Tony Vincent Teaches Us How to Make Great Illustrations

Over the weekend my friend Tony Vincent sent me an email about a new video that he made about Adobe Illustrator Draw. Adobe Illustrator Draw is a free iPad app and Android app. It's the app that Tony uses to make the awesome illustrations that appear in his presentations, on his website, and in his Instagram feed. Watch Tony's video, embedded below, to learn how to create illustrations from scratch or by tracing in Adobe Illustrator Draw.


Applications for Education
As you can see in the video illustrations made with Adobe Illustrator Draw can used by students in slides, as avatars, or anywhere that a high-quality original illustration is needed.

As Tony pointed out to me, the app is free but it does require you to register for a free Adobe ID.

Live AP Exam Review Hangouts on Air

The AP exams for US History, European History, and Government are coming up this month. Teachers and YouTube sensations Keith Hughes and Tom Richey are hosting a series of Google+ Hangouts on Air for students who would like some review help before the exams. Every night this week they are hosting a different hangout for different aspects of the exams. Check the schedule for the list of what is covered each night.

The review hangouts will be posted on Tom's YouTube channel and Keith's YouTube channel. Students should take a look at the other videos on their channels for more review lessons.

Front Row - Adaptive Math & ELA Practice for K-8 Students

Disclosure: Front Row is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com.

Front Row is a service that offers teachers a nice way to deliver practice math and ELA activities to their students. The central feature of Front Row is that students are given practice activities based upon their individual needs.

To get started with Front Row teachers register and create class rosters. Students then join their teacher's class by entering a class code on the Front Row student website or on the Front Row iPad app for students. Once students have joined your class they complete an evaluation assignment to determine a baseline of their current skills in an area. Subsequent assignments can be adapted based upon that baseline information. In both the Front Row web app and iPad app students have digital scratch paper to use as they figure out answers to questions.

Front Row is available in a free edition and in a paid school-wide edition. The paid edition offers additional reporting data for teachers and administrators.

Applications for Education
Front Row could be a good tool for tracking students' progress in mathematics and ELA then giving them practice activities that help them improve in areas the areas in which they are not as strong as they could be. Front Row won't replace the need to work with students individually, but it could help you identify which areas to focus on with them.

Annotating PDF Files on Chromebooks with Kami

This is a guest post from Avra Robinson (@AvraRachel) of EdTechTeacher, an advertiser on this site.

As a teacher, for years, I loathed the PDF file.  It was that file that I couldn’t edit or manage very easily.  I’d print off hard copies for my students, but when I started teaching technology, I was eager to discover a way to digitally annotate PDF files.  I wanted students to be able to highlight information in a variety of colors, underline key terms, and draw or type on a PDF file using a computer or Chromebook

 
Kami, formerly Notable PDF, is the streamlined, easy-to-use solution to my PDF hopes and dreams! With Kami, students can view and annotate PDF documents from within the Chrome Web Browser, so it is a perfect tool for Chromebook and laptop users.  Once annotated, the files are stored in Google Drive, which makes integration with Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom possible, too.

To get started using Kami, simply install the app from the Chrome Web Store.   As the app installs, if you are signing in with a Google Apps for Education account, you will be prompted to select that you are an educator.  At that point, Kami allows you to explore the premium features for 30 days, though the basic features provide ample opportunity for teachers and students.

Tech Tip: Once the app is installed, teachers and students may need to manually connect it to Google Drive.  In Google Drive, select the red NEW button & scroll down to More.  From there, select “Connect more apps,” and search & connect Kami.  By creating this connection between Google Drive & Kami, students and teachers can choose to have Kami be the default app that opens PDF files if desired.

To begin using Kami, students and teachers simply launch the app, and drag or click to import a PDF file from the hard drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box. There is also an option to open a recent file that has been edited in Kami.  From there, students can start marking up their documents.

There is a wide variety of annotation tools including highlight, strikethrough, underline, add comments, add text, free draw, and an eraser tool.  In the premium version, there are some added capabilities of inserting shapes, signatures, and voice-to-text features.



Saving couldn’t be easier with Kami, as it can be set to sync to Google Drive.  Students and teachers can also export the file to other locations.  Each time the file is exported, the option to export both the original and annotated copies exists.  Additionally, because Kami files are stored in Drive, Google Classroom integration is made possible!  Teachers can annotate a PDF file with directions, further explanation of content, or guiding questions, and then push it out in an assignment in Classroom, selecting the option for each student to get his or her own copy.  Students can open the file in Kami,further annotate the file, and then submit!



The easy-to-use annotation features in Kami make utilizing PDF files easy and fun for students and teachers!

Learn more Google Apps Tips & Tricks from Avra Robinson this Summer! EdTechTeacher also has a wealth of Google resources on edtechteacher.org/gafetheir web site.