Canva is one of my favorite tools. I use Canva almost daily. Canva is a fantastic graphic arts publishing software. Anytime I need to produce a graphic for an activity or a logo like the one above, I use Canva.com.
Canva has a very good selection of free templates and even images you can use when creating your graphics. At one point I paid for Canva for a couple of months then I realized I wasn’t even using the paid features so I went back to the free only account.
Canva has templates for many different social media image and banner sizes to help you create graphics that perfectly fit your need. With Canva you can create invitations, infographics, brochures, cards, YouTube thumbnails, desktop wallpapers, photo collages, and animations. Canva even allows you to create videos, presentations, and office files from templates.
You should even get your students producing projects with Canva.com.
Did you know that you can set a required minimum answer length on Google Forms responses? This feature works with Short Answer, Paragraph Answer, and Check Boxes. This feature can help you prompt those reluctant writers to expand a little more on their ideas. You can even set up a custom error message if the minimum requirement isn’t met. It does work the other way as well so you can set a maximum if you need to force a concise short answer from those overly productive advanced students. Check out the quick walkthrough below.
Are you experiencing students turning in Google Forms blank with no answers. There is an incredibly straightforward solution to that problem. Simply make each question required. Below is a quick example of how to do that.
Here is a large collection of Graphic Organizers that are embedded into Google Slides. These graphic organizers are the background images on the slides. Teachers simply need to copy these slides and paste them into a slide show they are going to assign or share with students. Students then add text boxes to complete the activity.
BoddleLearning.com is a fun and engaging K-6 Math Learning Game that uses AI to differentiate the experience for your students. Students get to customize their character and their home, play a fun basketball bonus game, and practice appropriate and necessary math skills based on their TEKS.
Here is a link to a .PDF guide book created by Eduphoria for Aware online student testing. Below is my Guide based on my specific experience with it.
How to login
Your log in will be your six digit Student ID# (Lunch #) Your campus will have it’s own unique password which will be provided that day
What the test looks like
You can move through the questions with the Next and Previous buttons at the bottom of the screen or clicking on those question numbers
Available features and accommodations
Color Theme changes are available to accommodate visual needs
Speak Options provide oral testing accommodations with the ability to adjust the volume and playback speed. Students can choose to have the text read in an English or Spanish accent. Playback can be a male or female voice.
I noticed when testing that if I double click to highlight an entire question or answer choice it won’t read it. I had to click and drag the highlight to get it to recognize and read the words.
However there is a little Speak icon next to each question and answer choice that you can click to have them read without highlighting.
You can click and drag or double click to cursor highlight text then select the HIGHLGHT tool to highlight it yellow for your reference
The “CLEAR HIGHLIGHTING” button at the top of the screen is the only way to remove highlighting
Zoom will increase the size of the question and answer choices while adjusting it to fit in the screen.
You can strike through and eliminate answer choices
You can flag questions to return to later if you were not sure about it. The Question Guide will remind you which questions you flagged as well as which ones you still have to answer.
The question numbers at the bottom of the screen will also indicate if they have been answered
You also might have a Calculator button to launch a calculator for use on some tests
This Google Docs WebQuest activity directs students to a Flocabulary video that reviews the five type of organizational text structure. This activity can be assigned in Google Classroom.
Here is a digital activity created for English 1 TEK 1.7D1 ( thesis, evidence, examples, conclusion ). This is a WebQuest that sends students to the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill online writing center. Students read the strategies and answer a set of questions that accompany the web page. To wrap up the activity students are asked to apply the strategies they identified and write a conclusion paragraph for a provided incomplete example essay.
Here is a webQuest about writing a thesis statement using the writing center website for Harvard University. This activity is created in Google Docs and designed to be assigned in Google Classsroom. This activity reviews do’s and don’ts of writing a thesis statement.
Below are some ideas technology tools specific to ELAR that will hopefully inspire you to develop some great new 1 to 1 digital lessons with Chromebooks in the classroom. These ideas are in no particular order but they are hand selected just for you. These tools also integrate with Google Classroom.
I am also creating activities that are specific to your English 1 TEKS. You can find all of these under the Activities and Resources Menu at the top of the website.
