A New World of Graphic Design with Canva

Canva offers an easy way to create engaging graphics and video in an unimaginable number of ways. Using built-in content elements, such as clipart and video, you can create super amazing flyers, Google Classroom banners, videos, Instagram posts, and much more. Professionally designed templates make it easy to find colors that look fabulous together and communicate your message effectively, Designs can be easily resized to meet your needs. Plus, you can use the Image Generator feature to create AI-generated images that will blow your mind! I created my blog banner (above) with Canva. What I have described is just the tip of the iceberg. Go ahead, dip your toes in!

All staff and students at Hart-Ransom already have a premium EDU account. Just login with your school Google Account. Teachers can create a class and give assignments to their students. Take your assessments to a higher DOK level and get students' creative juices flowing! You can push the assignments to Google Classroom. It's great for extended learning opportunities. 

BADGE OPPORTUNITY: SCOE offers a digital badge for Canva. Demonstrate some key skills and you can boast to others that you are a Canva Creator.

If you are interested in a session on getting started with Canva, reach out to me. 

Here's a series of posters I created in Canva for my classroom. The kids love them and they get the message. 

Here's a short video tour of my classroom with clues about me so students could get to know me better. I took the video on my phone, imported in into Canva, and created this short, no-frills video. The students appreciated the video so they could be a better look at the items highlighted. 

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Mr. Somers Clues by gsomers

Save time with Gmail templates

If you find that you are repeating yourself in your Gmail responses, try creating a template that you can call on again and again. Once you have selected your template, just customize it as needed for the recipient's needs. 

For example, try a template you can use to respond to parent/student questions regarding your late assignment policy or how they can get support with a concept. Send an email to remind parents of an upcoming parent/teacher conference or requesting volunteers for an upcoming special event. I often use a template to send updated grade summaries to parents with follow up information on seeking support. Basically, anytime you waste time saying the same things by email over and over, consider making it a template. 

To enable Gmail Templates, you will need to turn on this feature in the Advanced settings in Gmail. Once you hit the SAVE CHANGES button, you are ready to take any email and save it with a name as a template. To call it up again, simply select it from the Templates menu. 

This video shows you how to enable Gmail Templates:

This video shows you how to use the Gmail Templates feature:

BONUS TIP: Save common text threads you use repeatedly in Google Keep, Google's notes app. Very handy!

Tech Professional Development

We all have areas of growth with how we use technology to do our jobs, including educators and veteran teachers. It's healthy to have a growth mindset. If you are not sure where to start, here are some ideas for you.

1. Google Teacher Certifications - These online training materials are free and work-at-your-own pace. It's easy to fit into your schedule. The certification tests are very inexpensive and are a great way to to show your knowledge. The material is geared for the needs of teachers with content provided by teachers. Start with Level 1 and add Level 2, Trainer, Coach and Innovator levels as makes sense to you. Personally, I have Level 1 and 2 certification so I am happy to help answer any questions about the process.
2. Stanislaus County Office of Education Badge Project - If you work/teach in Stanislaus County, you can earn and collect virtual badges as learn about the apps and technologies most relevant to you. Learn and submit an artifact that demonstrates the knowledge identified for that badge. I have over 20 badges highly recommend this program for differentiated learning that most benefits your needs. There are LOTS of badges to choose from. Plus, it is FREE! 
3. SCOE ETC! Conference - Each February, SCOE hosts a local conference in Turlock. It's a Saturday chock full of great speakers, hands-on demonstrations, and vendors. Look for a "Black Friday" deal to get half off of the registration (normally about $80) in November. It's a great way to connect to amazing teachers doing amazing things in the classroom. I hope to see you there! Check out the promo video below. 
4. Need more ideas? Reach out to me. It's what I am here for.