Tech Top 5

I’ve decided to do a weekly Tech Top 5 that I think would be helpful in the classroom and are easy to implement. Please let me know if you have any suggestions and let me know what works (and what doesn't!)

Tech Top 5:

1. Using different fonts is a great way to customize your documents. Here’s how to add fonts to your google docs: create a new document, click on the font drop-down menu at the top, click on ‘more fonts’ at the bottom of the menu. Here you can select fonts on the left to add fonts to your list on the right. Ta-Da!

2. Yikes! Anyone ever have an crazy ads come up when sharing a YouTube video with your class? Here’s how you get rid of those ads and create a friendly link to share on social media, your blog, remind, symbaloo, or in class: First, copy the link to your YouTube video, then go to www.SafeShare.tv and paste your link in the box about the green button, then click ‘Generate Safe Link’ and then you have a link that will show the video without ads.

3. School Wifi. Did you know you don’t use your data when you’re on a wifi network? You can get on our district wifi by using the password bd20132014 on rcisd network. This will work on all campuses. On iphone - go to settings, select the rcisd network and put in the password. Your phone will automatically connect when you’re on any RCISD campus.

4. Did you know you can have an attendance shortcut on your desktop and phone? For a shortcut on your, go to your attendance login page - and click and drag the small image next to the URL (web address) to your desktop. It will create a shortcut that you can click on that will take you directly to your Attendance Login. For cell phone shortcut, open the Safari App, and go to http://pportal.rcisd.org/txGradebook/Login.aspx then click on the box at the bottom with the arrow coming out of it and click “Add to Home Screen”. Now you have a shortcut to attendance on your phone!

5. An alarm is a great time management tool (and attendance reminder), here’s how you can set an alarm on an iphone: click on the Clock App, then click ‘Alarm’ on the bottom of your screen. then click on the plus sign in the top right and add an alarm, be sure to click on the weekdays as a recurring alarm if it is for school. I set mine for attendance 9:55 so that if I’m in the middle of a lesson, I can snooze it and the alarm will come back on 6 minutes later.

*Resource of the week: a great way to collaborate WITHOUT student logins: Padlet and Lino - these are both ipad and computer friendly - Here's a quick rundown on how they work and how you can easily implement them into the classroom: http://vimeo.com/67512237#

Lastly, Remember that iStation is now on the iPads in the Library! Reserve them here: Library iPad Checkout  (Thanks Julie!)

I hope you find these tips helpful and useful. If you have any questions, or want to share something that works for, please share it in the comments below.

-Christiana