I did a workshop at my school yesterday featuring Kaizena. If you haven’t heard of Kaizena yet… Oh My!! You can leave VOICE COMMENTS right in your Google Docs!! Our World Language teachers are using it to record students speaking in their language, and demonstrating growth in their fluency! They have a website www.kaizena.com and it’s also available as an Add-on right in Google Docs! Here’s the How-to-get-started that I created for yesterday’s workshop!
Great lesson on Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”
A link to this Ted Ed lesson came across my Facebook feed today, and I had to share it! Click on the image below to go to the website and see the video and lesson!
Google’s Cultural Institute
Have you seen Google’s Cultural Institute? It was originally the Google Art Project, and still is! But it’s expanded to include so much more than art! Not only did the Street View Cameras visit museums so that you can take a virtual tour, and choose which artwork you want to stop and look at… And the images have about a gajillian pixels, so you can zoom in MUCH closer than museum security would ever allow!! But, there’s also the Historic Moments collections… Check them out, you can create your own “gallery” from artwork in many different museums, and share those galleries (the real magic in Google is the sharing!)…
Try Tech Tuesday
Hi Everyone!
Today is Veteran’s Day, a day to celebrate and thank all veterans, past and present who put their lives on hold to keep us all safe. I spent the morning with my Color Guard and the Marching Band honoring those Veterans from our community. Here’s “my” girls all ready to welcome the Veterans as they come across for the ceremony. I LOVE my color guard, they’re the best!
The current Try Tech Tuesday Challenge is to use cool fonts in your Google Docs!
Check out this cool Slides Presentation (not made by me… made by Google)
If you haven’t already, check out the challenge and fill out this form to submit your Doc! If you include an email address, you’ll get a digital badge at the end of the challenge! I hope you’ll join me celebrating the fun fonts that Google has to offer! And don’t forget to tweet about it too! #trytechtu
Trans-FORM Your Teaching
Forms are my FAVORITE Google App 🙂 I just LOVE them! They can be used in so many different ways, and there’s very helpful add-ons like Flubaroo that make correcting them a piece of cake!! Here’s my last presentation from last week’s Professional Development day.
Google Basics for Teaching
Speaking of online resources… Have you seen that Google is offering a Google Basics for Teaching online course?
Click HERE for more information and to register for this self-paced course!
Don’t forget this week’s Try Tech Tuesday challenge!
Online Resources!
The magic of the internet (among many “magics”) is the willingness of so many people to share what they know! If you’re looking for ideas of new things to try in your classroom, or looking to expand your knowledge of something, fresh ideas and perspectives are just a click away!  Google products like Drive, and Docs, and Forms, and Slides are all being updated constantly! One of my favorite ways to know about all the new features is to follow Google on G+ and also to follow may fellow GCT’s and other great teachers on Twitter… Another site is my “go to” for Google Updates… I love Google Gooru If you’re the slightest bit geeky, there’s a wealth of Google-y information available on the site, and they run Google Hangouts and courses to keep everyone up to date! Check it out when you have a minute (or 20) to spare!
Don’t forget to check out the current Try Tech Tuesday Challenge!!
Chrome Extensions: TabCloud
Happy #NaBloPoMo !
Today’s quick tip is one of my favorite Chrome Extensions, TabCloud. You can save a set of tabs to go back to later!! I’m kind-of an “open-tab-hoarder”… And really like to have “my” tabs ready to go! It’s especially helpful when presenting at workshops. I know that I want a specific set of tabs open for each separate workshop, and I can save them all and reopen them with a single click… Just click the button and voila! All the tabs I need open!
The Chrome extension is available in the Chrome Web Store (and it’s free). Once you have it installed in Chrome, you’ll be able to see it in your menu bar…
Click on it to sign in and start saving your favorite open tab sets!
**Don’t forget, if you’re a teacher and participating in #NaBloPoMo, please let us know by posting your information HERE so we can all follow each other! It’s not too late to join in the “party” 🙂 **
CUE Learning Revolution Online Summit
CUE is presenting a completely online summit featuring Google Apps, and I’ve been invited to present!! The summit promises to be fantastic, with presenters from all over, and it’s completely online!! All of the presentations will be held through Google Hangouts On Air, and the best part? It is only $40 which includes CUE membership!! Sessions will be available to participants at any time after they are presented, so even if you can’t watch the sessions live, you can view them after they are over!! It’s a great way to see all kinds of Google tools in action! My presentation will be at 2:00 on Sunday, September 7 and is called “Harness the power of Google and free your lessons!” Click on the image below to go to the website. #gieonline
Find me at the Connecticut Summit featuring Google in Education!
I am beyond thrilled to be presenting a workshop tomorrow at the Connecticut Summit featuring Google in Education! My session is about using the features of Google Drive to collaborate with both teachers and students. I hope you can come, and if not, my presentation materials will be posted here after the weekend is over! #GIEsummit