As I mentioned in my mailbag post yesterday, Padlet is one of my favorite tools for gathering comments and questions from students. I've also used Padlet as a task management tool, as a blogging tool, as a multimedia collage platform, and as a tool for collaborative bookmarking of websites. In the playlist embedded below I explain and demonstrate how to do all of those things with Padlet. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesHow to Create, Edit, and Share Notes on Google KeepHow to Turn Your Blogger Blog Into a Book - VideoMailbag - Answers to Questions from Readers 

Moonrise in Maine.The end of the month is here. As I do at the end of every month I have put together a list of the most popular posts of the month. In this month's list you'll find resources for creating fun end-of-year review activities, free PDF handouts on digital storytelling, and tips on using Google Spreadsheets. Here are this month's most popular posts: 1. Six Styles of Classroom Video Projects - A Handout 2. 12 Good Tools for Creating End-of-Year Review Activities 3. Ten Great Tools for Telling Stories With Pictures - A PDF Handout 4. Making the Most of Google Keep 5. Create Rubrics and Email Grades from a Google Spreadsheet 6. By Request - Five Options for Creating Videos on Chromebooks 7. 5 Good Ways to Send Text & Push Notifications to Students & Parents - A Handout 8. Seven Steps for Creating Videos In Your Classroom 9. Create Animated Videos and Presentations at the Same Time on Wideo 10. What2Learn - Create Your Own Review Games Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.MidWest Teachers Institute offers online graduate courses for teachers.HelloTalk is a mobile community for learning a new language.Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer.SeeSaw is a great iPad app for creating digital portfolios. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThe Week in Review - The Most Popular PostsThe Month In Review - The Most Popular PostsThe Week in Review - The Winds Are Changing 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Jonathan Brubaker. Right place at the right time. The place was Edcamp Palm Springs. The time was a session on video in the classroom led by Jessica Pack. This perfect moment pushed me to provide opportunities for students to use video in their projects. Since my students have Chromebooks, I decided to use Google Slides to design content and screencasting extensions to record video. Google Slides is a very versatile image and text editing tool and I spent a lot of time throughout the year teaching my students how to use it effectively. In order to make our slide decks into video, I used screencasting tools for Google Chrome. The two best options are Screencastify or Snagit’s screen clipping app and extension. Both products have many of the same features, but Screencastify allows students to include their faces when creating video projects. Both of them work by clicking on the extension and then pressing the record button. Students can record a single tab or the whole screen. One of the first projects my students completed was a screencast of a Google Slide presentation. Throughout the year my students worked in collaborative groups to create a slide deck to present to the class on a topic the class was studying. Unfortunately, this meant that students had to furiously take notes while the speakers presented. When we turned this assignment into a screen cast, the speakers could work on writing carefully worded scripts and the audience could pause and rewind the content as needed. Next, I had my students create a Public Service Announcement after a unit on brain research. Students were required to come up with advice for fellow teenagers on how to use technology responsibly using the information my students had learned about the brain. Again, slides was an excellent resource for creating the visuals for the unit. While I usually tell students to stay away from animations in live presentations, many of the animations worked out well on a screencast. Students also had to think through how to create visuals to supplement what they had learned. Finally, my 8th grade students had to create a children’s book for a performance task after completing a unit on Frederick Douglas. The book had to adapt an episode from his autobiography and turn it into a powerful narrative for fifth graders. After completing the books I wanted the students to share them with a wider audience and add a personal touch beyond the text. I decided to have them create an audio-visual book by screencasting themselves reading their book. Since the book was created in slides, all they had to do was record themselves reading the book while turning the pages. We could then share the links to the videos with one of our feeder elementary schools. In the future, I would like students to create tutorials on how to use common web tools as a resource for other students. Screencasting can also be a great way to share Genius Hour projects with a wider audience. If it is on the screen, students can create a video project with it. I am middle school teacher in Beaumont, CA. In 2014 I was the California League of Middle Schools State Educator of the Year. I have a passion for inspiring students to love reading, writing, discussing, and presenting. I do my best to incorporate technology into the classroom in a way that amplifies my instruction and engages students. http://techtipsedu.blogspot.com @mrjbrubaker This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThree Video Tutorials on Using Padlet in Your ClassroomMailbag - Answers to Questions from ReadersHow to Create, Edit, and Share Notes on Google Keep 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Mary Kate O'Meara. If you have been searching for an online collaboration tool that is versatile and easy to use, then Twiddla may be what you are looking for. Twiddla is a real-time collaboration whiteboard that allows an unlimited number of people to come together at one time to share or edit documents, images or websites. One of the things I like about Twiddla is a simplicity that makes collaboration a breeze. It’s so user friendly that my first, second and third grade students often use it throughout the day. This is one of the most hassle-free digital tools I have run across with its agnostic browser (Twiddla works with any browser- Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer on both Mac and PC), no plug-ins or downloads, and no firewalls to work around. Starting a meeting is as simple as going to twiddla.com and clicking on the green GO button. Invite others to join your session by sharing the collaboration url through the built in email. Simply by clicking on the shared url everyone joins the session. You can enter a session as many times as you like with no restrictions on time. Best of all, Twiddla is free. There is no requirement to sign up for a paid subscription to create a meeting. If you are a teacher or a student Twiddla will provide you a free pro-account. Sign up for a free trial, then send them an email from a .edu or comparable address. Be sure to include your username. If you just want to check out the features Twiddla offers join a public session and play in their sandbox. I was thrilled to find that Twiddla is not only user friendly, it also has more capabilities than typical online whiteboards. While Twiddla allows you to use the pen or shape template to write or draw on the plain white board, or on grid overlays, it also has the ability to upload documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF), Web pages, Ethernet documents and images. These become a collaborative canvas that can be marked up by highlighting, adding sticky notes, or inline text. My students capture their work with a snapshot of their Twiddla session and export the snapshot as an image which can be reloaded in another session for further tweaking. Saved images also allow them to keep track of work that is completed in each meeting and I can monitor group progress. The most important feature of Twiddla is that it encourages creativity and collaboration. I’ve used Twiddla across the curriculum for everything from introducing my class to new websites by highlighting key features then saving those images as a visual guide for the site to exploring the features of landforms and maps, then uploading those sessions in a Google Doc as a study guide. Twiddla has also come in handy during reading mini lessons to annotate text, highlighting details that identify main idea or in character analysis. I have even saved our Twiddled Chalk Talk thinking routines to evaluate class thinking over time. My little ones have become great collaborators, initiating their own Twiddla sessions to create concept maps for projects, outline ideas for writing, or construct graphs for math and diagrams for science. Twiddla has also allowed them to extend their learning beyond the classroom. Some of my students have created Twiddla meetings at home for planning a shared project or explaining math problems to friends who don’t understand a concept. Twiddla is one of my favorite tools because it allows students to build on each others ideas and deepen their learning. Click image to view full size. I am a teacher for the Grosse Pointe Public Schools in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. I have a multiage class of first through third grade students. I have written for ASCD, and been a presenter for The University of Virginia’s Summer Institute on Academic Diversity, presented at The Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference, been a lead presenter for the Virtual 4 T Conference hosted by The University of Michigan’s School of Education and School of Innovation, and I will be presenting at The Institute for Innovation in Education gathering in Ann Arbor, in June. