EPISODE 200! Tech Tools for Teachers Celebrates a Milestone! 🎉

Thanks for listening, this is the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we'll talk about a free piece or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology coach, and personalized learning coordinator for my district. And I'm joined by my producer slash husband.

Hi, everybody.

Fuzz Martin. Today, we're going to talk to you about Padlet and Google Key.

Oh, wait, that was the old one.

Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology, and instructional coach for my district.

And I'm her producer and husband, Fuzz Martin, and I love doing this 200%. Uh, welcome to

episode

200. Yay. It's started. Six years ago, and one day ago.

Yeah.

Today.

Crazy.

Yes.

At our kitchen counter.

At our kitchen counter. With a

different dog we had in our house. Snoring on the couch.

Snoring on the couch, and snoring dog media, and we used, uh, much lower quality equipment.

Well, yeah, and we were at the kitchen counter, so the acoustics were amazing. They were

amazing, yes.

Um, how far we've come, how fun this has been for us. And if you are so inspired after that intro, you can go back and listen to that first episode.

I had trouble finding it on Apple Podcasts.

Yeah, like you can find it out in smartinwi. com, but it's not

I don't know if maybe they're

like, that's so not good that you need to not ever be able to find it. Or maybe the

algorithm is just like, Oh, you're not looking for something from, uh,

2019. Right. So what we thought would be fun for episode 200 was to actually just kind of redo episode one.

Yeah.

And we listened to it recently and we're like, Oh my, this was, we've just, Come so far with our little podcasting chats about free tech tools. And even though we have talked about hundreds of tools over these last 200 episodes, we thought it'd be fun to review Padlet and Google Keep. They are favorites for many. And after six years, They've changed a bit. So I thought that would be kind of fun to highlight those changes that have happened as well.

Certainly.

And share all that information.

Yeah. We could have just remastered the first one. But, uh, I think, you know, I mean,

between all of my like, uh, I don't know what I'm talking about to Bums and breathing and weird sounds in the background because we were in our house. Yeah. I'm kind of glad to redo this.

Indeed.

So let's talk about some tech tools. Yay. So we're here January, 2025. And we've been through a lot since the beginning and some of the tools we have though are basics, everyday tools that we use all of the time and Padlet and Google Keep are two of these tools that are right in regular use. Just to highlight our like, kind of top five things about Padlet, and then our top five things about Google Keep, I decided to kind of separate them out a little bit. Padlet is awesome. It is a tool that can be used everywhere. You're able to connect it to so many different things, whether you have Microsoft or Google or whatever your school is working with, which is great. I will say Padlet has changed over the years and now you can get free trials of Padlet and use them for like a month. And once you create things, they're there, but also once that trial is up, then they do have charges. I will say too, that Padlet has changed a few things too, where there are specific things for educators, which we're going to highlight too. But for my top five things, why I really love Padlet, it still is a great organizational tool and helps you collaborate with others and share ideas. They now have the sandbox workspace. That's available as well. It reminds me a little bit of being able to take over some of the pieces that Jamboard can do. It has that availability. It's different, but you could use it in that capacity if you're interested, which that didn't even exist when we talked about it in 2019. It's really, again, still easy to share with others. Actually, while I was at the, or presenting. At my PETA conference, it was a virtual share and I was able to run a Padlet and connect with my Canadian friends while I was presenting and people from all over. So that was really cool and an easy way to share information with others and collaborate with other people. It has specific classroom tools now, which it didn't before. And it's not just text. You can use video, you can use images, you can add all kinds of things to it, along with like the creativity piece that you've always been able to have with Padlet. So there's super awesome things with Padlet going forward. And we'll kind of get into that in a little bit as I walk you through it. But I also want to highlight my top five things for Google keep as well. Yeah. While I'm on my. Top five lists. Google Keep is the other thing we're going to talk about today. Also has been around for a while, but Google Keep has also changed in the last six years and upgraded. It's still very helpful for organization, which is awesome. It's really easy for kids to share and collaborate. If you are a Google school, you're able to have students share. They're information with one another. And I use it in my classroom all the time when I'm doing actually group projects, they have them keep notes in the same place. So that was like, I lost it. I'm like, no, you didn't. And they have, I have me, like I'm also shared on their Google keep, which is helpful, great for life organization, even if you're not having your students use it. You personally can use Google keep to organize your life and there's different formats with it now. I actually, when I made some pictures for the smartinwi, so you guys can check it out on the website. I put our puppy in there and like our dog's life, keep all kinds of things organized and Google keep, which is great. It's still very easily shared between Google docs and slides. So you actually can drop. Your Google Keep right into there, and it can create a, uh, outline for you. If you're writing a paper or something like that, you have access to all that information, which is an easy share tool. And it also now has a few tools that are similar to Jamboard where you can open up parts of Google Keep, save information, and there's just different pieces to it now that help you create more in Keep than I originally had, which also can help with some of those Jamboard things that were. Searching for, if you're not using FigJam. So there are just some cool things that we can talk about with Padlet and Google Keep that are very relevant and useful still. Which is fun.

