Year: 2020

Screencast-o-matic is a versatile tool that every teacher can use to create digital content for their students.   

Screencast-o-matic is an awesome tool for recording a video of what is happening on your computer screen. It can often be easier to make a quick little video to explain a concept than to try and explain something in writing or over the phone. Screencast-o-matic helps you record your screen to save a video that you can share with others.

I use this tool all the time to record walk through videos. I have used it to record a scene from a movie that I wanted to show my students. You can run a slide show and record narration of you explaining a lesson to your students.  You can make videos explaining steps of directions for an assignment or project.  You could make a video showing your students how to navigate your Google Classroom or how to find something in Google Classroom.  You could even eliminate the confusion on how to turn in assignments in Google Classroom by making a walk through video for your students.

What are some other ways you have used a screen recording software?  What are some ideas you have for how you could use this for the first time?  Please go to the FB page I to share your ideas with us as a comment on this post: 
https://www.facebook.com/edtechmrbrowntx/photos/rpp.102803048080059/125964932430537

Below is a quick video walk through of how Screencast-o-matic works.

With a recent update you can finally play videos in Google Meet and have the sound broadcast through to your audience. When you go to present your screen you need to choose “tab” to present a video with sound. So make sure you have the video you want to play already open in a tab and ready to present.

Have you successfully used this new feature yet with your students? Please share you experience with us as a comment here:
https://www.facebook.com/edtechmrbrowntx/photos/rpp.102803048080059/125947245765639/

Let’s take a look at how to create a video slideshow in Adobe Spark. We will add images and music to create our video. You can also add a voice over or text to slides if you need to as well. Please check out the video walk through below on how to create an Adobe Spark Video.

Are you or your students having trouble accessing Google Forms, Drive, or Classroom when it requires you to be logged into your school gmail account? Here is my guide to fixing/avoiding these issues.

The first and simplest method is to use a Chromebook if possible. Just have the student login to the Chromebook with their school account. That should eliminate other logins interfering (Unless you have multiple logins in that Chromebook browser. If so delete the extra account.).

The second way is to create a separate Chrome Browser login desktop icon on your PC. Check out the video below to be walked through that.

Monday will be May the 4th, Star Wars Day.Here is a Star Wars coding lesson you can assign to your students so that they can learn about coding and practice problem solving skills.  There are two different coding activities, one suitable ages 6+ and a more challenging activity for ages 11+. 

https://code.org/starwars?fbclid=IwAR2HzfR8LyFIqPGfPF7Z5sxiNFsdXBdffgNI49Pe52EwlDElUngRaKT3PWs

Google Meet recently pushed out a new update to include a Zoom like grid view feature called Tiled. You access the menu in the bottom right corner; select Change Layout; Click Tiled. Check out the super quick video below to learn more.

Here is a quick tip to hopefully make it easier when looking up grades in Edgenuity or Google Classroom (LMS) and entering them in Infinite Campus(Grade book software).  It is also helpful when making new activities for your students and you need to see the Doc or Slides you are working in and the resource you are using. 

Here is also a resource for accomplishing the same thing on a Chromebook: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/view-apps-and-tabs-side-by-side-on-your-chromebook/

Here is a little bonus info

If you have a slide show that you have created you can easily share it with your students, parents, or staff by simply publishing it to the web through Google Slides. You don’t have to create a website to host it online. Google slides will generate a link for you to share that presents your slide show in presentation mode. That’s what makes this different than just sharing it from your Google Drive. A published slideshow is presented to the viewer and not in edit mode.

What would you share?  Maybe photos of your students or their work.  Those cutesy slideshows of somebody holding cue cards to tell a story.

Check out my quick video walk through to see it in action. Also the steps are below the video.

The folks in Florida may have no idea when Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will open again but in the mean time we can take a virtual field trip there. I have created an exciting activity for your students to explore and as an example to inspire you to create a virtual field trip of your own. I created this in Google Drawings and Sites.

This is an educational field trip not just fun. This virtual field trip includes essential knowledge and skills from Reading, Math, Science, History, Geography, and more.

Check out my introduction video of how it works. Then explore the activity at the link below.

