As of this posting, they don't have the schedule complete. Here are the links to the sessions I'll be leading. (I'll add some previews and session resources to these documents as we get closer to the date.)
Here's a quick way to help students develop a growth mindset as you recognize their progress. You can create achievement pages for each of them using Google Apps such as Drawings and Docs.
At the end of a semester or year, students will have a record of milestones they passed in their learning journey. You can personalize them as much as you want for your class and the students. Be sure to encourage a growth mindset by praising effort and the process of learning.
Here's the procedure:
First, make a blank achievement page as a Google document. Put the student's name at the top and any other information you want to include. I also suggest adding a table to the document to keep the achievements organized. Once you get the basic arrangement you like, you'll copy the document and change the name for each student in your class.
Next, search Pixabay to easily find quality public domain clip art of awards and trophies.
Copy and paste a few of those clip art images into a blank Google Drawing.
Add some Word Art, shapes or text boxes to decorate each award. Make them personal! Name them after your favorite phrases, teaching techniques or projects. Of course, encourage a growth mindset too. If you need ideas, here's a great list of resources from Vicki Davis' blog.
Ideally you'll make a few generic awards. You can also make custom awards this way at any time, even at the last minute for some achievements. The more personalized and relevant to the project at hand, the better.
When it's time to recognize a student's achievement, "snip" a copy of an award. You'll use different tools for this depending on the type of computer you're using. On a Windows computer, use the Snipping Tool. Here are keystrokes for a Chromebook or a Mac. Note that it is easiest to copy the image you capture rather than just saving it to your computer.
Paste that snipped image into a table cell on student's achievement page. Add a note that is specific to what they earned the award. Include a date too.
After you add the first award, share it with the student. If they have Google Apps for Education accounts, this is easy. Just Share as you would any document, but be sure to make it View only. You don't want them to be able to edit these achievement pages.
If the students don't have Google accounts, use link sharing and send the link to the student (possibly at a parent's email address) or using a link shortener like Goo.gl.
Add awards at anytime after you've shared it and students can see their updated achievement sheet at anytime. They can drag the URL to their bookmarks bar in Chrome, so it's always only a click away.
Last week I presented at GoogleFest 2015 in Lansing, Michigan. I showed a packed room of teachers how I use Google Drawings and Google Slides to create comics from photos. Now it's easier than ever when using the Slides mobile app.
Some pictures and thoughts were tweeted out about the session. You can follow everything about the conference using #migooglefest. Here's one attendee's comic frame using a picture we took in the session:
I updated the resources on my comics site, which you can find here. Most of the updates were just in the presentation itself, but I changed some links and added some notes. The site contains information about using the comics in classroom creativity games too.
As always, I started the session off with a big picture look at the importance of creativity in learning.
These four tipsheets are about the most important pages in Google Classroom, each from the teacher's side of things. The most common tasks I'm asked about and the most overlooked options are marked with stars.
I am sharing them as Google Drawings so you can copy and modify them as necessary. You can easily download them as PDFs or image files if necessary.
I recently posted some tips for Chromebook basics and referred to a process I have used for annotating on screen captures using the devices. Below you'll find a video tutorial that shows the process.
Note that the first part of the video requires you to capture a part of the screen by pressing the shortcut keys:
ctrl-shift-Show all windows
The Show all windows key is the 6th key from the left in the top row. At least that's where it has been on all the Chromebooks I've used. It looks like this:
The general steps are:
Capture an area of the screen with the above method.
Copy the capture to the clipboard.
Paste it in a Google Drawing.
Mark it up using the tools available in Google Drawings.
Capture the image again using the above method.
Copy it and paste it where needed.
By the way, I know the SnagIt app and extension will allow you to do this. I prefer my method because it gives me more options for how I mark up the image. I love the SnagIt app (which I used to record the video above), but sometimes when I capture images and add arrows it takes too long to show up in my Drive as an image.