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThree Video Tutorials on Using Padlet in Your ClassroomMonth in Review - The Most Popular PostsThe Week in Review - The Winds Are Changing 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Amy Pietrowski. When I started teaching with Google Apps several years back, I never envisioned that I would be using them with Kindergartners and first-graders. The logging in factor (yyyylastname.firstname@mail.domain.org) alone would be enough to send any five or six year old into hysterics. Many of my second graders struggle with this well into the school year. Enter Android Tablets into our district: The bad news was that I had to enter each child’s Google ID into the tablet. The good news was it that was a one-time only deal. From that day forward I could walk into any kindergarten or first grade classroom and have students creating products, sharing with me via Google Classroom, and saving to their Google Drives in seconds. So, how did I do it? Skitch and Google Classroom: Skitch is a simple mark-up program from Evernote. Students would create a fact family with real two-sided counters. Next they would take a picture with their tablet using the Skitch app. After using the writing tool to write the addition fact, it’s "turn around" fact, and, depending on skill level, corresponding subtraction facts, the student would then share their product. There are several sharing options in Skitch, but for this assignment we chose to use Google Classroom. I created an assignment ahead of time. Once they had used a one-time short code to get into my class, they only had to click on the assignment and attach their picture to it. Once "turned in," I could view all of the creations in my classroom folder on Google Drive. In turn, I shared this folder with the classroom teacher, so she would have a copy of their artifacts. Mindomo and Google Drive: Teachers love graphic organizers, and using Mindomo is great way to save physical creations in a logical way. On this day, first graders were creating two digit numbers with base ten blocks. They captured two "numbers," then put them together to create the number at the top. They labeled their boxes and used Mindomo’s connecting tools to show the relationship between the three pictures. What is remarkable about this activity is that Mindomo let the students save their graphic organizer to their Google Drive. Now, and in the future, when the students open their Google Drives, they will see the work they have created in first grade. Thinglink and Google Drive:  When the first grade teachers asked that I review parts of a plant with their students, I knew that Thinglink would be an awesome tool. My fifth graders used pictures from loc.gov earlier in the year and made great creations about their Civil War studies. Thinglink allows you to "tag" a picture with other pictures, audio, and video. While the desktop app would be difficult for my first graders, the mobile app was perfect! Using their Google Accounts (already on their tablets), students logged in, snapped a picture of a plant, and proceeded to add tags. They labeled words they knew (stem, leaf, etc) and added video files to talk about what a plant needs to survive. Here is one from a student who combined both aspects well. As the students finished up their "scenes," they saved them onto their thinglink accounts and into my group. They also used the save to Google Drive feature which creates a text file with a link to their scene. All of these activities would have been nearly impossible without the combination of Google Apps, tablets, and a little bit of up-front work. I DID enter all of these students’ credentials into the tablets (just once). Also, if you would like to use a Google ID with your Thinglink EDU account, students must be added via Thinglink.com/edu on the computer. However, the up-front work was worth every artifact the students created, shared, and saved for the future. Amy Pietrowski is an experienced classroom teacher who has taught at all grade levels and in many subject areas. Her passion for technology stems from an experience learning LOGO and BASIC at computer camp in the third grade, and she has since relished any opportunity technology has given her to create and share. Amy is currently an instructional technology specialist in Fayette County and an Instructor for the MAET Certificate program at Michigan State University. You can follow Amy on twitter @amylpie and read her blog here: http://techieteacherpie.blogspot.com. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThree Video Tutorials on Using Padlet in Your ClassroomChanging School Districts and Want Offline Copies of Your Google Data? - Use TakeoutEncouraging Student Collaboration Through Twiddla 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Pamela Levine.  Using technology for ‘First Week of School’ activities serves multiple purposes: 1) conveying to students that their classroom is a place where learning will be engaging, 2) emphasizing the importance of expression and peer learning, and 3) providing safe, low-stakes opportunities to build skills and appropriate practices around our classroom technologies. I’ve had many First Weeks of School: in elementary school classrooms (in Washington D.C.), in Massive Open Online Courses (at Stanford), and even in Tanzania (as a Peace Corps Volunteer). I currently teach rising educators at the Stanford Graduate School of Education to incorporate technology into their teaching in pedagogically-sound ways. Below are two First Week of School activities using Nearpod and PollEverywhere that can build classroom culture and help establish technology norms and routines. "1+1=1" Icebreaker on Nearpod. This icebreaker inspires creativity and collaboration while familiarizing students with Nearpod. 1+1=1 involves combining two objects to design and describe a new invention. Nearpod’s ‘Draw It’ tool is great for this activity: it gives students a canvas on which to draw and insert images, and enables me to collect and share their work in real-time. Students (and adults) get a kick out seeing each other’s 1+1=1 inventions projected on the screen. Alongside engaging with the activity, students learn processes for connecting to, interacting with, and submitting work on Neapod. I also use this time to establish device usage cues and norms (such as "screens up/screens down"). The 1+1=1 icebreaker is appropriate for students and adults of all ages. Give it a try here, and download a copy to use in your own class or presentation here. Community Building Discussion Starters with PollEverywhere. Student response systems like PollEverywhere can be a great way to create a safe environment for participation, provide teachers and students with instantaneous formative feedback, and catalyze discussion, debate, and peer learning. During the first week of school, I familiarize students with PollEverywhere while probing for their expectations and concerns and crowdsourcing their ideas. PollEverywhere’s Word Cloud question type can reveal shared student perspectives on questions like "How can we make the classroom a safe space?" and "When have you felt particularly successful in school?" The Clickable Image question type can be used to collect responses to visual questions, like "Where along this continuum would you describe your communication style?" After surveying the students, I display and use their responses