#12 Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip: Google Drive Short Cut Sheet

Dear Colleagues,

Today's tip is for the overachiever among you.  If you are using Google Drive now, and I KNOW that you are, these tools are awesome.  The first is an in depth listing of all sorts of 'short cuts' that you can use to navigate and utilize Google Drive.  It's a bit of overkill, but it's fun to see what is possible.  Even if you only choose one or two of them to commit to memory, it would probably be worth it.  This cheat sheet comes from Shake Up Learning.

Now, if that is too much, try out these quick and dirty short cuts:

So, give one of these a shot.  It might just help you speed up your work in Google Drive.  Do you have a favorite short cut?  Please feel free to share it with your colleagues in the comment section of the blog.

#11 Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Alexandria in Your Pajamas, and How to Preview the 175 New Books in the Collection!

Okay, so hopefully I got your attention with the Pajamas reference.  Seriously however, this week's tip will teach you how to access our library's resources from anywhere you have an internet connection.  

Yesterday we added over 175 new NONFICTION titles.  You can preview some of these HERE.  We didn't have time to give you a preview of them in the faculty meeting, but they are on display

It all starts with the Hubbard Woods Resource Center Page; your 'one stop shop.'  

See that stack of books on the bottom left side?  Click on that.

That will take you to our 'online catalog,' which is called Alexandria.

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Click on researcher and you now have access to all 27,000 titles in the Resource Center.  

Because I know that we added many new titles about the Pony Express, I used that as our search term.  

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From here, you can see what titles are available.  Many of the titles allow you to see the cover of the book and some even let you take a look inside.  See something you want to check out?  Let us know, we would be happy to help you get the resources you need for your classroom.

There are a plethora of phenomenal resources at your fingertips.  You can even discover them in your pajamas!

Sincerely,

Todd and the RC Crew

#10 For Teachers Who Just Got iPads...

This week I'm going simple.  All teachers in the district recently received an iPad.  Many teachers will, in the next couple of weeks, be getting iPads in their classrooms as well.  It can be pretty easy to be overwhelmed with the options and be paralyzed.  I found that the interactive poster below was a pretty simple way to begin thinking about how to use the iPad with your students.  Take a look at these nine tips.  I would skip #1 right now.  You don't need to set up the cloud just yet. 

Click HERE for the interactive PDF file:

If you feel pretty good with these nine tips, take a look at this website.  It is loaded with resources and tools to make integration of the tool a little simpler:  

http://ipad4schools.org/2014/09/20/the-first-5s-with-ipads/

My favorite post on the blog is what to do with the iPad in the first five hours, days and weeks.  It is a terrific 'next step' and I would highly recommend it.

What do you think?  How are these resources helpful for teachers with new iPads?  What resources do you recommend?  Feel free to leave them in the comments.