- Record your entire screen or portion of your screen
- Record your webcam and your voice
- Annotate on the screen while you are recording
- Generate an automatic transcript of the recording
- Translate the transcript to any language
- Edit the screencast by skipping portions of the transcript
- And much more!
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Introducing Google Screencast for ChromeOS
Thursday, June 2, 2022
Podcast Spotlight: EdTech Heroes from Screencastify
I recently had the pleasure to be a guest of the "EdTech Heroes" podcast from Screencastify.
As many of you may know, I am a huge fan of Screencastify and have shared many blog posts and training videos on how this awesome tool can be used by educators and students for teaching, learning, creativity, communication, and more!
Some of my earlier posts include:
- Screencastify Makes Video Quizzes Easier with Interactive Questions Feature
- Screencastify for Remote Teaching
- 7 Super Screencasting Activities for School
Well it turns out that Screencastify also does a podcast (which is another one of my favorite things!) The podcast is described as follows:
EdTech Heroes is a podcast for educators, administrators and those who are interested in how education will advance in the future. In each episode, a member of Screencastify’s team interviews those who are at the forefront of education. Each conversation helps uncover how educators are connecting with K-12 students by using innovative technology and techniques. Ultimately, EdTech Heroes helps education professionals understand how to overcome challenges in the “new classroom”, become a better teacher and influence the minds of a future generation.
I was so excited to be a guest on the show, where we discussed tools teachers need, being a life-long learner, innovating with technology, great online resources, and of course the power of video for teaching and learning. Check out the podcast below in video or audio format.
Monday, May 30, 2022
My 2022 Innovation Institute Sessions
You can learn more about the conference and register at: https://sites.google.com/a/sdale.org/i2-google/
And view the full conference schedule at: https://innovationinstitute2022.sched.com/
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the 2022 Innovation Institute, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Sunday, May 29, 2022
My 2022 CFISD Digital Learning Conference Sessions
- Entirely virtual with over 150 sessions
- Held on July 26th and 27th
- Open to all educators
- FREE!
My eLead 2022 Sessions
You can learn more about the conference and register at: https://www.eleadcon.com/
And view the full conference schedule at: https://eleadcon.sched.com/
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at eLEAD 2022, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Thursday, May 26, 2022
What's New in Google - May 2022
The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
- Connect Google-using educators
- Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
- Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
- Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
- Ask questions and get answers
Thursday, May 12, 2022
My 2022 Great Plains Summit Sessions
You can learn more about the conference and register at: https://gpsummit.org/
And view the full list of amazing presenters at: https://gpsummit.org/presenters/
And view the full summit schedule at: https://lps.org/gpsummit/2022/
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the 2022 Great Plains Summit, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Create "Cloze Reading" Activities with Google Docs Dropdown Chips
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Get the Most out of Google Meet
Monday, May 9, 2022
What's New in Google - April 2022
The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
- Connect Google-using educators
- Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
- Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
- Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
- Ask questions and get answers
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Fake News! Evaluating Online Information
Students can use Google to quickly find millions of websites matching their search request, but are they able to determine which sites actually contain information that is accurate, unbiased, up to date, and written by someone with authority?
Thankfully there are many helpful resources to assist our students (and ourselves) to increase digital literacy. See below for a collection of many of these resources that I have found to be valuable. If you have some favorite resources for evaluating online information, please consider sharing those in the comments at the bottom of the post.
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Get the Most out of Google Classroom
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
You can do that with Docs, Slides, and Sheets?!
Monday, April 11, 2022
Control Alt Achieve Newsletter - April 2022
The newsletter typically includes the following sections:
- Output - What I have been creating - See my most recent blog posts and training videos
- Input - What I have been consuming - See some of the best resources I have come across recently
- Connect - See how to stay connected and a list of some of my upcoming event and PD opportunities
To view my newsletter for April 2022, use the link below:
If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter (for free of course) you can do that here:
Friday, April 1, 2022
What's New in Google - March 2022
The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
- Connect Google-using educators
- Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
- Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
- Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
- Ask questions and get answers
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Free Google Webinars - "Did You Know" Series
- Time: 10-10:30am PST, every Tuesday (1-1:30pm EST)
- Dates: April 12 - May 31, 2022
- Audience: This training is suitable for educators, curriculum and IT leaders globally
- Content: Each session will detail either technical or instructional features, with demo-based training and educational use-cases
Monday, March 28, 2022
Chromebooks Can Do That?! - Teach with Chrome Webinar
📷 Camera tools🎞️ Screen capture and recording🗂️ Multiple desks📶 Offline access⌨️ Keyboard shortcuts🤖 Android apps
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Chromebook Accessibility Tools - Teach with Chrome Webinar
Teach, Learn, and Collaborate Equally - Chromebooks include accessibility right out of the box, unlocking learning experiences for students with diverse needs, abilities and learning styles. For teachers on Chrome OS - hear tips and tricks about how using the same OS as your students can create meaningful learning experiences!
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Protect Your Google Account with 2-Step Verification
If you are anything like me, you use your Google account for everything. All of my files are in Drive, my emails are in Gmail, my pictures are in Photos, and my events are in Calendar.
