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danita.cobble@bullitt.kyschools.us
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Everything to get you started on designing and implementing a Digital Notebook in your class.
Click HERE for the link.
August 15, 2020
Patrick Hausammann shares his presentation from FETC on All the Things You Didn't Know Google Slides Could Do.
Split Videos Into Clips
Split Videos Into Clips
2/4/2020
Kali Ervin shares a great tip for splitting your videos to remove unwanted parts.
From Eric Curts:
Google Slides is an excellent tool not just for creating presentations, but for making eBooks, stop-motion animation, Choose Your Own Adventure stories, comic strips, and much more. However, one aspect that is a little lacking in Slides is the amount of design themes available by default.
When you create a Google slideshow you are given a simple list of 23 basic design themes to choose from. These control the colors, font choice, and overall style of the presentation. Although these are a great place to start, and work well for most presentations, what if you want a different look and feel. Certainly you can manually change the font face, font colors, background color or image, and more.
However as educators, the one thing we have less of than default design themes is time. Thankfully there are many websites that have created and shared hundreds of templates that can be used for your new Google Slides presentations.
In this blog post we will look at a wide range of online resources that provide over 600 design theme templates (as of last count) for you and your students to use in your creations. In most cases you will simply need to click on the templates provided and then make a copy for your own use. Once you have your copy, you can edit the slideshow however you want and add your own content.
Click HERE to access the templates.
interactive Notebooks
interactive Notebooks
1/23/2020
Are you looking for a way to change your student notebooks that you have been using for years into digital notebooks? Matt Miller has some great ideas for using Google Slides as an interactive notebook.
Click HERE for the short video.
Click HERE for your copy of his template.
Slideshow from Bernard Biology of several Google Slides tips. Click HERE to access the slideshow.
From Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers. Click HERE for the entire article with videos.
How to Add Audio to Google Slides - Updated
How to Add Audio to Google Slides - Updated
Earlier this evening I Tweeted that another of my Google Slides accounts now has access to the native audio feature that Google teased us with earlier this year. I now have it in one of my G Suite Edu domains and in one of my personal accounts. I'm taking this as a sign that Google is starting to roll it out to more users. That prompted me to create this short video overview of how to add audio to Google Slides.
Another Way to Add Audio to Google Slides
Another Way to Add Audio to Google Slides
If your Google Slides account doesn't have the new insert audio feature, there is a method that you can use to insert audio into your Google Slides presentations. That method is outlined in the following videos.
Click HERE for the entire article with videos.
From The Techie Teacher - Click HERE for the article
A Google Slides™ Add-On All Teachers Need
A Google Slides™ Add-On All Teachers Need
Recently I tried out the Google Slides™ Add-On I've heard so much about called: Slip-in-Slide. Have you tried it? Oh my goodness gracious this is a GAME CHANGER!
Quite often I get asked if there is a way to add slides to students' digital notebooks, digital writing journals, digital activities, etc. that were created and assigned in Google Slides™. For instance, my Would You Rather Digital Writing Journal pictured below comes with 25 different writing prompt slides and sometimes teachers don't want to assign the entire "digital journal" at once:
In the past I have told teachers that they can:
Assign all of the slides at once and have students work at their own pace.
Make a copy of the original presentation, delete all of the slides they don't want to assign that day and then share the presentation with students (do this for each "assignment"). The problem with this method is that there are way too many presentations to keep up with. Personally, I like to keep everything "under one roof".
Similar to #2👆Make a copy of the original presentation, delete all of the slides they don't want to assign that day and then share the presentation with students. Then the teacher could share another copy of the entire original presentation for students to copy and paste the slide template(s) into their own presentation. This is just way too many steps.
Now, I have a new suggestion...
Enter-->Slip-in-Slide!
This add-on will allow the teacher to select a slide or set of slides from a separate Google Slides™ presentation and automatically insert it/them into presentations that students have already been assigned and have been working on. It is incredible.
Note: In order for this to work, you need to have all of the presentations students are working on inside of a Google Folder. Google Classroom already sets up this structure nicely when the teacher assigns a Google Slides Template and selects Make a copy for each student before clicking Assign:
This will automatically create a folder inside of the Classroom folder in the teacher's Google Drive.
How To Use Slip-in-Slide
How To Use Slip-in-Slide
1. Install the Slip-in-Slide Add-On by clicking HERE. Once it is installed, it will appear under the Add-On menu within any Google Slides presentation you open.
2. Assign students the template you would like for them to begin working on (digital journal, digital notebook, digital choice board, digital science activities, etc.). For instance, if I wanted to assign one of my Would You Rather Digital Writing Journals but don't want students to have access to all of the writing prompts on Day 1, I would make a copy of the original presentation and delete all of the slides except the first writing prompt before assigning. *Remember, all of the digital writing journals you assign to students will need to be saved to the same Google Folder. Google Classroom users-this will already be generated for you.* If you are interested in reading about the most popular ways teachers assign Google files and templates, click HERE.
