Teaching with Technology

Using educational technology to enhance the learning environment and increase student engagement!

Make Your Own Linktree with Google Slides

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Happy Tuesday (I think?), all! I hope you’re having a fabulous week and are staying cool and healthy. You know the heat and humidity is bad in Missouri when my daughters VOLUNTARILY come in from playing outside because “it’s just too hot, Mom!” My back-to-school teacher brain is starting to rev up again, even though I’m not entirely sure what in the world that’s going to look like! I’m sure many of you are in the same boat as me. One of the ideas that popped into my head earlier today was how I could use the popular website, Linktree, in my classroom. If you’re on Instagram, you know that users can only include one URL in their bio which can be pretty tricky if you’re like me and have multiple sites to share! (Have you seen the newest at bethanypetty.com yet!?) While Linktree is great for sharing links on social media, it’s somewhat limited – the free version, at least!. So … while I created Linktree for my social media platforms, I decided to “Googlfy” Linktree using Google Slides for my classroom! Here’s how I did it …

Open a New Slides Presentation
Instead of opening your Google Drive, clicking new, scrolling to Slides … try typing slides.new into the address bar of your Chrome browser! Voila! A brand new Slides presentation, ready for you to make beautiful!

Resize the Presentation
This is probably one of the MOST underused features but one that really lets you get the MOST out of Google Slides. To resize your presentation simply follow these steps –> File – Page Setup – Click the dropdown menu and choose “custom.” Then, choose the size you’d like! An easy way to create a “Google Doc” with a background is to simply resize your Google Slides presentation! Then, add backgrounds, text boxes, and more!

Add Text Boxes
When you’re happy with the size of your slide (I set mine to 7×5 inches) it’s time to add text boxes! If you’re unfamiliar with Linktree, here’s what mine looks like.

Choose a Background Image
The free version of Linktree offers limited options when it comes to color, background, and theme. HOWEVER … with Google Slides, you have a virtually unlimited amount of options for backgrounds, colors, images, etc.!

Don’t Forget Your Bitmoji!
No explanation needed, here! Bitmoji is the bomb.com!

Publish to the Web and Create a bit.ly
This part is important! When you publish a Google Slides presentation “to the web,” you’re creating a webpage version of your presentation that can be accessed by anyone. You also don’t have to worry about setting sharing permissions. When you’ve published your slide presentation (File – Publish to the Web – ok – ok), you’ll want to create a shortened URL for easy access. My favorite URL shortener is Bit.ly!  Give it a whirl! When your new “Schooltree” is published and you have a shortened URL, you can easily access the slide on your smartphone and add the “Schooltree” to your home screen as an app! (Check these posts for directions on how to add sites to your home screen on Android and iOS devices!)

Here’s the link to my “Schooltree” if you’d like to check it out for inspiration!

That’s it! You can post your “Schooltree” on Classroom, school websites, your email signature, and MORE!

I plan to share this “Googlfied” version of a linktree virtually on Google Classroom and physically in my classroom with a QR Code!

I’m already thinking of ways my students can use this to demonstrate learning!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Fabulous Features of Google Forms #1

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Happy Thursday, all! If you’re on my mailing list, you’ve probably already marked your calendars for the return of #IlluminateED TONIGHT at 7 PM (Central Time)! My Illuminate online course cohort had a fantastic discussion last week via Google Meet and we all fully geeked out about the infinite ways we can use Google Forms in our classroom – whether that be virtual, in-person, or a combo of both! So … I decided to share a few of my favorite features of Google Forms with you in a new series – “Google Forms Fun!”

#1 Go To Section Based On Answer
This feature was THE topic of our conversation last week after a teacher asked for an easy way to differentiate instruction with a Google Form. I use the “go to section based on answer” feature in my high school and college classes to offer students choice when it comes to what they want to learn. To “turn on” this feature, simply select the three dots at the bottom of the choice question and choose “go to section based on answer.”

When you’ve done this, you’ll see a dropdown menu appear next to each response option.

