💥 T𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 - Templates, Chromebook resources, watermarks, game buzzer and more in this weeks tech tips.

 WOW - This one is a winner!  A ton of resources on the Chromebooks in the Classroom resource page. 

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Miscellaneous tech tools:

GAME CHANGER TIP FOR ME! - WOW - Yes, I just learned this one and should have known it all along!  In short, when in chrome you can highlight text on a website, right-click and select copy link to highlight.  That link you send will take them to the website with the text highlighted that you selected. Pretty useful!  (30-second Video here if you want to see it in action.) 

ReadWriteThink Interactives Now Work Without Flash! - ReadWriteThink offers a great collection of free interactive templates for students to use to create all kinds of things including poems, story plots, timelines, compare & contrast maps, and much more. More info here! 

Mergo add-on installed for doing email merges and campaigns. -  We have added the Mergo add-on into Google Sheets to easily do email campaigns and merges.  (I sent out an announcement several weeks ago about this.)  We have put together a tutorial doc about how to use this new tool. 

An A-Z of Creativity" digital book is collection of over 100 free tools and sites. It  includes ideas for possible classroom uses for each. Check it out here.  (Great example of a book created with BookCreator, which is another great tool for the classroom.) 

4,000+ Maps of Military Battles and Campaigns - The vast majority of the maps are from the 18th and 19th centuries, although there are about 600 maps covering World War I and II.  Check them out here. 

ClassTools.net - an oldie, but still a goodie! - If you have not checked out classtools.net it's worth a look.  Badge Maker, Random Name Picker, Image Annotator and more! 

Another oldie but a goodie - Have you checked out Flippity lately? If not, it's worth a look.  Create games, timelines, flashcards and more from a spreadsheet list. 

20 Canva templates to use in class tomorrow - Check them out here. 

Google Slides - It's one of the best. - Slides lets you and your students create interactive, visual, engaging learning activities that are anything but ordinary and boring. You need to check out the ULTIMATE Google Slides teacher resource, it is stuffed full of great resources.

Easy Ways to Create Voice Recordings - No Account Required -  Check it out here. 

Create or import text watermarks in Google Docs - You can now add watermarks to docs. Text watermarks will repeat on every page on your document, making it useful for indicating file status, such as “Confidential” or “Draft” before sharing more broadly, no matter the application you use. In addition to text watermarks, you can insert an image watermark or images above or behind text. Go to: Insert > Watermark >

Your Gmail will look a bit different in a few weeks: Gmail’s ‘new integrated view’ web redesign starts rolling out in the coming weeks.  (Google's article can be found here: integrated view.)  

What is good digital citizenship?  -This poster will tell you and your students! 

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CrowdBuzzer - It's a great tool for classroom review games.  Check it out! 

Playing a classroom game? - Use the student's Chromebooks as their own buzzers for your review game!  (Works great for remote learning as well.) 

(This tip and other great tips can be found here: https://www.notanotheremailpd.com ) 

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Jazz Up Your Docs!  - Do you like to print your docs on colored paper?  You can make your Google Doc colored too! In Docs--> Go to File --> Page Setup and choose the color of your choice!

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Tiny Sketchbook is a free extension that lets you create digital sketches with just a click of a button.  This one may not be for everyone, but some may find it useful.  There are a lot of canvas type drawing tools out there, and each fit a niche depending on what you use it for.  (Google Drawings, Canva, many whiteboarding tools, etc...)  This one would be good if you just want to do a quick doodle/drawing and send it in an email or paste it into a doc.  (You can send a link to someone, so they can edit that simple drawing/scribble too.)  If it's something you may use, check it out here.  (The developer/company is solid. They have some good products.) 

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Checkout Emoji Copy -   All you need to do is click, hit copy, and BAM... it's ready to paste into your text! It's even searchable!!  Check it out here.  We have added this to our clip art and sound resources doc. 

Did you know, you can access the built-in emoji keyboards by doing this:

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Virtual Field Trips~ 

EBOOK: 25 instant virtual field trips -- This ebook contains 25 of our favorite on-demand virtual field trips. 

TEMPLATE: Postcards from around the world -- This template lets students write about their experience in the virtual field trip. It's a great way for them to summarize and reflect what they've just seen! 

