#thefridayfour

It's that time again!!!  Time to reflect!

1.  What went well this week?
I prepared a presentation for our district wide professional learning day that would be shared with all of our K-5 educators!  I used a lot of the skills that I learned in Tony Vincent's, Classy Graphics course!  I definitely feel more creative as a result of taking his course and using what I've learned to create amazing presentations that will be utilized during professional development.

2.  What can I do better next week?
Time management still continues to be something I need to improve on.  There just never seem to be enough hours in the day.  I have a planner that I use and I still run out of time!  Maybe I need to plan my day hour by hour....hmmmm.....

3.  Who or what did I affect in a positive way this week?
I helped one of the coordinators in our district with Google as she prepared for a working session this week.  She had a unit plan template that she needed to disseminate to her teachers.  While working in pairs, they needed to access the document, work within the document collaboratively and send it back to her.  We set her up a shared Google Drive that she then turned into a tiny.url and her teachers had at it!  They made copies of the template, renamed it with their information, collaborated on the document and then it was there waiting for her!  It worked perfectly!  We opted to go this route instead of using the Teams Drive because she didn't have the time to manually add each teacher in one by one.  Once she has time to do so, I'll work with her to create a Team Drive and move that folder into the drive so everyone is able to access it going forward!

4.  What is something I did professionally for myself?
I spent a lot of time in #classygraphics the course and resources this week!  I had to quickly create a flyer that is going to be administered at our Back2SchoolBash tomorrow.  I also started creating a series of graphics that I am calling "The Anatomy of..."  These are graphics that show the anatomy, or parts of different ed tech resources that I come across and love!  Of course I used those #classygraphics skills to create them!

Tag!  You're it!  What are YOUR Friday Four?

An awesome tool you'll use EVERY day!

I just found out about an AMAZING tool that I think every teacher could use every day!  You can find it at classroomscreen.com and it's FREE!  This is a classroom management tool, calculator, timer, random name generator, QR code generator, whiteboard, text box ALL IN ONE!!  Where was this tool when I was in the classroom?!?!?

As a teacher, the first thing I would do when I walked into my class in the morning, would be to pull this website up on my smart board.  Everything that I could possibly need during the day would literally be just a click away!  When you're finished with the tool, simply "x" it out!

The main dashboard that you land upon once you open the tool. 

Language-Select your language.

Background-Personalize your background.

Random Name-Type or copy and paste your student's names in the random name generator and click, "Choose." With each click, it will generate a new name for you. Easy Peasy!

Calculator-Self explanatory!

QR-Simply type the website that you want your students to access.  The beauty of this, is that since it's projected largely on your smart board/panel, students will be able to scan it without having to walk up to the board!

Drawing-This is the white board feature.  You have the option of the board being small or full screen.

Text-A simple text box for easy access and notes.

Work Symbols-I love this one! This allows you to click on one of four symbols that will instruct your students to work together, ask a neighbor, whisper, or to be silent.

Traffic Light-Click red, yellow, or green.  This is another classroom management tool that could represent the noise level in your class or when it's time to change and rotate centers.

Timer-Set a timer for your class with a few simple clicks.

Clock-Another simple tool.

This is what the screen looks like with all of the resources pulled up at one time!  I highly doubt that you would need to have EVERY tool open at the same time, but I wanted to show you how much real estate each of them take up! Feel free to click on the "Anatomy of Classroomscreen!" image below to access a pdf that you can download, print and share with your colleagues!

This is definitely one of the tools that I would begin utilizing on the first day of school.  This become a part of your classroom norms and procedures.  Why not use it, set the tone, and then get your students involved to utilize the tools as well?  

The Anatomy of G-Suite!

Happy Hump Day!

While in undergrad, I decided to major in Biology Pre-Med.  I thought that maybe one day, I'd like to be a doctor or perhaps even a nurse!  After spending some time in the retail world, I became an alternatively certified high school science teacher!  Even though I live in the world of Instructional Technology, I will always be a science teacher at the core!  While being in Tony Vincent's #classygraphics course, he has challenged us to create an infographic or cheat sheet.  I decided to merge my love of science (anatomy) and technology (Google) into what I'm calling, "The Anatomy of G-Suite!"  I will be tweaking these graphics as needed but I'm so excited about how they turned out!  Feel free to click on them to download a pdf version to use or share with your new-Google educator friends!  I plan to add to this collection of Anatomy posts for tools, resources and web 2.0 tools that I come across, love and share here on my platform!  Enjoy!

