DISD Ed Tech News
December 3, 2015
Take a Deep Dive into Google Classroom
Support a Great Cause Every Time You Open a New Tab in Your Google Chrome Browser
Did you know you can fight world hunger, give clean water, provide education and/or protect the environment every time you open a new tab in Google Chrome?
The answer is that the Extension adds small advertisements to the lower right of the new tab screen and the money they collect from the advertisers is donated to Action Against Hunger or another charity from their list. The advertisements are only on the new tab screen when you first open a new tab and don't affect your browsing experience other than on that one screen.
I installed it and played with it a little and it's very easy to personalize it to your liking. It comes with little widgets (icons) for sites like Youtube, Facebook, etc. on one side but if you don't want those on your screen they are very easy to grab and drag up to the trash can at the top of the screen. You can add sticky notes for yourself, your Google Calendar, etc. to this new tab screen if you like. They have a variety of beautiful scenery backgrounds to choose from or you can select a photograph from the internet to be your background every time you open a new tab. You can also look on the left side of the screen to access your accumulation of "hearts" that are being translated into money for the Action Against Hunger program or one of the other charities you can choose from. You can get small notifications on the new tab page of how much food, fresh water, environmental protection or educational support you've provided for people who need it as well.
All in all it's a very painless way to do something good for others from the browsing that you are doing anyway. Users can set up their own "group" and collect hearts/donations as a team so it might be a nice project for your family or classroom for this Christmas season too.You can add the Chrome browser extension "Tab for a Cause" when you click the "Get The App" button at this link: http://www.tabforacause.org/?r=11311000
Another Fun Magnetic Poetry Wall from Kasey Bell!
In those two versions she tells teachers how to build their own interactive "magnetic" word walls with Google Drawings. In this latest Winter version she uses Google Slides because it is also available as an app for iOS and Android so this Poetry Wall can be utilized on all devices.
Kasey was asked about having a word list for teachers and students to go with her Magnetic Poetry activities so she has added the word lists as the second and third slide in this resource. This word list was a collaboration, generated by students from Lynn Kleinmeyer’s school in Iowa, words from the glossary in Winter: The Coldest Season of All, and some extra articles and nouns to bring it all together. There are over 100 words.
Ready to get started? Click here to make a copy of the Winter Magnetic Poetry template. Remember, this can be a collaborative student project or done individually. If you like it and want to share pictures of your students using these templates please share them with Kasey on the web page where she shares this resource at http://bit.ly/KBellMagPoetry
How Do I Take a Screenshot on a Chromebook?
1. If you need to take a screenshot of your entire screen: press the ‘Ctrl’ and ‘Window Switcher’ keys at the same time:
If you just want to capture only a portion of the screen just add "Shift" to the key combination above. See below:
You may think nothing happens when you hit these three keys together but if you look at your mouse cursor you will see that it has become a small cross (+) showing you that you can put in on one corner of the area you want to capture and then "click and drag" to form a box around the selection that you want.
After hitting either of these keyboard shortcuts a small pop-up notification will show in the lower right of the screen to confirm the success (or failure) of the screenshot .
Clicking on the notification will open the Chrome OS file manager. All screenshots are saved as high-quality .PNG files and are stored in the Downloads folder for easy retrieval.
2. You can also select the menu icon in the upper right of your screen (the "three hotdogs"), select “More tools” and then select “Take screenshot” option in the drop-down menu.
There are also Chrome Browser Extensions that will do this sort of task for you, such as FireShot. This extension allows you to select whether you want the screenshot saved as a .png or a .jpg and allows you to set your own keyboard shortcuts to capture the entire screen, capture a portion of the screen, etc.
Thanks to OMG! Chrome! for the information used here. Check them out at
DID YOU KNOW?? - DISD has access to BRITANNICA ONLINE!
You can also sign up for their quarterly InsideBritannica Newsletter at http://info.eb.com/educators-resources/newsletter/
There is a shared General Teacher Guide as well as Resource Guides for different grade levels and content areas in a Google Folder at Http://bit.ly/dumastexquest.
Disd's Customized Login for Britannica:
Access Britannica Online School Edition & Spanish Reference Center: http://school.eb.com
Username: disdbrit
Password: DISDBRIT
Note:
Upcoming Trainings for December 2015 and January 2016
Trainings are held at the present time in the Central Office Board Room at 4:15 on the days shown. As soon as we complete the move to the new Teacher Training Center behind the High School I will change the location of future trainings to that building and will notify all registrants.
December 2015 -
12/03/15 - Self Grading Quizzes with Google Drive and Flubaroo!
12/08/15 - Get Your Google On! - Chrome Extensions
12/10/15 - Screen Casting in the Classroom - EASY Video Creation
12/15/15 - Google Classroom Training
12/17/15 - TexQuest Online Resources for the Classroom - All grade levels
January 2016 -
01/06/16 - Socrative in the Classroom - Student Response Made Easy
01/08/16 - Mobis in the Classroom - Interactive Whiteboard in Your Hands
01/14/16 - Google Classroom Training
01/19/16 - Read & Write for Google Chrome - Amazing student support tool!
01/21/16 - Fostering Student Collaboration with Google Tools
01/25/16 - Mobi - How Do I Use This Thing??
DISD Instructional Technology
Email: rhonda.artho@dumasisd.org
Website: Dumasisd.org
Phone: 806-935-6461 1029