#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 19

 

Welcome to Day 19 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. How are you feeling about the challenge so far? Have you managed to do all the tasks up to this point? If not, that's OK. Take your time. Work at your own pace. Remember, the point of making a virtual classroom is to have a functional space for your students to be able to access content and other information.

Today, you are going to add one more slide to your presentation. Every classroom has resources that are used on a regular basis. In a normal classroom, this might be pens, notebooks and Algebra tiles. In the world of virtual teaching, you might have reference websites, digital manipulatives and a book library. What are they online resources that your students are going to need to access on a regular basis? These are the types of link that you should put on this slide.

Here is what I came up with:

I wanted this slide to mimic my "Contact Information" slide. I cropped the tree from the left slide of my wall background, extended the wall background and added a different tree to the right side. As I make decisions about how to improve my virtual classroom, I will add, move, delete as needed. I should note that this will be done with all my slides. As I the year goes on and I have a clearer picture of my students' needs, all the slides will change in some way. Be careful not to change too much at once though. Students need consistency. Change too much at once can cause confusion and unnecessary stress.

We have one more slide to add for this challenge. Then we can start adding your Bitmoji , distribute your virtual classroom to users and have a little fun.

What is your biggest take away from the challenge so far? Let me know in the comments below. Share your work with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag @EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to what you do.

Peace, love and happiness always!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 18

 

Welcome to Day 18 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. Today, we are going to add your contact information to your main virtual classroom slide. 

Why is this important? Students and parents need to know that you are available to meet their needs  which means they need to know how they can contact you. Here are some options that you can use:

* Email: Do not be afraid to give parents and students your school email address. This method of communication allows families to contact you whenever it is convenient for them, but also allows you to be able to contact them back on your time. It also gives you an immediate record of the communication and what it was about in case you need to reference it for later.

*Phone: If you are going to give parents a phone number, I suggest two options:

1) School Phone Number: even though schools are not physically open, the numbers still work and secretaries are checking them. They will then forward you any messages they receive for you.

2) Google Voice: This is a feature of Google that allows you to get a semi-anonymous phone number to give to parents and students. These calls will be forwarded to your actual phone number without parents and students ever seeing your actual phone number. This allows you to maintain your privacy and eliminate 2am phone calls. 

(NOTE: If you school is a GSuites school, Google Voice may not be enabled. You will then need to sign up for Google Voice using a personal Google account. Don't have a personal account? You can sign up for one for free.)

* Social Media: Some teachers have social media accounts that they use for school purposes. This is a great way to share information and communicate with families. A couple of notes: 

• Never share your personal email with students and parents.

and

• Even with teacher/school based accounts, do not follow students and parents back.

The reason for two notes is that we, as teachers, NEED a separation between professional and personal domains. I can discuss more about this philosophy in a later post.

* Communication App: There are lots of communication apps that you can use with students and parents. Like all other apps, you need to make sure that they are compliant with all the laws around student data, privacy and accessibility. These apps include Class Dojo, Remind, Seesaw...the list is extensive. Here is a link for Common Sense Media (great educator and parent site) that recommends 16 different apps that you can research on your own: https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-messaging-apps-and-websites-for-students-teachers-and-parents.

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Now that you now what your options are and you've chosen your communication method, you can add this information to your first Slide. Just like all the other elements in your virtual classroom, you want to make sure that it is readable for students and not distracting. You can use icons with links, QR codes, links over text, etc. The choice is completely yours. 

You don't even have to put the information explicitly on your first slide. You can put a link to a last slide in your presentation. This the option I did in my virtual classroom. My reason for this was because I wanted my information to be large and clear and felt that a dedicated contact slide serves that purpose best.

Here is what my two slides representing my contact information look like.

Home Slide w/ added link to Contact Information. The "Contact Me" button links to Slide 4 which is below.

