Canva - a graphic design program for the design challenged

If you are anything like me, you see all of the cute graphics and signs on pinterest and wonder by you can't do that.  I have discovered Canva and now I can pretend that I have awesome graphic design skills that I don't really have.

Canva has premade templates that allow to make designs for flyers, posters, invitations, Facebook covers, business cards and so much more.  It's basically drag and drop, so it couldn't be easier!  For the most part Canva is free, but if you want to use any of their premium elements you'll have to pay $1 for each one you want to use.  You can also upload your own images to really personalize your designs.

Canva has just announced that are launching a Canva for Work branch of their website.  Right now I"m still not clear how it's going to be different, but who doesn't like to get in things first, so I signed up to be on the list for the beta release (you should too!)

You can use this program to make posters and decorations for your classroom or students can use it for presentations. You do need to log in, so if students don't have their own e-mail addresses I would suggest you make a generic e-mail address that you can sign up for a an account with.  This way students can log in with that account and you always have access to what they have created.  I have done that for my classes with a simple Outlook e-mail address (I use it for anything that needs to have an account created, plus it also gives you online cloud storage.  More on that in another post).

Do you have a program that you or your students use for creating and designing? 

Top 10 Posts of April and what I've been up to

I can't believe it's May already!  Have the weeks just started flying by for you too.  We have had our state testing the past month, which has certainly become an experience.  I'm getting ready to finish up my school year - I have about a month and a half left.  I'm teaching a new class next year that I haven't taught for a few years so I'll be using my "vacation" to plan for that.

What are your plans after your school year ends?


Top 10 Posts of April

1. StudyBlue Pro - give it a try!
2. PowToon - Animated Videos
3. Augmented Reality in the Science Classroom
4. StudyBlue - flashcards and quizzes
5. Google Classroom Updates
6. Online Planbooks
7. Spotlight to search your Mac
8. Sharing Resources with Google Docs
9. Flubaroo - automatically grade online assignments
10. how to use GradeCam

Google Classroom Updates

Have you heard the great news?  Google Classroom has made some updates. Now you can have a co-teacher in Classroom.  That means both of you can post updates and assignments.

http://googleforeducation.blogspot.com/2015/04/teaching-teams-new-ways-to-work.html

You can also create assignments and save them in draft mode.  This is something that I have wanted (and put lots of feedback in for).  Now I can create a bunch of assignments when I have time and save them as a draft.  Then I can make them go live when I'm ready.  I'm very excited about these changes.

These, and past updates, came to be because teachers like you submitted feedback to Google about what they wanted to see.  In the bottom right corner of the website you will see a little question mark.  Click on it and submit feedback and let Google know what you want.  Do it everyday!!  (that's what I do).

Now that drafts have been implemented, I have started to submit feedback about "forcing" a turn in.  I would like a way to turn in assignments for students who just never do it themselves.  At some point I am just going to grade what they have done and it needs to be turned in for me to do that.


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Augmented Reality in the Science Classroom

This weekend I made a presentation about Augmented Reality in the science classroom.  Everyone seemed to really be excited about using these apps in their classroom.  I've posted my presentation below that you can benefit from it as well!  Most of these apps are available for both Android and Apple.

For those of you who aren't familiar with augmented reality, it's a way to superimpose a computer generated image onto a real world experience.  I know this doesn't explain it very well, so I suggest you download one of the apps and try it out.  Here is a quick video demonstrating one of my favorite apps Anatomy 4D.





This post also appears on my other blog Savvy Secondary Science. 

Spotlight to search your Mac

Have you ever went to look for a file but couldn't remember what you called it or where you saved it? You are going to love the Spotlight feature. Searching the spotlight will search your computer for apps, documents, images and other files. In addition, it also gives your suggestions based on other things, such as e-mail and your dictionary.

You find the spotlight in the top right corner of your mac. It looks like a magnifying glass.


Below is a screenshot that shows what it looks like when I searched for "periodic table".

Top 10 Posts of March and what I've been up to

Overall I would say that this month went well.  For some reason, I've been really organized and that helps a TON!  I have been planned more than two days in advance and have had copies made for the whole next week.  I know that this is so important, but it doesn't always come easy to me.  It's something that I've been working on and now that I feel that I'm caught up it's something that I think I can maintain.  If you have have any strategies to stay organized and stay on top of things, please send them my way!


Top 10 Posts of March

1. StudyBlue Pro - give it a try!
2. PowToon - Animated Videos (free upgrade to premium...
3. how to use GradeCam
4. PowToon Slides - Animated Slide Shows
5. Online Planbooks
6. Random Name Picker
7. Fun Socrative Quizzes
8. Chat comes to Remind
9. How to temporarily make your Mac dock smaller
10. Flubaroo - automatically grade online assignments

How to temporarily make your Mac dock smaller

The next couple of posts will be a mini-series about quick tips for using your Mac computer.  If there is something that you've always wanted to know how to do, now's the time to ask!



If there is ever a time when the Mac dock is getting in your way then this tip is going to going to help you out!

On your dock look for the vertical line separating your dock. It is usually near your documents folder.





When you hover over it, your mouse turns into a line with arrows on each end. You can then click in drag your mouse up or down to enlarge or shrink your dock.