Convert Your PDFs P-D-Q with PDF Candy

Let's face it, teachers are great beggars, borrowers, and thieves. We will scour the internet tirelessly to find content that will support our lesson goals and will modify what we have found to suit our needs. One common roadblock, however, occurs when we discover a PDF file. If only PDFs were editable! The good news is that there is an easy workaround.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. In the early days of the Internet, it was difficult to open certain files without owning the proprietary software to do so. For example, it would be necessary to purchase Microsoft Office if you wanted to open a Word file. PDFs made it possible to open files independent of hardware, software, and operating system requirements. The drawback, of course, is that PDFs are "read-only." Fortunately, there are several online document conversion tools that will help you open a PDF in a word processor like Microsoft Word. PDF Candy is one of those tools--it's online, simple to use, and free! Check out the video tutorial below to learn how you turn your PDFs into editable files using PDF Candy.

You Can Do Magic!

Have you ever inserted an image into Google Slides only to be disappointed that the white background looked out of place? Believe it or not, you can do magic using LunaPic to make the image background magically disappear!

1. To get started, visit LunaPic, a free online image editor, and upload an image you would like to edit by selecting "Quick Upload" (no login required)
2. Choose an image file to upload from your computer (presumably one that has a colored background)
3. Hover your mouse over the Edit menu option and select Transparent Background
4. Click on the background color you would like to remove
5. Right click on the newly-transparent image and select Save Image As to save it to your computer
6. Insert the image into your Slides presentation or website

One Tool to Rule Them All

image source

During the first few weeks of school, I have had the pleasure of working shoulder-to-shoulder with several elementary teachers in the classroom, helping them get their students logged in to Chromebooks for the first time and getting them acclimated to using Google Classroom. From what I have observed, veteran teachers make classroom management look easy, but managing a classroom efficiently is certainly a tall order even for the most experienced of teachers. Call-backs, wind chimes, and other gimmicks are great ways to capture students' attention. Many teachers use timers and noise-meters among other classroom management tools to make sure students are using their time wisely. I recently read about a website called Classroom Screen that houses several classroom management tools under one umbrella, including a random name picker, a noise-meter, drawing and text tools, a timer, and other visual cues to help students of any grade level to stay focused on their work. Check out the video tutorial below to learn how simple it is to leverage Classroom Screen to support your classroom management goals.

Aloha! Pineapple Chart PD

In the past, many school districts approached teacher professional development with a one-size-fits-all philosophy, much to the dread of faculty who would rather make productive use of their time. More recently, however, school leaders have recognized that teachers need personalized learning opportunities and have made a concerted effort to offer alternative professional development structures (see image below).

image source: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pd/

Pineapple Charts

Among the alternative approaches to PD listed above is the concept of Peer Observation. A Pineapple Chart facilitates this approach with a system that allows teachers to welcome one another into their classrooms for informal observation (the pineapple is considered a symbol of hospitality). Here's how it works:

• The chart is set up in high-traffic areas and offer teachers the ability to share the activities they think their colleagues would like to observe.
• The chart represents one week of school--days of the week are posted in columns along the top; class periods or other chunks of time are listed in rows along the side.
• Teachers voluntarily share their names and activities on a given date/time.
• When colleagues see something interesting on the chart, they go to that classroom at the designated time and informally observe.
• Teachers are welcome to stay as long or as little as they like.
• There is no note-taking required, no write-up, no post-conference debriefing--it's just a visit in the hopes of learning something new.

Check out the Pineapple Chart from Camillus Middle School, which is located in Team Room next to the Guidance suite. Kudos to Nancy Boise and Beth Lozier for setting this up!

References

Jennifer, G. (2018). How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development | Cult of

     Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pineapple-charts/