This week's Google Adventures took me all over Google and it's partner companies to explore some lesser known tools. YouTube was my first stop. I thought I knew just about everything there was to know about YouTube, but just like with Google, the more I dug the more I learned. (If you're not already using YouTube in the classroom, click here to learn why you should be!) One of the coolest discoveries I made was the simplicity of integrating YouTube within Google Classroom. Ever since Google bought out YouTube the two have been working side by side and with Google Classroom, this could not be any easier. You are now able to quickly upload YouTube videos to your students' stream with just the click of a button. The screenshot below show what that looks like.
As you can see, the YouTube button lets your easily add a video directly to any announcement, question, or assignment right when you are creating it. In the example above, I have asked my students to watch the short video clip and then answer a question about the type of conflict they are seeing in the clip. This will be a FANTASTIC tool for formative assessments that are quick and engaging for my students! I am so thankful that Classroom added in this feature and that YouTube is so easily accessible to both me, as the teacher, and my students!
The second stop on my Google Adventure this week was a tool that I had never even heard about: Build with Chrome! I don't even know how to describe this in a way that will properly do it justice, so watch the short video below to understand what Build with Chrome actually is.
You guys! It's LEGOs.... in the real world! Build with Chrome works alongside Google Maps to let you build ANYWHERE in the world. People are building national monuments, historical landmarks, famous buildings, etc. out of legos ALL across the globe and they're putting them in their geographically accurate locations! This means if you were studying ancient Egypt with your students they could go to Egypt in this program and build the pyramids right where they were actually build! This means if your students were reading a novel that was set in Paris and a major scene from the novel was centered around the Eiffel Tower, your students could go to Paris in this program and BUILD that entire scene right where it happened in the novel! I am so impressed with this program and the collaborative effects that it brings to the table. I think this is an extremely powerful creativity booster and the possibilities of the use of this tool in the classroom seem endless! Click HERE to see how an art teacher uses Build with Chrome! The best part (for me anyway) is that this program does NOT use Flash which means my students can do this from ANY of their devices, even their iPads and cell phones.
Do yourself a favor and go check it out. Explore. Spend a class period just building with your students. I promise you won't be disappointed. (P.S. Check out the builds that are in your local area. Odds are that someone has been building near you. I'm especially proud of whoever has been building in my area!) Rock Chalk!!!
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