Issue 20 • November 6, 2024

I’m at the annual Georgia Education and Technology Conference (GaETC) in Atlanta, Georgia, this week. It’s my 15th year as Featured Speaker at this excellent event. I really look forward to it every year.

This year’s GaETC theme is Educational Rockstars, so I dressed my posable person Shapegram in black and gave him an electric guitar. The poster below features the titles of each of my 7 sessions. My topics include Google Forms, AI image generation, Canva creations, brain breaks, AI lesson enhancers, and lesson hooks.

Issue Inventory 📰

The Learning in Hand Newsletter is only 134 days old, and it has already covered dozens of education and technology topics, tools, and tips. I’ve listed top items from each of the 19 issues.

Issue 19

• 🔲 Adobe Express QR code generator

• 📝 Khanmigo report card comment generator

• 😎 Visual SEL check-ins

Issue 18

• 📝 Single-point rubrics

• 🎬 Canva picture-in-picture

• 🖍️ Custom coloring pages

Issue 17

• 🍁 AI story problems

• 🍭 Emoji wallpaper generator

• 🥦 Visual homophones

Issue 16

• 👤 Google’s guide to AI in education

• 📺 Advance YouTube one frame at a time

• 🧠 Sensory brain breaks

Issue 15

• 👤 AI selfie cartoons

• 📺 YouTube keyboard shortcuts

• 🪝 Lesson hooks with AI

Issue 14

• 🟦 Class Jeopardy

• 🧱 Lego selfies

• 🔤 Google shortcuts ABC book

Issue 13

• 💡 AI assisted vocab ideas

• 🎟️ Exit ticket templates

• 🤖 AI in Quizizz

Issue 12

• 👀 Glance and Guess number game

• 🎨 Color palette generators

• 💻 Claude’s artifacts

Issue 11

• 🗓️ Classroom calendar

• 📦 Padlet Sandboxes

• 🕒 Version history tip

Issue 10

• 🛠️ EdTech tools

• ⚠️ AI hazards

• 💎 TeachAid

Issue 9

• ⏺️ Video responses in Book Creator

• 🙌 SLAY with technology

• 📰 Daily student new shows

Issue 8

• 👤 Meta AI’s “imagine me” prompt

• 🤪 Magic School’s tongue twisters

• 🖐 First Five activities

Issue 7

• 🐾 Class branding

• 🤝 Friendly fonts

• 🏠 Free Shapegrams

Issue 6

• 🪄 Canva magic shortcuts

• 🗂️ 4 ways to reopen a closed browser tab

• ⏺️ Padlet as a Flip replacement

Issue 5

• 🤖 Gemini in your address bar

• ✂️ Stickers with Cricut

• 🎙️ Adobe Podcast Studio

Issue 4

• 🟣 Canva share settings

• 🐸 Education game creation site

• ⚡️ USB power meter

Issue 3

• 🔡 TextExtrude Canva app

• ⏲️ Timer for teachers

• ✍️ Handwritten fonts

Issue 2

• 🏅 Digital citizenship lessons

• 📲 Live Photos to video

• ⏳ Sand brain break

Issue 1

• 🔠 AI generated alphabets

• 🚫 Padlet color setting

• 🔒 Lock a Google Doc

Find the archive of issues at learninginhand.com/newsletter.

Loving Lofi 🎧

I spend a lot of time working on a computer. Most of that time, I’m listening to lofi music.

Lofi music has a mellow, minimalist sound that creates a relaxed atmosphere. There’s something familiar about the music, making it blend into the background—allowing my brain to focus on things other than the music.

In the classroom, lofi music can create a calm atmosphere, aid concentration, and reduce stress among students.

Lofi Girl is a popular music channel based in France that streams music. Fun fact: Before it was renamed LoFi Girl in 2021, it was called Chilled Cow.

You can listen to Lofi Girl on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.

The channel’s mascot is a cartoon of a young woman with headphones, studying at her desk. While browsing the Lofi Girl website, I discovered the Lofi Generator, which lets you create a custom avatar in the style of the iconic mascot. I designed my own “Tony Vincent” avatar, and the Lofi Girl fan in me couldn’t be happier!

I apologize for the lack of new content this week. I’ve been super busy putting together my GaETC presentations. But don’t worry, the good stuff from those sessions will be coming your way in future issues of this newsletter!

Smiles from Georgia,

P.S. The animation below shows the shapes I used in Google Slides to draw my posable rockstar.

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