Teachers in Tiaras

Google Docs is an incredible and somewhat underused resource. Dr. Ryan Visser, an educational technology professor at both Clemson and Anderson University, really helped me realize all of the possible uses of Google Docs. The most valuable resource to me is by far Google Forms. I attached a very clear, step-by-step tutorial written by Dr. Visser on how to create a form.

Although the tutorial focuses on a parent information form, these can be used for several assignments in the classroom. The form can be formatted for at-home quizzes, interest questionnaires, and so much more. The forms are so easy to make! Another great use for them is to create chapter quizzes on several novels for the students to take either in class or at home to show reading comprehension. The quizzes can be saved on Google Docs year after year to use for all classes. 

I cannot wait to use this for the Back-to-School parent and student interest form. Google stores all responses in a simple easy to read spreadsheet immediately after the form is completed. 

Check out the tutorial now, and I would like to thank Dr. Visser for allowing me to share this with each of you. 

When using a Powerpoint in class, students may not be aware of what they should study more than other information. Although you want your students paying attention to all information you present, on very important slides that they absolutely must know include a small, animated note taking related clip art in the corner of the slide. Whenever the students see this let them know that is is a highly important slide, and they should copy all of it in their notes. Pretty soon, the students will know when they see the animation that they should copy the notes (without your direction). Be sure to switch up the animation and the location of it so that they are always on the look out on every slide for when they should be taking notes.

Technology in the classroom is crucial. A great, fun attention getter to use the at the beginning of social studies lessons is to pull up Bing. Everyday, there is a fun picture of something interesting, somewhere on earth. Check it out in the morning (if you scroll over certain points on Bing’s page there are facts about the picture). Then, show it to the students. Have them discuss where/what they think it is. Students love this!

An article I recently read at Teachhub.com begins with, “It’s Google’s world, we’re just teaching in it.” I couldn’t agree more. This article is very useful for incorporating easy, Google technology tips and tricks in the classroom. The categories include:

Search Tricks

Google Specifically for Education

Google Docs

Gmail

Google Calendar

Google Mobile

Google Chrome Tips and Extensions

Google Books

Handy Google Services and Apps

This article is definitely a worthwhile read on how to use Google beyond a search engine in the classroom. All of the tips can be found here.

It is obvious that technology is taking over the school systems. Most early elementary students already know how to work computers, gaming devices, and televisions very well. Powerpoint is a fun way for students to use technology to do homework, projects, study games, and more. These are tips according to Active Dad on how to make powerpoints fun in the classroom:

Make a comic book

Use PowerPoint’s ability to arrange pictures with captions to make a comic book.

Create a great looking quiz

Create a fun quiz with animated questions and answer reveals.

Make fab photo albums

Powerpoint has some cool photo effects hidden away that can help you make photo albums that show off your digital snaps in fantastic, fun ways.

Make a great-looking timeline

Timelines are a useful way of representing stuff that happens in a sequence. We have used them for homework projects as diverse as English Lit and history and to make personal timeline posters that show key events in kids’ lives.

Embed YouTube video in Powerpoint

Embedding video in Powerpoint used to be a pian, but you can now stick a YouTube clip right in a Powerpoint slide. Just grab the embed code from the video’s YouTube page (click the ‘Embed’ button underneath the video to get it and copy that to the clipboard. In Powerpoint, click the Insert tab, then Video and select ‘Video from web site..’ Paste the embed code in and the video will appear.)

Make a video from your presentation

You can save your presentation as a video file that can be played on a PC, uploaded to YouTube of converted to DVD. Just click on File then Save & Send then Create Video. YOu can choose the quality/size of the video and the length of time to insert between slide transitions before saving the video as a .WMV file.

Add transitions to your pages

A dull presentation can be given a makeover with a few cool page transitions. Click the Transitions Tab and select More to choose from a variety of effects like Page Turning or Ripple.

Instant Laser Pointer

Hold down the CTRL key and the left mouse button to turn the mouse pointer into a glowing red laser pointer dot that you can use to point out important areas of the screen, or just waggle around distractingly. You can select the color of the pointer using the Set Up Slideshow button on the Slideshow tab.

Insert a live web page

Powerpoint doesn’t support embedding live websites into presentations, but you can download a free add-in called Live Web that will do the trick.

Do quick image editing without leaving Powerpoint

You don’t have to use image editing software like Photoshop to tweak images in your presentation. Powerpoint has some quite powerful tools built in. Click on an image and select the Picture Tools tab that appears. This contains buttons for Crop, Corrections, and Remove Background among other effects.

All of these tips and descriptions as well as handy guides on how to do/create each of them can be found here.