Impactful Integration With Amy

This issue of Power PD includes some creative ways to increase student engagement.   You can check out the slidedeck with all the links here. 1. Try Wakelet Check out this post by TCEA to see more creative ways to use wakelet. Have you had a chance to try out Wakelet yet?   Ditch that Textbook recently put together a great post about using Wakelet.  Y ou can read more about it here .  Wakelet is a tool that can be used to organize or curate your information.  Students can use it to show what they know or to respond to others.  It can be individual or collaborative.  There is so much possibility with using this tool. Check out this wakelet about using wakelet created by Holly Clark. 2. Choice Boards I recently used Choice Boards in my Capstone Research Project lesson series. Giving students choice is a great way to build engagement.  I love using choice boards with my lessons.  If you have never used choice boards, I would suggest s...

Choice boards have been around for awhile, however I have noticed they are really trending lately.  When I was an elementary teacher and librarian, I did use choice boards in a low tech way.  I gave students options in how they might respond to a lesson. Now that our campus is one to one with devices, I realized I hadn't tried digital choice boards with my high school students.  I decided to go with combination of stations and choice boards to flip my instruction with my 11th graders last week.  I knew I wanted to structure their library visit in a way that we could cover four areas: finding a good book, researching colleges, exploring test prep materials and checking out a book.    So how do we start using choice board in way that works for teachers and students. Tip 1: Use a template I'm always so inspired by what Mrs. Howell is doing with Gold Edu and I decided to use a template she shared with our group.  Here is the template I used: Inspiration/ t...

Looking to brush up on your Canva skills?  Interested in trying out the new features?  I have just the thing for you!  I put together this Canva PD choice board that you can use to explore the features you are interested in.  You can work the tasks in any order you choose and at you own pace.  The most important thing is to choose what you feel you need to learn about and just have fun!   This post is part of a training session I held for our district back to school technology professional development.  You can find my presentation linked on the choice board.  Don't forget to download your badges and share them with me @SoTxLibrarian and @LibrarianLugo I'd love to hear what you think of this choice board. Please tell me in the comments below.  

When you are creating in Canva, there are so many amazing items build right in that you can add to your graphic designs.   Elements in Canva has updated and now you can find photos, shapes, graphics, videos, animations and more all together in one tab.  This is an amazing feature when it comes to searching because everything is in one place  However, sometimes it can almost be overwhelming trying to decide what to include from the elements tab.  That is where Keywords come into the pictures.  I am putting together a series of mini tutorials walking you through how to use these features in your classroom.  Today's topic is how to make your graphics look amazing with Canva keywords. How to Remove Backgrounds in Canva 1.  Go to Canva and login to your account.   2.  Create your presentation or choose a presentation/ project you have already made.  This works for any size project.  It doesn't have to just be a slideshow/ prese...

Have you ever wanted to remove the background on your photo?  Well, Canva can help you out with that!  I am putting together a series of mini tutorials walking you through how to use these features in your classroom.  Today's topic is how to remove backgrounds on Canva. How to Remove Backgrounds in Canva 1.  Go to Canva and login to your account.   2.  Create your presentation or choose a presentation/ project you have already made.  This works for any size project.  It doesn't have to just be a slideshow/ presentation. 3.  Add a photo to your project.  You can upload your own photo or browse through the stock photos on Canva.  Make sure to choose a photo with a simple background. 4.  With your photo selected go to the top toolbar and select effects. 5.  Choose background remover.  If you don't see it scroll down to the bottom of the list of effects. 6.  Now you can resize your photo if you need to and place...

Did you know that Canva has a screencasting feature embedded right inside?  You can record your screen right inside Canva!  I am putting together a series of mini tutorials walking you through how to use these features in your classroom.  Today's topic is how to present and record on Canva. How to Present and Record in Canva 1.  Go to Canva and login to your account.   2.  Create your presentation or choose a presentation/ project you have already made.  This works for any size project.  It doesn't have to just be a slideshow/ presentation. 3.  Go to the top right hand corner and select the three dots.  Choose present and record . 4.  Choose go to recording studio. 5.  Set up your microphone and camera.  6.  Click start recording. 7.  Once you finish click end recording.   8.  Then click done. 9.  Download video or share the link out.

Hey, fellow educator!  Did you know that Canva has been adding some amazing updates just for educators like us?!  I am putting together a series of mini tutorials walking you through how to use these features in your classroom.  Today's topic is how to present live on Canva. How to Present Live in Canva 1.  Go to Canva and login to your account.   2.  Create your presentation or choose a presentation/ project you have already made.  This works for any size project.  It doesn't have to just be a slideshow/ presentation. 3.  Go to the top right hand corner and select the three dots.  Choose present. 4.  Choose standard.  Once you are in presentation mode look at the bottom right hand side and turn on live. It looks like of like this ((.)) 5.  With Live turned on you will see "start session."  Turn this on. 6.  Share your link and code with your participants. 7.  Click on any questions or comments you...