to facilitate dialogue by asking discussion questions like "What trends do you see?", "What response(s) make you think about the question in a different way?", or by having students explain and elaborate with a partner about their answer. I think the real educational value in deploying student response systems for teaching and learning comes from these active discussions that follow from using the technology. There are a myriad of ways to use Nearpod and PollEverywhere for teaching and learning beyond the First Week of School. Using education technology for introductory activities like the ones above provide opportunities to communicate values, teach skills, and model behaviors so that students are prepared to participate with these tools during later lessons and tasks. It’s been my pleasure to share on Free Technology for Teachers! I welcome your feedback and continued conversation @PossiblyPamela on Twitter and at www.pamela-levine.com. Have a great First Week of School this Fall! This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsEncouraging Student Collaboration Through TwiddlaMonth in Review - The Most Popular Posts 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Terri Eichholz. We were recently gifted with a Makerbot Replicator (5th Gen) to pilot in our elementary school library. Our librarian, Angelique Lackey, and I knew that time was short before the end of the year, but we wanted students to experience the power of creating with this device. If you search the web for 3D printing curriculum to use in elementary schools, you will find a sparse number of appropriate resources. Most of the "curriculum" turns out to be instructions on using a 3D printer like this, or lists of manipulatives teachers can make on a 3D printer. Angelique and I were looking for something that would be more transformational for our students, however. As we researched, though, we came across the CityX curriculum. Written to teach students about the design process, this free curriculum was exactly what we wanted. The downloadable Toolkit includes an instructor’s guide, printable student workbooks, Common Core alignment, and videos. Angelique immediately found a group of students who could meet with her each day to test it out before the end of school. It has been exciting to see how the steps of the design process unfold and the confidence, collaboration, and creativity this project has engendered. If you feel like the City X curriculum doesn’t suit your needs, I encourage you to check out the #makered Twitter chat that occurs every week on Tuesdays at 8 CST. The contributors are extremely experienced and happy to answer questions or offer resources. When I asked for app suggestions for creating, here were some that they offered: BlokifyNovo ModelerModioTinkerplayMakerbot PrintshopSoftware that you can use for designing includes: Tinkercad (free, cloud-based)Sketchup (free, but must be downloaded)I would caution you to try any of the above using student logins on your devices, as some may be restricted by district filters. This may be due to links to galleries, such as Thingiverse, that are great sources of inspiration, but may include inappropriate materials. One of my 2nd grade students used Makerbot Printshop to design the medal below for our GT class. A 5th grade student of mine, with no other instruction from me than, "See if you can design something for us to print in Tinkercad this weekend," created the following. It is the sled from the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. (It was printed in white plastic, then painted with acrylic paints.) Speaking of literature, another resource I was able to obtain through the #makered Twitter chat was a list of books that can be used with elementary students to connect to inventing and 3D printing. I have not read the following books, but they were recommended: How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers The Big Orange Splot Galimoto Leo the Maker Prince: Journeys in 3D Printing An excellent book that my colleague recommended, and I have since read, is Skyjumpers. I would also suggest the following books for any kind of curriculum in which creativity and invention are encouraged: The Most Magnificent Thing Rosie Revere, Engineer Iggy Peck, Architect Going Places Weslandia A 3D printer should not be purchased for the sake of having the newest technology. However, you should not discount the idea of having one in an elementary school. Teaching our students about the design process is one of the most valuable skills we can give them. In addition, getting a chance to see the tangible results of planning, problem-solving, and collaboration can be the most powerful way to make an impact. Terri Eichholz teaches Gifted and Talented students in San Antonio, Texas. She has been teaching for 24 years, and shares resources and idea at http://engagetheirminds.com. You can also often find her participating in educational Twitter chats (@terrieichholz). Angelique Lackey is Terri’s fabulous colleague, and is the librarian at Hidden Forest Elementary. She can also be found on Twitter (@lackeyangie). This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsMay Flowers - A Writing LessonElementary School Math Games for Touchscreen Computers and Interactive Whiteboards 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Todd Samuelson. As the administrator responsible for technology in my school I had the opportunity to facilitate a Chromebook pilot project. Every grade seven student was loaned a Chromebook (CB) for the school year. The goal of the pilot was to determine the effectiveness of utilizing one-to-one devices to enhance learning in the classroom and to improve technology capacity among teachers as we move towards an eventual B.Y.O.D. school. In early October nearly 200 Chromebooks were deployed and the journey began. Eight months later and the project can only be described as a success. One of the first steps in the process was to get CBs into the hands of teachers. We had an evening of professional development for teachers to receive support, but because CBs are so intuitive it did not take long for the majority of the teachers to become somewhat proficient. We created a google classroom that we used to communicate information, thoughts, concerns and tips. We sent a letter home to parents explaining the project and hosted an information night with presentations and an opportunity for questions. For the students, in the beginning, a great deal of time was spent on building capacity regarding how to care for their device. Students were given formal lessons on proper care and respect for the device being loaned to them. This paid off tremendously as students took ownership for their CB and we were fortunate to have very little damage or issues related to misuse. Knowing that a goal would be to allow students to transport a device home, our teacher-librarian, Lisa, collected resources and created an extensive "Chromebook license." The license required that students reach certain benchmarks regarding general care, responsible use and cleaning before being allowed to take a Chromebook home. The teachers and students were amazing as they learned side by side. As much support as was requested was provided from our central office who were actively involved in the initiative. The Chromebook pilot team provided support throughout the year and organized PD time embedded into the school day. Teachers took ownership for their own learning and developed and shared lessons, strategies, struggles and challenges. As I reflect on the project I feel the biggest influence of its success has come from the lead team that was formed. This team was composed of two "lead teachers," Jen and Michelle, the school’s teacher-librarian, Lisa, and myself. These three guided, reflected and made decisions in every school-based aspect of the initiative ensuring a process that was ultimately best for students and most effective for teachers. They spent countless hours organizing, supporting, learning, taking risks and creating. The team shared a common belief, vision and passion for integrating technology into the classroom in a meaningful way to enhance learning. By surrounding myself with people with skills and knowledge superior to mine in many areas and by encouraging and supporting these teachers to lead, it made for an extremely rewarding, transformative and powerful project. I live and work in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada as a school administrator in a grade seven to 12 school of just over 1200 students and approximately 65 teachers. I am a supporter of challenging the status quo, innovative thinking, creativity, positivity, taking risks, technology in the classroom and wellness. Twitter @todd_samuelson Blog http://toddsamuelson.blogspot.ca/ This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsStudent Created Videos: Google Slides and ScreencastingMonth in Review - The Most Popular Posts 

