Layering Objects
When editing Google Slides, you may often find that some objects will “disappear” behind others if moved around. Fortunately, you do not need to re-add slide elements to prevent this from happening. Having knowledge of the four “Order” options in the “Arrange” menu is the quick fix. To re-layer an object on your Slide:
Select the object by clicking on it. (The selected object will be surrounded in blue)
Click on the top “Arrange” menu & scroll down to “Order.”
Choose between the 4 forwards and backwards options.
Utilizing the “Arrange” menu is an important tool for creating the photo words in the slide deck below ⬇️.
Photo Words
Of the hundreds of Google fonts, there is one font that's transparent in the inside and solid on the outside: Zilla Slab Highlight. When Zilla Slab Highlight is applied to Word Art, you can add images onto the slide canvas to make it appear that the letters are made of images. In reality, the images are simply behind the transparent Word Art letters.
💡 Ideas for using Zilla Slab Highlight with your students:
Visualize a vocabulary word
Introduce yourself & your “likes.”
Pick one word-goal for the year
Represent a location
Make a logo for a new product
Citing Sources
There are citation tools embedded within Google Docs. One of the easiest/ student-friendly methods to get students to cite their sources is to have them add footnotes to their Google Docs. This method of adding citations will force students to use the Google's Explore tool. The explore tool allows students to conduct internet research, without having to leave the Google Doc tab. Steps to cite websites as footnotes:
Activate the Explore tool
Search the web
Click on the 3-dot menu to the right of the Web results
Choose a citation format: MLA, APA, or Chicago
Click on the " icon to insert a footnote citation
Data Validation
Rather than have users manually type data inside of cells, you can create dropdown menus with preset selections for users to choose from. Data validation also ensures that incorrect options are not inserted. The steps:
Select the cells that you want the rules to apply to
Click on the Data menu, then Data validation.
+Add rule
Select either Dropdown or Dropdown (from a range).
Name each option & assign a color for each choice.
Add more options as needed. Click done.
The selected cells will now have drop-down menus to choose from.