3. Now let's say students completed the first writing prompt and I am ready to send the next prompt to all of their presentations. I am going to open the presentation that contains the slide or set of slides I want to add to the students' current presentation and click Add-Ons>Slip-in-Slide>Start.
4. Then I will click Add-Ons again and click Select destination in Google Drive.
I will find and click on the Google Folder that has all of the students' current digital journals and click Select>Ok:
5. I will click the Add-Ons menu a third time and select Slip slides to "Student Writing Journals".
6. Now I get to choose which slide(s) I want to slip into each students' digital journal and where I would like for the slides to go: at the beginning or at the end of the presentation (I'm going to click End because I want the slide I send to appear after the students' writing slide they completed the day before...this is just user preference...you choose!):
7. That's it! I received a message indicating which journals my slide was added to!
So often, people think of presentation slides as just that: a visual aid for delivering a presentation in front of an audience.
But these slide apps (like Google Slides and PowerPoint in Office 365) really are powerful tools for delivering interactive user experiences. They can also create visually stimulating products to deliver a message and valuable content.
By thinking outside the box with Google Slides, PowerPoint, and other similar tools, teachers can create unique learning experiences for students. Or students can create them to share with other students.
We originally curated 8 interactive Google Slides activities in this post but have found so many amazing ideas since then we knew we need to update!
Below you will find our original 8 ideas plus 22 (yes 22!) brilliant ideas contributed by the Ditch That Textbook community on Twitter in a recent #Ditchbook chat.
Here are 30 interactive Google Slides activities that use the unique features of online slide apps to create engaging learning experiences:
Here are 30 interactive Google Slides activities that use the unique features of online slide apps to create engaging learning experiences:
1. Create a PDF ebook. PDF files are about as universal as it gets. You can open them on almost any Internet-ready device. They’re read-only, so publishing a PDF is a good way to distribute information to be consumed by reading. Google Slides is a great, simple PDF ebook creation tool. Create a slide presentation, change it to the dimensions you prefer, add content and finalize by going to File > Download as … > PDF Document.
I created a PDF ebook to help you create PDF ebooks. (I hope that’s not as ridiculous as it looked as I typed it.) Click here to check out a post all about it. Or, take a look at the original Google Slides file where I created it. (Feel free to make a copy by going to File > Make a copy … but please don’t click “Share” and ask for edit access.)
ANOTHER FREE EBOOK — I wrote an ebook called “101 Practical Ways to Ditch That Textbook” as a gift to my readers. I created it using Google Slides, just like the ebooks I describe above. “101 Practical Ways” is a huge compilation of tools and tips, backed up with screenshots, icons, links and more. Click here if you’d like to get it!
2. Create a “slide deck book.” This idea is inspired by Matt Macfarlane, a middle school history teacher from California. In true “Ditch That Textbook” fashion, he has turned from traditional textbooks to creating his own. He finds engaging content on the web and collects it in his “slide deck books.” His students access them online and can click links to get more information. He gives students an “anyone with link can view” link so they’re read-only. Some examples:
3. Play a “Jeopardy!” game. Jeopardy on a PowerPoint presentation has been a staple in many classes. It’s also possible to create via Google Slides. Eric Curts, a Google Certified Innovator, created this template that you can copy into your own Google Drive to customize with your own questions and answers. Keep track of the score on a whiteboard/chalkboard, on paper or through some other means. (Note: When a question is answered, it doesn’t disappear from the board. You might want to display the game on a whiteboard instead of a projector screen. When a question is selected, draw an X through it with a dry erase marker.)
4. Create another game-show-style review game. Google Slides can be used to create lots of different games. I used Google Slides in this file to create a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” game. It was a simple one that can be played just by clicking through the slides. To create more complex games, you can create links to different slides in the presentation. (That’s how the Jeopardy! game was created.)
5. Animate a concept. Creating a stop-motion animation can be done relatively easily in Google Slides. This gives students the ability to animate and turn abstract ideas into tangible, engaging visuals. Create the first slide of the animation. Then make a duplicate of that slide. Make some small changes and then duplicate that most recent slide. Continue to make changes and duplicate until the animation is complete. Here is a link to a great stop motion science example(pictured right) showing how an electrical impulse in the body gets a muscle to contract, created by a student in Chris Baker’s science class.
6. Create an “online course”. In a traditional online course, students can jump from section to section at will and progress through the pages of that chapter. There may be assessments to take as well. You can create that same experience in Google Slides. Create a slide presentation with sections of slides for each module in the course. The first slide can have links to the different modules of the course. You can even create questions on the slides for self-assessment or a link to a Google Forms quiz for a more formal assessment. See an example of an “online course” template here. (Make sure you click the “present” button if you want to “take” the course.”)
7. Assess with self-grading quizzes. Self-grading quizzes give students immediate feedback. They also let students practice as much as they’d like without depending on the teacher. You can create self-paced assessments that provide answer feedback with Google Slides. For each standard four-question multiple-choice question, you’ll need five slides:
A question slide
A feedback slide for answer A
A feedback slide for answer B
A feedback slide for answer C
A feedback slide for answer D
On the question slide, for each possible answer, create a link to the feedback slide. Then, on each feedback slide, create a link to go on to the next question.
