As part of my daily routine, I scan dozens of blogs, visit a handful of Facebook groups and skim through Twitter.

The goal: find the most helpful resources, tools, and articles that I can share with my teacher friends (that’s you!)

Episode Sponsor: Classroom Kickstart!

Classroom Kickstart is a self-paced course that will help you launch the 2022-23 school year using Google Classroom. This course has been updated to include great new features like featured images, add-ons, and practice sets.  

Here are my top 10 links for August 2022!

Trust rules for Google Drive – IT admins can now apply advanced policies for file sharing in Google Drive. This feature is only available to upgraded Google domains. 

Google Doc edit notifications – Google Docs now supports edit notifications like Google Sheets. Visit tools > notifications to enable notifications on a per-document basis. 

Add-ons for Google Classroom – 18 add-ons are now available for use within Google Classroom! This feature is available to all upgraded Google domains.   

Quick actions in Adobe Express – If you need to trim a video or convert an image, Adobe Express can help! These useful “quick actions” are free for everyone! 

21 typing resources for elementary teachers – Erin Flannagan put together this great list of typing resources just in time for the start of a new school year!

Calendar Cleanup – Alice Keeler created a helpful add-on that will remove all of your old Google Classroom calendars. I just used it to remove 10+ old calendars!

Digital pen + eraser! – If you use a stylus with your Chromebook, you may want to upgrade to this new option from Penoval that includes a handy digital eraser! 

Essential technology skills – Before you can use technology as a learning tool, you need to make sure your students have mastered some basic skills. Here’s my list for elementary, middle, and high school students. 

Back-to-school tech quiz – I created two simple quizzes to help assess student use of Google Classroom and Chromebooks. Challenge them to score 80% or higher!  

Google Classroom for parents – Share this video and PDF guide with parents to help them understand what they can (and can’t) do with Google Classroom.  

What awesome resource did I miss?

Got something that’s too cool not to share? Hit me up on Twitter or Instagram (@jrsowash). I’m always on the hunt for interesting and useful resources!