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For years (centuries ... really, millennia), students have had access to paper. And with that, they've been able to gather their ideas and turn them into static, two-dimensional images.

To put those images in motion ... well, that's been trickier over time.

Technology made that possible with the creation of animation software. (Although who never tried making flip-book animation in the corner of their notebooks while bored in class???)

Animation software can be expensive and tricky to learn.

Here's the great thing ...
You don't need animation software today.
You just need a free digital tool that everyone has access to.

Google Slides. (Yes, PowerPoint and other slide presentation tools will work, too.)

With a few steps and some creativity, Google Slides can become a powerful animation tool that most students -- little to big -- can wield.
In this post you'll see ...

how to create stop motion animation with Google Slides

how students can present it to each other (or a larger audience online)

how it can be used in the classroom

some cool example animations

This is cool! How do I do it?

Basically, you're going to create a slide. Then duplicate it and move something. Then duplicate that new slide and move something.

Over and over and over again. When you're done, you'll flip through the slides quickly and it'll look like your creation is in motion!

Want to watch the whole thing in video? I created this great tutorial video that will walk you through the whole process (below).

Or, if you're short on time and want to cut to the chase, t he step-by-step is below the video!

0:45 -- Create your slide animation

9:20 -- Ways students can present their animations

18:07 -- Bitmoji in slides animations

20:05 -- Draw your own images for animations

23:00 -- Examples from the classroom
1. Start out by creating a blank Google Slides presentation.
(Trust me ... if you've never done this before, you'll want to create one while I show you the steps. It's fun.)

(Go ahead ... click here to create a new Slides presentation ... I'll wait here 'til you're done ...)

See, that was easy, wasn't it? No loss of life or limb, even!

I like to clear all the stuff off my slide to have a blank canvas. You can use the "Layout" button in the toolbar (when you don't have anything selected).
2. Start designing the first slide.
Your animation will consist of LOTS of slides, but the hardest part is creating the first one. This will be the basis of the entire animation.

Create your first slide. Use whatever you need: shapes, lines, text, images ... whatever!

I created my first slide (below) out of lines and shapes.

(Note that line is three points wide (thickness) and NOT a three-point arc in basketball.) (Sorry ... dad joke ... can't help it!)
3. Duplicate your first slide.
When you have your first slide designed, the hardest step in the whole process is over!

Right click (or two-finger tap with a Mac laptop or Chromebook) the thumbnail of the first slide. Then choose "duplicate slide."
4. Move something on the second slide to start the animation.
Decide what you're going to animate. You'll start your animation by moving the object(s) slightly in the direction you want to animate it/them.

The more you move that object, the bigger the object "jumps" each time you advance to the next slide in your animation.

Bigger "jumps" mean less slides and faster animation.

Smaller "jumps" mean more slides and smoother, slower animation.

For this animation, I selected the person in my slide and did a big "jump" by hitting the right arrow key about three times.
5. Duplicate your second slide.
Same deal as before. Once you're done with that second slide, right-click it and duplicate it.
6. Repeat this process over and over again until your animation is complete.
Wash, rinse, repeat. It takes as long as it takes to finish your animation ... you decide!

Note: When you duplicate slides, make sure you ONLY duplicate the last slide. For the animation to look right, that's the only one you can modify, too. If you realize you need to change something in a previous slide, you'd better delete all of the slides after it and start them over.

But how can I make my animation even cooler?

Ooh, this is where it gets fun. Here are a few ideas:
Get creative with the characters you create.
Notice that I was just moving my character slowly to the right -- and that his arms and legs weren't moving.

I started moving his arms to make it look like he was waving ...
Add some text with the speech bubble callout.
Characters can interact with each other in animations, too!

You can use the callouts under the shapes tool to add speech bubbles and thought bubbles.

However, if you only put a speech bubble on ONE slide, you'll probably advance past it quickly. That makes it hard to read the text the character is saying.

Here's a trick:

Start with the speech bubble on one slide. Duplicate the slide.

Add one word. Duplicate the slide.

Add the next word. Duplicate the slide.

Here's an even BETTER trick:

Want to add a dramatic pause? Put a couple (or more) duplicate slides in without changing ANYTHING on them.

When you're advancing your slides to create your animation, you'll keep clicking through slides ... but nothing will change. It's a way to build in a pause without having to stop clicking.
Add images.
Many of my examples are heavy on shapes, lines and text. But you can pull regular images -- photos, clipart, icons, whatever -- into your slides as well!

In fact, there's a type of image that is SUPER fun to add to slides animation.
Do you even ... Bitmoji?
Creating a Bitmoji ( bitmoji.com) cartoon character of yourself to add to slides animations is a lot of fun.

Students could create their own Bitmojis, too. Know this, though:

Terms of use says users should be 12 or older.

There are some inappropriate Bitmoji images.

An alternative for younger students:

​Create a Bitmoji account.

Design the character to look like some of your students (skin tone, hair, other features).

Download some Bitmojis they might like to use and save them in a shared Google Drive folder. (Create the folder, put the images in it, click the "Share" button to get a link to that folder and make sure anyone with the link has access to it.)

Change the appearance of the character so it looks like other students.

Download some Bitmojis.

Continue until all students have Bitmojis that look like them.

Give students access to the folders through Google Classroom or your learning management system (Canvas, Schoology, etc.).

It's kind of time-consuming, but it can be SO much fun -- and if you do it once, it's taken care of for the rest of the year. Plus, this means everyone is within Terms of Service ... you're the only user of the app (not the students), and once the images are created, students that use them aren't considered users.
Draw the images for your animation.
Use a sketching tool like the Paper app by FiftyThree for the iPad or Adobe Draw or Procreate. Sketch your images there and use them to move across the screen!

I drew these sketches to incorporate in a presentation I did on Google Slides. Notice that there are only three versions of my character: one where the front foot is raised, one where the back foot is raised, and standing. It took three sketches to do this whole animation ...

