GSuite in Action: GSlides

Classroom Uses

Google Slides is a presentation editor that users can work on individually or collaboratively. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. Check out the various examples below!

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

 

• Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

• Collabordependent Writing

• Create an eBook

• Flat Icon – students can show what they are learning visually with icons

• Grade 1 Visual Dictionary

• Grade 2 Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs

• Grade 3 Poetry Templates, Ideas

• Grade 4 Compound Sentences

• Grade 9 Film Study, TGuide

 

• • Icons by Noun Project add-on

 

• Instagram Stories

• Magnetic Poetry

• Storybooks

• Writing with Pictures

• Writing/Picture Prompt

 

 

MATH

 

• Animate Your Math

• Creating Fractions in GSlides and Drawings

• Grade 1 Math Patterns

• Grade 2 How Many Feet/Tails?

• Grade 3 Be a Shape Detective

• Grade 4 Congruence: Where Math Meets Art

• One Fish, Two Fish Sorting

• Parallel & Perpendicular Memory Game

• Transformation Comics

 

 

SCIENCE

 

• Grade 1 Bugs

• Grade 2 Boats and Buoyancy Missions

• Grade 3 Classifier les roches

• Grade 4 Photosynthesis

• Grade 6 Egg Drop Challenge

 

 

• Grade 7 Interactions & Ecosystems Vocab

• Grade 9 Circuit Activity, TGuide

• Science-themed slides

• Stop Motion Animation example

 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

 

• Creating Comic Strips

• Grade 1 Then & Now

• Grade 2 Ressources naturels de mes trois communautés

• Grade 3 I’m Taking My Camera To…

• Grade 4 Regions of Alberta

• Grade 6 La Grande Paix Image Analysis

• Grade 7 Graphic Novel Template

 

 

OTHER

 

• 4 Video Options

• Adobe Stock add-on – images

• Create an interactive Table of Contents

• Create Your Own App

• Easy Accents add-on

• Flat add-on – compose and insert sheet music

• GSlide Tutorials

• Group Design Journal

• Haiku Deck add-on – images, presentation templates

• Pear Deck add-on (formative assessment tool)

• Screencast Slides

• Student-Created Vision Boards

• Teach Like the Tonight Show

• This or That – student template, background

• Turn Slides into an Animated GIF

• Unsplash Photos add-on

• Yearbook template

• Would You Rather – student template, background

 

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What’s Your Type?

Adobe just released this great interactive survey for people to find out their Creative Type. The 15 question survey assesses your overall habits and tendencies (how you think, act and see the world) and hones in to help you better understand your creative side.

We know that personality types are not just in one category or another, yet I see this survey a great one for teams or even students to get a better understanding of their creative potential as an individual (and if you do it and share with team, how it can used in that instance).

Here’s my Creative Type according to the survey:

Thoughts:

• the strengths and potential section are bang on
• I like the middle column where it further explains my Adventurer Type (in work).
• I’ll be asking my work colleagues to complete it to see where their Creative Types land. It will be interesting to see if there is an Artist amongst us and do I already collaborate closely with them?
• Read more about the scientific study of the creative process and the creative personality via the Adobe Create Magazine April edition.

Go ahead, I dare you to take 10 minutes (or less) to complete your Creative Type survey.

 

GSuite in Action: GEarth

Classroom Uses

Google Earth is a free application that works as a browser for all sorts of information on Earth. It uses satellite imagery to grab, spin, pan, tilt and zoom down to any place on Earth. Students can explore every corner of the globe, measure distances, create their own virtual tours, and share their tours with others. You can also create and download layers of information and view them in geographic context.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Have students explore the placemarks for Harry Potter and Fairy Tales from Around the World through the Voyageur section.

 

MATH

• Teach your students that mathematics is all around them: use Google Earth to identify shapes and angles, such as looking at the different shapes of swimming pools; or get a close-up view of a cafe with outside tables, and have students count the tables and the number of customers. For older students visit RealWorldMath.org for great idea on using Google Earth to teach mathematics.

 

SCIENCE

• Have students explore verified locations where meteors have hit the Earth, then create a chart of the number of craters per continent.
• Explore the earth’s terrain in 3D – Discover the world’s incredible physical geography by using the compass to tilt your perspective into a 3D view.
• Extreme biodiversity on the high seas – Join Mission Blue on a high seas adventure to the Costa Rica Thermal Dome Hope Spot where we follow marine biologists in the field tagging turtles, tracking sharks and more.
• Pristine seas – Join Dr Enric Sala on his mission to protect the last truly wild places in the ocean. Activities.