Anatomy of Google Drive

Anatomy of Google Docs

Anatomy of Google Slides

Anatomy of Google Classroom

I'm so excited to share this "Anatomy of..." series with the #edtech world and look forward to bringing more in the future!  

#thefridayfour

So, I had a thought!  Fridays are usually reflection days for me on what happened during the week. What went well?  What didn't go so well?  What can I do differently next week?  What can I do better next week?  Who did I affect this week?  Did I make a positive impact on someone or something this week?  You get the picture!  I decided to start what I'm going to call "The Friday 4!"

Every Friday (let's hope), I'm going to make a concerted effort to reflect on 4 things:

1. What went well this week?
2. What can I do better next week?
3. Who or what did I affect in a positive way this week?
4. What is something I did professionally for myself?

It's my hope that being more focused in my reflection each week, will help me to be more intentional about my goals for the following week.  So....it's week 1 and here goes!

What went well this week?

This week, in general, was just a REALLY productive week! It was the first week back with our entire Instructional Technology team.  We had numerous trainings and planning sessions that went really well!

What can I do better next week?
Next week, I am going to be sure to create a complete brain dump at the end of each day!  Although this week was super productive, I've had a feeling of "loose ends" all week.  I need to make the effort to get everything out of my brain and on to paper (or a computer!) so I know that I've dotted every i and crossed every t!

Who or what did I affect in a positive way this week?
New Teacher Orientation was today and I positively impacted 145 new teachers to my school district! I was able to trouble shoot issues of not being able to log into their email or their Google Classroom and although these issues were small to me, I know it's going to make a world of difference to them! They are eager to get started as new teachers to our district and begin getting their plans together!

What is something I did professionally for myself?
I purchased a few inspirational books to read, as if I don't have enough "books to read" on my bookshelf! I also blogged and spent some time analyzing analytics of my website! It's amazing to see the number grow every week as well as to see where in the world people are located that are reading what I've got to say!

So....what about you?  What are your #thefridayfour?  As you close out this week and prepare to celebrate the weekend, take a moment to reflect.  Take some time to get in the right mind to close out this week and get ready for the upcoming week!

Getting ready for the new school year...

It's the beginning of a new year...where should you begin?

The 2017-2018 school year is upon us!  Whether you are new to the field of education, dipping your toes in the #edtech water, or you've been teaching for years, it's time to set some goals to grow your current teaching practice as well as fill your professional toolbox with some new goodies!  I get asked a lot, "where should I start?"  There's not one "right" answer to this question, but I would recommend the following:

Be active on Twitter:

I spend a lot of time on Twitter!  Not going to lie, this is where I get most of my professional development!  If you don't already have an account, go ahead and create one, and post your first Tweet!  I love that if I'm curious about a certain topic, let's say educational technology, elementary science, or STEM, that I can search for #edtech or #elementaryscience, or #stem and I am automatically connected to tons of educators all over the world that have shared this same interest. They may have posted articles, blogs, or other resources that match my interest.  It's a great place to start and I find myself getting sucked into the Twitter-verse for hours on end just searching and searching!  Following other educators allows me to see what they post in my Twitter stream so I never miss what they share.  Having access to other educators opens up my reach and source for resources to a global level!

Find an accountability partner:

I firmly believe that ALL educators should have an accountability partner.  This goes for new educators as well as seasoned educators!  An accountability partner gives you someone to check in with, someone to push you towards your educational goals, and someone to bounce ideas off of.  The field of education and instructional technology are filled with different certifications, degrees, and badges just waiting for you to gain!  Consider working on these with a fellow colleague.  Perhaps there's another educator that you know of that has what you are working towards.  Ask them to guide you and help you get to where they are!  Check in with them consistently by setting a standing calendar appointment that protects that time.  If you don't see yourself and your growth as important and protect that time, it will pass you by.  You also want to make sure that you set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely) goals with your accountability partner.  This will help to ensure that you meet the goals you set. Instead of saying, "I want to get my Google Trainer certification" or "I want to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert," make the goal a SMART goal so it's bound by time and relevancy!