Want to see an example? Click here to see my quick one-question self-grading quiz.
8. Write a Choose Your Own Adventure story.As a child, I loved these books, where your decisions affected the outcome for the character in the story. Google Slides lets you create similar experiences. They can be stories where the student can choose the path for the character. Students can create them, or teachers can create them for students. They can even be tied to any kind of class content. Tie the choices to answers for a question. (i.e. The character goes left if the student thinks the answer is 4.4 and goes right if the student thinks the answer is 7.2.)
I created a quick example of an impromptu, decide-on-a-whim vacation trip story where you decide for the main character. Click here to see that file (and feel free to make a copy and change the text for yourself!).
Here’s another example, created by a student of Mandi Tolen’s. Mandi‘s students tied storytelling to math problems using Google Forms. The same concept could easily be applied to a Google Slide presentation.
Interactive Google Slides activities shared by the #Ditchbook community!
Interactive Google Slides activities shared by the #Ditchbook community!
9. Create a narrated storybook.
A2.1 Narrated storybooks thanks to @ericcurts #ditchbook https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/03/google-slides-storybooks.html?m=1 … Video: https://youtu.be/5xYJhLrCe6E
See James Varlack 's other Tweets
Resource: Google Slides for Student Created Storybooks by Eric Curts
10. Play #QRBreakIn.
Ditch That Textbook@DitchThatTxtbk
#QRBreakIN: A game-changing approach to old-school centers
Guest post by @MeehanEDU
Includes example games AND a template to create your own!
http://wp.me/p3bT67-23f via @jmattmiller
Resources:
Wakelet collection of shared #QRBreakIns TONS of FREE resources here!
11. Brainstorm with digital sticky notes.
If you're in love with sticky notes, you're going to love these #FileMakeACopy templates ...http://ditchthattextbook.com/2018/11/14/google-slides-sticky-note-brainstorming-powerful-planning/ …#DitchBook #googleedu #gsuiteedu #gttribe
See Matt Miller's other Tweets
Resource: Google Slides sticky note brainstorming: Powerful planning
12. Student lab reports.
Love using google slides for student lab reports! #ditchbook http://ditchthattextbook.com/2019/09/10/slide-into-science-demonstrating-learning-with-google-slides/ …
See Mike Mohammad's other Tweets
Resource: Slide into science: Demonstrating learning with Google Slides
13. Play (and make) memory games.
And memory games
https://makemathnotsuck.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/parallel-perpendicular-memory-game-with-google-slides/ …#ditchbook
See Mandi Tolen's other Tweets
Resource: Parallel & Perpendicular Memory Game with Google Slides by Mandi Tolen
14. Find or create novel HyperDocs.
Google slides is a fantastic place to house novel #Hyperdocs
Check out TONS of examples here https://padlet.com/marshall94553/cpahrf4kcowo …
And use this template to create your own https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15mzJK_CCksGSNsGHlwtIz7gS4SMmYBs12aBBwcwpQ2g/edit?usp=drivesdk …#ditchbook
See Karly Moura's other Tweets
Resources:
15. Use Screencastify to create annotated movie or book reviews.
Fave way to use slides? Use with @Screencastify to have students create annotated videos such as movie/book reviews! So many creative possibilities! #ditchbook
Resource: Beginners Guide to Screencastify
16. Make interactive games.
Julie P. Jones, PhD@JuliePJones
I've used slides lately to:
- make interactive games
- flashcards of facts (thanks to the slide randomizer tool idea I heard this week on the #gttribe podcast)
- introduce the concept of #hyperdocs for interactive lessons #ditchbook
See Julie P. Jones, PhD's other Tweets
17. Student reflections newsletter.
Student Reflections https://sites.google.com/plsd.us/mrshowell24/blog/student-reflection-newsletter …
- @eduprotocols https://sites.google.com/plsd.us/mrshowell24/blog/iron-chef …
-Stop motion
-Video
-Group Projects
-Presentations
-Infographics #ditchbook
See Stephanie Howell's other Tweets
Resource: Student Reflection Newsletter by Stephanie Howell
18. Create #Booksnaps of current reading.
Besides Thin Slides, Iron Chef and Cyber Sandwich, I use em for #BookSnaps and as a base for student screencasting along with @Screencastify #ditchbook #EDUProtocols https://twitter.com/jmattmiller/status/1177404993592184832 …
What are your favorite ways to use Google Slides with students?#DitchBook
See Adam Juarez's other Tweets
Resource: #Booksnaps with Google Slides by Tara Martin
19. Have fun with magnetic poetry.
Do I have to pick just one? I guess my favorite use would have to be either magnetic poetry or Caption That. Helps get the creative juices flowing!
