Reeve EdTech Tips

Hi, come on in, have a seat. Thanks for coming. Your friends and I have been wanting to talk to you for quite a while. It's about  your browser tabs . Yes, I know. You  need   all of those open tabs   because you're working on so many things at once. That's what good multi-taskers do. But, just like chocolate, snow, or reality television,  too much can be a bad thing . Yes, I know, you're working on ALL of these things at the same time... Sure, tabs look like cute little bumps at the top of your browser, and they're  so  handy. But what you don't realize is that  each tab it really it's own separate computer program . You wouldn't try to run 25 computer programs on you laptop at once would you? Yet, that's  exactly  what you're doing with 25 open tabs.  Sometimes you have  so many  open tabs, you  don't even remember  what you have, and you start  duplicating  your tabs.You kno...

When your laptop is connected to a projector, it usually projects a copy of your laptop screen . However, most teachers don’t realize that the projector can act like a second screen that shows different stuff . This is a feature built right into your laptop, it is easy to set up, and it is super dooper useful. Display lesson plan notes while showing PowerPoint/Google Slides. Keep resources prepped and ready for later use in the lesson Get work done while students are watching a video Keep your email open without the students being able to see it. Keep reading for setup instructions for your HP laptop or Mac. Setup On your HP Laptop… Plug in your projector and turn it on ( don’t skip this step ). Go the Start Menu and choose All Programs > Accessories > Connect to a Projector Choose the Extend option. This treats your projector like second screen that is attached to the “right” of your laptop. Drag items from the “left” ...

These instructions describe how students can send their computer screen to yours (either for you to watch, or for you to show on your projector). This works with teacher laptops, and with any Chromebook or BYOD Windows or Mac laptop. How to Cast Teacher First time : complete the Setup Instructions on the next page. Open Google Chrome Sign in to Chrome . Open your Chrome Apps . Click the green Google Cast for Education icon. Have the student complete Steps 6-8 shown to the right. When the request notification appears, click “ Accept .” Student Sign in on Chromebook or in Google Chrome browser. BYOD laptops also need to connect to wifi Click the Google Cast icon next in the top right corner. Let the app search the network, then click your teacher’s name . Setup Instructions (Teachers) You only need to do this at the start of each term or semester. Open the Google Chrome web browser. Sign in to Chrome if you haven’t already....

There are so many times I need to capture what our computer screens look like, so we can share something with our students. For example, let me show you my recent internet search for penguins wearing hats.... There are ways to do this on your Windows PC or Mac, but I prefer to use the Chrome extension  Awesome Screenshot . It lets me capture a variety of things, including a browser tab, my entire desktop, or just a small part of the screen.  Then, it lets me add quick arrows, circles, text, or whatever to my image, like this....   It also lets you save the screenshots to your Google Drive, or simply copy/paste them into a document.  It's super easy to use, and installs in seconds. Visit  this link  and add it to Chrome. Then, any time Chrome is open, you can grab the screenshot you need. 

BYOD is not just about students carrying laptops and tablets. BYOD allows us to rethink the power of having a tiny, portable computer that is constantly connected to the internet. There are so many ways that teachers can use smartphones to enhance their lessons and curriculum. Sure, you  wouldn't  want to type a Master’s thesis on a smartphone, but you can certainly author a few basic paragraphs to begin your rough draft. Below is a list of middle school and high school activities that you can use in your classroom that work well with smartphone technology. Basic research Internet scavenger hunt : Students use basic Google searches to find information. “Name 2 US presidents who were unmarried while in office.” Givens in word problems : Students look up missing parameters in word problems. “Calculate the momentum of a baseball thrown at the speed of the world’s fastest pitch.” Fact checking : During class, students can be responsible for finding/verifyin...