(Apparently, the standing one didn't make it in the image ... oops! Just know that he walks on the screen and then stops and stands.)

Great! We have animations. What do we do with them?

You have a few presentation options. Let's go from easy to geeky ...
Option 1: Have students present to each other on their own devices.

Students finish their animations.

They partner up.

They press the "Present" button on their devices.

They flip through their slides as someone else watches.

Easy peasy. Very little prep and VERY low learning curve.

It can get much cooler, though ...
Option 2: Create a video of the animation with a screen recording.
By taking a video recording of the screen while students flip through their animations, they can capture their animations more permanently -- AND add voice narrations!

Any kind of screen recording tool will work, and there are lots of options.

My favorite tool to do this is Screencastify ( screencastify.com). It's an extension for the Google Chrome browser. The free version has LOTS of good features.

Plus, you can upload videos directly to Google Drive. (That's the money shot, if you ask me!) From there, students can turn work in to Google Classroom or a learning management system with just a few clicks.

A one-click install will put a Screencastify button in your Chrome extensions in the top right corner of your Chrome browser. (Might make sure that students are able to download it, too, before making big plans.)

Once it's there, you can start recording videos of their screens. One option: have students work in pairs with one flipping through slides and another reading a script ... Screencastify can record your microphone!

Before students start recording, here's how I would set up the slides for recording ...
Click the dropdown arrow next to the "Present" button. Present with "Presenter view" and then close the speaker notes window.
Why? This displays the slides in full in the space below your web address bar and bookmarks in your web browser. If you're using Google Chrome, this also means you still have access to your Chrome extensions, which is perfect for using a screencasting tool like Screencastify.

Present in presenter view (and close the speaker notes). Start recording. Flip through the slides to animate them. Narrate with voice if desired.

NINJA TRICK: If you add a webcam video of yourself to your screencast using Screencastify, you can move the webcam video around during recording. That's a nice option to keep it from covering up something important. However, you can have some fun with it ... use it to add yourself into the video! Move the webcam video into the video and point to something in the video OR talk to the characters in the video. Extra creativity!

When you're done, click that Screencastify extension icon in the top right of your browser again. There's an option to pause or stop the recording. Stop the recording and it immediately starts to upload to Google Drive or YouTube (you choose).

Once the video is done and uploaded, you can display the video OR share it online with a link, through Google Classroom or in many other ways.
Option 3: Have Google Slides auto-advance slides for you
To this point, we've only talked about advancing slides with the arrow keys or the space bar. However, if you want to automate that -- and make sure the animation advances at a uniform speed -- it's possible!

You'll create a published link to the slides and adjust the speed for auto-advancing slides.

First, go to File > Publish to the web ... and click the blue "Publish" button. (Don't worry ... doing this won't mean you'll have random strangers show up in your file because you "published" it. It just makes it easier to display and share with others.)

You'll copy the link for sharing that it gives you. Paste it into a new browser tab, but before you hit "enter" to load it, do the following:

At the end of the link/URL, you'll notice it says "delayms=3000". (Your number might be different.) You can adjust that number -- the lower the number (amount of time between slides in milliseconds), the faster the slides advance.

Try a number and see how fast the animation moves. If it's too slow or too fast, adjust the number and hit "enter" to load the page again. Once you have it how you like it, you can copy that modified link and share it however or wherever you'd like.

Wow, amazing! How can I use this in class?

There are SO MANY potential uses for slides animation.

History and English/language arts: Retell a story or an event from history by animating the characters.

Math: Show how you'd work a problem by moving the numbers around on the screen.

Science: Show the processes or concepts you're studying in motion.

PE: Show strategy or rules for sports you're studying. OR, take a burst of consecutive photos while performing a sport and add them to slides to animate those photos.

Here's an example slides animation from history (click here to open the Google Slides file): the start of the Battle of Little Big Horn. This one is pretty rudimentary, but by doing that, it can be created pretty quickly. This one was done in a matter of minutes!

Here's an example from science (click here to open the Google Slides file): Students in Chris Baker's science classes were learning, among other things, the sodium potassium pump that has to do with muscle contraction. They animated the whole process start to finish, and it looks pretty good!

This video isn't by a student, but it's a fun example of what's possible with slides animation!

The sky is the limit with Google Slides animation!
How could you use animation in your class? If your students have done it, how did it go? Do you have any advice -- or links to student work? Please add a comment below and tell us! For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links: Interested in having Matt present at your event or school? Matt is scheduled to present at the following upcoming events: Contact us by e-mail!

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Learning in motion: EASY stop-motion animation with Google Slides

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For years (centuries ... really, millennia), students have had access to paper. And with that, they've been able to gather their ideas and turn them into static, two-dimensional images. To put those images in motion ... well, that's been trickier over time. Technology made that possible with the creation of animation software.

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Quality bell ringers are crucial - quick activities to get students going at the beginning of class, when the bell has just rung.

For these first five or ten minutes of class (OK, probably more the five than the ten), we have our students' most attention. It's the most focused they'll likely be for us all day.

If we squander that time, the rest of our time with them suffers.

But if we seize the opportunity that it is, we can spark interest and hook students into a lesson.

One of the hooks from the book Teach Like a PIRATE that's most memorable to me is the Board Message Hook.

In a book about engaging students, the idea of meeting students with something that's eye-catching and thought-provoking - a statement or a picture or whatever - really resonated with me.

Put a photo of something seemingly random on the board that eventually ties into the lesson of the day.

Write a controversial or surprising statement on the board.

Display a QR code on the board and see if students scan it.

The idea here is to meet students in the first moments of class with something that intrigues them and makes them want to dive deeper into the day's work.

The traditional model for bell ringer activities - the first activities students do before starting into the substance of the class - is to do some basic, quick questions:

Simple problems in math

Verb conjugations in foreign language

Comprehension questions in English/language arts

Review questions from the previous day's history lesson

So, so forgettable. So easy to do without any real thinking.
Let's come up with some bell ringer activities that inspire students, that trigger thinking and discussion. When we pull some of the incredible digital tools available to us, we can kick these bell ringer activities up to another level.

