Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
June 7, 2021
Have a great summer!
Book an appointment at sarahboyle.youcanbook.me MPS EdTech Website
Need help over the summer?
Email sboyle@milfordma.com
or submit a helpdesk ticket using the new Incident IQ helpdesk system after July1st.
Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
June 1, 2021
MPS is getting a new Helpdesk!
Who is frustrated by the Schooldude helpdesk ticketing system? ME TOO!!
MPS is going to be introducing a new helpdesk ticketing system this summer and IT. IS. AWESOME!!
Eyedropper
Have you ever tried to make a document or graphic
and you struggled to math the colors? Or something
just seems off?Eyedropper to the rescue! Use the eyedropper extension to select any color on your screen and copy the Hex code to get the perfect colors!
Canva end of the Year Class Photo
This year has been truly unique and we have adapted! Why not make an end of the year photo for you and your students to commemorate all your successes?
Create your own end of the year photo of your class using these cute templates! Signup for a free educator Canva account and choose the template that is right for your class!
Seesaw End of the Year Cleanup
Time to clean up your Seesaw Classrooms! Here is a quick and easy guide for how to archive your classes and get ready for the next school year. There are also directions to give your students’ families to download their portfolios if they want to save them - video here.
Reminder: K-2 classes will automatically be archived on the last day of school.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
May 24, 2021
Pin Apps to Your taskbar
Do you have apps and programs that you use frequently but have trouble loading them from the Start/Windows menu? Try pinning those apps to your desktop! Locate the program you want to pin and right click on it. Select “Pin to Taskbar” in the menu. You can also unpin apps that you do not use and declutter your taskbar.
Copy folder App
Did you know you cannot copy a entire folder in your GOogle Drive?!? Instead of copying individual files and recreating the folder and all the suborganization, you can use the Copy Folder app!
Read more about how the app works here.
Video Ant
Video ANT is a free tool on which you can view
and annotate videos. Video ANT plays your video and while watching you and your students can add marks along a timeline and write comments alongside the video. Annotations are emailed to you when you've completed the annotation process. Video ANT works with YouTube videos as well as with some video files that you can upload to the site. Check it out here.
Google Classroom Cleanup
It almost the end of the school year and it it is time to start cleaning up your Google Classroom. Take a few minutes to review some of these cleanup and end of the year tips from Kasey Bell @ShakeUpLearning to get prepared for end the school year is a tidy way.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
May 17, 2021
Voice Typing
Did you know the average adult can type 35-40 words per minute, but speak approximately 150 words per minute? Voice typing is a built in feature to Google Docs and is part of our Read&Write extension package. Activate voice typing in Google Doc by going to Tools and selecting Voice Typing (you may need to allow your microphone) or use the dictation feature in your mobile devices.
Tab Scissors
Looking for a quick way to do a split screen with two or more tabs already open on your device? After installing this extension, when you want to create a split screen, click the icon and a new window will
automatically be created with all your
tabs still open. Check it out in this video.
Math Whiteboard
Math Whiteboard is a fantastic free interactive whiteboard tool designed specifically for teaching and learning math. Eric Curts gave a recorded webinar on
using this tool and provides lots of tips
on his blog.
Seesaw Progress Dashboard!
Seesaw recently added a progress monitoring dashboard. Now you can check to see if your students
are working an an activity, have
turned it in for review, or if it has
been posted. The best part - you
can view all your activities at once!
Check out how to use it in this
video.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
May 10, 2021
Youtube Picture in Picture!
Wish you could view Youtube videos while switching tabs and working on other files/documents? Now you can1 Double right click on a Youtube video to select Picture in Picture and the video will play in a movable window that sits on top of any others. You
can reposition it anywhere on your screen.
And it works on Chromebooks too!
Check out this video for how to do it!
Alpha Text
The Alpha Text extension allows users to apply customized text formatting to webpages. This extension is helpful for students and teachers to improve accessibility to text or to just make the
digital reading experience better.
You can install the extension here.
Check out how to use it in this video.
Where on (Google) earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Carmen Sandiego has gotten an update! With the show being revamped on Netflix there are now interactive games to go along with it for Google Earth. Students interview “people” around the globe follow Carmen all around the Earth.
