TCEA Convention
A Day in the Life of this Attendee
Not My First Rodeo
I have attended the TCEA Convention a number of times, but this time was totally different for me. I was on a mission to learn about anything Google for use in my classroom with my Chromebooks. I was not disappointed.
#1 - Boomerang
Boomerang is a Google tool that allows you to send an email at a given date and time. For me this is a real bonus. If I want to email students about a particular project, I can type the email up and then set the time and date and forget it. Boomerang also has a feature that allows for the email you send out to return to you if the recipient does not open the email. This is great for me since I want to know who in my classes is not staying up with things.
Read&Write - a Google Apps Extension
This app allows for documents that are in Google Drive to be read aloud and translated as well. Click on the link below to view a video sample.
http://screencast.com/t/grMjb74IQT
Jing
Jing is a program that allows for video capture or screen capture. I use this most often to help me grade my students' papers. I take a screen shot of the paper and then talk and point to show the student where he/she can improve the paper. Below is an example.
http://screencast.com/t/gDZgnh9wYr
You can also use Jing to capture images.
Google Drive
After you have logged into your email, at the top of the page click on My Drive. When you click on CREATE, you will find just a few of the things that you can create in drive; however, you might also notice CONNECT MORE APPS. This is where you can find apps that will work and save automatically in your drive. One of my favorites is SLIDE ROCKET. This is basically a presentation (PowerPoint) that is a little fancier than Google presentations.
Chromebooks & Google Apps for Education
I went to several sessions on Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education. The possibilities with these two is endless. I have transformed my classroom because of Google Apps. It is such an exciting time to be a teacher.