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!).

Here are my favorite links for May 2021:

• Right click in Google Docs to view edit history.
• Google Forms now auto-saves!
• 10 Chromebook using Educators to follow 
• College professor sparks heated debate about Google Docs
• Changes to the Level 1 Google Educator exam
• Moving to a new district...take your courses with you! 
• Chrome extension manager
• Mathigon 
• End of year Google Slides portfolio

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review!

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show!

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!).

Here are my favorite links for April 2021:

• Big changes in store for ChromeOS this fall?
• Updated timeline on storage policy changes
• Teach students how to screen record on Chromebooks
• Tammy has a Tab problem
• 5 Drawing apps
• April is national poetry month
• Atlas of art and emotion
• Get Google Certified this summer
• Google Admin Bootcamp
• Visual thinking tool
• Organize your paper with Stack

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review!

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show!

During the "learn with Google" event in February, Google announced three new tiers for Google Workspace for Education:

• Education Standard
• Teaching & Learning upgrade
• Education Plus

In this episode, I want to look at each of these tiers and decide if they provide enough value to justify the cost of upgrading .

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for March 2021:

1. Schedule breakout rooms in advance 
2. Version history for Jamboard
3. All the new stuff in ChomeOS Ver. 89 
4. NEW screen recording for Chromebooks
5. 30 Ways to use Google Forms in the Classroom
6. 7 tips for teaching with Jamboard
7. Create fill-in spaces with Google Docs
8. Review: One by Wacom
9. Stop stealing dreams
10. Chromebook Prank guide 

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show!

Chromebook turns 10! Let's take a look back and a look forward at the impact Chromebooks have had on education and computing.

Episode Links:

• First Look: ChromeOS netbook (this is my blog post from January 2011)
• Original blog post by Sundar Pichai introducing the Chromebook to the world

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Thanks to Wacom for sponsoring this episode. The One by Wacom makes it easy to annotate images, teach a lesson and grade student work. It is also one of the first drawing tablets that works with a Chromebook!

--------------------------------------

Remember the "good old days?"

• Teaching a lesson in front of the whiteboard or overhead projector was common practice.
• Using white-out to create worksheets as an essential skill.
• Everyone graded homework on paper with a red pen.

Things have changed.

Teaching in front of a computer screen can feel a bit rigid and scripted, but it doesn't have to be!

Can your Chromebook replace the whiteboard and the red pen?

Episode links and resources:

• Annotate with Chrome Canvas
• Annotate video with Screencastify
• Teach a lesson with Whiteboard.chat
• Grade with the Google Classroom mobile app
• Find a pen for your Chromebook
• Purchase the One by Wacom (affiliate link)
• Review: One by Wacom

On February 17, 2021, Google hosted a virtual “learning with Google” event where they announced more than 50 significant updates for Google Classroom, Google Meet, Google Drive, and Chromebooks.

This episode is devoted to review and discussing all of this exciting updates! 

I knew I would need some help to get through all of these updates so I asked my friend Lissa Brunan to join me.

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for February 2021:

1. Learn with Google event (Feb. 17)
2. Custom background for Google Meet
3. Chromebook Screensaver
4. Virtual games from Arts & Culture
5. Learn with Google Event (Feb 17)
6. Google Meet Enhancement Suite 
7. Drawing tablet support for Chromebooks!
8. Dino QR codes
9. Improvements to Google Meet & Zoom on Chromebooks
10. Valentine’s day activity ideas

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show!

My guest today is Duane Habecker, a veteran math teacher and designer of engaging digital math challenges. 

Duane is passionate about helping students understand math…not just on a superficial level, but understanding the logic and beauty of the language of numbers.

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for January 2021:

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

On March 12, 2020, I was attending a conference when the news broke that the entire state would be under stay-at-home orders for several weeks due to COVID-19.

As someone who is a full time speaker and edTech consultant, this was a terrifying moment as I realized that all of my scheduled school visits and conferences sessions would most certainly be cancelled.

