25 Things You Didn’t Know Google Slides Could Do

The Do's and Don'ts of Google Slides A User Guide for Powerful Student Presentations! Google Slides is a powerful publishing and presentation tool when formatting is sharp and ideas are clearly communicated in clear and engaging ways. It is important for teachers to take the time to outline key design principles to allow students the creative freedom to express both their ideas and learning. There are so many different ways in which Google Slides can be incorporated in the classroom, from publishing a novel to classroom posters and taking the time to showcase the many features of Google Slides will be sure to promote top notch designs that allow students to thrive and be successful with their learning. The following Google Slide tips are designed in a slightly obnoxious way to drive home key components of a well designed and effective slidedeck. Let me introduce you to some of the Do’s and Don’ts of Google Slides… Colour Scheme Black and white is boring! Inserting Images Animations Less is More Shapes Supporting Fonts

Tools for Educators 12 Excellent Add-ons for Google Docs Google Docs is a powerful word processing program with many unique features including voice typing, the research tool, revision history, web fonts, and much more. However, Google knows that even with all of those features, Docs may not be able to do everything you want it to do. So Google Docs allows you to install Add-ons to extend the capabilities of the program. Add-ons are third-party tools that provide extra features for Docs. Over time the amount of available Add-ons has grown tremendously. So how do you wade through all of the available Add-ons to find the best ones and the hidden gems? See below for my list of 12 recommended Docs Add-ons, what they do, ideas for how they can be used in schools, and a quick overview of how to install, use, and remove Add-ons.How to install an Add-on When you are using Google Documents, you will see that there is an Add-ons menu item in the top menu bar. If you decide you no longer need a particular Add-on, you can remove it easily. Conclusion

Google Slide Your Way from Zero to Hero Knowing where to start formatting Google Slides can often seem like a daunting and overwhelming task for any educator or professional. A task that many would think is time consuming, tedious, and only for a trained digital specialist. My goal today is to prove to you, yes YOU, that EVERYONE is capable of creating a beautiful and effective Google Slides presentation or publication! The following is a user-friendly, step-by-step guide to designing your best Google Slides yet! Before We Start: Choose your size! Let’s Get Started! Open up Google Slides either through your Google Drive (New > Google Slides) or through the direct link – slides.google.com.Choose your layout. The Design Process 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Voila! Be proud and confident with your new Google Slides design skills! Emma CottierCertified Google Innovator Royal Middle School Teacher & Technology SupportSaanich School District 63Twitter: @EmmaCottier Want to take it up a notch? Check out how here!

Teaching and learning in lockdown with Primary Academy Helen Doran has a wealth of experience in publishing ELT materials for children, teens and adults, having previously taught multilingual language learners. Today on the blog she is sharing ideas and activities for using Primary Academy with young learners who are studying English at home. So much time out of the classroom has been hard on teachers, parents and students. Hunts and challenges How about a scavenger hunt in the house or the local area such as the ‘C’ sound hunt? Arts and crafts Arts and crafts activities are a great way of getting young learners to practise their language skills and express their creativity. Learning Pathway Packs When it comes to home schooling, the partnership between parents and teachers is really important. Each pack reviews a common vocabulary set, such as animals, food, or sport. Just be aware that the pack guides are in English and so the parent will need some knowledge of English. Teacher Worksheet Packs Seppo Interactive Vocabulary Adventure Games

Add Music to Your Google Slides With the AudioPlayer Chrome Extension Earlier this year I excitedly shared the Google Slides Add-on called AudioPlayer for Google Slides. The video tutorial that I made for about it has proven to be popular too. Recently, I've received comments from viewers of that video who said that they can't find the Add-on. It turns out that the developer of the Add-on has turned it into a Chrome extension. AudioPlayer for Slides is a Chrome extension that will let you add music or spoken audio to your Google Slides presentations. Applications for EducationAudioPlayer for Slides could be useful to students who would like to add a little bit of background music to presentations. It's important to note that your students will need to have audio files stored in their Google Drive accounts before using AudioPlayer for Slides.