Always.

So did you get the Padlet that I shared with you?

Yes, I did receive the Padlet that you shared with me.

Perfect. So you're joining my fierce Padlet. Because per usual, Padlet is still very positive and uplifting, which I love about Padlet. You can still change your wallpapers. You can still change your color schemes, your fonts and all that cool stuff. But what I do want to talk about is the options of Sandbox. So when you go to create a Padlet, it will tell you, or it will set you up. So everyone knows like it is paid. You can get a free trial depending on how you're setting it up. So if you're having more of a business. You want to set it up. You can set it up group collaborators, teams, and things like that, and set up your teams and put all that in there, which is really awesome and helpful. If you're an educator, you can get Padlet for a month and have like the setup for teachers. What's cool about the teacher setup is. If you're setting up things, you can set it up and keep them. It doesn't go away, but if you go into the educator option, there's discussion boards, there's class activity creators. Now there's lesson plan creators. There's ideas for activities. There's timelines of events. Reading lists, assessment polls, there's just so many options for educators now that didn't exist before. So I definitely think it's worth the trial. Even if you want to see what you can create and have it, there's just so many even like bulletin boards and common space and There's just a lot of options now for teachers that didn't exist before, which is really helpful for planning and for organizing and just to have all those tools at your fingertips, which is really awesome. And I think like being able to share that or have that option, like discussion boards with your students, you've always been able to set up Padlet that way, but you now can also. They have AI tools built in, so they have like generating discussion ideas with AI. You can choose your grade level. So if I'm going to generate a discussion board, I'm going to pick my topic. Um, let's do pine trees,

pine trees,

because there's one outside the window. Oh yeah. Um, we're going to have a fourth grade discussion on pine trees, the AI discussion board generator. And again, you don't have to use this, but it will. Students can explore the various ways pine trees serve both human and animal communities. Boom. And this is set up for fourth grade. Students can investigate special adaptations and help pine trees thrive year round. Which is great, because actually our child is talking about adaptations in her class right now. Students debate the balance between conservation and resource use of pine trees. Students can discuss the cultural versus ecological importance of pine trees. Cool. So you can pick your question, drop it in, decide if it's question and response, or if it's debate, it'll set it up. I can write my own first post as a teacher, drop it in there, or it gives you teacher options so I can click on it and say, Hey, here's my response as a teacher. And you can literally set kids up for discussion right there in Padlet and it walks you through the whole thing. It then will give you a QR code or a copy link, or you can share it right into your Google Classroom, send it to your email, or embed it in your blog or website. Boom, you've got a discussion started with your students, and it's available to them. So, there's just so many more tools that Padlet has available that it didn't have before. That are classroom specific and worth looking into and kind of digging around in for sure. So along with like the cool AI tools that are built in now, they also have all kinds of other things to build in to that blank sandbox, the sandbox piece. Now you can draw, create. And play in. So they have examples of geometry and measuring angles, flowcharts, comic strips, family trees, and this is where I was talking about kind of can work like Jamboard because if you click into it, it'll give you those options that you had that flexibility with Jamboard. And that's, again, something else you can play around with in your month long free trial and have access to it. So there's just a lot of fun things you can play around with in Padlet now that you didn't have access to before. So what have you added to our Fierce Padlet that we were sharing together?

