Deb Norton Tech

The Ever Changing, Always Evolving GOOGLE! Gmail is getting a new look and some new features. Check it out here . I’m excited about smart reply, which I use all the time on the Gmail app on my phone.  Snoozing looks interesting, as well as nudging. There will also be new security and privacy features. Google Slides has some new updates . First, you will soon be able to copy and paste a Google slide from a Google presentation directly into a Google doc.  Also, you can add guide lines to your Google slides to help you align text and images on your slide. You can now add checkboxes to Google sheets. Click here to learn how. One of my colleagues has a fancy email signature, so I asked her to share the site she uses with me. And wa-la, I now have a very fancy email signature. ------------------------------------------------------ Curricular Connection Mercury Reader Sometimes you might want to clear away the clutter from a website to ...

WriQ - A Google Docs Add On to Assess Writing WriQ is a free add-on from the amazing folks at TextHelp . You may know some of the other tools available from TextHelp such as Read & Write   and Equatio .  With WriQ , teachers can assess student writing.  Although WriQ isn't able to measure expression, creativity or purpose, it is able to measure things such as text maturity, sentence length, spelling, punctuation and grammar! Here is a screen capture of one of my documents showing the results of WriQ.  Simply go to this link to get the add-on. Then when you are viewing a piece of writing in a Google Doc, click on add-ons and WriQ. Next choose the type of genre (Narrative, Informative/Explanatory or Opinion/Argument) and then click on Score this Document. Click on any part of the document to add, clear or adjust an error.  You can also score with a built in rubric.  Send feedback to the student including a writt...

Here are two interesting reads about Generation Z and Millennials   👀 27 WAYS TO GAIN THE ATTENTION OF DIGITALLY DISTRACTED STUDENTS 'Psychologically scarred' millennials are killing countless industries from napkins to Applebee's.  I agree with most of the items in this article. Especially department stores.  -- I heard about this article while listening to this podcast . I truly enjoy learning about different generations and especially connecting with the generation we teach. ******* Here are some books I’ve read lately 📚 The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas   (Young Adult Fiction) The Selection by Kiera Cass (Book 1 in a 4 book series | Recommended by a student) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline   ( now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg) I’m looking forward to reading this book recommended by a colleague. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Recently I worked with a c...

Engage Students and Enhance Learning with Innovative Activities from Google Recently I presented a webinar on using some of Google's latest and greatest experiments and activities. I thought I would share this presentation through my blog incase anyone wants to explore some of these fabulous ideas. During the webinar, we explored a range of activities, including some that use your voice, actions, or drawings in games and storytelling. I also showed how teachers and students can learn about concepts such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality in simple, creative ways. Use the activities in this slideshow to engage students and enhance learning with a variety of activities and experiments that can be used across curriculum. ENJOY!

Have you ever wanted to create curved text for a document?  This site came in very handy for me this week to create curved text for my Google docs and slides. This is a fantastic example of what students and teachers can do with the new Google Sites.   If you have some extra time on your hands, you might consider giving this a try. Are you celebrating Poetry month in April? If so, you might like this site . Recently I had the opportunity to check out a few touch screen 2 in 1  Chromebooks and this site was a great way to put them to the test. I think I’m in love with all of the possibilities! -------------------------------------------------------------- Curricular Connection Are you interested in augmented reality?  Just a Line App -- is a an app from Google that lets you make simple drawings in augmented reality, then share your creation with a short video. Click here to get the Google Play app. I hope your...

What's New? It can be challenging to stay up-to-date with everything in the tech world. Here are some recent updates you might be interested in. Activity Dashboard - You can now see who has viewed your Google Docs, Sheets and Slides with Activity Dashboard. Here is a helpful how-to video . Padlet now has a premium and free version (Freemium)  Here is a blogpost explanation.  You can have 3 Padlet boards for free in addition to the Padlet boards you already have created before this new change. The Google URL shortener goo.gl is being shut down. Read about it here and here .  Personally, I use Bitly for my URL shortener. I also use gg.gg occasionally. In case you missed it , here is what happened when the Chinese Space Station hit the Earth. Here is what I am currently reading. It was recommended by the students and I'm already feeling the impact after just a few chapters. What are you doing this weekend? My family is going to our f...

BookSnaps!  Annotate, reflect, and share what you're reading This week I joined a book club at our school.  I absolutely love reading and sharing books with others. One way to share and reflect on what we are reading is through a method called BookSnaps. BookSnaps uses technology to capture pictures of the pages of a book we are reading and then annotate on top of the pictures to add text, images and drawings. These images are then called BookSnaps.   Each person in the book club can view each other’s BookSnaps and get a sense of what each person is reading and their thoughts about the book. You can read more about BookSnaps by clicking here to read Tara Martin's blog post .  In Tara's example, the students would use the popular app SnapChat. Here is Another Option If your students aren’t able to use SnapChat, you can create BookSnaps using the free Book Creator App available for Chrome. Book Creator lets me add my own images, text, and sti...