As convenient and useful as this is, having all of your data in one place should also encourage us to stop and think about security. How secure is your account? If someone were to access your account, what would they have access to?
Now hopefully you don't have your password written on a post-it note stuck to your monitor (please say you don't), but if you are like most people, you probably are not doing anything extra to protect your account.
In this post we will take a look at this super simple, yet powerful, tool to help protect your Google account and everything you have saved in it. If you are a Google user, it is time to step up your account security with 2-Step Verification!
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Introducing Practice Sets for Google Classroom
We all know the phrase "practice makes perfect" but that's not actually true. A better way to say it is "practice makes permanent".
If a student practices incorrectly they will reinforce the wrong procedures or information.
To help with this Google has created a brand new feature for Google Classroom called practice sets which makes it super easy for teachers to create assessments, and uses artificial intelligence to provide guided support, feedback, and correction for students when working through the questions.
See below for a video overview of practice sets and my interview with Taryn Sullivan from the practice sets team at Google for more details on this awesome new tool.
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Recorded Webinar: Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools
Mote is an excellent Chrome Web Extension for teaching and learning:
- You and your students can record your voice and add that recording to websites and web tools including Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Classroom, Gmail, and more.
- You can view engagement details for your voice notes to see which students have listened to your recordings.
- And although the free version is great, there is also a paid version with premium features including transcription, translation, STEM mode, and more.
I presented a free 1-hour webinar called "Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools" recently. The webinar covered an overview of Mote, how to install it, and then lots and lots of practical ideas for using Mote with Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Classroom, and more.
See below to watch the recorded webinar, access all of the session resources, see practical examples of uses for Mote in teaching and learning, get special access to the "Unlimited" version of Mote, and get a certificate of completion for the session.
Monday, March 7, 2022
Control Alt Achieve Newsletter - March 2022
The newsletter typically includes the following sections:
- Output - What I have been creating - See my most recent blog posts and training videos
- Input - What I have been consuming - See some of the best resources I have come across recently
- Connect - See how to stay connected and a list of some of my upcoming event and PD opportunities
To view my newsletter for March 2022, use the link below:
If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter (for free of course) you can do that here:
Sunday, March 6, 2022
My ITIP Ohio Google Summit 2022 Sessions
You can learn more about the conference and register at: http://ohiogooglesummit.org/
And view the full conference schedule at: https://www.itipohio.org/google-summit-2022/schedule
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the ITIP Ohio Google Summit, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Great Googley Activities for Pi Day
Pi Day is March 14th each year (since the date is 3/14 and Pi starts out with 3.14). As a previous middle school math teacher, this is always a fun day to be a math nerd, do Pi-themed educational activities, and of course eat some real pie!
Over the years I have shared several technology activities for celebrating Pi Day in separate posts. This year I have collected all of those previous activities, and added some new ones from our Equatio friends at Texthelp.
📈 Discovering Pi with Google Sheets
✍️ Create "Pi Poems" with Google Sheets
🏙️ Graph a Pi-Line Skyline with Google Sheets
🟢 Celebrating Pi Day with EquatIO Mathspace
See below for this great collection of technology activities to help students explore, understand, and create with Pi!
Monday, February 28, 2022
What's New in Google - February 2022
The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
- Connect Google-using educators
- Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
- Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
- Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
- Ask questions and get answers
Free Webinar: Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools
Mote is an excellent Chrome Web Extension for teaching and learning:
- You and your students can record your voice and add that recording to websites and web tools including Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Classroom, Gmail, and more.
- You can view engagement details for your voice notes to see which students have listened to your recordings.
- And although the free version is great, there is also a paid version with premium features including transcription, translation, STEM mode, and more.
I presented a free 1-hour webinar called "Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools" recently. The webinar covered an overview of Mote, how to install it, and then lots and lots of practical ideas for using Mote with Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Classroom, and more.
See below to watch the recorded webinar, access all of the session resources, see practical examples of uses for Mote in teaching and learning, get special access to the "Unlimited" version of Mote, and get a certificate of completion for the session.
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Free Webinars: Teach with Chrome Series
Google gives an overview of the series as such:
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Join our upcoming Teach With Chrome Series to learn about the latest in Chrome devices and Chrome OS for education.
Hear about our more powerful, secure, and sustainable Chromebook devices for educators – along with updated programs, resources, and Chrome OS advances – all purpose-built for education.
We’ll have Google experts and partners running demo-based training and presenting educational use cases in 30-minute sessions complete with Q&A.
Whether you’re a teacher, an administrator, or an IT leader, all of the sessions are designed to help you get the most out of Chrome. Can’t watch live? All sessions are posted right after the livestream finishes each day – just register to watch them on demand.
Attend a session and we’ll email you a customizable certificate of completion after the last session concludes.
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You can see the full schedule and register to get links to the sessions emailed to you prior to each event at the "Teach with Chrome Series" website at:
See below for details on the two sessions I will be presenting.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
My NEOTech 2022 Sessions
The conference is FREE, runs from March 14th through 16th, and can be attended in-person or virtually.
