Lemon Tech Tidbits

SIDE STUDY FOR TEACHERS:  A new Add-on for Google Docs This Add-On lets a teacher easily create custom assignments with automatic grading and embedded videos and reports. How it works is like this. The teacher uses the teacher side of the add-on to create a customized assignment as part of a Google Doc or Sheet. The assignment can contain instructions, helpful tips, and resources. Once completed, the assignment is shared with the student through Google Classroom. The student uses the student version of the add-on to complete the assignment. Sounds pretty simple right? So why is it so cool? Because this add-on lets you remake a boring Google Doc assignment into an interactive assignment complete with video, small quizzes, response areas, and more. To see how it works, visit: https://goo.gl/2HvyrA To watch short videos on how to use Study for Teachers, visit: https://goo.gl/5WUm1e

GOOSECHASE Goosechase is an interactive scavenger hunt game you can use with students and/or with your teachers and staff for Professional Development. Goosechase allows you to “blend the tried-and-true fun of a scavenger hunt with mobile technology to create a learning experience unlike any other.” You can sign up for a free account. There is also a paid version that gives you more choices. Some of the scavenger hunts are already available and ready for you to copy and use. For example, one of the games is called Simple Machines and requires students to take pictures of one of the six simple machines being used around the school. In another game called ELA Review, students must record themselves acting out different vocabulary words. For more information, visit: https://www.goosechase.com/edu/

SPLICE SOUNDS I love learning about new technology from all different places whether it be a blog post, a tweet, or a teacher stopping and saying “Hey! Have you seen this?” That is exactly what happened last week at Chapman Middle School. Mrs. McGuffin was so excited to show me Splice Beat Maker and how she was utilizing it in her classroom with her students. Beat Maker has several sample beats from KSHM, Lex Luger, Pegboard Nerds, KRNE and more.  Login is simple, easy and free. Once you pick a sample beat, you can select different squares on the grid to adjust the sound to your personal style. Or if you feel really creative, you can start a brand new beat from scratch. When your sound is completed, you can share your beat with others via a link.

NEW GOOGLE CALENDAR FOR THE WEB Coming on November 14, 2017 - After a few years of the same ‘ol, same ‘ol, Google Calendar on the web is getting a makeover. The makeover involves a fresh new color palette, larger date icons, and a cleaner design. But it’s not all about the looks. The new calendar has other features you will enjoy such as: Ability to automatically customize to fit the size of your browser window. The ability to add hyperlinks to spreadsheets and documents when inviting someone to a meeting. Viewing multiple calendars side by side in the day mode. This may not sound that beneficial but if you are trying to plan an event and need to look at what is already scheduled, it will come in handy. For more information and to take a sneak peek click here: https://goo.gl/fzcQL5 Btw: if you are not using the Google Calendar App on your smartphone, you are missing out. Especially if you work in a G Suite for Education school. Download the app at either iTunes or

SKETCHNOTING: new trend? Most people know that before I became a school librarian, I was a K-12 art teacher. I grew up in a very artistic family and was encouraged to draw and sketch from the time I could hold a pencil. To this day, I am more comfortable showing someone how to do something than trying to explain it verbally. I learn better that way as well. When I was in middle school, I had a classroom teacher tell me that I was a visual learner after noticing the doodles all over my notes. I didn’t really understand what she meant. To me, the doodles were just a way to pass the time. But after listening to her explain what a visual learner was, I realized that when I looked at my doodles, I could remember what was being said at that time. That my doodles were in fact “notes.” This is a lesson I carried with me from middle school all the way through college. I still doodle to this day. Imagine my surprise to learn there is a new trend showing up in educational circles called

NEWSEUM ED This is an offshoot of Newseum , one of my favorite sites to find high-quality news articles to use with students. It is the place where you can find standards-aligned lesson plans, artifacts, cases studies, and tools to help teach media literacy. Sign up is required to get the most out of the site but it is FREE. (From the website) : NEWSEUMED.ORG AT A GLANCE: Optimized for mobile devices, tablets, and desktops Hundreds of historic front pages, videos, and artifacts 230+ lesson plans and activities Curated, standards-aligned content Interactive timelines and maps Thematic suites of resources on the civil rights and woman suffrage movements, Election 2016, and balancing individual freedoms and public good. New content added frequently One of their activities I really like is titled “IS IT SHAREWORTHY? ” Here is the accompanying infographic you can share with the students. In fact, share all of their infographics. They are all wonderful and ve

GOOGLE FORMS TIPS, TRICKS and UPDATES Google Forms just keeps getting better. Here are a few Google Form tips, tricks and updates to be aware of from some of my favorite blogs to follow. Multiple Correct Answers in Google Form Quizzes. 24 Tips for Google Form Users (video webinar) Google Forms: Alternating colors in response answers 3 Tips Everyone Should Know

G SUITE TRAINING APP From the blog Free Technology for Teachers - Richard Byrne comes an excellent short article about a Chrome extension called GSuite Training. This extension provides you with a searchable list of tutorials over many of the different apps such as Docs, Sheets, Sites, Classroom, Gmail, calendar and more. Like Richard Byrne says, it is “ almost like having a Google coach sitting right next to you. “ Click here to read the blog post: https://goo.gl/lpXB Click here for the extension: https://goo.gl/rgs0hC

TourBuilder , by Google, is still in Beta Form.  It uses the power of Google Earth and was designed as a way for someone to not only add in “pins” to specific locations but the ability to add photos, text, and even video as well. It is different than the Google Earth “KLM” tour as TourBuilder is web-based making it easier to use. How can this be used in education? : TourBuilder allows you to connect a sequence of locations on a map that user’s can click through as if they are on a tour. Along the way, the users can click on photos and video to learn more about each location. So let’s imagine your students are studying Ancient Egypt and you would like them to take a tour of the existing structures such as the pyramids. As they click through the locations on the Google Map, they can compare them with photos showing how they probably looked when they were newly constructed. For an example, take a look at: The War of Independence or any of the other examples available in the ga

PEAR DECK What is it? A presentation tool that is very similar to Google Slides, Powerpoint or Keynote. What makes it different is the slides in Pear Deck become INTERACTIVE. When you present in Pear Deck, your presentation can go live with an educator’s code you share with the students. You can then guide the flow of the slides and students can interact with the presentation by answering questions either built directly into the presentation or given orally on an impromptu basis. Students respond by dragging, drawing, text, or answering multiple choice questions on their devices. The answers can then be “locked” into the presentation and then shared either anonymously or to the class through the projector. A great feature is you don’t have to start a presentation completely from scratch. If you have a slide presentation already developed, you can easily turn it into a Pear Deck presentation. To see more, click here: https://www.peardeck.com/ There is a free version and a paid

NEW UPDATES TO GOOGLE SLIDES Recently, Google announced a few new updates to Google Slides. I am sure you will be happy to hear all about them. To make things easier, Google has their own blog post detailing all of the new changes. Here are a few of my personal favorites. Google Keep can now be used with Slides Two or more slides from different presentations can be linked together. Rearrange slides using the Gridview instead of thumbnails. More add-ons such as Adobe Stock Pictures. Integrate PEAR DECK with Slides: this lets you add formative assessments and/or interactive questions right into your presentation. Diagram Templates have been added. Makes it easy to add a Timeline to a Slide. Skip a slide when giving a presentation without having to delete it.