Chrome is the new Black

Hi! My name is Rebecca Meile. I am a high school art teacher who is currently working on her Masters in Education. At the moment I am taking a great class about using Google in the classroom. As a teacher and someone who really enjoys educating themselves on technology that is useful I am extremely excited about this course and what it can add to my classroom.
Each week I will be reflecting on my findings and lessons from this course. Hopefully my reflections and information can help you and maybe give you a tool or two to improve your classroom or just your everyday life. 

This week we dove into the basics and really set ourselves up with a great foundation to further our learning about Google and all of the amazing apps, websites, extensions, etc. 

1st we acquainted ourselves with Google Chrome as a browser and set up our Google accounts. Because this course is a Google course we will be working with Chrome heavily.

*If you don't know much about Google Chrome you can learn about it here

After the video if your loving the features of Chrome and wanting to download it for your own use click this link here 

I really like Chrome for its ease of use and the fact that you can sync your account and use your bookmarks on any device once signed into your account. As a teacher who has several different professional websites that I need to use I am able to save passwords and websites to my bookmarks toolbar and streamline getting my day started.
Another great feature of Chrome is its extensions. These are like mobile apps you can use through the Chrome browser. This week we were to find a few that peaked our interest and investigate how we can use them in our classrooms. I choose to look into Insert Learning, Google Translate, and Screencastify. 

Insert Learning works on top of any website and enables teachers to give instructions for students, ask questions, start class discussions, plus more. While students are explore the website the teacher can watch in real time and give scores for answers to questions. 

Google Translate is an obvious one but I was interested if there was more I could do with it in the classroom. Students can translate whole websites and highlight specific text. There is also a text to talk option for students who may struggle with reading. 

Screencastify is a really fun extension that allows you to record your screen or yourself and create videos. As an art teacher I find this one most useful for demos which would enable students to watch demos as many times as they need. Students could also record themselves presenting their artwork. 

Here is the Chrome Web Store if your interested in Chrome Extensions. 

I think my favorite thing we learned this week was about Google Keep. This is an app that can be used on any phone but also can be used on your computer (find it here). 

I've been using Google Keep on my phone as a way to keep track on thoughts and To-Do lists but its capable of so much more!

Before I get too excited about my findings Google Keep is like virtual sticky notes but on steroids. 

Google Keep can keep pictures with text, voice reminders, to-do lists, text reminders or notes. There is also seamless use capabilities between Google Keep and Google Docs. You can pre-write comments to use in Google Docs which can make grading students papers so much easier. 

As an art teacher I think students can use Google Keep to store inspiration for art pieces. Show what they know about concepts through pictures with texts and voice messages. 

 I still can't believe this was only week 1 for this class and I already have so many ideas to improve my classroom with my new knowledge. I hope you enjoyed it all as much as I have. I'll be posting weekly so make sure to check back for more Google goodies!!