Link to Highlighted Text
Send links to specific sections of text to your students. Using the newest version of the Chrome browser teachers and students can highlight text in a window or document and generate a link that will
send any viewers directly to that section
of text. Check out how to enable this
feature and use it in this video.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
May 3, 2021
Quick Drive Search
Ever ask yourself:
Where did I save that file???
Need to search for a file in your Google Drive Quickly? Tap the / key and your cursor will automatically jump to the search bar! Enter a word or phrase in the title or body of the file and viola!
Screen Shade/Mask
We all have the Read&Write extension installed on our browsers - both students and staff. Did you know the extension comes with a built in screen shade or mask?�
Check out how to use it here!
May the 4th Be with you
May 4th is Star Wars Day!
Check out this Star Wars
Seesaw activity by Candy Tech
The Merrills also have a great
collection of Star Wars themed
activities on their blog here.
Blur Background
Zoom has had many updates recently and one of my favorite is the ability to blur your background. Instead of using digital backgrounds which can be distracting, teachers and students can now just blur their background and environment to keep the focus on themselves. This new feature can be found under the video settings in Zoom.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
April 26, 2021
Accessibility Features
Our MPS Chromebooks offer many features to make content more accessible for all learners. Check out these slides and other resources
on this Wakelet page from
Candace Buchanan to learn
more about these features.
New features in MOTe!
Mote is a Chrome extension that allows users to embed audio comments directly into Google Docs and Slides. They recently added the ability to embed audio directly into Slides, eliminating the need to insert a comment. They have also option to use the extension with Gmail, Google Classroom, and Google Forms - increasing accessibility for students and options for teachers. Check out these new features in these videos!
Mathigon
Mathigon offers tons of interactive manipulatives for grades K-12, games, and other math resources great for math instruction at grades 6-12 for any style of learner - remote or in class.
Check out all the awesome math tools here!
Student Support
Allow students to request help and keep track of “Who’s next?” by setting up a request line! Tony Vincent tweeted a quick list of resources you
can use to organize your requests for
help from students - 💚 ClassroomQ!
You could also use Flipgrid and allow
students to post private videos of
what problems they are experiencing.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
April 12, 2021
Looking for a specific word or phrase in a Google Doc, Sheets, or website? Use the shortcut Ctrl + F to find what you are looking for! It shows how many times that word/phrase appears in the file or site and you can use the arrows to jump up and down to each one! You can also use the advanced features in Docs/Sheets to replace the found text with something else.
THinking TIme Tracker
Want to help your students keeps track of their time? Introduce them to the Thinking TIme Tracker extension and they will be able to manage their time and keep track of how long they spend on each part
of a task. Thank you Katherine Andrews
for this tip!
Click here to see how it works.
Wordwall.net
Wordwall.net is a great site that allows students to manipulate word cards and sort items into categories and many other uses with the provided templates. It integrates well into other platforms such as Pear Deck. You get a limited number of boards with the free version.
Check out how to use wordwall.net here.
See it in action with Pear Deck hear.
FEEDBACK STICKERS
Want to give your students encouragement and feedback in a new and engaging way? Try giving them digital stickers! @MsScilingoNPS has created her own moving digital stickers that she gives students on their digital work. See her stickers here. You can create
your own using static images, or gifs like she did.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
April 5, 2021
I need help!
Having classroom tech issues? Need help with a student device? The tech department is here to help! Put in a ticket for assistance here. New to the system or just need a refresher for how to submit a ticket (like that tricky submission password at the end of the form)? Here is a tutorial for how to submit one. Or are you looking for support for technology integration or platform support? You can sign up for a session here with me!
Slides randomizer
Have a slide deck you want to use with your students but want the slides to show in a totally random order? Use the Slides Randomizer add-on! This is
a great tool for flashcards, vocabulary,
math facts, information recall, and
you can even use it as a student picker!
Check out how to use the tool here.
Genial.ly
Hyperdocs are a great way to engage your students and allow them to work at their own pace both in class and remotely. Genial.ly allows you to create engaging and interactive hyperdocs that you and your students will
love to use! Check out Holly Clark’s blog post
about hyperdocs and Genial.ly here as well as her
how-to videos at the end of her post.
Google Updates!
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
March 29, 2021
Forget a Network
Remote for Slides
This extension allows you to advance slides from anywhere using your phone, tablet, or mobile device. Install the extension, add the shortcut
to your mobile device and start
scrolling through your slides!