Art by Jane, a 5th grade student.This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Carrie Zimmer. Andy Warhol was legendary for his work combining art and pop culture and his use of bright color and iconic images is known worldwide. Warhol was provided as inspiration to American School of Milan 5th grade students several months back by art teacher, Julie Troyer. They chose a simple image that could be replicated and created the identical image six times in different color schemes. Moving forward with the same inspiration, Julie and I decided to create different versions of one student selected photograph using our Dell tablets. We wanted to find programs that were web-based, free, and didn’t require registration. We selected Sumo Paint and PicMonkey as the best tools for our students. While copyright friendly pics can be found online in a Google filtered image search and several other places, this time our students used photographs that I gathered from my own collection. Sumo Paint is a web-based photo editing tool. Registration is not required, as students are able to use the program and save files without creating an account. In our elementary program, this is key. We taught the students a few quick ideas using only the Adjustments and Filters, showing how they could change the image, but still maintain a reference to the original. Each student created three versions of their selected photo by experimenting with these controls, like Pixelate, Stylize, and Hue/Saturation. Once their versions were complete, students used PicMonkey to collage their photos into one image. PicMonkey is an online photo editing and collaging tool. Again, registration is not required to use their site or save finished images. I find that this site is really easy for almost any user to understand as well. Users can drag and drop photos into collages and move them around as needed. The size and shape of the collage can also be customized to fit your needs. Art by Nicole, a 5th grade student. This project was completed in two 40 minute class segments. Written directions that can be modified for your situation can be found here. A well deserved thanks goes to the amazing technologist, teacher and colleague, Tamara Wolpowitz, who shares her ideas and knowledge with me every day and provided the idea for this project. You, too, can find inspiration from her @tamwol. Carrie Zimmer is a Technology Integration Specialist and Coach at the American School of Milan in Italy. She’s a Google Certified Teacher, Apple Distinguished Educator, but more importantly, a lifelong learner. Make your plans to come to ASM for Learning 2.016, the first Learning2 conference in Europe. Outside of the classroom, you can find Carrie reading, baking and blogging about life and travel in Europe at http://51500.blogspot.it/. You can also find her online at http://www.carriezimmer.me/ or @carrie_zimmer This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesUsing Google Apps in a Math ClassroomIcebreakers and Discussion Starters with Nearpod and PollEverywhereBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android Apps 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Kim Pollishuke. Providing quality descriptive feedback is a significant part of day-to-day assessment practice. It was only a few years ago when I wrote these comments by hand. When report card time came around, it was difficult to generate comments that reflected student improvement and achievement because once I handed back their work, I no longer had access to previously generated feedback. Later, I began to type my feedback and print off copies for my students. This gave me a soft copy but I found it tedious jumping from one word document to another to find the right information for a report card comment. This year I found the solution! By creating a Google Form to record students’ descriptive feedback for each subject, every single comment is in one spreadsheet and I can simply sort the sheet or filter it by name to see only one child’s feedback. This is unbelievably helpful when generating strengths and next steps for report card comments. This is a sample of a Google Form I fill out each time I give my students descriptive feedback in reading. I type comments in their assignment and then quickly copy and paste them into this form. The data collected in the Google Form automatically filters into a Google Spreadsheet. Click image to view full size. NOTE: I do not give students a level each time I provide them with descriptive feedback but sometimes I appreciate seeing the level in my own notes for formative assessment purposes. I intentionally select the checkbox question type so that I can select more than one level to show a range of ability. As I prepare to write my report cards, I simply sort the spreadsheet so all the feedback for each student is grouped together. For step-by-step instructions, visit How To Organize Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms. In this document, I also explain how you can filter the spreadsheet to only see one child’s feedback. This is ideal for parent-teacher conferences. Below is a screencast that shows the process I go through using Google Forms to organize my students’ descriptive feedback. TIP from the screencast: Go to the Chrome Store and add the Tab Resize and Tab Glue extensions. One click evenly splits your screen so you can copy comments and paste them into your forms easily. One more click puts the tabs back together. I love these extensions and my students love them too! With a Google Form for each subject, you’ll still be visiting multiple spreadsheets though. You can make your life even easier by linking all the forms to different tabs in the same spreadsheet. Visit How to Link Descriptive Feedback Forms to One Master Spreadsheet for step-by-step instructions or you can watch the screencast below. If you’d like a head start, visit Links to Make a Copy of Google Forms for Descriptive Feedback. Click on the links and you’ll be prompted to make a copy of the spreadsheet. Change the name of the spreadsheet. In the Form drop down menu, click on Edit form and you’ll have access to the Google Form. Adapt it as needed. Before you know it, all of your descriptive feedback will be at your fingertips! As an elementary teacher for the past 12 years in the York Region District School Board, Kim has found that using a wide range of technology has proven to be an exciting tool when working with all learners. She is a Certified Google Educator and an Authorized Google Education Trainer. She has led numerous workshops on the integration of GAFE, most recently at EdTech Team’s Ontario Summit featuring Google Apps for Education. She sincerely believes that the purposeful integration of technology is the key to increased student engagement and improved student achievement. Along with Trevor Krikst and Wahid Khan, Kim publishes the EdTech blog InquireandInspire.ca, an online hub exploring the vast potential in the nexus where technology and education converge. She can be reached at kpollishuke@gmail.com, @KimPollishuke and +KimPollishuke. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsUsing Google Apps in a Math Classroom3D Printers in Elementary School 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Heidi Samuelson. One of my goals this year was to integrate more technology into my second grade curriculum and reach beyond the walls of my classroom. I believe students need to learn how to engage and interact with technology, not just "play a game" on the computer. I want my students to become "global learners". One way we were able to accomplish this goal was to create eBooks to share with our families and other classes around the world. Using the BookCreator App, we combined art projects with research and writing about Laurel Burch to create an informational ebook. BookCreator is a wonderful app that makes creating professional looking eBooks simple and fun. Students took pictures of their art projects to upload into the BookCreator app. They were able to type and add color to the pages within the app to create engaging pages to share their learning. You can download a copy of our story in the iBook Store. BookCreator provides a free version of the app so you can try it out BEFORE you buy it which is always a bonus in my eyes! Another project we participated in involved Collaborative Writing with Global Connections. We paired with Mrs. Ladd’s class (located in North Carolina) to collaborate and create a fractured fairy tale story using technology to connect the two classes! After each class spent some time studying the elements of fairy tale stories, students logged into Google Docs on their devices and began typing a story together to create a fractured fairy tale. With so many students typing at the same time, we quickly decided to add another element of collaboration into the mix and introduced the group to Voxer. Students were so excited to be "talking in real time" with their writing partners using Voxer. This app helped the group decide on characters, settings, and plot elements. As they took turns typing out their story, they were able to see what each student was writing and ask questions to help guide them in their story creation. As Mrs. Ladd’s class dove into their testing schedule, I had the "authors" from my room, choose classmates to help them color backgrounds and make pictures to illustrate the story from the collaborative writing sessions. Using our TurboScan app, we were able to upload images of the art into BookCreator and design another ebook to share with our collaborative friends in North Carolina, families, and classes around the world. You can download one of our stories from the iTunes store today! Cinderella and the Big Bad Wolf, Little Red, and Goldilocks and the Three Pigs Plus the Big Bad Wolf. Join Mrs. Ladd (@BevLadd) to see what collaborative projects you can help create on #2ndChat Twitter Chat for second grade teachers. Using Twitter as part of my PLN has helped me to achieve my goal of integrating more technology into my curriculum this year. I can’t wait to try some more projects in the future! My name is Heidi Samuelson and it is a great pleasure to be guest blogging on Free Technology for Teachers today! I’m a second grade teacher in Tennessee who LOVES to integrate technology into my classroom and Richard’s blog has introduced me to TONS of resources!! You can read about some of my activities and techie ventures on my teaching blog: Mrs. Samuelson’s Swamp Frogs. Thanks for reading along with me today! I hope you’ll "hop" over to the Swamp and check out some more ways we use technology in the room! I also share activities on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsEncouraging Student Collaboration Through TwiddlaOrganizing Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Bryan Davis. For the last 6 years I have done all of my teaching on a tablet Windows PC. I have really liked using the tool for these reasons. I can have a digital copy of all of my lessons sync to all of my computers and be instantly searchable. Since my lesson was already digital I could easily upload it to my website. I could use any computer program (graphing utilities, geometric or algebraic drawing utilities, Excel, and more) in my lesson seamlessly. But up until last year there was a drawback. I could never leave my podium for a couple of reasons. First, the computer did not have a way to wirelessly stream the video output to the projector. Also, the computer was not small enough to just pick up and walk around with using only one hand. One of the best things about technology is how the tools we use are constantly changing. Last year I updated my school computer to a Surface Pro 2. The portability of this computer is incredible! I was inspired to look into ways of untethering myself from my podium. I originally used the software program AirParrot to send the video to my Apple TV. And while that solution was good, it was rather processor intensive and would drain the battery pretty quickly. Just recently I started using a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter, which Windows 8 natively supports (the streaming stick uses the Miracast wireless streaming protocol). This setup has a much smaller drain on my battery which means more time away from my podium! So now I walk around the classroom and have the ability to project anything I want on my screen. I use the camera to show student work directly from the desk of the student. I give my lesson from the front, middle and back of the class, sitting down anywhere to do my thing. I can quickly show any computer tool to help explain a concept. This tool has helped me be a better teacher. Additional Resources: Tablet PC List Examples of Posted Lessons About Bryan: I am a teacher of math, physics, and engineering at Healdsburg High School in beautiful Northern California. I have been teaching for 10 years. I have also had jobs as a software engineer and a test engineer. But my passion is education. I have really been trying to take elements of play and bring it into my classroom. Watch children play… they will try something, they might fail, but they fail safely. And then they try something else. And they will keep trying until they are successful. Isn’t that also what we want to see in our classrooms? I like to believe that this addition of play in my classroom is visible and making a difference for students. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesUsing Google Apps in a Math ClassroomGraphFree - An Online Graphing Tool for Students and TeachersHow to Quickly Create a Variety of Data Visualizations 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Adam Schoenbart. Students must create. That’s my big epiphany this year. Learning is better, more fun, and more memorable when you make something that lasts. I used to spend hours carefully grading and commenting on student work, only to have my feedback lost in the black hole of their backpacks. Sure, my students left class with new learning and skills, but my comments were left crumpled and ignored, and my assessments lost meaning. In the past two years, a lot has changed in my classroom because I realized the transformative power of Google Apps for Education. With Google Communities, students could now participate in conversations that extended beyond the classroom and period. Classes could research, share, write, and revise seamlessly. Students’ learning was in their own hands; instead of the Jedi master instructing young padawans, we learned together. I thought this would solve my earlier woes, but somehow Google Drive’s organization didn’t work for some students. Instead of losing the work in their backpacks, they misplaced untitled documents, ignored online comments, or even worse, moved files to Trash. I knew I had a problem that technology alone couldn’t solve. Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better." I knew I had do better to engage students in the process of learning and make the products matter, in and out of my classroom. Inspired by ideas like project based learning and #20Time, I decided to take a stand against "Google-able questions." Instead of students only finding information and curating content, they needed to create the learning for themselves. Our students live in a world of Web 2.0, social media, and content creation, and I needed to bring this into their learning. And together, we did. Halfway through this school year, I explained that we will no longer produce work that is forgettable and can be left in a backpack. Instead, we will create content that we can be proud of, will remember, and will help each other learn. I wanted to push students to develop more meaningful and diverse skills to prepare them for their futures by creating work that matters to them. To do this, we needed to produce for an audience; all learning was now public to the world. Suddenly, the learning was visible, the technology was more purposeful and complex, and class was more fun. Students’ work wasn’t hidden in their notebooks, but shared, produced, and even live-streamed, like the argument videos below. It was a big and challenging shift at first. I gave my students self-directed time and freedom to play with and practice a variety a Web 2.0 tools, which they used to present a synthesis argument assignment. Then, they applied these skills to book review projects, creating audio or visual book reviews and trailers. I had more fun watching these than anything else this year. Find all of the results here with some highlights in Yoo Shin’s infographic, Elliot’s EMaze, and Gabby’s Divergent trailer (below), which made me laugh. In my classroom, creation is the future. Students are learning more, developing new skills, and having more fun. It also forced me to step back and put the trust in my students’ hands. And so far, most rose to the challenge. As we end the school year, students are wrapping up #20Time Projects, which I hope will celebrate the success of student choice, voice, and creation. Reflecting back, I look towards summer with pride, hope, and excitement for the positive impact that creation has brought to my students’ learning. And I can’t wait to do better next year. Adam Schoenbart is a high school English teacher, Google Education Trainer, and EdD candidate in Educational Leadership. He teaches grades 10-12 in a 1:1 Chromebook classroom at Ossining High School in Westchester County, NY. His work and teaching focuses on best practices of educational technology for active student-centered learning and engagement. Adam received the 2014 LHRIC Teacher Pioneer Award and is a frequent conference presenter in the NY/NJ area. He is the co-creator of the crowdsourced #edtech events calendar, EdTechCalNYNJ, and he blogs about his work and teaching at The SchoenBlog. Connect with Adam on Twitter @MrSchoenbart to continue the conversation. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesOrganizing Descriptive Feedback with Google FormsMonth in Review - The Most Popular PostsReaching Across Global Borders to Create with Technology! 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Debbie Carona. April was National Poetry Month but not all of us finished our poetry units during April. Thanks to a few too many snow days, Mary Odom, our 4th grade language arts teacher wisely let the kids work on their original poems well into the month of May. I was lucky enough to be the tech person working with her class on creating individual poetry books using the Book Creator app and helping the kids with their concrete poem illustrations. Another name for a concrete poem is a shape poem. It’s basically where the shape of the poem plays an important role in expressing the topic or meaning of the poem. Our kids have always loved to write and design their concrete poems but with the help of the Type Drawing App, their options have hugely increased. With Type Drawing, the kids type their poem or just a line or phrase from their poem and then draw the words with their finger. Your finger can create randomly shaped lines or it can draw horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines. You may choose from a nice selection of font styles, sizes, and colors. You determine whether or not you want the lines of your poem to repeat and how much, if any, space you want between your words. Learning with the Type Drawing App for iPad from April Requard on Vimeo. Another great feature of Type Drawing is the ability to add a photo from your camera roll. After uploading the photo, go ahead and type the lines of your poem, making the above mentioned design choices. Then simply trace the photo with your finger. You can add lines to fill in the details of the picture. If you want the photo to disappear and be left with only the lines of the concrete poem, move the photo opacity line to 0%. You can also use the photo opacity line to simply fade the photo.Take a look at these original concrete poems that I put together using the Puppet Edu app. So, next year when National Poetry Month rolls around, share Shel Silverstein’s concrete poem, "The Circle", with your students. Then let the Type Drawing app inspire your kids to write and illustrate their own concrete poetry. Debbie Carona spent the first 20 years of her teaching as a classroom teacher. For the past 8 years, she has been a technology integration specialists at St. John’s Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas. St. John’s is beginning their 4th year as a 1:1 iPad school and is a major proponent of project based learning. According to her, the best part of being a tech teacher is being invited to go into the classrooms and work alongside the teachers. Please visit Debbie’s blog site, At a Glance, and follow her on Twitter @DebbieCarona. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesTeaching Mathematics With a Surface Pro TabletTransforming Learning Through Student Content CreationOrganizing Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Mike Petty. Last fall our high school purchased Chromebooks and the new principal set high expectations for more project-based learning and technology integration in all subjects. As the instructional technology coordinator for the district, this was great news for me! This school year was a ton of work, but we’re now wrapping up what was certainly the best one of my career. Over the past several months I’ve often been asked by teachers for presentation options beyond PowerPoint. They wanted something that can be shared beyond the classroom, but that isn’t as involved as a full video project. To meet this need, I outlined a process (and made some tutorials) to make simple narrated slideshows using Google Tools. They are like presentations that present themselves. The process uses Google Slides and WeVideo and can be completed using Chromebooks or laptops. You can also make them with a desktop computer as long as you have a microphone. Here is an example of one of these narrated slideshows. And here are the steps, each with a video tutorial showing the process. Step 1: Create your slideshow in Google Slides and download each one to your device. Step 2: Log in at WeVideo and put your images from Step 1 into a video. Step 3: Record your narration for each slide. Step 4: Publish the video to Google Drive where you’ll be able to share it with your teacher. After using this process with several classes I’ve learned a few tips. It helps greatly if the teacher works through the entire process first. I suggest creating your own example to show the class so you’ve seen every step in detail.Relatively short slideshows of 6 to 8 slides work best the first time students work through this process.Students need to be reminded that steps 2 - 4 will take awhile the first time they do this project. They must pace themselves accordingly on step 1.WeVideo adds other files or folders to Drive and students often share the wrong one with their teacher. Remind them to test the file before sharing. If it plays as a video, that’s the file they should share. (And to help avoid some of this confusion, if your students have access to Gmail, tell them they will receive a notification when their video has finished processing.)Yes, you can easily record narration and make a video using PowerPoint. I prefer using WeVideo as outlined here, though, because it is a great introduction to using a video editor for more involved video projects. It’s also prefered because it works on Chromebooks.Since the free WeVideo accounts are limited to five minutes of export time each month, students should not publish until they are sure the slideshow is how they want it. Mike Petty is a Google Education Trainer and the instructional technology coordinator at LakeVille Community Schools in Otisville, Michigan. He is passionate about inspiring students and teachers to reach their potential by using simple, powerful tools. You can follow him on Twitter at @mpetty39. He blogs at Classroom Games and Tech and TeachingLikeAnArtist.com. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesTransforming Learning Through Student Content CreationStudent Created Videos: Google Slides and ScreencastingOrganizing Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Angie Oliversen. My social media bios declare "I like kids. I like books. I like tech. What else could I be but a school librarian?" That pretty much sums it up right there. Now, I do want to make one thing clear. I do not believe every book needs a "project." READ MORE BOOKS. That’s what will encourage a love of reading (and the literacy skills will come). That said there are times when added tech IS fun and helpful to instruction. We had 6 iPads last year but this December were lucky enough to get a cart of 25! Of course we wanted to use them. One housekeeping tip … I use generic Dropbox or Google Drive accounts or Chirp to transfer photos and videos between devices. The most recent project used Pic Collage for Kids. Fourth graders researched book summaries on bn.com and created posters of books they were excited to read over summer vacation. Posters were then used to promote the books throughout the school. We will repeat the project in the August to recap their summer reading! Before author Jeff Mack visited recently, many of our kinder and first graders finished the sentence "I can …" and illustrated it. We snapped a quick pic of the drawing, videotaped student authors, and put the two together in Book Creator. Voila! Project to share with parents and the author. Earlier in the semester we used Chatterpix Kids for a