Oh man, I haven't added anything yet.

New ideas.

New ideas.

Share all your new ideas. What do you got? Also, while, you are sharing new ideas, the options too are when you go into Creative Padlet, just like before you can have a document, you can add links, you can add camera images, you can add image searches, but now there are 13 more options. To add to your palette. So before you'd always do, again, six years ago, links and images and videos, but now you also can add polls. You can add things directly from your Google drive. I can't draw. I can't draw is an option, which I think is hilarious. Talk for me, because these are some of our, you know, AI things we can add into there. Camera, video recorder, audio recorder, which I do like that students then can audio record, or just say, explain, they can drop their explanations right in when they're in a Padlet. Screen recorder is in there as well, along with YouTube. You can still drop GIFs in that you could do before. Spotify, web search. So all those things are options that you can add into your Padlet that weren't always options. Thanks. And now, in our fierce Padlet, we have your face staring back at me, even though you're looking at me. So now I have you and a picture of you. I'm going to like it, because it's still an option to like. And comment. I also

just submitted a photo, from an I Can't Draw photo of an oil painting of a person dunking, uh, a basketball, and it looks like a nebula,

nice. Um, but it says, it

says awaiting approval, though.

Nice, so I must approve it. Yeah. Since I am in control of this Padlet. You are. That's amazing. So, just like before, again, easily collaborative, an easily collaborative space, if that makes sense. But any content area and students are able to use it, which is awesome. The other piece I like about Padlet, too, is that you can put it up on your smart board because even if you don't want your students all to have accounts, it's an easy way for them to share information, or you can just share information with your students and keep it all organized and beautiful, along with polling and asking them questions. So there you go. Padlet.

Padlet.

It's changed a lot, but it's still a very cool tool. So I suggest you try out the free trial, try out the educator tools, see if it's for you or for that, not for you, but it is still a very fun way to collaborate and you can share with people all over,

which

is awesome. That

is awesome. Good work.

So there you go. So the other thing we're talking about is Google Keep. Now Google Keep also in the past six years has changed a bit and it, it Is still easily found if you have a Gmail account. If you don't, you can also go to Google Keep. You can Google Google

Keep, and

it's still that little yellow piece of paper with a white light bulb and you have access to it. It connects to your Gmail account. With that, it's taking notes. It does have the option now. So used to be able to, it kind of looks like a Pinterest board or like a board that you can drag and drop and move things around. You can actually click on them and reorder them randomly, which you couldn't do, used to be able a long time ago, not be able to do. So you can click and move your keeps, your little keep notes around on your board, kind of like you drag and drop a post it note. It also has a list view. So if you click on the little equal sign, it will give you a list view versus the cards, the cards moving around. You can take your notes like forever, take your notes, share them, collaborate with them. You can pin them. You have the option to add collaborators to them. I have my students use these. In our book clubs, I have them take notes for each other because they all read in small groups, they read the same book, and then I split them out and then they have to talk about their book with somebody who read a different book. And so I have them take notes and then they can pull up their Google Keep so they have their group's notes and they can have discussion and have that available to them. I have students use these for all different content areas, soul stays, for reading when they're reading novels and they're able to take notes that way. I also have them be able to share with math teachers, which was funny. I talked about way back in episode one, I talked about math teachers using these. It's a great way to keep notes and visuals instead of necessarily a paper notebook, which is available, which is cool. You can also use it for any sort of science notes, but because they so easily drop into Google Docs and Google Slides, it's a great way to organize for research projects and things like that. Definitely, I'd say like fourth grade on up just because of the collaboration piece, but as a teacher and staff, it's a great way to run book clubs and share information with other teachers. And also with, I know here in Wisconsin, there's a lot of reading curriculum stuff that's coming out that's changing. And so it's a great way to keep actually curriculum, pieces organized or ideas organized with other staff members. And you can share staff on them, which is really helpful. For keeping all of your ideas in one place. That's sometimes easier to see than just like a giant list of information at Google Doc. So that's something to think about as well. You can still color code and you, they also now have cool images you can drop in the background. You can add images. And before I talked about how, Google Keep can kind of be used, why is it like creepy pictures in? What are you adding to my Google Keep?

