Teams Files in File Explorer on Your Computer

​Do you have a lot of files in your Teams in Microsoft Teams that you would like an easy way to access  all in one place? Today is your lucky day!  You can have access to all the Files sections from your Teams in File Explorer on your computer.  If you make add, delete or change something in a file, you will see the changes in both places. Here are some instructions to help you out:

1.  Open the Team with the files you would like easy access to.

2.  Open the Files Tab.

3.  Click on Open in SharePoint  (you may need to click on the ellipsis to find it).

4.  This will open a webpage that has SharePoint in the top left. When this opens, click on Sync:

5. Click on Open in OneDrive

6. Now you will have access the files from that Team by going to File Explorer and clicking on Comox Valley Schools on the left (that is what mine showed up as I’m not 100% your will be the same name but the symbol will be the same).

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Freeze, AV Mute and other Cool Things to do with Your Epson Remote

​​Most teachers now have some kind of projector (Brightlink/Smartboard)  in their classroom and they all seem to come with the same remote.  I just discovered some cool things that you can do with it and of course, I wanted to share!

Freeze – Press the Freeze button to freeze the image on the screen. Then you can use your computer to do your own work while leaving the screen frozen on what your class needs to see.

AV​ Mute – Temporarily turn off the display video and audio. I’ve noticed that lots of teachers use this feature to save the light bulb without having to turn the machine off and then on again in a few minutes when you need it again.

Display Pointer – Pressing this puts an arrow on the screen that you can control using the arrow buttons on the remote.

Page Up and Down buttons – These can be used to move through slides in your PowerPoint or other slide presentation.  This only works if you are not using a pen: ​Click here for more information.​

Here is a picture that explains what all the buttons do:

From: https://nerdtechy.com/epson-powerlite-l500w-review​ ​

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words! We are posting pictures and using images that we find online everyday to enhance our multimedia presentations. It is important to teach students to respect copyright and the work that people post on line.  Students should be encouraged to use images that are licensed as Creative Commons or public domain.  

To find these type of images in Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Type your topic into Google
2. Click on Images
3. Click on Tools
4. Click on Usage Rights
5. Click on Creative Commons License (this ensure that you are using images that are permitted by the person who put the image online)
​What does Creative Commons Mean?  Watch this video to learn:
There are also many sites out there that offer Creative commons images free for your use.  This article contains links to many of the free image sites:

18 Free Image Sites and Tools for Schools​

I usually check them before using the pictures because some of them would like you to put a link to their site.

Some good guidelines for using online images:

1.Give the creator of the images credit for their work (put the link from where you got the picture-you may need to actually visit the site that the picture is from as it is not acceptable to give a link to Google Images).

2. Get the pictures from a place that is designed for pictures to be shared (for example, Pi​xabay).

3.  Use pictures at are licensed Creative Commons.

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How to ChatGPT Proof Your Assignments

I will readily admit to anyone that I love Artificial Intelligence (AI) and find it fascinating.  AI is a very hot topic and it is changing so fast it is hard to keep up! While ChatGPT is an amazing tool for us and our students to use, there are some scary,  more nefarious uses for it as well.   Please read on to find some tips for preventing your students from using AI​ for cheating and a very important tip about SnapChat AI from Safer Schools.​

I just finished watching a fabulous presentation by Ryan Orilio, a Director of Technology from New York and another presentation by George Couros.  Here is what I learned:

Using an AI detector is not a great way to discover if a student is using AI in their assignments.  They have proven  to be unreliable and prone to giving false results that could cause you to accuse an innocent student of cheating, while also placing their personal writing in a potentially unsafe place online. Still, most schools are not blocking ChatGPT-there are so many places to use AI available, students will just find another one.  It seems like AI will not be going away so it is time for us to step up our game and learn to use it as the incredible tool that it is.​

Here are some ways that Ryan Orilio talked about to “cheatproof” your assignments to prevent students from using ChatGPT and other AI tools to write them:

​1.  Ask students to write about something deeply personal. For example, have the students talk about a challenge they have faced or how a piece of writing relates to their own life.

2.  Ask students to write about current or local events. The free version of ChatGPT does not have current knowledge and it is not designed to search for current events.  You could ask students to compare current events to something that happened in the past.

