Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

Welcome to my technology blog.
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🎁 Our tech present to you! Tech tools and updates - Workbench, Killer iPhone tip, PowerSchool login without passwords, animated GIFs, and more!

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Norris School District now has Workbench!
Build, find, customize, and share standards-aligned lessons for your classroom- all for free (forever!). Check out the help doc to get you started. <--- WOW this is a great new tool!

Easy Student (and teacher) Login to PowerSchool - Using Clever - No passwords required -only Google! 
If your students do not know this... It's the easiest way to get to PowerSchool and many other applications! -Check out the simple directions here. 

Misc Tech tools and tips:
Learn how to use your bitmoji to create feedback notes in Canva that can then be added to 

Google Keep. -Nice short 2 minute video

Surf to http://brush.ninja . Draw a series of frames and export as an animated GIF. This is pretty cool! Check out what others are doing in their gallery/examples: https://brush.ninja/animations 

Make your own Emoji online with this simple tool: http://phlntn.com/emojibuilder/ 

20 Google Slides activities to add awesome to classes 

Wow, there are some great ideas and templates in this article!   I love the Icon boards to get kids started right away. The Google Slides sticky notes template/idea is pretty cool.  Check them out!  Great stuff from Ditch tat Textook! 



Google Calendar SMS (Text message) notifications to be removed January 7, 2019 (This one hurts- I loved this feature!) 

Posted: 19 Nov 2018 08:25 AM PST - Starting on January 7, 2019, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be available. Since Calendar offers in-app notifications, you can still get notified, regardless of your device or connection.  If you had previously been receiving Calendar notifications via SMS, they’ll be replaced with in-app and email notifications.  More info here.


This Little-Known iPhone Space Bar Hack Has Everyone Losing Their Minds.  

(I think it takes IOS12 to work.)  Here is a quick 45-second video demo of the feature.  




Google Photos adds depth control, color pop to iOS app
It works on all Portrait Mode photos and doesn't require an iPhone XS or XR.
I like the portrait mode, but you need a new iPhone to do it.  This addition to Google Photos makes it simple to do on all of your photos.  More info here

Free Meme Maker for Classrooms from Filmora 
Why would you want to use memes in the classroom? - Find out why and how here

Why Your Student eBooks Need a Spark Video 

Spark Video + Book Creator = Favorite App Smash - Find out more here! 

Some great resources from National Geographic! 
Thanks to Natasha Gault for sharing these! She just completed her National Geographic Educator Certification. (By the way... congrats!)  Throughout the experience, she had the opportunity to use some really amazing resources that she shared with our MS staff. If you would like to talk about how to use any of these resources, she would love to help/share.  There are some really great projects!

National Geographic's interactive mapmaker overlay maker.  

Download, print, and assemble national geographic maps for your classroom.

Take a premade tour that connects to student learning or you can create your own.  


Host Hangouts Meet meetings with up to 50 participants with our Norris Education Edition. 
New info from Google released - November 29, 2018

Located here: https://meet.google.com

Meeting with teammates, clients, or customers around the globe is critical to getting your job done. For those times when you need to meet with a larger group, Hangouts Meet now allows G Suite Enterprise users to organize meetings with up to 100 participants and G Suite Business and education users to host up to 50 participants. This participant count includes people from both inside and outside of your organization. 
 
This new extended participant limit supports people joining from any mixture of video and dial-in entry points so you can flexibly bring together even more people from all over the world. It is now fully rolled out across all domains.

Erskine's Notes:  Note, Google is transitioning their "Hangouts" for video to the product called "Hangouts Meet".  When you visit the old Hangouts site - https://hangouts.google.com/ and click on video it takes you to the https://meet.google.com site. 

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