It has almost been a year since Google announcement that Google Reader would no longer be available. A 'death' I am still mourning. Usually, in February I start to develop a sense of dread of what beloved Google Tool will be the next to go, the announcement is usually in March. My fingers are crossed that it isn't Blogger.... Anyhow, Slate has created the Google Graveyard, a place to leave flowers for the mourned loss of beloved Google Tools of the past. Google Reader has had over 121,000 flowers placed on its grave to date. Not to worry though, the wilted flowers are removed by robots and only the latest 3,000 flowers are displayed.
Visit Slate's article here to mourn and leave a flower for your favorite Google Tools of yesteryear. Can you believe there are almost 40 that have been lost? What is your most missed tool? Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter
I'm not sure how long this has been around but it is extremely useful and I am in LOVE! Goofram is a combination of Google and Wolfram Alpha. It splits your screen in two sections on half for Google and the second half for Wolfram Alpha giving you the best of both worlds when it comes to search. This is my first search of 'dogs' on the left you have the Google results and on the right the results from Wolfram Alpha.
Here is my second search of Egypt. Again the Google results are on the left and the WolframAlpha are on the right.
Hope this is useful to both you and your students. Have a great day!!! Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter
Technology has the power to take a mediocre lesson and make it jaw dropping. To take an uninterested student and get them involved and excited. Technology can change EVERYTHING. However, it is so important for us to keep the focus on the learning, on the engagement, on the skills and the take away. We need to only incorporate technology where it enhances the learning, when it breaks down barriers and takes learning to a new level. We do not want to have the focus of any lesson to be the use of technology. If you objective for the day is to "make a Prezi" you are sadly missing the boat. We need to focus on the learning at hand and look at ways where the technology can bring your teaching to life.
Better Lessons- Common Core: National Education Association
The College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing
The Production and Distribution of Writing
K-5
6. Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others
6-12
6. Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others
When I read this statement the tool that stands out (actually, it is more like standing on the roof top yelling its name!) is Google Apps for Education, Google Docs in particular. Google Docs allows you to collaborate with up to 50 people at one time and share your document with up to 200 other collaborators. When you share you can designate if you are giving editing rights, commenting rights, or just viewing rights. This tool is in the cloud and is a free. That means that as long as you have the internet, you are seeing the same thing as all of your classmates- as Google always gives you the latest version of the software. It evens the playing field between your wealthiest student and your poorest student. Google Docs keeps track of every single revision made on the documents- so you can look back at any time and see who contributed, what they wrote, and at what time. You are also able to restore the document at any time. AMAZING!
With the integration of Google Hangouts, you can "hangout" with up to 9 different people and work on the same document from 9 different locations all while seeing their face and hearing their voices.
Check out these links for more information on Google Apps for Education. But keep in mind, it isn't the tool that we need to focus on, it is the learning, the collaboration and the empowerment that matters.
Level It Books- Scan the barcode of the book and you will be given the Lexile score among other information
iBooks- Great source of digital text, particularly books in the Gutenberg Project. You are able to book mark, highlight, add notes, find specific words, change text size, have words read aloud and define words.
Khan Academy- Thousands of video tutorials explaining mathematical concepts and practice problems available to support students in developing their understanding of math.
INFOhio Common Core Toolkit- Tools outlined here require a password that is available to every public school student and teacher in Ohio. Contact your technology coordinator or librarian for the password.
Watch, Know, Learn. Videos from all over the web compiled in one place. The videos are teacher approved and rated then compiled and sorted by grade level and common core standard. AMAZING! They also have videos for many of the text exemplars!
For me, Google Apps for Education is one of the most exciting things happening in the edtech world. It is changing and evolving daily- leaving us with unlimited opportunities to incorporate technology into the classroom. Embedded below is my presentation from the Google Apps for Education Class and here is a link to a site that features ideas for integration.
One major component of incorporating Google Apps successfully is the use of Google Chrome internet browser, if you do not already have this installed on your computer, download it here.
Michael J. Graham, a fellow Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer has quite literally written the book on incorporating Google Apps in the Common Core. This is a must read! Click on the book to be taken to the amazon link.
At times, the sheer amount of programs and ideas available can be overwhelming, to help with this I have compiled some of my favorite resources.
