It's late March. Spring has kind of sprung..... kind of. We've all come back from Spring Break and the next 2 months will be a blur of testing and end-of-year activities. It's going to get crazy no one really wants to try anything new because....well....we just don't. BUT I've found some techie things that are SO easy to use and can save you (and possibly your students) time and energy.
Hang in there and remember that your emotions and your attitudes are easily read by your students and sometimes the smallest things you do have huge impacts on them.
What?! We Can Now Save Tab Groups? |
I love Tab Groups but my biggest complaint (and most of yours') was that once you closed your browser, you lost your Tab Group. Well, Google listened and Google responded. You can now SAVE your Tab Groups. Simply create a new Tab Group (Browser Menu > Tab > Group Tab OR Ctrl/Cmd + Click on a tab and select "Add Tab to Group"). Once you've created your Tab Group, Ctrl/Cmd + click or "right click" the Tab Group name. The first item in the drop down is a "Save Group" option. The saved Tab Group is now stored in your browser bookmark bar at the LH side (see graphics). You can close your browser and the next time you open it, your saved Tab Group is in the bookmark bar. Simply click it and your entire Tab Group is restored/opened. |
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Animated Drawings |
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So this is pretty cool. This is an website that leverages AI technology to animate single character drawings. This could be especially fun for elementary students (but I had a blast, myself). It is currently free to use. Go to https://sketch.metademolab.com/ and upload a scanned image file of a SINGLE character on a white background. Click through a couple of detail steps and make sure the application has all of the character parts aligned and let it do it's thing. It took me less than a minute from upload to final product to get an animated character. |
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Goblin Tools - AI Tools Geared Towards Neurodivergent People (But For Everyone) |
Goblin Tools is a collection of small, simple, single-task tools, mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult. Most tools will use AI technologies in the back-end to achieve their goals. The specific tools include:
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Google Tasks-Calendar Integration |
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It's no secret. I love almost all things Google. It's because they just keep thinking of ways to make it better and easier. I love a good todo list and I've shopped all around the interwebs trying NUMEROUS tasks and todo list applications. Well, Google finally made it easy for me to to just stay home (in my Google Workspace). Google Tasks is a separate application you have access to. It syncs with your Google Calendar but you would only see the tasks you gave a due date for. If you wanted to do more you had to open the Tasks application. Which isn't that hard but we're in the age of, "if it's more than three button clicks, I'm out." Google Calendar now has a button that allows you to switch between your calendar and your tasks essentially merging the Tasks app with the Calendar app. You can create multiple Task lists, subtasks, create items in the app and it shows up in the calendar. They now work in sync completely. Check out the image to see where it is. This can be a great way to help you AND your students keep things better organized and not have to venture outside of your Google Workspace. |
Eric West Instructional Coach Northern Buckeye Education Council 209 Nolan Parkway, Archbold, OH 43502 (419) 267-2591 |