Canva.com
Have you tried Canva yet? It is a great alternative to Slides with some awesome built in graphics editing features. Make presentations and
documents using their drag-and-drop
interface. And the best part -
free for teachers!
Number Assignments
Are you and your student struggling to find the correct assignment in Google Classroom or Seesaw? Try numbering your assignments - it makes it easy to find the exact one you want and send students back to one they need to re-do or complete. Keep
track of assignment numbers in your
planner or in a Google Sheets file.
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Is your staff laptop connecting to the guest wifi automatically Making it hard to print? Here is how you can forget the guest wifi and have your laptop connect automatically to the staff wifi.
Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
March 22, 2021
Edit Bookmark names
Do you have a bookmark bar filled with bookmarks? Do they have long names that are taking up space? Try changing the names of your bookmarks to create more space. For websites with distinctive names you can delete the name entirely and just have the icons to click! This is a huge space saver and you can fit even move bookmarks on your bar. Click here to find out how!
Print Friendly & PDF
There are tons of great websites out there, but many of them have lots of ads and other links embedded within the content or on the sidebar. By using this extension you can clean up these websites and either print the information or create a new PDF file to share digitally with students and colleagues. It is an awesome way to save paper and keep your students on task!
Flippity
Flippity is a great website that offers tons of games for your students to play using any word list or collection of terms and definitions you choose to upload. Send the link to the game to your students and watch them learn! Students do not login so make sure
you have them submit a screenshot to
show their work. Check out Flippity here.
Students with Missing Work
Do you have students who are missing a lot of assignments from previous terms, or are recently new you your class? Did you know you can remove these missing assignments? There are 2 different way to do it.
1- The student goes through and turns in all the assignments that are missing. They will show up needing to be graded.
If you prefer a cleaner look try #2:
2- You go in and un-assign each assignment for that student. Here is how to do this.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
March 15, 2021
Page up and Down
I miss the page up and page down buttons on a Chromebook….
Use these shortcuts to scroll pages on your Chromebook just like the Page up and Page down keys on your laptop.
Google Chrome Tab Groups
Do you have a lot of tabs open at the same time? Is it getting hard to remember which tab is which and what one you want to use? Try Google Chrome Tab Groups! You can now group tabs together, give
them labels and even color code them!
An organizational timesaver to be sure!
CoolSymbol.com
Looking for interesting text to use in your Google Slides, Google Docs, or even your Google Classroom assignments? Check out CoolSymbol.com to see some
fun and eye-catching fonts that
will engage your students and
grab their attention! Type in your
text, select and copy your style,
and paste wherever you want to
use it!
Edit Pages out of a PDF
Did you know you can edit a large PDF into smaller sections or even single pages? Check out this tipe here!
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
March 8, 2021
Restart to Refresh
When was the last time you powered off your laptop
or Chromebook? These devices are set to update to the latest operating systems and app versions automatically, but can’t do the updates if you don’t turn them off! Try setting a schedule with your students to turn their devices off on a regular basis - daily is best but if not try setting a day, like Friday, when everyone powers off.
Highlights Collector
The Read&Write extension has so many useful tools built in, but this is one many do not know about. You can assign your students a website or Google Doc text to highlight various things in different colors (think parts of speech, figurative language, examples from the text, etc) and have them use the Highlight Collection button to
turn in a new document sorting their highlights.
Check out the how-to video here!
Spiral.ac
Spiral is an assessment tool that allows teachers to use different types of assessments to measure student progress. You have to ability to give formative
assessment in real time and hear from all
of your students, make your slides more
interactive, assign tasks for student
collaboration, and use videos with
questions and quizzes.
Drive and Email Cleanup
Is your Drive or Gmail account bursting with files and emails? Does it look messy and overwhelming? No worries - there is a solution! Erintegration’s Gmail Challenge and Drive Detox are a painless and easy way to get you back into shape and make it easy to find what you are looking for. Sign up for her help and follow her small but powerful steps to get your digital workspace back into shape. Follow Erin on Twitter here!
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
March 1, 2021
Mercury Reader
Want to share an online article or website with your students but don’t want them distracted by the ads and other links on the page? Have them install the Mercury Reader extension and they can eliminate all those distractions! There are lots of other features
within Mercury Reader.
Check all the features out in this video.
