Back for the Winter - Tech Ideas For A Snow Day - Enhancing #ClassroomInstruction with a Google Slides and PowerPoint

If you didn't know this yet, getting a snow day as a teacher isn't the same as when you were a kid... IT'S BETTER!! Like, so much better.

After sleeping in for an extra 4 hours, 12 cups of coffee (out of fear of withdrawal symptoms) and wondering if this really what "normal" people watch on TV between the hours of 9 and 5, snow days tend to be where I totally nerd out on classroom tech projects that I don't have time for in the hustle and bustle of teaching. 

My personal goal this year is to take every snow day and digitize one annoying thing that's a necessary evil or an evil necessity in the hopes of making my life easier. So, here it is. I invite you to join me in this endless battle of good versus evil, the title fight, the final round of...

                       TEACHER VS. TIME

We left hook with the invention of email, time uppercuts by giving our administrators email too. We quick jab with Google Drive, time blindsides us with district approved OneNote. So here's some ideas to gain the upper hand and take back your time by digitizing your life.

For this snow day... My weapon of choice is Google Slides and its more mature/uptight cousin PowerPoint

Morning Messages and Warm ups.

I hate daily messages, and daily updating of things. Also, personally, I'm 6 foot 3, so writing on anchor charts is a serious pain. Enter PowerPoint.

Make a template slide for your morning messages and warm ups. Each day, you duplicate the slide from the day before, change the date, message, and PRESTO CHANGO! Instant morning messages and warm ups. Display them as the kids walk in - quit spending 20 minutes writing in manuscript and pretty colors. Kids can use sticky notes to write on the morning message or warm up.

Google Slides lets your co-teachers get in on making them, so if you have a morning planning meeting, your class isn't having a morning dance party that you see on YouTube at your next eval.

Centers and Stations

Keeping to a time schedule is hard stuff. Rotations, centers, stations, keeping 4 different groups on track at the same intervals while assessing, explaining, and reexplaining? AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR DAT. But PowerPoint does. PP and GS have nifty time features. Go to rehearse timings and make a PowerPoint that displays where kids are for a chunk of time. A 10 min slide that says "Rotation A" a one minute slide that tells them where to switch, additional directions, and set it up to make a noise when it's time to switch. 

You can be out TEACHING, not upfront barking movements and marching orders. Best part is, you can take it a step further and make different PP timers for different subjects, time schedules, etc. For those like me who get lost in a lesson and realize 45 minutes have been spent on a 5 minute mini lesson, a faithful timer can make all the difference. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10RCzGp4k_grmTp_0KbPBlgDDjoXIZWpRv951YiUece4/edit?usp=docslist_api

Handouts 

Got a handout you're trying to make that just won't cooperate? Make it inPowerPoint and save it as a PDF.

Making interactive notes pages on PowerPoint helps organize info into easy to consume boxes for kids. It's also an easy way to make notes for yourself on directions for a mini lesson. PowerPoint has great printing options so printing outlines and handouts are incredibly easy.

The Google Slides Advantage

Google Slides adds in the functionality of PowerPoint with the supercharged gusto that is Google Apps. Those that follow this blog have seen our digital lesson plan book. Google Slides can be inserted straight into your lesson plan book and viewed right from there, housing ALL of your awesome lesson needs in one place.

Your move, time. Your move.  

Happy Snow Day Ideas #1