Tech Up the Holidays

I work with the best team!  Lindsey Insalaco (elementary coach) came up with the idea to sponsor Tech or Treat for our teachers.  At first I thought my high school teachers would think this was way too cutesy, but Lindsey sold me on the idea.  I grabbed my candy bowl, labeled "good" candy with tech tips, and sent out invitations.  I followed up with an email listing all the tips and clickable links.  Tech or Treat was a great relationship building activity and led to impromptu training and future appointments.

 

• Make Google Slides interactive with Nearpodize this! goo.gl/z559Fn
• Narrate Google Slides with Screencastify. goo.gl/R0y346
• Export a Flipchart as a PDF and drop it into Nearpod to create an interactive lesson.  goo.gl/xRcYJZ
• Dictate notes with Google Doc's Voice Typing feature.  goo.gl/FwrA4D
• Mix it up.  Alternate using Quizizz and Kahoot to review.  quizizz.com & getakahoot.com
• Missing iMovie?  Try WeVideo. wevideo.com/academy
• Drag and drop PowerPoints into Nearpod to create interactive lessons. goo.gl/g6yByX
• Click explore to view graphs & charts instantly in Google Sheets. goo.gl/Mijpqb
• Challenge other classes with Kahoot's Ghost Mode. goo.gl/gffhkC
• Turn Google Sheets into flashcards with Flippity. goo.gl/VqkPGm

Tech or Treat was such a success that I asked Lindsey to help me come up with a good name for a similar event to be held the final week before Christmas break.  Lindsey did not let me down.  She came up with Appy Holidays.  I traded the candy bowl for hot chocolate and invited teachers to enjoy hot chocolate, virtual reality, and cool Chrome apps/extensions.  The Internet went down.  The weather got hot.  But Google Cardboard saved the day!  Watching people experience Google Cardboard for the first time kept a smile on my face.  Looking forward I plan to move this event to an earlier week in December and change the focus to holiday gift buying since I got so many questions about what tech to purchase this Christmas.

Google Classroom Updates

Google Classroom has added some great new features.

Calendar integration - each class has its own calendar and the assignments you post are added automatically 

(coming this fall)

Reuse posts - repost assignments and announcements posted in the past

Post a question and allow students to respond to everyone and/or each other

Bump a post - move a post to the top of the stream

Due dates are optional

Read all about it.