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Have students pretend they are with Sir Ernest Shackelton during his adventure in Antarctica. Explore the virtual tour in Google Earth and have students write diary entries to personalize the experience. mapping, the iterative design process, and user feedback.
• A Storytelling Odyssey – Journalist and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek is walking the globe in the footsteps of our ancient forebears. Follow along as he reveals hidden stories of Earth’s remote corners, and of the people who inhabit them. Activities.
• Explorers: Age of Encounter – The explorations of Samuel de Champlain, Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet and Renee de LaSalle opened the interior of North America to European settlement and trade. Lesson Plan.
• This is Home – While the countries, cultures and climates may differ, knowing we all have a place to call home is a first step to understanding everything we have in common. Activity.

 

OTHER

• • Immersive global imagery – Dive into Google’s huge library of 360-degree imagery using Street View. Just click on Pegman and follow the blue lines to where you want to go in Google Earth.
  • Using the Search feature, you can easily learn more about places around the world by clicking open the related Knowledge Card. Within the card you will find detailed information and related places to explore.

 

• GEarth’s Incredible 3D Imagery Explained

 

• Wonders of the Ancient and Modern World – From Stonehenge to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, take your classroom to locations of great historical significance around the world.

 

GSuite in Action: Google MyMaps

Classroom Uses

Google My Maps is an online mapping tool allows users to create their own highly customized maps to share with others and for display. Google MyMaps can be used in any subject area at any grade level for whole class, projects or portfolios. Check out some of the exemplars on this page.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Setting of a novel, short story or other literary work — Where was the story set? Instead of dropping a single pin there, plot the different locations that show up throughout the story.
• Make a map of where authors you’ve studied are from — Pin their hometowns. Add biographical information, other books, etc. in the description as well as photos of the author and/or covers of their books.
• Map how words are different in different locations — Is it a lift or an elevator? An apartment or a flat? Create a word usage map.

 

MATH

 

• Calculate rate of travel — As students learn about calculating distance/rate/time, have them choose locations and calculate the travel time to get there. They can add pins to those locations and show their work in the description of the pin.

• Use the ruler tool to calculate distances in various units of measurement – See Maths Maps.

• Describe to your students the size or scale of something they have never seen – How does Antarctica measure up?

 

 

SCIENCE

 

• Plot locations with certain environments — Seeing locations with different climates and vegetation can be clearer with a MyMap. Students can add pins of different locations with pictures and description of how they’re different.

 

• Identify locations where animal species live — Animal units get a whole different dimension when students can see where they live. Add details and photos to those pins, too. Neigh-BEAR-Hood Watch Kids video and Roots & Shoots info.)

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Important locations in a historical event —Have students plot locations on a MyMap, filling in additional details as well as historic or current photos and links to more information.
• Create a map-based timeline with layers — Studying content over time? Have students plot events or locations of each decade (or year or century) in a different layer. When viewing, you can turn off all layers except one to see that time period … or see all of them together with all layers turned on.
• Log important or historic locations in an area being studied — Studying a certain location? Before digging into your content, have students do some preliminary Internet research and create a MyMap with their findings. They’ll be better prepared for your unit of study!
• Log locations where political candidates have visited — Want to see who’s campaigning where? Create a layer for each candidate and pin the locations where they’ve stumped.
• Create map layers with different forms of government — Create a layer for each type of government, and add pins to those layers to see where the democracies, monarchies, oligarchies, etc. are.
• Everybody lies (even Maps) – All might not be as it seems, Maps projections class activity.

 

OTHER

• • Turn statistics into a visual aid — Looking at the top 50 cities for obesity or fitness? Studying population statistics? Add that data to the description. Then use the “individual styles” option on the layer you’re editing to make the pin’s color change based on the data.
  • Map where alumni are going to post-secondary (or have graduated) — Show how far from home students are studying, have studied or will be studying with a MyMap.
  • Provide parents with an interactive map for a field trip — Give parents clear, interactive information about your trip with a MyMap. Plus, they can click the “Directions to here” button right from your map!
  • Make a pinboard of locations where your class has Videoconferenced — Does your class do Mystery Skype games? Use Google Hangouts/Webex to provide virtual guest speakers or field trips? Create a MyMap of all the locations you’ve video called.

 

• Mapping with Google Course sample

 

 

 

Videoconferencing on a Budget

I support all of our school sites in utilizing videoconferencing equipment in its most effective state – the classroom, with experts, other classrooms around the world (and around the corner!). Over the years we have developed special partnerships with companies like Cisco and Compugen that have brought in some fantastic VC equipment. Yet, not all of our classrooms nor school sites can afford these items AND all students should have access to the opportunity to videoconference with someone/a class outside of their own classroom. There are also organizations that offer free VC programming, you just need to know where to look!

EQUIPMENT

The Logitech BCC950 Conference Cam has a full HD camera, 78° field of view with autofocus, zoom, duplex speakerphone with echo and noise cancellation and an omnidirectional microphone. With 2 USB connections, teachers just plug in this device to their laptop, get on the VC application that they need (Cisco Webex, Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, etc.), choose the proper settings and start any VC. When I show this to teachers who have not used this equipment before, they are so excited AND they are ready to go in five minutes.

