50 States - Digital Breakout Activities

Escape rooms are  popular social challenges for people around the world and as most of us are aware they've made there way into our classrooms through physical and digital breakouts. Digital breakouts are a great way to engage students in content and the 4Cs of collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. I've used both digital and physical breakouts with students and they both have their places in today's classrooms. 

Today I wanted to share a collection of incredible digital breakouts connected to the 50 States created by Peggy Reimers. I've also included some great resources for additional breakout ideas at the end of the post. 

Brain Breaks - Primel Number and Ooodle Number Challenges for Students and Classrooms

I've long been a huge proponent of finding creative ways to give students a break. Call them "Brain Breaks" or whatever. I believe these types of activities have real benefits for students. These breaks can also be a fun way to interact with students outside of the content or they can be connected to your content in creative ways. I find that my students typically are able to refocus and are usually more productive after we engage in a quick creative brain break. 

I recently shared a brain break resource called Wordle. Wordle is an online daily word game that has became a popular social trend in 2021 and continues to be played and shared in 2022.  Today I wanted to share a similar game, but instead of words it's all about prime numbers.

Twitter Tips - The Power of Twitter Notifications and More Tools to Streamline Your Twitter Experience

I don't know about you, but I always have a lot of Twitter FOMO. Not sure if this is a really thing or it is just me?

I've always stuck to the model that if someone connected to teaching and learning follows me, I will follow them back. This has let me to some great follows, but it has also added more to my Twitter stream than I can follow most days. 

Today, I wanted to share a few resources I use to streamline my Twitter experience. There are many great resources that can help organize and streamline Twitter, but today  I will focus on 4: Twitter Notifications, Twitter Lists, IFTTT, and Tweetdeck. 

Adobe Education Exchange - Free Lessons, Activities, and Projects for Teachers and Students

"Created by educators for educators, the Adobe Education Exchange is a free learning platform offering instant access to professional development, teaching materials, and other tools designed to ignite creativity in the classroom." (Adobe)

Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) has been one of my favorite resources to help my students engage in creating. We've used graphics, videos, and pages multiple times this year.

Today I wanted to share some creative resources connected to the Adobe Education Exchange, a great place to be inspired. 

Sir Links-a- Lot Chrome Extension - Google URL Shortcut Tool

Recently I shared a post about creating url sharing shortcuts for Google Drive files.

Awesome Shortcuts for Sharing Google Docs, Sheets, Drawings, Slides, and Forms (Copy, Templates, or Preview)

Today I wanted t share an extension that automates the process of creating these shared url that includes an automated option. The Sir Links-a-Lot extension for Google Chrome will generate a preview, copy, template, or PDF URL for a document you have open.

You do need to make sure the file's sharing setting is set to viewable and not private before using the extension. You then open the extension, click a button to create the link, and copy the generated link.

Brain Breaks - Wordle Challenges for Students and Classrooms

I've long been a huge proponent of finding creative ways to give students a break. Call them "Brain Breaks" or whatever. I believe these types of activities have real benefits for students. These breaks can also be a fun way to interact with students outside of the content or they can be connected to your content in creative ways. I find that my students typically are able to refocus and are usually more productive after we engage in a quick creative brain break. 

Today I wanted to share something that could be a great brain break that has connections to words and critical thinking. 

Awesome Shortcuts for Sharing Google Docs, Sheets, Drawings, Slides, and Forms (Copy, Templates, or Preview)

Google Classroom is a great resource to share Google files with students or other teachers. Google Classroom allows you to quickly share viewable or editable documents. You can also have Google Classroom make a copy for each student enrolled in your classroom. Google classroom only supports this sharing for students and teachers enrolled in your classroom.

Sometimes you need to share a document outside of Google Classroom. The sharing options in Google Docs allow you to share a document directly with anyone. You can get a link that allows you to share a document using 1 of these 3 choices: "Anyone Can view", "Anyone Can Comment", or "Anyone Can Edit". You can also share it with specific users. Click here to learn more about Google sharing settings.

Sometimes you might want to post a document and have a user make a copy without the need for you to create a copy for them manually. Did you know that there are several shortcuts that allow the owner of a document to have anyone who clicks on the link to have the option make a copy, display as a template, preview the document, or download as a PDF file?

Countdown Timers in Google Slides

I have a confession to make, sometimes I struggle to keep track of time in my classroom or during a PD Session. The classroom clock just does not get it done for me and my students on some days. 
A few years ago, someone showed me how to embed a timer in a Google Slide presentation. This has become a staple in my classroom. I now embed a YouTube Video in the corner of the objective slide or with instructions for student centered work when I know that I want a visible countdown. There are several huge advantages that go along with helping me keep track of the time. 

• Students like to know when an activity should be finished. This helps them stay on pace. 
• Students who often finish early have a tendency to continue working/exploring when the timer is on the screen. 
• If a student is absent and I share the slide deck with them, they have an idea how long they should explore different activities and concepts. 

Web Resources to Find Free Photos for Websites. Student Activities, and Presentations

I've always believed that a well placed image can have a great impact than text alone. A well designed slide deck or activity should include images that support the text and the concepts. Images can also be great ways to start a discussion and engage students in critical thinking.

 I create most of my graphics with one of these two free resources.

1. Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education (I will share more about the updates to Adobe Spark in a post soon.)
2. Google Slides with the Unsplash Add-on. You can also just find some great and mostly free images on the Unsplash Photo Site.

You can also search for "Creative Commons" images in Google Images. Just go to Google images, search for an image and then click on "Tools" and under "Usage Rights" choose "Creative Commons Licenses". This still typically requires a bit of additional exploration depending on how you are using and sharing the image.

Today I wanted to share a few resources designed to help anyone find high quality images for presentations, websites, activities, and more. 

What Are Your Favorite Science Media Resources To Engage Students as You Design Learning Experiences?

“Clutter is a failure of design, not an attribute of information.” —Edward Tufte

I was inspired over the break to spend some time exploring media sources that I hope to use to engage my students in 2022. I focused my exploration mainly on videos in YouTube, but I also found a few new websites and podcasts. I even found several amazing sites dedicated to science images. 

Reflect on 2021 - Make a Family, Classroom, or Student Newsletter With Google Applied Digital Skills

If you've been following me during the months of December and January the last several years, you know that I love to take a short break from my content to get students reengaged in learning after our December holiday break. I love to ask my students to "Reboot their Noggins" when we get back. 

Here are a few samples from this year.

• Reboot the Noggin - 2022 New Year's Welcome Back HyperDoc
• One Word to Rule Them All - 2022 One Word Student Challenge HyperDoc

Today I wanted to share what I think is another great resource. The Google Applied Digital Skills Curriculum has a great lesson to help students reflect and share as we say goodbye to 2021. While this lesson is focused on creating a family newsletter, it could easily be adapted for students to create a classroom or personal reflection for 2021.

Welcome in 2022 with Google Arts and Culture's Blob Opera

Ring in the New Year with the sweet sounds of everyone’s favorite Blob Opera presented by Google Arts and Culture. As we get ready to usher in 2022, Google's got some new sheet music for the blobs to practice up on, replacing those Christmas tunes with "Auld Lang Syne."

Welcome in 2022 with Google Arts and Culture's Blob Opera

Maybe something that you could share with your students as you reflect on 2021 and set goals for 2022? I am think about adding this to our Reboot the Noggin - 2022 New Year's Welcome Back HyperDoc