See Angie Smith's other Tweets
Resource: Winter Magnetic Poetry with Google Slides by Kasey Bell
20. Create an app.
My students LOVE creating an app with Google Slides! Check out how to do it and snag a free template here
H/t @micahshippeehttps://shakeuplearning.com/blog/how-to-create-your-own-apps-with-google-slides-free-template/ …#ditchbook
See Karly Moura's other Tweets
Resource: How to Create Your Own “Apps” with Google Slides (FREE Template) by Kasey Bell showcasing the idea from Micah Shippee
21. Make memes.
Q2: What are your favorite ways to use Google Slides with students?#DitchBook
I love letting students collaborate on a single slide deck. Each getting their own slide. Also, can’t go wrong with @PearDeck. Finally, we love doing Meme Monday where they make a meme out of our LT and post it to the google slide. #ditchbook
See Nathan Perry ⌁☍'s other Tweets
Resource: Google Slides: Collaborative Meme Template by Alice Keeler
22. Practice digital citizenship (and have fun) with fake social media templates.
Social Media Templates. @creativeedtech and @TeachingTechNix have created some amazing templates already. Students really show understanding when they have to tweet or create an Facebook post from a historical figure. #DitchBook
See Corey Mathias's other Tweets
Resources:
Facebook template by Ryan O’Donnell
Instagram template by Cynthia Nixon
23. Jigsaw with the Iron Chef EduProtocol.
Today, we rocked the Iron Chef #EDUProtocols by @jcorippo & @MarlenaHebern in my world history class. Students researched, they designed and collaborated in a span of 45 minutes, it was glorious! #ditchbook https://twitter.com/jmattmiller/status/1177404993592184832 …
Q2: What are your favorite ways to use Google Slides with students?#DitchBook
See Kyle Anderson's other Tweets
Resource: 10+ FREE EduProtocol templates + ideas for using them
24. Try ThinSlides with your class.
Thin slides @jcorippo & collaborative slides @alicekeeler
See Marcia Carrillo's other Tweets
Resource: An example Thin Slides template
25. Utilize the unique slide URL for slide to slides linking activities.
So many ways to use Slides with students! A few of my favorites are for posters, linking between slides, and designing various other projects! Then, of course, all done with collaboration! #ditchbook
See Evan Mosier's other Tweets
Resource: Slides Superpowers: Engaging slide-to-slide linking activities
26. Create comic books.
I live to give them thinking questions where we can collaborate to get an answer, I love creating differentiated lessons and allowing students to work on what they need. I LOVE creating comic books and putting them in iBooks #ditchbook
See Mandi Tolen's other Tweets
Resource: Crash! Bang! Boom! How to add Google Drawings comic strips to your class
27. Write interactive math stories.
Julie P. Jones, PhD@JuliePJones
I had a student use slides this week to write her own interactive math children's story. She linked it here for all to use #filemakeacopy #conversechat #ditchbook https://twitter.com/TiffanyBell2020/status/1176281513685635073 …
See Julie P. Jones, PhD's other Tweets
Resource: I spy numbers, can you? An interactive math story by Tiffany Bell
28. Lock the background for drag and drop activities.
In Slides, lock the BACKGROUND and have students drag and drop. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eefW-wgKCbyYgudoRnmehnP_TKsaw_6ux1YLOAXoQDk/edit?usp=sharing …
Resources:
29. Get up and moving with a digital gallery walk.
Have students get up and move when presenting their Google Slides creations.
Check out the Digital Gallery Walk ...http://ditchthattextbook.com/2019/02/20/the-digital-gallery-walk-collaboration-on-their-feet/ …
Resource: The Digital Gallery Walk: Collaboration on their feet
30. Use Slides for interactive notebooks.
Remember Choose Your Own Adventure Stories?
Use that same idea to help students explore the "what if" questions of a story they've studied.http://ditchthattextbook.com/2019/02/28/google-slides-interactive-notebooks-20-activities-to-fill-them/ …
Resource: How to Create Digital Interactive Notebooks in Google Slides
Infographs are a wonderful way for students to show what they know in a little amount of area. They use icons to relay the information in an easily readable format. This lesson is in Google Slide format with hyperdocs. I love the idea that it can be used in ANY content area!
Have you ever felt like autumn has arrived and your desk is covered with sticky notes like leaves falling from the trees? You have sticky notes on your monitor, on your computer, on the filing cabinet, on your desk …
There are stacks of sticky notes. There are stacks of stacks of sticky notes sometimes!
Can you relate?
But there’s something magical about using sticky notes …
They’re only big enough for one idea.
You can move them around easily.
They come in SO many colors!
I love using them to brainstorm. I’ll write out all of my ideas on them — good or bad — and put them on the wall.
Then I’ll start moving them around and organizing ideas. It’s much easier to see what’s missing and what I have too much of this way.
Pretty soon, the butterflies start to fly in formation, as they say.
Sticky note brainstorming can be used for a lot:
Lesson planning, unit planning, curriculum planning
Organizing events for clubs, sports, drama, etc.
Pre-writing for research reports
Planning out student projects
Writing speeches
Debriefing after a science lab or physics experiment
Here’s the problem that I always run into with sticky note brainstorming …
It’s fleeting.
Sometimes, I scatter all my stickies and organize them at a coffee shop and then I have to pick them upwhen I’m done. I stack them up and all the glorious organizing is gone.
Sometimes, I put them up on a wall at home. But then company comes over. Or my family gets sick of seeing them all over the place.