Next, you’ll want to create a section that corresponds with each option you provide. To do this, click on the “new section” icon, which looks like an equal sign.

In the example, I provided three options of articles pertaining to an issue or topic in education. I included the link to an article as the description in each of the sections. You can add questions and reflection opportunities, as well as directions for what to “do next” for each section.

When you’ve created your sections and added your activities (if needed), you’ll need to link your options to their corresponding sections. At the bottom of your sections, you’ll notice a dropdown option that says “after section …” Select that menu and click “submit form” unless you want your students to do another section.

Double-check your form to make sure that you’ve made your choice question required so students can’t skip it … not that they would 😉

That’s it! You’re done! You’ve differentiated a topic and given students choice. Go you!

Click here if you’d like to see the example form I created to demonstrate this feature.

Check back soon for the next Google Forms post – seriously, this may be my favorite Google tool. It’s at least in the top 5!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Collaboration in a Virtual Learning Environment

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Happy Sunday, all! If you’re a member of my newsletter, you know my weekend has been spent in drywall dust, paint fumes. and the sound of my husband cutting tile as he gives our laundry room a facelift. While I’m SUPER thankful that he has the desire and ability to work on home improvement projects, I’m not a fan of renovation projects and all of the dusty mess that comes with it! (Not a subscriber? Sign up here!) Since we’re past the 4th of July in America, my teacher-brain is officially in “back-to-school” mode, not that it ever really shut down for the summer 😉 While I’m reflecting on the year that was (wowzers!) and the year to come, I’m feeling all the feels – excited to see my students in my classroom, high-fives or fist bumps as my students enter our classroom or walk down the hall, hilarious conversations about random thoughts, surprise Petty Wap Bops from our local coffee shop and a huge amount of angst and uncertainty about what our learning environment will look like, how I can encourage collaboration among my students, and of course, how will we do our best to protect the health and safety EVERYONE, including teachers, custodians, cafeteria staff, administrative staff, administrators, and our families that we return home to at the end of the day. Instead of allowing myself to jump into a full-blown panic attack (I’m sure that’s on the horizon, anyway!), I’m thinking about my concerns and how I can address them a little bit at a time. Here’s my plan for encouraging collaboration in our classroom, whether that be face-to-face, virtual, or some funky hybrid, this fall.

BOARD Time with Jamboard
Early last school year, I introduced a new activity to my students that was designed to encourage reflection and collaboration. I felt that my classroom was too quiet after my students had worked their way through instruction – man, if you would have told me 13 years ago that I would be looking for an activity because my classroom was too quiet, I would have called you crazy! Through BOARD time (more about that here) I’m able to encourage collaboration, reflection, and utilize a few lovely strategies outlined by Dr. Marzano, specifically showing similarities and differences, and non-linguistic representations, all while having fun. Have you ever asked your students to create a non-linguistic representation of the Great Compromise or the Electoral College? The creations students produce during BOARD time are just fantastic. In case we’re not able to collaborate this year using a community dry erase board and dry erase markers (I really don’t see that happening) Jamboard is a great collaborative alternative that will allow my students to use all of the great features of BOARD time in a more hygienic environment. More about Jamboard in a later post!

Padlet Shelf (Column) Collaboration
If you’ve followed my blog, you know that I just love Padlet. I do. Yes, people, myself included, freaked out a few years ago when Padlet started charging for just a few “padlets,” but it’s just a fantastic tool. Yes, I use the free version and the premium version (I have an account for my work as a high school teacher, one for my work as a college professor, and one for my blogging, speaking, presenting, and consulting work), and if I run out of space, I simply archive or delete a padlet I haven’t used in a bit, and free up some space! If you’ve explored Padlet, you know that they offer users many different options for how teachers display their “wall,” but our classroom favorite is the “shelf” or column option. This allows … ding, ding, ding … you guessed it! Easy collaboration! I set up the column titles, send the link to my students, and they collaborate with their classmates digitally on the same topic. Check out the image below for a visual 🙂