Since that date in March, I began providing virtual PD for schools.

These are some of the lessons I have learned after facilitating more than 150 hours of virtual learning. 

District Webinar Subscription Program

To help schools continue to provide helpful virtual PD, I am offering a district webinar subscription program.

For only $25/FTE your teachers can attend a weekly webinar by me between January 12 and May 21. 

🔗 Program details: http://SowashVentures.com/subscription

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for December 2020:

1. Google Sites gets custom fonts
2. Google Vault update
3. Cheaters can’t outsmart Google!
4. Improved comment / suggestion modes for Docs
5. Improved “people” directory in the Gmail side panel
6. Computer Science Week
7. Get creative with Chromebooks
8. Five Jamboard templates
9. Funkify
10. Sowash family Christmas tradition

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Google Cloud Print will be shut down at the end of 2020.

If you plan on printing from your Chromebook, you need to find a new solution.

Because students and teachers have been taking Chromebooks home due to COVID, connecting your Chromebook to your home printer is more important than ever. 

We'll also discuss managing district printers using the Google Admin Console. 

For show notes and resources, head over to http://Chrmbook.com/podcast

--------------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Chromebook wins, frustrations, and strategies

In November 2020 I was invited to be a panelist on the weekly teacher round table hosted by Tim Cavey of the Teachers on Fire Podcast.

Chromebooks was the topic for the November 14 discussion and I was honored to join four other educators to share our Chromebook wins, frustrations, and strategies.

Become a teacher on fire! 🔥

For more conversations like this, make sure you subscribe to the Teachers on Fire podcast.

During each episode, my good friend Tim Cavey highlights a teacher who is crushing it in the classroom.

Each episode is a dose of inspiration and encouragement to continue changing the world, one student at at time.

SUBSCRIBE to the Teachers on Fire podcast:

• On Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2ozOTRb
• On Google Podcasts: https://goo.gl/iA6swC
• On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2QkF2KW

--------------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

If you or a family member is in the market for a new computer, black Friday is a great time to make a purchase! 

While specific deals will come and go, I’d like to explain how to spot the best holiday deals on Chromebooks.

I’ll also point you to a few specific deals for the 2020 holiday season.

Teacher device recommendation:

• Acer Spin 713 ($549 at BestBuy)

• HP x360 14c ($499 at BestBuy)

Student device recommendation:

• Acer Spin 11 ($250 at BestBuy)
• HP 11a (11A-NB0013DX) ($169 at BestBuy)

Honorable Mention:

• Lenovo Chromebook Duet ($249 at BestBuy)

Stocking stuffers: 

• Stylus (USI, EMR, other): $20-50
• Chromecast: $19 at Walmart (Black Friday only)
• Roku: $17 at Walmart (Black Friday only)
• External monitor

-----------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

If you or a family member is in the market for a new computer, black Friday is a great time to make a purchase! 

While specific deals will come and go, I’d like to explain how to spot the best holiday deals on Chromebooks.

I’ll also point you to a few specific deals for the 2020 holiday season.

Teacher device recommendation:

• Acer Spin 713 ($549 at BestBuy)

• HP x360 14c ($499 at BestBuy)

Student device recommendation:

• Acer Spin 11 ($250 at BestBuy)
• HP 11a (11A-NB0013DX) ($169 at BestBuy)

Honorable Mention:

• Lenovo Chromebook Duet ($249 at BestBuy)

Stocking stuffers: 

• Stylus (USI, EMR, other): $20-50
• Chromecast: $19 at Walmart (Black Friday only)
• Roku: $17 at Walmart (Black Friday only)
• External monitor

-----------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for November 2020:

1. New Quarter, new Class 
2. Background replace for Google Meet 
3. Let everyone into Google Meet 
4. More .new shortcuts! 
5. Admin Google Meet setup guide 
6. Yi Note Extension 
7. Chromebook Black Friday Deals
8. Join me LIVE on Saturday for a Chromebook roundtable 
9. Pixel Art Reveal
10. Breakout room slide template 

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Should your district upgrade to the enterprise edition of G Suite for Education?