As always, if you know of a resource that I have left off, please feel free to share! I LOVE discovering new resources! While you are here, remember to connect via Google Friend Connect on the Right hand side and also remember to Subscribe to our newsletter! Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter
It is official, I am obsessed with Google Plus Hangouts. Seriously Amazing! Here is a quick picture of my latest hangout with my pal Sully.
Now, within the hangout there is a toolkit where you can add all sorts of effects to your image- hence the glasses and hats. I must admit, I am LOVING the glasses- I went shopping today and looked for a pair- didn't find one that quite pulled off the level of nerdiness that I'm looking for but I'm on the hunt!
I am ridiculously amazed with this- at first I was like oh, look, Skype, wait Facetime--- been there! But it is so much more. You can hangout with 9 different people at the same time- did you catch that? NINE. How cool is that?!?! This is the ultimate collaboration tool. You can watch a YouTube video together, pause it, and chat about it. Collaborate together on a Google Doc or other file. Holy Smokes! And get this- you can have your session recorded and sent straight to YouTube where people who are not in the hangout can watch LIVE. Did I mention the best part???? It is FREE!!! Doesn't cost a dime!
Hangouts are way amazing, the cool thing to do really. Everyone's doing it really. So I have to ask--- wanna hangout? :-D Seriously, I'd LOVE to! Let me know if you would like to in the comments below!
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Hello! I've had a few people ask this week on how to post and share documents without going through Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook. This is particularly useful for freebies because it doesn't require your guests to create an account. I use Google Drive but I'm sure that isn't to surprising considering I'm a huge Google Geek! :-D
I forgot to mention in the video that the you can upload almost any type of document, pictures, spreadsheet, movie, or sound clip. Pretty amazing if you ask me! Do you have any other Google related tutorials that you would like to see? Let me know in the comments below!
In other news- I was so excited to see that my technology papers freebie from a few weeks ago was featured on Teaching Blog Addict! TBA has grown to be one of my favorite blogs! You can snag the techy papers here. :-)
I'm a guest blogger today at All Things Upper Elementary today! Yay! I'm blogging about the amazing app Book Creator the post has a very exciting freebie that you won't want to miss! Check it out here!
I didn't get a chance to blog about this yet, but last week I was a guest on HoJo's Teaching Adventures! I shared one of my favorite Common Core Aligned Websites that has videos arranged by standards and is completely free! Check it out here!
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Google Docs is seriously one of my favorite things! I'm am so glad I have the opportunity to share this with you today. The collaboration aspect is AMAZING and honestly it keeps getting better and better! The video below demonstrates the research feature that is seriously life changing- I love the look on students faces when I show them this tool!
Google Documents is housed within Google Drive. This has changed somewhat recently- it was the name of the entire program- Now it is just a part.
I have created a video to show you a few of the key features available in Documents. This demonstrates just enough for you to get started and you won't leave feeling overwhelmed. Soon, I'll get to the more advanced features. Check out the video and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments. :-D
I can't leave without sharing a few of my favorite YouTube videos from Google. I'm not sure which one gets number one- The concept behind "A Love Letter" may be the best but the technology is now outdated. The Campaign Speech is a great overview of all of the tools in drive working together. Hall and Oates may be simple but it is one of my favorites- and remember if they would want to go back and see all of the deleted choices they can check out the revision history!
Google Docs: A Love Letter
Google Docs: Campaign Speech
Google Documents: Hall and Oates
I hope you enjoyed this and maybe even learned something! ;-) If you have anything Google or Apple related that you would like to learn about please let me know!!!
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If you are anything like me, I've struggled for years trying to keep my personal and school bookmarks, favorite sites, login information and more separate. The day multiple profiles was released with Google Chrome was one of the greatest days ever! Seriously, it is life changing! What multiple profiles allows you to do is keep all of you personal and professional accounts separate online. This includes everything- bookmarks, passwords, sites visited. Everything. Below is a quick video that I created on how to separate your personal and professional life online in less than five minutes. I hope this helps to keep things simple in your life!
Tomorrow I will present Creating a Community of Collaboration with Google Sites on Google Edu On Air. If you haven't visited this site it is a must see! Google Certified Trainers and Teachers are presenting via hangouts on a variety of Google Topics. It is an amazing collaboration of people and resources and I am so excited and honored to be a part of it!
What is a hangout you ask. Well, it is a group of up to nine people all online at the same time in a Skype-type session- It reminds me a bit of a Brady Bunch type screen but with all of the web cam video along the bottom of the screen. Hangouts allow you to share live screen recordings, watch YouTube videos as a group and have a conversation. Basically- it is amazing. It is a situation where technology catches up with your imagination.
The hangouts are happening live everyday at a variety of times. All sessions are recorded so you can stop back and check out any past hangouts. I would love for you to join me live on my Google+ page tomorrow or at least catch the recording. Stop back tomorrow and I'll post the slides from my session as well as the YouTube recording.
Recently, in our district, we have switched to Google Apps for Education. I personally I have enjoyed the process of gaining a better understanding of the ins and outs of the administrator panel. We have been Google for about 3 months now. There have been a few hiccups along the way but overall it has been very smooth. Today I had a question about how to set Gmail as your default mail client so when you click on an address it goes straight to Gmail instead of Outlook. These are the steps that we took.
Inside of your management profile, under advanced tools, you can go down to Google Apps desktop features and install the exe file that will make GMail, Docs, and Calendar a shortcut on your desktop. Once you have this installed you can change the default mail client. Now, go to your start menu, Click Default Programs, Under programs click Google Apps- it will have the mail icon beside of it. Click okay and you are set!
This isn't life changing but it can sure change your mood once you have eliminated copying the address, closing Outlook, and pasting the address into Gmail. Have a great day!
lynda.com helps anyone learn software, creative, and business skills to achieve personal and professional goals. Members receive unlimited access to a vast library of high quality, current, and engaging video tutorials taught by great teachers who are also working professionals.
Is anyone a member of lynda.com? It is a site with TONS of tutorial videos, tons, like thousands. It is a membership site for $25 a month. My Sister in Law told me about it months ago, but for Christmas I got a new camera and on the site it has an entire course for learning to use my specific camera. While I was stalking the free videos I discovered how many things that I had no idea existed but also how eager I am to learn. There is EVERYTHING. Photoshop, Illustrator, creating Facebook apps, photography, blogging, Blackboard, you name it and it is on there. Honest. Now, due to Google's ad targeting I'm honestly seeing lynda.com ads at least 4 times a day. I really want to subscribe but worry that I won't be able to stop at a month or won't get my moneys worth for the given month.
I know there are some awesome tutorials on YouTube and other places (I know I made some of them!) but with those I feel like I waste so much time trying to find a good presenter that can quickly, accurately, and effectively deliver the information. The other side to this coin is that my internet at home is REALLY SLOW. In fact I cannot even make it through any of the free videos on lynda.com without it pausing. So all of my video viewing would be at before or after school.
Is anyone out there a member? Do you feel you get enough out to justify subscribing? What classes have you taken? Have you learned anything life changing? I would LOVE some feedback on this! Thank you so much! :-D
I am ridiculously excited about this! The site eBook Glue allows you to take your blog (or I guess anyone's really) and put all past posts as an iBook. All that you need to do is enter the sites web address or RSS feed address. Then virtually seconds later you have a downloadable ePub document and a link to share with your friends. Check out my iBook of this blog here: Link
For me, this serves several purposes. It is a way to back up your blog, you can have a somewhat physical product but what makes me really excited is that I now have a way to catch up on someone's blog who I haven't had time to read while driving. I don't have an iPad with 3G so when I'm on the go at times I'm limited. Now, if I have a long road trip I can have plenty of reading material to take along without spending a fortune on traditional ebooks. If you do a classroom blog where your students are the writers this would be a great way for them to see just how much they have written and an easy way to share with parents. I hope this makes you just as excited!
I stumbled upon this book while using Google+ and I'm IN LOVE! This is a user manual for Google+ and he is hilarious! I haven't made it all the way through yet but I have learned so much. Guy breaks down the differences between Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, shares common terminology, and explains the purpose of each.
Facebook is for Friends- keeping up with them learning who has a new dog, baby or boyfriend
Twitter is for Perceptions- what are people at ground zero saying about an event
Pinterest is for Pictures- Sharing photos of things that you like, want to do, want to remember
Google+ is for Passions- Not everyone on your current social media friends list love ed tech or photography like you do, but using Google+ you can 'meet' and discover people with the same passions as you.
