Deb Norton Tech

Do you currently have a syllabus that you pass out the first day of school only to find that your students stuff the syllabus in their backpacks and never really look at it again?  Why not consider creating a digital syllabus using Google Presentations! Generation Z students appreciate anything in a digital format for viewing. There are many purposes to a syllabus. Let's talk about content and design ideas for your digital syllabus. First of all, check out my example. Try to picture your own content in this syllabus, customized to you and your students' needs. I included expectations, course content, grading information and contact information. You might also include a video, links to websites or even class rules that you and your students create together. I started by creating a new Google Presentation .  Before I added any content, I first changed the size of the slides in the presentation to 8.5 x 11 inches so that the syllabus looks li...

Personalized Learning with Learner Profiles There are several aspects to Personalized Learning including: Learner Profiles Customized Learning Paths Competency Based Progress Flexible Learning Environments Today I'm sharing a few ideas for the beginning of the school year to support having students create and share Learner Profiles. Learner Profiles help teachers know more about their students. It is beneficial for both the student and teacher to know the student's interests and strengths.  Teachers can use the data from these profiles to guide students with the personalized choices they make about their learning. #1 - Customized Desktop Backgrounds One idea is to use  Quick Picture Tools  Multiple Picture Wallpaper to have students upload and create a personalized Desktop.  Here is what mine looks like. There is the option to upload up to four images. I uploaded 3 images and then created the words using Google Drawings .  I downloade...

Google Earth - You Look Amazing! Today Google introduced a brand-new version of  Google Earth —on the web and Android—two years in the making. You can read all about the updated Google Earth and its features in this post .  The imagery and graphics are amazing. They almost look computer generated.  Hold down the Shift Key while dragging a finger on the track pad to view a location in 360 degree views.  Click and drag the Pegman (little yellow person) onto a street to begin a street view. Click on the arrows to move around. Want to see where I am fortunate enough to spend my days? Click here .  Thank you Google for this update to Google Earth. It looks amazing!

Motivate and Engage Students with Game-Based Learning  and Google Games are a huge motivator for kids, whether they’re reviewing a topic, taking a pre-assessment or receiving a reward for good behavior inside your classroom. When students play games, they feel challenged and enjoy a sense of competition and success. The Google Suite is the perfect platform for creating interactive games.  With tools such as Google docs, Google Sheets, Google Presentation, Google Maps and Google drawings, there are unlimited ways to create games for students. Students can even be challenged to create their own games within the G Suite. Playing games can engage your students with interactive flip cards, board games, geography games and review activities.  Today I’m sharing a few resources from a presentation that I recently presented for a SimpleK12 webinar. Flippity.net Let’s start with one of my favorite Google tools that has a whole bunch of different games...

Google Released a New Tool Called AutoDraw There is a new drawing tool from Google and it is really amazing!  Draw a sketch of something and AutoDraw will find possible images to turn your sketch into beautifully drawn images. AutoDraw uses artificial intelligence to recognize a drawing and then suggests professionally made images to replace your simple sketch. Like this! There are several tools to help make your drawing amazing such as the AutoDraw pencil, a regular pencil, a fill bucket, and a text tool.  Here is a short video explanation: AutoDraw works on Chromebooks, laptops, tablets and smart phones. To access AutoDraw just simply use the URL autodraw.com Here is a little information from the designers of AutoDraw: https://www.autodraw.com/artist Download or share your images with a link and use the side bar (3 lines) menu for additional option.   How might you use AutoDraw with your students or staff?...

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...

- Sharing is Caring - Image Link As I follow blogs and posts from my PLN, I often think, "Oh, I have to share these ideas with my colleagues!" Well, today I'm doing just that. Here are some great posts from EDU folks that I follow. They share their ideas, knowledge and creations without hesitation to help us all be better and more efficient at what we do. I truly appreciate their Sharing is Caring attitude. #1 Google Classroom Speed Grading via Lance Yoder - Engaged.net Would you like to see a quicker and more efficient way of grading student work in Google Classroom all the while still being able to leave feedback? Check out this video and this blog post !  #2 How to Add Music to Google Slides via Richard Byrne - Free Technology for Teachers What a great idea to have music playing in a Google Presentation. This post and video shows a great work around to make this possible. #3 Black Out Poetry with Google Docs via Eric Curts - Co...

Google Sheets has some new updates and great features Google sheets can be used for many options beyond just collecting and displaying data. I have used Google sheets for displaying information such as this example . And it is also a great tool for creating rubrics like this one.   Here are some features that I've used in the above examples. 1.  Rotated Text  To rotate text, simply select the cell or cells you wish to rotate and click on the text rotation icon in the top tool bar. You can even choose the degree that you wish to rotate. 2.  More border styles You can now choose from several new border styles including thicknesses and double borders. Simply choose the cell or cells you want to add borders to and click on the borders icon. 3.  Link to cells and cell ranges This feature makes it possible to move around a spreadsheet by linking to cells or a cell range. This would be helpful also to make a...