Keep on Keeping On!

Google Keep is one of my FAVORITE Google Apps in the world!  Although it's my favorite, I feel like it's one of the most under used tools located in the G Suite. Like other Google Apps, I love that I can access my Keep Notes on my laptop, desktop and my phone.  I can begin a Note on my laptop and see all of the updates in real time on my phone, etc.  It's a no brainer!  I use it for EVERYTHING!!!

• Grocery lists
• Blog post ideas
• Goals
• Things to check out
• To do lists
• Recipes I want to cook
• A list of my go to vitamins
• Appointments I need to make
• Accomplishments

You can access Keep by going to keep.google.com.  Once you're there, you will have to log in to your Google account.  You will then have the ability to "Take a note."

Below is a quick view and description of the anatomy of a Keep Note:

1. Give your Note a title.
2. Start typing your Note.
3. Pin your Note to the top of your Keep app list.
4. Set a reminder. You can literally set a reminder that will send an alert to your phone when you pass your local grocery store on the way home from work to pick up a gallon of milk.  GENIUS!
5. Add collaborators to your Note.  Great if you have other people that need to work on a share list/note.
6. Change the color of the background of your Note.  Maybe you want to make all of your to do lists green, or all of your grocery lists blue, etc.
7. Add a picture to your Note.
8. Archive your Note.  This will remove it from your main Keep dashboard but you will still be able to access it through the Archived tab.
9. Add a label to your Note-Great way to organize. Add a drawing to your Note.  Add checkboxes to your Note-Awesome for checking off your accomplishments!
10. Click DONE when you're done editing your Note!

So, what else is cook about Google Keep???  You can create audio notes if you are using Keep on your mobile device. When you open a new Note, you will see a microphone that allows for this option. 

Here's an example of what Google Keep looks like on your phone and your computer.

In another post, we will dive into an awesome way to organize and bring some flavor to your Keep dashboard as well as how this tool can be utilized in the classroom!

Are you using Keep?  Do you have any best practices for this tool? 

#thefridayfour

It's Friday!  It's Friday!  It's the end of the week and the last day!  You know what that means!  It's time for The Friday Four!  Here are mine....what are yours?

1.  What went well this week?

I led an AMAZING G-Suite training this week at a local charter school who is freshly going Google! This group of educators was brand spanking new to Google and all that's in the G-Suite.  I was able to show them how to log in to their drive, Docs, Slides, Forms and Sheets.  I shared several different add-ons and extensions that they thoroughly enjoyed!  The feedback that I received after the training was really positive and I can't wait to see how this group of educators takes off with Google this year!

2.  What can I do better next week?

Next week, I'm looking to cross some things off of my to do list and tie up some loose ends.  I have a few work ideas/work projects that I am excited to work on and check off my list!  Time management will definitely play into this!

3.  Who or what did I affect in a positive way this week?

I'm going to refer back to question #1!  Training 20-ish educators on G-Suite filled me up!  I loved reading through all of the feedback at the completion of the training!

When asked what part of the training, participants found most valuable, here are a few of their responses:

"How to not only create documents but also how to have students the ability to become interactive by using google classroom."

"How to access cheat sheets and a general one-stop resource."

"Assignments in Google Docs adding and grading them from the classroom."

"Everything!"

"The stream page on Google helped me to streamline what I was already doing on Google."

4.  What is something I did professionally for myself?

This week, I reached out to one of my Google idols to pick his brain out about some things!  He is so inspiring and when we got off of the phone he had me feeling like I could change the world! For him to not only respond to my inquiry, but take time out of his day to talk to me on the phone was really appreciated!  I am truly blessed that he is a part of my professional learning network!

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!