Lenovo + Promethean = Small Screen Fix

If you plug an external display, such as a Promethean Board into your Lenovo Laptop and the screen on you laptop shrinks, here is a fix.

Lenovo page

Create Custom Contact List

If you want to create a custom contact list from people within our email domain, watch this video.

Add Contact Group In Gmail

Sometimes you have several email addresses that you would like to add as a group in your Contacts in GMail.  An example would be if you were a class sponsor and wished to email all of the students in that particular class.
A list of any class can be produced by Mr. Bechtold at your request.  Here is how to add them to your Contacts.

1.  Open Gmail.
2.  Click on Mail pull down at top left and choose Contacts.

3.  Under My Contacts, click on New Group...

4.  Name the Group (Class of 2024 for example).
5.  Again, under My Contacts, click on the group you just created.
6.  Click on the add button.

7.  At this point, you can simply paste any list that you have copied into the blank space and they will be added to your group.  You may want to have your email list ready in another tab or in another application so you can go back and copy the addresses you would like to add.
8.  Once the group has been added, you can go back to email and simply start typing in the name of the group and click on it to send email to every member of that group.

Adding A Printer to Your PC

How to add a printer on the network to your PC:

1.  Open Devices and Printers.  On Windows 7 you can simply click on the Start Button in lower left and click on "Devices and Printers".  On Windows 8 and 10, you can start typing "Devices and Printers" in the search bar on the lower left to bring it up and click on it.

Windows 7

Windows 8 and 10

2. In "Devices and Printers", click on Add Printer at top left.

3.  A new window with a list of printers will appear, choose the printer you wish to add and click on it. (If the printer ou wish to add is not there, click on The Printer I Want Isn't Listed, then click on Find A Printer In The Directory and add printer you want.)

4.  That's it.  It might ask if you want to load the driver, say yes.  Printer added!

*To make a printer your default printer, right click on it in "Devices and Printers" and choose Make Default Printer.

Voice Typing Tool in Google Docs

You can use your voice to type in Google Docs.  It works very well and even allows you to use commands such as copy and paste and select all and more.

Simply open a Google Doc and choose Tools-Voice Typing.

You can also use this list of commands for even more features.

Create An Organizational Chart In Google Docs

Here’s how you can put together an org chart in Google Sheets. It will be a live chart meaning as you update the employee names or hierarchy in the spreadsheet, the org chart would update itself. Let’s get started.

Step 1. Open a Google Sheet and put the employee names in column A and the names of the immediate managers in Column B.

Step 2. Select the cells that you’ve just entered and choose Chart from the Insert menu in the spreadsheet.

Step 3. The Chart Editor will open inside Google Sheets. Scroll down the list of available chart types, choose “Organizational Chart” and click Insert to add the chart into your spreadsheet.

*Of course, the instructions refer to creating a chart for hierarchy in a business or organization.  Below, I changed it to be a calling tree.  There are lots of options.

Tools in Google Docs

Voice Typing Tool - Google voice typing allows writer to easily put their words on a page by speaking them instead of manually typing. Voice Typing is located under the “Tools” tab in Google Docs and appears as a microphone symbol, on the side, once selected. When trying out for my own use, I was surprised on the accuracy and would recommend this to teachers and students without hesitation. 

Google Doc Research Tool – Search on Google, Scholar, Images, Tables, and Dictionary to access the information you need without leaving Google Docs. The Research tool allows users to cite information using multiple formats.

 Both "tools" are available all the time in Google Docs.

Free Online Curriculum Resources

Below is a list of free online curriculum resources that may be valuable to instructors as a supplement to classroom lessons and textbooks.

www.ck12.org - Textbooks, flashcards, lessons online

www.discoveryeducation.com - Discovery Channel

www.engageny.org - Free Common Core State Standards for English and Math

www.khanacademy.org - Khan Academy

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org - Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

www.loc.gov/teachers - Library of Congress

education.nationalgeographic.org - National Geographic

www.nps.gov/teachers - National Park Service

www.oercommons.org - Curated Digital Library

www.pbslearningmedia.org - PBS for Teachers

www.sascurriculumpathways.com - Interactice lessons

Google Teaching Tools

Here are links to a few articles that I found interesting:

Eliminating choices on a Google Form

and

Creating a Classroom Discussion Board

and

Set Time Limit on Google Forms

Enjoy!

Youtube Video Uploading

Recently, Youtube users have noticed a warning that webcam uploads will no longer be supported by Youtube.  This means you cannot record directly from the built in camera on your Chromebook or PC to Youtube.
A solution for this issue is fairly simple.  Clipchamp.

Clipchamp enables Youtubers to upload directly from webcam and adds some extra benefits, such as editing.

You can access the site via www.clipchamp.com or download the app.

The app will be added to all Ord Public Schools accounts, just look in the all apps section.