Google + YouTube + Tools = Creating Engagement

Students LOVE (usually) videos that catch their attention when in the classroom. If you can start a lesson or help a lesson become more engaged with a video, would you? My answer would be YES!

YouTube can help you edit, cut and create your own videos that can fit you and your classroom.
In YouTube you can subscribe to different users who could have educational purposes for your classroom. There are many teachers out there who have YouTube channels that you can subscribe to that may show math concepts, social studies, or science videos. A cool tool that you can do with those videos is to cut and edit them so that you don't have to show the whole thing. Using Edpuzzle can help you cut the videos to fit your needs. Here is my YouTube channel that is set up for my students.

Incase you need a little pep talk, here is one of my favorite YouTube kids :)

AutoDraw

Google not only helps with YouTube ideas and connections, there are many other tools that you can use to with your students. One of the tools that stood out me was the AutoDraw. Now, I am not a great artist but with this tool, I can create some amazing images. It allows  you to start drawing what you want and then finding a better illustration that matches it. Here is an example of a before and after. 

The image on the left is what someone drew, and then you can see on the top that different images pop up that look like the one that you drew. Then you can click on what you would like and then the image will change to what it looks like on the right. 

Students can use this to create images for a book they read or a diagram they are creating. Here is a diagram that would be great for a classroom activity in science on the water cycle. You can use AutoDraw to create a diagram just like this. 

Google Translate

Another resource and tool that can really change the classroom and the world is Google Translate. Google Translate allows you to type a sentence or word that you want to say in another language and it instantly shows you the spelling of it and can even say it out loud for you. Could you imagine traveling and having this tool on you? It would be amazing! Also, adding it to your classroom for when you have students who are not english language learners. They could communicate in your classroom and be able to feel part of something. Here is a tutorial on how to use Google Translate. 

I am thankful for the way that technology is changing our classroom and our world!