If you found this post helpful you might also want to see:
A lot of teachers have been using my process for creating comics with Google tools. I was thrilled to find it can now be easily done using the Slides mobile app! The best part of this is now you can bring in the real world pictures very easily.
That process starts on a Chromebook or a computer and it uses either Google Drawings or Slides.
Now you can start in the Slides mobile app. I did this on an iPad, but the Android app will be similar.
First, start a new Slides presentation.
On a blank slide, click the + sign and select Image.
Choose to get the image From Photos or From Camera. Notice that if you use the camera, this is an amazingly simple way to immediately bring the real world into your creations!
Crop, resize and move the image as necessary.
To add comic elements, click the + again and select Shape this time.
Select Callouts and scroll down to the three comic elements. Choose the one you want.
From there, it's just a matter of placing the thought or word bubble, dragging the point to the character who is speaking or thinking and then entering the text. Here's my sample taken from a game I was playing with my son.
A few things to consider:
While the tools are easy to use on the app, you might prefer to just use the app to bring the pictures into the Slides presentation. Then you (and any collaborators) can open that presentation on a Chromebook or computer for easy editing.
See my two-minute tutorial on creating the comics using a computer. The first steps are now replaced by the import process above, but the rest of the video shows the details of adding and editing the comic elements.
You can change the background color of the slides by editing the presentation on a computer or Chromebook at any time.
See the Projects page of my website for possible end products we make such as PDFs, virtual books or videos.
This week I had to privilege of presenting at the miGoogle conference in Brighton, Michigan, along with dozens of great educators from around the state.
My topic was a very simple one--how to make comics by combining real life pictures with a few tools from Google Drawings or Slides.
Our sample project, including how to turn the comics into ebooks and videos
Information on my creativity games
I shared many of these resources throughout other posts on this blog, but this one place to find them all as well as additional things I shared only at the conference.
If you want to see the sample comic we started during the session, it's here:
And below is the tutorial I created that shows how to use WeVideo to make a simple video slideshow. As explained in assignment 3, there is no audio. Also, there is a table of contents that makes it easy to jump to just the short parts you need based on the steps of the assignment.
This is the third part in a game design exploration based on the game Love Letter*. The activity would work well in any language arts or social studies class.
In this stage, students will test the games. They might play their own game or just play each other's games. You could even incorporate revisions and further playtesting. It all depends on how much time you want them to spend on this. Details follow below.
If a class is working through this design activity, at this point each group of students should have redesigned the Love Letter game to fit the lesson content. At the very least they should have done the following. (All of this is explained in the second post in this series.)
Chosen a theme for their game based on the topic studied in class
Created a title for their game
Written a short introduction about the game
Redesigned the cards and changed them on the template found in Part 2 of this series.
Optionally, the groups might have designed additional rules and components for their game.
Making the Cards
In the previous stage of this activity, students revised a template to create new cards based on the Love Letter game. Before they can test the games, they'll need to produce some cards they can actually play with. One way to do that is to print on card stock, but I've found it's easy to see through most card stock I've used over the years.
Whether it's a first draft or a late stage prototype, here's the method I've been using lately.
Put an old playing card or some other game card in them that you won't need. This keeps them stiff enough to shuffle.
Print your cards on paper and cut the cards out. (Or for first drafts, you might just write them by hand on slips of paper.)
Slide those paper "cards" into the sleeves.
Here's a short video that I created for students that shows how I use this process with early and late stage prototypes.
If the groups added rules for additional cards or components, all of those pieces need to be printed and cut out or gathered as well.
Depending on how much time you want the class to devote to this playtesting experience, groups could make two or more copies of their game so multiple groups could play them at once.
The importance of playtesting and revision - the iterative process in game design
This testing and revision stage of the game design process is essential. It can be fun and rewarding or sometimes very frustrating! It's often the heart of the creation process and it will probably take more time than all other parts combined.
Being so important, students need to see it. With limited class time, though, it is likely you will use it in this activity only provide some exposure to the concepts and a chance to have fun with the designs. Tell students it is important when making any type of game, but remind them to really test and improve their game they'd need to work on it a lot outside of class.
