PNG, JPEG, GIF--What's in a Name?

Looking for some images to put on your awesome newsletter without those annoying square backgrounds? Here's a tip:


When typing in your search term, add "png" to the end. 




This will increase your chances of getting images WITHOUT the annoying white square in the background that's normally in the JPEGS. 

Would you like an image that has just a little bit of movement? Type "GIF" after your search term. Better, yet, create your own animation via an on-line GIF creator! (Which are a dime a dozen)

File extensions do make a difference. Most of the jpegs, when the image doesn't take up the whole real estate, is a nice little square that resembles a postage stamp. That's fine if that's the look you're going for. 

However, when you're trying to create a "scene" of some sort, the PNG is probably the best way to go. The PNG is simply the object with no square background. This would go nicely if you need to add images that are "sitting" or "standing" in the background you've created. 

Hopefully these posting tips will gain you a little quicker search when you're jazzing up your newsletter, website or webpage. Happy searching!

All Questions Required

So, you're creating a quiz using Google Forms. You get it just right, and share with students via Google Classroom. Then you notice after a few were turned in, that some of the questions were not answered. You were positive that you chose "Required question" on each item. Obviously there was one or two that were overlooked.

Wouldn't it be great if with one click of a button, *SWOOSH!* all items are immediately marked as required?

That's where this neat little add on called, "All Questions Required?" comes in. When you open up a new Google form, click on the three dots in the upper right (hamburger menu), then choose "add ons" at the very bottom. This takes you to the store where you can type in, "All Questions Required" in the search options. Download it, follow the prompts. Easy peasy!

Now... if we can just remember to click the "all questions required" button on our next activity....

Equatio, Quite Possibly a Math Teacher's BFF

Math teachers, we have not forgotten about you! My heart melted when I read Eric Curtis', "Control Alt Achieve" blog, regarding g(math)'s upgrade to Equatio. According to Eric, this fine product should be coming out today! This will be a Chrome Extension, instead of an Add On, which means hopefully it'll work beyond Google Docs.

There will be a free version for Google Docs and a premium version to use with Google Forms. How much? That remains to be seen. I hope it's doable for teachers.

G(Math), as you recall, is an add on for Google Docs that allows us to insert those math symbols onto our Docs.

With Equatio, the students will also be able to incorporate math symbols in their answer space when they fill out your assessment. It'll be an option right inside the short answer answer space or paragraph answer space.

I'm really excited about this new software, and can't wait to see how well it performs. To see it in action, browse over to Eric's blog and check out his animated examples of using the program. See what you think!

Haven't used g(math) yet? Check out the quick video tutorial to get yourself familiar with it.

The Hype About Hyperdocs

Confession time. For a while I thought hyperdocs were simply eye candy for worksheets. However, after watching a couple of videos, especially the one by EdTechTeacher, I've changed my tune. While listening, I immediately had visions of Peer-to-Peer teaching being engaging and accountable. 

So, what exactly are hyperdocs? The "hyper" stands for hyperlinks, and of course "docs" stand for documents. When you create hyperdocs for your class to work on, you're adding links to the document for students to research and learn themselves, the objective of the lesson. Then, to demonstrate mastery, the student could choose to create a slide presentation and include the shareable link on the hyperdocs, write a reflection right there IN the hyperdoc for classmates to read. Include some links for audio from either online, or from your own Google Drive (or other shareable cloud storage you use). If your class has the tools, have the students create an audio file of a report and share the link on the hyper doc.  

Not only is this eye candy for both you and your students, but it allows the students to work collaboratively.   This especially would work well for a 1:1 classroom. As students work through the different activities, they share their reusults or finished projects with their class mates via the links each student adds to the hyperdoc. This would help students who are struggling to get some ideas as to what is needed, and provides an opportunity for students to teach their peers. 

Listen to the explanation Ben gives in the video below, and observe his sample HyperDoc. I could see this being used for Florida History. What do you think? Have you used HyperDocs with your class? I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

Document Cameras--not just for projecting. Flip your lesson!

So, we have document cameras in our room. Whether you're using the ladybug camera, or the aver camera, you are familiar with the idea of having the "video" on your computer screen, and projecting THAT image out to your board.

Are you aware that having that video on your computer desktop also allows you to RECORD what you're demonstrating? Why not record yourself giving a tutorial of the standard you're covering during class? Take said video and save it to your Google Drive (remember, GAFE schools have unlimited storage), then share the said video with your kiddos to Google Classroom as a file attachment, or just share with them straight from Google Drive.

This step will allow your students to have access to your wonderful teaching skills even after hours when they're working from home. It'll also allow the parents to have access to any new skills.

So think about this: next time you're demonstrating how to do a math problem, how to critque a piece of writing, why not record it?

EdPuzzle--Not Just for YouTube

So, during one of the exciting twitter chats either #fledchat or maybe it was #2PencilChat, I learned about an educational website called EdPuzzle. This allows a teacher to assign a YouTube video with some questions embedded.  With the help of Google Classroom, the teacher can post to their Google Classrooms and have the students complete the assignment.

At first I just shrugged it off, since it included YouTube. In our district, although teachers have access to YouTube, and can show to whole group, student accounts have YouTube blocked. Since I am in an elementary school, I can understand it being blocked for students. Guess what? It's not limited to YouTube.

Taking a chance, I reached out to EdPuzzle via twitter and asked some questions. I was hoping that we could upload our video to YouTube, create the questions with EdPuzzle, then download the new project to a Google Drive or something. I know, I know---it's sort of like trying to reach your belly button by going around behind your knee caps. Within the first day, I received a response. It's actually very easy to do, and one DOESN'T have to go through all of the song and dance that I eluded to. Maybe we COULD use it after all!

Test driving it, I was excited to see that it was super easy to use. With a click your google classroom was imported, and ready to go! The first video, the EdPuzzle walks you through the set up, and then you're ready to go! With the FREE version you get all KINDS of neat things to do, and the paid version gives you icing on top of that delicious cake they're already willing to serve you. The more teachers sign up within a school, the less expensive it is.

Interested in EdPuzzle yet? Take a look at the seminar that shows how to integrate this into Google Classroom and see if you're interested...

Google Templates Right in Google Docs!

So, a bit of good news for heavy Google Education users. The Templates can now be accessed right from Google Docs!

Used to, we had to go to the template gallery and start from there. However, that will be going away March 9th. To see the templates, upload your own, share with your district, etc. this can be done all within the Google Drive.

To start, go to your Drive and click "new" as usual. Scroll down to your Google Docs as usual. Next step is a bit different. You should see an arrow indicating a subgroup out to the right of Google Docs. You now have the choice to start from a blank document, or a template.

And guess what? It's not just for Google Docs. You have the same options for Google Slides and Google Sheets, Google's presentation app and spreadsheet app.

Go ahead--doll up those hyperdocs! Add some pizzaz to those Google Sheets!