New Top-10 Tech Tips & Tools

I love to create content as much as the next digital learning coach, but for every tip or tutorial to address a need I see or request I receive, a quick search finds that there are several better ones that already exist!  I often share them with my staff as Tuesday Tips, but many are too good not to share beyond our walls, so that's what this post is about.  That’s right, in no particular order, it’s a top-10/next-10 curated, collected, shared resources to rock your world (or make your day a little brighter). 

1.  Jamboard Templates 

Here is a collection of Jamboard templates.  Jamboard is a powerful collaboration tool from Google that has come to existence and popularity at just the right time.  It's still new to many, and this collection can be a great entry point for new users to find content to engage in-person and remote learners. There are tons of useful ideas compiled here, including morning meeting routines, word-work boards, and check in templates.

2. Mathigon

Check out Mathigon's Polypad- This is a part of their super resource site, and has a really simple whiteboard with highly interactive and intuitive manipulatives, everything from polygons and tangrams to hundred blocks and fraction bars.

3. Staff/Student GoogleTutorials

This impressive collection of tutorials for all things Google is a great one-stop shop for teachers and students/families.  It is constantly updated to provide specific links to topics and tools.  Notice how you can toggle between staff and student versions from the top of either doc.

 

4. Share YouTube videos without ads, pop-ups, or comments.

This is a no-brainer if you share links to videos, but are always afraid of the other content that often accompanies YouTube videos in Google Classroom or Seesaw. This quick video tutorial give you the trick to promote student safety when sharing digital resources.

5. Posts in Seesaw- With this brand new feature, you can pin a post in the journal to keep it from pushing down.  You will find this feature under the 3 dots of a post, or learn more here. It may be a small feature, but it’s also a biggie if you are a Seesaw user who is looking to lock pieces in place! 

6. Flipgrid Text Comments

Flipgrid is a powerful way to capture student learning and make thinking visible, particularly asynchronously.  However, not every reply requires an additional video post, and may in fact keep some students from engaging. This brand new feature allows for text responses to Flipgrid posts. Another small feature with big impact opportunity...

7. Seesaw Tutorial Tool

Part of individualizing your own pd is knowing what you don’t know, and this handy Tutorial Tool help deliver the right seesaw help where it’s needed. Click through to identify how seesaw can support you best. 

8. Shapegrams

Shapegrams are Tony Vincent's resource for students to recreate pictures with Google Draw in order to "practice visual observation, spatial awareness, logical reasoning, and critical thinking."  While it is paid, the first handful are awesome and free!

9. Screen-Sharing Solutions in Google Meet

Here is a great resource from there always-informative Jenn Judkins (Teaching Forward). As teachers in my own district have shifted toward the reliability and convenience of Google Meet, particularly its integration though google classroom, this tutorial gives a great walk through of the various types (and purposes) of screen-sharing methods. 

10. Management and Routines from Sean Jenkins

This post from a collection of excellent visuals from Sean Jenkins serves to help set tone, guide norms, and clarify expectations for our “new normal” in a hybrid/remote landscape. Learn more from Sean here.