Ten Great Uses for Google Slides in the Classroom

Ten Great Uses for Google Slides in the Classroom

Google Slides is not only useful for teachers to present information, it’s a great tool for students too.  Here are ten great ways Google Slides can be used in the classroom:

1. Use Google Slides Q & A.  This is great way to be interactive with your class while presenting a Google Slide deck.  While in the presentation, click the drop down menu.  Select presenter view.  Make sure you’re in “Audience Tools,” tab, then press “Start New.”  A link will be generated at the top of your presentation that can be accessed by any device.  Students can ask questions which will be seen by you in real time.

2. Students create vocabulary slides.  Students can use each slide to describe vocabulary words.  Put the word on the top of the slide, ask students to include a definition as well as pictures from the internet that describes the vocabulary word.

3. Use it for introductions.  This is great at the beginning of the year.  Not only do they tell the class about themselves, but they are also introduced to the idea of using technology in the classroom which sets the tone for the rest of the year.  Students create a Google Slide show describing themselves with not only text, but find pictures from the internet and include them in their presentation.

4. Create a timeline.  Students create a timeline of events by using each slide as a particular part of time.  This is great for a history class.  Each slide can contain a year, a description, and pictures that represent the event.

5. Note taking at their own speed.  Students review the Google Slides presentation and write down the notes at their own pace.  After taking the notes, the students can be required to complete a question sheet or Google Form assessment based on the notes.

6. Play Jeopardy!  There are Google Slides templates out there that you can copy into your Google Drive and edit as you please.  Great for a review game.

7. Create a PDF ebook.  Creating a PDF ebook is a good way to create your own study guide or other information that can be easily given out to the students.  Simpler create a slide presentation and download as a PDF.  Distribute as you please.

8. Create a Story Book.  This is great for summarizing information.  Much like a timeline, students scour the internet finding appropriate images to go along with their story. Each slide contains a piece of the story and an appropriate picture.

9. Create a class shared presentation.  Another cool way to review.  The teacher would create a Google Slide presentation and assign a slide to each student in the class with a particular topic attached to it.  Share the slides with the class and have each student complete their individual slide.  Share the slideshow with the class when complete.  This works for assessment as well.  Assign each student a certain slide with a particular question.  Share the slides and have each student answer their assigned question.  Share the questions and answers with the class.

10. Take the class on a virtual tour slideshow.  This is a great history exercise using Google Earth or Google Tour Builder.  Students can present a tour of a historic place by simply taking screenshots of a particular location and pasting it into a Google Slides presentation.  Walk historic places and battlefields.  Show where historical events occurred.  In language arts, show where a particular story takes place.  

Prevent Parent Backlash Against Tech in the Classroom With These Tips

Prevent Parent Backlash Against Tech in the Classroom With These Tips

Some parents are questioning whether technology is the right thing for their child. They report that when they ask their child what they did in class today, the child replies that they simply used the computers again. This leaves the parent questioning the amount of differentiation that’s going on in the classroom. Parents wonder if their child is simply staring at a screen all day without much direction or interaction.

These are valid concerns, but concerns that can be alleviated by keeping both parents and administrators in the loop about how you are using technology in the classroom. Here are a few simple tips to avoid technology backlash, in no particular order:

1. Keep a website: Keep a website with class announcements and information about what the students are doing in the class. Provide class work examples for parents to see.

2. Provide parents an opportunity to use the technology: At back to school night or open house, provide parents with the same technology that you use in the classroom. Provide them with example lessons of what their students will be or are doing in class. If possible, invite parents to your own personal open house, where parents can come in and “play” with the Chromebook’s or iPad’s.

3. Use “Remind”: Keep parents in the know with the Remind app. Send out brief notes about upcoming due dates as well as information about class assignments.

4. Let parents join your class, virtually: This is especially easy if you’re using Google Classroom. Give parents the class code and they will be assigned the various assignments that their children are doing. Of course they don’t have to do them, but at least they’ll know exactly what the assignment is and how to go about doing it.

5. Provide parents with an acceptable use policy: Inform parents of what their children can and cannot do with the iPad’s or Chromebook’s in your classroom. This will reassure them that their kids won’t be staring at a screen playing games or chatting away on their device. That the devices will be used strictly for educational purposes.

Show Your Students the World with Google Tour Builder

Google Tour Builder allows you to take your class on a tour of the world. 

Tour Builder is a great new way to take your class on an adventure.  It can be used in place of the traditional slide show app. Google Tour Builder uses the power of Google Earth, so if you're familiar with Google Earth, you know how useful Google Tour Builder can be.  Tour Builder lets you pick the locations right on the map, add in photos, text, and video, and then share your creation with your class.

Tour Builder can be especially useful for social studies and English classes. For example, if your teaching your class about the major battles of World War II, you can take your class on a virtual tour of the battlefields.  If your teaching a novel in English class, you can show relevant locations of the book. 

And, to top it off, Tour Builder is simple to use.  Simply type in a location and Tour Builder will locate it for you. Or, if you prefer, you can drag an icon where you want it in the world. Once you've identified a place on the map, you can add pictures, video, and text explaining the significance of the destination. Once done, you can set another point on the map and do the same thing. Tour Builder will hop from location to location as you progress through your presentation. 

Check it out at Google Tour Builder.