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PDF Candy - A free online PDF Editor with a lot of bells and whistles you would expect from something that cost big bucks.  PDF Candy allows you to change, edit,

or transform any PDF into another form. Imagine taking the PDFs and editing them, download them to Microsoft Word (Convert to Googel Doc), merge two PDFs so
that they print together, or SPLIT a PDF into two different pages. PDF Candy allows you to do this and so much more. It even features an "Extract Text" option that eliminates ads and pictures prior to printing a larger file.  CHECK IT OUT. 

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The only thing better than a spreadsheet is a spreadsheet with Wordle in it.  
You can grab the sheet here, but better yet, learn how this was recreated in Google Sheets 

Looking for ways of using Wordle in your class for engagement? Check out these ideas. 

Speaking of Google Sheets - You can even make an Etch A Sketch with sheets! 

The power of sheets never fails to surprise me.  Here is how this was made.  (You can make a copy of this sheet here.) 

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30 sites for students with free time on their hands - Check them out here. 

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Rainbow "Scratch-Off" Drawing Templates for Jamboard - COOL  Check them out.  (We have added this to our JamBoard doc, where more links to templates can be found.)

Jamboard: Add a Background from Canva - How-to here.  

The templates below have been added to our Jamboard doc that contains many more great ones!

More Jamboard Templates: 

• Global Educator Jamboard Collection

• K-2 Jamboards

• Word Work Jamboard (for littles)

• SEL Jamboards

• Image collection to use with Jamboards

• Wheel of Fortune Jamboard

• Kinder Collection

• Brain Dump Template

• Reflection/Portfolio Templates

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CANVA TEMPLATES FOR SEESAW 

SeeSaw templates for:

• Announcements
• Newsletters
• Activities
• And more!

If you do not have a Canva account:

Canva for Education - A great free online graphics program. Available to K-12 teachers and their students. 100% free - now and forever. More info here. You will need to create an account in Canva.  Educators may request a free premium account, and they are usually approved in about a week.

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💥 Tech items - An amazing G-suite resource, markup files on Chroembooks, a ton of class resources and more in this week tech tips.

 Did you know our 1-1 take home Chromebooks (Gr. 6-12) run android apps? If it's a free Android app, we can install it. One advantage of the Google Classroom Android app is that students can draw on PDF files or images. 

Above graphic complements of Tony Vincent.

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WOW - Check out our new spreadsheet for G Suite (Now call Google Workspace).  Check it out here. This one is a big winner.  Use it for personal learning or with students. You can easily make a copy and modify it for what you want to teach the students as well. 

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Did you know you (or your students) can markup PDF files right on a Chromebook without adding an extension?

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When creating custom headers, change the page or canvas size to the recommended dimensions in pixels. (In Google Slides go to File → Page Setup → Custom) (Another great tip from @tonyvincent) 

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Online Timers for the Classroom -  These 6 online timers will keep your students engaged. 

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Msc. Tech tips and tools:

Google Docs Quick Tip of the Week (New Citation Tool!) - There's a new citation tool in Google Docs.   Watch this quick video to learn how!

Free app! - PicCollage EDU Collage Maker - Reg. $1.99. Free until Nov. 30th.  (This is a good one!) (We have obtained a lot of licenses to deploy to our iPads as well.) 

Resources for teaching 4th grade electrical circuits - This Wakelet board has a variety of resources, videos and activities for teaching the basics of circuits. 

Solve Math Equations using Google Search - Get help solving equations by typing them into the Search bar or snapping a picture with Lens to get a step-by-step solution, live in English and coming soon to 70+ languages including French and Japanese.  (Teachers need to be aware of these capabilities (of our students) including the Google Lens feature. (Similar to the Photomath apps.) 

Norris Teachers - Are you ready for remote learning?  Not sure we will ever be back to remote learning, but you always want to be prepared!  Remember, here are a few great resources including parents:

• Our Parent's guide and tech help for remote learning doc. 
• Our Required Tech & Remote Learning Teacher Tools and Skills doc. 

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The Google Master Slide is powerful! - Save time creating Google Slides by editing the Master Slide! Change fonts, colors, and more on EVERY slide at once!   Watch this quick video to learn how!

TIP - want to lock words, shapes, or images in Google Slides? Put them in the master!!
Check it out here - https://youtu.be/5Z86V2O_5zc  

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Click here: How to create student blogs in Google Slides for FREE 

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This is what I looked like after finding out Google Expeditions and Tour Creator are going away! 

(Well, I guess I may take this look... he's got a full set of hair!)

