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a list of 100 lesser-known tricks to help with everything Google

I agree, Megan! Emma, happy to hear you are moving to Google Apps for Education. I made the switch my first year of teaching and haven't looked back! Google has so much to offer, and for free usually, that the possibilities seem endless. It has totally revolutionized how I thought I'd be teaching!

Google has so many hidden tricks that nobody knows about! Being aware of these can help you use Google to the most of its ability. I would definitely use this since I want to use Google in my classroom. I have found out how wonderful Google is, and I didn't know some of these tips! This is for teacher use for obvious reasons. There are many lists of things out there, but this is a less known topic so there probably aren't too many.

Tools, solutions, training, support, and programs for teachers. Very handy recourse to be aware of! I just learned about it this year!

Google's website for teacher and student resources - contains programs and Web 2.0 tools and training provided by Google.

Google's website for teacher and student resources - contains programs and Web 2.0 tools and training provided by Google.

This page on Kathy Schrock's site has links to different resources for coding and programming in the classrom. I plan to add some of these resources to our Google Site for my team's project and additionally will use them to build a coding curriculum in my classroom.

Several articles on how to use/incorporate google and features of google

Thanks for sharing. I do like the voice-to-text feature in Google Docs. I do fear this is promoting laziness, but it does make life easier! My students figured out this feature before I even showed it to them. I think that this feature is great for teachers too! For example, you can use an extension called Doctopus which will allow you to verbally give feedback to your students through Google Docs. For example, if I was reading a student's paper, this extension would record my voice as I am giving my student feedback. I think this would make life much easier on a student. Who knows, maybe there won't even be keyboards in the future. Maybe we will just talk into our computers? What a crazy thought!

Great resource! I was especially interested in the one about how to manage your Google Drive apps because I want to use more of them but don't want to get overwhelmed. There are a number of good ones for doing research, for instance. They can help both me, the teacher, teach the students how to research and organize information effectively, as well as help them, the students, actually go through the process. They really struggle with research, so anything helps. Thanks!

20 Apps available on Google for the classroom!

20 Apps available on Google for the classroom!

This page has training tools that can assist teachers in districts that use Google Apps for Education

This page has training tools that can assist teachers in districts that use Google Apps for Education

Picasa is a great application by Google, it allows you to upload and edit photos. A great web 2.0 tool that could be implemented into an activity. I love using Picasa, since photography is one of my many hobbies!

I love using Picasa! Every since I learned about it I use it for personal editing and professional editing! It's so easy to manipulate and very fun! I think that both students would love using this as an interactive tool in a class! I also think that it's fun and great for teachers to use as well!

I've used Picasa before and it seemed simple enough to use. I think the upper elementary grades would definitely be capable of using this but I would maybe wonder if something like iPhoto would be a little easier for them to use? I've had a little better experience with that. If you were trying to get teachers to use the software I also think iPhoto might make them a little nervous about using photo editing programs. People tend to have good thoughts more often than not when they think of Apple.

A huge list of apps and online resources you can use in your classroom.

A huge list of apps and online resources you can use in your classroom.

app smashing ideas and projects

Great resource for everything to do with app-smashing. I especially liked the "Get the Most Out of Google" section because it talked about how to beautify Google Docs. A few teachers have complained to me that they don't like how simplified Google Docs is compared to Microsoft Word, but I want to explore these ideas more to show them how it can be spiced up. Then we could easily move forward and show the kids how to beautify their Google Docs. I've found that the kids get really into picking pretty backgrounds and fonts, lol... We just got done writing our own "Declarations of Independence," and many of them wanted to decorate theirs with aged paper, calligraphy pens, etc. Thanks!

Katrina, Thanks for sharing this resource. This is useful to us as students right now because we are working on App Smashing, and I can see it being a useful resource to share with upper level students to inspire them to try something more complex. I also see it as a great resource for teachers because it offers quite a few good ideas of projects to use with App Smashing along with the apps that make it work. If you are a teacher new to app smashing, it is nice to start with a set idea rather than trying to invent your own project to go along with the apps you want to use. I look forward to implementing some of these ideas in my own classroom!

A plethora of webinars on Google web tools.

Richard Byrne is a teacher who blogs about different technology tools that are out there for teachers. His tips are usually quick reads and very easy to follow. He posts approximately once daily. Excellent resource!