Here are the activities in Google Forms if you want to save a copy to assign to your students to get their responses.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wrGANv81d0kRwTmkZEDRzDlZue5_GYrn

https://sites.google.com/view/wdwvirtualfieldtrip/magic-kingdom

Here is a quick video explanation of how to use the Snap Camera on your PC to activate filters for Google Meets.

Did you know you can change the banner image at the top of your Google Classroom? There are quite a few stock images to select from built in to Google Classroom. You can also upload your own image. Here is a quick guide on how to create your own correctly sized (16.67″x4.17″) banner image and how to add it to your Google Classroom. Check out the video below for the walk through.

Did you know you can schedule an email to go out at a later date and time? This can be a great feature for creating a regular routine or expectation with your students. It can also help you not send out emails at strange hours of the night. Here is a quick video walk through on how to set up a schedule send email.

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/google-classroom-faq-your-most-common-questions-answered/?fbclid=IwAR0cIe3Q3UmsGNm4jxTNQ9wwimZMbkxAnvu2QnPwpk6oPBuzKf3J1C4bF5c

Here is a link to some FAQ’s and tips for using Google Classroom from Mrs. Kasey Bell. Kasey Bell’s Shake Up Learning is a great resource to follow.
One cool tip I learned from this page was that you can post assignments to all of your classes at the same time if you are not scheduling them ahead of time. This link will show you how.

I was in a Region 10 Webinar today about Remote Learning for the ESL classroom, which I will post about later, and I noticed a great strategy they were using to keep the meeting going smoothly. The presenter had a second person that was monitoring the chat tab and would relay the questions to the presenter. I thought this would be a great job for you to assign to a student helper. The student helper could keep their microphone open and be responsible for interrupting the teacher and reading the questions from chat so that the teacher can address them while they are relevant.

Let’s take a quick look at Classkick’s super short introduction video then we will dive in deeper.

You can create new interactive assignments in Classkick that include manipulatives, multiple choice, and fill in the blank activities. You could also use the multiple choice and fill in the blank question features to add on to an existing worksheet.

This looks like a great new tool to try. It also has some pretty decent features with the free basic account.

Here is my video walk through of Classkick. It includes signing up, the features, creating an assignment, and assigning it to your students. It’s a little longer but very detailed and helpful.

https://www.icivics.org/games/do-i-have-right

Do I Have a Right

This is a cool game based on the Bill of Rights. Students run a law office and interact with clients to determine if they have a case in their complaint. Watch the video below of me checking out the game and seeing how it works.

To assign the game to your students in Google Classroom you have to find it through the green teach tab at the top of the home page. Then you will find the button to assign it in Google Classroom. You could easily just share the link as well without involving Google Classroom. It looks like there is an Apple and Android app as well.

Thanks to Mrs. Kaufman for sharing this with me.

Check out this message below from Discovery Ed

Coding Designed for Kids  We’re excited to provide your educators and students with an exclusive full-access preview of our all-new Coding app, now available with Discovery Education Experience through June 30, 2020. Discovery Education Coding provides completely self-guided and engaging lessons for students to learn block coding, HTML, and Python. Designed for educators and students with varying levels of skill, Coding is easy to use and loaded with Help videos and lessons. And, best of all, students can demonstrate their creativity by creating their own apps and sharing them with their classmates! Want to maximize your students’ experience with Discovery Education Coding? Be sure to maximize your free student accounts today!*”In today’s Digital Age, coding and coding literacy are important skills every child should have the opportunity to develop. A basic understanding of coding fosters student creativity as it sharpens the problem-solving and numeracy skills critical to future success. I am looking forward to integrating this new digital resource into my lessons.” As you begin to explore, visit the Coding page in the Professional Learning Center (PLC) to find:An Overview Video A Getting Started Guide Coding, Python and HTML Navigation Tools Studio Boards Please note that we have updated our terms and conditions to extend any obligations that relate to Discovery Education Experience to Discovery Education Coding as well. See our updated terms and conditions here for U.S., Canada, and International.

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Let’s take a look at Powtoon. Powtoon is a video creation tool that lets you make animated engaging videos to share with your students. There are a few usable free features available to you that make it worth checking out. There are two videos here. The first video walks through how Powtoon works. The second video is an example I created.