Contact information slide

How are you going to communicate with parents and students? What will your contact information look like? Let me know in the comments below. Share you progress with me @MrsMathMagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace, love and happiness always!!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 17

 

Welcome to Day 17 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. Yesterday was our heavy lifting day, adding content information that will change over time. Today, you are going to introduce yourself to your students in a welcome video. If your computer did not come with video recording options, here are some products you can look into. I do not endorse any of them because that's not the purpose of this blog. I will do product reviews at a later time. I suggest researching all the products mentioned and choose the one that suits you best. All the options I have listed market for teacher and student use. Be sure to check their user agreements to make sure they are compliant with child, internet safety and accessibility laws.

* Screencastify: This is a Chrome extension that has limited free use. It allows for easy recording, editing and converting video presentations. Videos store right to your Google Drive or to your computer.

* Loom: This app is free and can be downloaded to your computer or installed as Chrome extension. Features and ease of use seem to be similar to Screencastify.

* Screencast-O-Matic: Another free option that has simple and intuitive tools for recording, editing and distributing video content.

*QuickTime: This is an Apple product and should be standard on Apple laptops and desktops and says it integrates between iPhone, iPad and iPod to easily record content and then edit on.

There are other options. These seem to be the most popular with teachers. Let me know which you like the best in the comments below.

Recording your video

After you have decided what platform you are going to use, you are going to install the software you need (from the links above) and record you video. I am not going to go over the specifics of how to record because each of the platforms are slightly different. I will say that when you save your video, please make sure that it is in .mp4 format. This is the only video format that Google Slides (and other Google apps) will read.

I will also mention to be mindful of time. This is meant to be an introductory video for Back to School. It should not be more than 5 minutes. You are going to want to make own videos for your lessons as well. For the sake of your students, please do not make these videos more than 15 minutes long. Make the content as concise as possible. Save extensive examples for your live instruction or consider making interactive notes (tutorial coming) to go with your videos. 

Pro-Tip: Script out what you want to say and what you want to show. This will keep you from going off topic and stuttering through content.

Pro-Tip: If you are showing an image or working out a problem, have your camera set on you at the same time. Your students would be looking at you as you teach in the classroom. They are going to want to see you in your videos. 

Pro-Tip: Dress the part. And be mindful of you posture while you are recording: shoulders back, back straight and tall, sitting arms length from the camera to get your whole upper body, not just your face. Despite the online format, you want to present yourself as professional as you would in your classroom

Uploading Your Video to Slides

After you have recorded your video, viewed it to make sure it is acceptable, edited it as needed, you need to present it to your students. To do this, you are going to upload it to your opening slide. Some teachers like to store their videos in YouTube and then post the videos to their slide. That way, students can access the videos whenever they want, even after you change the content of your classroom. You could also post them to your website and then link to them in your Slides. If you are not ready for YouTube and Sites yet, it's ok. You can still upload your videos. 

Virtual Classroom w/ text on IWB

There are two ways to add a video to your presentation depending on how you set up your IWB.

Version 1: You have a blank IWB

If your IWB is blank, you are going to first add a text box over the entire board and type a welcome message. Size it to fit the board and make sure you use a font that is easily readable by students (avoid script and heavy block lettering). You are then going click on the edge of the text box so that the cursor is no longer blinking. Next, click Insert -> Video and find your video based on where it is stored. I do not suggest inserting a video directly into your presentation. Inserting to a linked text box or image avoids a potentially awkward video shot.

Version 2: You have text already on your IWB

If you already have text on your IWB (like I have in my classroom image above), you are going to Insert -> Shape -> (rectangle) over your entire IWB. You are then going to make the rectangle transparent with no border by clicking on the shape edit buttons in the tool bar. Next click Insert -> Video and find your video based on where it is stored. 

You now have a video added to your Slides making your virtual classroom more personal, allowing your students to see and hear directly from you, and providing more functionality to your virtual classroom. The next step is to decide how often you are going to change the video. Some teachers, especially elementary teachers, like to change their intro video every day. You can do a weekly message if recording five days of videos seems like too much. I would not go more than a week. Again, the purpose to your virtual classroom is to be functional and relevant to for your students. Having an intro message longer than a week reduces the engagement of your virtual classroom and may loose its relevance over time. 

Let me know your questions in the comments below. Share your progress with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Peace, love and happiness always!!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 16

 

Welcome to Day 16 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. Today's goal is to add all the non-permanent items you would like in your virtual classroom. These are the items that will make your virtual classroom functional.

What is a non-permanent item? These are the links, videos, assignments, etc. that will change throughout the year depending on the lessons that you teach.

For this part, you are going to need to do a little reflection first. How often do you plan to change your virtual classroom? Will you update it daily, weekly, bi-weekly? Will you change some items weekly but have monthly themes? To help you out, think back to Day 3 when you made the list of items that you actual put in your classroom. How often you change or add things to your bulletin boards? What does goes up on your IWB daily? What items do you change in your actual classroom and how often do you change them? This reflection should give you some insight into how you want to further use your virtual classroom and how it might change through out the year.

Do not be afraid to experiment with ideas. Do some exploring of other teachers' virtual classrooms. Ask your Professional Learning Network (or Community) (PLN or PLC respectively) for advice and feedback. This journey is not meant to be intimidating or overwhelming. Keep it simple if you need to. You can always add on more later.

What if you don't have anything to add right now because your curriculum materials are put together yet? That's fine. This blog is not going away. You can always come back here to reference steps you might have missed or forgotten. 

What you add to you Slides is completely dependent on what you have in your virtual classroom. I will highlight some possibilities here based on what I have in my virtual classroom.

___________________________________________________________

Add a text back over a background item:

Virtual Classroom before text and images are added.

Virtual Classroom after text and images are added.

Here you can see that I have added text over the boxes I had already placed in the background. This shows how I used the background as a placeholder for items I knew I was going to use but also needed to change out frequently. With this strategy, I only have to change out the text as needed and not worry about accidentally changing or deleting the elements I want to keep. If I do want to eventually change out the background, I simply make a copy of my original template and edit it as needed.

To add a text box, click on Insert -> Text Box  and then click and drag your cursor to the size of the object you need. You could also click on the Text Box icon in the Tool Bar. Once your text box in made, type what you need to type. You may need to resize or recolor to make sure your words fit in the space and that they readable. Try not to go below a 12 pt font though. Keep the needs of your students in mind.

Change the direction an item is facing:

In the images above, you will notice that my Bitmoji is facing one direction on the left and the opposite direction on the right. Sometimes, your Bitmoji or other elements you place need to be reoriented to fit the scene. To do this, click on the image. Then click on Arrange -> Rotate -> Flip Horizontal. We have used this feature before, but I felt it was important enough to mention again.

Add an Image:

This is another feature that we have used before but bears repeating. To insert and image, click Insert -> Image -> Search the Web (or Upload from Computer). Search for the image you need to enhance your virtual classroom. Click and drag it into your slide. Then, crop, resize and reposition as needed.

Add a Link:

To add a link, click on Insert -> Link. You can then add a link to a website in the box, or add a click to another slide in your presentation. Links can be attached to words or images. I like to attach links to images to make it easier for students to click.

Add a Video:

You can also add a video. Click on Insert -> Video. You will get a Gallery window with several choices to located your video. If you choose the YouTube option, Google does do some filtering, but I suggest you watch any video from start to finish before choosing it for your students. You do not want to hazard incorrect or inappropriate material.

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There are other features you may wish to utilize as you are preparing your virtual classroom. Feel free to explore what Slides has available, but do not feel like you have to use all these features, at least starting out. Pick the ones that suit your needs and the needs of your students. Like I've mentioned so many times before, you can (and will most definitely want to) change your virtual classroom several times throughout the year. 

Today, in my opinion, is one of the hardest days in this challenge because you have to think about content, you have to think about accessibility, you have to think about students needs. A lot of thought needs to be given before a virtual classroom becomes functional for student use. But once all the pieces are together, you will have an engaging space to help motivate students to learn in your classroom.

Pro-tip: Before making your virtual classroom live to students, have a friend or colleague try it first to make sure all the links work and go where you want them to, to make sure nothing unexpected happens when students use your virtual classroom, and to make sure that it is easy to navigate and understand.

Pro-Tip: Before you send your virtual classroom off to be viewed by others, group all your newly added elements together by selecting the entire slide and clicking on Arrange -> Group. This helps to prevent a student (or other viewer) from accidentally moving something. Although, if you set the permissions to "View", students should be able to use the links and videos without rearranging your presentation.

Let me if you have any questions in the comments below. Share your work with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to hearing from you!

Peace, Love and Happiness Always!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 15

 

Welcome to Day 15 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. You made it half way through the challenge.

How do you feel? Ready to do the hard part? Good!! 

Today, we are going to import your Classroom Template into Google Slides. Here's what you need to do:

1. Open your all your "Virtual Classroom Template" Drawings and download them as JPEGs. 
2. Open a blank Google Slide presentation.
3. Delete the default text boxes.
4. Click on "Background".
5. Click on "Choose Image".
6. Click on the blue "Browse" button under "Upload".
7. Click on the image you wish to upload. (It is probably in your "Downloads" folder.)
8. Click on "Done".
9. Add a blank slide for each of your other virtual classroom pieces and follow the directions above to insert them.

Now you are going to add your Bitmoji to each of the slides. Be sure to choose a Bitmoji that fits with the room and is not going to be distracting. For example, if you have a chair, search for a sitting Bitmoji and scale it to the chair. Do the same for a beanbag. If you want to look like you are teaching, search "Pose" and find a pose that looks the most like you teaching. Here are the three I have done for this challenge.

NOTE: If you have items in the foreground of your background image (like the desks and beanbags I have below), you will not be able to place anything behind them. You will either need to work your images so that they do not look like they are floating. If you would like to put things behind these items, you will need to go back into the Template, delete them (or save them to your computer), re-download the Template and upload it again as the background. Then you can add the deleted items by clicking Insert -> Image -> Search the Web (or upload them from your computer) to reinsert the items you deleted into slides. Crop, resize, reposition as needed. 

Tomorrow, we will add the bits and pieces that will make your virtual classroom functional. 

How have you done on the challenge so far. Comment below and share with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge.

Peace, love and happiness always!!

 

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 14

 

Welcome to Day 14 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom. I am hoping that you have had success in adding all the elements you desired to your virtual classroom. Now that we have spent several days practicing the skills to create your virtual classroom templates, it's time to start putting all the pieces together to make your virtual classroom functional.

Today, we are going to add your Bitmoji to your Banner Template. 

About time, right? This #EdTechTeacherChallenge is about Bitmoji Classrooms and we haven't touched the Bitmoji app since the first couple days. Let's get started.

Open your Banner Template. Click on your Bitmoji app icon () in the upper right corner of your window. Choose a Bitmoji you would like to use in your Banner Template. You can search if there is a particular pose or expression you would like to look for. Once you find one you like, click and drag it into your workspace. Be sure to crop, resize and reposition. And voila! You are ready to put your banner into Google Classroom. Click File -> Download -> JPEG (.jpg). This is the only one that is recognized by Google Classroom as an upload file. Here is what my Banner Template looks like with my Bitmoji in it.

Banner Template w/ Bitmoji added

Next, you will need to open your Google Classroom and open one of your classes. Your current Classroom banner looks like this:

Sample Google Classroom Banner in Google Classroom

In the lower right hand corner, you will see "Select Theme" and "Upload Photo" () Click on the "Upload Photo". This will open a popup window for "Gallery". Click on "Select a Photo from Your Computer"(). Your Banner Template should be in your "Download" folder. Find your Banner Template and double click. This adds your image to your Gallery.  

(NOTE: You may get a message saying that your image must be at least 800 by 200 pixels. I found that if I make my dimensions 10.25 x 2.25 inches before I download the image, I do not get this error.)

Once your image is in the Gallery, you are probably going to have to crop and reposition. I have not been able to find measurements that make the pixel requirement and I didn't have to crop. You can maximize your image by dragging the corners are far as you can. Once you have cropped and re-positioned to your liking, click on the blue "Select Class Theme" in the bottom left corner. 

Google Classroom Banner updated with Bitmoji Banner Template

Yes, your banner will show up that dark. In order for Google Classroom to be used in education, it has to be FERPA, COPA and IDEA compliant. So teachers do not have to worry so much about these laws on their own, Google automatically darkens the banner for readability.

NOTE (regarding this task in the challenge): Originally, this challenge was meant to be added to Google Slides and then downloaded. I'm not sure why this was a step in earlier versions on Bitmoji Classroom videos I saw. Realizing that we could just upload our downloaded Banner Template, I altered this step in our challenge to exclude the Slides import. Do not fret, though. We will be importing for real tomorrow.

I hope you have enjoyed this part of the #EdTechTeacherChallenge and are feeling a little more excited about starting Back to School. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Share your creations with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 13

Welcome to Day 13 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. Today is the last template day. Tomorrow, we begin making all the pieces functional for student use.

Today, though, we have one last area to create. This area should be a little fun. It can be fun in its design. It can be fun in the content it will contain. Whatever you decide, remember the purpose of your virtual classroom. Everything needs to be functional, not clutter and distracting.

To begin, you will need to open a new Google Drawings. Give it a title of "Virtual Classroom Template 3" or "Virtual Classroom Template (Name of Area)". Then choose your background and area elements. After you are finished, add your new area to the last section of your Banner Template. You are now ready to insert your templates into Slides and start making interactive.

Here is my last virtual classroom piece and how it looks on my banner.

Student Bulletin Board Area

I decided to add the Student Bulletin Board Area of my classroom that I talked about on Day 4. When this template is added to Slides, it will house examples of student work as mini images that are then linked to the curriculum section of my website (or my students' portfolios). I plan on adding a representation of my students (not Bitmojis because it is not FERPA compliant) to the beanbags. I teach six classes. So, I will have to add two more beanbags because my intent is to have one student of the week from each class.

Banner Template with Student Bulletin Board Area addition

And with that, we are done with template creation (at least for this challenge). I will need to make several other templates for the different areas I talked about on Day 4. You will too if you have other sections you intend to add. But for the sake of this challenge, we will start putting our templates into Slides tomorrow.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Share your creations with me @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always.

 

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 12

Welcome to Day 12 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020 Bitmoji Classroom. Today, you are going to extend your classroom and recreate a different section. You can use the same background and similar elements you have used so far to maintain consistency and make it seem truly like a classroom. Or, you can do something crazy and make it look completely different. The choice is yours. Just remember that the ultimate goal is to make a functional virtual classroom that you can use with your students. Your virtual classroom should be about substance and content and not about the bells and whistles. 

You will need to open a new Google Drawings. Give it a title of "Virtual Classroom Template 2" or "Virtual Classroom Template (Name of Area)". Then, follow all the steps we have been working on: add background, insert area items, crop, resize, reposition, group. This section will be added to your Banner Template once you are finished. The easiest way to do that is to copy your workspace after you group everything together. Then paste into your Banner Template. It will be huge. Hold shift and click on one of the corners to resize to fit your banner and reposition either to the right or left of your IWB.

(Pro-Tip: You way have to play with the background in your Banner Template again if the seams seem a bit wonky, especially on the floor. If this seems like too much, you can easily put down a rug that spans the entire room.)

I decided to make the "Content Bulletin Board" I talked about on Day 4. Here is what it looks like:

Content Bulletin Board Area of my virtual classroom

This section of my classroom will have the objectives for the week, links to the "Habits of Mathematical Practice" and the standards, and links to the lesson area of my classroom website. This actual content will be added in a couple days when we transfer our Templates to Google Slides.

