Deb Norton Tech

I'm winding down from a busy few weeks and feeling very grateful for a holiday break that is right around the corner. I'm looking forward to more time with family, looser schedules and lots of down time. Here are a few links and loves from this past week. I discovered a new feature in Google Chat called "Add a status" By default, Gmail sets your status as "automatic based on activity". So most people see you as active throughout the day when you are logged into your computer. If you click on arrow next to the active tab, you will see an option to add a status. This is great to personalize your status to let others know if you are in a meeting, out sick or busy teaching.  You can customize how long the status is visible for and even customize the emoticon that goes with your status. Tab Manager Plus for Chrome is a new (to me) extension that I am finding useful. This extension lets you easily see all of the tabs you have opened in one place.  You can see mul...

  “Getting information from the internet is like getting a drink from a fire hydrant.”  Alan November , keynote speaker. This episode teaches 10 Google search engine techniques to properly search Google for information to give results without bias or misconceptions. These techniques are simple and powerful.  Enjoy!

Today is December 10, 2021! We are already in the double digits of December.   This week I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the SLATE Conference . SLATE stands for (School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education).  I can't even tell you how nice it was to be back in person to learn and share with educators from all over the Midwest. I feel so inspired! Here are a few quick takeaways from SLATE.  Spinnerwheel.com lets you add more than one wheel to your screen. As a matter of fact, you can add and save up to eight wheels on a page!   You can add images, text, numbers and percentages.  The  wheels can be used independently or at the same time. There are many settings to choose from for each wheel, including colors, backgrounds and sounds. This  Christmasify extension will add falling snow to any webpage.  The DF for YouTube (Distraction Free for YouTube) extension eliminates all adds for YouTube videos including the ads at th...

Have you ever looked closely at the capabilities and features for the camera app on a Chromebook?   In this post I'm going to share some of the many ways that you can use the features of the camera app in the classroom. TAKE A PICTURE Obviously, you can open the camera app and take a picture. The picture will automatically save in the "camera" folder in your Files app for you to access at any time. USE A GRID You can use a grid by  clicking on the settings gear to help to set up a photo using the   rule of thirds . Once you choose a grid, then you can toggle the grid on and off while capturing your photo. FLIP A PICTURE The flip feature lets you flip a photo vertically.  This is nice if you want a character or image to face the opposite direction. USE A TIMER There is a 3 or 10 second timer. This is handy so that you don't need to be within arm's length of your laptop to take a picture. Choose if you want the 3 second or 10 second timer in the settings gear and ...

Here it is, my Tech Wish List for 2021! If you are looking for ideas for tech gifts for others or for yourself, you’ll appreciate this episode. Included in my wish list are items I am hoping to see under my tree or items that I currently own and hope to give to others this holiday season. And some are on my “dream” wish list. #1 is an Apple Air Tag  #2 UV phone sanitizer   #3 Belkin Face Tracking Phone Mount     #4 Philips SmartSleep Wake-up Light   #5 Cricut machine (Joy, Explore or Maker)   #6 Audio Sunglasses   #7 Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality Headset   #8 Apple Watch Series 7   #9 ORORO Women's Heated Jacket with Battery Pack and Detachable Hood         #10 Samsung Frame TV (Smart TV) Happy Holidays everyone. Enjoy dreaming of techy gifts. Deb  

Oh my goodness! December snuck up on me so quickly!  Are you ready for the holidays and for all the rigmarole? Let's take a minute to check out a few "Links and Loves" from this past week. #1 Here are some December backgrounds for your phones, tablets and computers. #2 I've finished reading this book . This is one of those novels that people either really like or really dislike. Personally I enjoyed the story and characters. The themes in this book are about loyalty, betrayal, loss, sacrifice and tragedy. I kept wondering how someone could actually have seven husbands, but each marriage was believable and I found myself sympathizing with the main character. #3 I learned about the "inspect" tool for websites from Richard Byrne through this video and I feel so techy and knowledgeable now.  I think this could be a great lesson in showing students how easy it is to create fake websites and unreliable sources of information online. #4 Slidesmania has a new slid...

  November Google Workspace Updates are here and they include new features in Docs, Sheets, Sites, Calendar, Gmail and Meet! Check it out!

In this episode of Life is But a Google I share Slido , an add-on for Google Presentations for fun and engaging polling questions for your students.   Here is an example of a Slido word cloud poll question.

Stop animation videos are a highly entertaining way for students to show understanding of concepts that focus on change over time, a process or a progression. In this podcast I share two low tech methods for making stop animation videos, many ideas of how they can connect to curricular areas and many different types of stop animation videos. There is a little something for everyone in this podcast.

Greetings educator friends and colleagues. I hope your week went well. Here are a few interesting finds from this week. #1 Have you notices the number of fast food restaurants that have "We're Hiring" signs? Check out this robotic solution! Meet Flippy. It's the world's first AI kitchen assistant,  a robotic and autonomous smart-kitchen solution created by Miso Robotics,  made for quick-service restaurants (QSRs) across the world.  Speaking of robots, have you heard of "soft robots"? They can handle things more gently than a regular robot. Check out this article .  #2 If you are using Go Guardian Teacher a new feature is now available to allow for different scenes for different groups of students or individuals.  Scenes + Student Groups #3 Betsy from " Now Spark Creativity " shared a slide deck for Gratitude Poetry Tiles . I love this for when students need a relaxing and creative activity.  #4 My college sons introduced me to the site, " ...

In this episode of Life is But a Google #Podcast I talk about "Everyday Examples of Artificial Intelligence". We also play a game to learn more about artificial intelligence and how it is a part of our everyday lives. Enjoy!

 🍂🍂 Happy November all! 🍂🍂 If you live in Wisconsin or the midwest I hope you are enjoying the fall-like weather and the cool temperatures. I feel as though we have finally gotten into a rhythm of day to day school, teaching and learning.  It's been a creative week of STEM projects in our Innovation Lab. During Excel this week my colleague, Teri and I, led a Cricut Design Space Activity to create a personalized name plate. Students were able to show understanding of scale, positioning, layers, welding and weeding, which are all graphic design concepts. Another project my youth apprentice and I worked on is a balsa wood airplane cut out on the Cricut machine. We wanted to add weight to the nose of the plane, so we used Tinkercad.com to design and then 3D print pieces to add to the nose.    It may seem like a simple project, but a lot of design, critical thinking and troubleshooting went into these gliders.   On Monday we plan to have a friendly comp...