10 digital bell ringer activities you can use tomorrow! FREE ebook

20 ideas for great digital bell ringer activities

Whether you have digital devices for your students or not, these should stimulate some new ideas for kicking off class in an engaging way:

1. Add speech bubbles to a historic photo.

Add a new twist to a lesson by letting students speak - or think - for the characters. My favorite way to do this is with Google Drawings (for creating individual images) or Google Slides (for having each student create a slide in a shared presentation). Do an image search for a historic photo and add that photo to the drawing or slide. Then add speech bubbles. (If using Drawings/Slides, it's in the shapes under the "callouts" category.) This is higher-order thinking! Students must know their facts and understand the people involved very well to be able to think for them. Kick the Depth of Knowledge level up even higher by having students justify their thinking and explain why they wrote what they did.

Example: Washington crossing the Delaware. Find the historic painting and add a thought bubble for Washington. (Then, add a thought bubble for a soldier too!)
Resource: Caption This! A fun, deep-thinking Google Drawings activity
2. Ask a character/historic figure a question.

What if students could ask someone they're studying a question? What would they ask, and how would that person likely respond? This is another that can be done quickly and easily in Google Slides or Drawings. Let students take a photo of themselves using Insert > Image > Take a snapshot. Then, use the image search to find a photo of the person to whom they'll ask the question. Add speech bubbles to ask questions. Students could ask one question with one answer from the character/historic figure, or they could do a back-and-forth with several photos.

Example: Asking Sir Isaac Newton a question about how he concluded that gravity was due to the pull from the earth.

3. Create a flowchart.

Sticking with the Google Slides/Drawings idea, have students express their understanding of a concept with a flowchart. This can easily be done with shapes and arrows (found under the line tool) in Slides and Drawings. A single line throughout a flowchart makes for more of a timeline and less of a flowchart, so any time it can branch off, the flowchart is made more interesting! (Pro tip: copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the shapes and arrows to save time.)

Example: Go through the process of deciding what to have for lunch and all of the decisions made in that process.
Resource: Deeper thinking with timeline projects
4. Make comic strips out of webcam photos.

Those webcams don't have to be just for selfie-style photos (especially those with peace fingers and duck lips ...). Have students back away from the camera and pose to recreate scenes of what you're studying. Or, have them sit side by side and have a discussion. This makes the students the stars of their own comic strips!

Example: Recreating a scene from a story or having a discussion about something they're learning in class.
Resource: Crash! Bang! Boom! How to add Google Drawings comic strips to your class
5. Create a quick animation.

Google Slides (or PowerPoint or any presentation slide tool) can be turned into a simple stop-motion animation tool. Create the first slide in your animation, then duplicate it, then move something slightly in the second slide. Duplicate the second slide and move something slightly in the third. Continue duplicating and moving until your animation is complete. Once your students have the hang of this, they can make animations pretty quickly.

Example: Recreating historic battles with moving maps ( here's a brief, incomplete example of the Battle of Little Big Horn) or showing how a math problem is completed.
Resource: Learning in motion: EASY stop-motion animation with Google Slides Resource: 11 tips for creating stop motion in Google Slides
6. Create BookSnaps of what you're reading.

In BookSnaps, students find a passage from a book they're reading that resonates with them. They snap a picture of it and annotate on it, underlining and adding text reflections and including fun things like emojis and Bitmojis (optional). There are variations of these, like MathSnaps, ScienceSnaps and even GratitudeSnaps. Snapchat is one tool many teachers and students use to create these annotations. (If you use Snapchat to do them, you don't even have to follow each other or post it to Snapchat ... just use the app to create the image!) If you don't want to use Snapchat, a take a snapshot (Insert > Image > Take a snapshot) using Google Slides or Drawings and add the annotations. See more about BookSnaps on the Twitter hashtag (#BookSnaps).

Example: Reflect on a reading in a book with a BookSnap. Explain parts of a math problem with a MathSnap. Show what's happening in a science lab with a ScienceSnap.
Resource: #Booksnaps- How-To Videos
7. Shared slide presentations.

Google Slides doesn't have to be used just to do presentations in front of the class! Create a slide presentation with enough slides for each student in the class. Then share that slide presentation with the class using the blue "Share" button. (Be sure to use the "Get shareable link" button and choose "Anyone with the link can edit" or "Anyone from <your school district> can edit" from the dropdown menu.) Each student gets a slide where he/she can do his/her own work. But you're also creating a whole class file. Students love to see what each other has put on the other slides, and it's a great place to interact through comments. Here's a shared slide presentation I did in a workshop where participants wrote about their ideal vacation destination.

Example: Finding quick facts/photos online about a topic you'll discuss in class that day.
Resource: Student collaboration in shared Google Slides
8. Ask students "What if ..." using a Flipgrid video grid.

It's always fascinating to see what students imagine when their minds are allowed to wander. An educator from Australia, Bronwyn Joyce, has gotten in the habit of asking her students - and students around the world - "What if?". Her prompts have elicited more than 1,000 videos and have prompted interesting discussions about the world's problems. On a smaller scale (in the classroom with just your students), this can be an interesting way to kick off a class.

Example: Letting students speculate what would happen if history was different, or if a character did something differently in a story, or what they would do if ...
Resource: Catch the Flipgrid fever! 30+ ways to use Flipgrid in your class
9. Create Icon boards.

I created icon boards as a way to simplify the infographic process. Think of icon boards as "infographics LITE" or "infographics when you're in a hurry."

The "Great Big Icon Board." Click here for the template in Google Slides.

You can use Google Slides to create your own icon boards - or just use the templates included in this post to copy and distribute mine.

Icon boards include an open space for students to organize what they're learning visually, combining text and images. They include plenty of icons that students would likely use from sources like The Noun Project or Flat Icon.

The icons - as well as shapes, text boxes and other elements - are placed in the workspace around the board. They're not actually on the board until students move them there. Think of it like things sitting around your paper on a desk.