Google Meet — Updates, coming soon!
Last week, Google announced some ah-mazing updates coming this fall to Meet. One of the great things about Google is that they really do listen to teacher feedback! Sometimes, it just takes a bit 😉 If, let’s be honest, when we have to shift from in-person to online, the new updates to Meet will be pretty great. According to this post from Google, we can expect background images (this may seem trivial, but think of our students who may not feel comfortable of sharing their homelife in front of their classmates!), the ability to turn off chat during Meets, a hand-raising option, a whiteboard, AND the ability to form breakout groups. WOOOHOOO! Yes, I know Zoom already has many of these options, but some schools may have Zoom blocked for students and/or teachers. These new additions, specifically the whiteboard (through Jamboard integration) and breakout groups will definitely help increase collaboration during virtual learning!

How do you plan to encourage collaboration in the virtual classroom? Or, in a socially-distanced, face-to-face classroom, for that matter? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

MUST-HAVE Chrome Extension

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Hey, all! I hope you’re doing well! Summer has officially started in the Petty family, and we’re well, basically not doing anything differently than we were during self-isolation. If we’re able to safely have in-person classes this fall (fingers crossed!) I’ll need to retrain my teacher bladder and grow accustomed to NOT taking an afternoon nap 🙂 During our time at home, I’ve been searching for new tools and tips I can share with you, and I’ve stumbled upon one that you can use to jazz up just about anything – Emoji Keyboard!

That’s right! I know, as educators, we’re not supposed to get caught up in the bells and whistles, pretty fonts, or, in this case, emojis. But, goodness gracious, adding an emoji to assignments, directions, or topics and titles in Google Classroom can add familiarity, clarity, and fun!

While there are many great emoji extensions, my personal favorite is Emoji Keyboard by Joy Pixels! By adding this extension to your Chrome browser, you can easily add emojis in just about anything like this –> 🦄 By selecting the auto-copy feature from the settings wheel, users can copy the selected emoji to their clipboard without actually using a copy feature! Pretty cool, right?!

I’ll be adding emojis to my Google Classroom topics to help draw student attention to specific units, activities, and important documents. Anything I can do to engage students, I’ll do! Even if that is just using an emoji on Google Classroom 😉

How do you use emojis in your classroom? What are your favorite Chrome extensions?

Here are a few of my must-haves!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

 

Edpuzzle + Screencastify = AH-MAZING

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Have you heard the news?! Two of my favorite tools now play even better together! Edpuzzle AND Screencastify! These are two tech tools (say that five times fast!) that I use EVERY SINGLE day in my American Government classroom, and I’m so excited to put these new updates to use!

Quick backstory – I run an in-class flipped junior level American Government classroom where my students work through content at a more individualized pace. I create instructional videos for my students using Screencastify and upload those videos to YouTube. Then, using my Edpuzzle extension, I quickly embed formative assessment questions in the video and assign the videos to my students through Edpuzzle. As students progress through the instructional videos, I’m walking around the classroom with my iPad or laptop, refreshing the Edpuzzle screen that allows me to view their responses to questions, progress through the videos, and how long they’ve watched specific sections of each video. I love my in-class flip because I think it blends my favorite feature of a “traditional flip” (direct instruction without any distractions + students rewatching when they need to) while allowing me to “be in the learning” with them, in the classroom if they need any help or different explanations.

Now …  to the new update!

The new Screencastify + Edpuzzle integration allows teachers to skip the “post on YouTube” step that I typically follow when creating Edpuzzle videos. Maybe, your school doesn’t allow students to view content on YouTube or maybe you just don’t want your content on YouTube! Check out these steps to connect Screencastify and Edpuzzle!

Open a Screencastify recording and click on “more options” on the right side.

Next,  click on “add more options”

Then, slide the Edpuzzle tab over …

And Edpuzzle magically appears on your share options list!

When you’re ready to upload your video to Edpuzzle, select the “upload to Edpuzzle” option. Next, you’ll be asked to log in on Edpuzzle – I always log in with Google – and grant access to your Google Drive. Then, you’ll click on the Google Drive icon (shown below) and that’s it! Your video is uploading to Edpuzzle!