ORGANIZATIONS

Below are the various organizations that I go to in finding many substantial and relevant videoconference activities (free) for our sites. Yes, there are organizations who charge and do a great job or hosting VC events and if classrooms have the $$ to spend for them that is great too. These ones offer free VC programming and are worth it to check out!

• CILC
• Connected Classrooms on G+
• Discovery Education – must have a license to access
• Empatico
• Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants
• Global Encounters – TIGweb
• Global Schoolnet
• Know My World – Global Education
• National Geo – Explorer Classroom
• Skype
  • A Scientist
  • Mystery
  • An Author
  • In the Classroom
• Streamable Learning
• Twice CAPspace
• Twitter – ask your PLN, search for specific experts/classrooms/teachers

Enjoy your VC journey!

 

GSuite in Action: GSites

Classroom Uses

Google Sites is a structured wiki- and web page creation tool. Google Sites can be used in any subject area at any grade level for whole class, projects or portfolios. Check out some of the exemplars on this page to get you using Google Sites!

 

PSD70

Digital Literacy Fundamentals – citizenship and tech skills resources

Indigenous Education

Make1Change Learning Road Trip

 

RESOURCES

Creating Numeracy Rich Environments in Schools

English Language Learning

French as a Second Language 4-6

Launch into edTech

L’immersion en Alberta

Math and Technology

Thinking Strategies

 

OTHER

• 3 Tips for Sites Makers
• Counseling Department
• Getting Started with Sites
• Google Sites Sample
• Google Sites for Schools Tutorial
• Grade 4 Class
• Elementary School
• High School  – Digital Media Class
• High School – History
• Middle School
• Teacher Portfolio
• Unit

 

 

Harnessing Skynet for Good: Using AI in the Classroom

When we think artificial intelligence, it is very likely that we conjure up scenes from franchised science fiction thriller (Terminator) or complete infatuation with a computer (Her) or even autocorrect on our own smartphones.

Check out a basic video overview on Artificial Intelligence. (5:27)

Examples in Everyday Life article and more HERE.

 

How teachers can utilize AI in engaging student learning with next practice strategies?

AUTOMATION: assistance with grading. Here teachers can give quick feedback to students through a survey that is autograded. Opportunities for exit tickets, anticipatory knowledge gathering of a new concept/topic or just general interest will give both teachers and students a baseline of information to work from.

• Create and grade quizzes with Google Forms – https://goo.gl/agXQq9
• Use Plickers (iOS/Android) app and cards – https://get.plickers.com/

• Chatbots like those found on Snatchbot (https://snatchbot.me/) can be created by students and teachers. Examples like Mitsuku, WestJet’s Juliet and Snatchbot gallery.
• Chatbots for students – these at https://goo.gl/wtu7M6 can be used to get organized or to have a conversation.
• Siri is found on an iOS device in Settings > Siri & Search. Allow “Hey Siri”.
• Cortana is a digital agent for Windows 10.
• A caution for teachers in using Voice Assistants like Amazon Echo Dot or Google Home in their classroom. Currently these smart speakers connect with a personal account which would not use a school division’s filtering system. Once these smart speakers are able to utilize or be connected to a hosted O365 or GSuite Apps for Education teacher account, they would be more secure and safe to use.

Such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text online systems that reinforce and provide tools to remove barriers for students so that they may demonstrate their learning.

• Texthelp RW4GC and Equatio training and resources at https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/support/training/.
• More resources and information on Microsoft’s Accessibility features are found at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility.
• Presentation Translator is a free plug-in for Microsoft PowerPoint that creates subtitles in real time. See https://translator.microsoft.com/help/education/ for more information.
• Turn on Chromebook accessibility features via https://goo.gl/JD0sYf.
• Google Slides with automatic captions – https://goo.gl/Hjy1ZF.
• Apple accessibility features at https://www.apple.com/ca/accessibility/.
• Machine Learning Projects.

• A collection of AI experiments from Google are found at https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/ai. Explore machine learning with pictures, drawings, language, music and more. Some examples include: Teachable Machine – https://experiments.withgoogle.com/teachable-machine and Quick, Draw! – https://experiments.withgoogle.com/quick-draw.
• Emoji Scavenger Hunt – https://emojiscavengerhunt.withgoogle.com/
• Anki’s Cozmo robot – https://www.anki.com/en-ca/cozmo/code-lab
• Cue the clever bot – https://www.makewonder.com/cue_the_cleverbot/

 

Artificial intelligence resources in education are great in providing secondary sources of information and support for learners. The above examples are a small sampling of what teachers can do to provide students with access to machine learning in a purposeful way. Yet it is important to note that AI does not provide the humanity and emotional-social support that is so important in the classroom. School staff are an integral part of making a learning environment the most engaging, safe, imaginative and creative it can be.