Pictures Tell a Thousand Words

Pictures tell a thousand words.  I love pictures.  A story is more impactful when you have pictures to go with it.  I am frequently asked where learners can find images to use with their projects.  Google is so easy, but images we find on Google are not necessarily available for anyone to use.  Copyright and Fair Use is always a part of the conversation.

This week as educator asked me if I could create an infographic for learners to reference when looking for images.  I already had one resource I have used with learners specifically looking at fair use resources.  Here it is...

Here is the infographic I created this week using Google Drawings.  When I was ready to share this file with learners I wanted the links to be clickable.  So, I changed the share settings for the document to "Anyone can view,' but I took it one step further.  When I copied the link I changed the very end portion of the link from "edit" to "preview."  By doing this, when someone accesses the image it will open up on a web browser and look more like a web page rather than a Google Drawings document.  Click the image below to see for yourself...

How are you asking learners to find images for their projects?  How are you modeling digital citizenship with the use of images in your classroom?

My Favorite "New" Tool

I know it's not "new" but it is "new" to some people.  I think in a parallel life I might be a graphic artist.  I love putting images together to express concepts.  I enjoy looking at how others put logos and words together to market their products.  I find inspiration for design in teaching everywhere!  When I started working with Google Drawings it was a little haphazard on my part.  I have had my fair share of using PhotoShop, but sometimes you don't need all the bells and whistles to create eye catching graphics.   After using Drawings for a while, I now LOVE to create with this tool!

Drawings is simple, yet powerful!  For educators and learners this is another application they can easily access with their Google Suite account.  The one thing I hope Google will work on is making this amazing resource available for creation on personal tablets.  Right now you can only create Drawings on a desktop.

To get yourself familiar with the basic setup and creation of Drawings watch this video.

Here is a short video that will help you learn to utilize the Arrange menu in Drawings.  This feature helps the type A part of my personality when trying to get something to look exactly right!

Did you know there were so many different options for editing videos within Drawings?  Amazing how easy it is to mask a photo!

Now that you have these awesome graphics, what can you do with them?  And, did you know you have access to creating Drawings within a  Google Doc?  What to find out how!

I hope you learned something new!  Try a "new" to you Drawing to create something spectacular for your learning environment!

Ladybug Life Cycle

So, what do you know about the ladybug life cycle?  The 2nd graders are now experts after spending a week doing research and developing their own eBooks.  First, students used a teacher created Blendspace to gather basic information by watching video clips and reading from teacher selected internet sources.

  

Did you know all the great resources for learning more about ladybugs can be found using National Geographic Kids and the San Diego Zoo websites?  The 2nd graders were amazed with the information they found from these resources.  

After students had collected as much information as they thought they needed, students used Google Drawings to create their own ladybug life cycle graphic and identify the parts of a ladybug.

Students mastered their Google Drawings skills by practicing how to create a copy of a document, using the different drawing tool and manipulating images.  The students also learned how to download as a .jpg file and then upload to another location.  Great work!

The final step was to create a eBook for publication to share their learning using FlipSnack.  FlipSnack is a free resource for creating online books that provide a variety of layouts and ease for moving through the publishing process.

The final publications are very professional looking filled with many great details from the students' research.  Click here to see one of the many great final products!