20 ways to use Wakelet in your class The Internet is a busy place. Wakelet makes it more manageable. See how you and your students can create collections and more with Wakelet. The Internet is full of useful information … and it’s getting fuller every day. That’s curation. Students can act like museum curators, finding the best and most representative pieces to add to their collections to share with others. It’s an important life skill, too. Meet Wakelet A curation tool I love is Wakelet (wakelet.com). Wakelet lets you create a collection with text, links, images, PDF files, tweets and more.Add as many of any type of item as you’d like — a collection of all links, a collection with text and images, a collection with all types of items, etc.Teachers can create collections for students. We've been using Wakelet to gather resources at Ditch That Textbook for a long time. Or you can always head to our main Ditch That Textbook Wakelet page to see all of our collections! How to sign up for Wakelet Collaboration is key 2. 3. 4. 10.

3 Fun Presentation Tools for End-of-Year Projects As the school year winds down, tests and final projects are looming. Class presentations can be a great way for students to synthesize knowledge, practice public speaking, and interact with their classmates. But there are also potential drawbacks: Standing up and speaking in front of peers can be nerve-racking (even for some adults!), and the presentations themselves can become repetitive and formulaic. Multimedia tools can reduce student anxiety by encouraging a creative approach that not only builds design and tech skills but also can turn an intimidating final assignment into a fun experience. Screencastify Price: Free; premium version $24/yr.Platforms: WebsiteGrades: 3-12 Screencastify is an extension for the Chrome web browser or Chrome devices that records the screen, voice, and more. Office Sway Price: FreePlatforms: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Chrome, Apps for WindowsGrades: 6–12 Adobe Spark Price: FreePlatforms: WebsiteGrades: 8–12

Ten Overlooked Google Slides Features Like any robust presentation tool, Google Slides has many features that often go overlooked by new users. Some of these features will let you accomplish the things that you used to do in PowerPoint or Keynote while others will just save you a bit of time. Either way, here are ten features of Google Slides that you should know how to use. 1. Word Art Word Art is different than just changing your font size or style. 2. Launch a live Q&A channel forum for your audience directly from the Presenter View menu. 3. Open the "tools" menu while editing your slides and you can choose to open a Keep Notepad. 4. You can use the "insert image" menu to launch a Google Images search, but that's not the best option for an integrated image search. 5. There are two ways that you can do this. 6. Last year Google finally added the option to include videos in your slides without those videos having to be on YouTube. 7. 8. In the "tools" menu in Google Slides you will find an option for speech-to-text. 9. 10.

Seven Free Tools That Help Students Format Bibliographies Back when I was in high school we had to learn how to create bibliographies by working from a template that my history teacher, Mr. Diggs, provided to us. When I went to college, I referred to that template and an early version of The Student Writer to make bibliographies. Today, students have a wealth of online tools that can help them properly structure citations and bibliographies. Google Docs includes citation tool that makes most citation add-ons redundant. Microsoft Word users have a couple of options available to them when it comes to getting help with bibliography formatting. Bibcitation is a free tool that supports dozens of citation styles. QuickCite is a free tool that helps students create properly formatted MLA 8 citations. MyBib is another free tool that students can use to create citations and bibliographies in a wide range of styles including the popular MLA, APA, Chicago, IEEE, and Harvard styles.

Google Slides: Add Your Roster One of my favorite activities is collaborative Google Slides. That is all students in the class on the SAME Google Slides. I usually recommend to keep it simple. Create BLANK Google Slides and share it with edit access with the class. Students add their own slide and put their name in the speaker notes. Template alicekeeler.com/rostertoslides Directions Make a copy of the spreadsheet template.Use the Add-on menu to choose “Roster to Slides.”Choose setup.Authorize the script. Add-on Menu From the Add-on menu choose “Roster to Slides” and select “Setup.” Authorizing Google has NOT reviewed the script I coded. View screenshots of authorization Do not click on “Back to safety” but rather click on the word “Advanced.” Then more warning will expand out to let you know that Google has not reviewed this Apps Script. The app authorization is for YOURSELF to allow you to use SlidesApp and SpreadsheetApp to access the two files in this project. Paste Your Roster Create Slides Link to sample slides

Differentiation via open tasks