Digital Tools to Engage Learners

Here is some Monday morning Tech inspiration :) 

This morning as I was driving to work listening to my Monday podcast from Google Teacher Tribe (Kasey Bell & Matt Miller), they were speaking about practical  & engaging ways to use Google drawing in the classrooms. I love Google drawings for things like graphic organizers, digital posters, etc. It is nice because the students can interact with them, they can be saved as an image and inserted into Google Slides (think background you can't move for story maps or other graphic organizers that kids can add text over top), and it is a tool that is really easy to navigate and use. By editing the page size, you can make them printable as well on a regular sheet of paper. Below is a link to a really good list of ways to use Google Drawings in the classroom if anyone is looking for some inspiration: 

Google Drawing Manifesto

Also, the same author (Matt Miller) wrote a really great e-book called "The Digital Pirate: Adding Techno-Wizadry to Teaching with Passion and Engagement" which has some really amazing ideas for integrating different tech tools meaningfully in the classroom. I have attached the link below to that as well.

The Digital Pirate

Google Drawings--Super Easy to Use!

For a long time I have been thinking I needed to take a look at Google Drawings, but just wasn't getting around to playing with it.  Being the procrastinator that I am, I finally got to experimenting with Draw the day before I planned to use it in a lesson a few weeks ago.  Had I realized how easy it was to work with, I would have been using it for much longer!

Instead of using worksheets, etc. I have now had students create posters, textbook pages and public service announcements.  We are preparing for some larger projects and used these activities as more interesting ways to research information.  As always, anything I hadn't worked out, the kids quickly discovered.

A couple things to note if you haven't used it:

• If you are planning to print, have students change the page size to 8.5 x 11.
• Encourage kids to explore with layering boxes and adding dimension by changing the thickness of borders, etc.
• Have fun!