A collaborative tool that now can include: audio, video, drawings, maps, images, search and more

Sometimes revisiting a good collaborative tool helps us remember why we used it in the first place. In addition, we become aware of updates and new features that may help our students communicate their thinking more clearly. 

Padlet is a great collaborative tool and now has seven (7) new updates and all of them connect to requests/needs that we have heard from teachers in the past.  

Padlet's seven (7) new updates Click below to see how each can be used.

Draw
Voice 
Video/Film 
Photos/Snap 
Search 
Map 
Padlet within another Padlet 

How do teachers use Padlet? 
Exit Slips at the end of a lesson (draw, explain, show your understanding) 
Grammar usage: colons... class example 
Finding text evidence to support your thinking 
Collaborative KWL chart 
Sharing Ideas Posting Exemplars Book Reviews... 

Support Videos 
How to add audio, video & picture notesHelp Videos

Need help setting up a Padlet with your students, feel free to contact myself, Dana Levesque or Randy Stall for assistance.

Facilitating a Class - Using Grid View - With Google Slides

Many teachers have asked for tools that would allow them to see what each students has on their Chromebook screen. This feature may not allow you to see all the tabs a student has open but does give you the ability to see individual student progress on a shared Google Slide presentation where each student is assigned a particular slide. This can help you see how students are working through the content and help you as you walk the room making decisions on which students need more assistance. 

1. Open Google Slides and share the file with students in Google Classroom as "edit" rights.
2.  Have each student add a slide and put their name in the speaker notes section to identify themselves OR add X number of empty slides and assign each student a slide # that they are assigned to work on. (Sometimes this second option works better so that students are in alpha order for the grade book, if needed.)
3. As the teacher, open the Google Slide presentation and click the grid icon (bottom left corner) to view all slides in grid view.
4. Click Ctrl and - to zoom out so all the slides are viewable on your screen. 

Now as you walk the room, if you projected your screen, this can help you make decisions on who might need more support.

Consider: Projecting Grid View to the classroom: This allows you to easily access any students work, it also allows you to get a quick pulse on how students are progressing through the lesson/activity as you walk the room.

Other ways to use Google Slides to promote classroom discussions.

Using SnapShots are a great way to capture handwritten work (math and science...) and share on a Google Slide.

Including peer feedback that shows student understanding of the content.

Using Google Slides rather than Google Docs for shorter assignments. Opening one Google Slide and clicking the down arrow to view each students assignment is much easier and faster then opening 30 Google Docs. more information 

Student Feedback Using Voice Comments

Teachers have consistently over the years asked about what tool they can use in Google Docs for voice comments. Many LPS teachers use Screencastify and are happy with it, and others have used Kaizena with some issues. 

Now with Kaizena's latest update this past month within Google Docs Add-on it has streamlined the process of adding voice comments to Google documents. Watch the video by Richard Byrne that he made about how to add voice comments to student Google documents using Kaizena. 

Kaizena is a great way to efficiently deliver voice and text comments to your students about their progress. 

Malicious Extension Removal

If you have been testing out different chrome extensions on your computer to use with students and noticed issues popping up on your Windows machine. Try removing a few of the latest extensions you loaded and see if this resolves the issue.