Recording Online Lessons With Screencastify

I compiled a brief document to help my teachers use Screencastify for screen recording. It's my tool of choice for making quick screen recordings and video lessons, because it's easy to use and it saves directly to Google Drive.

Most secondary teachers in my district have used it already, but this resource was meant to be a reminder and a way to help them set it up on their home devices.

You can find the document here.

In it, there's a link to the video below, where I show briefly how to record the screen and share the video file.

My Updated Animation and Interactive Stories Projects

I updated two of my popular lessons recently:

• Simple Animations Using Google Slides
• Interactive Stories Using Google Slides

Students love both of these simple projects and the lessons come "ready to assign".

You'll get access to student directions in a Google Doc that you can simply post in Google Classroom. Students will follow the step by step instructions and watch video tutorials as they go. 

Both projects work well in any subject area for grades 5 - 12. The students will create their projects using Google Slides.

The lessons are $2 each on Teachers Pay Teachers, but you can buy both in a bundle for just $3. Here are the links.

• Simple Animations
• Interactive Stories
• The Bundle of both projects

Resources for Sale

I'm taking some time this summer to update and upgrade some popular resources and put them on Teachers Pay Teachers.

First I added this free download about how to create recorded slideshows. I consider that to be an essential skill for teachers and students.

I also added the new version of my ebook about making comics with G Suite apps. That resource is based on my most popular conference session. It's a proven process that I've seen ignite a classroom as students discover the fun of creating. The normal price for the ebook is $4.00.

If you already have the free version I used to offer on this blog, you'll want to know I added a suggested rubric for the comics in the new edition. I also made some minor changes to the section about video projects.

If you have followed my work on my blog or elsewhere, I would greatly appreciate you at least downloading the free PDF about recorded slideshows and giving an honest review. That would help many other teachers discover them.

Recharge Your Inner Artist - Teacher PD 2014

I presented to a group from our ISD this week about integrating creativity and technology into PBL. As usual, my session allowed for time for teachers to explore the tools and work in groups. I ran it as a project-based learning activity for them, in which they chose the content they were learning or practicing.

As I said in the presentation, I like to dump a truckload and let them sort it out.

If you're interested in the resources, you'll find two items below.

• First, here is the website where I housed the lesson the teachers worked through. There is a lot there, since I want my sessions to be useful to everyone regardless of their level of expertise with technology. The lesson is designed to be completed with any computer and possibly an iPad. They had about two hours to get started and most got about halfway through the standard project.

• And here is a copy of my slide presentation. It might not make much sense without me talking, but you'll see the main points. I compiled many ideas from this blog and my Teaching Like an Artist blog.

 

How to make games of any type using my Game Idea Template

As you might imagine, I encounter a lot of students who want to make games. Most of them have ideas for the digital variety, but my experience in game design still leaves us a lot of common ground for discussion.

I have several resources on the blog about game design already, but I added one more today that means a lot to me. It is my Game Idea Template. 

I have written elsewhere about how I develop my game ideas in a notebook over time. This template is just my attempt to organize all the key components that usually end up in the notes. It can serve to remind the designer of essentials, but it also can prompt with questions to help him or her break new ground.

Because of my own interest in tabletop games, this lends itself to those kinds. I'm convinced it still has much to offer for someone (especially newcomers) creating any type of game. It is a working document and I'm continually taking input from other game designers. All comments are welcome.

Game Idea Template by Mike Petty

Some other important resources on this site:

• How to Make Games (Part 1) - It's in this video that I talk about keeping a design notebook and how I use it to develop ideas. It provides a good background for how to use the Game Idea Template.
• How to Make Games (Part 2) - This second video focuses on playtesting and it can help a designer fill out that area of the Game Idea Template.
• 8 Things I Emphasize in Game Design Lessons - This has practical tips and several links to other resources I've written or found helpful.

GIMP Photo Editing and Graphic Design Lessons for High School and Middle School

I posted some links to my GIMP tutorials recently.  Here are the assignment PDFs that I gave the students.  These, along with the tutorials linked to below, provide a nice introduction to the program.  It was a great improvement over how we started last year.

The assignments might have different names, but these are the topics 

• Introduction
• Drawing with the Selection Tools
• Layers and Text
• Filters and Effects
• Combining Images
• Final Project - Comic Strip

All of the tutorials for these lessons can be found in this post.

Christian/Bible Resources for Oh, Really!

I finally spotted one of my games for sale in real life!

Last year I posted a Bible/christian flipchart activity.  I wasn't sure how it would be received, but the number of downloads has been comparable to some other content area activities that I made.  I have heard from Sunday school teachers and other Christian gamers who play the game or use it in lessons.  I have always included words in all the editions that bring up matters of faith and I was glad to learn that Family Christian Stores was carrying the game.  (In fact, that's the only store where I've ever seen one of my games available in the real world.  Most are sold online.)

After recent correspondence with a Sunday school teacher and a father of a home school family, I decided I should convert that activity to these other formats for those who don't use ActivInspire:

• Google Docs Christian/Bible edition of Oh, Really!
• PowerPoint Christian/Bible edition of Oh, Really!

These resources have some pre-selected sets of item cards that can be used to generate discussion.  Participants could rank them on paper and group rankings could be analyzed and discussed.  Alternatively individuals could just rank them and then explain their rankings in writing or orally depending on the needs of the group.

Discussion questions are included on the final slide that reveal how this game can open the door to some weighty subject matter.  A seminary student told me once that he uses the previous version of my game in educational and social settings.  Here's what he wrote:

"Your game provides a wonderful opportunity to talk to both teenagers and adults about things that are penultimate and ultimately about the ultimate questions of life, death, and the meaning of it all. Something our Post Post-Modern society does poorly."

"For the past seven years, I have been using your game both in large and small groups. In a game setting, issues which polarize people become somewhat disarmed, and people can laugh and talk about things of importance. Not every game...becomes a deep conversation, but it provides the opportunity. In short, the game provides a somewhat neutral forum for people to share ideas without feeling pressured into a political-religious debate."

Whether in or out of the classroom I'm thrilled to find out my games are being used for fun and learning.  If you have any comments on the above resources or thoughts on how the game might be used in other interesting ways, I will be glad to hear from you.