An Easy Way to See Students' Typed Answers in Google Docs

 I know I'm not the only one to use this method, but here's how I create highlighted answer blanks in Google Docs. This makes it easy to see their answers when you assign it as "Make a copy for each student" in Google Classroom.

Here's how it looks when they type in the box:

To create that box, I just insert a 1x1 table and then fill it with a light color. The animated GIF below shows the process. 

Once you make one answer blank like this, you can select it, copy it and then paste it in each question in your Doc.

3 Tips for Getting Started With Game Design

These videos were already shared in previous posts from my game design club series, but I wanted to get them in them one place. (I compiled some related interviews in this post.)

My goal with these videos was to concisely state three tips that would help students start making game. I use them to make board and card games, but they will help with digital games too. In fact, they form the basis of design thinking in any area.

Tip 1:  Learn and play many games. But don't play mindlessly!

Tip 2:  Keep a design notebook. Besides writing down ideas, use it to flesh your ideas out too.

Tip 3:  Start playing right away. This includes some tips for making rough prototypes.

Game Design Tip and Activities - Game Design Club 2020

This week I posted my final game design tip to the club and I posted a couple game design activities. I also recently finished up the second part of my interview with game designer, Stephen Glenn.

The Video

In this video about Tip #3 I talk about the importance of making a prototype and playing the game right away. It also talks a little about the vital practice of playtesting.

The tip as shown in the video lends itself toward board and card games, though I have read the same advice given to designers of digital games. This quick move to a rough prototype was something I started doing years ago. Recently I've heard it offered as good advice from many respected sources.

Here's the second part of the interview with Stephen, which supports much of what I said about playtesting in Tip #3.

The Game Design Activities

I wanted to post a digital and non-digital game design activity, so students could explore the type of game they prefer. For the digital one, I simply referred to this video I found on YouTube about making a Space Invaders style game using Scratch. I thought it was very well done.

For the non-digital game, I had asked students to learn a simple dice game, then consider how they would change it to create their own game. The directions can be found in this document.

Game Design Virtual Club - Part 4 - Making a prototype and testing it

Here's my fourth installment in my series of videos for the virtual club I'm running in Google Classroom. This time I talk about my favorite part of game design - making prototypes and testing them.

Most of the video is about making a quick, playable copy of the game. I only touch on the iterative process of testing, tweaking and playing some more.

Our school year is coming to a close, but if we get time my next video will be about creating a print-and-play version of a game.

Quick Start Tech Projects for Any Class

After two years of helping a lot of teachers get started with different tech projects, I finally got smart and combined the many existing tech project resources I've created.

My goal was to save time for teachers. Having everything in one document (or at least linked from one document) can cut out a lot of emails or our initial planning meetings, since now they can find these documents on one single webpage.

Instead of taking me out of the picture, it allows them to ask me the questions that are most relevant to their class a lot more quickly. 

Each of these "Tech Project Packs" focuses on one type of final product, like a blog or an audio recording. It answers important questions such as:

• What is this type of project best for?
• What tools are needed?
• What are some common challenges?
• What tutorials do you have for it?
• What should I include in the directions?
• How can we share it beyond the classroom?

We are a Google Apps for Education district and most students are using Chromebooks.

Here are four packs to start with. More will be added in the upcoming week. 

• Images with Text - A very quick project that can be adapted to any subject
• Infographics - Create informational "digital posters" with Piktochart
• Blogs - Good for getting started using Blogger
• Audio Recordings - A simple process for creating audio recordings on a Chromebook or laptop

If you have any suggestions or requests or if you see problems with the documents or links, please let me know.

Game Design for Any Subject, Google Apps and More - Top Posts of 2015

2015 was an exciting year for helping teachers beyond my local district! In this post I will list some of the top tips, activities and resources from this blog over the past 12 months.

First, just a thought about my other blog. I love sharing resources and tips here at CG&T, but my heart has been in at my Teaching Like an Artist blog. I had a great year with some conferences, inspirational posts and even a book (digital and print). Be sure to check out my top posts there and consider following that work in 2016!

