As educators just like our brains, we always have a million tabs open on Chrome right? This can get really confusing not to mention the more tabs you keep open the slower your computer will be. If you are a serial multiple tab opener like me check out the Chrome Extension OneTab.

OneTab converts all open tabs to a single tab of bookmarks. These links can be restored by clicking on them individually or hitting "restore all". It doesn't matter if you close the OneTab tab or the browser OneTab will continue to keep a list of tabs once you reopen the browser.

Watch my video to see how it works!

PhET is the place to go for science and math simulations, both for teachers and students. Aimed at grades 3-12, this is a vast STEM knowledge base that can be dipped into and used for free as an online alternative to real-world experiments.

The high-quality simulations are plentiful in number, at more than 150, and cover a range of subjects so there should be something to suit most topics. As such, this is a great alternative for getting simulation experiences to students when not available in the classroom, ideal for remote learning or homework.

The teacher resources are great making it both teacher and student friendly. Check it out here.

Do you constantly have 500 tabs open like I do? Are you always clicking and searching within those tabs? Here is the solution!

1.Click on the carrot drop down button on the far right top corner of your Chrome Browser.

2. All of your open tabs will be listed plus you will see a search bar.

3. Type in the tab you are looking for (for example "gmail") and it will automatically narrow down the list to any open gmail tabs.

No more scrolling down to page 158. A new feature in Google Chrome makes it possible to send readers directly to a specific section in a text.

On your Mac, click your trackpad and the Ctrl button on your keyboard at the same time then select “copy link to highlight.”

This generates a URL ending in a # symbol, which you can then share with others. Upon visiting the new URL, readers are taken directly to the highlighted portion. Tip courtesy of @mr_stitzel on twitter.

Did you know you can incorporate Canva into Schoology? Once you've created a Canva Education account you can do the following:

• Create Canva assignments for students

• Review student assignments

• Desing buttons, course cards or profile photos

Looking to change it up in your class a bit? Memes are a fun way to capture student attention and engagment.

You can use Google Drawings or Google Slides to do this.

1. Students can label parts of an image that they know, find relevant or think are interesting. Use arrows and text boxes (or arrow shapes!). Make sure to force "make a copy" before sharing on Schoology.

***How to force "make a copy"***

• • Open the file in your Google Drive.

  • Click Share.

  • Click “Anyone with the link can view”

  • Copy the link.

  • Highlight the word edit and everything after it.

  • Replace that selection with the word “copy”

2. Add a thought or speech bubble to a picture to let students share their thinking.

3. Caption this and comment.

4. Find an image to match the quote or topic provided by teacher.

Please let me know if you'd like any tutorials on these. I'm happy to provide assistance.

1. Right click an open tab

2. Click "Add tab to new group"

3. Type in a group name

4. Color code

5. The possibilities for grouping are endless!

Having lots of "techie" issues with your MacBook lately? Things glitching? When was the last time you fully shut your Macbook down? Did you know it is recommended to shut down your Macbook every 2-3 days? I can hear the groans already "I'm going to lose all of my stuff I have up!" Not completely true. Here's how to reopen the EXACT same pages you have pulled up in your Chrome browser right now even after shutting it down.

1. While using Chrome go to the menu at the top of your screen and click "Chrome".

2. Next, click "Preferences"

3. On the lefthand menu click "On Startup)

4. Make sure "Continue where you left off" is selected.

5. Boom! That's it! Now after you shut down and restart all of the pages and tabs you currently have open will come back!

Shutting down your MacBook every 2-3 days will help save battery life and lifespan. It will also help optimize the Macbook's operation so that it runs like it should or better the next time you turn on.

Do you know about Google Keep? Are you using it with your classes? If not read more below!

• Google Keep is a multimodal note-taking, organization, and list-making tool that exists as part of the G Suite for Education alongside applications such as Google Drive, Google Classroom, Google Forms, and Google Hangouts. With Google Keep, users can create, share, and organize written, audio-recorded, or image-associated notes. With this tool, educators can encourage their students to demonstrate their creative skills through note-taking and help students organize group projects and track their learning progress through collaborative to-do lists. By using the Google Chrome extension for Google Keep, students and teachers can bookmark and take notes about web pages for later use. Google Keep also has the same high level of accessibility and ease of use found in many other Google tools.

