Thing 43: Google Drawings

Since I already started using Google Drawing for the Bitmoji thing, I figured I might as well do this thing!

I have to confess that I always forget that Google Drawing exists, which is another good reason for me to do this thing. I usually steer my students toward Docs or Slides, and most recently I had a few use Comic Life. Most of the ones who chose Comic Life found it frustrating (as did I) and decided to start over using Docs. In the future, I can direct them to Drawing.

I've discovered that I like Google Drawing for its simplicity. It can't do nearly as much as the GIMP can, but that's what makes it great. It does the basics and most of the time, all you need is the basics. My favorite part about it is how it integrates Google Image Search directly in it. And the best part about that is that it already filters out images that we don't have permission to use!

One thing I explored in this assignment was #BookSnaps. This was not something I'd ever heard of (although it's something I've been doing on SnapChat since I got SnapChat). Many of my 5th and 6th graders use SnapChat and are already familiar with the SnapChat culture. While I can't give them an assignment using SnapChat itself, I could have them do SnapChat-like things with Google Drawing. I think many of them would enjoy taking pictures of the books they're reading and using Google Drawing to express their thoughts about those books. It's definitely something I'll have to try out with my 5th and 6th grade book club.

#BookSnaps with Google Drawing also seems like a great mess-free way to do blackout poetry without having to keep weeded books on hand. Plus, I think my students would be more interested in blackout poetry if they got to choose the book page they used (and if it's a book they've read and loved!).

I also explored Recovering the Classics. This is a really cool idea and I saw many covers that I would love to buy for my own book collection. Most of the classics on the list are for adults, but I can have my students create new covers for the books they've read (they just won't go up on the Recovering the Classics website). I needed a new project for my 5th and 6th graders after they finish their current read (Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson) and this will definitely appeal to their creative side.

I also looked at Get Creative with Google Drawings. This had a lot of really great ideas. I especially like the magnetic poetry template. The magazine cover template also looked interesting.

And I'll end with a cover for Pride & Prejudice I made using Google Drawing. It doesn't compare to many of the covers on Recover the Classics, but I was happy with how it turned out.

Thing 45: Anything Goes Google

The first thing that caught my eye in this assignment was "How to Create an eBook with Google Slides." When I saw it I had visions of having my students write and illustrate their own books and then create them in Google Slides. Which is still something I could see myself doing with my students, but this article wasn't very helpful. I thought it would have tips on how to format the pages, how to create and import illustrations, the best way to add text, etc. But instead it just taught how to change the size of the slides (which I'll admit is something I didn't already know) and how to download the slides as a PDF. Then, the author plugged her book, which she created with Google Slides. I thought there would be a sample eBook I could look at. There wasn't. I could pay $10 for hers, but no thanks. It's still a great idea and I'll keep it in mind for a project for my older students, but I'll have to practice it myself and see what I can create.

I then moved on to "Primarily Google" since most of my students are PK-2. There were a lot of good ideas, many of which I can see myself doing with my 3-6 kids rather than PK-2. One in particular was the Multimedia Text Sets made with Google Drawings. They are something my 5th and 6th graders could create and I could then use with my PK-2 students. I like all the templates in the article, especially the self-portrait idea, but as with anything Google related with PK-2, there is still the issue of getting the kids logged in to their Google accounts. Even with my 3rd and 4th graders, when I have them log in to Google, it takes the better part of the period to get them logged in and to reset passwords and look up ID numbers. But the templates are things I could use on the Smartboard with the whole class.

Lastly, I looked at "Hipster Google," which had a lot of really cool ideas I can use with my older students. Some of them I already knew about, such as Google's reverse image search. That has proven useful for disproving unresearched memes on Facebook. But there were a lot of new ones I am excited to show my students. Be Internet Awesome's Interland looks vaguely minecraft-esque, so it'll instantly be popular. My students love looking up where they live on Google Maps and Google Earth, so all the apps related to those will be popular. They'll also be useful since my school does Montessori Global every year, where the whole school researches one country or continent or state and puts all their projects on display for one day every May (this year we're doing Europe). I've been doing a lot with 3D printing recently and hadn't heard of Poly, so I'm excited to explore that and see if it's something I can use with students.  Mystery Animal, Quick Draw, and AutoDraw are ones I'll add to my Destiny page as options for students to play if they have extra time during class.

Thing 44: Social Reading & Book Stuff

This thing might be my favorite so far because it comes back to what I think our number one job as librarians is, and that is to foster a love of reading in our students. We can teach coding, run makerspaces, and teach research skills, but the basis for all of that and more is reading. Students learn to read in the classroom, but they learn to love to read in the library.

I really enjoyed the Scholastic article "It Takes a Reader To Grow a Reader: When Adults Don't Read, Kids Lose." The author's views on how adult reading habits influence children are the same as my own. If children see the adults in their life reading, they are more likely to become lifelong readers. It isn't enough for us to teach our children how to read; we have to show them that reading is fun. I think the two best ways to do that are to give them books they're interested in and let them know that we read for fun, too.

I work to make sure I do this in my own library. I am lucky that my school does not do AR or any similar programs which require students to check out books "on their level." When my students come into the library they pick books solely based on their interests. They may have to get a book on a certain subject for a class project, but I don't count those toward their checkout totals, so that they can then get books based on interest alone. I am also lucky to work with teachers who support their students' interests and encourage them to pick books and learn about what they want to read and learn about.

I also try to read what they read. Personally, I enjoy reading YA realistic fiction and fantasy best, but I read a lot of middle grade fiction as well because that is what my students read. Often, my 5th and 6th graders will come to the library and want me to recommend a book to them and they are much more likely to check a recommended book out if I have read it and enjoyed it.

Another important thing to do with children, in my opinion, is to talk to them about what they're reading and what I am reading. When my students read a book I've read, we talk about it. Even if it's just a two minute conversation during checkout, they love to know what I thought of a certain book and I love to know what they thought of it. If it's a book I haven't read yet, I ask them to tell me whether it's worth reading or not.

My students all know that I love Harry Potter and when they read one of the books, they eagerly tell me all about it and ask questions about who my favorite characters are, what my opinion of Snape is, and whether Cursed Child is part of the series or not (it's not!).

I really liked the infographic included in the Scholastic article. I plan on printing it out and putting a copy in the library and the teacher's lounge.

Switching gears, I am very interested in Open eBooks. It seems like a great resource and I'll have to look into it further. I wish there was a single code for a whole school rather than individual codes for individual students. My students have a hard enough time remembering their ID numbers and password they use to log onto Chromebooks.

And, lastly, Goodreads. I love Goodreads. I've been using it for years and it's a great way to organize all the books I've read and want to read. As far as how it helps me in the library, I like how it lets you scan book covers and barcodes. When I go to the public library I'll go to the children's section and scan books I think would be good to add to my own collection. Then, when I do my ordering, I just pull up the Goodreads shelf I stick them on and add them to my order.