Classroomscreen.com - All Your Teacher Tools in One Place #edtech #classroomscreen

Classroom Screen is a tool that's been out for awhile now and it keeps getting better with new widgets and tools added all the time. You can tell the developer is passionate about it and is getting good feedback.

Classroom Screen is a one-stop tool central for teachers with multiple, practical things teachers can use everyday to manage their classroom. The tools include:

• random name chooser
• sound level monitor
• QR code generator
• drawing space
• text boxes
• work symbols to let students know noise levels
• traffic light
• timer
• clock

In addition to the classroom tools, the developer recently added a tool called Exit Poll, which allows users to press a button on a device or touch screen to show how they felt about a certain topic or lesson. The only drawback to this is it only works on one device, meaning students can't chime in from their own devices like Poll Everywhere. But if you only have one device or a touch screen this would be a way for students to tell you how things went as they left class.

If you're looking for some classroom management tools this is a great place to go.

Safely Watching YouTube in the Classroom #edtech

Ah, YouTube, wonderful site with many educational videos and the potential for kids to show what they've learned and teach others, but bastion of inappropriate videos and terrible comments that have no place in the classroom. Ads are also a part of the equation, a necessary evil of a free website, but they can be intrusive too. Not to mention the related videos and suggested items that clutter up your screen and take kids down rabbit trails. If only there was a better way...

Here are a few alternatives to just going to YouTube in front of your students and watching videos:

1. Download the videos ahead of time - This one obviously takes the most preparation but is very useful because it's quicker to play videos from your computer vs streaming, especially if you're additionally streaming to an Apple TV or other device. The sites I currently use to download videos are below and they all allow you to copy and paste a YouTube URL into a search bar and then download the video. In addition, they have quicker ways to grab the video.

• yout.com - 0n YouTube, if you simply remove the letters 'ube' from the URL of a video and press Enter you will be redirected to yout.com and the video will be ready to download
• dlyoutube.com - same goes for dlyoutube.com, simply add the letters 'dl' to the front of the URL and press Enter.
• y2mate.com - just type 'pp' after the word YouTube and press Enter

You can also grab the audio from a YouTube video on these sites if that's all you need.


2. Use the DF YouTube Chrome Extension - This is a little tool that, once downloaded, lives in your Chrome toolbar and automatically hides all of the little nasties when you go to YouTube. Simple and clean.

3. Use alternative websites to view YouTube content - The following sites allow you to copy and paste the YouTube URL into their search bar and the video is then streamed on their site with none of the yuckies and unintended content.

• https://watchkin.com/
• https://safeshare.tv/
• http://viewpure.com/

Note: if YouTube is blocked in your district, these sites will not allow you to bypass that as they simply stream the video from YouTube onto their site.

Tween Tribune - Adjust Reading Level of Articles, Give Quizzes #edtech

One of the features of technology in the classroom is that it can personalize or customize content to fit the user's needs instead of being one-size-fits-all. One site that does that very well is NewsELA, which takes current events and adjusts them to the reader's Lexile level with the click or tap of a button.

Another free site that I came across today that does the same thing is Tween Tribune which boasts the following:

• Daily AP news articles
• Lexile® leveled for K-12
• Self-scoring quizzes customized by Lexile® level
• Critical thinking questions
• Student commenting
• Espanol AP articles
• Weekly lesson plans
• Weekly video
• Weekend "Monday Morning Ready" newsletter as prep for the week ahead

Herp Derp Chrome Extension for YouTube #chrome #edtech

I fully admit, and my colleagues know, that I am a tool hound. I love finding a great tool, add-on or extension that does something cool, makes my job more efficient or makes life better. In some cases finding a tool that does all three makes my day. Chrome Extensions are some of those tools that I use every day, in some cases they're working in the background and I don't even remember I installed them, like Always Clear Downloads, which clears the Download bar after something has downloaded so I don't have to go and click on that little 'x' in the corner. Brilliant!

The one I'm going to talk about today is called Herp Derp for YouTube. I was presenting at a Google Summit last year about Chrome extensions and I opened up the floor for attendees to share their favorite extensions and this was one of their replies. What Herp Derp for YouTube does is change all of the comments below the videos to the words Herp Derp, which is nice when you have a classroom full of students who are keenly aware that there are often nasty comments or you don't want the comments to be a distraction. This could also be pushed out by a Google Administrator to all students along with Distraction Free YouTube to help hide things that can interfere with student learning.

I also love it as a father because I know if my kids are watching YouTube at home they won't be exposed to comments that are inappropriate. When they ask why it says Herp Derp it opens the door to a great discussion about what is helpful and hurtful when it comes to comments; a digital citizenship moment is born!

Certifications for the Love of Learning

We all know that great teachers are lifelong learners.  They try to instill this into their students every day.  As parents we want our own kids to seek out learning and embrace and learn from change.  But sometimes as teachers and administrators, we can get buried in the day to day of work.  This is not a bad thing, but sometimes we need to do some professional development to better ourselves, challenge our minds, and create the excitement again for learning.

A great way to do this is through certifications in your favorite apps and technology systems. There are many programs where you can become an expert and become an ambassador, trainer, or just a certified user.  They take time and you have to schedule that time or it will never happen.  The payoff is immeasurable in your own feeling of efficacy and achievement.  One bonus is that some of these programs come with some freebies and badges which will enable you to branch out into training and presenting your ideas to a broader audience. 

If you are Google Apps for Education school I highly recommend doing the Level 1 and Level 2 Certification classes and exams as a teacher.  There are great pedagogy concepts and you will improve your use of those tools for learning in your classroom.  The exams are inexpensive and if you ask your school admin or district tech admin, I would bet they might pay for it too!