Whether you create your own icon boards or use my pre-created templates, there are a few simple steps to using them.

(If you're using one of my templates, you'll need to make a copy of your own using the links above first.)

1. Distribute the icon boards to students. The easiest way is creating an assignment in Google Classroom and attaching the file to the assignment (choose "Make a copy for each student"). Other options include using the blue "Share" button and getting a clickable link, then changing the word "edit" and anything after it to say "copy" in the URL ... OR ... creating a short URL students can type in with a service like TinyURL.com or bitly.com.

2. Students open their boards (through Google Classroom or the method you choose).

3. Students organize their ideas using the items you've placed in the space around the board.

4. Students add additional items, like icons, shapes, text boxes, etc. that they might need.

Resource: Google Slides icon boards for low-prep, visual thinking
10. Do a shared mind map brainstorm with AWWApp.

Students can interact in a shared whiteboard in AWWApp (awwapp.com). They can draw with their finger (or a mouse or a laptop/Chromebook touchpad). If you have a touchscreen available, this is a really easy, collaborative way for students to sketch out and share their ideas. Because the whiteboards are collaborative, they can share whiteboards with others - students in other classes or anyone around the world - so they can collaborate together.

Example: Jot down all of the words that best describe a character. Write out all of the questions they have about solving a certain kind of math problem.
Resource: 10 ways to collaborate digitally + visually in class
11. Tweet for someone.

What would happen if a character in a story you're reading tweeted about an event in the story? Or about an event in current events ... or in another story? What if a scientist or mathematician or notable character in history tweeted? Now, you can let students create those tweets as bell-ringer activities. Use this Google Slides template. (Make sure you make your own copy.) Create a slide for each student. Then share the slide presentation with your students (through Google Classroom, through a learning management system, with a link using the blue Share button). Make it "Anyone with the link can edit". Students jump on their own slides and add the following: a photo, the name of the person tweeting, the Twitter username (start it with @), and the tweet. Ninja tip: To turn the photo to a circle, click on the photo and use the dropdown button next to the crop tool to select a circle as the crop shape!
Resource: 10 social media-inspired learning activities: no accounts necessary
12. Draw with your finger (or a computer touchpad).

I doubt that the simplicity of a simple drawing will ever lose its relevance in a classroom. Images are powerful; they're how our brain thinks anyhow. Having students draw what's in their brains - or how they understand a concept - can be a quick and easy way to get them on track for the day. Formative (goformative.com) makes this easy AND digital with its "Show Your Work" questions. Create a new assignment in Formative and just add a "Show Your Work" drawing question with a prompt. Share the assignment with students. Then see what they come up with. Now, we don't want to go digital for the sake of going digital, right? The tech should elevate the activity. Here, all of those simple drawings can be displayed quickly and easily from the teacher's computer on a projector. Speed and simplicity.
Resource: Draw, choose, write or say: Fantastic formative assessments
13. Create a "What do you know about ..." Padlet.

Padlet (padlet.com) is like a digital bulletin board. Use it to tack digital notes to it with push pins. Those notes, though, can have links, files, images and other multimedia attached to them - much cooler than a regular bulletin board. Kick off class for the day by creating a collaborative "What do you know about ..." Padlet. Pose a question: "What do you know about dolphins?" and encourage students to add whatever they can - personal experiences, facts, images, videos, whatever. This is a great way to activate prior knowledge.
Resource: 20 useful ways to use Padlet in class now
14. Discuss an article digitally with Hypothes.is.

Popular culture, the news and blogs are great sources of relevant, up-to-date content we can connect to our classes. Hypothes.is ( hypothes.is) lets us share an article with students and start a digital discussion there. Imagine that the article is clipped out of a newspaper. (I know, old school stuff ...) Hypothes.is lets students digitally highlight and add sticky notes all over that article - but with enough room to have unlimited annotations. Discuss an article with your class - or even share the discussion with others outside of your classroom. (Example: The author of the article you're discussing!)
Resource:Try Edji, another text annotation tool. See how with 20 ways to analyze text, images with Edji.
15. Dig into fascinating writing prompts.

Need some new ideas to get students thinking - and then writing? Write About (writeabout.com) has a treasure trove of creative, thought-provoking writing prompts at www.writeabout.com/ideas. Choose one and then get the writing juices flowing, either on student blogs (Write About / blogger.com / kidblog.org) OR by giving students their own individual slides in a shared Google Slides presentation.

16. Record a short explainer video.

Sometimes, it's just easier to show someone what you're talking about than to write it. Students can fire up a screen recording video with Screencastify (screencastify.com) in moments using the tool's extension for the Google Chrome browser. Students can quickly record their screen, record with their webcam and/or record audio with their microphone to kick off class. It's easy for them to share those videos with others after uploading them to Google Drive - or to turn them in with Google Classroom or another learning management system.
Resource: 24 ways to create great classroom video with Screencastify
17. Play a quick Quizizz game.

Want to review some material? Go over content from a previous lesson? Even give students a fun way to look up new material? Play a quick Quizizz game to start class. (Ever played Kahoot!? Quizizz has many similarities.) When setting the game up, click the "homework" button instead of the "play live" button and set the completion time five or ten minutes into class. The game will display a join code and the Quizizz join site. Just display those to students and have them get started. They can start whenever they get in their seats ready to go, and it's not synchronous (i.e. their progress doesn't depend on the progress of other students).
Resource: Game show classroom: Comparing Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet Live and Gimkit
18. Analyze books or articles with Flipgrid.

Flipgrid lets students talk about big world issues they'd like to tackle. Another way to use this platform is to let students talk about and analyze what they've just read. Give them a chapter from a novel, a short story or an article, a math problem they've solved - even something a fellow classmate has written! Flipgrid lets students record short videos (up to 90 seconds) about a topic. In this case, the topic can be what they've just read or worked on. When they're finished, they can view each other's videos. (The more interesting the prompt, the more likely they'll naturally want to look at each other's videos!)