That’s the question I would like to help you answer! 

During this episode we will explore the differences between the free and paid versions of G Suite for Education, look at pricing, and try to decide if upgrading is a good fit for your district.

-----------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for October 2020:

1. Citation for Google Docs
2. Migrate data between Google Domains
3. Introducing Google Workspace  
4. Google Meet gets all the things 
5. Sweet new virtual whiteboard  
6. Virtual parent teacher conferences 
7. Why you should read Edgar Allen Poe
8. Need a Halloween costume? Google can help!
9. Halloween Choice Board
10. Virtual Pumpkin Carving with Slides

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

A touchscreen Chromebooks is even better when you add in a digital pen. 

Teaching during the COVID pandemic made this abundantly clear to me...sometimes you just need to write with a pen. 

Only a handful of Chromebooks come with an included digital pen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add a pen to your Chromebook. 

In this episode you'll learn about three types of digital pens and how the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) is going to make pens even better for Chromebook users. 

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for September 2020:

1. Background Blur for Google Meet 
2. View everyone in Google Meet
3. New moderator controls for Google Meet
4. Share folders within a Shared Drive
5. Art Zoom Series 2 
6. Smithsonian WWII collection 
7. Doodle for Google finalist for all 50 states
8. Digital pens are coming to Chromebooks 
9. Google is adding screen recording to Chromebooks
10. 5 Ways to get MORE value out of Google Classroom

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

Each summer I spend time reviewing the tools that I use in my classroom and that I recommend to teachers like you.

Today I'd like to share my favorite apps, add-ons, and extensions for the ELA classroom. 

This collection of tools will help your students become better readers and writers and will also help you provide better support and feedback on their written work. 

Here's a quick list of the tools I review in this episode: 

• Boom Writer (web app)
• Hemingway Editor (web app)
• Cite this for me (Chrome Extension)
• Grammarly (Chrome extension)
• NewsELA (web app)
• Dogo News (web app)
• Google Dictionary (Chrome extension)
• Immersive Reader (Chrome extension)
• Read and Write for Google (Chrome extension)
• Highlight Tool (Add on for Docs)
• Page Marker (Chrome Extension)
• Mote (Chrome Extension)
• e-Comments (Chrome Extension)

Did I leave out your favorite ELA resource? Send me a Tweet (@jrsowash) or leave a comment on the show notes page to let me know! 

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

In this episode of the podcast, I'm sharing my favorite tech gear! 

This is the gear that I use to record this podcast, produce videos for my YouTube channel, and the gear that I travel with when I visit schools and speak at conferences. 

Hopefully, you'll discover something that will make your life a bit easier and help you prepare for the challenges of remote and blended learning.

Let's dive in! 

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for July 2020:

1. Using Graph Paper to teach art & develop math skills
2. Minecraft is coming to Chromebooks
3. Google Confirms new features for Meet
4. Google Certified Coach Program
5. Link to a specific portion of a webpage
6. The Anywhere School 2020
7. The best ELA tools for your classroom
8. Voice-comments to Google Docs and Classroom
9. Archive last year’s Google Classroom courses
10. Google Earth turns 15

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show! 

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!).

Here are my favorite links for June 2020:

1. I just took the Level 1 Google Educator Exam
2. Turning paper assignments into digital activities
3. How virtual desks could change the way you work 
4. Teach with Tech virtual conference
5. New Book: Control Alt Achieve
6. New Gmail layout options
7. Rejoice! The NEW Google Groups has arrived
8. Shared Drive folder sharing now in beta
9. Manage your calendar in the side panel 
10. 5 NEW features for Google Meet (coming soon)

For show notes and resources on teaching with Chromebooks, visit http://chrmbook.com/podcast

-----------------------------

Thanks for tuning into the Chromebook Classroom Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, I would appreciate your honest rating and review! 

You can connect with me, John Sowash, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show!