Thing 43: Google Drawings
Having just finished the “green screen thing” and dabbled with Google Drawings a little bit, I was very excited to see an entire “thing” lesson devoted to Google Drawings. I really like the versatility of this tool. I checked my library’s MacBooks for the Drawings app, and upon discovering it wasn’t included in the “ready to go” apps, submitted a request to my Tech Support department to have it added. Luckily it was easily accessible just by searching for it in a regular Google search. It then automatically saved in my students’ Google Drive.
I started by exploring some of the great ideas included in Get Creative with Google Drawings by Tony Vincent. I loved his ideas for how to use Google Drawings as a whiteboard tool, and his “how to” examples, just as how to make a copy of an existing template for personal modification. He even provides 15 graphic organizer templates with freedom to use and adapt. He notes that “by making the graphic organizers digital in Google Apps, they instantly become customizable. Multiple people can collaborate on them in real time. They can be shared with a link, embedded in a website or downloaded as an image file.” So helpful, and this was just 1 of 6 tools related to using Google Drawings for “fill-in activities”. There are also links to Eric Curts’ Question Chart and ’ Sandwich Chart - color , as well as a Life Timeline Template , a Somebody Wanted But So Then Template where students are prompted to write a story following a story arc and six graphic organizers, including documents for main events, main idea, predictions, and story elements. So many helpful tools! There are also sections for “Arranging and Sorting Activities”, “Labeling”, “Hyperlinked Activities”, “Hyperdocs”, “Infographics”, “Magazine Covers”, “Math Activities”, “Games”, “Comics” and more! Amazing!
Next I checked out the “Intro to Google Drawings” video tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=u2UmPAclbL4 to see if it’d be helpful to use with students to get them started. Alice Keeler’s tutorial “ Getting Started with Google Drawings” seemed a bit more advanced than the video tutorials I’ve viewed, but will definitely be helpful down the road when working with slightly advanced users. I also bookmarked Robin Limpert’s Series of Google Drawings Tutorials: Introduction, Day 1: Background & Working with Shapes, Day 2: Adding a Text Box or Word Art, Day 3: Drawing Lines
Google AutoDraw feature is something that I think might come in handy for students who claim they can’t draw (neither can I!). Your apple example was amazing! But again, I’ll save this feature for later down the road after we’ve mastered basic Google Drawing projects.
LEARNING ACTIVITY: I loved several of the project ideas included for possible learning activities. However, I already had an idea in mind and wanted to implement it was part of the follow-up to my green screen “thing”. I decided to move forward with a green screen and Google Drawings project with my 6+ Enrichment class. Each student selected a favorite book they have read and are using it to create a “Book in the Box” project. They will each decorate a cereal box to represent their selected book. Inside the box they are required to include vocabulary from the text, questions & answers about the book, and 5 items that represent key elements of the story (they include images of the items if too large to fit in the cereal box). Then they do an oral presentation of their project that includes at least three literary elements found in their story. I decided to implement Google Drawings into this project by requiring each student to examine the cover image of their book, figure out how to position themselves in front of the green screen in such a way as to include their own image or face on the book cover, and then use Google Drawings to edit (photoshop) their image onto the book cover. A few students have finished the editing process and they look amazing! I’m so thankful to this “thing” for teaching me how to use Google Drawings. It is so much easier than Adobe Photoshop (for me) and gives students an alternative as well. Thank you for another great “thing”! Here are two examples from my class:
I started by exploring some of the great ideas included in Get Creative with Google Drawings by Tony Vincent. I loved his ideas for how to use Google Drawings as a whiteboard tool, and his “how to” examples, just as how to make a copy of an existing template for personal modification. He even provides 15 graphic organizer templates with freedom to use and adapt. He notes that “by making the graphic organizers digital in Google Apps, they instantly become customizable. Multiple people can collaborate on them in real time. They can be shared with a link, embedded in a website or downloaded as an image file.” So helpful, and this was just 1 of 6 tools related to using Google Drawings for “fill-in activities”. There are also links to Eric Curts’ Question Chart and ’ Sandwich Chart - color , as well as a Life Timeline Template , a Somebody Wanted But So Then Template where students are prompted to write a story following a story arc and six graphic organizers, including documents for main events, main idea, predictions, and story elements. So many helpful tools! There are also sections for “Arranging and Sorting Activities”, “Labeling”, “Hyperlinked Activities”, “Hyperdocs”, “Infographics”, “Magazine Covers”, “Math Activities”, “Games”, “Comics” and more! Amazing!
Next I checked out the “Intro to Google Drawings” video tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=u2UmPAclbL4 to see if it’d be helpful to use with students to get them started. Alice Keeler’s tutorial “ Getting Started with Google Drawings” seemed a bit more advanced than the video tutorials I’ve viewed, but will definitely be helpful down the road when working with slightly advanced users. I also bookmarked Robin Limpert’s Series of Google Drawings Tutorials: Introduction, Day 1: Background & Working with Shapes, Day 2: Adding a Text Box or Word Art, Day 3: Drawing Lines
Google AutoDraw feature is something that I think might come in handy for students who claim they can’t draw (neither can I!). Your apple example was amazing! But again, I’ll save this feature for later down the road after we’ve mastered basic Google Drawing projects.
LEARNING ACTIVITY: I loved several of the project ideas included for possible learning activities. However, I already had an idea in mind and wanted to implement it was part of the follow-up to my green screen “thing”. I decided to move forward with a green screen and Google Drawings project with my 6+ Enrichment class. Each student selected a favorite book they have read and are using it to create a “Book in the Box” project. They will each decorate a cereal box to represent their selected book. Inside the box they are required to include vocabulary from the text, questions & answers about the book, and 5 items that represent key elements of the story (they include images of the items if too large to fit in the cereal box). Then they do an oral presentation of their project that includes at least three literary elements found in their story. I decided to implement Google Drawings into this project by requiring each student to examine the cover image of their book, figure out how to position themselves in front of the green screen in such a way as to include their own image or face on the book cover, and then use Google Drawings to edit (photoshop) their image onto the book cover. A few students have finished the editing process and they look amazing! I’m so thankful to this “thing” for teaching me how to use Google Drawings. It is so much easier than Adobe Photoshop (for me) and gives students an alternative as well. Thank you for another great “thing”! Here are two examples from my class:
