#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 6

You have made it to Day 6 of the #EdTechTeacherChallenge for August 2020 - Bitmoji Classroom! After downloading and setting up the app and doing some reflection on what your actually classroom looks like and what you would like your virtual classroom to do, you are ready to start the creation process.

For today's challenge, you will be creating a template doc in Google Drawings. Some people skip this step siting that it is double the work. I say otherwise for a couple reasons. First, you are going to want to change things in your virtual classroom over time. However, you are still going to want to keep track of where you started from. Think of how many lessons you recycle every year. Even if you completely revamp a lesson after a few years, how often do you go back to those old lessons to remember what worked and what didn't. Creating a virtual classroom is the same thing. Second, having a template means you don't have to start over again every time you want to make changes.  Third, your virtual classroom is going to be interactive, however, you are not going to want people to rearrange your room or remove items. There are other ways to lock items, but I have found the template to be the easiest and most reliable.

Today, you will actually be making two templates: one for your classroom and one for your banner. They may wind up being pretty close to the same thing, but the size requirements for the banner are why you need that second template.

Here's how you are going to create your template for your classroom:

1) Open Google Drawings (drawings.google.com).  It might already be in your Google Apps icon (known as "The Waffle") if you are signed into Google and already in a different Google App. You can also go to Drive -> New -> More -> Google Drawings.

2) Title the document "Virtual Classroom Template".

Voila! You are read for tomorrow. Really, that's all you needed to do for this step today.

 

But that's not all you had to do today. You also have to create your banner template. Here's the steps for that:

1) Open a new Drawings document. If you are still in your classroom template, click File -> New -> Drawings.

2) Title the document "Virtual Classroom Banner Template".

3) Change the size of the page. Click on File -> Page Setup. A window will popup that says "Page Setup" and "Standard 4:3" in a dropdown box. Click on the dropdown and click "Custom".  Enter the dimensions 10 x 2 inches and click the blue "Apply" button. This will give you a long rectangle that you will need to make the banner work.

And with that you are done for today. Tomorrow, we start the real fun with adding elements to make our classrooms look like actual classrooms. Are you excited? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or @mrsmathmagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace, Love and Happiness Always!