Easy peasy, right?! I love when my edtech favorites play well together 🙂

I hope you’re doing well during this unprecedented time and staying healthy! As always, thanks for reading 🙂

HyperDocs + Bitmoji for Remote Learning

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This post may contain affiliate links or paid sponsorships, which means I may make a commission on information that is included, at no cost to you. I only include links to products I love!

Happy Monday, all! I hope you’re staying healthy and well during this time. In my district, we’re beginning to wind down our school year with only three weeks left! If you’re in any teacher groups on Facebook, you’ve probably seen the rush of Bitmoji slides settings, Google Classroom headers, and GIFs created with one of my favorite tools, Screencastify. Wouldn’t it be neat to smash the amazing images teachers have created with Bitmoji with another fantastic strategy for remote learning – HyperDocs?! Why, not? Let’s do it!

While I typically create my HyperDocs using Google Sites (check out the HyperDocs I’ve created here) Google Slides or Drawings would probably be the easiest tools for creating interactive Bitmoji HyperDocs!

I dabbled a bit yesterday, chugging my umpteenth cup of coffee while working on my new MacBook, creating a very mini HyperDoc that includes some enrichment opportunities for my students for this week. If you’ve seen the fabulous scenes that teachers are creating for their Classroom headers or to share information with their students, you’ve probably noticed that they ARE AMAZING! The scenes that teachers are creating are like works of art – holy moly! When I’m creating my Bitmoji scenes, I scale them back a bit because I’m trying to make them look like my classroom looks – I feel like that adds to the “coolness” (is that a word?) of the scene. It’s like a miniature, cartoon version of Mrs. Petty’s classroom.

Check out this Judicial Branch HyperDoc made using Google Sites. Since I’ve already created my HyperDocs (I update them each year!) creating this HyperDoc was pretty simple and quick. In fact, the part that took the longest was creating the scenes for my Bitmoji – ha!

Have you created any Bitmoji Scene HyperDocs for your students? Feel free to make a copy of the  Judicial Branch HyperDoc I shared to use in your classroom!

Stay healthy and well, friends!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Google Classroom and Google Meet Integration

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Happy Friday night! Phew! What a week it’s been. I hope you’re all doing well, staying healthy, and keeping your sanity as we try to get used to our new (and temporary!) norm. Yesterday, our Governor announced that all schools in Missouri would remain closed through the end of the school year and that we would continue with remote/e-learning until the scheduled last day of school. Though I knew this announcement would be coming, I was still shaken and upset when I heard the news. My heart breaks for my students, especially my seniors, who won’t be able to have so many of those “senior year” experiences. Though I won’t be seeing my students in my classroom for the rest of the school year, I’m so thankful for the technology we are blessed with that will allow me to at least see and talk with my students through my computer screen. When it comes to videoconferencing technology, many teachers around the country are embracing Google Meet for a variety of reasons – student familiarity, the ability to record sessions and save them to Google Drive, options to invite students through email, and creating an event through Google Calendar. Can you imagine the increase in usage that Meet has seen over the last few weeks?! Yesterday, Google announced a new way for teachers to launch Meet (ahem) meetings for their students using another familiar platform – Google Classroom!

Yes, teachers around the world have already been basically integrating Google Classroom and Meet over the last few weeks. Teachers either go to meet.google.com to start a live session, or open their Google Calendar and create an event with video-conferencing. When they’ve done that, they copy and paste the unique URL to their Meet to an Announcement or Assignment on Google Classroom for their students to join. While many are already accustomed to this process (talking to you, Momma!) Google has given us a much quicker, dare I say an easier way to accomplish this task.

To “turn on” Google Meet in Classroom, simply open a Classroom section, and head to the settings toggle wheel. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the “General” category and select “generate meet link.”

Next, you’ll see a unique URL that will be used to launch Meets in that Classroom section. You’ll be able to copy the link to share as an assignment, announcement, etc., and can choose to reset the link at any time.

