Lemon Tech Tidbits

  As educators, we know how valuable time is. So I am truly thankful when an educator is willing to share their hard work with others. In this blog post by TCEA by Ernest Gonzalez, he shares all of his wonderful graphic novels he designed for his school district with all of us. There are over 80 different ones mentioned so I am sure you will find one that will work for your students. All of the graphic organizers were created in Canva so they can easily be downloaded and printed to hand out in hard copy form or shared as a PDF through Google Classroom and Seesaw (or whatever your school choice is).  The graphic organizers are categorized in 8 categories including exit tickets, collaboration, writing, and more. Take a look by accessing this site: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFMyLVL8e0/VFXNoPFq27ppbHjVlnRYtg/view?website

  What are they? In Google Docs, you can insert what is called Building Blocks to help you organize projects. The building blocks insert drop-down boxes to say whether a document is “In Progress”, “Needs Review”, and more. They are also used to easily connect a document to another or to an email. What does it do FOR ME? As a teacher, there are many times when maintaining a list of students is important. This is especially true when it comes to organizing data or keeping track of where students are in regards to standards. Teachers can customize the building blocks for this use. Simply open up or create a new Google Doc. Next, go to Insert - Building Blocks. Pick Review Tracker or one of the others. It will automatically insert a table with the labeled building blocks. To customize the labels, click on the drop down arrow and select - Add and Edit. You can now edit the labels to fit your needs. To watch a short TikTok video showing you step-by-step directions, click here . Student Na

  You have probably already heard about ChatGPT , “ an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot using software that replicates human conversation and can create original material from simple or complex prompts.” There are many who are saying ChatGPT will revolutionize teaching much the same way as Google did many years ago. But…did you hear about GPTZero? GPTZero is an app created as a way to determine if the essay that was written was actually done by a human or done by AI. The app was written by a Princeton University computer science student named Edward Tian whose goal is to "quickly and efficiently detect whether an essay is ChatGPT or human written," in a response to a rise in AI plagiarism.” The app is not perfect at detecting whether it is a real human or a machine writing the essays but Edward Tian is working on it and hopes in the future, it will be.  Another website that has sprung up to help detect if an essay was written by ChatGPT for plagiarism purposes is

  Are you tired of having to watch video over video on youtube to find one that not only is educational but at the level required for your students? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do one search and see what other teachers are using? Teachflix can help. This is a collection of educational videos arranged by age group and subject by teachers for teachers. It is still a small collection so to help it grow, fill out the form at the bottom to add to the site. Go to TEACHFLIX and take a look at what is already available.

  This was one of those blog posts that as I was reading, I kept thinking ....”why didn’t I think of that.” It is a very simple solution to a problem many of us have - time for collaboration. Here is how it works. In Google Classroom, create a Google Classroom that has no students. Then, invite the other teachers in your PLC to be co-teachers. Together, assignments can be added and fine-tuned without students seeing them from each of the teachers. This not only allows for sharing of assessments and lesson plans but makes it easy to use them right away. When a teacher want to use one of the assignments, all they have to do is reuse the post to add it to their real Google classrooms. OR….you can create your own Classroom Shell for your own use. This is where you can add in all of those ready-to-use lessons so when it comes time to reuse them, they are ready. In the blog post by Tech Coach Juarez, he explains how he reuses the way he gives weekly assessments, saving him time in creati

  Last week, I shared a youtube playlist full of tips and tricks on using Google Forms. This time, I want to share with you a playlist by Richard Byrne over tips and tricks in regard to Powerpoint presentations . I confess that I do not know that much about Powerpoint as I don’t use it enough. However, there are people, especially at our state department, who use it a lot. If they share with you a Powerpoint presentation, you can always upload and convert it over into a Google Slide but when you do, images and texts may be distorted or moved slightly. Luckily for us, we can open and use Powerpoint presentations on our MacBook Pros. If you are someone who loves Powerpoint over Google Slides, you are not alone. There are many things you can do with a Powerpoint presentation and Richard Bryne shows you some of his favorite tips and tricks. One of my favorites is the ability to record your Powerpoint presentation without having to use Loom or Screencastify. Pretty cool! Btw: If you just wa

       I recently joined a gym and was extremely nervous the first time I went to work out. I was very self-conscious about how I looked and believed others would see that I didn’t belong there. But, I put on a brave face and went to step up to use one of the machines only to be stumped on how to turn it on. I had used a treadmill before but this was different. Luckily for me, a nice woman saw I was struggling and showed me how. It was pretty easy to do but until someone told me, I would never have known…and would have given up and gone home. I was thinking about this in regards to technology. There are plenty of smart people who use technology but may not know how to do something many others seem to do with no problem. They may be self-conscious and scared to ask. That is why I want to share a youtube playlist by Richard Byrne over Google Forms.        Mr. Byrnes recently shared his most popular youtube video is one in which he demonstrates how to create a quiz on Google Forms. So

     Eric Curtis latest blog post is how to create a Photoword, or picture inside of letters, using Google Slides. Many people can create these photo editing software but for students (and teachers) who may not have access to those, there is an easy way using Google Slides. The trick is in using the right font - Zilla Slab Highlight. For a very easy to follow youtube video demonstration, click here. (he does a great job explaining each point) To find detailed written instructions, click here.  I personally think this would be a great project to have students do over a word to inspire them in the new year.