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Just Google It - Calculator

8/22/2017

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Print Your Own
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Google KEEPS on Giving Goodness

3/31/2017

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If you have not met Google Keep - it is time that I introduce you to it!

Google Keep, Meet our teachers!
Teachers, Meet Google Keep.
Let's get to know each other!
Casey Bell, describes Keep as "a robust G Suite tool that can help teachers and students create and share notes, lists, and reminders". On a basic level, Google Keep is a digital sticky note. The best way to better acquaint yourself with Google Keep, might be to check out Casey's Cheat Sheet below and through Matt Miller's video
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Google Keep Cheat Sheet
File Size: 1350 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

See more of Matt's ideas for using Keep on this post.
I love how Google Keep works within Google Drive! Quickly you can access feedback, instructions, etc. for quick responses. You can see an example of this with Eric Curts video and post.
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You can also personalize and organize Google Keep by adding images! Check out the example to the right and Casey shows how here. Casey says that, "It’s easy to add an image to a note in Google Keep. Just click on the image icon and upload an image."
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Be sure to introduce your new friend to your students as well! 
Casey has a list to the right of 15 ways that students could use Google Keep.

They also can/should learn how to buddy Google Keep with their Drive. This might be just the organizational tool that a student needs for that big project!

Check out the example below with Mario Anima's GIF 
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And what about Matt's #10 idea from his post:
Transcribe printed notes or words into text.
Snap a photo of someone’s notes or a quote you need to transcribe. Choose “Grab image text” from the three dots at the bottom. Keep reads the text and changes it into editable text in your note.
​(Note: It struggles with handwritten text, especially if it’s small and it’s not in straight lines.)

​*Side note*
You can do similar action within Google Drive - if you would like more information on that see this previous Explore post.
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Enjoy your new friendship with Google Keep! I'm sure your new friend will help you in some way -- organization, collaboration, save time, etc.
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Google Drawings Hack - Graphic Organizers

3/27/2017

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Credit for this idea/hack again goes out to Matt Miller and his "Meaningful Tech Workshop". 

Google Drawing Hack -- Graphic Organizers
Matt says, "
Drawings gives users a blank canvas where they can add text, shapes, lines, etc. When done, they can save their work as image files or PDF files and can add those images to documents, slides and spreadsheets. It’s a perfect medium for creating graphic organizers."

Matt has created/collected some graphic organizers that are ready for use! All you will need to do is make a copy.
For a complete folder of organizers visit here or click on only the one of interest from the images below.
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Venn Diagram
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Hexagonal Thinking
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KWL
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Timeline
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Vocabulary Cluster
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Vocabulary Concept Map
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Think About Your Thinking
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Frayer Model
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Flow Chart
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Character Map
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Cornell Note-Taking
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Plot Diagram
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Evaluation Chart
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Fishbone Planner
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Cause and Effect Chain
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Word Web/Semantic Map
Want to try to make your own? Start with a Venn Diagram! 
Need help? Let Carol know. 

Enjoy hacking Google Drawings! 

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Google Drawings Hack -- Comic Strips

3/13/2017

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Credit for this idea/hack again goes out to Matt Miller and his "Meaningful Tech Workshop". 

Google Drawing Hack -- Photo Comic Strips 
Matt says, "Take photos of students using a webcam and add them to a Google Drawing. Add speech bubbles to the photos. Then save those images and add each one to a different slide in a Google Slides presentation." 
I would add that you could start with an online photo and Google Drawings search makes it easy to find photos for use in projects!

To get started click here (drawings.google.com/create)
Simply click on the photo icon or choose Insert - image. 
Then choose "search" - this will search for photos that are free to use (no worries about copyright). If you were using your own photo - you would choose "upload".
To make it into a comic - add speech or thought bubbles.
You can make as many or as little comic frames as you like -- you can see an example of one I made with four frames below.
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In order to make it more of a frame look - I added the outline. To do this make sure that your photo is selected. 
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You can see the blue around the photo - showing it is selected.
Click on the line weight icon (see photo) and choose the desired weight (or thickness) of the line. In the example above, 1px was used.
Another tip- 
You can change the size of your page!  

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I love Google Drawings more and more - with each awesome hack/idea that I find! It is a very under used tool, in my opinion.
Now you have one more way to put it to use!
And here's a resource to check out for more information and ideas:
Comics with Google Tools & Creativity Games
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Presto Chango

10/4/2016

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Have you ever wished to have the text off of a picture, PDF or handwritten note in a typed document?
Did you think that the only way that you could achieve such a feat would be to start from scratch re-typing the entire thing?!

Google Drive to the rescue! The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature in Google Drive can convert an image of a physical page of text into an editable Google Doc! 

Presto Chango!

From Handwritten
To Google Doc editable text
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As you can see in the above example, the conversion isn't perfect...especially from this handwritten note. However, it is much more accurate with a PDF. Take a look at the process below in the animated GIF.
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Need more of a "how-to"? Check out the video below!
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​Enjoy the magic of Google Drive OCR!
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Google Quizzes

9/1/2016

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Thanks to Erica Shook for the email on Google Quizzes! She writes:
"​In case you have not seen it yet, Google Forms has a new option called Google Quizzes that has some really cool features--features that no longer require the use of Flubaroo. And the best news? The forms you may have already created as quizzes can be switched to the new quiz format with the change of one simple setting. No retyping! And, whereas with Google Forms/Flubaroo, you could not collect student emails to send them their quiz results because this also allowed them to send themselves their answers to forward onto others, now you can collect those emails. There are additional settings that let you choose what options students have available and when you release quiz results. Plus, the data that Google Quizzes provides you with student responses is incredibly helpful and much easier to read than Flubaroo! "​

Tutorial

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To make use of Google Quizzes begin by creating a new Form. Then under the settings (gear icon), click on "quizzes". The image at the left shows the view once quizzes is selected.

Click on the slider beside "make this a quiz". The slider will turn purple to signify that quizzes is active. Additionally, you will be able to choose the quiz options and what respondents can see.

Then click save after making your selections.

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Below is an example of the data that was collected from my quiz answers.
An overall summary is given as well as individual responses.
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Built in feedback
Add question specific feedback
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Add specific feedback for incorrect and/or correct answers. You can even link to a website or video that could further explain the concept.
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Google Docs - Voice Typing

8/22/2016

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Did you know that Google Docs has a voice typing option build right in?
*Be sure that you are using Chrome browser
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The magic is located under the tools menu. Just select tools and voice typing. Once voice typing is selected the icon below will appear. 


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Click on "click to speak" (as shown above right). You may be directed to allow google docs to use your microphone. Choose to allow use or it will not work correctly. Once use to your microphone is allowed, you are ready to use voice typing. A red dot will be flashing on the tab with your document and the once black icon on the page will now be red.
If you would like to stop using the feature, just click the icon pictured on the bottom left. It will return to the black microphone as pictured above.
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Voice Commands

Here is a list of commands you can use while voice is typing:
  • Select text
  • Format your document
  • Edit your document
  • Add and edit tables
  • Move around your document
  • Resume voice typing
  • Commands to open help
  • Speak (for accessibility)
Insert punctuation by using these words:
  • Period
  • Comma
  • Exclamation point
  • Question mark
  • New line 
  • New Paragraph

​Original article credit: Tech Tip: Capture Ideas with Voice Typing in Google Docs
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