Dive into Technology this Summer

Tech Tip Tuesday

1) Don't forget to join us for our Summer Webinar Series. 

Webinar sessions are at 10 AM on Tuesday/Thursday. Topics include:

• Get the Most Out of Your Outlook Mail and Calendar
• Get Connected with Google+
• Take the Plunge and Make your next Classroom Site with the New and Improved Google Sites
• Have your students travel the world with Google Maps
• See and Share all your Favorite Chrome Extensions: Part 1 and Part 2
• Do More with Smore
• Have iPads? Check out all the apps students can use to easily create videos to show and share what they know.

*Click the links above to sign up in Eduphoria.

2) Participate in the BEST Summer Technology Conference.

Engage is July 18th at Lake View High School. Join us for a fun filled day of technology integration. 

Our goal this year is to have 350 participants to attend. We are right now at 272. Help us reach our goal. 

Check out the guest speakers and schedule at our Engage Website.

AND 

3)Have a relaxing summer! 😎

  

Don't Just Show, Interact

Website Wednesday

Two wonderful tools that let teachers and students interact with classroom videos are...

 

AND

EdPuzzle and PlayPosit are two easy-to-use websites that allow teachers to add interactive content to videos. Adding questions, audio, and links can help keep students more engaged during the video viewing. Answers to questions give teachers necessary data to check if students were not only paying attention, but comprehended the material. 

Benefits of EdPuzzle: 

• Add interactive content: reminders, open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, links to more information and resources
• Add your own Audio Track and Audio Notes
• Trim video clips
• Find videos from sources such as YouTube, TED Talks, Kahn Academy, Vimeo, CrashCourse and many others. 
• Upload your own created videos. 
• Share to Google Classroom
• All of this for FREE!

Benefits of PlayPosit:

• Log-in using your Google or 0365 Account
• Search videos from sources such as YouTube, National Geographic, History Channel, Walt Disney, TedED, Kahn Academy, Flocabulary, and many others. 
• Upload your own created videos.
• Crop your video.
• Share to Google Classroom

To see EdPuzzle in action, join us for tomorrow's webinar: www.saisd.org/pdinyourpjs 

Safely Present YouTube Videos in the Classroom

Tech Tip Tuesday

While YouTube is a beneficial educational tool to use in the classroom, the advertisements and other video screen shots can be inappropriate and distracting for students. Leading to a whole lot of headaches if teachers aren't on their toes and monitoring at all times and all screens. This in itself can be difficult. Here are two options that can help you safely present YouTube Videos to your students: 

1) Google Slides - Teachers can easily assemble all their educational YouTube videos and embed them into Google Slides. 

• Open Google Slide
• Click Insert>Video
  
• Paste in a YouTube link OR type in a keyword to search YouTube for a video.
• You can preview the video before inserting it into the slide. 
• Click on the video you want>Select. 
  

The video will play right on the slide with no links or advertisements. 

2) ViewPure - See YouTube videos with no links, advertisements, or distractions. 

• Open the ViewPure website.
• Paste a YouTube link into the search box.
  
• Click the Gear icon to set up a custom URL, set up a password, or define the start and end time of the video. 
  
• Click Purify. It will open your video in a new screen. 
• Copy the link at the top and share with students, parents, or faculty through an email, classroom website, or Google Classroom. 

Have you ever wondered?

Website Wednesday

Have you ever wondered...

-what will school be like in the future?

-what the weather is like on other planets? 

-do letters talk?

-why do I need to learn Algebra?

-who invented grammar?

These and many other questions can be answered at

Wonderopolis is a website that encourages curiosity, exploration, and discovery. Their Wonder of the Day helps to get students of all ages thinking and talking. Every day you are provided with a new Wonder. The Wonder of the Day is great for discussion, research, or as a writing activity. Have question that you would like answered? Students can also add to the Wonderopolis question bank. You can even subscribe to the Wonder of the day and have it sent right to your email or phone. Don't miss out on another Wonder. Go to Wonderopolis and subscribe today!

Color Challenged? Solution Provided

Tech Tip Tuesday

Laura is constantly laughing and making faces when it comes to my background and font color choices in presentations or infographics. When it comes to design, I will admit it that I am color challenged. There's just too many choices, and I often like to color outside the box. 😀 

Here are a few extensions and apps that can assist all who are color changed when it comes to presentation designs. All can be found in the Chrome Web Store. 

Extensions: 

Color Pick Eye Dropper

Eye Dropper

Apps:

Color Picker Now 

Color Picker - This site has ads that could be distracting for students. 

Image Color Picker - This one I like. I can load an image that I am using on my presentation and choose a color to use as my background, so that my background and image colors do not clash. Once the photo is loaded onto the site, you can pick a color. Then copy the color code and paste it into your presentation's custom background.

This is a video on how I use Image Color Picker. 

Draw, Tell, Share

Mobile App Monday

I know many teachers and students use Chatterpix as a tool for students to share with others what they know. Draw and Tell is another app from Duck Duck Moose that lets students draw and then narrate their drawing. This app can be used to explain a math problem, talk about historical locations and people, tell an original story about a frog that demonstrates its life cycle, or rewrite and tell a story from another point of view. The options are endless. 

This app is great for all ages and includes so many free and easy-to-use features.  The app comes with quite a few choices for backgrounds, color options (crayons, paint brushes, and color pencils), stickers, and stencils. Even better students can group drawings and recordings in order to create their own mini-movie. 

While looking into this app, I found some interesting news. Duck Duck Moose is now a part of Kahn Academy. That means all Duck Duck Moose products are free and without ads. 

Here are a few other Duck Duck Moose Products that you might want to try out: 

Moose Math
Musical Me

Fish School HD

Duck Duck Moose Reading

AutoDraw

Website Wednesday

Don't draw well? No problem.  😀

AutoDraw started as an AI experiment from Google, "simple experiments that let anyone play with artificial intelligence and machine learning in hands-on ways." Check it out because it's pretty cool.  

AutoDraw uses machine learning to guess what you are drawing. 

Using the program is as easy as 1,2,3. 

1. Go to the website or app. 

2. Draw

3. Click share, and you can either copy the link or download the drawing.  

You can add shapes,text and color to your drawing. Need help? Check out the How-To tutorials.  

AutoDraw is not only a website, but is also an app. This program or website can be used on any device. And better yet, there's no log in required. 

Share a Presentation in Google Hangouts

Tech Tip Tuesday

Once again, Google has made it simple and easy. I would recommend adding the Google Hangouts Extension. It makes it super easy for students to connect with other students. 

1. Open Google Drive.

2. Select and open the necessary Google Slide Presentation. 

3. Open Google Hangouts. 

4. Click the Share screen button.

5. Choose how you would like to share: Entire Screen or Application Window. 

6. When you are ready to Stop Presenting, click the Stop button.