Shanna Martin 0:19
Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece 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.
Fuzz Martin 0:32
And I’m her producer and husband Fuzz Martin and I always start the show with upon but this week, I’m drawing a blank.
Shanna Martin 0:39
Oh. Nice. Thank you pretty proud of that. When I tell ya like squinty and smiling. Yeah,
Fuzz Martin 0:46
When they come into me and I’m the show can feel real proud of myself. Going through my whole chest
Shanna Martin 1:00
Yeah, Episode 165. And it’s a fun one this week. It’s a fun quick one this week. I have been
Fuzz Martin 1:11
Doing grad work
Shanna Martin 1:13
Poring over homework for the last weeks. And my big final project is due tonight at midnight. And yeah, yo presented. And then take a once off and take another class because what you do
Fuzz Martin 1:30
That’s why it’s called continuing education, because you continue to do it,
Shanna Martin 1:34
Always. And you’re always learning and learning is fun. But sometimes your brain is fried from learning. And so I decided while I do have a hefty episode, but I do have one in the works to support ELL students, which I really want to focus on. I wanted to do a lighter fun, this is cool, because I was doing this as my brake switch. So I thought I’d share.
Fuzz Martin 1:58
So this is one for Shanna today.
Shanna Martin 2:00
And this is one for me and your students for sure. Because it’s really just kind of fun. And it is called let’s draw a.it. So does L E T S D R A W dot I T Let’s draw it. Let’s draw it. So let’s draw it is really it’s a drawing site, but it’s got different fun activities. So what’s cool about this site is you can you can jump into any of the drawing games as a guest. So there’s guessing draw, which is a multiplayer, like a I don’t know, like a dr–. It’s a drawing game,
Fuzz Martin 2:34
Like a Pictionary kinda?
Shanna Martin 2:36
Yeah, where you can guess. And then you get points. If you draw like same thing, kind of thing. Then there’s draw best, which is like a drawing contest. That’s a multiplayer online like drawing gamer. And players choose the word and then they draw, and then they read others. And then there’s draw, copy, which is cool, where you like, have a picture, and then the picture shows up in the background. And then you have to like draw over their picture,
Fuzz Martin 3:00
and try to get the minds the closest
Shanna Martin 3:03
is that yeah, like close to that. And they’ll give you a comparison. And then there’s simple draw, which is a drawing tool, an animation creator. So I’m gonna kind of walk through some of these. And there’s like a how to draw, which they have like a video and they teach you the steps of drawing. So what’s cool about these is you can pick the different drawing activities. There’s also a version on like, Google Play, so but you can play it on a desktop or a Chromebook. And so when you go into any one of the drawing activities, you can play with friends. So as long as you have an account created, and the kids can create it, if they have Google at school, they can have their Google account, and they can send to private, which to me was really important that if I’m gonna share this with kids, and they’re gonna be drawing online, a we always teach them to use like a nickname that’s not their own name. But also they can, they can choose to do these activities or set them to private and then just invite their friends or kids in class, or you can do it on your own. So that way, it is set for the guest and dry, you can set to one minute or two minutes, but I realized when I was drawing today is that one minute or one minute, 30 seconds goes really fast when you have to do something, and you’re trying to draw on a trackpad. So there was a whole lot of amazingness. With this cat I was trying earlier, you can play with anyone. And if you choose to pick any topic and choose any one, you can choose to play as guest. So you have that option too, if you don’t want to sign in.
Shanna Martin 4:24
And if you don’t want your kids to create accounts, they can always sign in as guests and use a a nickname. So not use the real name. Drop bass is pretty cool. It’s where you can join the room. And again, you can either have kids in your classroom join or they can play with others. They just make sure that they have their code in there or whatever. And so then what’s funny is when they got to read them or they like aI writing these drawings, usually mine are really bad, but it’s just a great way for yay and not use your brain for a minute and just make something or puzzle pieces and you get to pick it Choose like this one is a piano competition. There’s puzzle pieces involved. I like the draw copy one the best, I think, because that’s when you get to play against anyone. And they’ll give you two pictures to pick from. And then you attempt to draw, oh, I can draw this really fancy surfer guy or a seashell. Pretty sure I’m going for a seashell. But it’ll pick whoever is in the room, whoever, like the most chosen picture. And then you get your little drawing tools and your markers. And you can trace the drawing really need to work on that because, well, I think that I could trace something clearly I can’t. And then you can go through and you can fill and you can delete your little eraser. And I like to change the colors and make sure looks absolutely nothing like the picture it’s opposed to. And so it’s just a great way to kind of create and release and the games kind of fun.
