What I Use Everyday

Howdy All,
Sorry about last week. Was a bit sick and didn't get a chance to blog...but I continue :-)

I'd like to talk about some of the things I use everyday...
The two devices I use the most are my Android phone and my Chromebook. I honestly can't believe how much we can do with our cellphone. I hate to say it but it seems I can do most everything I need to do on it. Access all my different accounts, post things to my Google Classroom, make a quick recording for an explanation, access my Twitter account to see what new things I can learn, and the list would go on... When I need to create something more elaborate is when I pull out the Chromebook :-D

Speaking of Chromebooks... I've had quite a few of them. I always wanted the newest and the fastest. After buying several of them figured I'd go with the best, 2015 Google Pixel and that one lasted a while and finally today with a Google Pixelbook. Wish I could do everything with it but some school demands require me to use a Windows PC :-P

On the Chromebooks or PCs used, I always use multiple Google accounts the correct way, the way Amy Mayer showed us all a few years ago. You can see this from a recent post from Tom Spall, What's a Chrome Account? You can quickly switch accounts on a Chromebook by signing in, click on the lower right (the time), click on your avatar, and select sign in another user... Once signed in, click and hold ctrl+alt keys and the comma (or period) to switch back and forth between your accounts.

The other Amy shortcut I use on my Chromebook is the icon only bookmarks in the bookmark bar...just a few I have on my bookmark bar

The three things I use the most in the classroom is Google Drive, Google Classroom and MimioTeach Interactive System. I use Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms a lot in class and they are all easy to create in Google Drive. I LOVE the unlimited storage available to us as teachers in a G Suite for Education district. I quickly share these files with students using Google Classroom, either as a view or to make copies for everyone. The MimioTeach allows me to record our discussions from class. I believe that notes are helpful but sometimes students need to see the steps for what we did. The solution is the recordings from class. Once the recordings are done, they can be uploaded to Google Drive and shared through Google Classroom so students can view them when needed, either to catch up for an absence or just to review. Do the size of the video files matter... Nope... Unlimited storage in Drive! :-D

And finally, the thing that I check almost as much as my phone, my Twitter feed. Twitter has been a life-changer for what I've been able to do and what I have done in classroom. It has allowed me to learn from so many educators, allowed me a chance to visit NASA, and been part of a Picademy. It has inspired me to share whatever I learned with others. It showed me that as educators, we should help each other so we can help our students. Sharing is caring as a friend I met on Twitter would say. From what I learned on Twitter, I was able to improve the ways I taught in class. I learned ways of giving students feedback and help them with their learning. People ask me me how do you know all this? Well...I've got some friends on Twitter that are always willing to share :-)

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a great day,
Efren

Challenge at TCEA

This week I want to talk about a challenge...well, maybe not a challenge, there was a question, but I took it as a challenge :-D  Thanks Amy, Julie and Lexi!!

Is there a way to show a bar graph in Google Sheets for a simple counting activity? I figured it could be done somehow with conditional formatting since that's what I use to add color to cells. But how to fill the cells based on number counted and entered? I came up with version 1, where there was a blank cell which was reference for the other cells but that just messed up once you added something to a cell and deleted...take my word for it, it didn't work...
So then what? If only I could have it decide...wait a minute, that's an If statement

How would the If statement look...
=IF(A3>B13, " ", ".")  in this case if the comparison is True then is the first condition, a space is entered. If the comparison is false it enters a period. This way I can use conditional formatting to change color only when there is something there, like the period, since it does not recognize the space.

So let's set it up like I posted on Twitter... Setup (use the link or YouTube video below)

Now the Formulas....Sorry, made a mistake. The second false I mentioned should have been True

And then the extension of doing a Subtraction... I made the error on purpose ;-)

Thanks a bunch to Lexi for the solution of making the periods disappear   Yay!!  :-D

This was fun! Thanks again Amy, Julie and Lexi for the challenge.


Hope it gives you an idea for something to try out.

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a great day,
Efren

P.S. I had one last thought along with a reminder to protect the cells that should not be changed...

Texthelp's EquatIO

This week I would like to talk about a product that my student’s and I have been using quite a bit in chemistry class, Texthelp’s EquatIO, https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/equatio/ This extension allows you to easily add nuclear notation, ionic symbols, formulas, gas laws, and even drawings with mathspace.
I had used EquatIO quite a bit before having available in class It made it easy for me to create assignments using the chemical symbols I needed. It allowed me to set up equations both chemical reactions and for finding an unknown for a gas law. It made it so easy to work with nuclear reactions and recently it let me create assignments with electronic and molecular geometries.
This school year I have it available to all students in my classroom. A Big Thank You to my principal Dr. Roach at the high school!! The students were able to use EquatIO from the very beginning of the year. Since we started with conversions, EquatIO made it easy for them to set up their conversions.

When discussing the atom and nuclear reactions, the students were able to show the element’s symbol along with atomic and mass numbers along with nuclear reactions.

I didn't have a chance to use EquatIO for Lewis dot structure this year since I was not confident with mathspace but I'll have it ready for next year :-) I created a template in equatio.texthelp.com for Lewis dot structures then I pasted into a mathspace for a document. The students can just click on graphic, open EquatIO and click Edit math. It will open in a mathspace and they can modify as needed.

A mathspace I was able to use with my OnRamps chemistry class dealt with electronic and molecular geometries.

The OnRamps students were also able to easily work on their lab reports since they were showing the equations and manipulate them.

I am currently working on more ways I can use EquatIO and mathspace in my chemistry classes.

So if you haven't tried EquatIO yet, go to their website and download it. It's free for teachers to use! https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/free-for-teachers/

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a great day,
Efren

P.S. It's not just for Chromebooks...
EquatIO for Windows and EquatIO for Mac: insert mathematical expressions into Microsoft Word. With a premium subscription, you can access additional features, including Math and Chemistry prediction.