Classroom Q
ClassroomQ is a free website that allows teachers to create a queue of students who needs help, have a question, or are waiting their turn for a workshop conference. This website is a game-changer for Zoom & Room allowing students in both settings to join the list of those waiting to talk to the teachers.
Check out the ClassroomQ website here.
Text boxes in Google Docs
Frustrated that text boxes do not “exist” in Google Docs like they did in Word? Here is a quick work around! Insert a single cell table into your document and resize to your space. You can adjust your cell size, fill, and padding in the Format > Table menu.
You can also insert a text box using Google Drawings - check out this video from Eric Curts for how to do this.
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Move to the next object
Have you ever created an activity or presentation
in Slides or Drawings with lots of layered objects?
And when you go to change something or edit your
file you can’t get to the objects in the back? Click on an object and press Tab to cycle through the objects in your file. Or you can press Shift + Tab to cycle through them in reverse order!
Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
February 22, 2021
Take a Screenshot
Students can document their answers or scores on websites that do not allow for sign-ins or record keeping by taking a screenshot and submitting the image in Google Classroom or Seesaw.
Record to Slides
Have you ever wanted to insert a short video of directions or student support but don’t want all the hassle of recording, uploading, linking, etc? Now you can use Record to Slides to insert quick videos
directly into your slides - you can even
insert screen recordings with the newest
updates to the extension.
Click here to install the extension
Blooket Review Game
Blooket is an exciting new FREE review game
for students. Teachers can create their own
question sets or choose from many different ones in the community area. Select the type of game mode you want to student to play in and then share the link to your students and let the games begin!
Spotlight in Zoom
You can use the spotlight feature in Zoom to show one of the available video tiles as the speaker-size tile on all devices connected to your meeting. Click the three dots in the video tile you want to share and select “Spotlight”.
You can use this to spotlight your document
camera, iPad, a student presenter, or a
co-teacher. You can now also spotlight
mutliple videos!!
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Full Screenshot
Partial Screenshot
Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
February 8, 2021
Connecting multiple Screens
With the shift in teaching practices to in-person learning and remote learning at the same time, wouldn’t it be great if you could see your students at home while you are sharing content or presenting to both cohorts of students? You can! Check out our directions for how to setup your tech and screens to get the
most use out of all your tools.
Mote extension
You can insert audio comments into your students’ work using the Mote extension. Use Mote to record 30 second of audio as a comment in your students files. When you return the work to your students they will be able to click on the audio player and hear your
voice! Need longer than 30 seconds?
No problem, just use multiple comments!
Live Worksheets
Looking to create fun and engaging worksheets
for your students to complete online? Tired of
inserting screenshots as the background of your Slides? Try Liveworksheets.com for some variety! Simply create your worksheet and embed your responses. If you include an answer key it will self-correct as well! Now you can share your worksheet by link to your students.
Insert websites in Peardeck!
Looking to use other websites or resources while in a Pear Deck activity? Use the Insert Website feature! This allows you to direct students to a specific website like YouTube, wordwall.net, TeacherMade,
ABCYa, or others and still keep them in
your Pear Deck slides!
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
February 1, 2021
Forward Delete is back!
Do you miss the way you can forward delete on a laptop but not on a Chromebook? Well now you can! Simply use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Backspace to delete the text in front of your cursor - total game-changer!
Custom Cursor
Looking for a new way to engage your students - in-person and remotely? Try turning your cursor into a crayon or a magic wand! Or one of their favorite characters like Mario or Harry Potter!
Even a slice of pizza! Use the Custom
Cursor extension to choose from tons
of images you can use for your cursor!
Toy Theater Math Manipulatives
Looking for a way to give your students manipulatives they can use on their Chromebooks? Check out the website Toy Theater and you can provide your students with many different tools to use online including fraction bars, spinner, geoboards, base 10 blocks and more!
Check out these awesome tools here!
Reuse Google Forms Questions
Have you ever wanted to make a new assessment using questions from a quiz you already
created?
Well now you can - Check it out here
in this video!
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
January 25, 2021
Flipgrid Update!
Flipgrid has done it again! During their latest update you can now sync your Google Classroom roster to flipgrid discussions, making student access easier than ever.
Check out this update in the video.
Fullscreen Google Slides
View fullscreen Slides while staying in edit mode! Slides remain interactive and editable while viewed fullscreen. This extension is great for using Slides for instruction during a Zoom, or for presenting on projector.