Teacher made should be a regular go to for converting existing assignments that you already have in Docs, Word, .PDF, ect. This tool will make your activities “digitally do-able”. It will allow you to add student answer options to those existing activities; including Open ended answer, multiple choice, check boxes, annotation tools, fill in the blank, drop down selection, matching, T/F, and more. OH and it will grade the activities for you.
Edpuzzle lets you take you use YouTube videos far more effectively in class. Edpuzzle lets you assign YouTube videos to your students to watch individually on their devices while answering embedded questions through out the video. Edpuzzle will also give you reports on how much of a video students actually watched.
Flipgrid lets your students reply to a prompt verbally by recording or uploading a video response. This can definitely be used with the Chromebooks and doesn’t need to be done on a cell phone. If you need to check for understanding and come up with grades, listening to flipgrid responses can be far faster than reading written responses.
Google Forms is a great tool for creating assessments for your students. Forms lets you embed images as questions and/or answer choices. Reading selections can be screen clipped and uploaded as images. Forms can use multiple choice, short answer, drop down, and check boxes all which can be graded automatically. Forms can also take paragrpah answers from students.
Here is a webquest activity made in Google Docs and designed to be assigned in Google Classroom. This activity reinforces the techniques that authors use to develop believable characters by reviewing the definitions and challenging students to identify relevant examples in their own reading and cartoon watching.
Here are two activities for you that require students to infer and provide evidence to support their answer. These activities should be completed prior to reading the book Never Take a Shark to the Dentist. You can have students complete these activities entirely before reading or each question before it’s corresponding page in the book. The buttons below will force you to download your own copy of the activity that you can share with your students to get their results. These activities are made in Google Forms and designed to be posted in Google Classroom.
Here is a 10 slide activity that has students demonstrate their knowledge about the differences between denotative and connotative meaning of words. Students are asked to drag each visual meaning of the word to the appropriate meaning type. This activity reinforces English 1 TEK 1.2B.
Here is a Google Slide template for a wanted poster activity. This activity can be posted in Google Classroom. Wanted poster activities are great for having students show what they have learned about people from history and characters from literature.
Here is a digital version of an oldie but a goodie U.S. History STAAR Review, created by THE Historian of History himself, Bradford Sherman. This modernized update can be collaborated on by your students in Google Classroom or Google Meets. The bracket is the background image of the Jamboard. Students just need to debate and justify which had a more significant impact on the United States, then use the zoom, highlighter, and text tools to fill out the bracket. Students can complete this in groups or you can work together as a whole class. Run the game yourself on the board in front of your class in person if you are lucky enough to do so.
Here is a news article from Reuters with questions that focus on citing evidence from the text (6.6C, 6.5F), making connections to personal experiences (6.5E), summarizing texts and identifying thesis (6.6D, 6.8Di).
Here is what might be the first of many Princess Bride reading activities. If you folks like it let me know and I will continue on with more parts of the story. If you have any suggestions for alternative questions or even ways to word these questions, let me know. I am used to writing fact based Social Studies questions so I won’t claim these questions are flawless. I look forward to making more of these sort of activities and there is clearly an awful lot more of this story to tell.
Here is a question I get every now and then: How do I embed a timer in a Google Slide? Well the easiest, fastest, and my favorite way is to embed a YouTube video of a timer. Building a timer into your Slides presentation can help you move through a lesson more smoothly without having to leave your presentation to access a timer. These can be great for transition time, think pair shares, stations, and many more ideas. Below are the quick simple steps to accomplish this and look like a seriously cutting edge teacher.
Here is something simple and hopefully helpful. This is a weekly lesson plan calendar made in Google Slides. You only have to type in your plans for each day. This template has several huge benefits in my opinion. It is a quick and easy to print format. It is stored in your Google Drive and can be accessed and updated from almost anywhere. You can share it with your team or administration so they have easy access to view your plans. You can publish it to the web and embed it in your class website to share your plans with parents and students.
Here is a digital drag and drop puzzle activity made in Google Slides which can be assigned in Google Classroom. There is an easy mode with the state outlines included on the map and a more challenging version. You can kick it up a notch and have your students use the text tool to label each state.