Sometimes, there’s a cat. Or a gust of wind.
Plus, you’re limited to the number of sticky notes you have — and the colors available.
I’ve found a new option …
Sticky note brainstorming with Google Slides
Sticky note brainstorming with Google Slides
I use Google Slides for EVERYTHING these days. The slides serve as individual workspaces. You can add text, images, shapes, lines, videos, etc.
It’s a blank canvas, and the sky’s the limit on what you — and your students — can create with it.
I started brainstorming on a project a few days ago — a follow-up book to Dave Burgess’s Teach Like a Piratecalled Tech Like a Pirate! (More details on that coming. Subscribe to the email newsletter for updates and opportunities to have YOUR story in the book!)
Wrote one idea on a sticky note and put it on the wall. Then, it hit me …
Why don’t I do this on Google Slides?
It made perfect sense to me:
The sticky notes stay in place. I can open the Google Slides file any time and none of the slides have fallen off the wall or been moved around.
I have unlimited sticky notes — in unlimited colors!
I can add images, videos, icons, arrows, and more to my sticky note board.
In a matter of about five minutes, it was created …
The Google Slides sticky note template
The Google Slides sticky note template
Click here (template preview / force copy / view) to download a copy of the Google Slides sticky note template!
Here’s how I created it:
I added the sticky notes with the shapes (Insert > Shape > Shape … it’s in the center). When you click the sticky note, click the paint bucket icon in the tool bar to change the color of the note.
I added some arrow shapes (Insert > Shape > Arrows) at the top that can be duplicated and added to show flow (if you want).
I changed the color of the background to light gray (use the “Background …” button on the toolbar) so I could see it clearly.
I resized the whole thing to 17 inches by 10 inches (File > Page setup > choose “Custom”). If the plan isn’t to print it, why stick to the regular slide dimensions? I wanted LOTS of space to work.
Some tips for using it:
Leave the originals (sticky notes on the left and right sides and the arrows at the top).
Add any extra shapes, lines, arrows, etc. that you think you’ll need. Keep them off the slide in the workspace along the edges. That’s a PERFECT holding area until you need them.
Use the duplicate keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + D / Cmd + D for Mac) a LOT. Duplicate stickies, arrows … even slides by clicking on them and using the shortcut.
Assign it on Google Classroom by creating an assignment, attaching the template and choosing “Make a copy for each student” in the drop-down menu for the attachment.
Why does this work?
Why does this work?
The beauty of brainstorming this way is that it’s non-confrontational.
Ever stare at a blank document with a blinking cursor? (Does it ever feel like that cursor is laughing at you, mocking you for struggling?) Taking that first step is HARD.
Jotting all of your ideas down on sticky notes isn’t hard. Just tell yourself, “All of my ideas don’t have to be brilliant or perfect. I’m just getting everything out of my head.”
This type of brainstorming is a form of retrieval practice, too. Trying to remember something long-term? Practice by dumping everything you know about it into sticky notes.
Another important point: When you commit NOT to throw ideas away once you’ve put them on a sticky note, you make an important mental step. You’re turning off your filter, freeing up the free flow of ideas. When I criticize every idea that comes to me, I’ve found that my flow of ideas is severely restricted. Keep ’em coming, even if they’re not good!
This isn’t the only way …
This isn’t the only way …
Doing this kind of thinking isn’t automatically made better with technology.
In fact, when I have to brainstorm, I’ll turn to a notebook many times.
I have lots of ways to gather ideas (sketching images, making lists, creating sticky notes, writing on a document, Google Slides sticky notes, etc.). Here’s what I’ve found about finding the perfect way for me:
When I’m familiar with LOTS of options, one will instinctually come to mind when I’m ready to work. I go with my gut and use whatever feels best.
There’s plenty of benefit in using your hands, standing on your feet, and capturing ideas physically (not digitally).
Use what works best for you, and give your students options, too.
A cool paper/digital blend!
A cool paper/digital blend!
Brainstorm with paper sticky notes. Then capture them with the Post-It app!
This was an awesome app smash I learned about from Kelli Lane, a tech integration specialist from Illinois. Here’s how it works:
Write out your ideas on sticky notes.
Use the Post-It mobile app. The camera lets you capture those sticky notes in digital form!
Drag the digital post it notes around on the screen to organize them.
OPTION: Create your sticky notes on Google Slides or Drawings. Capture them with the camera on your Post-It app. Manipulate those notes in the app!
There are TONS of awesome multimedia activities you can do with interactive notebooks. They’re easy and free! Get the how-to’s and a downloadable template to get started!
Interactive notebooks have taken lots of classrooms everywhere by storm. The idea: a central space where students can create, write and make meaning.
When they’re done well, students get that spark of excitement. Learning goes to a different level.
When they’re done poorly, it becomes worksheets glued to pages.
Interactive notebooks don’t have to go in paper notebooks, though.
In fact, they can go in “digital notebooks”, and one option for those is Google Slides! (This will come as no surprise to regular Ditch That Textbook readers. I’ve suggested Google Slides for creating stop-motion animation, Instagram Stories-style activities, sticky note brainstorming, infographic-style icon boards, and more.)
Why use Google Slides for interactive notebooks
Why use Google Slides for interactive notebooks
If you think about it, a digital slide presentation is a lot like a notebook.
It has multiple pages (the slides).
You can even resize its pages to the size of a standard sheet of paper. (File > Page setup > Custom > 8.5″ x 11″)
It’s not linear like a document. You don’t write in lines (like a lined sheet of notebook paper). You design it however you want.
The lines, shapes, text, images and more you can add to the slides are like the parts you glue on an interactive notebook … only MULTIMEDIA.
Google Slides is free. You can add as many pages to your digital notebook as you want.
You can rearrange them easily, adding new pages wherever you’d like.
And since they’re stored in the cloud (Google Drive), you can access them anywhere you have an Internet connection. (Even when you’re not connected to the Internet …)
Of course, this would totally work with PowerPoint (with or without Office 365). I’m a huge Google fan, so that’s how I tend to see the world.
Note: All of the instructions in this post refer to Google Slides in a browser (i.e. on a laptop or Chromebook). This is all possible using PowerPoint AND/OR using a mobile app (like on an iPad) … but for brevity and simplicity, the instructions here are geared toward laptops/Chromebooks.
Download your interactive notebook template
Download your interactive notebook template
Click here to download your copy of the INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK MASTER TEMPLATE!
Want a copy of 15 pre-created templates from the activities I describe in this blog post?
Of course you do!
Click here to make a copy into your own Google Drive! (If that link doesn’t work, click here and go to File > Make a copy …)
You can modify your copy of this template to meet your needs.
Keep your master copy of it as a starting point.
Make a copy of your master copy to start a notebook template for your students for any given unit of study.
Have students add to the notebook as needed.
Of course, the notebook loses its magic if it becomes a prescribed set of step-by-step directions every time. Help students learn all of the features of Slides and how they can use them to uniquely display their learning. When they do that, they’re free to show their learning in their own personal way … and that’s WAY more powerful than following a recipe!
BONUS RESOURCE: Blanca Lemus, a sixth grade math and science teacher from California (and a member of Coachella CUE) shared slides from a presentation about interactive digital notebooks in middle and high school. Check it out by clicking here!
Organizing your notebook
Organizing your notebook
Get everything started with any combination of the following …
1. Have students start with a brand new Google Slides presentation. (Add through the “New” button in Drive or by typing slides.new in your browser.)
2. … or, you could create a template to share with them. That would save them some time setting things up and get them right to work.
3. Start with a title slide.
It could be as simple as using the pre-created title slide in the “Layout” tab in the toolbar.
You could create a title slide in your template (see #2 above) that students could modify or fill in.
Or you could turn students loose to create their own title slides, adding a webcam picture of themselves (Insert > Image > Camera), icons from The Noun Project, Bitmojis you’ve chosen (so they’re not inappropriate) and more. If you do this, you might want to limit the time they have to design their title slide … they could take all day creating it!
4. If they haven’t already, have them choose a slide size. A portrait (8.5″ x 11″) letter size or landscape (11″ x 8.5″) letter size could work. However, if they aren’t going to print them, you can make them any dimension you’d like! If it makes sense for the pages to look more like a strip (5″ x 11″), you can control that! They do have to be the same size all the way through, though … unless you make a specialized sub-notebook and link to it. (More on that later.)
Digital interactive posters are easy to access online. However, if they are in a letter size, they’re easy to print. Be mindful of the environment by not printing too much, of course. But if you want to print, printing some pages to show parents or hang on the wall in the hallway is pretty easy — especially if you can print in color!
There are certainly plenty of other things you can do to get your notebook ready. You know your students’ needs. If their notebooks need something else, add it to the list!
Activities in the notebook
Activities in the notebook
Now, it’s time for the fun! What can we fill this notebook full of?
Here are a bunch of possible activities students can do with Google Slides interactive notebooks:
(Note: For any of these activities, you can have students create all of the parts themselves — or you could pre-create them before distributing them to students. Pre-creating can save students the time of making all of the parts of the activity. Letting students do it themselves (especially for simple, basic activities) can save you prep time!)
Add an image and annotate, pointing out parts of it with arrows and text boxes.
1. Image annotation — Have students pull in an image. It could be from a web search, uploading one from their device, or even taking one themselves with the webcam. From there, use the shapes (Insert > Shape) to help annotate the image. I like using the arrows. Draw one in and double-click it to turn it into a text box. Add text and you have a simple labeling activity.
Parts of a tree
Parts of an atom
Important features in a painting
2. Caption This! — In this activity, students add speech bubble/thought bubble shapes over an image. That image could be found from the web or taken with the webcam. When they add the speech/thought bubble, they’re speaking for the characters in the image. This is great for history, literature, current events, etc. Read more about this in the Caption This! blog post.
3. Draggable manipulatives — Create lots of draggable shapes off to one side. (i.e. Rounded rectangles with vocabulary words, shapes for addition/subtraction, protons/neutrons/electrons for an atom) Have students drag them onto the screen in the right place to demonstrate understanding. Get more ideas for creating draggable manipulatives in this blog post.
4. Digital diorama/map — Recreate a scene from a story, history, etc. Have students use lines, shapes, even images to draw where the parts are in relation to each other. Add text boxes to label. Add a big text box (or write in the speaker notes at the bottom) to justify their thinking.
Have students add webcam images of themselves, of other things … shapes, Bitmojis, anything — to build out comic strips to demonstrate understanding.
5. Comic strips — Pull in a series of several images and they can serve as a comic strip. Have students take pictures with their webcam. These visuals for foreign language instruction can be great comic strip starters, adding text and speech/thought bubbles to them to complete. For more ideas on creating comic strips, see this blog post!
6. Lab reports — Students can take images of what they do during science labs with the webcams of their devices. This goes for more than science labs, too! Anything they can demonstrate step by step with images can be great for this activity! Students describe their steps and show what they know.
7. Series of pictures — Want students to show how to do a proper burpee in physical education? How to put icing on a cake? Have them take pictures with their webcam. Add a shape with a number written on it to number the images from start to finish. For math, this would be a great way to practice algorithms! Have students demonstrate that they can replicate the steps of the algorithm correctly.
Use the coordinate plane page in the interactive notebook master template I shared above. Students plot points and lines on the coordinate plane and explain their answers in text at the bottom!
8. Coordinate plane — Grab an image of a coordinate plane off the web and set it as the background image of the slide (“Background …” button on the toolbar > Choose image). Students can use small circle shapes to plot points on the coordinate plane, connect them with lines, etc. Text boxes (or writing in the speaker notes at the bottom) let them describe their work.
9. Likert scale with explanation — A Likert scale lets you show how you feel on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 to 10, etc. Set up a number line at the top of a slide with a dot. Have students drag a dot on the scale, then use a text box below to describe why they feel that way.
10. Simple mini-poster — Add images and text to a slide much like you would a posterboard. Create a quick mini-poster on a slide! For more information about creating these mini-posters, see this blog post.
11. A whole-class interactive notebook — These interactive notebooks can be individual to the student. Or you can create a class interactive notebook where everyone interacts! Each student can have his/her own slide in one shared slide presentation. The collaborative aspect of this can be a lot of fun — but it can be chaotic until students understand how to work together in this shared digital space! For more information on how to make this work, see this post on shared slides activities.
12. Don’t write it, say it — To provide some variety — and an opportunity to improve their spoken voice — let students record their answer on video instead of writing it!
Have them record a video with the webcam and insert it using Screencastify.
Have them record a video on Flipgrid and then link to it within their notebooks!
13. Don’t write it, act it out — Instead of just talking into the webcam as they did above, have students stand back from the webcam and act something out! It could be a scene from a play, a demonstration, a “people as props” activity, etc.
14. Shades of meaning — This idea came from fifth grade teacher Tony Vincent during his session of the Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit, a free annual online conference for teachers. He shares how his students use a thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms for a word. They then drag them onto a scale to show their relationship for each other. Recreating a simple version of this activity fits well with an interactive notebook! Check out Tony’s template for this activity (File > Make a copy … to save it to your Google Drive).
15. Sticky note brainstorming — Sticky notes help us get our ideas out of our brains and organized! Google Slides has a shape that looks like a sticky note! Have students draw a sticky note shape on the screen. Use Ctrl+D to duplicate it over and over. Use the paint bucket icon in the menu bar to change the color of it. Now start dragging those sticky notes all over the screen and organizing your ideas! For more information on doing sticky note brainstorming with Google Slides, check out this post.
16. Vocab word/image or vocab word/icon — Matching words to images is very brain-friendly, supported by dual coding theory. Having students pair an image that represents a vocabulary word with the word on a slide can help them remember the definitions of their words. Pairing them with icons (The Noun Project, Flat Icon) could work just as well.
17. Screencast video — Students can demonstrate their understanding with a screen recording using a tool like Screencastify. They can record themselves talking about a set of slides as they flip through it. They can pull up a 3D Google Maps Street View map and do a virtual walking tour. They can even take a slide from their interactive notebook and record themselves interacting with it and explaining their actions. When they’re done, the video saves automatically to their Google Drive. Students can add that screencast video to a slide in their notebook. For more ideas for creating screencast videos, see this post.
Have students work through the scientific method, the design thinking process, the writing process, etc. with an interactive graphic organizer.
18. Writer’s notebook — Have students create a slide for each step of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing). Or create a slide to house their ideas during a prewriting brainstorming session. On a slide, students could reflect after the writing process about the experience and how they improved or changed.
19. Scientific method — Students could work through the steps of the scientific method on an individual slide each. Or you could create a single slide template with each of the parts of the scientific method where students could log their ideas and findings.
20. Engineering design process — As students think through a new idea from concept to creation, the steps of the engineering design process / design thinking process can help. Like above, students could break down their ideas on individual slides or use a template with space for each step in one.
