Tech Tool Tuesday: Google Apps Reseach Tool

Did you know that you can search for information and images from right inside your Google Doc?

In any Google Document or Presentation, click "Research" in the "Tools" menu.

A Research panel will appear on the right.

Research Tool Example

For a general web search, type into the search bar and hover over one of the snippets until the buttons appear.
    Preview opens a snapshot of the site.
    Insert Link adds a hyperlink in your document.
    Cite adds a citation in the correct format to the footnote of your document!

For an image search, click on the gray square on the left of the search bar and choose "Images." Then type into the search bar.

To add the image to your document or presentation, simply drag it over to where you want it.  Google will automatically insert it and create a link to cite the image source!

While I love the citing and quick add features of the tool, the best thing about it is how quickly students can find Free Use images.  All they have to do is click on the little black arrow under that search bar and choose:

Free to use, share or modify, even commercially.

Now, students (or teachers) don't have an excuse why they can't give credit where credit is due, or take images that don't belong to them.  They can do what is right without ever leaving their document window.

Minute Trick Monday: Finder's Fee

COMMAND* + F

For today's Minute Trick, I am pulling out my favorite hidden keyboard shortcut.  We all know command+x for cut, command+c for copy, and command+v(Think Velcro) for paste, but do you know command+F?

This keyboard shortcut can be used on any document, website, or window to search for text.  First, a generic search bar will appear in the top right corner of the window.  As a you type, the matching text is highlighted.  It even gives a count of how many times your query appears in the window. You can use the up and down arrow to find the different places you appear.

This comes in handy whenever you are looking for a needle in an electronic haystack?  For example, looking for a specific name in a spreadsheet (a student score in building map score spreadsheets?) or a specific piece of information in an website article.  If you are writing the same email to different students' parents with the same information but have to use pronouns, you can copy the email text into a new email then find all of the "he"s and turn them into "she"s.

In my classroom, I had students use this shortcut when writing dialogue to find the very overused word "said" and replace it with more descriptive words.  You can also have them find all of the times they used pronouns or this/that to help improve their clarity.

Go ahead and try it right now.  Hold down the command and f at the same time.  When the search bar appears in the top right corner, type "command".  Do you see the highlighting?  Can you move through all the different places it is used?  BONUS:How many times do I use the word command?

*Remember, that the command button is the open apple button on older laptops.

Answer: 9 times, the word command was used.  Oops, now it is 10.

Thursday Thoughts: Taking Risks

Is it a coincidence that this quote showed up on my Facebook wall after coming home from watching many of our Emerson alums perform at the Maine South musical today?   It was quite the experience to see these kids we knew all grown up and fearlessly performing on stage.  It also reminded me of something I had noticed previously from the Student Technology Survey results.

When asked how often they are asked to do the following things at school:
    83% of our students said they were always or often able to problem-solve.
    80% of our students said they were always or often able to be creative.  
    76% of our students said they were always or often able to collaborate with peers.
    48% of our students said they were always or often able to take risks.

I'm not sure if the kids were giving us the answers that they think we want or if this is how they truly view what is happening in the classroom.  Either way, it revealed that we have an opportunity to show students the value of taking risks in their learning even if the "right answer" isn't guaranteed.

Personally, I have learned a lot about the benefits of positive risk-taking this year.  Every time I suggest a new idea for your classroom or vice versa, you are asked to take a leap.  While there have been many ups and downs, I have tried my best to have the successes outweigh the failures and appreciate your willingness to always keep trying.

With all this in mind, take a moment and think about what you would attempt in your classroom with technology if you knew you could not fail* Feel free to let me know what I can do to help make your answer a reality.

-If you want to experience a little "Where are they now?," stop by the LRC to check out the "Legally Blonde" program.  As you know, the musical itself is playing this weekend if you want to see it first hand.

-If you want more information about the Student Technology Survey, it was part of the April 8 BATC Report to the Board found here.

*My answer was starting this blog since I am not nearly brave or talented enough to sing on stage like our former students.