Google Draw for Classroom Handouts & Activities | A Teacher Tutorial

(Hold up big binder) - This right here represents what my students’ binders would look like at the end of each school year after having taken my class where we spent everyday either taking notes or completing practice and application activities and then storing them in this binder so they had access to all of it when it came time to prepare for their end of the year or end of course exam.

Drop it on desk - loud noise, shaking camera

Whether you teach little babies in elementary or big babies in high school - and I mean that in a lovingly, motherly way - you’ve experienced the drag and drop.  Circa 2012 ish drag and drop became a major soft skill for all students starting at about age 2 when new age testing dropped into our lives - pun intended.

And when we drag and drop on paper, other wise known as literally cutting and pasting, not digitally cutting and pasting, here’s what happens….Have cut and paste activity and do some cutting and scissors and paper everywhere. STRESS!

Now, There is absolutely a time and place. For instance, at the time of this recording, my 4 - almost 5-year old is working on his fine motor skills, and using scissors and gluing microscopic sized pieces of paper onto his handout helps with that.

But at the later elementary through high school level where the more important thing is - and here’s our important idea for today - that the information is IN THEIR BRAIN, maybe all the paper and cutting and gluing isn’t worth all the hassle when really we just need them to know the stuff that’s on the paper.

Word processor - the elderly millennial generation and older generation’s first love affair on the computer - good ol’ WORD, later replaced by the scandolous Google Doc… NOPE, those won’t cut it for cut and paste - pun intended.

So what are we to use?  And how do we use it?

Google Draw - Google Drawings?????

In today’s video I’m going to not only walk you through how to create a google draw to be used in your classroom, but also show you some examples and how to be prepared for the end of days when the internet goes out at your building in the middle of your internet-dependent lesson that you immaculately created after hours of blood sweat and tears all while being observed by your principal - ever had that happen?  Let me know in the comments.

So ditch the paper, teacher-friend, and use Google Draw, that’s what we’re talking about today. Let’s get to it.

Video Content: 

1. Show examples of mine
1. Types of activities you can use Google Draw for
2. The how
1. Shapes, textboxes, colors, borders, text, going outside the box, students can type or write in some boxes
2. How to print if you need to
3. How to make sure they only edit what you want them to - screenshot of what is permanent, then make part of the background
3. Hacks - color code the key so you don’t have to read it, can just eyeball from the birds-eye view in Google Classroom. That’s if you plan on grading it with a fine toothed comb.
1. Or, be like me and just give them the key after they’ve had some time to work on it
2. If having them type into a space, make sure there is an indication as to where they do that and an indication of an appropriate amount of text (indicated by amount of space).
3. Use it in one of your stations in class
4. Use these lower level practice activities like drag and drop as a differentiated task after they’ve watched one of your flipped videos in class if you’re doing an in-class flip.