Google Drive Suggestion Mode

Google Drive recently added Suggestion Mode allowing teachers to do edits on student work easily and more efficiently.  When a student shares a document with you, you can click on the editing button and get a menu for editing, suggesting or viewing.  

In editing mode, you will be able to edit the document directly meaning that any changes you make are automatically added to the document. (Reminder: You can still view edits from other people in the revision history...under the File menu)


In Suggesting mode,  any edits become suggestions and are listed out to the right of the document as an option to update the document.  When you make a "suggestion", the student can then press the check mark to accept the change or the x to clear the change and not use it.  If they accept it by pressing the check mark, the change will automatically be inserted into the document.   (See the image below)

To make a suggestion, just make sure you're in suggestion mode and start typing or changing the document as you normally would.  You'll see it will highlight the suggested area for changing and keep the former typing in case the student doesn't want to make the changes you suggest.  (See the image below)

This is a great tool to be used in conjunction with Google Classroom and a fantastic option for grading papers within Google Drive.  

New to Google Drive: Manage Revisions

Google Drive has always allowed for you to upload any file including Microsoft files and pdfs.  The problem was that if you shared these files with anyone, you would have had to reshare any revisions.  Google makes it easy now to share new revisions of non-google files with your students and coworkers.  Google Guru has a great video detailing how this can be done.  Check it out by clicking here!  

Poster My Wall

Do you run a club or sport?  Do you teach about campaigning or marketing?  Do you want to have a yard sale this weekend?  Do you use posters in your class?  If any of these apply to you, Poster My Wall is a great option for you!  

Not only is it easy to create your own posters from scratch with Poster My Wall, but you can also work from templates that are already designed for various needs.  Categories for templates include: Campaigns, Yard sales, Event Flyers, Fundraising, School Posters and tons more!  

Once you have created a poster, you can download it, share it with social media or order a high quality version to be printed and delivered to you!  Here is an example of an already created poster:

The Skinny on Skimm

NOTICE TO READERS:
Due to all of the issues with Youtube, blocking and general network mayhem in school districts, I will be going old school with regular blog posts rather than videos.  I hope this will allow everyone the ability to stay up to date with new cool techie tidbits.
I apologize for any inconvenience.

Now back to the show....

A while back I posted some information on News in Levels, a great resource for various reading levels.  I discovered that tool while looking for a news option that broke down the most important events going on each day in an easy to read format for busy people, for students, for those that get panicky every time they watch the news, or anyone else that likes to stay informed without spending a lot of time doing it.  This weekend, thanks to Facebook, I learned about Skimm.  

Skimm is the answer I have been looking for!  It emails me every morning with the skinny on all things news related from world news to sports news.  To top it all off, it does it in a fun, simple format and includes additional links if you need to learn more.  I have only read two copies so far but I must say I am impressed. 

If this is something that could interest you, check it out at www.theskimm.com.  It will allow you to view previous days so that you can see if it is right for you before you submit your email.