Lemon Tech Tidbits

JUST READ: A Google Chrome Extension There are many Chrome Extensions I used every day for different purposes. One of them that I would like to share with you is called Just Read . What does it do? With one click of the extension, it will remove all of those annoying ads, pop-ups, distractions, and comments from a website allowing you to read the article in a much better format. How can I use this in my class? How many of us would like to show the students an article from an online site without all of the ad’s being in the way? This extension allows you to do so in a very easy manner. Just Read does have a premium on top of the free version. The premium version allows you to save and share the article in the clean and readable style. This is not the only Chrome Extension out there to help make the article more readable. Check out this article for more information: http://bit.ly/2Ntj9Yz

I NSERTLEARNING : A Google Chrome Extension Do you want to save time on creating lesson plans? Don’t we all! With the Google Chrome Extension InsertLearning , you can! Here is how it works. Once you find a site online that you would like to use, InsertLearning allows you to insert questions, sticky notes, discussions, and more directly into the site. Basically, it turns any webpage into an interactive lesson. You can then share it with Google Classroom with a touch of the button. Watch this video for more information: https://youtu.be/IF7uT9NnnoU You can even save additional time by finding a lesson that has already been completed by another teacher! However, there is a disadvantage of using this extension. You can only use it for 5 different lessons before you will need to subscribe for more. The cost is around $40.00 a year - it is up to you if you feel the price is worth it for your class. But hey! You do get 5 for free so try it out today! For more information: https://catlin

Google Sites Update Google Sites is web-page creation tool that is very simple to use, especially if you are a G Suite for Education school. Recently, Google announced the addition of Section Layouts . Now, it will be even easier to design a professional looking website and page. You will have the option of using up to six different design layouts. One thing I did notice as I was exploring this new feature is you must use the media depicted in the layout. In other words, if the layout has a picture icon and you would like to use text instead, it doesn’t allow you to do so. But….I do like how simple it is to use and the suggestions it gives is great advice. This will be on a slow-rollout meaning not everyone will access to section layouts right away. Some may have to wait up to two-weeks time. By then, Google promises it will be available to all. For more information, please visit this link .

Create Contact Groups in Gmail TIMESAVING ADVICE : At the beginning of every year, I will update all of the groups in my contact list in Gmail. While it may take some time to do initially, throughout the year, it saves me so much more. I have contact groups for each building in the district, groups of teachers by departments, groups of students by clubs, and more. This way, whenever I need to send out an email to more than one person but not to everyone in the district, I simply type in the contact groups name and Gmail puts in all of the addresses for me. To create your own Gmail Groups, follow these steps: https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/contacts/get-started/#!/ OR….watch this short video by Teacher.Teach: https://youtu.be/iRE5-NPHhHg *Gmail did have an update so if your Gmail doesn’t look the same as in the video above, watch this video instead (To get to Contacts though, you need to look in the grid): https://youtu.be/cSsNx1Wju4I

Updates to Google Classroom Google has recently announced a few updates to Google Classroom. Some of the updates will excite you and some will be of annoyance.  To see the updates, you have to create a new class. If you have a Google Classwork from last year, the updates and tabs will not show. There will soon be another update released very shortly that will allow you to copy  an existing class so this issue can be resolved.  Classwork Page : one of the most talked about new features is the Classword Page tab which replaces the About tab. All assignments and questions will now be on a separate page in Google Classroom while the Stream will focus on announcements.  All assignments on the Classwork tab will be organized by topics. You can only add one topic per assignment. Once you have a topic, you can add as many assignments as you wish.  You can change the order of the topics by moving them up or down.  You can reorder the posts in a topic  by moving them up or do