Keeping that in mind, tweak the following outline and resources to fit your needs.
Groups test their own games
Game designers often play their own games first, just to see if the creations even work at all. At this stage, each group should play their game at least once.
After playing, students should discuss these questions:
Did the game work as we intended?
Did we find anything (good or bad) that we didn't expect?
How much do we think other groups will enjoy our game?
What changes could we make to improve the game?
Depending on how much time you have for this design exploration, students could rework their cards. Simple changes might be handwritten right on the cards. Significant changes might require students to actually alter the cards in the original Google Drawings they made in Part 2 of this activity.Of course, that would require them to print and cut out more components.
If time doesn't allow a students to make all the changes they want to, remind them that they can improve the game as much as they want on their own.
Groups test a game designed by another group
For this part of the activity, each group will play at least one other group's game. Ideally this will be "blind playtesting", meaning the groups will play the games without additional assistance from the game designers.
The game components should already be created by now. Game introductions and possibly new rules need to be printed (or shared through Google Drive) so groups have everything they need to learn and play the games.
Along with these materials, give each group a copy of this Game Playtesting Sheet. It provides questions for before and after playing the game.
Additional considerations
Give the groups time in class to read and discuss the Game Playtesting Sheets that test groups filled out for their game.
Groups could test games from more than one group if possible.
Students could take their games home and have other people play them to get more opinions.
Have a class discussion (possibly virtually) at the end of this stage so you and the students can look for patterns on what worked best in the games.
It would be ideal to get test groups from a class that did not go through the design process themselves. In other words, they would likely be unfamiliar with Love Letter, so the whole experience would be new to them. This requires the designers to put a lot more work into their written rules.
*Love Letter was designed by Seiji Kanai and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. I have permission from the publisher to use their game as I have in this exploration. Please consider supporting them by buying a copy of the game that your students can play as they learn the basic rules.
This is the third part of a series for a classroom game design project that can be used in many classes and subjects. The whole project is based on a very simple game I created. Students will modify that game so it's about the topic they are studying in class.
Here's the flow of the overall project. Each of these stages has its own post, which you can access by clicking the link.
Learn and play Roll-n-Flip - Students need to learn to play the basic game of Roll-n-Flip first. It should take one class period or less to learn the game and to play it a couple times.
Redesign Roll-n-Flip - Next, students will modify the game by adding a theme (based on your lesson) and possibly other rules. This can take more or less than one class period, depending on how much you want them to develop their version of the game.
Play and improve their game - In this step students test the game their group made and then at least one game created by another group. You could also give them time to improve their game based on feedback. This process can be a class period or more, depending how much you want to focus on game design.
Reflection- For the last part of the activity, students will reflect on what they learned about your course content and about game design. This reflection "seals the deal" for the learning, making this possibly the most important of step of the project.
_________________
The importance of playtesting and revision - the iterative process in game design
This testing and revision stage of the game design process is essential. It can be fun and rewarding or sometimes very frustrating! It's often the heart of the creation process and it will probably take more time than all other parts combined.
Being so important, students need to see it. With limited class time, though, it is likely you will use it in this activity only provide some exposure to the concepts and a chance to have fun with the designs. Tell students it is important when making any type of game, but remind them to really test and improve their game they'd need to work on it a lot outside of class.
Keeping that in mind, tweak the following outline and resources to fit your needs.
Is everyone ready to proceed?
If a class is working through this design activity, at this point each group of students should have redesigned the simple Roll-n-Flip game. At the very least they should have done the following. (All of this is explained in the second post in this series.)
Chosen a theme for their game based on the topic studied in class
Created a title for their game
Written a short introduction about the game
Redesigned the 11 cards and changed them on the template found in Part 2 of this series
Optionally, the groups might have designed additional rules and components for their game.
Make the games.
When all the parts above are complete, groups should print and cut out any cards or components they need to play their games. It's best to print the cards on cardstock or at least the thickest paper possible.