The next option you’ll see will ask you whether or not you’d like the code to be visible to your students. If you choose to show the Meet link, the students will see it appear at the top of the Stream and Classwork pages. Instead of sharing the link on your Stream as an announcement, students will be able to see the link to join at the top of their Stream page. If you don’t want your students to view the link, you’ll keep that option toggled off. You will still be able to see the Meet link icon at the top of your Stream and Classwork pages to easily launch the session. You’ll still follow the same steps to share the link with your students: Click the Meet icon, copy/paste the link into an announcement or assignment to share with your students.

So … why do it this way instead of other ways that you’ve used in the past? Once you select the “generate meet link” option in your settings, you’ll never have to create a new Meet link! It’s a one-stop, quick, way to launch your live lessons!

To read more about this new option, check out Google’s update here.

I hope you’re staying healthy! Thanks for reading 🙂

Chrome Extension for Google Meet

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Happy … Tuesday? Is that right? Are your days running together? Have you lost track of how many weeks you’ve been quarantined? I have! Please tell me I’m not alone! I feel like the time we are spending, working together to flatten the curve of COVID-19 is DRAGGING, but at the same time, I’m baffled when I look at my calendar and I see that we’re already almost a third of the way through the month. WHAAAT?! I’m currently in my third week of teaching remotely – my dual credit classes have moved online and I’m beginning to share enrichment lesson opportunities with my American Government classes. Throughout these last few weeks of teaching online, I’ve used Google Meet to deliver instruction, hold office hours, and answer questions about assignments and everything else going on in the world right now! While I miss many aspects of my face-to-face classroom, one of the things I miss the most is engaging with my students during class. When I ask a question or gauge student understanding of content during class, I’m met with nodding heads, questions, or confused expressions — signs of life! I really miss that in our online environment! I’ve found a great extension to help with the lack of student feedback – check out Nod!

Nod is a great extension that offers participants the ability to give emoji-like feedback to the presenter as well as raising their hand! The presenter is notified of the reactions in the bottom left corner of their Meet screen and can close out of the reactions/raised hands at any time. I shared the link to this extension with my students on Classroom stream the in the morning before our scheduled Meet so they could download the extension. We found that students needed to add the extension and relaunch their browser OR if students were already in the Meet when they added the extension, they needed to exit the Meet and then rejoin for the extension to work.

It’s been AWESOME! My students automatically mute themselves when our live class begins, so Nod has been an awesome extension that allows me to check the understanding barometer, if you will, as we progress through the lesson. Like I shared on Instagram today … I’m so thankful for the technology that we have available so I can see and talk with my students. Though I’d obviously much rather be in our classroom, tech like Meet and Nod make my teacher’s heart smile during these uneasy times <3

Stay well, and thanks for reading 🙂

 

Remote Teaching Resources through Google Classroom

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Hey, friends! Happy … Thursday? It is Thursday, right? Who really knows! Working from home while homeschooling my daughters has been an absolute blessing, but I’d be lying if I told you that it’s been easy. I’m learning so many things about myself and my daughters during this time at home – like there’s a reason that I’m a high school teacher and not an elementary teacher! I’ve seen them play so well together throughout these first few days, which has made my heart smile for sure 🙂 I’m also in a weird spot mentally – I’m at home all day, so I feel like I should be working around my house like I would on a Saturday or Sunday. I bounce around like a ball in a pinball machine – I start off folding a load of laundry, get about halfway through and then get thirsty and make another cup of coffee, then start posting assignments and resources for my students, then work with my daughters on remote learning, then do the dishes, then realize I need to switch the wash but I need a clean laundry basket … it’s an endless cycle! Please tell me I’m not alone! I miss my students and my routine, but I’m so thankful for the resources we have that allow help us with distance and remote teaching <3

A few days ago, I started getting Facebook messages and emails from teachers around the world, asking for advice and resources for teaching online. As you know, I’m a high school Social Studies teacher and I’m fortunate enough to teach in a technology-rich environment. I started responding to messages and sharing resources as quickly as I could because I want to help any way I can! Instead of sharing assignments, activities, and individually, I thought a Google Classroom section might be easier. This will allow me to organize resources a bit more efficiently 😉