So put yourself into the learner role and get certified and then apply to present at a conference to give back to your fellow teachers, it will be empowering.

Some Useful Links:

• Google Training and Certification
• Microsoft Training and Certification
• Seesaw Ambassador Program
• Apple Distinguished Educator
• Adobe Education Leader

Embed into New Google Sites #gafe @linktohansen @photosforclass

The New Google Sites is a big departure from the classic version, not only in form but in function. It is much more intuitive to use and has a much cleaner look. One of the best features that was just added a few months ago is the ability to embed another website into your own site. Below are a few ways that feature can be useful for a classroom teacher or administrator.

Soapbox: if you're not on Twitter, get on Twitter. You won't be disappointed.

You can now easily embed a Twitter feed into your site by following a few simple steps. There is an easy-to-follow tutorial here thanks to @linktohansen. I suggest using the publish.twitter.com site instead of the Twitter widgets because it does the same thing in an easier way.

Another great page you an embed is Photos for Class, which is a great site that helps students search for copyright free images and, when downloaded, gives the citation right on the bottom of the image as a caption. You can embed this site just as easily as Twitter and give students a quick reference place AND teach good digital citizenship at the same time.

Here are the directions from their site to get you started. Basically, copy and paste the embed code and add it to your Google Site.

Follow and Archive Twitter in Google Sheets #gafe Using Get TAGS @mhawksey

I'm participating in a Twitter slow chat with educators and technology folks around the world and sometimes it gets hard to follow. Someone tweeted about Get TAGS that allows you to collect and archive tweets in a Google Sheet so you can go back and look at them and interact later, as well as keep them in Drive.

I appreciate that not only are all of the associated tweets in one spot but there are links to the tweets so I can jump to Twitter to retweet or reply to them. Thanks to @mhawksey for creating this.

TAGS is a free Google Sheet template which lets you setup and run automated collection of search results from Twitter.

New Tech Tools to Play With

I'm going to piggyback on my colleague's last post and share some cool tools that I've come to like lately.

One of them is a Chrome extension called Sir Links a Lot and it what it does is take a Google Doc and give you multiple options on how you can share it and what other users can do with that document. For example, you can Force Copy, put the doc in Preview mode, make it a Template or a PDF. It also has a button to copy the link to the Clipboard, put a Google shortened link in the clipboard or open the link in a new tab.


Another Chrome Extension is called Clip it Good and it allows you to quickly save any image online into your Google Photos with a simple right-click. You can even create folders in the Google Photos and drop selected images into different folders. Always remember that images you download are not always available for you to use simply because they are easy to download.



My final tool is called Remote for Slides and the beauty of this Chrome Extension is that it allows you to use any web browser (phone included) to advance your Google Slides presentation.

Shorten it up!

URL Shorteners

An oldie but a goodie.  My tech tip this week for my administrative team is a worthwhile blog post for everyone.  It was a good reminder how tools change and we have to keep spiralling back to show relevant content and possible new tools along with it.

My staff continues to love digital, but we have several who continue to use the paper pencil and whiteboard when training, teaching, meeting, etc.  Posting URLs in a digital space like Classroom, Moodle, Web, or other medium is no big deal and we don't care how long and ugly they are.

But if you want an on the fly formative, survey, exit ticket or have people access something quickly sometimes the quickest is to put up a URL and have them type it in, but with the length of the URLs in Google Apps, or anything else for that matter, is crazy.  I would never put one on the board unless it was SUPER short... 20 characters or less is always my goal.

URL shorteners to the rescue.  Their are tons of them out their and they all have their pros and cons.  PS.  Great for Twitter too with it's limited character count.

Here are a few of my favorites and why:

• bit.ly - I love that it is short and if you log into it you can have it store all of them so that you can easily find them again or look at the analytics on whether the short url is being used.  Another bonus is to customize them with real words that make them easier to use than random characters.  An added bonus is that it has a Chrome extension to quickly make them on the fly.
• gg.gg - Super short, customizable, and has QR code generator. You can login and save your shortened links too.  Also you can see the hits from which ip they came from.
• is.gd - Super short, customizable, hit tracking, button to make lowercase pronounceable, super quick with no ads.
• goo.gl - Google's tool connected with your Google account. Tracks clicks and provides QR code.  Also Chrome extension.  Non customizable.
• tinyurl.com - The one that started it all.  Handy, quick, no customizing links or login.

Enjoy and remember to shorten those links!

Been a long time!

Ok, it has been a while since we have added to the blog.  But we are back.  We have truly been continuing to share with our staff and others, but primarily through Twitter.  Twitter is so convenient and now with the number of characters almost as thorough as this format.

So on to today's tip.  As I prepare to present at the NCCE conference in Seattle in February on becoming a "Digital Administrator", I find myself pondering how with all of the demands on current principals and district office how do they find the time to learn new ways to be efficient and use technology effectively in their role.  This can be a daunting task as their email boxes swell and they just try to get through the tyranny of the urgent.

One strategy I am using is to present 1-3 tools at every leadership team meeting that can be quickly demoed and adopted.  This has been extremely popular with our administration and encouraging to me as I see them using the tools regularly.

Linked here is a slideshow of each of the tips I share with my admin team and keep adding to this so eventually they will have a pretty good set of tools to use, but the beauty of this is that as tools change they will be able to evolve with them and change their practice.

Hopefully as we give time to these practices and value their use the admin become model users and see the benefits of using technology for learning.