This weeks blog has one Google feature that is important for employees.  The screencast shared this week shows you how to download Google Drive to your Windows laptop or Desktop.  Please review this and if you need assistance in completing this please contact me, extension 1007.  Click here to review the screencast.

Jackie Goodyear, high school teacher of FCS, utilized Donors Choose to obtain funding for $1700 worth of iPad equipment for her preschool.  She just received the good news that she will receive her items requested on her donation.  I am sharing the link to Donors Choose with all of you again.  If there is something you need for your classroom, this is a great place to go to try to get funding for it. Donors Choose

I have created a series of screencasts walking you through moving your files from your "G" Drive to your Google Drive. If you need assistance with any of these steps, please do no hesitate to contact me at x 1007.

Step 1: This brief tutorial shows you two things you need to do in advance of moving your files.  Click Here.

Files and folders can be moved to Google Drive.  I am going to show you two ways to move your information.

Step 2: I am providing this step for those whose "G" drives are not well organized.  This is your chance to really clean up your files and get things organized in your Google Drive and keep them organized as you upload them. Click Here for tutorial

Step 3: In this step you will see how easy and quick it will be to just move files from your "G" drive to your Google Drive installed on your hard drive on your computer. Click Here 

Step 4: How do I save my Microsoft Documents when my G Drive is no longer available? Click Here to learn how.

​1. Google Docs now has an document outline option for those who want to create outlines for their lengthier documents. Document Outline  allows you to easily structure your documents. Outline is also a great tool to help you quickly navigate the different parts of your documents. Once activated, Document outline displaces a pane to the left of the page featuring all the headers contained in your document. Clicking on each of these headers will jump you straight to its corresponding section. You don’t even have to manually apply headers, Google Docs smartly detects the different sections of your documents and generates an outline accordingly which you can edit as you want.
Here is how to open a document outline in Google Docs:
Open a Google Docs document then click ‘tools’ and select ‘document outline’.

2. You can now convert Google Documents to an EPUB format.Google Docs released yesterday another new interesting feature that allows users to download their Google documents in EPUB format. And as you know, EPUB is a file format that you can download and read in different digital devices (smartphones, tablets, computers) and through various apps and e-readers. With this new feature, you will be able to create and share digital content that can be read on a ‘diverse range of screen sizes and devices’. To convert a Google document into EPUB, you simply click on ‘File’, then hover over ‘Download as’ and choose ‘EPUB publication’ as shown in the image below.

You click on file, go to download, then select EPUB from the list.

3. Voice commands in Google now allows users to do talk to text. This is basically a voice enabled formatting functionality that allows Docs users to easily edit and format their documents using voice commands. This new feature comes to complete the Voice Typing functionality that was added to Google Docs a few months ago. Users of Google Docs are now able to not only compose documents and write down notes without touching their keyboards but are also able to format their documents using speech commands such as “copy,” “insert table,” and “highlight.” You can check the full list of commands from this page. This feature is only available in Chrome browsers.

Mr. R's Songs for Teaching is a Youtube resource I recently cam across.  I am sharing one example of the many songs that Mr. R has created to teach math to elementary students.  The use of music is a fun way to help students remember.  Mr. R's songs are fun and worth taking a look at, so here is a link to one on numerator song-fraction song.  If you try Mr R's songs, let me know what you think about them and whether your students enjoy them.

This weeks feature is PBS Election Central.  As the race to the White House heats up among the candidates, PBS has put together a resource covering all aspects of the election and election process, including interactive maps, inside the debates and virtual field trips.  Election Central also include a link called the Election Collection.  It looks like a fabulously comprehensive collection of materials, videos, etc. about the history of elections.  If you do anything at all with your students of any level on the topic of the election, I am certain you could find materials here to support your activities or discussions.

​Here is a follow-up to the SAMR information I shared in the my last blog post.  This article, Taking a Dip in the SAMR Swimming Pool, explains SAMR from a different perspective. We can look at SAMR, not as a ladder we are climbing, but rather a framework in which we move around with thoughtful purpose. Click here for a link to this brief article in the Hooked on Innovation blog by Mr. Hooker.

Spotlight on Strategies is something I am sure I have mentioned previously, but it's worth reminding everyone about again.  In your DE account you have a tab called professional development.  When you click that tab you then click PD Home and you will go to a page that provides you with all types of training and information about how to best utilized your DE account.  One of the areas is called SOS and this is your spotlight on strategies section.  I am going to do my best to continue to share strategies from this area to help those who are interested in broadening your bag of teaching tools.  In addition, look for tips as to how to integrate technology with these strategies. Click here to for a brief explanation of how to get to your DE SOS site.

Kathy Schrock, an excellent source of information for technology integration, has shared Kathy Schrock's Katch of the Month in the DE March newsletter.  It's a quick read and she shares a strategy called Flip Flop.  Kathy explains the strategy and then she shares how you can incorporate technology into a lesson with this strategy.  She talks about two tools Padlet, which is featured in this weeks blog, and Today's Meet, which was featured on 2/19/16.  Both are easy to use tools and will engage all students.  Both are available as web-based tools so if you don't have tablet's or chrome books you are still able to use them.  You just need an internet connection. Click here to check out the March SOS on Flip Flop.  The tools that Kathy shares in her post could also be used in the SOS ideas that are showcased below.

Check out some additional DE reading and literature resources along with the SOS idea to accompany them.

Films by Weston Woods 
Grades K-2, 3-5 
Publisher Weston Woods creates short films based on well-known books for children, including Caldecott and other award-winning books and authors. Favorite texts such as Emily’s First 100 Days of School  come to life in animated and live-action versions with read-aloud text. 

Instructional Idea: Use SOS: Get a Clue and have students analyze a video and its transcript as they match context clues to content.

Great Books Series 
Grades 6-8, 9-12 
The Great Books series by Discovery Education features dozens of texts, including The Great Gatsby, The Jungle, Lord of the Flies, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, and more. Each video explores literary themes, author’s experiences and influences, historical context, modern impact, and discusses why we study these works today. 

Instructional Idea: Use SOS: Step Inside and have students consider content from multiple perspectives, such as author, historic/contemporary reader, and modern reader.

Shmoop Literature Guides and Biographies 
Grades 6-8, 9-12 
Shmoop’s learning guides are fun, rigorous materials that use current events and pop culture to help students see how topics, authors, and literary works are relevant today. Available guides include Frankenstein, 1984,Romeo and Juliet, Of Mice and Men, and authors Harper Lee, William Shakespeare, andEdgar Allan Poe. 

Instructional Idea: Use SOS: 25 Things You Didn’t Know to have students identify new information from the resources and in order to create a collaborative list of facts.

Reading Rainbow 
Grades K-2, 3-5 
The beloved and Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series Reading Rainbow connects children's literature to the real world through thematic exploration and recommended book readings. Titles include Boxing for Katje, Watch the Stars Come Out, Show Way, and The Tin Forest. 

Instructional Idea: Use SOS: Paper Slide to have students create Reading Rainbow-style ("But don't take my word for it!") book trailers, focusing on key details and logical sequencing.