Ideas for Using the Voice Typing Tool in Google Docs

Voice typing can help students overcome barriers or lead to new learning opportunities. If you are using Google Docs and have access to a computer, laptop, or Chromebook with a microphone, you have everything you need to get started with voice typing in your classroom.

Ideas for Using Voice Typing

• Emerging or developing readers and writers can voice type an assignment or story. Then practice revising and editing skills using traditional keyboard techniques.
• Students with reading or writing challenges, such as dyslexia or dysgraphia, can use voice typing to help them express their ideas without the barrier of their learning disability.
• When teaching the difference between the conventions of spoken versus written language, have students compose short sentences or stories or have a conversation using voice typing. Then collaborate to edit the spoken text so it conforms to the standards of written text.
• Ask students to read aloud a short passage, recording their reading using voice typing. Then, have them compare what was typed to the original text that they read from. This can give students a visual example of their reading accuracy. 
• When studying the traditions of oral storytelling or the drawbacks of gossip, play a game of telephone. As the message is passed around the room, have each student repeat it by voice typing it into a Google Doc before passing it along verbally to the next student. (Find a way to do this so the students can't see what was previously typed by others.) Visually compare how the story changes from the original to the final version (and the versions in between.)

When thinking about voice typing in the classroom, what other instructional uses come to mind?

How to Use the Voice Typing Tool

If you are not familiar with how to use the Voice Typing Tool in Google Docs, watch the one minute video tutorial I recorded below. For a detailed list of voice typing commands, visit Google Docs Help.

**********************************************************************************************************
All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Easily Add Emoji to Google Docs & Slides to Engage Students

Demo of Adding Emoji to a Google Doc

It's Easy to Add Emojis to a Google Doc or Slide 

1. Make sure you are clicked in an area in the Doc or Slide where you can add text.
2. Click on the Insert menu.
3. Select Special Characters.
4. If the Emoji aren't showing up in the Insert special characters box,  click the middle drop-down menu in the box and select Emoji.
5. To insert an Emoji in your Doc or Slide, click on it. 
6. You can select different categories of emoji by clicking on the third drop-down menu in the Insert special characters box.
7. You can adjust an emoji's size by selecting it and changing its font size.

Ideas for Using Emojis in Instruction

While we usually think of emojis in the context of texting and social media, they can be a fun way to bring engagement into learning. Here are just a few ideas I've brainstormed:

• MATH: Teachers can use emojis to illustrate math problems for students to solve. Students can use emojis to illustrate solutions to math problems.
• WRITING & SOCIAL STUDIES: Challenge students to write sentences or short paragraphs using only emojis. Partner up with others to see if they can correctly "read" the emoji writings. Compare this to the task of interpreting the earliest forms of drawings on cave walls or pictograph writing.
• WRITING: Use an emoji or string of emojis as a writing prompt. Or ask students to select an emoji that describes the day they are having and then write about it.
• MEDIA LITERACY: Create a Google Slides presentation with one large emoji on each slide. Show to students and ask for one word that comes to mind when they see the emoji. Discuss the impact of visuals on our thinking. Tie in to studies of entertainment, advertising, or propaganda. Extend the lesson by having students group emojis together in an attempt to evoke specific reactions from viewers.
• JUST FOR FUN/AESTHETIC EFFECT: Use emojis to enhance presentations, newsletters, and other projects. Discuss if the emojis chosen are appropriate to the purpose of the publication.

What ideas would you add for using emojis in instruction? I invite you to think about it, then share in the comments below!

---

All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

What's Your #ISTE17 Story in 6 Words?

ISTE 2017 has come to a close. If you are like me,  you are a combination of exhausted and excited by all of the learning and connecting that took place.

You might also be overwhelmed. I've felt that way some years, as I looked at all of the ways others are innovating with technology for the benefit of student learning and feeling like I or my school or district were woefully behind.

Or do you have lots of questions? Are you wondering if technology and teaching are moving in the right direction? Maybe you are asking yourself the big, philosophical, "Why?" and "What are the implications of this?" questions.

I'm always fascinated by what everyone takes away from a giant gathering of educators like ISTE's annual conference. Especially since I get to experience only the smallest slice of what takes place. I want to know what others got out of it. Are you curious, too? Then read on, and let's see if we can collaborate to find out!

A Challenge For You

Can you summarize your ISTE experience or thoughts in six words? Not four or five. Not seven or eight. But six? (And yes, words like "the," "and," "or," etc. count!)

Six words forces you to think deeply about your choices and hone in on the meat of what you learned, took away, or are still wondering about.

If you are not familiar with the idea of the Six Word Story, this HuffPost article will give you an overview. So will a quick look at the hashtag #6WordStory on Twitter.

Now, Contribute Your Story!

I'd like to learn about everyone's learning at ISTE 2017 by curating ISTE 2017 Six Word Stories using Storify. Will you please contribute?  Here is how to contribute your story:

1. Reply to the Tweet below with your ISTE 2017 Six Word Story.  (Remember, words like "the," "and," "or," etc. count! I won't include stories that break the six word rule in my curation.)
   
2. Include BOTH of these hashtags on your Tweet: #ISTE17 #6WordStory
   
3. You can include a photo from the conference that enhances your story if you wish. Just please practice good digital citizenship and make sure it's a photo you took and/or have permission to use.

What's Your #ISTE17 #6WordStory? Help me collect your stories! More info here: https://t.co/9TN0rl0xAB pic.twitter.com/xQ8MZdYLDZ

— Sandy Kendell (@EdTechSandyK) June 29, 2017

Here Are The Stories!

Please keep contributing! The Storify below will continuously update as new stories are added. 

**********************************************************************************************************
All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.