5 Easy to Use Technology Tips for the Math Classroom
With so many teachers now using digital activities to reach their students, these three tips for teaching in the virtual world can save you time and help stay connected with your students. The first two specifically focus on using Google documents with students.
1. Create Forced Copy Links in Google Docs
If you have discovered the forced copy trick, this is a great tool to use for students doing work in Google docs. As a teacher, if you have an assignment or document in Google that you would like students to be able to edit, you can create a link that forces them to make their own copy of the assignment.
As try this, feel free to use one of my free sets of digital middle school math task cards as an example. I have a free 6th grade math task cards, 7th grade math task cards, and 8th grade math task cards available.
To create the forced copy link, first go into the document you would like to share. Click “Share” in the top right and click “Get Shareable Link.” Be sure the settings are set to “Anyone with the link can view.” Doing this, should give access to whoever you send the link to.
Next, go to your document. In the address bar at the top, you should see the word “edit” towards the end of the address. There also may be some letters and number after the word edit. erase everything to the right AND including the word edit (but leave everything before the word edit as is). Where you deleted the “edit” part, replace it with the word “copy.”
That is it! Now you can copy and paste this link and send it to whoever needs the document. When they click on the link, it will force them to make a copy of the document, which they can then edit. Any edits they make will only affect their copy and not your original.
2. Problems as the Background in Google Slides
If you are creating problems or assignments for students to complete in Google, one issue that sometimes comes up is that you want students to be able to type their answers, but you don’t want them to be able to move or change the problem itself. One option to fix this problem is to make the background in Google slides a picture of the problems. To do this, you would first create the document that has the problems or text that you don’t want students to be able to edit. Save each of those pages as a picture (JPEG or PNG) by clicking “File," “Download," and then selecting either JPEG or PNG. You would do this for each slide you want in your document.
Next, create a new Google slides presentation. For each page you want in your assignment, click “Background” and then change the image to the pictures of each page you have saved as a picture.
Once you have that, students will not be able to make changes to that background. You can now add text boxes and anything else on top of that background for students to type in.
3. Screencast-O-Matic
Using a program like Screencast-O-Matic or Screecastify are great options for sending video feedback to students. Using these programs, you can send a video to students so they can see your video AND your screen. This allows you to give feedback on their work as they see it on your screen. You can also send a video with only your video or only your shared screen.
4. Snipping Tool
This one blew my mind when I first discovered it. Search for the Snipping Tool on your computer or use the shortcut WinKey + Shift + S for Windows and Command + Shift + 4 for Mac users. This tool allows you to quickly drag and capture any part of your screen as a picture. It is great for sending specific problems or grade summaries to individual students, as well as sending instructions about where to find something on a screen. Once it is captured, you can even write on top of the picture to circle or show specific things to students.
5. Web Paint Chrome Extension
Web Paint has been my go to Chrome extension this year. This one is free in the Chrome store and essentially allows you to write directly on any screen. I have found this extremely useful when sharing my screen with students. I use it to do problems as a full class as I share my screen.