19. Write emoji poetry or an emoji response.

Brevity is an important skill in writing. Instead of encouraging students to write to a minimum number of words, let's try constraining them to fewer words - and turn them into emojis! Have students summarize what they've been learning using emojis (maybe a maximum of 10?). The Google Chrome web browser has several emoji extensions (a favorite of mine is Emoji for Google Chrome). Mobile devices often have them built in. This encourages reflection on what they've learned and creativity in expressing themselves.

20. Write blackout poetry.

Have you ever seen those poems written by marking out all of the words in a news article or book page except a few with a black marker? This is blackout poetry. This can be a fun - and creativity-provoking - way to kick off class. Have students take a photo of a page of text (or a screenshot of an article online). Paste that image into Google Drawings or Slides (or a mobile app that lets them draw with their finger, like Paper by FiftyThree). In Google Drawings, they can use lines or shapes (long skinny rectangles work great) to black out words. (Do a web search for "blackout poetry" for examples.) Students could create them on their own individual slides of a shared Google Slides presentation (see No. 7). If each student has his/her own slide, the whole slide show becomes a big gallery of blackout poetry!

Are you looking for quality, meaningful professional learning that both equips and inspires teachers?

Matt provides in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops and breakout sessions that equip, inspire and encourage teachers to create change in their classrooms. Teachers leave with loads of resources. They participate. They laugh. They see tech use and teaching in a new light. Click the link below to contact us and learn how you can bring Matt to your school or district!

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20 digital bell ringer activities to kickstart class

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Quality bell ringers are crucial - quick activities to get students going at the beginning of class, when the bell has just rung.For these first five or

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Infographics are everywhere. I first started noticing them on the front page of USA Today as a journalism major in college.

As Pinterest became more popular, the long, tall infographics have begun popping up everywhere.

There's a reason you see infographics all over social media and beyond:

They're eye-catching.

They summarize information succinctly.

They're very visual, whether you're viewing on a page or a printed version hung on a wall.

They're easy to share.

If you think about it, infographics meet many of the same goals as our students' writing assignments.

They investigate a specific topic.

To create one, you have to gather lots of information.

You summarize and pare down that information before presenting it.

You create with the reader in mind.

All of this leads me to ask ...
What would learning be like if students created more infographics and less research papers?
We don't have to abolish the research paper or formal essay entirely. However, I think many students would benefit from at least a change of pace, if not a fundamental shift in how they create academically.

So, how do we do it?

One of my favorite creation tools is Google Drawings.

It's like a digital posterboard (or sheet of paper).

You can add text, images, lines and shapes to it.

Because it's so simple, the learning curve isn't huge.

You can save your creations as an image file or as a PDF, which makes sharing really easy.

Find Google Drawings by clicking the "New" button in Google Drive, using the "More ..." button and choosing "Google Drawings." Or, go to drawings.google.com.

(Note: Currently, Google does not offer a Google Drawings iPad app. However, you can create infographics like these by using Google Slides. Just create the infographic on one slide.)

Let's make a plan.

A little planning goes a long way. Knowing what kind of information and data you have does, too.

Sketching out a very rough draft of the infographic on a sheet of paper can help you (and your students) see how the different elements of the infographic look together.

(Gasp! Paper?!?! Sure, why not? There's nothing wrong with planning things out on paper. I do it all the time. There's also nothing wrong with constructing the final product on paper. However, making a digital infographic gives us access to great visuals and makes sharing easier.)

Those summarization skills - summarizing and synthesizing all of your information and data - work best before the infographic creation process begins at all on the screen.

Graphic design tells us that there should be a dominant visual element to draw people's eyes in. It could be a big title or a large photo or image. If everything is the same size, your eye doesn't know where to start.

(PS: Color does the same thing. In a sea of black and white, a splash of color makes the eye take notice. This is something I've always struggled with ...)

I really like this post: 10 steps to creating the perfect infographic. There are some more ideas in this post I wrote about using Piktochart in the classroom that could cross over nicely here.

Now, let's get started.

Pick a couple of fonts that you'll rely heavily on. It's good to have big, bold main title font and a thinner font for body text. ( If you use too many fonts, it'll make your finished product look too scattered. The goal is to bring attention to the content, not to your fancy use of fonts.)

Make sure your infographic isn't too text heavy. (As a recovering journalist and self-proclaimed word guy, the struggle is real for me. I have to force myself to use more visuals.)
Here are some great sources for visuals:

The Noun Project (thenounproject.com) - Lots of icons, which are awesome for infographics. Many are Creative Commons images and require attribution. Just make sure to include a line or paragraph somewhere in your infographic saying who and where they're from.

Creative Commons images (search.creativecommons.org) - You can use the link I just provided, but you don't have to ... Google Drawings has this built in. Go to Insert > Image and use the "Search" tab. This will search several huge databases of images that are licensed Creative Commons (i.e. not copyright, all rights reserved). I wrote a post about 14 copyright essentials teachers and students must know that walks you through this.
PRO TIP: When you click on an image, it displays the source at the bottom. Including a little text box with the link to the image is a good way to provide attribution.

Pixabay (pixabay.com) - A huge database of Creative Commons/public domain images. (i.e. Images we have the rights to use in our work.) Note that this site isn't always available through school Internet filters, so be prepared.

There are lots of other sources of images at the bottom of that post I mentioned earlier about copyright essentials.

If you're like me, your infographic will morph as you add more content to it. I'm constantly rearranging to fit things just right in the space provided.

Oh, and about space ... don't get things too crowded. Leaving some space with nothing in it (they call this "white space") is a good thing. It gives your eye a metaphorical breath of air and keeps your infographic from looking too busy.

When you're done, click "File > Download as ..." and save the image as a JPEG image or a PDF file. (And once you've downloaded it, open it to make sure it looks OK. In the example below, I saved the file and then had to go back and fix a mistake because I didn't look it over before downloading. Oops.)

