Engage students with Flipgrid

#Flipgridfever is taking off with educators all across the globe!

Advertised as "social learning for everyone," Flipgrid is a simple and powerful video recording tool that allows anyone with a webcam to record video responses in seconds. Creating a basic account is simple and free, and once you have an account, you can quickly create a new grid and topic.

Each topic comes with a direct link to either the grid (class or category of questions) or topic (individual questions). Link it from Seesaw or Schoology for quick access! With the free version, users get one grid, but they can have unlimited topics within that grid. (help center, resources)

Check out this sample Flipgrid and add your response to see how it works! Just click the green plus button and record! Once others have posted, browse their ideas and reply if you'd like. You can even add fun stickers to your profile picture.

Integration Ideas:

Flipgrid has some great integration ideas posted on their website. Here are a few ideas from there and elsewhere.

Classrooms
1. Have students respond to question prompts.
2. Have students record themselves explaining their learning.
3. Community reading. (Check out this world read-aloud shared with me by James Knaresboro.)
4. 15 ways to integrate Flipgrid into your classroom (blog post)
5. 10 ways to use Flipgrid for math (blog post)
6. Facilitate an online debate.
7. Get students thinking about a topic to "prime the pump" for in-class discussion.
8. Have students share what they have learned as an exit ticket.
9. Embed in Schoology (links, pages, assignments, discussions).
10. Link from Seesaw.
11. Share classroom news (different students can post summaries/updates each day/week).
12. Building an elementary Flipgrid community.

PLN + Staff
1. Share positive experiences and success stories.
2. Provide input on educational topics and discussions.
3. Flipped staff meetings.
4. Season's greetings.
5. Staff mixer.

School-wide
1. Have all staff introduce themselves to the community.
2. Share school announcements.
3. Staff thank-yous to the community.

These are just a few ideas. Join the sample Flipgrid to share your ideas!

Assisting struggling readers with text to speech and audio

This week's tip includes a few strategies for using technology to assist your struggling readers. By using these practices, we can help students overcome a challenge in reading to still be allowed to show what they know and continue to be active participants in the learning process.

Digital reading on a Chromebook or with Schoology

• Embed Audio: Use the microphone icon to record yourself reading test questions, assignment directions or class updates. Students who need to hear the text read to them can click on the recording as needed and at their own pace.  (Directions)

• Text to Speech Extensions: Have students use a text to speech Chrome extension like Read Aloud. This can be used for any digital reading, not just Schoology tests, and it allows students to adjust voice, speed, pitch and volume. Students highlight the text they would like read aloud and lick the speaker icon on their extensions toolbar. (Directions)

 

Oral directions for young learners on an iPad or with Seesaw

• Record verbal directions on feed posts: When posting task cards, notes or images to Seesaw, record yourself verbalizing the directions. Those who need to hear them can click the play button below the image or link.

• Audio directions in Seesaw Activities: The new activities feature in Seesaw allows you to record your directions when creating the activity. Student can listen if needed. Icon cues are also great non-verbal support for early readers. (directions)

• QR codes to access audio directions: Teachers can create task cards that also include QR codes. Students who need to hear directions aurally can scan the QR and listen to the teacher read the directions. Students who are strong readers can skip the QR code and just read the directions.

• Embedded Audio in Buncee: This requires a premium account, but Buncee allows teachers to embed audio recordings on each Buncee slide. By using this feature, teachers can embed separate audio directions for each slide (or for several parts of the same slide), thus chunking the learning into smaller parts. Student can access the Buncee through Seesaw or a QR code. (Buncee help center)

Creating Certificates Using Slides, Sheets & AutoCrat

Autocrat is a great Google Sheets add-on that you can use to create form letters in 

Docs. They recently announced that it can now be used in Slides too. This allows you to
design a variety of form templates such as certificates. See below for overview of steps
for using AutoCrat to create certificates. Watch these tutorials for complete details:
1.  Slides (certificates)

2.  Docs (form letters)

Step 1: Design Slide Template with Form Fields markedThe form fields are marked with <<  >> 

Thanks to Sarah Montplaisir for sharing her certificate design! 

Step 2: Install AutoCrat 

Once installed, it will be available for all your Sheets. It is a one time install.
Step 3: Collect data into Google SheetThe column headers must match the form fields used in the Slides.
Tip: You can use Google Forms to collect this data.

Step 4: Launch AutoCrat and Complete the Steps

Step 5: View and Print Finished Certificates

Creating Diagrams, Flowcharts & Mind Maps

Creating diagrams, flowcharts and mind maps are a great way for you and your
students to organize and illustrate complex ideas. Having students design these
illustrations supports their creativity, critical thinking, communication as well as 

collaboration skills if done with partners. All the options below have free versions with 

Google Sign-in or no registration required, so they can be used at all levels.

Creately

Video Tutorial (2 min)

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Bubbl.us Video Tutorial (2 min)

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Google Draw

Video Tutorial (2 min)

Draw.io

​Video Tutorial (1.5 min)

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Canva

Video Tutorial (3 min)

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MindMeister

Video Tutorial (3 min)

MindMup

Video Tutorial (1 min)

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Coggle

Video Tutorial (1.5 min)

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Sketchboard
Video Tutorial (4 min)

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Mindomo
Video Tutorial (2.5 min)

Google Version History

Google's Version History (previously known as "revision history") is a very useful feature in Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Draw.

What is "Version History" and how do I use it?

• By clicking File-->Version History, owners and editors of a Google doc can see all previous versions and revisions or choose to add a name to the current version.

