100+ Google Tricks for Teachers

100+ Google Tricks for Teachers provides ideas related to:
Listed below are the topics and suggested tricks to look at.

Search Tricks
     Convert Units
     Timeline Search
     Calculate with Google
Google Specifically for Education
     Google Earth's Sky feature (in your Applications folder as Google Earth)
     Study the oceans with Google Earth (in your Applications folder as Google Earth)
     Learn what experts have to say
Google Docs
     Use pre-made templates
     Use the school year calendar template
     Send invitations
Gmail
     Highlight mail with labels
     Incorporate Google Calendar and Docs on your Gmail page
     Consolidate email accounts
Google Calendar
     Sync up with others using iCal
     Get a text message with your daily agenda
     Add events from Gmail
Google Mobile
     Sync your calendar
     Check your email
     Access your blog subscriptions
     Keep a to-do list on your phone
Google Chrome (web browser) Tips and Extensions
     Take advantage of the address bar
     Use the bookmarks manager
     Google Chrome Backup
Google Books
     Search full text
     Search for magazine content
     Read the blog
Handy Google Services and Apps
     Google Desktop
     Google Sketchup (in your Applications folder as Google Sketchup 7)
     Google Talk
     Google Toolbar
    

Heartland AEA-World of Media-Web Sites

Here are a few web sites to note from the Heartland AEA-World of Media newsletter I receive once a month.  Please take a look at them.

Interactive Science and Math - An awesome science education web site that provides printable teacher resources, a student zone with homework helpers and video resources, online games and puzzles related to math games, word games, element games and more, and programs for teachers and education events for teachers and students.

Interactive Math - Awesome web site that provides 4 interactive games for students related STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).  The 4 games are Math by Design, Scale City, Rock-n-Roll Roadtrip, and Proportion Land.  Included with these 4 interactive games are focuses on certain standards and concepts that each game can be associated with such as with Ratios and Proportions, the game Scale City would work appropriately to introduce those concepts.  Also included are additional resources from supporting web sites such as Science NetLinks, Read, Write, Think, and PBS Teachers to support the interactive games and their standards and concepts.

Read, Write, Think - Students in the computer lab have used this web site extensively with the student interactive games related to Daily 5 activities.  But there is so much more to this web site.  This includes printable classroom resources, interactive games, professional development, and parent and after school resources.  Additional features include searching by theme, learning objective and/or grade level.  All these research based concepts focus around learning language, learning about language, and/or learning through language.

Thinkfinity Literacy Network - The web site provides ways to discover how to teach, learn, manage, and/or volunteer in relationship to literacy.  The teaching section alone provides close to 50 free online courses to better practice best literacy instruction.  Activities, visual aids, strategies, podcasts, and interactive teaching tools are provided to better help.

Advertising and Tweens - A web site that provide awesome information related to advertising and its uses and purposes.  Would be very interesting for 4th and 5th graders to explore.  Provides both an interactive online game and a web site based online game for the students.  Also provides lesson plans, teaching materials and videos related to the information presented throughout the web site.  Teaches core advertising literacy concepts and concepts related to editorial content and literature.

iPad Apps and Tips - 50 Apps and Tips to look at and consider.

Webinars for Heartland AEA11 Digital Media Resources

Listed and linked below are some webinars for teachers to explore related to some of the free resources Heartland AEA11 provides for us and our students to use throughout the school year.

BookFLIX
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Culture Grams
Learn 360
Soundzabound

Please take a look and explore for your own opportunities and/or your students' opportunities.

Google "Advanced Search" Copyright

Students and sometimes even teachers like to exploit Google Images, by not using them properly in relationship to copyright policies.  Copyright for pictures/images always draws a fine line.  Remember Google Images is not a web site, it is a search engine, so if you decide to use others' pictures make sure you cite the specific web site not specifically Google Images.

An easier way to ease your worry about copyright policies related to Google Images is to use Google Images: Advanced Image Search.  Bring up the Google web site, click on Images in the upper left hand corner  and then click on:

After you click on Advanced Image Search, use the Usage Rights feature to return images that are:

and then back at the top, type in your search for your images.

So for example if I type in Under Armour in the regular Image search it will come up with all of the Under Armour images which are under copyright policies, but if I type in Under Armour in the Advanced Image Search labeled for commercial reuse then Under Armour images will still come up, but they will be related images available from what other people have taken pictures of to be reused.

Take a look around.

Google "Tools"

We use google everyday to search for web sites related to the information we are wanting, and to search for images to print or to be a part of a digital project we are creating.  These features are used both by students and teachers.  One advantage teachers can have now is:

Google for Educators

Google for educators provides these tools/resources for teachers to use with students, without students or for classroom instruction.

Tools for your classroom provides information related to iGoogle, Book Search, Picnik, Blogger, Docs, Groups and other tools available to google users.

Classroom activities provides ideas and resources related to Goole Lit Trips, Blogger Basics, Searching with Google and more.

Classroom posters showcases actual PDF posters to download and print or email related to Google Search tips, Google Earth, Google Web Search, Google Search tips for Kids and more.

Google Teacher academy provides the opportunity for teachers to professional develop into becoming a certified Google Educator/Instructor.

Teacher Community provides a Google for Educators Discussion Group to pose problems, solutions, ideas and creative works related to your uses and students' uses with Google.

Please take a look.

SuperTeacherTools Web Site

There are so, so many web sites out there to explore that even I get overwhelmed.  However, I do readily use some web sites for teacher use, student use or classroom instruction each and every year.  One web site that I need to use more often for student use related to classroom instruction is:

SuperTeacherTools

This web site can effectively be used to develop games related to:
Classroom Jeopardy
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Board Game
Hang Man
Flash Lottery

or instructional materials related to:
Seating Chart
Group Maker
Random Name Generator
USA Population Counter
Global Head Count

and more!!

Calculator

Alright, maybe some of you know this, but I did not figure this out (yes I do not know everything) until a couple weeks ago about the full capability of the Calculator tool.  

If you do not have the calculator in your dock then you can add it (and any other readily used Applications) to your dock by clicking on:

Go

then Applications

then dragging the Calculator icon into your dock.  

The dock is just a shortcut bar and if you have unused application shortcut in the dock just click and drag them onto the desktop and they will literally poof away.  The original application will still be in the application menu if you want to use it again or add it back to the dock later.

Okay back to the full capability of the Calculator tool.  

When you click on the calculator icon it just comes up as a basic calculator to easily use.  

But if you click on the green plus button you can rotate between a basic calculator, a scientific calculator and a programmer calculator.

Also by opening the Calculator tool you can like a the menu bar at the top of the screen and:

*do conversions for pressure, speed and temperature to name a few

*turn the speech on so when you click a button it will say its number and/or function and

*show paper tape, which actual shows you the calculation path as if you were writing it down on paper

A lot of cool functions of what seems to look like a basic, easy to use calculator.

Try it out with your students.

Digital Portfolios-How Easy

Below is a link that talks about Voicethread in relationship to Digital Portfolios.  Voicethread is a web 2.0 tool that allows students/teachers to store saved items/work within a slideshow that then allows others access to comment through typing, audio, video or phone related to their saved items/work.

Check out this web site that talks about Voicethread in conjunction with Digital Portfolios and how easily students could showcase their work to their parents, and others during student-led conferences and throughout the school year.