3.  Do more writing in class. Yes, it is more work for all but it works.

4. Ask students to show or explain their work.  Even if they used AI to help, they would need to understand it,

5. Have students hand in more than one draft.

6.  Have students explain what they did and why? Why did they choose this topic?

7.  Ask students to present some form of oral presentation. Microsoft Flip, iMovie, or just recording an audio recording with force them to read their presentation out loud and analyze it.

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Canva Interactive Whiteboard

I am often asked about the best tools we have available for Mindmapping. One I recently found (and love) is Canva Whiteboard.  Using Canva Whiteboard, you can easily draw diagrams, add images, and write notes to help your students understand the lessons. Plus, you can collaborate with your students in real-time, making it an excellent tool for distance learning or blended learning. Here are some other ways to use it:

  1. Brainstorm ideas: Use Canva Whiteboard to brainstorm ideas with your students. You can create a blank canvas and ask your students to add their ideas, or you can use a template they can build on. There are templates for K-W-L, ​Project Journeys, Design Thinking and more.​
  2. Collaborate on projects: Canva Whiteboard allows for real-time collaboration, so you can work with your students to create projects together.
  3. Use it for group work: Canva Whiteboard is also a great tool for group work. You can create a canvas for each group and allow them to collaborate on their project in real-time. There are templates they can use for essay planning, researching, idea boards…
  4. Share it with students: Once you’ve finished working on a Canva Whiteboard canvas with your students, you can share it with them so they can continue to work on it independently. This can be a great way to encourage independent learning and creativity.

Using Canva Whiteboard in your classroom, can foster collaboration and creativity among your students, whether you’re teaching in-person or remotely. 

Here’s how to find it:

1. Log into your Canva account at canva.com

  • Click on “Continue with Microsoft”
  • Use our school district email and password to log in

2.  How to get to the Whiteboards:

  • Type whiteboard in the search space or
  • click on Whiteboards at the top – This will show you some templates. Select one and try it out. Or
  • click on Whiteboard after “You might want to try…” – This will create a blank one. There are templates on the left
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From the Depth of the Sea to Far Reaches of Space and Some Minecraft Saving Advice

​This week I am excited to share a silly, fun website which takes you on a space elevator to the far reaches of the universe.  Put on your space suit and cue up the elevator music (yes, you can click to hear it in your elevator) and enjoy: https://neal.fun/space-elevator/​ I looked a little further and discovered that the same people also made a trip through the depth of the deep sea: https://neal.fun/deep-sea/​

​​Saving your Minecraft World to Avoid Losing It:

Minecrafters out there may have noticed that your Minecraft world is only on the computer that you create it on-it is very computer specific.  We recommend exporting your worlds at the end of every class to ensure that if something happens to the computer you started on you can still import your world and open it on another computer (thank you Paul for this one)​.

Click here for instructions for how to import and export your Minecraft world.

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Earth Week Ideas and 2 Great Websites

In honour of Earth Week I have two great websites (programs) to share with you and a great opportunity to try out Minecraft Frozen Planet with a free online live lesson from Cobblestone Collective.  
​Sierra Club BC:
​
I used to have the Sierra Club come in and do amazing workshops with my classes (for free) when I worked at NIDES and I loved it.  They also offer online learn to draw lessons which I hear are fabulous (thank you Christa for sharing this) and they combine Art, Science and the Indigenous ways of knowing.
Check out their K-8 School Programs here: School Programs
Sign up for their newsletter here: Click here then scroll down to sign up 
Find the cool Drawing lessons here: Drawing lessons​​
BC Hydro:
​​
BC Hydro has awesome lesson plans, activities and free stuff for teachers (thank you Mallory for sharing this).
You can check out their Earth Week lessons (and challenges with prizes) until April 22nd here: Earth Day Activities
Check out their other activities and lesson plans here: Power Smart for Schools
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Exciting New Canva Magic Features!