characterization activity from David Gordon’s book Smitten. I snapped two pics of the main characters and put them on all the iPads. The students drew mouths on the characters and recorded themselves as the sock and mitten introducing each other and recounting their adventures. A fun app for practicing sequencing is Shadow Puppet EDU. Our younger students ordered pics snapped from John Rocco’s Blizzard and recorded themselves retelling the story. Older students used it as a way to show a timeline of events from both fiction and non-fiction selections. Several classes that were first introduced to the app during a research project discovered Haiku Deck could also be a way to share books they had read. They worked at summarizing the high points of a story, finding the most interesting photos to go along with the important events, and above all never giving away the ending! Of course either of the Puppet Pal apps (version 1 or version 2) provide opportunities for sharing the love of a book. The free versions have content that can be used for projects but if you can get the full paid versions (1 $3.99 or 2 $5.99) you can do a lot more. Students can add their own illustrations or photos and use the app to animate their retelling. The LEGO Movie Maker stop motion app takes some patience and at least a few minifigures but it helps the kids practice summarizing and storyboarding. Students can often loan minifigures to a filming cause. Or ... the teacher librarian can take a deep breath and share some of her (or his) own. And last but not least Telestory has fun news templates that can be used for book reviews! Angie Oliverson is an elementary teacher librarian in south Texas. Find her on her blog, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, and recently on Instagram. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesCreating Narrated Slideshows with Google ToolsTransforming Learning Through Student Content CreationOrganizing Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Julie Smith. Computer programming has become the new "literacy" that many teachers and school districts are implementing to help students exercise critical thinking and problem solving skills. Students of all ages gravitate towards creating and implementing programs--large and small--that they create digitally. Our technology department recently purchased two MaKey MaKeys for every elementary ITRT to use when collaborating with teachers on special projects that involve computer programming. What is a MaKey MaKey? Basically, it is a small invention kit made for ALL ages. The kit comes with a small MaKey MaKey board, wires, alligator clips and a USB cable. You can take everyday objects and turn them into a touch pad that interacts with a computer program. Objects attached to the MaKey MaKey (fruit, Play-Doh, tin foil, copper tape) become "buttons" that replace a basic keyboard or mouse. Operate a computer game with play dough, fruit or even a glass of water! When I first saw these contraptions my initial reaction was how in the world would we incorporate these devices with our demanding academic curriculum? The last couple of months my instructional technology team and I have had a ball coming up with strong academic tie-ins for using MaKey MaKeys and programming with our elementary students. I was astonished how easily and naturally programming and incorporating MaKey MaKeys have been, even for first graders! Just the other day I was working with first graders who were learning about the four cardinal directions. We had them create interactive compass roses by programming a sprite in Scratch to move north, south, east or west depending on the arrow key they pressed. Some students were even able to add voice recordings to their script! To test their program, they hooked up a MaKey MaKey to their computer and attached their alligator clips to BANANAS. They called out a cardinal direction to each other and their partner had to tap the correct banana to make their sprite move in the proper direction. This simple activity stirred up such curiosity about how the MaKey MaKey circuit worked that the students wanted to extend their learning by testing out what other objects would activate their sprite. Another MaKey MaKey lesson we did was with a 2nd grade class. The teacher said her students were struggling with counting US coins. Therefore, we hooked up the MaKey MaKey to a penny, nickel, dime and quarter and programmed Scratch to calculate the coin totals each time a coin was touched. I hear that even high school students get quite excited over these devices. After all, I have seen most adults get giddy the first time they test out a MaKey MaKey. The engagement these invention kits bring to the classroom is extraordinary. I'm looking forward to discovering new ways to incorporate these kits into the K-5 curriculum! A MaKey MaKey first experience (I LOVE the curiosity at the very end): First Experience from Julie on Vimeo. Programming and MaKey MaKey in action: MaKey MaKey from Julie on Vimeo. Julie Smith is an elementary Instructional Technology Coach for Henrico County Public Schools in Henrico, Virginia. She works with teachers and students in PreK-5th grade. Julie is the author of the blog, The Techie Teacher . You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesBig Tools for Little Kids - Little Kids Get in on the Learning With Android AppsCreating Narrated Slideshows with Google ToolsReaching Across Global Borders to Create with Technology! 

This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This is a guest post from Susan Myers. A group from an intellectually disabled class visits the media center once a week. During the year, we made bird houses, conducted science experiments, used the catalog to locate books, and listened to stories. I thought that these students could be authors and walked them through the different parts of a book. The students spent about five library sessions creating their stories. After watching the students make books using construction paper and markers, I looked into having them use the technology they just received - iPads (we are 1:1 with Macs, but the intellectually disabled students have a cart of iPads in their room). The Our Story app starts by allowing the user to create a new story or using an existing one. The next screen is divided into four areas. Along the top, icons allow for sharing, printing, or saving. The left side gives access to the camera roll and to previously saved stories. Students will mostly use the main area which shows photos from the camera roll and the bottom area which is the storyboard area. Photos can be dragged into the storyboard and moved around within the storyboard. Clicking on a photo lets you type in text or speak your caption. The Our Story app worked better than I expected for creating a story with the students. I decided to ask them to create a story about the school. The students really enjoyed walking around the school, taking photos of areas they found interesting. I found the option of typing or speaking for each photo extremely helpful as some students barely know the alphabet while one young man reads and writes on about a second grade level. The app does require a hold down and drag action to move photos down into the storyboard area. Students with low motor skill abilities (like some of the students involved in this activity) may need one on one assistance. The app allows students to share their work by printing (PDF format) or by placing the story on Dropbox, iTunes, or emailing it. For more information about the Our Story app, visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/our-story-for-ipad/id681769838?mt=8. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesiRead a Book ... Now What? - Book Posters, Book Trailers, and MoreCreating Narrated Slideshows with Google ToolsCreating Concrete and Shape Poems on iPads 

