Intro to Teaching With Video

Last week Keith Hughes, Tom Richey, and I hosted Introduction to Teaching With Video. If you missed it, you can now view it on my YouTube channel or as embedded below. In the video we share some of our favorite tips for teachers who are new to creating instructional videos. You'll also get hear us share our thoughts on the equipment that you do and don't need to get started.


11 days from now Keith, Tom, and I will be hosting a three night course titled How to Teach With Video. Register here to join on November 27th.

Update to Copy Options in Google Docs

Until recently, when you made a copy of a Google Doc, you could only make a copy of the document itself. If was not possible to move any comments over to a copy of the doc. Until now! Google just released an update that allows you to not only copy the document, but include the comments and suggestions as well. You will see this option when you go to file then make a copy. Just tick the box to include the comments on the copy of the document.

There are times when it will be most helpful for the comments to be copied with a document. Imagine this scenario. You have a document with several paragraphs of text that you want students to read. You have inserted a couple of questions for each paragraph using the comments feature. Now each student can get a copy of the doc with the comments and they can reply directly to the comments to answer the questions.

The ability to make a copy of the comments applies to Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings might seems like a minor change, but it is going to provide us with some additional ways to interact on Google documents.

Editing Photos in Google Slides

It's possible to make basic edits to images using the tools that exist in Google Slides. Once you have uploaded an image, you can recolor it, adjust its brightness, contrast, and transparency. A recent update allows you to add drop shadows and reflections. You can also crop and mask pictures. Masking an image allows you to change it into a different shape which means you can be even more creative with your images. 

This video shows you how to make a few of these edits. Please note there is no sound on this video. 

Photo Editing Apps

There are so many photo editing apps available, but some are more robust than others. These are the ones that I find myself coming back to over and over again.

Snapseed This app has so many features it's hard to believe that it is free. There are 29 tools and filters including healing, brush, HDG, and perspective. It's easy to crop, tune, and edit your images so that they look like they were taken by a professional

Polarr Photo editing app with advanced auto-enhance tools and filters to meet all of your photo editing needs.

Adobe Photoshop Express Includes over 5 dozen free tools that allow you to make basic to advanced edits. Once you are finished editing you can share your creation directly on your favorite social networks.

PIP Camera-Photo Editor This is a fun app that allows you to get creative with your pictures. The filters allow you to turn average pictures into masterpieces! Choose from over 200 frames and more than 20 filters to create the perfect image.

Pixlr Use this editor to create collages, layer multiple photos, stylize your images and much more.

PicMonkey This app lets you make basic edits of your photos as well as draw on top of them. You can add stickers to your photos to create a customized, unique masterpiece.

Applications for Education
Instead of using pictures they find on the web for presentations, students could use their cell phones to take their own pictures. They could use one or more of these apps to edit their pictures, giving them more of a feeling of ownership of the content they are creating.

Thanksgiving Activities for Students

Thanksgiving is next week and if you are like me, this holiday has crept up on you and you might not be ready. If you are still trying to come up with some activities for your students, you might want to take a look at this post from last year. It is full of resources and ideas that can be modified for a variety of grade levels.

If none of those activities are exactly what you are looking for then here are some additional ideas.

Use Flipgrid to have students take a moment to reflect on the last year and share what they are most thankful for.

Pilgrims, the Mayflower Compact, and Thanksgiving- Three lessons for students in grades 6-10 that examine the voyage of the Mayflower, the Mayflower Compact, and Thanksgiving.

Black Friday Financial Literacy is a two-day lesson that helps students explore comparison shopping and using a credit card.

Thanksgiving: Census Facts is a website that is packed with a variety of facts about Thanksgiving.

Students can create a digital poster using Google Slides or Google Drawings where they share their pictures that represent Thanksgiving traditions in their homes. They can share pictures of foods they eat and activities that take place.

Students can compose a rap song using Incredibox.

Have students research Thanksgiving and come up with two truths and a lie. They can get creative and make a poster with their information. Once everyone is finished, go around the room and have students try to guess which information is factual and which information is a lie.