Here's an example. I pulled this together based on #DitchBook Twitter chat co-moderator Rachel Marker's blog post, "A Commitment to Change." PS: She's super awesome, and you might want to read her post and even sign up for email updates so you always catch her stuff.

And here's a quick screencast video I did to show the infographic in progress and to show you some things you can do to make them look great ...

NOTE: Google Drawings isn't the only place to create great infographics. Another favorite of mine is Canva. If you're not graphic design-inclined, Canva can get you started with pre-designed text and templates. It's another option I love!

Great. I'm done!

So, what do students do with these infographics when you finish?

Well, you could have students just turn them in to you for a grade. But that's no fun. Why would we work hard to create something amazing and then hide it from the world?
Students should share their infographics.
With each other. With the school community. On a class website. Through social media.

Whatever works.

If this sharing thing isn't common in your class, you'll be surprised at the surge in the level of effort students put forth. Plus, their work can inspire and educate others ... and when we pursue something bigger than ourselves, that's inherently motivating.
(Intrinsic motivation > Extrinsic motivation)
As a student, I know I would be much more motivated to create a cool infographic than I would an awesome research paper. (Not sure the words "awesome" and "research paper" can really go together ...)

But also remember that not all students are visual people. They might want to take the information they gathered and create a radio show, a movie trailer or something else. Variety is the spice of life, and we should encourage kids to create using their God-given skills and talents.

OK, go out and give these Google Drawings infographics a shot!
For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links: Interested in having Matt present at your event or school? Contact him by e-mail! Matt is scheduled to present at the following upcoming events:

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Creating eye-popping infographics with Google Drawings

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Infographics are everywhere. I first started noticing them on the front page of USA Today as a journalism major in college. As Pinterest became more popular, the long, tall infographics have begun popping up everywhere. There's a reason you see infographics all over social media and beyond: They're eye-catching.

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Create a podcast or a video and share through Flipgrid or Padlet.  Check out this link: for more information: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2018/04/17/what-students-say-about-creating-podcasts-on-wevideo-and-flipgrid/

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Flip is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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Students can use this free teleprompter when recording video.

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Screencastify is a free Chrome Extension.  Great examples of how to use Screencastify in the classroom can be found here: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2016/09/22/14-ways-to-create-great-classroom-video-with-screencastify/ OR here: https://www.screencastify.com/ebook/

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Easy Management Quickly assign ten (or ten thousand) licenses from our admin console, or simply turn on domain-wide access. No matter the size of your school or district, you'll only need to manage one subscription.

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Flippity.net: Flashcards and Other Resources for Educators and Learners

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Create an interactive virtual breakout activity.

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Google Drawings is often overshadowed by the other Google Drive tools such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. However, it is an excellent tool for students and teacher to do many tasks including graphic organizers, teaching math, and desktop publishing ( see here for examples of each).

One more educational use for Google Drawings is to create an interactive multimedia poster. This is very much like creating a Thinglink. Let's call it a Googlink.

If you are not familiar with Thinglink, it is a powerful online tool that lets users annotate images with pop-up text, pictures, videos, weblinks, documents, and more. It can be a great way for students to demonstrate their learning. You can see many examples of Thinglinks here: www.thinglink.com/featured

Although Thinglink is an excellent tool, its free version does have some limitations. As an option, Google Drawings can be used very much like Thinglink, and might be the perfect alternative for you and your students.

See below for information on how to use Google Drawings in a similar way as Thinglink to create, edit, and share interactive multimedia posters, as well as a sample Googlink to test out.

Thinglink versus Googlink

As I mentioned before, Thinglink really is an excellent tool, and I certainly encourage students and teachers to use it.

It offers a free version that many users may find will meet their needs. The free version does have some limitations though including limits on the number of students and types of icons (only 10 icons in the free version).

If want more options and customization you would need to upgrade to the premium version of Thinglink for $35 per year.

As an alternative, Google Drawings can be used in a similar manner, sort of like a Googlink. Some benefits of Google Drawings would include:

No cost

Unlimited users

Unlimited choice of icons (through the many image options in Drawings)

Of course Drawing is not an exact replacement for Thinglink as there are features unique to each that the other does not have. Still though it is a good free option with a lot of potential for schools.
What is a Googlink?

If you are familiar with Thinglink, then you already know what a Googlink would be. For those who are not, here is the gist:

The user chooses an image they would like to annotate. This could be a diagram, a map, a painting, a photograph, or such.

The user then adds icons on top of the image. These could be simple shapes, or they could be icons for videos, pictures, documents, web links, and such.

The user then adds a hyperlink to each icon that links out to a related resource that explains, elaborates, or further illustrates that portion of the image.

The links might go to a video the student has recorded, a video on YouTube, a document they student wrote, a website, an online image, a map, a slideshow, or anything else that can be accessed online.

The user then shares their final product so other people can click on the links to open the related resources and learn what the user is explaining.

Uses for a Googlink

In school students could create a Googlink as a fun and interactive option to show their learning of most any content. Examples could include:

The parts of an insect

Key locations of a battle on a map

Examples of geometric shapes in real life

Their interpretation of different lines in a poem

Steps in a lab experiment

An "About Me" poster

And much more...

Example Googlink
As an example I put together a very simple Googlink to demonstrate how this could look. Use the links below to test it out. Be sure to click on the various icons in the Googlink to open the linked resources.

To open the Googlink as a Google Drawing on its own click here: Google Drawing link

To open the Googlink as a Drawing embedded in a Google Site click here: Google Site link

Creating a Googlink

Below are the basic steps for using Google Drawings to create something like a Thinglink.

Create a new Google Drawing

To create a new Google Drawing:

Go to your Google Drive, then click "New" then "More" and then "Google Drawing".

A new blank Google Drawing will be created.

You can give it a name by clicking on "Untitled Drawing" in the top left corner.

Add the Base Image

Next you will want to add the image you will be using for the base of your Googlink. This is the picture you will annotate with links to websites, videos, documents, other images, and more. You can add the image in several ways.