Rough Draft: A Mac and iOS Writing Tool for the Classroom

Rough Draft is a writers tool that educators using iPads may want to consider.  Rough Draft is a text editor that's been available for the Mac and has recently become available on iOS.  It's the app that constantly reminds you that you are working on, as the name implies, a rough draft. How does it do this? Well, when working in Rough Draft, there is no delete option, only the ability to strikethrough. By doing so, you are constantly reminded that what you're working on is only a draft.

How does this help someone write? By having the ability to see the strikethroughs on the page, you are more likely to continue your work without pausing to figure out just the right line, phrase, or word to include in your document. You can do that later. Right now, the important thing is to your get your thoughts out of your head into the computer. This, in essence, sets the writer free and enables them to be less careful and more carefree when writing their document. All too often we edit while writing, ultimately taking way too long to get our ideas out. The point is, you want to stay in the flow and not pause. The makers of Rough Draft, 96 Problems, say that when you type a document on a computer, you are given the impression that its permanent, so you spend time perfecting your document while you write. Before you know it, that 500 word document you sat down to write has taken you hours. Rough Draft eliminates that.

Rough Draft also provides you with the ability to insert a placeholder in your text. Let's say you want to insert a picture or quote into your document but aren't quite sure which picture you want or what the perfect quote will be, you just know you want one in there. Rough Draft inserts a placeholder where you want to place the item so that you can come back to it later, when you're in the editing process. This is most certainly a timesaver. No longer are you pausing your writing to search for that quote or picture, you continue to write. And that's the purpose of Rough Draft, to keep you writing.

When you're ready to edit, you simply click "revise" and the strikethroughs are removed while the placeholders are kept in place. Your document appears as clean as can be. If you prefer to use yourfavorite text editor to do the editing and publishing, Rough Draft allows you to export your work.

When all you want to do is wrtie, Rough Draft is a good tool to not only have in your writers tool box, but in the classroom as well.

Training for Google Apps is Just a Click Away.

If you haven't heard, Google has made a new extension available called Training for Google Apps.  If you're new to Google Apps or just want to know more about them, you MUST install this extension.

One of the many cool things about the extension is that it's app specific.  By app specific, I mean that if you're in Google Slides, clicking on the training icon in the upper right will present you with a plethora of training videos about Google Slides.  For example, if you're putting together a Slides presentation and want to insert a video but aren't sure how to, simply click on the Training for Google icon and scroll to the video.

And, as the name implies, training is not only available for Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets, but it's also available for other Google Apps such as Google+ and Google Calendar.

I can really see the value for not only teachers but students as well.  Now, there's little excuse for a student not knowing how to insert a chart or copy a slide in Google Slides or how to rename or copy a Google Doc.

I couldn't recommend installing this extension enough.  If you use Google Apps, installing is a no brainer.

Google Brings Art and Culture to the Classroom

Google recently re-launched their Arts and Culture app and website, and it's great! Not only are the app and site great for exploring the world of art, but they also allow you to take virtual tours of museums, historical sites, and famous cultural sites around the world.

History is also well represented.  Clicking on the historical events tab will present you with countless events in history.  Each event provides a cornucopia of pictures, artwork, letters, and historical sites.

Whether you're teaching art or world history, Google's Art and Culture app and site will take your students on a great field trip.  Works of art are separated according to the artist, art movement, color, and medium used.

For example, after clicking on Vincent van Gogh, you'll be shown a brief biography followed by his artwork.  You can organize his work by timeline or by color.  Click on a particular shade and you're presented with his work that closely matches the shade.

One of the killer features of Google Arts and Culture is the ability to use it with Google Cardboard.  You can take a virtual reality tour of over 20 locations around the world, such as the Temple of Zeus.

The site and/or app is a must for those that teach art, world cultures, or history.  The app is available for both Android and iOS.  More information about Art and Culture can be found on Google's blog.

Start Your School Year Off With This Tech

For some, it's way too early to talk about the beginning of the next school year. For others, the next school year is just around the corner.  I know that some teachers have the same routine year in and year out for the first couple days of school.  But, with technology slowly creeping more and more into the classroom, I thought I'd offer a few ways to change it up a bit and set the tone of the school year with some tech.

1. Peardeck:  I've touted Peardeck as a great way to engage your classroom.  Start the year off using Peardeck to have your students introduce themselves to you and their classmates.  Students can use Peardeck to either draw or write about themselves, all the while having it displayed on the projection screen.  You can also pose various questions to students about their likes and dislikes, showing the results on the big screen in front of the class.

2. There are a couple of ways you can use Google Slides.  First, have students create a Slides presentation about themselves, which they can share with the rest of the class.

3. The second way to infuse Google Slides into the first day of school is to use Google Slides Q & A.  Pose different questions about likes and dislikes, as well as finding what their interests are.  You can even prepare a pre-test to get an idea what the kids know or don't know about the subject.  Ask students to pose questions about the class itself as far as rules and procedures go.

4. Introduce the students to the world of blogging.  Use Kidblog to have the students blog about themselves.  They then share it with their classmates.  Have the readers pose questions to their classmates in the comments section.

5. In much the same way students use Peardeck, you can use Google Drawings.  Have students create illustrations about themselves.  They can search the internet to find pictures that represent who they are.

So there you go, just a few ways to introduce your students to the tech you may be using during the year.  Feel free to share how you use tech in the classroom on the first day of school.