Lemon Tech Tidbits

This article comes from the blog titled Teacher Tech by Alice Keeler .  If you are like me, you use Google Classroom all the time and may feel that you know everything there is to know about it. But, it is always good to have a reminder about some things you may not know or have forgotten. This is why I was excited when I saw this blog post by Alice Keeler. Alice Keeler quickly shared five different features about Google Classroom that is important to keep in mind. These include: Student View is Different than Teachers View: It is important to realize students may not see everything you see as a teacher. No Attachments: Google puts everything in your G Drive. This includes files you add to an assignment from other sources. You Can Not Edit Make A Copy for Each Student: Just like using a copy machine, once you make a copy, that is what students receive. Students Lose Editing Permissions: When students turn in an assignment, they lose all editing permissions unless you ret...

Earlier, Google announced you could easily add Rubrics to any assignment in Google Classroom. The problem though is you had to type in a new rubric each time until now!  Google just announced they are going to allow users the ability to reuse a rubric they have already created. It doesn’t matter if the rubric was created in the same class or in another one. If you have created it somewhere in your Google Classroom account, you will be able to reuse it. When you reuse or create a rubric, it will be in a preview mode allowing you to quickly see if any changes need to be made before you use it. This new feature will be rolled out to all users in the next few days who have signed up to use the beta rubric program. Google announced pro-tip: If you'd like to share rubrics you've set up in Classroom with other teachers, simply add co-teachers to a shared class with multiple rubrics. All teachers and co-teachers will see those rubrics for assignments in other classes in the new ...

This article comes from the blog titled DitchthatTextbook by Matt Miller On his recently redesigned blog, Matt explains how many people do not realize that having a Google for Education account through their school allows them to access 22 different Microsoft applications FOR FREE!. All you have to do to sign up for a Microsoft 365 account is to access this page to be put on a waiting list. Your school’s Technology Director needs to sign up as well. (I have already sent the information to Kyle). Once you and your school are approved, you can use the same login you use for G Suite to login to Microsoft 365. This will allow you to use the applications Word, Powerpoint, and Excel but others that you may not be that familiar with. These include;  OneNote, a notebook type of app that allows students to draw, type and write using the touchscreen on their Chromebooks Sway, a new way to easily create websites Whiteboard, a blank screen that allows students to draw or write together...

This was a feature Google announced was coming in April only to be delayed. BUT...it is finally here! On rapid rollout, Google is allowing all users the ability to add MP3 and WAV audio files to an existing or new Google Slide presentation. The audio file does need to be uploaded into your Google Drive before you can add it to a presentation. There are format options available to the audio you add much like if you add in a video. You can choose to have the audio play automatically, play on a click, set the volume, loop the audio, and stop it after the slide progresses. So how can you use this new feature? Well, you can spice up a boring presentation by adding some free copyright or public domain music such as from ccMixter . Maybe add in some special sound effects from BBC Sound Effects or Freesound.org . Add a famous speech from the Internet Archive or from Wyzant . Or how about adding in your own audio? Simply go to Online Voice Recorder , Vocaroo , or Audacity .

If you are a Pinterest fan, then you want to make sure to follow Google For Education. They have created a new Pinterest page full of ideas you can use to incorporate Google Apps into your classroom. Right now, there are 20 boards on the site and the content ranges from Be Internet Awesome Tools to Use all the way to Google Form Tips and Tricks from Teachers. There is a huge wealth of information on this site and you can spend hours going through it all. (some of it is self-promotion but hey, it is a company) Just in case there is someone out there who has never heard of Pinterest; it is a social media site where people can share or post images to pictures and websites to a board. You have the option to make your boards private or public. Most people use it to browse through other people’s boards to find ideas and information. There are so many people and organizations that use Pinterest you can often find yourself going “down a rabbit hole” exploring one board after another. In recen...

Eric Curtis has a new post on his blog titled: 1 5 Awesome Article Sites for Students. In this post, he talks about how important it is for students to read articles and learn how to create annotations. Eric has many wonderful ideas and links on his post but in my mind, the key thing to share is his list of sites. Here is the list (please make sure to check out his blog for the summaries and recommended grade level for each site): - CommonLit - DOGOnews - KidsPost - KiwiKids News - NY Times Article of the Day - News For Kids - Newsela - ReadWorks - Science News for Students - Student Daily News - Teaching Kids News - Time for Kids - TweenTribune - Wonderopolis - Youngzine