Google Keep is a great way to get organized and stay that way. It’s a core GSuite service, but not many people know about it and all that it can do. I recently presented on Keep at the Spring CUE conference.
During that presentation, I promised a blog post with some image headers that people could use and/or edit. This is that post.
I have made several Google Slides that you can download as images and use as headers in Keep. To use the images in the slides as is, open the slide deck, go to the slide you want, and select File > Download as > png. You will get an image you can upload to your Keep note, where it will appear at the top. Use the color palette on your Keep note if you want the colors to match. Use File > Make a copy if you want to edit and personalize my Slides. Enjoy!
I have been taking the Classy Graphics online course by Tony Vincent, and I have really been enjoying it. This week’s assignment was to create an infographic. Here is the one of the two I made. I’ll share the other one soon.
This infographic is a modification of one that Tony made on how to use Google Classroom. Google being Google, things have changed since he authored his, so I remixed it and created something to share with my teachers, since we just adopted Classroom this week. I really like how it turned out. I hope you do, too!
And just in case Google changes again, here’s a link to the original Drawing file. You can make a copy, credit Tony and me, and remix it.
What an amazing week last week was. I visited Chicago and was able to spend time with my fellow Google Innovators at the Google Energizer, then it was on to 4 fabulous days of learning and networking at ISTE.
Google Energizer
In response to feedback from Certified Innovators, Google organized several Energizer events where we could get together to learn, connect, and get re-energized. One of these events was in Chicago, the day before ISTE, and it was a wonderful day. Over 100 of us came to spend the day at the Google Chicago offices, where we shared, worked together, and talked about how to change the world. I was also lucky enough to meet two previous TLC Ninja podcast guests in real life: Sarah Stuhr and Lisa Berghoff. I came away completely re-energized. Thank you to Google and to all my fellow Innovators for making this such a fabulous event! I can’t wait until the next one!
Top to bottom, left to right: Google Chicago sign, Swiss Army Knife team, view from rooftop, group photo, mini #TOR16 reunion, Sarah, Nancy, & Lisa
ISTE
It would be impossible to share everything that happened at ISTE. I’m still processing and reflecting on the four days of the conference. In no particular order, here are a few highlights:
Winning a ticket to see Hamilton (thank you, Newsela!)
Getting to introduce my podcast partner Lisa to Eric Curts
Making new connections and renewing old ones – my favorite part of any conference
Becoming better acquainted with the beautiful – and delicious – city of Chicago
Friends old and new: Brandi Miller, Lisa Nowakowski, Joe Marquez, Lisa N (again), Meredith Jones, Wanda Terral, Kim Voge, Chris Tenbarge, Trevor Knowlton, Lisa N (yet again), Eric Curts, CoffeeCUE meet-up
Sarah Thomas, Susan Stewart, Chris Tenbarge, Kat Goyette, Adam Juarez, Jody Green, Tara Linney, Sandra Chow, all #ninjateachers. Visit tlc.ninja to see their episodes.
So many beautiful places to see.
Blogging Buddies
In an effort to post more frequently, I have joined the ISTE Ed Tech Coaches Blogging Buddies network. This group is designed so that coaches and others who help teachers integrate technology can connect and learn from each other through our blogs. Members commit to posting at least once a month, in addition to reading and commenting on each other’s blogs and sharing the blogs with our PLN. To learn more about blogging buddies, or to sign up, visit this site.
I love Google Sites. They are easy to use and infinitely flexible. My district recently adopted Google Apps for Education and I have created and/or worked on more of them than I can count. I love how adding a background image to the header can make even sites using the same template look very different. Usually, everything works as it should.
Strangely, in the past two weeks, I ran across the same problem on three different Google sites. We had beautiful header images for them, but every time we changed the title font or made any of a number of other changes to the site colors, themes, and fonts, the header image disappeared upon saving and we had to reupload it. Again. And again. And again.
It turns out that the reason is that the filename for each of those images had spaces in it. Renaming them and then reuploading solved the issue. So, if you find your header image disappearing, try making the spaces in the filename disappear instead.