• Click on a revision to see who edited which portions of the document. Revisions are color-coded to the name of the revisor.

• If you hover your mouse over a highlighted revision, the name of the revisor appears.

• Click the three dots by a revision to name it for quick, future reference. This is a new feature recently added by Google.

• Click on "Only show named versions" to filter to just those you've named manually.

• Click on a draft and then click "restore this version" to move document back to that draft's point in time, or click "Presentation Draft" to go back to current version and exit version history.

Why would I want to use Version History?

• If students make inappropriate changes to a shared document, you can quickly restore the original or past drafts. By telling students you can see all edits to a document, you can also discourage inappropriate behavior before it happens.
• If you accidentally delete work and close the document, you can still recover it.
• If you want to track your revisions and compare different drafts of a document, you can toggle between them (ex. rough draft, revised draft, final version).

For more information about version history, check out the Control Alt Achieve blog post on this topic.

Interactive Diagrams on Quizlet

Quizlet has released an update to its popular flashcard and review website--diagrams. This is a great addition for subject areas that have visual content. This could include locations on a map, parts of a cell, steps in a math problem, parts of a sentence, elements of art, parts on a piece of equipment and much more!

It's easy to use. (detailed directions)

1. Create quiz cards as usual.
2. Upload a picture.
3. Add location points to the picture.
4.  Align locations to the terms on your cards. 
5. Share with your students (link or embed). Here is a sample to try.

Students can still use all the traditional flashcard reviews, but now, in "learn" mode, students can quiz themselves based on the picture locations.

Don't have time to create your own? No problem. Browse, select and use some of the many diagrams already posted for use on Quizlet.

Note: With the free version, you are limited to 8 diagram cards in each set. However, if you need more than that, you can made additional sets. 

Next level: You can take Quizlet diagrams a step further and have students create their own study sets. This is even better because students will be engaged at a higher cognitive level. After they are created, you can have students share their study sets with each other to increase review options. This would be quick and easy with a Schoology discussion or on a shared Google doc.

Give it a try. These are easy to create and a fun way for students to review!

Updates to Google Slides

Google has announced some exciting upgrades to Google Slides.  More information can be found on this GSuites blog site.

1. Quickly add items from Google Keep by dragging and dropping items into Slides.

• Google Keep allows you to keep notes and links in a handy collection of lists. You can even share these lists with others to make a collaborative checklist. 
• Now Keep is integrated into Google slides! (Click Tools-->Keep Notepad)
• Drag an item from Keep to Slides, and a slide is quickly created and formated for you.

2. Link slides from different slideshows (and update all at once).

• By linking slides from multiple slideshows together, you can save time updating.
• Update the slide in one presentation, and that same slide is automatically updated in any linked presentation.

3. Add-ons now available in Slides.

• Add-ons have been part of Docs, Sheets and Forms in the past. They are now available in Slides as well!
• Add-ons give you additional functionality like quickly searching for royalty-free images as well as connecting to third party products like Lucid Charts and Pear Deck.

4. Additional new features:

• Insert diagrams

• 
  
• Select grid view to see thumbnails of all your slides at once (like PowerPoint).

• 
  
• Skip slide feature (Hide a slide without deleting it! Great for your embedded slideshows or customizing presentations.) Just right click on a thumbnail and choose "Skip Slide."

• 
  

Using Google Draw to Create Digital Manipulatives, Graphic Organizers and Posters

Using Draw to Create Digital Manipulatives, 

Graphic Organizers & Posters

DIGITAL MANIPULATIVES

This is a great blog article that illustrates how you and your students can create
interactive manipulatives with Draw that each student can complete on their
Chromebooks. Better yet, she shares dozens of them she already created (see folder). 

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And here are some more from CTRL ALT ACHIEVE

Magnetic Poetry

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GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Seeing this blog reminded me of the dozens of great Graphic Organizers created
by a team of teachers this past spring that are worthy of sharing again!

And it reminded me of the 30 Free Google Drawings Graphic Organizers
shared by CTRL ALT ACHIEVE that are also worth sharing again. 

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INFOGRAPHICS

Having students design with Draw is also a great way for them to demonstrate their
learning. Here's an example of using Draw to create posters & infographics.
To learn more about using Infographics as a creative assessment, see Kathy Schrock's Infographic's as a Creative Assessment site.

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DRAW TUTORIAL

If you haven't used Draw before, here's a quick video tutorial to help you get started.

Digital Classroom Management Tools

Technology can be a big help in managing our classroom. Check out these tools and ideas.

http://classroomscreen.com/

This is a handy website. It allows you to put multiple management tools on one web page. Some highlights include the voice level indicator, the tech stoplight and a timer.

Google Slides Station/Center Guide

This slideshow template is based on one Sara Frater used with her first graders, but it can work with any age students. It is particularly helpful if you have students rotate among learning stations in your classroom. A slideshow like this can quickly direct students to their next station. This example has 5 slides to help you rotate students to all groups. Feel free to make a copy of this and modify it to meet your needs.

http://www.flippity.net/

This tool was highlighted last year, but it's worth seeing again. It allows you to turn a Google spreadsheet into classroom tools like a name picker, badge tracker, learning games, etc.

Embedded YouTube Timers

Simply go to YouTube and search for timer. These timers easily embed into a Google slideshow, or you can run them right off YouTube. It's a great way to help students stay on task and finish a task in time.

Schoology and Seesaw

You may not think of these as classroom management tools, but they can be. Use them to quickly get your students to their digital activities. This reduces time away from learning tasks. These tools also let you engage individual learners at a high level which helps to keep them on task.