Each group also needs at least one die. They need tokens for a pawn and chips too, but a template in Part 2 provided components they could cut from paper if those tokens were not available.
If the groups added rules for additional cards or components, all of those pieces need to be printed and cut out or gathered as well.
Depending on how much time you want the class to devote to this playtesting experience, groups could make two or more copies of their game so multiple groups could play them at once.
Groups test their own games
Game designers often play their own games first, just to see if the creations even work at all. At this stage, each group should play their game at least once.
After playing, students should discuss these questions:
Did the game work as we intended?
Did we find anything (good or bad) that we didn't expect?
How much do we think other groups will enjoy our game?
What changes could we make to improve the game?
Depending on how much time you have for this design exploration, students could rework their cards. Simple changes might be handwritten right on the cards. Significant changes might require students to actually alter the cards in the original Google Drawings they made in Part 2 of this activity.Of course, that would require them to print and cut out more components.
If time doesn't allow a students to make all the changes they want to, remind them that they can improve the game as much as they want on their own.
Groups test a game designed by another group
For this part of the activity, each group will play at least one other group's game. Ideally this will be "blind playtesting", meaning the groups will play the games without additional assistance from the game designers.
The game components should already be created by now. Game introductions and possibly new rules need to be printed (or shared through Google Drive) so groups have everything they need to learn and play the games.
Along with these materials, give each group a copy of this Game Playtesting Sheet. It provides questions for before and after playing the game.
Additional considerations
Give the groups time in class to read and discuss the Game Playtesting Sheets that test groups filled out for their game.
Groups could test games from more than one group if possible.
Students could take their games home and have other people play them to get more opinions.
Have a class discussion (possibly virtually) at the end of this stage so you and the students can look for patterns on what worked best in the games.
It would be ideal to get test groups from a class that did not go through the design process themselves. In other words, they would likely be unfamiliar even with Roll-n-Flip, so the whole experience would be new to them. This requires the designers to put a lot more work into their rules.
In the next post (and final stage of the activity) students will reflect on their game designs and the design process.
We started the comic in September and worked on it regularly through October. Then classes changed and I got busy with other projects. It took a lot of effort to finish it, but I'm happy with the results.
You can read the complete story here. I added plenty of notes throughout, so you can get an idea of the work that went into it.
We ended up telling the story in a variety of ways, using photos, drawings and even prose.
Throughout the project I tried to faithfully incorporate ideas from the students who followed along and gave their feedback through Google Forms.
In the final weeks of school, I reunited with the girls who started it and we brought in the additional characters. We had one last photo session. It was a hectic end to the school year, but I managed to complete the final chapter and publish it on the very last day of school.
This would be an excellent addition to a Digital Media class. The skills involved went far beyond just familiarity with Google Slides.
As with any of the comic projects I've written about, you could publish the final product in a variety of ways.
This week I spent two days at the Genesee ISD for their Google Boot Camp. I presented a session on using Drawings and Slides to create comics.
I also taught a group how to make narrated slideshows using Slides and WeVideo.
There were a lot of great ideas shared. As always, the best and most lasting benefits will be the connections we made with other passionate, innovative educators.
If you want to follow the hashtag on Twitter, it was #gisdcamp15. You'll find several good people to follow there.
All my resources are at these two sites:
Creative Comics - I updated the presentation and included new information about the improved Slides app.
I am a minimalist. I love finding ways to do more with a lot less. I hope someone speaks at my funeral about how I touched the world in a significant way using only what fits with me in the casket. It could make a great visual. If nothing else, I’ll be clutching my iPad.
I was recently musing about what’s the least a teacher would need to teach anything. I tweeted this and it got a little bit of attention:
I think I could teach anything-CCSS, 4 C's, etc-using only an iPad with browser, 30 Hands and iMovie. Kids supply the ideas and style.
