Make more room to interact with Google Slides

We teachers still love ActivInspire for manipulating slides and making them interactive.  However, now that we are 1:1, more and more SMASD teachers taking advantage of Google Slides. 

• Automatically save in Google Drive 
• Access from anywhere
• Send copies to students
• Have students work together 

Despite its perks, the surrounding filmstrip and speaker notes made for less than ideal workable space around the slide. 

To combat this, some of us #GoDutch Teachers were using the FullScreen Interactive Google Slides Chrome Extension.  It did the job, yet was cumbersome and not immediately available for students.

Now Google has added the ability to hide the filmstrip, which has made more space for everyone! 

Under VIEW > Uncheck "Show FilmStrip" 

to give you and your students more room to work!

                    

Need even more room?  

Under the same VIEW menu > uncheck > Show Speaker Notes & go Full Screen. 

For those who have never used Google Slides for Manipulatives, here are some ideas:

Market Template by Slides Mania for Counting Money

Counting Practice by Teaching Mama

Magnetic Poetry from Control Alt Achieve

Sending Birthday Wishes Class Discussion by Sra. T

Need more examples or a video explanation?  

Check out this video by fellow Google Trainer Eric Curts. 

Inspiration Station: Google Slides - Class/Group Slide Deck

 One of the reasons we love tools like Nearpod & Classkick is so that we can increase student participation and engagement in the classroom.  The ability to see all student responses real-time offers a unique opportunity for timely feedback.  In addition, having all students, or groups of students, on individual slides in the same deck has built-in potential for peer scaffolding and collaboration. 

Instead of a straight-up how-to tutorial, today I will share with you a scaffolded discussion strategy that I used with Spanish 8.  The goal is to share out and possibly to inspire you to do a spin-off of this activity with your students. 

This strategy models collaborative slides and leveraging the "Master Slide" layouts.

Watch 0:00-3:00 to learn how to set up and deliver a group Google Slide Deck. 

*Can be delivered through SeeSaw as well!

Watch 3:00-7:00 to see how I had students interact with the slides, and how I changed the prompts through the master slide layouts.

Watch this video to see how I "prepped" all of the prompts in the "Master Slides".  Or, learn straight from the SlidesMania guru, Paula, by going to her blog. 

Did technology enhance this activity?  Yes!  

Without the technology:

• there would have been significantly less student participation
• I would not have been able to see all responses in real-time
• I may have lost teachable moments based on student responses
• students would not have benefited from the guided pace, scaffolding, and ability to learn from their peers
• there would have been a lost potential for future spiraling, collaboration, elaboration on the discussion

Interested in trying something like this?  Let's do it together your first time through! 

jtamburlin.youcanbook.me

Have something to share?  

Let me highlight the awesome strategies that you are using in your classroom to inspire others!

jtamburlin@smasd.org

I have a worksheet.... now what? Update 2020

 It is now one and a half years after our first "I have a worksheet... now what?" post.   

Back in May of 2019 we spoke of formatting Google Docs with textboxes for responses, using Google Forms as well as leveraging Add-Ons Such as Alice Keeler's Pull Table for digital worksheet completion.

Earlier that year we also looked into ClassKick  which provided a way for students to draw on top of PDFs and access a toolbar with text, scribble and audio recording features. 

Wizer.me made its debut to the TechSpot in 2017 creating a more interactive experience for the student, but with perhaps more upfront work for the teacher. 

Remote learning heightened our awareness and increased the need for taking our paper tasks and enabling their access digitally.  Previous mentioned methods became more popular, and Google Slides allowed us to create backgrounds with our activities and have students respond on top. 

But then, here last month TeacherMade came out with a web application that is exactly what teachers had been looking for.  A quick and easy way to upload a worksheet and have students write on top with little to no prep. 

Here in today's TechTuesday, instead of just introducing TeacherMade, I decided to take a paper worksheet that I had given my students this week as a pre-reading activity and put it to the test of 4 top digital worksheet tools. 

You can view the Google Slides presentation alone to see some screenshots of my results and/or follow along with me as I test each one in the Loom recording: 

Intro: 0:02   TeacherMade: 1:03   Google Slides: 7:00   ClassKick: 12:22  Google Forms: 16:58

Elementary teachers now have SeeSaw which enables them to push out a PDF for students to complete.  The above applications may have some features that could further enhance some of  your activities and certainly be assigned through your SeeSaw platform as well.   Is there anything that stands out to you? Let us know in the comments below! 

Have you been able to try any of these applications yet?

How did it go? 

Would you mind sharing a sample with us? 

As always I would love to hear how I can help you brainstorm new ways that technology can enhance and amplify what you do in the classroom! jtamburlin.youcanbook.me

Add Audio to Google Slides

Student-created Google Slides presentations at SMASD are becoming more and more powerful by the addition of graphs, images and videos.

We have also seen the power of hyperlinking objects to make slides interactive:

- 5th Grade History "Guess Who?" Postcards
- 6th Grade ELA Book Reports
- 7th and 8th Grade Math - Choose Your Own Adventure Stories
- HS Anatomy Heart Amusement Park Projects

Lately there also has been the power of recording narration via screencast videos. Now students can efficiently complete peer reviews without a week of classtime lost to individual presentations.