Both of these tools were awesome for educators.  It's VR field trips are getting rolled into their Arts and Culture app, so I guess it's not a total loss.  More info on that here.   I am afraid you will not have the same functionality that expeditions had when it comes to seeing where your students are at in the VR trip, etc... 

They are hoping the creating tools in Google Earth for the web will fill the void for Tour Creator.  (More info here.)   Here is what Google sent out on this:  Three years ago we introduced Google Earth for modern browsers and devices, and last year, we launched creation tools in Google Earth for Web. With creation tools, anyone can create, collaborate, and share custom Google Earth projects, similar to the functionality of Tour Builder, but with compelling 3D perspectives. Furthermore, Google Earth Project integration with Google Drive allows for much more seamless collaboration when working with multiple project authors.  

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What free learning resource has 10.8 billion minutes learning so far this year? 

If you guessed Kahn Academy... you were correct. Khan Academy helps anyone, anywhere learn, 100% for free.  (It's a great resource for parents too.) They have so many features with so many subjects it's almost too good to be true.   If you have not checked it out... now might be a great time.  You can even use NWEA MAP Test scores (Math example here.) to generate personalized study recommendations. Checkout our OER resources document to get started with Kahn and a few other great OER resources with other subjects included. 

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Just thought I would share a success story! Just when we think we may be pushing too many security tips your way and flooding you with too many security reminders. 

This email is from a Norris teacher that I consider pretty tech savvy:

Just wanted to send you a thank you note. I'll explain below:

I am currently selling my macbook pro. Obviously, being a mac, it is worth a pretty penny. I am selling it on Facebook marketplace, where I have sold many things before. Somebody planned on buying it, and seemed very legit. Got some emails from paypal that looked VERY real, and almost left to ship the macbook. However, the constant reminders at school about cyber-security and scams made me look again. Luckily, I discovered the emails were fraudulent and I was able to cancel the entire thing. If I hadn't known what to look for, I would've easily been fooled as the scammers have gotten pretty good at making things look good.

I consider myself pretty tech savvy and am usually pretty good at sniffing out scams, as I've never been scammed before. I always felt like the constant barrage of information about security was overkill, but without it nagging at the back of my mind, I might be out a macbook pro.

Just wanted to pass along a huge thank you to all of you for what you do. Keep up the security tips!

You asked for it. so here it goes....  ... Here's another tip:  Be careful of text messaging scams. We are seeing a lot of these!  They often have a link to click on and may take you to a site that looks like your bank or other business. It's similar to vishing.  (No I didn't miss-spell phishing.) 

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💥 Tech items - Some great tech tips, new Meet features, Draftback is back!, smishing on the rise... and more in this Tuesday tech tips email

How are you coming with your Norris Required Tech & Remote Learning Teacher Tools and Skills For the 2020-21 School year???

Checkout our document here and be prepared! 

Hope to see you at the Tech Book camp tomorrow and Thursday... and the new staff have their tech day on Friday!  Wow summer is gone.  Hope everyone is ready for an exciting year.  (Yes, there will be challenges and new procedures... but what a great opportunity for us to lead as educators.)  Don't forget your mask!  -A fun little Goggle Mask video. 

Draftback - ITS BACK! 

This is one of our favorite extensions and it stopped working a few months ago and the developer has updated it and ITS BACK! 

Adds a button into your Google Docs to playback the history like a movie.  Great for seeing how students made that doc/report.  

Connect Google Classroom with Applied Digital Skills
Connect it here. Applied Digital Skills is now better integrated with Google Classroom. Connect your Google Classroom account with your Applied Digital Skills dashboard to import your student roster, co-teachers, and assign lessons seamlessly. If you have not checked out Applied Digital Skills now may be the time especially if you incorporate digital skills within your curriculum. More info here. 

 How to Use Khan Academy for Distance Learning

Learn how to:

•	Set clear expectations for how students will use Khan Academy and receive feedback
•	Use our new Skills report to identify the most challenging topics and work through them live
•	Tap into Khan’s collection of five-minute Refresh activities to keep your students energized

A couple great add-ons and extensions for the Math teachers!

Hypatia is an add-on that allows you to easily insert equations into Google Docs, Slides, and Forms. 

Here is another one to try:

EquatIO for google - easily create mathematical equations, formulas, quizzes and more in g suite apps 

EquatIO is totally free for teachers. Other individual users can buy direct from our online store above. A single annual subscription costs $100, with discounted pricing for group and unlimited licenses. 

