The Endless Activities in Google Draw

I have to be honest, I have never seen the worth of Google Draw until recently.  Now.... I LOVE it.  Following are a few reasons why and how Google Draw can be used in your classroom.

Twisted Wave- Simple Audio Recording & Editing

Do you ever need to record or edit audio?  Twisted Wave is an easy to use online site that allows users to record audio and then download or save to Google Drive.  Do you have an audio clip that you want to edit out sections?  This is your tool!  Upload the clip - highlight the areas you want deleted, hit delete and download your new clip.

RECORDING 

Google Docs Research Tool

Google Docs has a few hidden gems that many users are unaware of.  Did you know can research topics, quotes, and images without leaving your document? For example, let's say I want to add a quote to my document.  I can go to TOOLS, click on RESEARCH and Voila! the research box appears.

1. I can start typing the quote I want... 
2. the research tool pulls up many options....
3. I select the one I want...
4. Click on my choice to add it to my paper...
5. Click to add the citation link as well!

Another cool feature is being able to add images without leaving the doc.  The tool makes is extremely easy to add royalty free images, a practice that is often forgotten.  See the video below.

Vector Images

Does it drive you crazy when a add a picture and it looks like the image below with a white surrounding.

To create a polished professional look you want to use vector images.  

Take a whirl at searching for vector images in   

Zing - Free Access to Thousands of Digital Books

Are you looking  for a wide variety of high quality digital books.  Take a minute to check out Zing. The books are organized by genre, reading level (lexile and guided reading), themes and topics. There are suggested collections for age levels as well.

These books can be used at all levels.  Consider the ways to use this site.

• a mentor book
• gathering background knowledge 
• model reading strategies 
• differentiate classroom reading 

Parent Teacher Conference Digital Sign up.

There never seems to be an easy way to schedule Parent Teacher Conferences.  Well wait no longer using Google Forms with a Google extension might fit the bill!  Take a look at Richard Byrne's blog post Coordinate Back-to-School with Choice Eliminator and Google Forms.

Guide Student Focus on Websites- Bounce

How often do you direct students to a website to gain background knowledge or to research and the room echos of "I can't find it".  Reading informational text is difficult in general, but add images, flashing advertisements, and different fonts with varied sizes it is hard to find anything much less focus on the important text.  There are many tools that allow teachers to annotate webpages directing focus and save precious classroom time.

Bounceapp is a simple tool to use and share annotations with students.

• Teachers can highlight areas and add questions and comments for students to ponder.  
• The highlighted information is numbered in the order selected, guiding students learning. 
• Suggestion: have students open a word document or paper and pencil to reflect and answer questions.

Try it out.  Click here to view an article annotated with the use of BounceApp.

Here is a short tutorial on creating your own BounceApp.