Online Whiteboad Tool for Any Grade and Any Content Area

Whiteboard.fi

Online whiteboard tool for teachers and students.

Created by Scott Aten, May 15, 2020

Well this year certenly did not end like we thought it was going to end. Remote Learning has been quite an adventure for all of us. One request I heard a lot during the past few weeks was a way for a class to replicate students using a white board and marker. I have to give Kourtney Groholy credit for finding this amazing tool - whiteboard.fi. This free whiteboard tool has the potential to solve a lot of the student participation problems I heard during remote learning. Watch their shot promo video to see an explanation of how it works.

I see this tool being used in just about any content area and just about any grade level. Can easily be used as a part of your next Google Meet live session. If you have a chance to use it during the last week of Remote Learning, I would love to hear how it went.


Hang in there we are almost at the finish line!

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Using Kami with Remote Learning

Using Kami

Annotate right on top of your PDF assignments.

Created by Scott Aten, March 24, 2020

I know we are on Spring Break, but I wanted to get this to you in the event that you are working/planning things for next week when we begin "Remote Learning".  Kami has been an app/extension that we have been using in the district for several years.  I have done various trainings on it in the past and I know many of you use it.  To put it in simple terms, Kami allows both staff and students to annotate on top of PDF documents.  As a result of being off school, the creators of Kami are making the full version of their tool available till July.  With this in mind, I have prepared some lessons on how you can use Kami with your students..

The lessons include:

Setting Up a Kami Assignment - In this video you will see how to add the Kami extension, how to record your directions for the assignment directly on the PDF document, and how to assign the PDF directly through Google Classroom.

The Student View of a Kami Assignment - In this video you will see the assignment given in part one from the perspective of the student.  In the assignment the student uses the text to speech tool, the dictionary tool, the highlighter tool, and the drawing tools to complete the work.  You will also see the student turning in the work to Google Classroom.

Grading a Kami Assignment - Continuing with the same sample assignment, this video shows how the teacher can grade the Kami assignment in Google Classroom and use many of the Kami tools.  This demonstration includes how a teacher can essentially use a "red pen" to mark on a student's assignment, provide a recorded comment, and add a text box message directly on the students work.  Finally, I demonstrate how to return this work to the student allowing them to see all the notations you added to their assignment.

More Kami Tools - this final video shows how some of the additional tools can be used in assignments.  The Equation Tool is great for math, science, and music.  The drawing tools are shown in a math lesson.  The insert image tool is used for a Social Studies type activity.  MATH, SCIENCE, MUSIC

Great Google Classroom integration - Check it out!

I added all of this information on the Remote Learning part of the Green Google Training Center, so you don't need this email to find it in the future.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

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Tech Integration Team

Random Name Selector

Use the Mobile Google Classroom app to randomly select students.

Created by Scott Aten, January 17, 2020

Just heard about this cool feature available on the phone app version of Google Classroom. It has the built-in "Student Random Name Selector" that uses the names of the students in your Google
Classroom. It will keep track of what students have been called on, who is absent in the class, allow you to skip a student until later, and show you how many students that have not answered a question. If you use Popsicle sticks with names on them to randomly select a student to answer questions, then this may be a nice alternative. Here is how it works...

1. Just download the Google Classroom app on your phone
2. Open your Google Classroom
3. Click on the "People" button
4. In the upper right corner you will see this buttonclick it.

[See a video walktrhough of the app on my phone] Another option that I have talked about in the past is to use Flippity.net and use the random
name selector from that site. Here is a demo of what the random Name Picker looks like using Flippity.

If you would like help with Flippity, please feel free to schedule me. Both are great options to ensure you are getting all of your students involved with the discussion.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google 2019 Year in Review

What were all the new additions to Google in 2019

Created by Scott Aten, December 20, 2019

With the end of 2019 at hand, I thought it would be a good idea to show all the new features that have been introduced in G Suite during this year. I have listed them by product.

