One of my favorites is @richardbyrne . He incorporates ways technology can be used in the class. I created a twitter account ju

Since the end of the school year last year  Google Classroom has been rolling out new features that many of you have asked about.  In fact,  Earlier in the week Google Announced   some MORE  new features for Google Classroom.  I think that you will find all of these very beneficial for your class this new school year. Some of the Highlights for me that I think that you will like   Collaboration: Two teachers (or more) can now be in the same "class". If you are a collaborator or have a collaborator in your class you both can access and send out assignments, announcements or questions Archive last years classes : If you don't want to see last years classes then archive them. You still have access to those assignments and questions but they will not show up in your classroom feed when you log in. Use Previous years posts and assignments: Are you going to use last years assignments or posts? You can now create a post from a previous post from last year Ass

On Monday I will be teaming up with our County ESOL Specialist David Forker to deliver Professional Learning on Digital Formative Assessment. David and I met this week and began planning for our PL sessions and had a great  discussion about best practices for integrating digital formative assessments into the classroom.  We also found a great youtube  from the early 90s on how to connect to the internet. So if you are in our PL on Monday be ready . . .   Here are  top 3 ways to use technology tools for formative assessment. 1. Google Forms - Google forms are a great way to collect any type of data. You can use Google Forms to create quizzes, create sign up/sign in sheets,  a way for students to submit homework or class work. You can insert videos, and pictures into your quizzes. Once students submit on a form you can see the date and time that they submitted, and even use add ons such as flubaroo to grade the quiz. 2. Padlet   - Padlet is a great way to have a quick pulse chec

Good Afternoon, Thanks for checking out my new blog. If you didn't know, part of having a Google Account is that you  can create a FREE blog for yourself or your class with blogger. I started this because several of the teachers in my buildings who have moved to other schools said, "Hey Winter, can you still E-mail me your Friday Tech Tip"  which made me think, "I should house these some were if people want to go back and look for them." So, I decided to create my own blog which I decided to name, wait for it, "The Friday Tech Tip" and I will update it on Fridays. I will still e-mail my schools on Friday and say hey its updated but if you don't have time or want to go back and look for a resource this is the place. So the Tech Tip for this Friday is a twofer in honor of the first blog post: Our Middle School Students in 6-8 are all taking home chromebooks!  For some of our students and teachers this may be their first interaction using chromeb