Banner Template w/ Content Bulletin Board addition

It is my hope that by now you have the technical pieces of creating a virtual classroom down. We have one more day of template creation and then we can start putting all the pieces together.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Show me your creations @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always.

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 11

 

It's Day 11 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020 Bitmoji Classroom. Today, you get to make your room completely your own by adding those little details like you would to your normal classroom. Will you have the coffee mug that sits on your desk, curtains framing your IWB, a rug on the floor, your favorite books on the book shelf? Whatever you choose, remember that you are looking to add character not clutter. Practice the features we've learned over the past few days: copy, paste, crop, resize, reposition. The last thing I do once I have everything set the way I want it is to select the the entire workspace by clicking and dragging my cursor from the upper left corner to the bottom right corner. Then I click Arrange -> Group. This is your template and want to avoid moving elements without meaning to. Grouping everything together helps with this.

Here is the first finish piece of my virtual classroom and the associated Banner template adjustments.

Virtual Classroom w/ Personalized Elements

Banner w/ Personalized Elements

Over the next couple days, we will be finishing the other areas of your classroom. Once these areas are done, we can start working on putting them together and making them interactive.

Have fun,  be creative. Share with me your progress and questions in the comments below. Also be sure to share with me @mrsmathmagician on social media and use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. 

Peace, Love and Happiness Always!

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 10

 

Good day and welcome to Day 10 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020 Bitmoji Classroom. Today is another practice day. We are going to add a poster or two to our virtual classroom. To do this, you are going to first open your Virtual Classroom Template. Then click Insert -> Image -> Search the Web. Now search for a poster. You are going to want to search for something like "inspirational poster" or "educational poster". If you have a specific quote in mind, you can search for part or all of the quote. If you have a specific topic in mind, you can search by topic. Once you find a poster you like, click, drag and place it in your workspace. Trim, resize and reposition. And your done! You could probably now do this with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back.

Here are the options I chose for my virtual classroom:

Virtual Classroom w/ "Welcome Back" poster and "Road Less Traveled" poster

If you look closely at the images I chose for posters, you might notice that my wall background shows through the image. If this bothers you, you are going to want to add a background shape behind the image. To do this, click on Insert -> Shape -> Shape -> (rectangle shape). You can also click on the shape icon in the toolbar, choose Shape and then the rectangle shape. Click and drag your cursor from the upper left corner to the bottom right corner of the your image. This will put the shape above your image. To get it behind your image, click on Arrange -> Order -> Send Backward until it is just behind your image. (Tip: You are going to want to play with the color of the rectangle at this point to match the rest of your decor and the poster itself.) Then, group the poster and the shape by holding down Shift and clicking on the poster. Click on Arrange -> Group. (Tip: If you click off the rectangle and still need to group the poster and rectangle together, drag both off your workspace. Move the poster over the rectangle. Then drag your cursor on the whitespace to anywhere on the poster. This will catch both objects at the same time and allow you to group them.) Now, if you have to move the poster, it will move the background shape as well. 

Here's my virtual classroom updated with this feature:

Virtual Classroom w/ background shape behind "Welcome Back" Poster

Another thing you might want to add to your posters is a picture frame. You can do this a couple of ways. You can search for picture frames in "Search the Web". You will need to crop, resize, reposition and send backward to fit your poster. There is also a picture frame looking shape in the Insert -> Shape -> Shape that you can size, recolor and send backward to fit your poster. Whichever version you choose, after you group them together, you may need to resize the group because the frames tend to take up a lot of room. 

Here I have two versions of frames. The first is with a frame image. The second is with the frame-like shape. I decided to keep the second option.

Virtual Classroom w/ picture frame image behind "Road Less Traveled" poster

Virtual Classroom w/ picture frame shape behind "Road Less Traveled" poster

My last tip for the day is that sometimes it is difficult to find just the right poster so might want to create your own. You can open a new Drawings window and completely create it from scratch. You will then have to download it as a JPEG and then Insert -> Image -> Upload From Computer. Another option is to use an image, like I have, change the transparency and insert a text box over it. That's what I chose to do. I had to add a white rectangle between the poster and the frame in order for the transparency to work. Here is how it looks. 

