Chromebooks: Select -to-Speak

Click HERE to see a full size image. 

Every child learns differently. 



For some of our students, an accomodation such as "having text read aloud" can allow the student to better demonstrate his or her knowledge in a content area.



Now that Chromebooks are present in all of our district buildings, we can easily offer "Select-to-Speak".  Select-to-Speak is a Chromebook setting that once set up will follow the user from Chromebook to Chromebook.


Once the initial setup is configured the student will only have to hit 2 keys to hear any text that he or she highlights. 



Below is a video that will walk you through the setup (Only 5 clicks!) 


And, off to the right is a set of visual directions.  Click HERE for full size. 

Remind #reversethefee

Great News! 

On January 25th Remind announced that Verizon customers will still receive text messages as they did before.  Read the update here: remind.com/resources/verizon-fee

*Earlier this year Verizon was going to impose a fee on Remind for its text message service to its customers.   A wide-spread social media campaign, #reversethefee , caused the mobile service provider to reconsider providing this service.

Doodle, Draw & Demonstrate Learning with Google Canvas

Google has released an easy-to-use whiteboard application called Google Canvas. 

You can find it here:  canvas.apps.chrome

• Doodles auto-save.
• Doodles can be exported and added to Google Classroom, Seesaw, etc. 
• You can easily doodle on top of an image, such as a diagram or a worksheet.

*To draw I was using the stylus end of a promotional pen.  

Worked great!

Rather kick it "old-school"?



How about Etch-a-Sketch online?   

You can find it here:  
https://web-a-skeb.firebaseapp.com/

*Warning  please do not shake your device!!!

Got an awesome doodle or sketch to share? 

Send it my way and I'll add it to the post!  jtamburlin@smasd.org 

Google Classroom - Preparing for New Classes

With the quarter/semester coming to an end, here is a reminder  everyone how to archive or copy their class in Google Classroom to help prepare new classes.

Archive or delete a class:

• When you’re done teaching a class, you can archive it. When a class is archived, it’s archived for all teachers and students in that class. If you don’t archive classes, they still appear on your Classroom homepage and on students’ homepages.
• You can restore an archived class if you want to use it again, or delete it if you’ll never use it again.
• Teachers and co-teachers can archive a class, but only the primary teacher can delete a class. Students can’t archive or delete a class.
• Note: To delete a class, you need to archive it first.

When you archive a class:

• It’s placed in a separate area to preserve the class materials, student work, and posts. You won’t see it with your active classes on the homepage.
• You and your students can view an archived class. To use the class again, you have to restore it.
• You and your students can still access any class materials in Google Drive. That includes any attachments for assignments or other student work.
• Students can’t unenroll from a class that has been archived. This can limit how they can manage the classes they’re done taking.

Copy a class:

• To reuse work you created in a class, you can copy a class. Copying also helps you save time when you have multiple sections of the same class.
• Only teachers and co-teachers of classes with the Classwork page can copy a class. The teacher who copies the class becomes the primary owner of the copied class. To check if your class has the Classwork page, see Does my class have the Classwork page.
• You can copy both active and archived classes. Copies of archived classes become active classes.

Items that copy

Title

Section

Description

Course Subject

Topics

Classwork posts

• 
  

Items that don't copy

Teacher announcements

Deleted classwork items

Students and co-teachers

Student posts

Attachments that you don't have permission to copy

• 
  

*Classroom might take a while to copy your class. In the meantime, you can leave the page during the copying process to work on other things. When copying is complete, you’ll get a notification email. 

Directions to copy a class:

Go to classroom.google.com.

• On the class you want to copy, click More  Copy.Note: If you don’t see Copy, either the class doesn’t have a Classwork page or you’re not the teacher for that class.

Note: In the new class, the copied assignments and questions save as drafts .

Delete a class:

• Warning: There's no way to undo deleting a class. If you click Delete, you no longer have access to any class posts or comments. However, you and your students can still access your class files in the class Drive folder.
• When you decide you’ll never use a class again, you can delete it permanently. To delete a class, you must first archive it, then delete it. You and your students can still access your class files in the class Drive folder.
• Only the primary teacher of a class can delete it. Co-teachers can’t delete a class.
• If you’re changing the classes you teach or leaving your school, you can transfer a class you own to a co-teacher in the class.

Go to classroom.google.com.

• At the top, click Menu .

• Scroll down and click Archived classes.

• On the class card, click More   Delete.Note: If you haven’t archived any classes, this option won’t be in the menu.​
• Click Delete to confirm.

Creating Assignments for Selected Students

With all the talk about differentiating instruction it is natural that we find times where we want students to complete individualized assignments.

Keep your gradebook tidy and your students on track by only assigning particular tasks to certain students both in PowerSchool & Google Classroom.

Recently our Spanish classroom got a Donor's Choose project funded.  I needed several students to write Thank You letters.   I offered this as an optional homework assignment.   I made a general announcement in class and as the letters came in I added students to the assignment in PowerSchool.  I really enjoyed the ability to list students from mutiple class sections and choose from an alphabetical list. 

**warning... I got a little carried away with the arrows in the following screenshot** 

Addtionally you can select students in Google Classroom.  Works great for groupwork and leveling projects based on student ability. 

How do you use these features with your classes?   Share below!