Grow your professional learning network (PLN):

I definitely use Twitter as a part of my PLN.  In addition, I continue to make those connections with other educational technology leaders that I know I can learn from.  It's all about relationships!  As cliche as it is, I definitely consider myself to be a life long learner.  I have pursued my bachelors, masters, specialists, and am finishing up my doctorate.  I have a ton of #edtech badges and certifications.  I don't want to get too comfortable or complacent!  I remember sending my first email during my senior year of college in 1998 and thinking, "WOW....as soon as I hit enter, my mom is going to get this email!"  You have to continue to learn and grow from other educators and leaders so you stay informed, inspired, creative, and innovative!  It's always a great feeling to meet people in my PLN face to face after conversing with them online for years and years!  There are a lot of people that I follow on Twitter as well as blogs that I follow, and YouTube channels that I follow that I consider all to be a part of my network.  I am continuously learning from this group of people and this network is constantly growing, so I, too can grow!

Learn one new tool a week:

In order to stay relevant in this ever changing world, I would encourage you to learn one new tool a week.  I'm not saying to become an expert in that tool, but rather research and seek out a new tool and scratch the surface of it, how it can be used, as well as when you might be able to incorporate it into your practice.  There is sooooo much out there to learn!  Follow blogs, stay active on Twitter, talk to other educators and technology leaders to find out what they are using.  Pick and choose what you like and don't be afraid to try!  I guarantee you that your students will be willing to try and will probably help you figure out how to use whatever it is!

Don't try to become an expert in EVERYTHING:

This is a BIG one!  You can do anything, but you can't do EVERYTHING!  Don't even try it!!  Find you a couple of good apps, tools, or web 2.0 resources and become an EXPERT in those!  Once you have those down packed, add to your toolbox and master a few more!  This goes back to number 4...learning about what's out there will allow you to determine and discover when to pull what from your professional toolbox!  Trust me, you will 100% totally overwhelm yourself attempting to do it all!  There are educators and technology leaders that publish weekly tech tips that will give you ideas. I remember having a pair of educators that I was working with that had a notebook and they would write down the tools that I shared with them every week.  They would refer back to that notebook throughout the school year and pull different resources to try and utilize as they determined where it would fit into their lesson plans.

So, go forth and Tweet, identify that accountability parter that's going to push you towards your goals and dreams, grow your network, learn a new tool, and don't try to do everything!  You have the power to make this year your BEST year yet!  As the educational leader in your classroom, you drive the instruction and the way it's delivered!  I challenge you to become a "Technology Teacher Extraordinaire" this year and take your teaching practice to the next level through the integration of technology!

You get a badge! You get a badge! You get a badge!

Remember when you were a kid and your teacher handed you back a spelling test or a math test with a sticker on it?  Do you remember how awesome that was?  I know I loved it even more if it was a scratch and sniff sticker! Well, in the world of instructional technology, we don't receive stickers for doing things, we receive badges...they're like virtual stickers! Annnndddd....I may be a bit obsessed with earning them!  There are numerous #edtech badges out there to be earned in different ways. Usually you earn them for completing a course or earning certification in that #edtech tool.  In other words, you have demonstrated mastery in the tool and are able to utilize it, model it and teach it.  I love earning them, as I'm definitely a life long learner.  I love being able to grown and learn and then be rewarded at the end with a "sticker!"

These are the badges that I am most proud of! I created this graphic on a Google Slide and took a screen shot so I could Tweet it out.  I then pinned it to my Twitter feed.  Pinning it keeps it at the top of my Twitter feed.  When I earn a new badge, I add it to the Google Slide, take a new screen shot, Tweet it, and pin it again! Easy peasy! I like keeping this pinned at the top of my Twitter feed so when people open my Twitter feed, they are able to see it and know what's in my professional toolbox! Hey, if you don't show off your own skills, who will? Right? 😀

Let's go over each of the badges that I've earned, row by row from left to right.

Instructional Technology-This badge represents the AMAZING department that I work in. I keep this one first because it reminds me of the awesome people that I work with every day.  I have learned so much from them and continue to do so each and every day! @apsinstructtech

21st Century Classroom-Educators in my district are able to earn this badge once they've shown mastery of the touch screen LED panel in their classroom.  Since my department trains on these panels, it was required that we earn the badge as well.  After all, how can we train on it, if we don't know it!

Alpha Squirrels-I am proud to say that I am an inaugural member of the Alpha Squirrels! This badge is earned by going through the application process and demonstrating usage of the Reflector App.  This app allows you to wireless reflect and stream your device.  It's a great solution to be able to your screen from anywhere in the classroom and prevents you from having to be wired in at the front of the class, connected to the board. Reflector has recently launched ClassHub in the past year that gives complete control of student devices, the ability to push content to student devices, lock student devices, and sends the teachers screen to students. @reflectorapp @squirrels #alphasquirrels http://alpha.airsquirrels.com/

Brainpop Certified Educator-This badge is earned after demonstrating knowledge in all things Brainpop.  There is so much more to this tool than just watching the videos and answering the quiz questions that follow.  There are mapping features, graphic organizers, and you can even make your own movies! Once you've gone through Brainpop training and demonstrated mastery, you apply to become a certified educator and earn your badge! @brainpop https://educators.brainpop.com/certified-brainpop-educator-program/

Plickers Ambassador-Plickers is a quick, easy and innovative way to formatively assess your students in real time without the need of devices.  You can either print (free: https://plickers.com/PlickersCards_2up.pdf)  or order ($20 on Amazon).  Plickers cards are each unique and engage students to think critically.  Once you pose a question to the class (ie. verbally, through a presentation, etc) students will hold their Plickers cards up in the direction of their answer (A, B, C, D).  You (the teacher) would then scan the class with your phone and it magically records the students answers. It takes seconds!  This badge is earned through requesting an invite (https://plickers.com/ambassadors) and being accepted. Benefits include swag, sets of Plickers cards, a badge, presentation materials, etc). See See Plickers in action: https://youtu.be/mI-eBHhEqzs

Surface Expert-A perk of becoming a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (see below) is that you can apply to become a Surface Expert. Through this program, you receive a Surface Book device and all of the materials that you need to share the Surface love with those that you interact with! If the chance arises, you able to test out different Microsoft products/software before they are released to the public! This is an amazing opportunity that you are able to reapply to every year and learn, interact, and engage first hand with Windows 10 and the latest and greatest that Microsoft has to offer. 

Certified MIE-This badge was the beginning of my LOVE of the Microsoft Educator Community and gave me the desire to keep on learning about all things Microsoft! I haven't looked back! I guess you could say this is the gateway drug to Microsoft in Education! Once you have earned 1,000 points in the Microsoft Educator Community, you will get a SURPRISE badge pop up stating that you have earned the distinction of becoming a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator! This is the first step to becoming an MIE Expert or a Surface Expert. This shows that you are active in the community and that you've not only engaged with the Community, but that you've also takes some courses, watched some webinars, or some quick tip videos. This is the beginning of getting addicted to earning badges!  You've been warned! education.microsoft.com 

MIE Expert-After you become a Certified MIE (above), the next step is to apply to become an MIE Expert! This a HUGE honor! Through becoming a part of the MIE Expert family, you are demonstrating that you have a love of the Microsoft in Education tools, that you have a deep understanding of the tools and how to integrate them into classrooms.  The knowledge of these tools should be enough that you feel comfortable to train on them (leading to Trainer badges) and share their goodness with other educators. MIEEs are able to attend local, regional and national meet-ups as they occur.  In addition, you are able to apply to present at conferences and possibly have your conference fees taken care of by Microsoft!  There are so many perks to earning this honor and I would DEFINITELY say that the hard work is worth it!  

Google Certified Educator Level 1-This badge is awarded to you once you show proficiency in the Google for Education tools and how to use them effectively in the classroom.  These tools were originally called Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and are now make up what we call the G-Suite.  Once you have gone through the Level 1 training course and taken the Google Level 1 exam, you are awarded this badge.  Google provides all the the training to earn this badge on their website: https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification_level1 

Google Certified Educator Level 2-Level 2 takes it up a notch! Where level 1 shows proficiency, Level 2 shows your expertise in utilizing G-Suite in the classroom.  This is definitely a harder badge to earn but well worth it if you are seeking to either gain more G-Suite knowledge or work your way up to becoming a Google Certified Trainer. https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification_level2

Google Certified Trainer-Becoming a Google Trainer has opened my eyes up to all things Google for Education! Google is so much bigger that Gmail. Earning this badge indicates that you have mastered all of the information included in the G-Suite and that you are comfortable to train other educators on their usage.  In order to earn this badge, you must pass Level 1, Level 2, the Skills Assessment and create a video showing mastery of an innovative way to utilize a G-Suite feature in the classroom.  If you go on YouTube and search "Google Trainer Application" you will find a ton of these videos there!  https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification_trainer

Certified Flipgrid Educator-I spoke about Flipgrid in a previous post.  I've known about this tool for years but just got re-ignited about it and the many ways it can be incorporated into education, not only for students, but for teachers, administrators, and even central office staff.  To earn this badge, you must create a Flipgrid and receive at least 10 responses it.  You will then submit the link to that Flipgrid along with a passing score of 100% on the Flipgrid Assessment (you get to take it as many times as needed until you pass) for consideration of approval to become a Flipgrid Certified Educator!

Promethean Master Educator-I earned this badge by going through a 3 day training provided by Promethean.  It consisted of several modules that allowed me to go through different instructional design activities, integration techniques, ActivInspire features and benefits, presentation skills, etc. It was extremely hands on and each day was full of content.  This may very well be the first badge that I earned.  Our district has moved towards touch screen LED panels so sadly we don't have very many Promethean Boards around anymore.  

Certified Educator Digital Citizenship-Common Sense Media is the go to for Digital Citizenship in Education. Their website contains a scope and sequence that you can actually teach right from!  In order to earn this badge, there were a set of tasks that you needed to accomplish that included things like reteaching lessons, creating a profile, etc.  The requirements have since changed and are refreshed for the 2017-2018 school year.  Take a look at the new requirements to earn this badge at the following link:
https://www.commonsense.org/education/certification

Star Discovery Educator-This badge is earned through the Discovery Educator Network. You need to create a profile and then it will walk you through how to earn become a DEN Star. You should have a strong desire to work within the Discovery Educator Network and share the goodness on social media.  You would create a profile, complete the application and host an event in which tips and tricks are shared.  Some of the benefits are that you have access to DEN events, have a blog through the DEN and you even receive a bunch of swag!

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2010/08/17/become-a-star-discovery-educator/

I've also earned a TON of badges through the Microsoft Educator Community...53 to be exact, and I'm still going!  Currently, Microsoft has 123 badges that are able to be earned within the Community by completing a course.  You can also earn badges by attending their Hack the Classroom event, for Tweeting, for being active on other social media platforms, and for building and creating lesson plans and posting them in the community. I'm almost 1/2 way there!  I love taking these courses because there's so much to learn!  I've even gone back and re-taken courses to revisit the information there! I love that Microsoft makes is so easy to get free professional development any time, any place, and in any space!

Sooooo, what are you waiting for??  Get on out there and earn some badges!  There are way more out there than just these!  I'd love to hear about the badges you earn! 

Microsoft Educator Community

Did you know that there is a portal full of FREE Microsoft resources for you to utilize?  How about that you could receive FREE, at your leisure professional development on all things Microsoft?  Well, you can!  The Microsoft Educator Community is chalk FULL of FREE resources, courses and quick tips to help take your knowledge of all things Microsoft to the next level!

All you have to do is go to education.microsoft.com and create an account.  From there, the sky is the limit!  You will earn badges and points for each course that you complete.  Once you've created your account, you will land your home page.  Be sure to update and edit your profile, add your picture, and all of the other important information!  To the left of the screen you will see a tab that says "Courses and Resources."

That, my friends is where the magic lives!  Take as many or as few courses as you like.  Watch the Quick Tip Videos.  Immerse yourself in all things Microsoft!  There's a lot to learn here!  Below are the top 3 courses that I would recommend to get you started:

Introduction to OneNote walks you through how to use OneNote.  I love this tool as a means to house all of my notes and ideas for projects that I'm working on.  Once you get really familiar with OneNote, you can take what you know and incorporate it into Class Notebook and Staff Notebook.  More on these will be included in a future post.  Think of OneNote as a virtual book.  You have the overall book, then you have chapters in the book, followed by pages in those chapters.  Each of them is represented by a tab (you can change the color of the tabs) and in those tabs you can add text, images, videos, audio, etc.  The GREAT thing about this tool is that you are able to collaborate online with other people that you share your Notebook with.  This means that you and your teachers or your students could all be in the Notebook at the same time, working together on the same project!  How cool is that?

