Deb Norton Tech

Play YouTube Videos in a Google Doc With the DocuTube Add-on Most Google Doc users who want to include a YouTube video in their doc, will simply hyperlink the video or just paste the link in their Google Doc. If a person wants to watch the YouTube video they will click on the link and a new tab will open to the video. But wait. . . there is a more seamless option! With the DocuTube add-on, viewers can see the YouTube videos directly in the Google Doc! Simply open a Google Doc and click on add-ons and then get add-ons. Next search for Docutube.  Once you and your students have the DocuTube add-on, theYouTube videos that are hyperlinked or linked in your Google Doc will be viewable. I first heard about this from Lance Yoder in this video: Anyone creating Hyperdocs will find this add-on particularly useful and a game changer.  Remember:  The DocuTube add-on will need to be added in Google Docs before viewing the YouTube videos in yo...

Google Keep Now Integrates with Google Docs! One of my very favorite things to do is make lists. Grocery lists, wish lists, list of goals, reading lists, lists of apps, bucket lists, etc. Google Keep has been my go to app for list making for quite a while now. If you haven't tried Google Keep yet, I highly recommend you open a new tab and go to keep.google.com right this minute. And then start making a new list such as this one. Google Keep has many great features. One is that you can use the app on your iPhone or Android device to access and edit your notes at any time. If you make your list a checklist you can tap the check boxes and the items will be marked as completed and will be moved to the bottom of the note.  When you click on the three dots there is the option to  uncheck the completed items or to delete them along with several other options. Other features include Color your note Set a reminder Collaborate with others on ...

Personalized Learning - Five Simple Ways Sometimes it is the simple tools that can make a big impact on personalizing learning for teachers and students.  This Chat with Deb will show five simple ways to make the learning personalized by academically supporting each learner to their specific needs. Click here to view the presentation. If you decide to use any of the tools shared in this Chat with Deb, let me know how it goes. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you to Intel Engage for sponsoring this Chat with Deb.

Check out the new speech recognition add-on for Google Docs. 1 -Open a new or existing Google Doc 2 - Click on Add-ons and then Get Add-ons 3- Search for Speech Recognition and click on Free and then Install the add-on 4- After the add-on is installed, click on Add-ons again and then on the Speech Recognition add on. 5- Then allow access to your microphone and begin speaking in what you want to say on your Google Doc. Here is a quick demo: I highly recommend trying the new speech recognition add-on with your students.

1.  Letha is using Screenleap . This site allows the teacher to share their computer screen with others by sharing a link. It works very simply and easily.  I've written about Screenleap before here .  This would also be a great way for students to share their screen on a large screen in front of the class. 2.  Samantha is using newsela to find current event articles for her students. This site allows the teacher to adjust the reading level according to the needs of the students. Some articles have quizzes for students.   3.  Brynn is using Thinglink with her students. I introduced this tool to our staff last week.  Thinglink is used to create an interactive image with hotspots.  You can read more about Thinglink here . 4.  Kerry and Valerie are having their students use Google Docs to publish their poems.  My latest Chat with Deb video was inspired by these two caring teachers. What great share outs from my col...

Monday, October 20th is the National Day on Writing. This year's theme is writing on your community. You can find more information by clicking here . In this Chat with Deb, I will demonstrate tips and tricks to teach students for using Google Docs to its potential.  Borders, colors, text boxes, bookmarks and more will be shown. I hope you have a chance to allow your students time to write for the National Day of Writing. Remember, publishing and sharing is an important part of the writing process.  Thank you to Intel's Teachers Engage for sponsoring this Chat with Deb.

App Smashing on International Dot Day - September 15th Watch this Chat with Deb video to see the first activity using Lucidchart Diagrams, the Quick Research extension, the Lucidchart Add-on and Google Docs   Blogging example: Give students a chance to begin showcasing their work and projects with a simple blogging platform. Students will make an account on Postach.io  and name and create a blog.  Students will make an account on Evernote Connect the Evernote account in Postach.io under the sources tab. Students will install the Evernote Web Clipper Extension from the Chrome Web Store. Whenever students create content on the web or have a picture of something they have done saved in Evernote, they can click on the Evernote Web Clipper Extension and the site or picture will be posted onto their blog. Students can use Doppleme  to create an avatar to represent themselves in a private and secure way. There is no account necessary...

Greetings! I've been gone for a week, but with good reason.  We have just wrapped up our second Ripon Summer Tech Academy facilitated by Naomi Harm of Innovative Educator Consulting .  And what a great academy it was.  Naomi's team of presenters delivered amazing presentations and were inspiring as always. The next series of posts will highlight several of the resources shared in various sessions.   All of the session resources and presentations can be found in this shared folder . Today I would like to share with you some very useful video tutorials from Naomi's session on using 1:1 Chromebooks.   Many teachers today are using Google Drive and the Google Suite of Apps to have students create assignments and turn them in. These video tutorials show how to manage this process in an organized and efficient way.  Each video is approximately 5 minutes in length, so in just about 20 minutes, you will have a good understanding of what to do. Vi...

This week I am going to share some tutorials  that have helped me to be  more efficient and productive at work.  I have also started to save my tutorials on a Google Site.   Click here to view my tutorials. Would you like to learn how to save a file, that has been shared with you, to your Google Drive?  If so, watch the video below: Thanks for watching!

Below I have embedded one of my Google Docs with some really neat fonts. I can't believe I didn't already know how to add more fonts to my Google Docs.  As I was going through my Google Reader, I read a post on Google Apps Experts blog .  Take a look and see how simple it is to add new fonts. Isn't that really easy?  I never even noticed "add fonts".  I need to pay better attention! Would you also like to know how I made a colorful background in my Google Doc? First click on File and then Page Setup In Page Setup, click on Page Color and click on any color. If you don't see a color to your liking, click on custom to get the whole array of possible colors.  Notice that you can also change the orientation, margins and paper size. And now for the biggest thing I just learned. . .  When I first tried to embed the above Google Doc into this blog it looked like this: I was very frustrated that my document was so small.  I trie...

I just found out from Richard Byrne's awesome blog that Google Docs now has a feature where a person can do an Internet search while in Google Docs.   Read Richard Byrne's article here . This will be a very handy tool for students when they are writing a paper or creating a project.  Student can look for an image and drag it onto their page, or look up the meaning of a word.  Students can look for information on a topic all while in their Google Document. I used the research tool to add a picture to a review that I'm making on the MacBook Air and I also used it to find prices from retail stores.  It was easy to do and very convenient! I recommend trying the research tool for yourself.  Just click on Tools and research to open the research feature.

I just spent about an hour cleaning up my Google Docs.  Check it out! Before: After: No, I did not delete everything.  I just put everything into folders, or what Google Docs calls collections. How did I do it?  I came across this post on KB Konnected's great blog about Organizing Google Docs. I took a few minutes to watch the video: And then I got busy. I knew about creating collections in Google Docs, but I didn't know about the secret button to "Not Show in Home".  It took me a while, but I now have all of my Google Docs organized in collections and my home page is empty.   I love cleaning.  How about you?