Shanna Martin 5:56
And I like that if you are in the middle of the day, and you’re stealing it was raining outside, you’re gonna pick up a quick Oh, great, we have recess inside, this will be a fun thing to do. So if it’s brain break, or recess or things like that, it’s this is a great way to build that in. I think you and I are both competing right now in the seashell competition, I changed the colors, I didn’t like the tan color. So I have an aqua seashell going on as you can create your own definitely, I like that it gives you some skills to with the whole, like, let’s see how this turns out. And what we’re actually doing. It’s kind of amazing.
Fuzz Martin 6:30
And I see you used your full name when you logged in here, I’m Dragon. Oh, nice.
Shanna Martin 6:33
I appreciate that. I just used my Google Sign In. And I didn’t change my name, because I was using it for my podcasts. But I would definitely swap it out there. Hashtag Dragon, I can see you, which is pretty amazing. Also, then the last two are the last activity on here, which I think is really cool is the how to draw part, okay, where when you go to pick the drawing, you can choose if you want like basics, if you want like a little fancier, and then they have a little video and they walk you through step by step of how to actually do that drawing, then our youngest who’s in third grade loves drawing videos and practicing drawing. So I think that would be a fun way to kind of learn some new skills or see some of these drawings in action before my tracing of things in aqua and black instead of the beautiful tan seashell that I’m supposed to be coloring right now. And so it’s kind of cool that then it’ll teach you how to use these, you know, make these drawings and some of these like art skills as well get to rate your drawing versus a purple spot.
Fuzz Martin 7:37
Yeah, erased all of it.
Shanna Martin 7:39
Oh, well, now you can see them in comparison. Yeah. I gave you a thumbs down. So there’s that. So you can have conversations with the person next to you while you’re playing. Let’s draw it as well, because
Fuzz Martin 7:54
I see they have a chat function, does that become a problem,
Shanna Martin 7:59
You can click the disable button, which I just do my kids to do is to disable it if you want to talk like if they’re playing in class, and they’re playing against each other, like you can talk to each other, but just disable the chat button. And so yeah, then you can do that as well. So it’s cool, there is a premium account on there. If you want to have like fancier things, or save them or that kind of thing, when you just simple draw, you do have the option of being able to draw, and you’re able to share it as well. So that’s just something to note that as you make things, there are some of them where you can create them and then share them while you are making. So that’s like simple draw within there. So let’s draw is just a fun, like brain break brain release, create something cool. I know the kids, we like to play it. And it’s an easy brain break, or indoor recess kind of deal or just like futzing around if kids want to create and they have some downtime, it’s just a cool way to do that. And you can do some whole class activities too. If you choose to, you can do the guessing draw game or who draws faster, that kind of thing. You can throw those into your classroom as well. So it’s an easy, light, non hard thinking. Everyone’s brain is fried week this week. Yes. So you should check out let’s draw that. And see all of the cool things that you can come up with it. And I am impressed with like, I am not good at this. But there are people that are really really good at drawing on computers. And I think that that’s pretty cool, too. Because you can see that a whole other skill set that Yeah, I know I don’t have but many people do. So let’s
Fuzz Martin 9:31
You can just play and draw your own conclusion.
Shanna Martin 9:34
Haha. Oh my goodness.
Fuzz Martin 9:37
I put the art in smart. I don’t know.
Shanna Martin 9:43
Works out a little bit. Well, thanks for joining again, this has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on the app formerly known as Twitter, at smartinwi or on Threads or on Facebook. And if you want to get more information Other links to the technology discussed in this episode, you can visit smartinwi.com. If you’d like to support the show, please consider buying a coffee or two you can visit buy me a coffee.com/smartinwi or visit smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes each week. Thanks for listening, go educate and
Fuzz Martin 10:23
The ideas and opinions expressed in this podcast and the smarten wi 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 sure hope they do. And we’ll talk to you next week right here on the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast.