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at NEOTech 2022, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Saturday, February 19, 2022
My NCTIES 2022 Sessions
You can learn more about the conference and register at: https://www.ncties.org/
And view the full conference schedule at: https://ncties2022.sched.com/
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at NCTIES 2022, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Saturday, February 5, 2022
Self-Checking Translation Quiz in Google Sheets
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Control Alt Achieve Newsletter - February 2022
Each month or so I send out an email newsletter to those who have subscribed, as an easy way to keep folks up to date on the latest content from this site, as well as other resources I have come across.
The newsletter typically includes the following sections:
- Output - What I have been creating - See my most recent blog posts and training videos
- Input - What I have been consuming - See some of the best resources I have come across recently
- Connect - See how to stay connected and a list of some of my upcoming event and PD opportunities
To view my newsletter for February 2022, use the link below:
If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter (for free of course) you can do that here:
Podcast Spotlight: EduTechGuys
"EduTechGuys is a high-intensity rollercoaster ride of super fun which takes mortal form in the two distinct entities which are David Henderson and Jeff Madlock. Crafted in the fires of Mt. Wannahockaluggie, these two self-proclaimed high priests of edtech first started navigating the world of educational technology on the web through a podcast, over a ravine in a rainstorm in 2015 (Sharkbait, ooh ha ha). Since then the two have traveled the nation bringing their joy for silly puns and more importantly sharing the journey of each educator they encounter."
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
My 2022 FETC Sessions
Friday, January 21, 2022
What's New in Google - January 2022
The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
- Connect Google-using educators
- Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
- Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
- Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
- Ask questions and get answers
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Google Sheets Emoji Math - Addition and Subtraction
- Emoji Writing Prompt Generator with Google Sheets - Resource link
- Emoji Rebus Stories with Google Docs - Halloween-themed, Valentine-themed, Winter-themed
- Character Emoji Template - Resource link
- Pictographs - Resource link
- And more - Resource link
Another use for emojis is teaching math concepts. Emojis can be used to model quantities so students can learn about, explore, and practice addition and subtraction with concrete representations of the numbers.
Adding 2 smiley faces to 3 smiley faces, or subtracting 4 rocket ships from 7 rocket ships, can make the math more understandable for students.
To help with this, I have created a Google Sheet template that lets students choose the emoji they want to work with, and then practice addition and subtraction problems, while at the same time getting conditional formatting feedback to let them know if they have the correct answer or not.
See below for a short 7-minute video showing how to use this template, as well as written directions, and a link to get your own copy of the template to use with your students.
Monday, January 17, 2022
Checklists in Google Docs with and without Strikethrough
- Steps in a science experiment
- Self-monitoring of behavior
- Mastery of subject content and standards
- Tasks when composing and editing their writing
- Working through a math procedure
- And many more…
Although paper checklists are convenient, when done electronically, checklists can be collaborative, edited as needed, accessed by multiple people, and hopefully not eaten by the dog.
There are certainly a lot of mobile apps, web extensions, and websites that provide checklist tools, such as Google Keep. However, for many years Google Docs did not offer a built-in option for an interactive checklist. There was a workaround where you could change the bullet style to a box and then do several steps to check a box, but it was a lot of hoops to jump through for a feature that should have just been a normal part of Docs.
Thankfully Google has now added a real interactive checklist feature to Docs! With this new checklist tool, when a user checks off an item, the corresponding text gets crossed off with strikethrough formatting. If you prefer not to have the text crossed off, I came up with a workaround for that.
See below for a short 6-minute video and written directions on how to use the checklist tool in Docs with and without strikethrough.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
My ISTE 2022 Sessions
I always look forward to this opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, share some ideas, and learn so many new things from others.
You can attend ISTE in person this year, or take part as a virtual attendee. To get more details and register for the conference go to: https://conference.iste.org/2022/attend/
Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the ISTE Conference, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Google Tools for Speech to Text
However if a student struggles with typing or spelling they may take those big awesome ideas and shrink them down to smaller words and shorter sentences.
Thankfully there are technology tools to help with this. Speech to text tools allow anyone to simply speak their words and have them typed up automatically.
Three of my favorite tools for this are Docs Voice Typing, Voice In Voice Typing, and the Dictation Tool in ChromeOS See below for a short 5-minute video demonstrating these tools, as well as written directions for using them.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
My OETC 2022 Sessions
This year OETC is entirely virtual and runs from February 14th through 18th.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Tools to Support Learners: Texthelp and Don Johnston Join Forces
A while back I recorded a 1-hour webinar on "Google Tools for Struggling Students" which you can view here: YouTube video link
And I have a 10-page Google Doc packed with technology tools for text to speech, speech to text, readability, reading comprehension, audio support, behavior, focus, organization, and much more, which can be access here: https://bit.ly/curts-support
In these resources you will find many references to the tools created by one of my favorite edtech companies, Texthelp, including Read&Write, Equatio, and more. Just recently Texthelp announced that they are joining forces with Don Johnston to further expand the tools they can offer. Although I had heard of Don Johnston before, I wasn't very familiar with their tools, so I took some time to explore this new partnership. See below for more details on all the tools that Texthelp will be providing now.