Jeopardy Game Templates for Google Slides

Many years ago the height of technology integration was creating an interactive Jeopardy game in PowerPoint. So, I decided to go a little retro and recreate the Jeopardy game in Google Slides.

The key to making a Jeopardy game is to use the "Link" tool in Google Slides. Normally a slideshow is designed to be viewed sequentially, one slide followed by the next in order. However, Google Slides allows you to put links in slides that can link to any other slide in the presentation, regardless of order. By using links to other slides, a presentation can be created that is non-linear, in which the user can choose which slides to view.

Using this technique I created two Jeopardy Game Templates. One has five categories and the other has six categories. In each template all the items are already hyperlinked, so all you have to do is make a copy of the slideshow and then add your questions, answers, and topic descriptions.

Googloops!

On the Search for the best way to start your day? After you crawl out of your Sheets be sure to have a big bowl of Googloops, the best cereal on Earth! Four out of five Docs recommend Googloops as the best way to Keep your energy going all day in your Classroom, or at Play, or when you just Hangout with friends. Have a bowl before you Drive off today.

The Best Virtual Protractor and Ruler for Chrome

As we continue to move more into digital activities for our students, some things that often stay non-digital are physical manipulatives including rulers and protractors. Certainly there is nothing wrong with using wooden or plastic rulers and protractors (our students do need to know how to use them) but there are also benefits to having online alternatives:

• They can’t be left at home, or at school, or broken
• They are easy to turn on and off as needed
• They work great with online activities and websites (no concern about scratching the screen)
• Students can't hit each other with digital rulers
• They are free!

Below you will find information about my favorite virtual ruler and favorite virtual protractor. Both of these require the Chrome web browser, but once you have them open they work on any website. You can watch the short video below to see them being demonstrated and/or read the rest of the blog post below for details.

Making Gmail Safe for Schools

It is important for our students to effectively and appropriately communicate and collaborate with others, and email is a valuable tool, among many, to help students do this. Schools can, and should, be an ideal environment where students can learn how to communicate digitally, which is a skill they will need for the rest of their lives.

However sometimes schools can be hesitant to turn on Gmail for their students. They may worry about who students are sending email to, and who they are receiving it from. Schools may be concerned about the content of the messages as well.

Thankfully Google Apps for Education provides several tools and features to help schools provide a safer, more controlled environment for students to use Gmail. I recently did a one-hour webinar that takes a close look at these options. To learn more you can view the recorded webinar below, check out my detailed help guide and help resources, and read through the summary in the rest of the post below.

How to Play YouTube Videos Safely in School

YouTube can be a powerful resource for education with over 4 billion videos watched every day. Despite the number of cat videos, there are actually quite a lot of educationally valuable videos. Google even has their education channels at https://www.youtube.com/edu where they have currated videos by grade level and subject area.

However, even if you find the perfect video explaining how to add fractions or the phases of meiosis or how the pyramids were built, you can still run into a problem when having your students watch it. By default in addition to seeing the video they will also see ads, user comments below the video, suggested videos on the page, and then more suggested videos after their clip is done. At best these could be distracting. At worst they could be inappropriate for your students.

So what can you do?

Below we will take a look at three options you can use to let your students watch a YouTube video without all the extra stuff. You can view the video explaining the options, or read the directions below, or both!

Language Arts Graphic Organizers with Google Drawings

Graphic organizers are a powerful tools for language arts. Students can use them to plan an essay, compare and contrast characters, detail the sequence of a story, explore the meanings of a word, and much more.

There are many tools for creating and using graphic organizers, but one great option is Google Drawings. Some benefits include:

• Loads of ways to add images, shapes, connectors, text, and more
• Easy to collaborate with partners or for a whole class brainstorming activity
• Final product can be shared as is, or can be exported in several formats
• It’s free!

Recently I created a new batch of graphic organizers in Drawings that are aimed at language arts. All of these are freely available for use. Just click the links below to get your own copy to use and edit however you need.

The Big Blank Wall - My 2015 IDEA Talk

A while back I had the privilege of sharing a short "IDEA Talk" at the 2015 WVIZ/PBS Ideastream Education Conference.

My talk was tilted "The Big Blank Wall" which refers to a particularly challenging feature from my first classroom. I spoke on how easy it is for us as educators to confuse process with purpose, and our need to embrace edtech change.

You can watch the short (7 minute) video below, read the full post, and then ask yourself what is your "Big Blank Wall"?



In addition to the recorded video, below is a copy of the original post I wrote on this topic several years ago on one of my other sites: