Hundreds of Docs Fonts

What did you get for your birthday?  Google handed out 450 new fonts on mine!

I've heard two main criticisms from people reluctant to make the jump from Word to Google Docs: limited fonts and inability to create columns.  Well, actually there have been workarounds for both for a while, but not the font issue is clearly put to rest.

1.) Go to your Drive.  2.) Open up a Document.  3.) Click on Fonts.  4.) Scroll to the bottom of the current font options and select F+ add fonts.  5.) Have fun!

Be Funky

With Picnk gone we need a quick and easy online photo-editing tool.  Luckily we've got BeFunky!

This site started out as an easy way to to cartoonize, 1970's-ify and personalize your photos.  Now it includes everything from tilt-shift capabilities (I am a huge fan!) to a great tool for making a picture into a blackline drawing...imagine the possibilities.

Improve your classroom presentations today!

Big Moon May 5th

What are you doing on Saturday, May 5th at 11:34 PM?  Whatever you are up to, make sure you look up at the supermoon.  Should be an impressive sight. 

Wind Map

Wind Map by hint.fm is completely captivating.  I look at it every day.

I guess there is something almost anthropomorphic about how it portrays real-time wind patterns and speeds across our great nation.

Quantify Your Life

Lifehacker ran an interesting and amusing article by Adam Dachis that tells how he used Google Spreadsheets to track daily trends and quantify his life.  

While the crass title, "Fill out This One-Minute Form Every Day and Find out Why Your Life Sucks (Or Doesn't)" will likely need to be tweaked for the K-12 crowd, the concept is perfect.  Have your students use his Spreadsheet as a template but replace his questions with their own.

This is a perfect tool to teach cause and effect, graphing, and to promote healthy life choices such as exercise, hydration and nutrition.

Scale of the Universe

I am drawn to the things technology can do that are not possible in any other medium.  Sure, there is the is classic "scale of the solar system" mural taped to the walls of schools across America.  Those are cool, but this Scale of the Universe 2 project by Cary and Michael Huang takes to a completely different plane.  Open it up and explore the world from the Planck to the the Entire Observable Universe. 

Any math teacher should be able to come up with scores of pretty amazing lessons built around the exploration of this site.

Have fun!

Color Hunter

Need design help? 

     Upload an image to Color Hunter.
     Get your 5-piece color template.
     Apply the template colors to your presentation.

     Wow your audience!

Pinnion

Students, pull out your phones, it is time to express your opinion!  Pinnion gives you unlimited free questions and responses.  Custom branding and graphics.  Custom closing message. Ability to view results in real-time.  Filter and report on results.  Export to Excel/CSV.  Embed in your website...and more!

Sign up and try Pinnion with your students today!  It is easy to use, engaging and free.  What could be better?

Give it a try by filling out this Pinnion below, or head over to: goo.gl/9WQV2 on your computer or mobile device.

Google Drive

Google Drive is here!  Take your docs, photos, videos (and pretty much everything else you want to store online) to any device and access them any time.  You get 5GB of storage for free and 25GB - 1TB for a pretty nominal monthly fee.

Go to drive.google.com, set it up and have fun!

Ten Design Principles for Engaging...Lessons

Dan Meyer has some great ideas on math and education.  I always enjoy reading his blog (even though I sometimes disagree) because his ideas have implications far beyond the math classroom.

His recent "Ten Design Principles For Engaging Math Tasks" perfectly illustrates that point.  These ideas will certainly make a math class more engaging, and improve student learning, but they can also be applied to nearly any subject from pre-K to adult professional development.

1. Perplexity is the goal of engagement. 
2. Concise questions are more engaging than lengthy ones, all other things being equal.
3. Use a short sentence or simple visual to “hook” the student into the space of the problem.
4. Pure math can be engaging. Applied math can be boring. 
5. Use photos and video to establish context, rather than words, whenever possible.
6. Use stock photography and stock illustrations sparingly.
7. Set a low floor for entry, a high ceiling for exit.
8. Use progressive disclosure to lower the extraneous load of your tasks.
9. Ask for guesses. People like to guess, speculate, and hypothesize. Guessing is engaging.
10. Make math social. 

Read his full descriptions and then consult this list next time you plan a lesson - be it First Grade Literacy, Secondary Social Studies, or a professional development session on Advanced uses of  Google Docs.  How many of these10 principles are you meeting?

Amazing New Google Docs Spellcheck

If you have not worked in Google Docs in the last few days you owe it to yourself to open up a new Doc and start typing.  Misspell a few words while you're at it and you'll be amazed by what you see.  Rather than the traditional list of suggested words you just get one Did you mean: suggestion.

Google is now using context as well as old fashioned spelling to determine the word you need.  The technology behind this is incredible.  I heard one Googler say, "The reason we can offer you one word is because we know we'll always be right!"

If you want to know more you can read the Google Docs Blog or Lifehacker, but really you just have to try it out.  It really is a triumph. 

eLearning Tools and Resources

Check out these elearning tools and resources in Jesper Isaksson's Mondomo!

A comprehensive and impressive creation.

Google in Education Resources and Booklet

Hey Teachers.  Are you always looking for ways to improve engagement, efficiency and collaboration?  Check out the digital version of the Google in Education booklet.

You can find the booklet and TONS of other Google Apps resources on the newly revised Google in Education website.

Every educator, from the most seasoned Google Apps user to the complete novice, will learn something new on the educator resource section of the Google in Education site.  You'll find new features, such as Fusion Tables, and great tutorials on Docs and the other basic building blocks of the Apps suite. 

What to learn on your own?  Simple click through the many interesting links of flip through the booklet.  For those of your conducting trainings, you'll find the site to be a pre-made resource to organize your content.

While you're there be sure to check out the growing collection of lesson plans to see how other teachers are putting the power of Apps to work in their classrooms. 

Rainforest Street and River View

Google recently released the first phase of their "street view" rainforest project.  The results are very impressive.  This is just one more way that modern mapping is making the world more accessible to everyone. 

Spend some time cruising the river and you'll be sure to uncover some unexpected surprises.   Your student rainforest projects will never be the same again.

You can read more about this and other street view projects on the Google Maps site.

Chrome Shortcuts

Do you ever accidentally close a tab and wish you could instantly pull it back up?  Now you can!

Try Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen the last tab you closed.

You can also:

Ctrl + Backspace to delete the previous word in the address bar
Ctrl + N to open a new window
Ctrl + 9 to switch to the last tab in your window...

That should get you started.  When you are ready for more, here is a great list of 70 other helpful Chrome Shortcuts.