Introduction to to Sway is another great course to take!  Sway might just be my all time favorite Microsoft tool!  It's super easy to use.  Sway allows you to create a presentation that flows either vertically or horizontally based upon your preference.  You can include headings, text, videos, images, etc all into a sliding presentation.  With Sway, you never have to leave the tool to do your web searches as everything is "in-app."  You can search for your images through Bing, right in Sway!  In addition, you can search and add Tweets to your Sway right from the menu bar.  The possibilities are endless!  Here is the link to a sway that I created and submitted for the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program this year.  You'll notice that I added a Mix (below) into my Sway for an added pop.  As with OneNote, you are able to share your Sway with others and even add them as collaborators so you can work on presentations with others at the same time.

https://sway.com/j30bAQd9bnxbJIc3?ref=Link

Introduction to Office Mix.  Mix is an awesome tool that allow you to add your voice and even your live video right into your Power Point presentations!  It "mixes" your presentations up!  I added a Mix to my Sway example above.  Check it out!  Mix is a free add-in for Power Point and it allows you to be able to make your presentations interactive by adding quizzes and questions throughout the presentation.  You are able to export these "mixed" Power Points as an mp4 video so it can be viewed as a video rather than a click through Power Point.

Be sure to check out some of the amazing resources and tools in the Educator Community.  Again, they're all free!  In the coming weeks, I'm going to further discuss some of the programs and certifications that are available through Microsoft, BUT...you have to earn some badges and point first! 

Flipgrid Fever!

I have heard about the web tool, Flipgrid for a few years now but just recently got super pumped up about it!  So much so, that I applied for to be a Flipgrid Certified Educator and I found out yesterday that I received it!  Whoo hoo!  I have for the most part, been on the "response end" of Flipgrid.  However, last night, after attending my first Flipgrid Twitter chat #flipgridfever, I learned a lot of great ways that Flipgrid could be used both in and out of the classroom.  There is a lot of information out there about how to use it in the classroom with students, however now that I am in a central office position, I would like to approach this from my point of view!  So, how can you, as an administrator or member of central office staff use Flipgrid in your position?  Keep reading for some ideas!

• If you are a Principal, create a Flipgrid and have your staff create introductions about themselves.  Include their name, the grade they will be teaching, and something interesting about themselves.  You can then post this Flipgrid up on your school's website.  How awesome would it be, as a parent or future student in a teacher's class to get to "meet" their teacher virtually before face to face?  
• If you have substitute teachers that frequent your building, why not have them create their own video on a Flipgrid to introduce themselves.  As teachers need to request a substitute, they can gain a feel for who would be a fit for their class based upon the sub's responses to the Flipgrid!
• Virtual Professional Learning Communities! Why not engage your staff in some professional learning from a virtual standpoint?  Post your questions and receive feedback all in one place.  The great thing about this is that your staff is able to communicate with each other and see each other's responses.
• Virtual Book Study!  Is your team reading a book together but can't find the time to get together to discuss it?  Put together a Flipgrid in order to do so!  
• Parent Feedback can also be solicited through the use of a Flipgrid.  The Principal could post a greeting at the beginning of the year and parents could use this as a place to share kudos and good news in a positive way!
• Have teachers post a "letter to themselves" at the beginning of the school year with their goals for the year.  Revisit it again at the end of the year and see how many of those goals were actually met!

So there you go!  Just a few ideas about how Flipgrid can be utilized outside of the classroom!

Here is an article that I found that outlines some great ideas about how teachers can use Flipgrid in their classrooms!  http://www.hollyclark.org/2017/05/28/15-ways-to-incorporate-flipgridfever/

#classygraphics with Tony Vincent!

This summer, I challenged myself to learn to be more creative in producing graphics!  I am what I like to call, a Tony Vincent stalker!  I follow him on social media (twitter: tonyvincent, instagram: learninginhand) and can't get enough of his website, www.learninginhand.com.  He's amazing and is one of the sweetest people you will EVER meet!  When I saw that he was offering a virtual class this summer, I jumped on the opportunity to sign up and I'm so glad that I did!  One of the first lessons taught us how to create personalized sticky notes!  He walked us through the process of how to create them, how to pull in graphics and text to make them really personal.  Here are a few that I created using my own Bitmoji!

I must admit that this gets REALLY addicting and time consuming!  The possibilites are endless! There are so many ways that you could utilize these sticky notes in your classrooms:

• to give feedback on an assignment

• to create hallpasses

• to send some "good news" home

• as an exit ticket for your students

• as a quick to-do list for the day

Here is a link to Tony's website so you can learn to create your own versions of these sticky notes:  http://learninginhand.com/blog/print-custom-sticky-notes-with-google-slides?rq=sticky%20notes
Have fun and happy creating!