Google Facts

• Chromebooks are the #1 selling device in the US K-12 schools
• 90 million students and teachers use G Suite for Education
• 30 million students worldwide use Chromebooks
• 40 million students and teachers use Google Classroom

Google Forms

• June - question import in Google forms (see image to the right)
• August - locked mode for quizzes finally arrives
• October - fresh new look to Google Forms

Google Slides

• April - Add audio files from Drive into Google Slides (they had a little trouble with this and I don't think it made the April deadline, but is there now)
• October - new accessibility options for closed captions

Google Docs

• April - comparison in Docs allows you to compare two Google Docs and review the differences as suggested edits.
• May - grammar suggestions added (underlined in blue)
• July - new grammar tools in Docs to help students with spelling and grammar
• September - you can now see the word count while you type
• September - new fonts introduced to improve reading speed (see Lexend)

Google Classroom

• February - move posts to the top added in Classroom's Stream
• April - topic filters on the Classwork page is added
• April - new items will post to the top of the Classwork page
• April - thumbnails for the way that attachments appear in assignments
• June - rubrics added in Google Classroom
• June - grades section added to get a holistic view of students grades over time
• June - ability to sync grades to ProgressBook (Biggest new add of the year!!)
• June - rubrics now embedded in the student view of Classroom
• June - teacher can now archive a Google Classroom on iOS devices
• August - originality reports introduced to reduce plagiarism
• September - classroom celebrated its fifth birthday
• September - rubrics on mobile devices (beta)

Google Drive

• April - you can now edit Office files from Docs, Slides, and sheets without converting file types.
• April - you can now edit the metadata in Drive to better organize and search by tagging files

Google Sheets

• April - connected sheets will let you collaborate on up to 10 billion rows of BigQuery data - FINALLY :-)

Gmail

• April - added the ability to schedule send email

Hangouts Chat an Meet

• April - classic Hangouts in Gmail is replaced with new Hangout Chat
• April - live captions now available in Hangouts Meet

I am sure we can expect more great features to come in 2020!

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Classroom Rubrics

Now you have the ability to reuse rubrics from other assignments.

Created by Scott Aten, December 17, 2019

When you create an assignment in Google Classroom, it is possible to add a rubric for the students to see as a part of the assignment. This feature was added this past summer. When it was first introduced, you would spend a lot of time making a rubric and it was only available in that assignment. This has now been changed! Now you can reuse a rubric that has been created in a previous assignment.
Another new enhancement is the ability to use other teacher's rubrics. When you add a teacher to your
classroom, any rubrics they have created become available to you as well.

Creating rubrics is a lesson I made available in our training center - "Creating a rubric for an assignment"
- Google Classroom Level 2.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Create a Custom Google Search

Keep your students on track with their research using a custom Google search.

Created by Scott Aten, December 13, 2019

The internet can be an overwhelming place, especially for students trying to use it for research. All too often students rely on the Wikipedia's of the world wide web and look no further. For our younger students a simple Google search can lead to websites with information too technical for them to understand. The solution to all of these issues is to create your own custom Google search.

Here is how it works:

• Go to the Google Custom Search Engine website
• Click the "Create a custom search engine" button
• In the "Sites to search" box, add the websites you want your students to use. Only these sites will be used when a student does a search.
• In the "Name of the search engine" box, give your creation a name. I usually name it something similar to the assignment - "Animal Research", "Biography Reports", etc.
• Click the "Create" button
• On the "Congratulations!" page, click the "Public URL" button
• The site that opens is the URL you need to copy
• Include the copied URL in the directions for your assignment or post it in your Google Classroom.
• Instruct students this is what they should use to do their research NOT the Google homepage.

If you want make any changes to your newly created search engine, simply click the "Control Panel" button or go back to the website above and click "Edit search engine" in the left menu. You are able to go back and add more sites to your list of searchable site. In the Edit section you can also play with the "Look and feel" of your search engine with layouts, themes, and font and color customization.

Here is an example I made to limit choices on a biography report assignment. - try searching for "George Washington" and you will see that there are fewer websites being found as a result of your search.

These are very easy to create and will help make the internet a little bit smaller for your students.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

The Chromebook Classroom

Looking for ways to use the Chromebook in your classroom?

Created by Scott Aten, October 9, 2019

Many times I listen to podcasts as I fall asleep at night. Most of them are for personal enjoyment, but one that I occasionally listen to is by Josh Sowash called "The Chromebook Classroom". In this podcast he offers ideas on how teachers can use the Chromebook to help students learn. In the first
podcast this month he featured several links to provide ideas for teachers. I wanted to pass along
some of them to you...

1) Halloween Hyperdoc (grades 6-8) - If you are unfamiliar with Hyperdocs, this would be a good intro. Hyperdocs is a digital document—such as a Google Doc—where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. They usually incorporate student as a part of the lesson.

