Are your students ready to start creating and learning with Google Slides®? Are they an expert keyboarder and know all the ins and outs of Google Slides menus? As a teacher, you forget just how much there is to learn in Google Slides so that your students can work independently on that platform.
But I prepared to get them up to speed! My team decided a short project was needed that could be completed in about a week. The project would teach the students the basics of using Google Slides. But wait! The students first have to learn how to log to the Chromebook! Then the students learn to log on to Google Classroom® to open their assignment! So there’s more than just learning how to type here.
BEING CYBER SAVVY
We also decided that the first week would also be a good week to teach the Cyber Savvy curriculum that is a requirement to teach in California (AB 307 states that teachers and students receive instruction on the internet safety and ethical uses). My district was lent some very good resources by the Santa Ana Unified School District on this important topic.
The curriculum teaches students to ask adults for permission to go on the internet, not talk to internet strangers, about copyright and plagiarism, and many other important safety lessons. We taught the Cyber Savvy curriculum lessons every day right before launching into the Chromebooks and our project.
After that, my first task was to teach the students to log on to their district provided accounts. Then I showed the students how to join my Google Classroom. I have separate classes set up for each subject area. I’ve blogged about this valuable tip here. (Valuable Tips for the 1:1 Classroom)
It just makes it easier for you and the students to find assignments. The students practiced logging off the computer. The class understands that if you just close the lid of the Chromebook, you will also be logged off. Additionally, I taught them that when I’m teaching them something about using the Chromebook or Google Slides, their Chromebooks should either be completely closed or at a 45-degree angle. This way, students focus on the teacher and not the Chromebook.
SKILLS TAUGHT THROUGH GOOGLE SLIDES® PROJECT
Now it was time to begin learning some important skills for using Google Slides. Google Slides has a lot of menus and features. More than any student could learn in a week or more. But it’s not necessary. Just focus on the power skills or features. The students use these skills throughout the year.
What are they?
- inserting and typing text
- enlarging or decreasing text size
- centering text
- changing font style
- inserting an image
- searching for an image
- resizing images
- repositioning images
These are skills to master because they are used continuously. You can teach all of these skills through this Google Slides Starter Project.
THE GOOGLE SLIDES PROJECT SLIDES
As projects go, it is straightforward and timely for the beginning of the school year. Students will be filling information about themselves which they can then share. I create a QR code for each student’s presentation. I display this QR code on a bulletin board with their writing. It is a large envelope that holds student writing with the QR code displayed on the front.
That way, anyone with a device can scan the code and be taken directly to the student’s Get to Know Me presentation. There are a total of 6 slides:
- Cover Page
- Favorite Food
- When I Grow Up
- One Thing I Dislike
- Something Special
- Blank Page
SEARCHING AND INSERTING IMAGES
On the first slide, the student uses the built-in webcam of the Chromebook to take a selfie snapshot. Then the student inserts the snapshot as the image. The other slides require the student to search using Google (which is a built-in feature of Google Slides). At this point, here’s an excellent opportunity to talk about copyright.
Google allows filtering of image searches for personal use and commercial use. Additionally, Image resizing and repositioning are important skills as well because most images inserted are usually too large to fit on the slide. Knowing the difference between the resizing cursor and the repositioning cursor is vital.
Would You Like to TRY THE GOOGLE SLIDES PROJECT WITH YOUR CLASS!
If you would like to try out the project with your own students, sign up below for my newsletter and I’ll send you a link for your own copy to use with your students!
SLIDES GET DELETED!
At this point, let me tell you that I had at least 5 students delete slides by accident. How does this happen? It’s because they have the slide selected, and not the text selected. Then they start hitting the backspace key. They see that nothing is happening, so they keep hitting it. Before you know it, most of their slides get deleted. Don’t panic!
This is another teachable moment! Teach your students how to use the undo keys and if necessary, how to restore previous versions. Again, I’ve blogged about this important issue HERE (Valuable Tips for the 1:1 Classroom).
If necessary, I would continue instruction with the next slide if I see my students are having difficulty mastering these skills. If not, I let them independently continue with the slides and fill in the necessary information for each slide.
For those very proficient students, I always include a blank slide that has the same theme template. I tell them to design their own slide by continuing the “book” about themselves. I want them on their own to discover some of the drawing and shape tools (those will be later lessons, but it always helps if some students already know how to use some of these tools).
PARENT CONNECTION
At my Back to School Night presentation, I have parents log on to their child’s account and see this assignment. It will be my segue into internet safety (just like I taught my students) and how I plan on transitioning some of the paper and pencil homework tasks to Google Slides and other Google Apps. I also will be letting parents know that many forms that they will need to fill out will now be done through Google Forms®. They will also have a chance to sign up for the remind app, which I use for messages and announcements.
It’s a very techy world and they need to join it! Check out my blog post on how I use Google Slides and Google Classroom for my Back to School Night Presentation.
MORE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Looking for more ideas, tips, and resources for using Google in your classroom? Then check out my Pinterest Boards. Also, check out my TpT Store for Interactive Digital Notebooks on Google Slides for social studies and science. I’ve also created math practice for fractions, area, and perimeter using Google Slides.
Let me know how the project went with your class in the comments!
Don’t Go Yet!
If you would like to try out the project with your own students, sign up below for my newsletter and I’ll send you a link for your own copy to use with your students!
1 thought on “Get Rocking with a Google Slides ‘How To’ Project”
Great ideas