Casting your Chromebook to your projector

The Cast EDU extension may be gone - but after looking at their new way of doing it... Jason and myself actually think this may be better.  (And more reliable!)  Jason has updated our  casting doc.  Feel free to reach out to us if you need help or have questions. 

A few new Google Meet features:

Google will be rolling these out soon: 

• Only meeting creators and calendar owners can mute or remove other participants. This ensures that instructors can't be removed or muted by student participants.

• Only meeting creators and calendar owners can approve requests to join made by external participants. This means that students can’t allow external participants to join via video and that external participants can’t join before the instructor.

Meeting participants can’t rejoin nicknamed meetings once the final participant has left, unless they have meeting creation privileges to start a new meeting. This means if the instructor is the last person to leave a nicknamed meeting, students can’t join again until an instructor restarts the nicknamed meeting.  

We have added a few new tools, tips, and extensions to our Video Conferencing document (Zoom and Meet).  A Google Meet extension to record attendance and more... Check them out! 

Miscellaneous tech tips & items:

6 Google Sheets functions that do more than math 

Khan Academy and the Features You Might Have Missed - There are a lot of subjects. It's not just videos. 

9 Awesome Reasons to Use Google Forms 

Kasey Bell's FREE Remote Learning Resources for Teachers

Here’s a fun idea for back to school - A get to know you activity. 

 Make a copy of the template here.  I have added this template into our Google Slides template gallery. 

Text Message Phishing — or “Smishing” is on the rise.  Be Careful!

I am sure some of you have seen these and if not... they will be coming to your phone.  Be smart - just like phishing emails they want you to click on a link or maybe call a number.  (Notice the example below that was sent to me a while back.  It's a shortened URL link to click on.  It does not match any of my card numbers and the senders looks kind of strange as well.) 

 

Would you click on this one?  NOT! 

A great resource and local contact from the National Archives:

Dave is a retired Nebraska teacher who also spent several years with the National Archives teaching and working with K-12 students across the Nation.   You can reach out to him for more information at: 55dlrose@gmail.com 

Side note - I was in the same school district as Dave (Tri County) for 10 years.  Dave was a legendary teacher at TC for many years.  Students all knew him as an amazing teacher but when you were in classes you had to work hard and keep your nose to the grindstone. He was often the teacher that kids stopped back to see after graduation.  I guess it's all what we strive for as educators.  He has a passion for teaching, government and history.  (Yes he was a government and history teacher. lol)    

Hi Educators,

It should not take a Pandemic to introduce you or for some re-introduce a wonderful tool from the National Archives called DocsTeach. I am very proud to have been on the education staff at NARRA when it was launched in 2009 and helped create pieces of this amazing site. It has continued to grow and flourish providing over 11,000 primary sources along with over 1300 activities using these documents created by educators and Archives staff. Or you or your students can select documents and create your own fun and historic activities!

With hands-on access to primary sources and analysis techniques, students will form a connection to historical evidence and deepen their understanding of the past. Involve your whole class in an activity, or assign students to complete activities individually or in small groups – and turn their work in to you – on DocsTeach.org or the DocsTeach App for iPad. Activities align with Bloom’s Taxonomy and National History Standards.  

With a DocsTeach account, you can save and share the primary sources you discover. You can also create, save and share activities. And you gain access to hundreds of additional activities created by fellow educators. You can even copy and modify these activities to fit your needs.  

Like anything worthwhile, it takes time to explore and play to get comfortable with all that DocsTeach has to offer. You will see alignment with Bloom's and our National History Standards. Maybe start out using DocsTeach for a favorite unit---- mine is World War II and access primary sources like — letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types.

If you find this site and the tools of value- share with colleagues. If you have questions about the National Archives or DocsTeach please contact me. If I cannot answer them I will tap my colleague Stephanie Greenhut who is the administrator of this site.  Good luck this year & please send some feedback on your experience with DocsTeach.

Your Colleague & Friend,

Dave Rosenbaum

*As you will discover, there are resources that would fit the comprehension level of K-12...

Favorites-   You can type in the id # in the search to pull these documents up

United States check to Russia for Alaska ID 301667

FDR First Inaugural Speech- "Nothing to Fear"  197333

Map of Louisiana Purchase 594889

Patent Light Bulb 595450

Cartoon- Passing the Buck 6012161

Poster- Army Recruiting 513533

Photo Pres Lincoln 527825

Photo Covered Wagon -Nebraska 518267

Apollo 11 Flight Plan 6734365

HAVE FUN!