Virtual Classroom w/ text box place over "Road Less Traveled" poster

I hope you enjoyed today's tips and tricks. I hope these give you some more ideas about how you can customize your virtual classroom to be exactly what you want. Don't forget to add your posters to your Banner Template as well. 

Virtual Classroom Banner w/ posters added. (Note: "Roads Less Traveled" poster was altered due to sizing restrictions.)

You are now set to add whatever you want to your classroom. That is tomorrow's challenge. Share with me how you are doing in the comments below or on social media using @MrsMathMagician. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always.

#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 9

 

It's Day 9 #EdTechTeacherChallenge and today we will be adding a bookshelf. It is my philosophy that every classroom, regardless of content, should have a robust classroom library. Students need to be exposed to diverse content and material in order to truly thrive. They need to be allowed to imagine and create in order to grow and learn what their interests are. Books allow students to take more agency in their own education and some students are more willing to learn if it is not tied directly to school.

So, yes, I consider a bookshelf in our virtual classrooms a necessity. And like your desk, it is a way for your to express your creativity and share your personality with your students. 

To insert your bookshelf, you are going to practice the same procedure we have been. Open your Virtual Classroom Template. Click on Insert -> Image -> Search the Web. Search the Web for 'bookshelf transparent'. Choose the bookshelf you like and then click and drag it to your workspace. Crop the image. Resize to fit the scale of your desk and IWB. Reposition your bookshelf where you would like it to be in your classroom. Do a little dance that you have mastered a new skill. 

So, why 'waste' a whole day for something so seemingly simple? This #EdTechTeacherChallenge is open to everyone, but is specifically designed for teachers that tell me they are not tech savvy. I full expect that some teachers that have taken up this months challenge finished several days in one shot. However, for teachers that feel they are not good with technology, adding all these elements at one time can be very intimidating. So, the challenge is broken down into the smallest elements to give these teachers bite-sized pieces they can practice with on multiple occasions. 

I also wanted to use today to show how whole images do not need to be used, like I have here in my updated virtual classroom.

Virtual Classroom with IWB, desk and bookshelf

I did a couple of things in today's update. First I moved the bookshelf and desk images so that the my IWB was the main focus of the room. Moving the images extended them off the workspace, though. To fix this, I used the cropping feature to trim the images so they are just inside the workspace border. This is not the only template we will be making for your classroom. Your Virtual Classroom Banner Template is a great way to show the full effect of what you are creating. Here is what my banner template looks like as compared to my classroom template.

Virtual Classroom Banner with IWB, desk and bookshelf

As you can see, the piece of your classroom that we have been building is the center. The left and right sections, that are currently blank, will be built in a couple of days. 

The other design element I wanted to share is that you can recolor your images...to an extent. In the my classroom images above, you'll notice that the desk and bookshelf look like they are from a matching set, but that is not how I found them. Here is what they looked like before I recolored them.

Virtual classroom showing color variation between desk and bookshelf

Although the bookshelf and desk are both brown, they contrasted too much for my liking. To fix the coloring, I clicked on the image (either the desk or the bookshelf). Then clicked on "Format Options" at the top-middle of the Drawings task-bar. The "Format Options" will open at the right side of the Drawings workspace. The third option will say "Recolor" If you click on that option, you will get a box  that says "No Color" and a dropdown arrow. If you click on the dropdown arrow, you will get a bunch of coloring options. Feel free to play with them to get your images to your liking.  I chose the "Dark 3" color for both the desk and bookshop so they would have that matching set look.

I hope you enjoyed today's tips. How are you enjoying this months #EdTechTeacherChallenge so far? Let me know in the comments below and @MrsMathMagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to seeing your creations and hearing your feedback.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always!

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