This site has great resources that can be used in my classroom. One post from this blog is about "How to share videos through Google drive". At times students have an assignment where they have to create a video and it would be easier for them to submit the video to me through Google drive instead of posting it on a public site. This resource could be equally useful for teachers. Teachers can share videos with students or with colleagues through Google drive. Similar resources could be dropbox and learning management systems such as e-learning, Canvas or Blackboard.

This is an awesome blog for teachers! It seems that most of these tools can easily be used for teachers in the classroom. I would definitely like to use some of this technology anyway. It really is geared towards educators and it is nice that they are quick to read for those teachers who don't have much free time.

This resource shows a couple of different social media resources that teachers are using in the classroom. 

I really enjoyed the fact that this website gave several examples of how teachers have implemented technology and 21st century skills in their classrooms. Then gave a couple of examples of other social media avenues that teachers can implement. One thing that I think would be helpful is connecting teachers with PLNs on twitter or other places that would help them see how people in their field are using social media.

I think that this resource can be used by teachers very easily. It gives very clear examples on how to use a few websites in an actual classroom. This is a good resource for teacher use. It isn't made for students to look at; it's for teachers to get ideas on how they can use resources. There are always going to many of these blog posts and websites that give tutorials, ideas, lesson plans, etc., but some are good and some are bad. This one is one of the good ones!

Wesley A. Fryer's Blog! A Google Educator with amazing posts and ideas about technology in the classroom! Awesome Blog!

Nichol this is a great blog. Very interactive and offers so many options for teachers and students.

This blog seems to provide a lot of cool ideas for teachers and students both! Thanks for sharing!

different challenges about media in the classrooms

different challenges about media in the classrooms

Creative presentation tool for teachers and students. Can be used as an alternative to PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Educational Resources

Molly's website full of resources and a blog full of information around teaching with technology.

Molly's website full of resources and a blog full of information around teaching with technology.

This website a list of Web 2.0 tools you can use with your students when you want them to be collaborating, communicating, creating, critical thinking, and processing information. Many of the tools come with tutorials and explanations of how teachers have incorporated the tool into their classrooms.

Wow, love the extensive lists and all of the ideas they have here. It helps to keep them all together on this site so I can remember where to look when I want to variety of ideas for something. Whenever I feel like I want to change up a lesson or add something "spicier" to it, I often turn to something-tech related, so now I can turn here. Thanks! I think this could be helpful for any teachers looking to add a little spice to their lessons. I always "pin" stuff like that, too, to keep all of my ideas collected together.

I love the part of this article that encourages educators to think of a lesson that needs some life and then to look at web 2.0 tools! Also there is a link that brings you to effective communication tools for web 2.0 that I found helpful. Definitely a great teacher tool so that they have a place to go to for ideas for sprucing up a lesson. Teachers are really starting to come around to ideas like this, and I see more integration in lessons everyday. Definitely check out the twitter handle!

article discussing different ways in which twitter can be used in the classroom

Sarah, Thank you for sharing this article. Twitter exploded last year in my district, especially at the high school, as a form of communication for everyone. The middle school, where I am primilary at, is slowly catching on. However, I LOVE Twitter as a professional resource. I think it is like a social bookmarker. I can share the websites, and then go back when I have time to explore them more. I agree this can be used in my library to be an effective communication tool for both students and staff. I believe this resource can be used for both students and staff, but they have different purposes. As a professional, using hashtags can be very benefical to find information. It can also be a great way to network, using the Twitter Chats that go on all around the United States and the world. Students can use this to communicate. For example, the students wanted to have a blue out in honor of a student who has cancer at the football game last night. They asked the opposing team to join them in wearing blue to honor a young man who is fighting for his life. They did, and they donated an additional $425 because they found that information on Twitter! I am not aware of other resources that do that same thing. I believe Twitter is unique with their limit of 140 characters and the strong hashtag movement they begun all throughout the internet world.

Emma, are you in Clinton? I heard about the "blue out"! I like to use Twitter for mainly professional use, but that varies from anywhere between retweeting professional articles to reminding the study body to buy their yearbooks. I try to throw in some personal stuff every now and again just to show that their teacher is an actual human, too. :)