Now on to the great resources that got the most attention this year…
I ran a few PD sessions in the summer and these popular tips and tipsheets were a result:

• 4 Tipsheets for Navigating Google Classroom
• Updated and compiled resources for making comics using Google Slides
• Part of the above resources, but great to highlight on it's own - How to create comics using just the Google Slides app on your favorite mobile device

Here's an important post that introduces teachers to 10 simple, free tools for showing off any project (even non-tech projects) beyond the classroom. They range from simple to more involved.

I developed these two methods for making a narrated slideshow presentation using just a Chromebook.

• This simpler way uses Google Slides and SnagIt. (This hasn't yet been a "top post", but it is a great option that goes with this often requested presentation method.)
• This more involved method was my guest post on Free Tech for Teachers in June!

And these are my favorite quick tips from the year:

• How to record an audio "podcast" quickly and easily on a Chromebook using Twisted Wave
• Marking up images with a Chromebook and Google Drawings
• Two fast, simple tools for adding text to images

New Game Design Resources
Any teacher knows students today love games and many of them want to make games. I posted two popular series about creating games design this year. These are both non-digital game activities.

This first one is a “make a game in an hour” activity that I’ve done with designers. I started with a big picture look at what I and others have learned from making games.

Game Design in the Classroom - What I learned, what others learned, the "game jam" style activity and thoughts on developing and publishing

Later in the year I created this series, which one designer called a “baby step” into game design. All the resources are created in Google Docs for easy modification and sharing with students. It’s a flexible introduction to making games that integrates with many subjects. The flow of the project is...

• Learn the basic game
• Modify the game by adding a theme and possibly other rules
• Test the games
• Reflect on the process (This step is the key to tying it all together with your course content.)

Also new in 2015, I created this Game Design Page as a convenient place to find all my best classroom game design resources.

How to Capture and Mark Up Images on a Chromebook

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:

• Using a Chromebook to Make a Narrated Slideshow
• Google Apps Tutorials - Summer PD from 2014

Basic Chromebooks Tips for Teachers

I've been using Chromebooks myself for a couple years, but our middle school is just received the first few classroom sets this summer. I created these two documents with helpful Chromebook tips for the teachers and I wanted to share them here.

Some of the information is specific to our district, but you can easily make a copy of these and edit them as necessary. I'd appreciate it if you include a link to this blog on any copies distribute.

The first tipsheet is about file management. Among other tips, it refers to the Save to Google Drive extension, which is installed on all of our Chromebooks.

File Management With a Chromebook

And the second tipsheet is about ways to capture the screen, including how I mark up my screen captures.

Screen Captures on a Chromebook

You might also want to see:

• Using a Chromebook to Make a Narrated Slideshow
• Google Apps Tutorials - Summer PD from 2014

Tips for Classroom Video Projects

This is an updated list from a popular post I wrote last year. It's my attempt to compile the tips I find myself repeating to teachers and students whenever I help with classroom video projects.

I have enjoyed making movies and videos all my life and certainly one of the most rewarding parts of my job is getting to share the experience with students who are new to the process. Videos are a great way to showcase learning and I've been having a blast this year as many more teachers in my district are assigning video projects. I updated my previous list and regularly send this to teachers before we work together.

I'll probably keep adding to and refining this over time. If you have any comments or other suggestions, please share them.

If it would be helpful to have this as a single document, I have a Google Docs version here.

For Teachers

Set expectations at the start for requirements and the project timeline. I suggest a one page assignment sheet that answers these questions:

• What course content is required in the video?
• How much creative freedom will students have? For example, can they be serious or silly? Possibly list options for types of videos, such as skits, documentary style, newsroom style, etc.
• How long do you want the videos to be?
• When will each phase of the video (planning, recording and editing) be due?
• Where will these be recorded?
• How will it be graded? If you have a rubric, include it, or at least the criteria, on this sheet.
• What will they have to turn in (if anything) at each phase and how will they submit it?

Keep realistic, tight deadlines. Set the time you want students to use for planning, recording and editing and stick to it no matter what. Many students will take far longer if they are allowed to. Let them know they must work outside of class if it’s going to take longer.

Share the work when students are done. Share the best videos as much as possible. Post them to your own blog or website and any school public pages, etc. Of course, be sure you have permission to share images and video of the students before you post anything publicly.

Read over the list of student tips below and be sure students are aware of the ones you consider important for the current project.

For Students

Be realistic when planning. Unless you’ve created videos before, don’t plan special effects or anything that will require advanced editing.

Use one camera if at all possible. Using multiple cameras makes it harder to get all your videos in one place and file compatibility can be more of an issue. Even better, if you use an iPhone, iPod or iPad, edit right on the device with iMovie. **Note: Record photos and video to the Camera Roll, directly into the iMovie app.

Don’t plan to use music you can’t easily access and legally download at school. Part of any tech project is to learn the rules of copyright and fair use. It is not legal to use someone else’s song in your videos unless they have given permission. Here’s my favorite site for downloading free music. The composer gives permission for any use as long as you credit him in the video as he explains on his site.      
                           http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

When it’s time to edit, bring any USB cables that work with your camera so it’s easy to transfer files. When all else fails, it’s possible to upload your videos to Google Drive, then download them to the computer you are using for editing. This will take awhile if you have long videos, though, so cables are best.

Plan in detail. It's more fun to start recording, but poor planning will result in either lots of frustrating editing or a poor final video. Good planning includes a detailed script for all dialogue or narration and a storyboard showing the basic camera views for each shot.

Make sure you are recording files you can edit later. This means you have to record with a camera, phone or other device that creates a file format compatible with your editing software. I recommend doing a quick test with your equipment first. Record a short clip and try to edit it with your editing software.

Hold your camera, phone or device in the landscape position. Not only is this a pet peeve of mine, if you get this wrong it immediately makes your video look amateur. Shoot with YouTube and the big screen in mind so your possibilities are not limited. The graphic below is one I made based on one I found from another teacher on Twitter. I don't know if this site is the original source of the image, but I found it here.

Think about what the viewer is seeing and break up the scene accordingly. Does it make sense to stand back with the camera and just record the whole scene as if it were a skit? Or would different camera angles throughout make it more interesting? Would close-ups of certain action help tell a better story? Is there anything in the background that will distract the viewer from what is most important?

Listen before recording. Is there background noise or bad acoustics that echo when actors talk or make other sounds? Choose a quiet location.

Listen carefully when you are recording too. Be aware that a distracting noise (squeaky chairs, doors closing, etc.) while someone is saying a line can't be removed later. We often block these things out easily when listening to someone in real life, but when watching a video they are impossible to ignore.

Speak clearly when being recorded. Probably everyone involved in the video knows the script and knows what is being said, so everyone understands the lines. The viewers don't have that advantage. Pay attention to how fast you talk, how loud it is and whether or not the words are distinct.

Record too much rather than not enough. Start recording several seconds before action will start. If someone will say, "Action," or otherwise alert everyone to start, be sure they wait at least a second after the camera has started before they cue the actors. It is so easy to trim a few seconds off the start or end of a clip in editing. Compare that to the case when the camera person turns off the camera immediately after the last line or the actors start talking as soon as the camera starts. Those make for bad edits later.

If you have the time, get two good takes of each shot. You can overdo this, but generally if everyone finally gets a good performance once, the next one will be even better. During editing it can help a lot to have a couple choices for the take that will end up in the final video..

When acting a scene, don't look at the camera or the people behind the camera. It is very common for actors to look to the person working the camera as if to say, "Did we get it right?" Those looks can ruin an otherwise great take and sometimes you won't notice them until editing later.

To sum it up, remember you will have a much better final video if you…

• Plan carefully.
• Pay attention when recording.
• Always consider what the viewer will see and hear.

10 tips for recording video in the classroom

I updated this post in October 2014. I added a few tips for teachers and created a Google Docs version too. The new post is here.

Given the popularity of this post, I created a video version of the tips. It is embedded at the end of the list.

I would think many of these items are obvious, but as much as I have to remind students I know they're not obvious to everyone.