— Mike Petty (@mpetty39) August 21, 2013
I was exaggerating somewhat, mostly because I didn’t really go through all the CCSS and I had to fit it in 140 characters. I would certainly need a few other apps, even if just for recording notes while working. I’ll give a slightly longer list of the bare necessities below, but first here was my main thought behind this.
As I’ve written elsewhere, I think all learning should be posed as a creative problem solving activity involving three steps: find information, process it and present the solution.
Elaborating a little more, students need to
research the problem at hand and gather resources or information that they already know.
process all that, getting their brains around it, synthesizing seemingly unrelated ideas, adding in their own thoughts.
present it in a way that suits the people who need to hear the solution.
So my tweet assumed that the iPad has a browser and the learner can access the Internet. That can help a lot with the “find it” stage.
30 Hands and iMovie are my favorite apps for narrated slideshows or videos, respectively. They’d be used for the presentation piece.
Being a little more realistic, I’d need some apps that would let them store the things they find. They also would need to process it all. I gave it more thought and made this list of suggested apps. I’m including the two I already mentioned, just to give more detail.
30 Hands - This is a great free tool for slideshows and I have a demo and review about it here. You can use your pictures as backgrounds, add text and draw on the slides. It is very simple to record narration for each slide, then it exports as a movie to the Camera Roll. I love it!
iMovie - I don’t usually by apps that cost $4.99, but this app feels like it’s worth so much more. You can easily add pan and zoom effects to pictures you’ve taken and edit videos you recorded (or even those slideshows you made with 30 Hands). It is also simple to add narration, transitions and titles. It’s a portable video studio.
Google Drive - Information gathered in research and your own thoughts could easily be taken in the Notes app that comes with the iPad. But Google Drive is free, so why not add this to the list? Sure, it’s limited compared to the version you’d have on your desktop computer, but I’m still amazed with how useful it is for productivity.
Doodle Buddy or SketchBook Express - Both of these drawing apps are free. These would be mostly for the presentation part of the process. We use them in school for titles and other graphics. Doodle Buddy is extremely simple. SketchBook has layers and some very good drawing tools making it promising, but possibly more complex than you’d need for most projects.
Inkflow - I haven’t paid for the Plus version of this yet, so for me this is like a stack of paper and a black marker. I love it for flow charts and visual thinking, so it’s definitely a tool for the processing stage of the learning process. You can also export the drawings and notes as jpg or PDF to use them in presentations too. (Side note: When talking at the coffee shop, this app becomes the proverbial napkin on which I illustrate my ramblings.)
Voice Record Pro - This audio recording app is incredibly versatile because of all the apps you can export it to. Files also can be opened in iMovie as the background track. So presentations can be recorded as a speech or conversation, then in iMovie you can add pictures or images you drew using any of the above apps. It also converts to mp3 so you can send it to others in a flexible format. (Bonus: I’m not including Video Star as a “must have”, but if you record yourself playing live music with Voice Record Pro it exports to Video Star so you can lip sync. Fun!) I wish Voice Record Pro had better tools for editing, but for free it is great.
GarageBand - I debated about including this app because original music is usually not necessary in a presentation. Still, there will be some topics where such a projects will be greatly enhanced because of the possibilities of this app. (And for some students it can make all the difference.) Like iMovie, it is $4.99, but whenever I use it I find myself sticking it in people’s faces, raving about how much it does for that small price. All the virtual and Smart instruments are outstanding. For the basics, it is very intuitive to record and edit tracks. As with Voice Record Pro, you could use this for any audio recordings. It certainly has more editing capabilities than that app, though sometimes I need iTunes on my computer to get the files where I need them.
So there you have it. I’m going to give my minimalist approach a try this school year as much as possible. I’ll edit this as necessary.
What am I overlooking? Are there any other apps you consider to be the bare necessities?
We ended up telling the story in a variety of ways, using photos, drawings and even prose.
In the final weeks of school, I reunited with the girls who started it and we brought in the additional characters. We had one last photo session. It was a hectic end to the school year, but I managed to complete the final chapter and publish it on the very last day of school.