I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun Spring Break and that you are all recharged.  Right before the break I watched a Canva presentation about their new features and I have been waiting to tell you about them. They are so awesome-you are going to freak out!  Canva has used AI to create what they are calling AI Magic!  Visit Canva using your free account to try them out.  Most of these features have a link on the front page to try them.
New Features in Canva:
1.  Magic Write – Explain what you would like written and let Canva write it for you. This feature is not available in student accounts.  It is available in all of your Canva design projects though. Let it write your poems, speeches…
2.  Magic Draw – You can now do freehand drawing on your designs and more excitingly you can draw when you use the group Whiteboard. Shape assist will help you make perfect shapes.  The Whiteboard feature is great for brainstorming and for students to create Mindmaps!
3.  Magic Design –  Start by uploading an image and look at the designs that Canva creates for you to help you get started.
4.  Magic Presentation – Describe your presentation topic and let Canva create it for you! Then you can tweak​ it by changing the style and colours.  I asked it to create a presentation on how to use Canva in High School Education and it created this: Kara’s Magi​c Presentation​
5.  Magic Edit and Eraser – this is my favourite!  You can change part of an image by brushing over it and telling it what you would like to have there.  In the picture they share they change a daisy to a rose in a hand!
6.  Beat Sync – create a video in Canva then Canva will add the music that syncs perfectly with your video! It really does seem like magic!

7.  Text to Image – Describe the image you would like and it will create it for you.  To find this one you need to click on Apps on the left and choose Text to Image.

8.  Create an Animation – Just choose an element that you would like to move, drag it across your screen to make a path and it will move during your presentation or video.

​There are a whole bunch of other new features as well like Translate, magic resize, bulk create, layer and gradients but these are some of my favourites.  You can watch the highlights of the presentation that I watched by clicking here.

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Some Silly Spring Fun with Online Easter Eggs

Who said Easter Eggs are just for kids? Google Easter eggs are hidden messages or features that can be found on the Google search engine or other Google products. They are a fun way to engage students and add a bit of humor to your class. They are also a bit more fun than the T-Rex game we see kids play when the internet is down.

Here are my favourite ten Google Easter Eggs (yes there are more). Most of these work better if you start from the Google home page (https://www.google.com/):

    1. Barrel roll – Type “do a barrel roll” into the Google search bar and watch the page spin around.
    2. Google Snake Game – Type “Google Snake Game” into the Google search bar and click on the “Play Snake Game” button that appears at the top of the search results. This will take you to a classic game of Snake that you can play right in your browser.​
    3. Google gravity – Type “Google gravity” into the search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky” ​and watch the Google homepage fall apart.
    4. Google sphere – Type “Google sphere” into the search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​then ​watch the Google homepage turn into a 3D globe.
    5. Atari breakout – Type “Atari breakout” into the Google image search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky” then play a game of classic Atari breakout.
    6. Blink HTML – Type “Blink HTML” into the search bar and scroll down to watch the search results blink.
    7. Askew – Type “askew” into the search​ bar and watch the page tilt to one side.
    8. Friends – This one is for fans of the classic show Friends.  Type in the name of any of the main characters, then click on the image to the left of their name:
    9. Google in 1998 – Type “Google in 1998” into the search bar ​and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​ then see what the Google homepage looked like in its early days.

…and last but definitely worth checking out…

  1. Cha Cha Slide – Type in “Cha Cha​ Slide” and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​ then click on the microphone you see at the top right. This one is super fun! Go through the whole song and have your class do the movements 😊
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Spending Time on World Book Timelines

I can’t resist another opportunity to share the resources that Lisa Read from Focused Ed shared with us a few weeks ago. ​World Book Timelines is a powerful tool that can help your students visualize historical events. With this tool, students can create and explore interactive timelines that feature a wide range of events, topics and periods, including art, music, politics, world history, science and more.

Here are a few ideas for using World Book Timelines:

  1. Assign a timeline project: Ask your students to create their own timelines on a particular topic. For example, they could create a timeline of important inventions​ or they could create a timeline of a events that occurred in a novel. Encourage them to include multimedia elements, such as images and videos to make their timelines more engaging.
  2. Use timelines to learn about historic events like the Prime Ministers of Canada.
  3. Create collaborative timelines: Divide your students into small groups and ask them to create collaborative timelines on a particular topic. This can be a great way to promote teamwork and encourage your students to learn from one another.​
How to get to World Book Timelines:
1. Go to Learn71.ca and click on Library Commons and then​ Research Databases or just click on Research Databases ​(the third button down on the right).
2.  Click on Encyclopedias and find World Book Timelines:
​3. You shouldn’t have to log in when you are at school but you can also use them at home. Log in using your school password (these can be found by logging in to the Destiny library search and then clicking on Passwords)..
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