Be sure to check out Guy's book What the Plus. It can be purchased in a variety of different formats. For more information click here.
This is so exciting! I just learned it this week via +Lars Fosdal on Google+. I love learning new stuff! Makes my day every time! You can extend your Gmail address so basically what this means is that you have your typical email address i.e. username@gmail.com. You can extend it by adding a +word to your username. The e-mail will still come to your regular inbox but it gives you a way to see how they acquired your e-mail address in the case of spam. Here are some examples:
While this isn't something that I think I would use everyday it is something that I would defiantly use when I reluctantly sign up for a newsletter that promises not to sell my info. Very exciting!
I'm a HUGE fan of Google Doodles, those fancy drawings on the Google homepage. Thy have came a LONG way from the first Google page in 1998. (All images below are from the Google Doodle page)
These are some of my Favorite Doodles from 2012.
Maria Montessori's 142nd Birthday
Tato's Bore's 85th Birthday
Teacher's Day 2012
Each year Google gives students in grades K-12 a change to have their artwork featured on the Google homepage and loads of prizes:
The National Winner will have his or her doodle featured on the U.S. Google.com homepage. He or she will be awarded a $30,000 college scholarship to used at the school of his or her choice, a trip to New York City for the final awards ceremony on May 22nd, 2013, a Google Chromebook computer, a Wacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt printed with his or her doodle on it. We’ll also award the winner’s full-time school a $50,000 technology grant towards the establishment or improvement of a computer lab or technology program.
2012 Google Doodle Winner
Google is now accepting submissions for their annual Doodle Contest. The theme for competition is "My Best Day Ever..." Check out the information for the Doodle 4 Google Contest and get your doodle on!
Have you seen this site. It makes my giggle. :-) Let me Google That For you (http://lmgtfy.com/) This site basically makes a short video recording of you doing a Google Search for anything that you would like and then it gives you a URL that you could send someone. Here is one that I made- Let Me Google That Video. While I would NEVER send this to someone- well, maybe for a practical joke it is fun nonetheless! Enjoy!
This *might* be my new love. Block Posters takes an ordinary sized image and blows it up so that it is huge. You can then print off several 8x11 papers, tape them together to make a large bigger than poster sized image. This is seriously neat. Take a minute go to Google Images and then search block posters and you will get some awesome ideas.
Think of the possibilities. We could do a class photo, class pet, display, quote, random picture. I do believe that the possibilities are endless! Let me know what you create... I bet it will be awesome!
What Do You Love? Is a Google Sponsored Site where you type in what you love and you are given a quick overview of what is on the web in regards to your topic. Results include: Translations, Popularity, books, Explore in 3D, videos, pictures, alerts, find nearby, patents, debates, e-mail, earth, events, blogs, and several more. This would be a great way for students to select a topic- they are able to see just at a glance if their topic is what they think it is. It would help to eliminate things that are not interesting to them right off of the bat.
You can find this site along with many others on MrsFullenkamp.com on the Technology Tools Page.So, What is it that you love? Where you surprised to get the results that came up?
Maybe it was just me but I loved it! Google has a created a tool to help you create your own search story. 1.You enter 7 search terms and then decide if you want web results, images, maps, news, blog search, product search and book search.
2. Once you have your search terms entered you get to add music. There are several to pick from!
3. Once you have your music you can preview and upload.
This would be an awesome way to tell the story of an accomplishment or as a biography project. Students can use this as a final project or as an introduction to the topic they are going to do their presentation on. If you make an awesome search story video please share! I would love to see them. To get to the search story site click here.
Google is at it again! They have created a power searching class that is 100% FREE and open to the public! The class is open for registration but register quickly. The course has six different classes, a mid-term, and a final exam. I'm half way through the class and I have learned so much from Dan Russel, an engineer at Google. Now I know how to QUICKLY find the results that I'm looking for, including how to search for only pdfs on a particular site. So far it has been amazing! I consider myself to be somewhat techy but classes like these always open my eyes a little wider about how much more I have to learn! There is still time, register at www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/ Enjoy!!! Leah
