I’ve often been asked about my favorite Google App.  Honestly, that is an extremely difficult question!  I am such a huge fan of Google Apps and I use every Google App on a weekly basis.  Yet…if I had to pick my favorite Google App, I think it would have to be Google Slides.  Google Slides is so versatile and it can be used in a variety of ways.  Most people think that Slides are only used for presentations but that is just merely scratching the surface of its possibilities.

Here are a few ways that my students and I have used Google Slides in our classroom:

• Students regularly view flipped instruction videos that were created using Google Slides and Screencastify.
• Students regularly participate in lessons, HyperDocs, and PBL that have been designed in Slides where they can respond and comment on the Slide Deck.
• Students use Google Slides to organize ideas in graphic organizers.
• Students use a calendar Slide Deck to track all of their assignments and grades for each week.
• Students have created their own “Create Your Own Adventure” books through Slides.

Although these are just a few ways, it’s easy to see how many unique ways Google Slides can be used!

Today, I want to share with you a template on using Google Slides to store all student responses and encourage peer to peer feedback.  View the Slide Deck below:

Click HERE for your own copy.

This is a Slide Deck I created for our Spartan Tech Squad class as they were determining a problem to solve in their 20Time projects.  Early in the year, I assigned all students a number and this will be their number for the entire year.  This number is used for our Shared Slide Decks.  Students will go to their slide number and respond to the question(s).  Once they have finished responding the question(s), they will write a meaningful response to two students and ask two students a question about their slide.  After they finished commenting and questioning, they will return to their slide and respond to the comments left on their slide deck.

I really love this process because it encourages students to develop meaningful feedback and questions to support other students in developing their ideas within their projects.  By going through this process, it also inspires them to think about their projects in new and unique ways.  For our 20Time Projects, this process has been so helpful!  Many students ask some thoughtful questions about their peer’s projects that inspired new ideas and solutions to form.  In addition to this, it also encouraged students to be more thoughtful in their answers, feedback, and questions.  It took some time for the responses to go from “I like what you said” to something of substance.  However, it was great to see their progress and how it promoted higher levels of communication.

How do you use Google Slides in your classroom?  Do you have any templates to share with us?  Share in the comments below!

Last year, I read a couple of books that inspired me to begin 20Time Projects in my classroom.  First, I read 20Time by Kevin Brookhouser then Dive Into Inquiry by Trevor Mackenzie.  I read these books towards the end of the last school year and did not have enough time truly implement a 20Time Project effectively.  We attempted a 20Time Project in our AVID classes during the 4th quarter but our students had just begin developing their projects when the school year ended.  However, it was a great way to test out some issues that we could run into and ways that we would want to present the project in the following year.

This year, my partner teacher and I decided to implement 20Time Projects into our Spartan Tech Squad class.  We felt like this would be the perfect class to allow students time to explore problems that exist in our world and develop solutions to these problems.  We decided that every Friday would be a “20Time” day.  Students would have time to develop their projects and have the freedom to explore things that interested them.  Although we wanted to give them this freedom, we had also learned that we needed to start with some structure that would offer guidance and support to students as they began to discover their passions, problems, and solutions.  So, we broke the first quarter of the school year into three sections:

1. Discovering their passions.
2. Discovering a problem that exists in their community and/or the world.
3. Exploring and finding solutions to these problems through using their passions.

Below, I am going to share our first six activities that we completed with our students to guide them through the beginning of their 20Time Projects.  I certainly do not claim to be any expert on 20Time projects but I have found that, by breaking down these three areas, our students are discovering and developing better solutions than we had seen in the previous year.

Activity 1: Finding Your Passion

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to give students a time to explore things that interested them.  First, there is a focus on what they enjoy doing – their passion.  Then, we tried to narrow their focus to things that they were passionate about in relation to technology.  Finally, we allowed them the opportunity to explore their interests.  This allowed them some time to see if they were truly interested in the “passions” they chose or if they might choose a different path.

Link: Finding Your Passion

Activity 2: What is Your Passion?

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to get students to focus in on a specific area of interest.  The students described their passion in one sentence then created learning goals.  Although this activity is short, it allowed students to have time to narrow their focus and explore their area of interest.

Link: What is  Your Passion?

Activity 3: Passions & Learning Goals

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to have students share their passions and learning goals with the class.  During this activity, the students shared the information that they gathered from the previous activity then responded to their student’s slides.  As a part of the assignment, the student had to create a comment and a question for 2-3 students in the class.  This was a great opportunity for students to continue to narrow their ideas, get ideas from other students, and refine their learning goals.

Link: Passions & Learning Goals

Activity 4: Problems that Exist In Our World

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to have students explore problems that exist in their school, community, and world.  One thing we noticed in the previous school year is that students really struggled with narrowing their focus to a problem.  Through this activity, students found several problems that existed and were able to read of problems that other students had found.  As with the previous activity, students were required to respond with a comment and question to the slides of other students.

Link: Problems that Exist In Our World

Activity 5: Finding Solutions to Problems with Technology

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to get students to focus in on their solutions to the problems they discovered and how their passions could be used to support it.  Students identified a problem that they wanted to solve, a technology that they wanted to learn to use, and how the technology could be a solution to their problem.  Once they had shared this in their slide, they responded to the slides of other students to offer feedback and support.  In addition to feedback, several students also realized that they were working on the same project and were able to form groups to develop their solutions collaboratively.

Link: Finding Solutions to Problems

Activity 6: Monthly Project Planning Calendar

Purpose: The purpose of this activity was to help students develop monthly goals for their 20Time Project.  At the beginning of each month, students will create new goals, list ongoing goals, describe any ideas/questions, and share their status at the end of the month.  Not only is it a great way for students to plan for their project but it is a great way for teachers to leave comments and feedback.

Link: Monthly Project Planning Calendar

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts!  Have you implemented 20Time Projects in your classroom?  If so, what strategies, resources, and activities have been successful for you?  Let me know in the comments below!