Click "Insert" then "Image" and then upload the image, take a webcam snapshot, choose an image from your Drive, search the picture, or more.

Or click "Tools" then "Research" and search for an image to drag and drop into your Drawing.

Or find an image online and then drag and drop the image from its website into your Google Drawing.

If you need to resize your Drawing to match your base image, you can click and drag the bottom right corner of the Drawing, or you can click " File" and " Page setup ".

Add the Shapes and Icons

Next you need to add the shapes or icons on top of the image that people will click on to get to your related resources. There are several options for adding these images.

Add Images from the Research Tool

Probably the easiest way to add icons to your Googlink is through the Research Tool.

Click "Tools" then "Research" top open the Research Tool panel.

Type what you want in the search box such as "video icon" or "document icon" or such.

Choose "Images" from the drop down menu at the left of the search box to just get picture results.

When you find an image you want, click, drag, and drop it onto your Drawing.

As needed you can resize it and drag it to the correct location.

Add Shapes

Click "Insert" then "Shape" then choose the shape you would like to add.

Your cursor will now turn into crosshairs so you can click and drag out the shape.

As needed you can resize the shape and drag and drop it to the needed location.

If needed, you can click the "Fill color" (paint can) button to make the shape hollow so you can see through it.

Add Images from the Insert Menu

Click "Insert" then "Image"

You can then upload an image, take a webcam snapshot, choose an image from your Drive, search the picture, and more.

As needed you can resize the image and drag it to the correct location.

Add the Hyperlinks

Now you want to add hyperlinks to the icons or shapes so they will link out to your related resources.

Click the icon or shape to select it.

Next click the "Insert link" button in the top menu bar.

Paste in the link to the video, picture, Google Doc, website, or such.

Note: If linking to a Google Doc, Slideshow, or such, be sure you have shared the file properly so other people will be able to view it.

When you are all done adding hyperlinks to your Drawing, you are now ready to let other people view and click on your Googlink. One option for this is to share the Drawing.

Click the blue "Share" button in the top right corner of the Drawing window.

To share with specific people, enter their email addresses in the "People" box.

To make the Googlink viewable by everyone, click "Get sharable link".

For permissions, you only need to give people View rights to be able to view and click on your hyperlinks. They do not need Comment or Edit rights.

Embed your Googlink

Another option for sharing is to embed your Googlink on a Google Site. When you add a Google Drawing to a Google Site, all of the links in the Drawing stay live, so people can still click on them to open your related resources.

Open the Google Site webpage you want to edit and click on the "Edit page" (pencil) button.

Click "Insert" then "Drive" then "Drawing".

Select the Drawing you created for your Googlink.

As needed edit the "Length" and "Width" values to match your Drawing.

Save the changes to your page.

People will now be able to view your Google Drawing on the site and click the links you have put inside of the Drawing. As always though, make sure you have properly shared the Drawing and the Site as publicly viewable so people can access them.

Conclusion

Google Drawings is an easy to use, but powerful and versatile tool, that can be used by students and teacher for many applications including a Google version of a Thinglink. If you would like to learn more about using Google Drawings in general, feel free to access my detailed Google Drawing help guide here: Google Document link

If you have suggestions for other ways to use Drawings like a Thinglink, or if you have examples of your own to share, please share your ideas in the comment section below.

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Googlink: Creating Interactive Posters with Google Drawings

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Google Drawings is often overshadowed by the other Google Drive tools such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. However, it is an excellent tool for students and teacher to do many tasks including graphic organizers, teaching math, and desktop publishing ( see here for examples of each).

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Graphic Organizers (Interactives and Printables

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We have launched the new ReadWriteThink.org and we would love to get your feedback: Give Feedback

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Crash Course free videos; also available in EdPuzzle

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Crash Course free videos; also available in EdPuzzle

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Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube!

From courses like Astronomy to US History and Anatomy & Physiology it's got you covered with an awesome variety of AP high school curriculum topics. With various witty hosts at your service, you won't even notice you're getting smarter.

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Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube!

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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Ed Tech

Sometimes, we just need some help organizing our thoughts - students AND educators.

Paper versions of graphic organizers can do a nice job of that. But by making them digital in Google Apps, they instantly become customizable. Multiple people can collaborate on them in real time. They can be shared with a link, embedded in a website or downloaded as an image file.

In short, digital graphic organizers are more versatile.

In Google Apps, there's a highly powerful yet highly overlooked app called Drawings. It gives users a blank canvas where they can add text, shapes, lines, etc. When done, they can save their work as image files or PDF files and can add those images to documents, slides and spreadsheets.
Drawings can be the virtual page where students can gather and process their ideas.

I used to shy away from doing a lot of graphic organizers because it's hard to design them in Google Docs; the moment I learned that you could change the page set-up to 8.5 x 11 inches, my world CHANGED. Now I rarely use Google Docs to make *anything*; I use Google Slides by default because I can add more graphics and have better control of the overall configuration. - Amy Nolan, high school English teacher, Commerce, Texas

Creating graphic organizer templates with Google Drawings

As Amy mentioned above, Google Slides can be used to create these as well as Google Drawings. The difference - Drawings focuses on one single page; Slides has multiple slides, which allows for multiple pages.

I've created 15 of them (see links below) that can be copied, saved, changed, tweaked or completely redone to fit your needs and your students' needs. We have added 10 more that were created by the Ditch That Textbook community and shared with us for this post.

It took me about 90 minutes to make 15 of them so that averages out to six minutes each. (Some were more time-consuming than others, and I got faster at making them as I progressed.)

Sharing your Google Drawings graphic organizers
Once you've created a graphic organizer (or have saved one of mine), there are a few easy ways to get them to your students:

If you use Google Classroom, create a new assignment and choose the option to deliver a copy of your graphic organizer to each student.