• Sample Learning Activities:

  • Math:

    • Equation Visualization: Students can create notes with drawings to showcase how equations work with visuals (this may be especially helpful with geometry!).

    • Top Tutorials: Students can find a tutorial on a website like Khan Academy that helps them understand a mathematical concept or process and save it to the Google Keep using the Google Keep Chrome Extension. Students can even go a step further and take notes summarizing the parts of the tutorial that assisted in their understanding.

  • Science:

    • Step-by-Step Experiments: Students can create a list of steps/tasks needed to complete an experiment and check them off as they go.

    • Scientific Method Meticulousness: Students learning about the scientific method can check off each step of the process as its completed. With each step, they can also take a picture, write notes, or draw an image that represents how they completed that step.

  • ELA:

    • Crowdsourcing a Summary: Students can work together to create summaries (e.g., Sparknotes) as they read assigned chapters throughout a class. Furthermore, students can create accompanying drawings that showcase the main event (or events) in a chapter.

    • NaNoWriMo Notes: Students working on participating in national novel writing month can organize all their notes in a single place under a single label. These notes can then be shared with other participating peers, the instructor, family, or friends to gain feedback via drawing, text, or images.

  • Social Studies:

    • Field Trip Field Notes: Students can use their phones to take pictures on field trips to museums or historical sites. Once taken, these images can then be appended with dictated notes describing what the student has learned from the site or artifact shown in the image.

    • Historical Recreation: Students learning about historical events can draw out their visualization of how they occurred with written or dictated notes providing brief summaries.

  • Other:

    • Organized on the Web: Students can use the Chrome extension of Google Keep to mark, organize by labels, and take quick notes about interesting articles or websites they find on the web.

    • Snapshot Journaling: Students can take a picture every day for a specified period of time (a week, a month, or a year) and write a note that describes how they are thinking or feeling. This could be used to check-in at the beginning or end of class, or to keep students engaged when learning remotely.

• Classroom Screen: This is my favorite class tool. Random name generators, dice, sound level, text boxes, QR codes and more. A must have! If there is enough interest we can look into a paid subscription which allows students to be polled remotely, saves your screens and more!

• Wheel of Names: Fun way to use as virtual equity sticks, selecting problems or examples, selecting a book or chapter, selecting a writing prompt, etc.

• Flipgrid: Teachers create a topic, students respond creatively through video

• Nearpod: Easy to use website to help differentiate learning. Create interactive lessons, use student paced mode or live mode, numerous virtual field trips and lessons in the Nearpod virtual library, immediate access to student responses allows for immediate feedback

• GimKit: Another super cool tool. Students answer questions on their own device at their own pace. Throughout a Kit, each student will get exposure to the questions multiple times to ensure mastery. Students earn in-game cash by answering questions correctly. But be careful, an incorrect answer will cost you! Students can reinvest their money by purchasing upgrades & powerups. With millions of combinations, students can make purchases that suit their strengths. Create a teacher class for free and students join with a code.

• Canva: Take Google Drawings to the next level BIG Time. Students/Teachers can use Canva to create, collaborate and communicate.

• Padlet: This is a digital notice board which features images, links, videos, and documents, all collated on a "wall" that can be made public or private. This means that not only can teachers post on the wall but so too can students.

• Readworks: create a free account to create digital classes (highlight/annotate online), print materials or project onto your SMARTBoard.

• TweenTribune: Created by Smithsonian this is split into grades 7/8 and 9-12. It is free to read AP news articles Lexile levels, quizzes, critical thinking, comments, lessons and more!

• TedTalks-Math: Videos such as "Can you solve the giant spider riddle?" and "How dirt bikes and STEM ignite ingenuity in Baltimore" or "Can you solve the Alice in Wonderland Riddle?" Lots of fun!

• The Physics Classroom-Numerous tools to help in the physics room

• Khan Academy- create a free teacher account to use with Math, Test Prep, Science, Computing, Economics and more!