- 7th Grade Holocaust Survivor Projects
- 8th Grade <<Mi Familia>> Photo Album Presentations

Up until now, adding audio to our Google Slides was only available via this Screencast method.

The tool is wonderful, but has some limitations with editing and collaboration. For example, you have to record the entire presentation at once, and there is little room for editing.  Also it doesn't allow for a full class or small group collaboration on a slidedeck where each student can narrate his/her own slides.

But the wait is over... Google Slides > Insert > Audio is HERE!!!

I can't explain it better than fellow Google Trainer Eric Curts does in his blogpost at controlaltachieve.com. Feel free to share the post with your students or the tutorial below if they need specific instructions.

The key points to remember are:

- Record the audio for each slide and save it to Google Drive
- Allow sharing perimissions on the audio file
- Set the audio to automatically play when slide is opened, if desired
- Set slides to auto advance if desired

See the slidedeck that I've created to share with your students who would like to add audio.    Just add THIS LINK to Google Classroom with the project.  They can listen and follow the instructions!  No need for you to teach the tech.

Not another poster... Throwback Post

One year ago we posted about alternatives to poster projects, such as interactive Google Slides, Info graphics & Fictitious Social Media profiles.

Mrs. Bothun's high school students ran with the idea this year in their "If the heart was an amusement park" assignment.  I was lucky enough to have visited and witnessed some really great interactive presentations.

Cardiovascular Candyland was one of my favorites.  It sent students through a tour of the heart with comprehension checks along the way.  If questions were answered correctly, the tour continued.  If incorrect the participant was redirected to review information and asked to repeat the question.

Other students took the same concepts and applied it as if the human heart was an "Escape Room". Yet again, another great example of a presentation where the audience had some say in how the presentation was led.  Something like this would be very cumbersome with a stereotypical, linear presentation that goes from slide 1 - 20.

Cick here for a video segment of Cardiovasular Candyland!

Mrs. Bothun's interactive presentations, as well as Mrs. Wensel's VR/360 Tours are both featured on the Tech Showcase.  Be sure to check it out and let us know if you have something for display! 

Explain Yourself.

Screencastify Lite Chrome Extension

Ready to take your tech integration up a notch?   

Move into the deeper end of the SAMR pool of tech integration by incorporating screencasts into the teaching and learning that happens in your room. 

Screencasts are video/audio recordings of your desktop.  The Screencastify Chrome extension allows you to easily take and share videos of this type.  (Scroll down for the how-to's)

Top Tips for Teacher-made Screencasts

#1 Remediation / Flipped Instruction 

#2 Teach the Tech / Formatting

#3 Give Video/Oral Feedback while reviewing work

Top Tips for Student-made Screencasts

#1  Explain the thought-process while solving a problem

#2 Narrate a Google Slides or other Presentation

#3 Dub a video with new language/narration

Teacher-Made: 

• Remediation 
• Make a video to re-explain tough concepts.
• Put this video in a Google Form or an EdPuzzle to check for student understanding.
• Did you know? Google Forms can send students to a remediation video if they select the incorrect answer.  
• Use the video as a must-do before retaking an assessment.

• Flipped 
• Record your teaching and assign it to students before you teach it in class, or even have them watch during class. 
• Give checks for understanding,  then differentiate the lesson for those who need remediation vs those who require a challenge. 

• Teach the Tech / Formatting
• When giving a digital assignment, most students can figure out the tech.  So, why waste valuable in-class time teaching it?   Post a quick how-to screencast to demonstrate the tech and/or formatting of your project.   
• No time?  See if your tech coach has one to lend you ;-)

• Feedback
• Record yourself while reviewing a student's work.  Allow them to hear your feedback for each section as you show it with your mouse.  Works great for projects that don't offer a comment section. 

Student-Made: 

• ANY OF THE ABOVE !  
• That's right! Have a student create any of the above resources instead of doing it yourself.  Perfect for the student that finishes earlier than others, is tech savvy or simply needs a challenge.

• Explain Yourself 

• This is the $$$ maker!  Whether it is math problem or a project, try at least one time this year to have your students record their thinking over their assignment.
• Instead of doing 10 math problems.... 
• Do 3 !  Have the students record themselves doing one of the problems and thinking out loud. 
• Put all the videos in a Google Slides for the class to share
• Teacher puts feedback in the "speaker notes"
• Project Explination
• Have the students submit a video of their project going over what they did.  You will be better able to give feedback when you hear the justifications for their choices. 

• Narrate Google Slides 
• Instead of presenting 1 at a time during class....
• Have each student record himself talking over his presentation
• Post these presentations for the entire class to see 
• Padlet
• Google Slides
• Give students the task of offering thoughtful feedback to 3 presentations

• Dub a Video 
• Synthesize information!  Raise DOK levels by having students create dialogue over a video
• Find a video on YouTube, mute the sound and talk over it
• Great for World Languages
• Retell literature with a twist
• Recreate historical scenes

Or Click HERE to see a Screencast of the above presentation.

How can you (or have you) used Screencasts in your class? 

Comment Below!

Rethink Google Slides

Google Slides aren't just for presentations anymore!

Go through the presentation above to find out more or click here to open the presentation in a new tab.

Have an idea for using Google Slides in your class?  

Contact a Tech Coach to help you get the ball rolling!