This extension is especially useful for
educators during remote instruction.
Whiteboard.chat
Whiteboard Chat is a free service that you can use to create collaborative whiteboards to use with your students. You can create one whiteboard that you share with all of your students or you can create
individual whiteboards for each student to
use that you can also observe.
Teaching Without Frills
Looking for engaging videos to help teach writing Concepts? The Teaching without Frills YouTube channel may be just what you are looking for! This channel has an amazing amount of content put together with PowToon. All videos are under 4 minutes. Be sure to check out the channel for other topics including economics and primary math videos too.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
January 18, 2021
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Navigating Between Tabs
Use these keyboard shortcuts to quickly navigate between your open tabs!
- Ctrl+Tab: move one tab to the right
- Ctrl+Shift+Tab: move one tab to the left
- Ctrl+T: open a new tab and jump to it
- Ctrl+number 1-8: Jump to the first, second, third, etc tab
Page Marker Extension
Use the Page Marker extension to write on your screen! This extension allows you to mark up any webpage or Google file. This tool can be used for in-person, remote, or an combination of student learning!
Click here to download the extension!
ClassroomScreen.com
Classroom screen is one-stop-shopping for your classroom management and engagement needs! You can build your own screen using your choice of widgets, including dice, timers, noise monitors, text or picture directions, multimedia elements and more! The widgets can be swapped and changed throughout the day.
Check out Classroom Screen here!
Reuse Google Classroom Posts
Would you like to reuse old assignments from previous years or classes? Follow these steps to quickly reuse an assignment:
That's it! No need to recreate the wheel anymore!
Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
January 11, 2021
CHromebook SOund Issue
Do your students sometimes have a loud crackle or buzzing sound when they unmute themselves? Turns out their microphone might be set too high and is providing feedback! This is a quick fix and there are directions you can send to your families to
turn it down.
PDF Reader
Did you know we have a PDF annotation app with our Texthelp subscription to Read&Write? You can use this app to write, draw, and annotate directly on PDFs. Your student can do the same and turn their work in directly through Google Classroom. Check out this video
to see how it works.
Oodlü: Gamify Student Learning
Oodlü provides a review-type platform that has students answer teacher-supplied questions while playing interactive games. Students earn “oodlüs” they can use to customize their avatar. It’s a great way to engage
students and have them review content.
Audio embedded in Seesaw
Want your students to listen to a word problem or text in Seesaw? Here is a quick and easy way to embed audio to any Seesaw activity. Watch the video to see how to create your own!
Thank you @kszajner for this
tip
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
January 4, 2021
Talking Points - Add contacts!
Teachers and staff members are not able to modify information that comes over from X2, but you can add additional numbers to each student’s contact list. And once one teacher adds it, it is there for all teachers who are connected to that student in Talking Points!
Let’s Celebrate!
It can be hard to have classroom celebrations while working remotely. Have no fear - there’s an extension for that! Check out this extension - it will add some exciting graphics to your screen that you can share with your students on Zoom - they will love it and feel like they are part of the party!
Jazz up your Slides!
Looking to add some flair to your Google Slides? Look no further! Slides Mania has tons of great templates you can use. They have ones that are seasonal, thematic, interactive, customizable, and so much more!
Emoji-fy your Google Classroom
Need to get your students to a certain topic or assignment in Google Classroom? Use emojis and icons to show students where to go and what to click. Copy and paste emojis from GetEmoji
or Emojipedia. Follow the steps in the
video to add your own emojis to your
topics and assignments.
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Tech-KNOWLEDGE-y Tidbits
December 11, 2020
Reopen CLosed tabs
Have you ever accidentally closed a tab only to realize that you needed it back? This shortcut will help you to bring back those tabs that you (or a student) may have accidentally closed prematurely!
Slip In Slide Not working?!?
Now that the fabulous Slides add-on is a paid service, we need another way to add slides to your students' slide decks in Google Classroom. You can use Alice Keeler's First Slide!
Check out the video and blog post here
for more information!
TeacherMade
Looking for an easy, free way to make any PDF file into an interactive, self-grading worksheet? Look no further than TeacherMade! Sign up for a free account and share your creations with your students in
Google Classroom!
Google CLassroom Cleanup
Is your Google Classroom getting a little cluttered? Is your list of topics overwhelming? Try these tips to help get your Classroom under control.
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