Webinar: Using Google to support Literacy - Reading, Writing, & Research

The great Kasey Bell, an amazing Digital Learning Consultant and owner of ShakeupLearning.com teamed with Texthelp, an EdTech organization devoted to increasing literacy in schools through their products, and recently held a webinar on Increasing and Supporting Literacy using Google for Education Applications. Its a long one but a great one that will offer products to check out that can help you in the classroom today!! I've used Texthelp's Read&Write Add-on for Google Docs for a while and it's an amazing service. And I've been following Kasey Bell's guidance in using technology to enhance my pedagogy.

If you would like to check out the resources of Kasey's presentation (complete with clickable links to products you may be interested in) from this webinar, she left a Slide Deck of her Presentation on her website.




All credit due to Kasey Bell and Texthelp for these resources and if you get a chance to connect with either one (or both) they have many ways you can do so.

Kasey Bell - Pick Your Social Media Platform Here
Texthelp - Contact Page -- Social Media sites at the bottom of the page

Chrome Extension: One Tab

For those that have been using ChromeBooks for some time now, you know the sheer volume of tabs that open in your Chrome browser.  Seemingly everything you click seems to open a new tab whether you want it to or not.  More times than not, you'll look at your browser and be marveled at just how many tabs open up as you navigate through a myriad of web-based programs, sites, and just randomness...

Well...all those tabs (although essential to you doing your work) can slow down your performance speed significantly. In the world of Google, where there are problems, there are usually solutions...I give you One Tab!

Chrome allows you to "add-on" to it's browser to customize your experiences.  These add-ons are called Extensions (I'm going to be posting about Extensions soon hopefully) and can be downloaded in the Chrome Web Store. Here you have a plethora of different ways you can maximize your (and your students') productivity! One Tab is one of these powerful tools.

One Tab takes all of your open tabs and houses them in one tab with the click of a button, freeing up the memory chewing tabs that stay open on your browser.  They, essentially, go to sleep until you want to wake them up.  You can activate them or delete them right from the "One Tab" tab. This service is a great one for you and your students to utilize today!!

View from my One Tab I have "open" whilst typing this post

Give One Tab (and soooo many more Extensions) a try to maximize your efficiency while working.

Chromebook Trick: Hard Shut Down

If you, like me 15 minutes before I actually posted this, ever find yourself in the position of needing to do a "hard shut down" of your (or a students' Chromebook) there is a simple solution for you!

Below is a picture of the two buttons you want to get to know on your keyboard for this.  Hold those down for a couple of seconds and it will shut down shortly after.

Refresh and Power buttons...such a marriage!!

Google Slides: 5 Features You Should Get to Know!

Check out the video below from Richard Byrne (Twitter, G+) at FreeTech4Teachers on different Google Slides features you can incorporate into your presentations! Among the features:

• Add background images to one or all slides 
• Crop images within a slide
• Add transitions
• Add animations
• The Q&A feature (reeeeeallly cool feature!) 

Enjoy, and check out Byrne's original post where I snagged this vid. He also curated a YouTube playlist of Google Apps Tutorials - check them out if you get a chance.