Taking interactive notebooks to the next level
Taking interactive notebooks to the next level
Once you have your interactive notebook established, you can up-level them by doing some of the following …
When you use background colors to color code your pages, it’s easy to tell which activity — or which topic — each page belongs to.
1. Color backgrounds — Activities might take one slide to complete. They might take multiple slides to complete. Want to show that several slides belong together in one activity? Or show which slides belong to a particular type of activity? It’s time to color code! Use the “Background …” button and change the fill color. I’ve found that the lighter the color, the better in most instances.
PRO TIP — To see all of your slides at once (like the image to the right), click the slide sorter button. It’s in the bottom left and looks like a 2×3 rectangle grid. Zoom out in your browser (Ctrl + minus) until you get the view you like.
2. Insert background images — Change the background of a slide to an image! We did this with the coordinate plane above. Find an image you want students to work with. By setting it as a background image, students can’t accidentally move it. It’s locked in place!
3. Lock text into place — Speaking of students moving things around by accident, has this ever happened in your class? You put text boxes or other items on a slide and students accidentally move them, rendering your hard prep work useless. Want to lock certain parts of a slide in place so students can’t move them? It’s easier than you think. Design the parts that you want to lock into place in a slide. Then go to File > Download as > JPEG (current slide). That slide is saved as an image file. Change the background image of a student slide to that image. It locks those parts (text, shapes lines, etc.) in place because those parts are saved as an image! Students can then add on top of that background image you created without accidentally moving anything. See how to do this in more detail in this blog post.
4. Create master slides — These are the pre-designed slides you find in the “Layout” button in the toolbar. You can create your own pre-designed slides and have students add them to their notebooks. Just use the “Layout” button in the toolbar or the dropdown button next to the “+” button in the top left corner of the screen. This is great for recurring activities — or to set the background color automatically for your students.
Go to View > Master. All of the possible layouts are in thumbnails to the left of the slide. I suggest deleting any of them your students won’t use. Create a new slide master with the “+” button you use to create a new slide. Design it so that it’s ready for your students to use.
(Note: When you add a text box, click the dropdown triangle. If you add “text box”, it’s text that students can’t edit on the slide. If you add any of the placeholders, students will be able to click and add text to them.)
5. Create sub-notebooks — No, these aren’t notebooks for a substitute teacher. (Although you could totally do that!) These are mini notebooks created for a special purpose. Say that students want to create an activity that’s going to take lots of slides, but they want to create it all in one singular place (not as part of their bigger notebook). Or students’ main notebook is portrait but they want to do something in landscape. Students can create a separate notebook in a brand new slide presentation. Call it a “sub-notebook” (a notebook within a notebook). When they’re done creating that sub-notebook, they can grab a share link using the “Share” button in the top right corner (I like using “anyone with the link can view”). Go into the main notebook and, on one slide, create a link to the sub-notebook. Then, anyone looking through the main notebook can click on the link and be taken to the sub-notebook. It’s like a notebook within a notebook!
6. Create a master notebook that links to all of the other notebooks — If you have students create a new notebook for every chapter or every unit throughout the school year, they’ll need someplace to keep track of all of their notebooks, right? Consider creating a master notebook! Students can create a slides notebook with a page for each chapter notebook they create. On each chapter notebook page, they can display a link to the chapter notebook as well as a summary of what they learned in that chapter and even an example image from the chapter notebook. It’s a great way to reflect on what they learned throughout the whole chapter!
We’re just scratching the surface!
We’re just scratching the surface!
Just about anything you’d want your students to create to demonstrate learning can be captured in a digital interactive notebook.
When they’re done creating, students can easily share their work with each other. Just have students share an “anyone with the link can view” link to their notebooks in Google Classroom or a learning management system.
If you’d like a more social and physically stimulating option, have students do a gallery walk. They bring up their work and sit it on their desks. Then, they stand up and walk around, looking at each other’s work. Students can gather in small groups and present their work to their small group, then go on to the next person’s work to present. For more information on gallery walks, see this post.
Google Slides, the Google Apps solution to PowerPoint, opens this classroom staple up to vast possibilities. With real-time collaboration, connection to other Google Apps and the ability to embed presentations in websites, students can do so much more than “make a PowerPoint.”
Here are some ideas to harness the Google Slides greatness in your classroom. (Note: “Google Slides” is the name of the app, but “presentations” are what you create in Google Slides.)
We all have lessons where we want students to annotate a drawing, labeling parts of a cell, naming the states, whatever. You can do that in slides, but what if that is part of a larger assignment that involves typing? All you have to do is insert a drawing, put the picture in and have the students annotate it.
The video below shows how to do this, but I will walk you through it step by step.
* In your google doc go to insert, choose drawing and new drawing
* Paste the picture that you want the students to annotate adding any instructions with a text box.
* Save & close the drawing (The drawing will insert into your google doc where your cursor was when you went to insert in step 1)
* Instruct the students to double click the picture to annotate.
See the video here https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Z83jVJHqi0Nf51KAOajYlKb7ldftyDz/view
Extra Bonus tech tip
To quickly make bullets use the keyboard shortcut Crtl-Shift-8 for numbers Crtl-shift-7
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