2) Six Chrombook shortcuts to save time (grades 3-12) - Learning a few Chromebook shortcuts can be a real time saver for students and teachers. This blog post offers shortcuts to: Dock the browser windows, switch between browser tabs, recover closed tabs, use the cap lock, and launching apps
that are in the "shelf" or task bar.

3) Google Slides Journal Template (Any grade where writing is important - hint ALL) - Do your students journal? This template done in Slide and is expandable and flexible. If you set this up in conjunction with your Google Classroom it can be used all year long. Great way to get your students writing, simply add a new prompt as an announcemen in your Google classroom and students just add a new slide and continue to journal.

4) Carve-a-pumpkin in Google Slides - (grades K-2) - Skills reinforced here are drag and drop as well as an opportunity to do some writing.

5) SAMR Student Choice Matrix - (grades K-12) - I have given a presentation in many staff meetings about the tech integration model known as SAMR. The purpose of the model is to have teachers evaluate their activities to see how they are integrating technology into their lessons. This Choice Matrix can help provide you with some ideas and tools to evaluate some of your lessons through the SAMR lens.

6) Is your Chromebook broken? - (grades 3-12) - If you are looking to become a little more knowledgeable on how to do some basic trouble shooting for your students, then this site is a great place to start. The site offers a few things teachers can do to help their students before you send them to the library. Help reduce the loss of instructional time by educating yourself on these tips.

7) Four Ideas for any Classroom - (K-12) - Josh is holding a FREE webinar TONIGHT. This webinar will explore 4 simple ways you can use Chromebooks in any classroom. The webinar is Wednesday
October 9th from 8:00-9:30. You can also request a replay of the session if you are unable to view
the live session tonight.

Hopefully one of these links will be of interest to you. I know sometimes the biggest hurdle with having
Chromebooks is finding good ways to use them, so I will continue to look for resources and provide
tips like this post to help you help your students.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Quiz to Classroom to ProgressBook

Google Quiz to Classroom to PB

Work smarter not harder by incorporating Forms, Classroom, and Progressbook

Created by Scott Aten, September 24, 2019

There have been a few updates to Google Classroom and Google Forms (Quizzes) that have made using these tools for assessments a little better. I wanted to write this blog post to give some clear directions on how to "work smarter" with these two tools, especially with the ability to move grades from Google Classroom directly into ProgressBook. So below are a few things you should know when you are ready to do an assessment with Google Forms (Quizzes) and assign it in Google Classroom.

Google Classroom Quiz Option
You may have noticed that Google Classroom has a new option under the "Create" button called "Quiz Assignment". This option will allow you to create an assignment that contains a blank quiz that is already setup as a quiz (rather than a form).
[Video demonstration of creating the "Quiz Assignment"]

Bringing in a Quiz I made without using the Quiz Option in Classroom
It is nice that Google Classroom now has the option "Quiz Assignment", but what about using a quiz I made in the past? Can I still take advantage of the Locked Quiz Mode and Import Grades? The answer is yes. You don't have to start with a blank quiz and use the "Quiz Assignment" type assignment, you can just use a regular assignment and pull the created quiz in from your Google Drive.
[Video demonstration of bringing in a previously created quiz]

Secure Assessment with the Locked Quiz Mode If you have not heard, Google Forms (Quizzes), now have the ability to be given in a locked browser. That means students can't open additional tabs, they can't use any extensions (includes Read and Write - Sorry Intervention Specialists). These quizzes have to be given on a Chromebook. The two videos above showed how to turn this feature on from inside Google Classroom, but you can also turn it on inside the Form (quiz) itself.
[Video showing how to turn on the Locked Quiz Mode inside the Quiz itself]

What is the Grade Import Option?
Many of you have been using Google Forms(Quiz) for assessments and know that, if setup correctly, it can auto-grade questions like multiple choice and short answer. But now you can import these grades into Google Classroom with a click of a button.
[Video demonstration of importing the grades from a Form/Quiz]

Grading my Assessment (especially if I have some questions that I have to grade)
On some of the Quizzes you give you may have to manually grade some of the questions. You can do this an still import the grades into Classroom.
[Demonstration of grading an extended response question then importing the grades to Classroom]

Importing Grades from Classroom to ProgressBook

All of this work ends up being well worth it since grades 4-12 now have the ability to import grades from Google Classroom directly into ProgressBook. If you missed my last post on how to do it, check it out here.

This may seem like a lot, but once you do it a few times, you should see that these tips will save you time in the long run and allow you to fully use the features of Classroom and Google Forms/Quizes.

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team