Teach Your Monster to Read is a series of fun game designed to help students improve the speed and accuracy with which they recognize letters and sounds. Students play the games as a friendly monster avatar. The latest update to Teach Your Monster to Read comes in the form of new game called Champion Reader. Champion Reader provides the third level of difficulty in the Teach Your Monster to Read series. The game introduces students to alternate pronunciations of letters and multiple ways of representing the same sounds. Like all of the Teach Your Monster to Read games Champion Reader sends students on a quest to complete by accurately recognizing words, letters, and sounds. Teach Your Monster To Read - Champion Reader from Dina Makanji on Vimeo. Applications for Education Teachers can create and manage their students' accounts on Teach Your Monster to Read. Creating Teach Your Monster to Read accounts for all of your students is a simple process. Just register yourself as a teacher then enter your students' names (first names only) or upload a CSV file of your students' names. Teach Your Monster to Read will automatically generate a password for each student. As the teacher you can log-in anytime to see your students' progress. You can also turn off the password requirement during your class. Turning off the password requirement during class could be helpful when you want to get students into the activities as quickly as possible. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesJohnnyAppl - Play Trivia Games and Plant Real TreesConsumer Education at the MallDinosaster - A Game About Dinosaur Extinction 

Disclosure: Storyboard That is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Storyboard That is continuously building new teacher guides. Their guides provide dozens of lesson plans for teaching language arts skills through the use of storyboards. The latest additions to Storyboard That's teacher guides include lesson plans on The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451. The Hunger Games teacher guide includes plans for teaching point of view, cause and effect, and character analysis. The plans call for students to create storyboards to illustrate their understanding of the characters, themes, and plot of The Hunger Games. Like all Storyboard That teacher guides, the lessons in The Hunger Games teacher guide are aligned to ELA Common Core standards. To learn more about how to use Storyboard That in your classroom, take a look at the recording of this webinar that I hosted back in February. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesUsing Sumo Paint and PicMonkey in Elementary ArtGetting Started With Canva - A Quick Guide to Creating VisualsMay Flowers - A Writing Lesson 

For a couple of years now Google has offered Street View imagery that takes you underwater around the Galapagos Islands, the Maldives, and a handful of other places around the world. This week Google announced an expansion of underwater imagery. Calling it Street View imagery is a bit silly so let's call it Sea View imagery.The expansion includes 40 new destinations around the world. The Sea View imagery will let you virtually swim with dolphins and whales, explore reefs, and dive with sea turtles. You can find all of the Sea View imagery in the Oceans Street View collection. Applications for Education After exploring the Sea View imagery students have students dive deeper with Marine Explore. Marine Explore is an open data community in which scientists and others share data sets about oceans. As a member (membership is free) you can search for data sets according to location and type of data (temperatures, sea ice extent, pollution, etc). This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesCreating Narrated Slideshows with Google ToolsTransforming Learning Through Student Content CreationReaching Across Global Borders to Create with Technology! 

Good evening from Maine where I am back home with dogs after a few days of traveling to speak in Sioux City, Iowa. Thank you to Kathy Bottaro and the staff of Sioux City Schools for the opportunity to work with 100 teachers this week. If you're interested in having me speak at your school, please click here. A big thank you to all of the guest bloggers that appeared on my blog this week. It was great to have fresh voice on the blog. Here are this week's most popular posts: 1. Six Styles of Classroom Video Projects - A Handout 2. Using Google Apps in a Math Classroom 3. Chromebook Rollout Through Teacher Leadership 4. Creating Narrated Slideshows with Google Tools 5. Learning to Program With MaKey MaKey in Elementary School 6. Champion Reader - A New Reading Game on Teach Your Monster to Read 7. Organizing Descriptive Feedback with Google Forms Summer PD Opportunities With Me.Teaching History With Technology begins in July. Getting Going With GAFE is offered in June and July. Blogs & Social Media for Teachers and School Leaders is offered in July. Brand new course! Blogger Jumpstart! - A two night event in which I'll share everything I've learned about turning a blog into a small business. Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.MidWest Teachers Institute offers online graduate courses for teachers.HelloTalk is a mobile community for learning a new language.Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer.SeeSaw is a great iPad app for creating digital portfolios. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThe Week in Review - The Most Popular PostsTransforming Learning Through Student Content CreationMonth in Review - The Most Popular Posts 

Intellectual property is the topic of the latest Common Craft video. The video provides an overview of what intellectual property is and how it is protected by patents and copyright laws. You can see the video here or as embedded below. Applications for Education Intellectual Property explained by Common Craft is a good companion to their video on Copyright and Creative Commons. Both videos can help students understand why they should try to use their own original media or public domain media when creating presentations, videos, and podcasts. Common Craft videos can be viewed for free online but to download them or embed them you do have to be a subscriber to their service. In the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that I have an in-kind relationship with Common Craft which means that I have received a subscription in exchange for advising Common Craft on some product offerings. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesChemistry and Counterfeiting - A TED-Ed LessonOpinion Polls - How They Work and Why We Have ThemHow Sound Is Produced Through Brass Instruments 

There are dozens of great game builders, writing templates, and handy classroom tools on Classtools.net. I've tried nearly all of them over the years. My five favorite Classtools tools are featured below. Mission MapQuest is a great tool for map-based quizzes and games. The concept behind it is simple, you create a series of clues that your students need to follow to identify places around the world. You can add as few or as many clues to your MapQuest as you like. When you're ready to have students try your MapQuest just give them the web address assigned to it. Watch the video embedded below to learn how to create your own map-based quizzes on Mission MapQuest. The Classtools Fake SMS Generator is free to use and does not require students to register to use it. In the video below I demonstrate how to create a fictitious text message exchange between historical characters. As I mentioned in the video, the Fake SMS Generator could also be used to create visuals for lessons on cyber-safety and etiquette. Connect Fours is a game in which that you have to create four sets of four related terms from sixteen terms displayed on the game board. Connect Fours is based on the concept of the connect wall in the BBC gameshow Only Connect. The idea is that you have to create four sets of four related terms from sixteen terms displayed on the board. For example, I created a game about the four major professional sports leagues in the United States. Sixteen team names are displayed on the board and players have to arrange the teams according to the leagues that they belong to. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to use Connect Fours to create your own review games. The Random Name Picker and the Fruit Machine are two of those tools that can be used in almost every classroom setting. Both tools can be used to select names or numbers at random. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to use both of those tools. Twister, like the Fake SMS allows you imagine what historical figures would have done if they had access to social media. On Twister you can create fake Tweets as if you were Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, or any other person in history. To create a fake Tweet on Twister just go to the site and enter a name, a Tweet, and date stamp for your Tweet. Twister will pull a public domain image for the profile picture and show you the fake Tweet. Your fake Tweet will be given its own URL. You can also just take a screenshot of it to save it. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThe Week in Review - Thank You Guest BloggersCreating Narrated Slideshows with Google ToolsTransforming Learning Through Student Content Creation