• Plan in detail.  I know it's more fun to start recording, but poor planning will result in either lots of frustrating editing or a poor final video.  Good planning includes a detailed script for all dialogue or narration and a storyboard showing the basic camera views for each shot.
• Make sure you are recording files you can edit later.  This means you have to record with a camera, phone or other device that creates a file format compatible with your editing software.  I recommend doing a quick test with your equipment first. Record a short clip and try to edit it with your editing software.
• Hold your camera, phone or device in the landscape position.  I didn't think to remind students of this until we started letting students use their own devices.  Remember that computer monitors are always in landscape.  Don't hold the phone or iPad so the image is taller than it is wide.  It might work great for Vines or other clips you send your friends, but it really weakens the final product no matter how good everything else turns out.
• Think about what the viewer is seeing and break up the scene accordingly.  Does it make sense to stand back with the camera and just record the whole scene as if it were a skit?  Or would different camera angles throughout make it more interesting?  Would close-ups of certain action help tell a better story?  Is there anything in the background that will distract the viewer from what is most important?
• Listen before recording.  Is there background noise or bad acoustics that echo when actors talk or make other sounds?  Choose a quiet location.
• Listen carefully when you are recording too.  Be aware that a distracting noise (squeaky chairs, doors closing, etc.) while someone is saying a line can't be removed later.  We often block these things out easily when listening to someone in real life, but when watching a video they are impossible to ignore.  
• Speak clearly when being recorded.  Probably everyone on the set knows the script and knows what is being said.  The viewers don't have that advantage.  Pay attention to how fast you talk, how loud it is and whether or not the words are distinct.
• Record too much rather than not enough.  Start recording several seconds before action will start.  If someone will say, "Action," or otherwise alert everyone to start, be sure they wait at least a second after the camera has started to cue the actors. It is so easy to trim a few seconds off the start or end of a clip in editing.  Compare that to the case when the camera person turns off the camera immediately after the last line or the actors start talking as soon as the camera starts.  Those make for bad edits later.
• Along with that, if you have the time, get two good takes of each shot.  You can overdo this, but generally if everyone finally gets a good performance once, the next one will be even better.  During editing it can help a lot to have a couple choices for the take that will end up in the final video..
• When acting a scene, don't look at the camera or the person behind the camera.  It is very common for actors to look to the person working the camera as if to say, "Did we get it?"  Those looks can ruin an otherwise great take and sometimes you won't notice it until editing later.

To sum it up, remember you can save a ton of time in editing with careful planning and by paying attention.  Consider what the viewer will see and hear.  After you make a couple videos thinking like this you'll appreciate your favorite movies and television shows all the more!


Based on your experience, what advice would you add to the list?

Advice to a new teacher...if I had a time machine

I really enjoyed Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.  In it he gives advice about creativity by thinking about what he would tell his younger self.

That prompted me to consider what advice I would share with myself when I just started teaching.  Now, after 18 years in public education, what would be the most important tips I'd pass along?  I boiled it down to the list of six things below.  They're personal, but I think they have some application beyond my own life.

To set the scene I have to admit that the first half of my teaching experience was rough for me.  I did not enjoy much about teaching high school math.  There was plenty to be thankful for, no doubt, and a lot of students liked my classes.  I learned a ton about myself and I have some great relationships that came out of that time.  But dealing with difficult students and seeing my inability to reach all of them was tough.

I never could distance myself and simply say, "Well, I tried."  I felt like a failure many days.  

So here's a short list of what I wish I could have told myself when I was 25 years old, starting out in my career.

1)  Be realistic about what you're getting into.  The students you will be asked to teach are coming in with poor math skills and a poor attitude toward the subject.  Very few of them will see math class as the positive experience that you did.  Be prepared for this!  Set realistic goals of what you can accomplish in those first years as you are learning to be a good teacher.

2)  Take the work seriously, but don't forget about the relationships you are building everyday with your students.  You tend to get focused on the job and forget about people, but they are most important.  Even the difficult ones will respect you for your hard work if they also know you care about them.

Years after the class is over you'll see some of them.  They'll remember that you cared and worked hard more than they ever will the details of lessons, rough days, all those assignments or the grades they got.

3)  Start a game club right away.  That love you always had for games will be a highlight of your time working with students.  A lot of them won't fit in anywhere else, but they'll hang out with you at lunch.  Buy a few more of those games no one else has heard of and use them to connect with the students as much as you can.  Meet every couple weeks or so after school for gaming.  You'll like that extra-curricular work a lot more than organizing the prom.  (For the good of all, tell them you don't want to be a class sponsor!)