Well, uh, I sent you a, just one that I was playing with. Oh,

this is like an image came up and then you sent me a list of things. Okay.

It was a album cover that I just happened to have.

What are you sharing? It was

a Taking Back Sunday album cover.

Okay. Um, when you're taking notes, you also have the option to add a drawing, which you could do before. And this is where I kind of mentioned it can be used a little bit like Jamboard. If you click drawing. And then there's like usual drawing tools, like pens and highlighters. But if you click on the grid, it also has different types of paper. So you have lined paper, then dotted paper and squared, like graph paper. So if you needed to like draw out something or do writing, you could do it in Keep and then from there you'd have it saved, which is one of those things that a lot of teachers don't do. Kind of miss about Jamboard where you could do some writing on your board or on your smart board and then have it saved for later. So that is a way you could kind of use Keep. The lines don't show up when the little squares show up for the little post it notes kind of for Keep. When you click into it and you open it back up again, it will like full screen it. It will give you that graph paper or that aligned paper. So that might be a way that would be helpful for you to be able to use Keep. And if you're doing stuff in front of the class and you're writing on it, Keep could be helpful for that. And then it would save it for you later on, which would be helpful to come back to the next day when you're teaching lessons and things like that. So that's a, that's another way to use Google Keep if you're going to project it onto a board as well. Um, it still has reminders. You can edit all your labels and have little labels and organize things. And then they also archive and trash things. So. What's cool about Keep, it still has all these tools, still keeps you organized, but it has some fun upgrades that they didn't have a while ago, and there's tons of ways to use it and share with others. Which is fabulous. We use it every week. This is where I drop my blog in for the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast. And then that's how I share it with Fuzz. And from there, then we get everything done for smartandwi. com. So we are fond, fond members of Keap. We enjoy using it and use it often.

I like that you can drop an image in to here and then click grab image text and it will turn it into, it'll paste the text into the note because. A lot of times you have to take like a list from an image or something like that and yeah, you can just drop it. It's super quick and easy.

Yep. And it keeps everything in one place. And unless you leave, unless you like hit the trash button, you're not going to lose it. Like it's just there and it just keeps on collecting all your stuff. And it's a quick, easy way to find things too. I also color code everything. So it's beautiful.

Nice.

So there you go. Yay! Yay! There you go. Hadlet and Google Keep.

Episode 200. Episode

200. So happy to be chatting with everybody. And now we have sound effects. We didn't have sound effects in the beginning. No,

just the dog snoring. That was the only one.

This is true. And that was not a sound effect. That was just happening.

Yep.

Oh my. Well, anyway, thanks for tuning in to episode 200. So happy to be here. This has been the tech tools for teachers podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on blue sky threads, Facebook, Instagram at smartinwi. And if you want to get more information on the links to the technology discussed in this episode, Or listen to the first 199 episodes. You'll find them at smartandwi. com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or two. Visit buymeacoffee. com slash smartinwi or visit smartandwi. com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep this show going. New episodes each week. Happy 2025. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate.

The ideas and opinions expressed in this podcast and the smartinwi website are those of the author, Shanna Martin, and not of her employer. Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we hope they do. And we'll talk to you next time, right here on the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.