If you’re interested in joining other teachers as we navigate these new and uncertain times, please fill out this SUPER brief form! I’ll email you the code to join soon 🙂

Thanks for reading, and stay healthy 🙂

Homeschooling During COVID-19 – Reflections

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WOW. What a difference a week makes! This time last week, I was prepping my students for their last test before Spring Break. We were playing Heads Up, Kahoot!, Quizizz, and I was re-teaching and reviewing content while trying to motivate them to keep going because we were almost to Spring Break. Fast-forward to this week – my daughters, ages 7 & 9 are on their second day of homeschool/remote learning at home with Mommy, Daddy is still working, we’re FaceTiming Grandma and Papa, and are thankfully, stocked up on our daily medications. We’re all anxious – stressing about the unknown of tomorrow, trying to stay updated and informed about the pandemic while not sending ourselves into a panic, which, especially for this anxiety-ridden gal, is increasingly hard to do! We’re trying to help our local economy by ordering delivery and to-go dinners since dine-in is no longer an option. We would normally have tons of outside time when the temperature is in the 60s. However, good ole Missouri weather has thwarted that option, sending torrential downpours and the possibility of tornadic activity. So, we’re homeschooling from the comfort of our dining room table, and are thankful, among many other things, for our health!

TEACHERS ARE SUPERHEROES
Let’s get that straight right off the bat. I’ve seen many social media posts praising teachers for doing probably the most impressive pivot (imagine Ross from FRIENDS screaming that word as they’re moving his couch into the new apartment – you’re welcome) the world of education has ever seen with very little warning and, little to no training. While many teachers around the world teach with some level of technology integration, few of us are prepared to immediately switch gears from face-to-face instruction to 100% online learning. There are tons of questions that so many districts, schools, administrators, and teachers are trying to figure out, including student access, accepting work for credit, etc., and everyone is doing everything they can to make it work. Facebook groups are abuzz with lesson and resource sharing, helpful question and answer sessions, and general support from people all over the world because we’re all in this together.

“YOU’RE A TEACHER! HOMESCHOOLING YOUR KIDS WILL BE EASY!”
Ha. Hahahaha. Ha. Holy moly, this could not be FURTHER from the truth, friends! Yes, I’m a teacher. Yes, I’m versed in multiple instructional strategies and styles. Also, yes, I know how to use technology to engage learners. However, it’s been a hot second since I’ve been in a math class. Seriously – 2004 was the last math class I took. I earned my “A” in College Algebra and never looked back, people! My oldest daughter, a third-grader, is working on “advanced division,” or as we called it when I was in school “division with remainders.” I am proud to say that after a solid 30 minutes of working on division yesterday, I didn’t have a nervous breakdown. YAY, ME! Also, my daughter did well, too 😉 My youngest, a first-grader, is working on displaying equations multiple ways, including sentences and drawings. I think we did well on that … I did score points with both of my students by letting them wear their pajamas to have school time. That’s right. If we could have comfy days every day at school, I would be 100% supportive of that measure! The point here is that even though I’m a teacher, that doesn’t automatically mean that I’ll immediately be able to magically adjust to providing multi-leveled, differentiated instruction to my daughters. Teaching isn’t easy. PERIOD. Teaching my children something outside of my content and age-level? We’re doing our best!

Yesterday, we had a schedule. Both kids started with helping to make a homemade breakfast then went to math and moved to English. Next, we had recess and snack, then some reading, lunch, then free time. Today, both girls slept in, had cereal for breakfast, we read, did some math and work with homophones (which really made me think about the craziness of the English language!), snuggled and watched tv. You know what? Both of those scenarios are just fine! None of us know what we’re doing. We’re all winging it and hoping for the best. If we all do our part, COVID-19 will be under control and our lives can hopefully go back to normal.

I hope you and your family are adjusting to the new (temporary) normal!

Stay healthy and thanks for reading 🙂