Make sure that all of your Google Classroom students download this very important extension for Google Chrome. It is called "Share to Classroom." Clicking the link will take you to the download page in the Chrome Web Store. If you and your students all have this extension, you can go to any website (or web link) and send it directly to the entire class all at once. The site will open automatically in the student's browser. This is perfect for a tech lab scenario. As a teacher, this means you can send a shared Google Doc or Google Slides presentation, a video link, a Drawing, an online photo. Anything with a web URL. After downloading the Share to Classroom extension, it will then appear as the familiar Google Classroom icon/button in the top right of Google Chrome (see below for an example). When you click on the Share to Classroom button, it will present you with all of the "Classrooms" you teach or are enrolled in. First, the site or link must be open in Google Chrome and the teacher and students must be inside of Google Classroom for the magic to work. Which ever classroom you click on (see below) is the one that the link will be pushed out to. The web page, document, video, etc. will then open inside of the student's Chrome browser. While this does not replace the posting of assignments and announcements in Google Classroom, it does offer a third alternative (a quick push of a web link) without a link having to be posted to the "classroom." A quick video, document, photo or site can be sent out for students to see or to make a point clearer. The Share to Classroom extension is just another effective teaching tool to add to your Google toolbox.
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Learning together - Making Effective TEchnology Integration a Two Way Street #1phasd #phsedtech12/8/2015 As our Port Huron Schools Technology Integration Website, Blog, and Social Media Networks develop we want to extend an invitation to all of you to actively participate in sharing your expertise as practitioners. There are several ways to contribute to the conversation. Today we'll look at adding a comment to one of our blog posts.
If you've been anywhere except under a rock for the past several years, you've probably heard of the movement of Game-based Learning (GBL) and it's effect on the classroom environment.
In my last few years in the classroom I, personally, transferred as much of my classroom instruction into GBL format as I could. The reactions were quite interesting and varied from both my peers and my students. My best example is the game of Kahoot that I played every Friday afternoon with my students. After only a few weeks, it was rare that I ever had a student absent Fridays, even if they were not feeling well. Students looked forward to the game and I was able to use that in all of the other areas of my classroom management. On the other hand, I would have co-workers ask me, " How do you have time to play GAMES (yes, said in THAT tone of voice) when I don't even have enough time to get all of the curriculum taught?" After stopping myself from answering with a not-so-nice comment, I normally would start explaining myself by using the definition for Game-based Learning: Game-based Learning - a type of game play that has defined learning outcomes. Generally, game-based learning is designed to balance subject matter with gameplay and the ability of the player to retain, and apply said subject matter to the real world. Source: Wikipedia If, by then, they hadn't already walked out of my room rolling their eyes, I would go on to explain that all of my activities were based off of my end result of what I wanted my students learning and that I probably spent more time preparing my "game" than any lesson taught straight out of "the book." Starting with my end result in mind, I would design my Kahoot game around the concept my students needed to understand and I would incorporate the concept into real-world understanding. (yes, I threw in just plain fun questions in addition to randomize it, so they wouldn't realize they were learning) If I STILL had my co-workers attention, I would continue explaining to them that, in addition, I was able to assess my students' knowledge by observation and data analysis during this half hour on Fridays and it helped guide my instruction for the following week. Lastly, if they were still interested enough to be listening to me, I usually showed them the data I had collected (ranging from scratched notes to graphs, spreadsheets, etc.) over that year and the previous years. That information helped shape my classroom instruction, not only for the current year, but, by comparing it to previous years, I was able to improve my students' understanding on a continual basis. I also believe that forced me to reexamine my instructional methods on a continuous basis and made me a better teacher in the end! Most of the time, though, I lost their interest as soon as I showed them the definition, because they had already made up their mind I was just playing another one of my GAMES...... If you've not considered trying Game-based Learning in your classroom, I highly recommend it. If you're not sure how to get started, I recommend the following video by Alice Keeler: Getting Started with Games Based Learning (Click here to view) via Jim Leishman - Technology Integration Specialist Port Huron Schools - Tomorrow\'s Innovators http://ift.tt/1TvKc1U Teachers: we would like to help you show off the ways in which you are using technology with students in your classrooms. Of course we as tech integration specialists can promote tools you can use to help keep students engaged, to help provide creative expression and much more. But we know that many of you are already doing some amazing things with technology (both inside and outside the walls of your classrooms), and not everyone knows about it. One of the most effective ways we can help you share what your students are doing is through video. The theme of this month's newsletter is "Celebrate and Share," and we have cameras ready. Sharing how you use technology with your classes spreads the word to other educators about what great tools are available. Video can also provide examples of how students are learning in new and unique ways. Maybe you have a lesson using technology that you wouldn't mind sharing with colleagues and even the world, but you don't have the equipment to record it. No problem. We can make it happen. Just give one of us a call or an e-mail (Mark, Jim or Kit). We will work with you to set up a date for recording, and can put together a video to share what you're doing. Videos can be uploaded to online services like YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and Vimeo for others to see. It is a perfect way to network and show off what you do, as well as learn from others. No other medium these days is as effective nor as popular of a learning tool as video, and we'd like to help you to facilitate its use in various ways. Not just by recording you and your classes, but also through screencasting (video tutorials). We can offer tools to get you started in flipping your classroom and using video to help your students learn both inside and outside of the classroom. We can teach you how to create a screencast and where to post it so your students can see your videos from any device anywhere. If video is a window to the world, then we are your windows to using video in your classrooms and to show off your use of technology to others. As of this post, we have already recorded three teachers who are doing great things with their students. Just take a look at this month's featured video for one example, and one below is our latest. We would like you to be next. The why (Simplicity)
Strong visual imagery paired with a few choice words can be one of the most effective strategies for telling stories and teaching new concepts. But too often we try to cram multiple images and paragraphs worth of text onto a single page or slide when presenting information or sharing.
Too much - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires The what (Haiku Deck)
Haiku Deck is an iPad app and web based application for creating simple, beautiful and fun presentation slides that focus on highlighting a few key words and pairing this with high impact, high quality images that are licensed for re-use. This presentation style supports the idea of presentation zen.
Haiku Deck helps you quickly create a slide using pre-set themes, simple formatting, and a powerful image search tool that analyzes the text you've used to suggest topics for your search. The majority of the images available through the Haiku Deck search engine are licensed under Creative Commons, meaning that they are available for re-use when cited. The best part is that Haiku Deck automatically adds the citation to each image for you. Other features include the ability to create bulleted and numbered lists, graphs and charts as well as add notes for providing extended information. The key here is simplicity. There are no animations, no sound effects, no complex formatting tools. Creating an account is easy and sharing Haiku Deck presentations is a snap using email, hyperlinks, or even exporting slides into Power Point (pro-only). The how (Learn more here)
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