4)  Keep up on the technology.  You're kind of a traditionalist and in the debate of calculators versus no calculators you'll be tempted to keep it old school.  Instead, remember that many kids can learn the concept better if they come at it differently than you did.  It doesn't have to be all pencil and paper and a ton of steps.

Keep an open mind on that and use technology to give them a conceptual understanding useful for problem solving. When the principal asks you to try more with technology, do it.  Doors will open for you and you'll enjoy the change as the best years of your career.

5)  Assign creative projects, even in math.  Your department will focus almost exclusively on the state MEAP test, but don't let that drain your classroom of creativity.  You'll be busy and it will be easier to just keep it simple and routine, but things like the video assignment, personalized story problems and the artistic projects are vital.  Keep developing those assignments.  Add a new one every semester so that when students think back to your class, they remember those things they made.  You'll like it best when students say you're not like the other math teachers.

6)  Remember that you felt called to teach.  In frustrating times you'll think you should have gone into programming instead of working with kids who don't want to be there.

All those visions of being an amazing teacher will be shattered by reality and you'll think you misunderstood what you were supposed to do with your life.  But just like you did that day when you got the unexpected call and they offered you the job, trust that God knows what he's doing.  You are supposed to be there.

You won't reach everyone personally or with the math, but you'll connect with many students.  You'll remind them that life is exciting when chasing a dream.  They'll take notes when you talk about what true success looks like and many will thank you.  Among other things, you were called to pass on those messages.  Let them flow through all aspects of your work.

Here's the key to success you'll eventually share with them:

Always do your best

At what's most important

Whether you feel like it or not

You and many others will be thankful for the lesson.

Cultivating a Learning Environment

I love David Warlick's blog. In a recent post he lists six suggestions for cultivating a learning environment. I'm going to use these as a guide for any meeting I chair or any tech project that allows me some influence. I also hope to add to the list and have a list of my own specific examples by the end of this year.

Here are his suggestions taken from his post:

1. Fill your school(s) with learners. When interviewing prospective teachers, ask “Tell me about something that you have learned lately.” “How did you learn it?” “What are you seeking to learn more about right now that is not related to your teaching – and how?” Find out how proficient they are at network learning.
2. Be a public learner. Open your faculty meetings with something that you’ve just learned – and how you learned it. Include in the daily announcements some piece of interesting knowledge that is obviously new. “Did you know that a California power utility has just gotten permission to sell electricity from outer space? Make frequent mention of what you’ve learned from your Twitter stream, RSS reader, specific bloggers you read. This should not be limited to job specific topics.
3. Introduce new ideas that are not necessarily related to school. Share links to thought-provoking TED talks or other mini-lectures presented by interesting and smart people. Ask for reactions during faculty meetings, in the halls, or during casual conversations with employees and parents.
4. Make students’ outside-school-learning part of the conversation. Find out what their passions are and ask them what they’ve just learned about it. Suggest that they write something up about it for the school web site or annual research publication.
5. Make your school a curiosity lab. Plant around the school (especially in the library) intriguing questions that might provoke curiosity in learners (How many steps does a centipede have to take to travel a foot? Who was the youngest person to sail around the world?). Reward students who answer them and video their explanations of how they found the answers for the school’s web site. With the help of creative teachers, invent a mystery for your school and plant clues around the school. Require student-participants to research the clues they have discovered in order to find their way to the next clue.
6. Make all school stakeholders public learners. Ask members of your staff to write essays about their latest vacations or hobbies and publish them on the school web site or annual research publication. Ask teachers to devote one of their classroom bulletin boards to information about a personal passion of theirs, sharing their latest gained knowledge and achievements. Suggest that they produce TED style multimedia presentations about a topic they are especially interested in and post them on the school’s web site or perform them at PTA meetings. Learn about the hobbies and travels of the parents of your students and ask them to share what they are learning and how they are learning it through essays, videos, Skyped-in conversations, etc.

Other versions of this list can be found here and here.