You can copy the URL (link) to the graphic organizer and deliver it to students via a class website, SeeSaw etc. You can also make a shorter, easier URL to type with URL shorteners like Bitly and TinyURL. (Check your Internet filter to make sure your shortened URLs come through. I've found that TinyURL works in most schools' filters.)

Using the blue "Share" button, click the "Get shareable link" button and set the document as "Anyone with the link" at the top and "Can view" at the bottom. That way, students won't be able to change your original copy and will have to make a copy of their own.

PRO TIP: When you copy a URL (link) to any G Suite file, it probably says "view" or "edit" at the end of it. If you change that word to "copy", it will force whoever opens that link to make a copy of the file instead of opening your file. That's another trick to keeping your original version from being altered. (If you assign it through Google Classroom, you won't need to do this.)

Here are 25 graphic organizer templates that can be used for many different subject areas and grade levels.

Feel free to make a copy of any of these google drawings templates and adapt them for your own use:

Question: What other graphic organizers would be useful to create in Google Drawings? Can you share a link to a graphic organizer you've created so others can use it, too? Leave a comment below!

Looking for even MORE G Suite resources?

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25 FREE Google Drawings graphic organizers - and how to make your own

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Ed Tech Sometimes, we just need some help organizing our thoughts - students AND educators. Paper versions of graphic organizers can do a nice job of that. But by making them digital in Google Apps, they instantly become customizable. Multiple people can collaborate on them in real time.

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K-

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Story Starters: Creative Writing Prompts for Kids | Scholastic.com

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Scholastic’s Story Starters kids’ writing activity generates creative writing prompts, from general fiction to adventure, fantasy, and science fiction.

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A series of inspirational writing challenges for your whole class.

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Writing Sparks was created by the award winning developers of nightzookeeper.com. Watch this short video to find out how Night Zookeeper can automatically assess your student's writing and raise attainment in your classroom.

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Writing Sparks was created by the award winning developers of nightzookeeper.com. Watch this short video to find out how Night Zookeeper can automatically assess your student's writing and raise attainment in your classroom.

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Online book publishing app

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A classroom writing community and publishing platform

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Write About is a classroom writing community and publishing platform built by teachers.

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When Students Love Writing,
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"My students and I love Write About - I have seen students who hated writing become authors because they have topics that interest them!"

"Too many students do not experience daily writing. Write About provides them with an engaging and easy platform to change that and bring out the joy of writing."

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What will your students Write About?

Write Across the Curriculum

Looks interesting, but not sure where to start?

We're happy to walk you through getting Write About set up in your classroom.

Contact a teacher ambassador

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Classroom writing community and publishing platform built by teachers.

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Hemingway Editor is a simple word processor and proofreading tool designed for writers. It detects the presence of adverbs, hard to read sentences, complex words or phrases, and passive voice within a text. Additionally, writers can easily identify all of these because the app uses color codes to highlight issues and common errors in their text.

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usernames:
ELEM:  50130she or 50130elm MSHS: 50130jewell  or    50130shj
password:  plaea8 (same for all)
If you have trouble logging in, check the SH Library website or contact Kathy Houck.

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Iowa AEA Online - Welcome to Iowa AEA Online

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Over the years I have read my four children many, many books, most often at bedtime, and with as many funny voices for the characters as I could provide. As much as I enjoyed the time for family bonding and for helping the kids settle down for the night, research has shown that having stories read to children has many educational benefits as well.

Reading stories out loud to children:

Provides them with a model of fluent reading.

Allows them to consume content above their reading level (since they can listen at a higher level than they can read).

Shows them the connection between the written word and its meaning.

Teaches them the narrative structure of a story or book.

Helps develop a love of stories, books, and reading that can carry on into the rest of their lives.

Although there is no substitute for reading in person to a child, there are still many benefits from using technology to show videos of people reading stories. In addition to many of the perks mentioned above, videos of books can offer a few novel benefits as well (pun intended).
Video books:

Often include music or sound effects to help set the mood.

Often include animations, zooming, and panning to bring the book to life and help follow or focus in on the action.

Can provide a different take on the reading of the story with the narrator's voices and inflections.

Can be watched independently by the child.

Can be sped up or slowed down, paused, and rewound as needed (see link).

See below for many suggestions of YouTube channels and playlists that provide videos of books being read aloud for children.

Sample Channels and Playlists

Storyline Online - YouTube link
This channel features celebrities reading storybooks along with animations created from the book illustrations.

KidLit TV - YouTube link
This is a playlist with dozens of children's book being read by the authors, provided by KidLit TV.

Reading Rainbow - YouTube link
Probably one of the best known sources of books being read aloud, Reading Rainbow offers many stories read by LeVar Burton.

Puffin Books - YouTube link
Although the Puffin channel includes a wide range of book-related videos, they also have quite a few stories being read by authors or celebrities.

Story Time for Children - YouTube link
Story Time for children comes from a collaboration of Toddler Fun Learning and Ladybird books, and offers a wide collection of children's books with creative sound effects, zooming, and panning.

Kid Time Story Time - YouTube link
The narrator for these books uses puppets and lots of great voices when reading, and adds many comments and questions during the story to dig deeper.

Grandpa Tom - YouTube link
Grandpa Tom makes great use of panning and zooming to follow the action on each page, as well as engaging voices for the characters.

Books in song by Vancemo - YouTube link
For a fun twist, this playlist contains children's books that are sung rather than being read. For each book the text of the book is sung as a song to an original tune.

Beyond these example, there are sooooooo many more channels and playlists on YouTube with books being read aloud. Below is a list of those I came across, although a simple search for any book title will likely find others for you.

Additional Resources

For additional tips and tricks on using the YouTube videos you find, see my other helpful posts linked below:

Post by Eric Curts. Connect with Eric on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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YouTube "Read Aloud" Book Videos for Kids

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Over the years I have read my four children many, many books, most often at bedtime, and with as many funny voices for the characters as I could provide. As much as I enjoyed the time for family bonding and for helping the kids settle down for the night, research has shown that having stories read to children has many educational benefits as well.

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.