Birds of a Feather

This past week we held our very first virtual teacher panel as the kick-off event to our Elementary Academic Technology Winter Summit. We invited a handful of teachers to share 2-3 strategies or ideas that they have been using to engage students in a concurrent classroom setting. The strategies and ideas they shared blew us all away! I could have easily sat there and listened to them all evening. If you didn't get to attend, don't worry. I'm going to be sharing some of their innovative and engaging strategies over the next few weeks.

Did you know that you can create your very own virtual background for use in your Zoom meetings? You don't even need a green screen, just a little creativity.

First, create a Google Slide with the content you want to share with your students. In my video tutorial, I created a slide with a writing prompt and I also used the Snipping Tool to capture a few screenshots for a read-aloud.

Once you have your Google Slides ready to go, you will need to download your Google Slides as a Microsoft PowerPoint file. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Why PowerPoint? The virtual background feature only works with a PowerPoint. No big deal! Click on File and select Download as Microsoft PowerPoint. The file will automatically be converted and saved to your downloads. *Before using the file in your Zoom, you may want to open the file in Microsoft to make sure everything converted nicely and neatly.

Now, let's go to Zoom. While in a Zoom meeting, select Share Screen and click on the Advanced tab. From the Advanced tab, select Slides as a Virtual Background and click on Share. Navigate to your downloads, select your PowerPoint file and select Open. It may take a few seconds for your PowerPoint to process. Once your file is processed it will automatically become your virtual background. You can use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to navigate between pages. You can even move your image around on the screen.

Want to create and record a read-aloud for your students for later use? Use the record feature to record yourself reading.

What other ways can you think of to utilize this feature in your Zoom meetings?

A special shout out to Leslie Wogstad at Westwood Terrace ES, @woggy_210, for reminding me about this little gem.

Balancing the needs of both your Roomies and Zoomies isn't an easy task. Ellen Webber at Myers ES, @1ellenwebber, shared how she uses digital scratch-off tickets to keep her students motivated.

As a way to encourage all of her students to complete their work in a timely manner, she utilizes digital scratch-off tickets. If all of your has been submitted in the designated time frame (month, week, etc...) you earn a scratch-off ticket! Each ticket holds several different prizes for the students to choose from. A few class favorites include virtual lunch with the teacher, snail-mail from the teacher, and a personalized water bottle.

Scratch-offs can be created and shared with students via a Goggle Slide. Create your Google Slide aka Prize Patrol and cover each prize with a solid shape. You can share the Slide with students and have them remove one shape to reveal their prize and submit via Schoology or you can number the shapes, share your screen via Zoom, and allow students to pick which shape they want to be revealed.

Using Seesaw with your Littles? Create your prize board in a Google Slide and use it as your activity template. Use the wide marker tool to color over the prize choices. Instruct students to use the eraser tool to erase one color to reveal their prize.

Northside ISD: Academic Technology

Elementary Academic Technology Coach

Email: michelle.fikac@nisd.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/nisd.net/atcelem/welcome
Location: 6632 Bandera Road, Building E Leon Valley, TX, USA
Phone: 210.397.9404
Facebook: facebook.com/NISDAcadTech
Twitter: @TechCoachFikac