Issue 22 • Date December 4, 2024

I started on Twitter in 2007. Over the years, I made many great connections. It was always a treat to meet my Twitter friends in real life at conferences. And it was great to follow people after meeting them at education events.

Twitter has changed a lot over the years. Lately, many educators have greatly decreased their usage of Twitter (now called X) or have left the platform entirely.

Lots of educators have found a new social media home on Bluesky. I’ve been on Bluesky since 2023, and it is nice to see that it is finally taking off with teachers. Much of the community I know and love from Twitter has relocated to Bluesky.

Bluesky for Beginngers 🦋

Bluesky looks almost identical to Twitter. Instead of a bird, it has a butterfly as its logo. I wrote about the familiar features, slight differences, and fresh possibilities in my post, The Butterfly Effect: Bluesky Basics for Teachers. It includes an infographic overview.

• 💬 Character and media limits

• #️⃣ Edu hashtags

• 📝 Customizable feeds

• 🕑 Realtime chats

• 🚫 Ads, bookmarking, scheduling

• 👥 Starter Packs

• 🧩 Sky Follower extension

If you end up on Bluesky, give me a follow at tonyvincent.bsky.social and say hello. 👋

Seasonal Soundscapes 🔉

The Ambient Worlds YouTube channel has nearly 200 soundscapes featuring instrumental music and imagery from fictitious worlds like Harry Potter, Zelda, Star Wars, Avatar, and Marvel.

Soundscapes can create a calming atmosphere, promoting focus and relaxation. I like to play them during work time.

This time of year, you might play a video from Ambient Worlds’ Holiday Music & Ambience playlist.

Terrific Tabs 🗂️

In October, Google added tabs to Google Docs. The tabs appear on the left side of the document and are great for organizing longer documents or bringing together multiple documents. Tabs help users navigate their document and can be used to organize lesson plans, curriculum materials, or student work. This feature is a great way to keep your documents organized and make it easy to find what you need.

Want to see tabs in action? Check out this document, Student Engagement Using Google Docs Interactive Features, by Julie Many and Steve Wick. Each tab explores a different aspect of Google Docs' capabilities.

Below are some things to know about tabs in Google Docs.

• New documents already display Tab 1.

• To add tabs to an existing document, click the Insert menu and click Document tab.

• Tabs can be added to documents with pages and to documents with a pageless format.

• Click the plus icon in the left sidebar to add another tab.

• Click a tab’s More button ⋮ to rename the tab.

• Click a tab’s More button ⋮ to choose an emoji to display on the tab.

• Click a tab’s More button ⋮ to duplicate the tab.

• Click a tab’s More button ⋮ to add subtabs.

• Drag tabs up or down to reorder them.

• There is not a way to recolor tabs.

• You can change the background color for individual pages. Go to File and click Page setup to change a page’s color.

Mac Magic Made Manageable 📝

Macs with an M-series chip that are upgraded to macOS 15.1 can access Apple Intelligence. So far, there really aren’t many AI features. The biggest is probably Writing Tools, which can be accessed by highlighting text, right-clicking, hovering over Writing Tools, and clicking an option:

• Proofread

• Rewrite

• Make Friendly

• Make Professional

• Make Concise

• Summarize

• Create Key Points

• Make List

• Make Table

It’s handy to have these tools built into the operating system. What’s not handy is accessing them through a context menu.

I prefer the ease of a keyboard shortcut rather than right-clicking. Here’s how to set that up:

Go to System Settings → Search "keyboard shortcuts" → Keyboard Shortcuts button → App Shortcuts in sidebar → + → Enter menu title "Show Writing Tools" → Press ⌘ + . → Done → Done.

Amit Agarwal has written detailed instructions for creating a keyboard shortcut for Apple Intelligence’s writing tools.

Canva Counterparts 🖼️

Canva’s Magic Studio includes tools to remove backgrounds, erase objects, expand photos, and edit text. These features are handy, but they’re limited if you’re using a free Canva account. Canva Pro and Canva for Education accounts have such generous limits that they feel nearly unlimited.

If you don’t have access to Canva Pro or Canva for Education, no worries. I’ve put together a PDF called Canva Magic Studio Alternatives, featuring free online tools that can do similar things. Each tool is hyperlinked in the PDF, making it easy to explore and try out.

Fabulous FigJam 👍

Teachers are flocking to FigJam because it’s a free alternative to the discontinued Google Jamboard.

I’ve been exploring FigJam’s collaborative whiteboard, and I’m impressed. At first, I was overwhelmed by the features. FigJam has sticky notes, emojis, stickers, widgets, plug-ins, sections, drawing tools, washi tape, and more.

The best way to learn a new tool is to use it to make something! After making a couple of templates, I no longer feel overwhelmed. Instead, I am excited about the possibilities.

I’ve made two templates, and you’re welcome to click the Open in FigJam button to make copies.

Mystery Picture Tile Reveal → The teacher hides an image behind a grid of tiles. Students make guesses as the teacher uncovers an image piece-by-piece.

Shades of Meaning → For a given word, small groups of students come up with synonyms and place them along a gradient based on intensity or emotion.

You’re probably familiar with my passion project, Shapegrams. I offer dozens of digital art lessons and challenges for $35 a year. For December, I’m featuring 20 days of free Shapegrams! These are fun activities you can give to students to complete in Google Slides. Keep up with the fun on Bluesky by searching for the hashtag #FreeShapegrams and following shapegrams.bsky.social.

Smiles from Iowa,

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