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Hi Reader!

Happy Thanksgiving friends! I'm grateful that you have chosen to journey through the world of edTech with me! 🙏

As a small thank you, I am offering a special sale! Anyone who registers for my winter Google Certification Academy (begins Jan. 21) before December 15 will get free access to my Wednesday Webinar program ($99 value). Click here to register!

Okay, let's get into the November Google updates!

🎦 Watch on YouTube | ✍️ Read the blog post | 🎧 Listen to the Podcast​

1. New templates for Google Slides - select from a collection of new templates for your next presentation. This is a long overdue refresh for Slides!

2. Essay writing tips from OpenAI - While this article is written for higher education students, it has some interesting ideas. If writing is a significant focus in your class, this is worth a read.

3. New Building block templates - Building blocks are reusable pieces of content for Docs. Google is adding a contact list, task tracker, and decision log templates. Building blocks are also being updated to include enhanced title rows to improve data consistency.

4. Google Vids for EDU Plus - If your school has upgraded to EDU plus, you have access to Google Vids, a new video creation for Drive. Vids shares a lot of similarities with Google Slides which makes it easy to use. You can read my review here.

5. Gemini for iPhone - iOS users can now access Gemini through a dedicated app. I have been using Gemini on my Android phone for a while and it’s really great when helping my HS kids with their physics homework.

6. Scholar and Arts & culture celebrate milestones - Google Arts and Culture is celebrating the 200th birthday of London’s National Gallery with a new exhibit and Google Scholar is celebrating 20 years of providing access to research articles through its online database.

7. Machine Learning Crash Course - this course introduces the core concepts on which AI tools are built. This course is ideal for adults who want to better understand generative AI or students who are interested in pursuing a career in coding and programming.

8. How to organize a complex document - my latest YouTube video reviews five ways you can organize and manage a long document such as board meeting minutes, accreditation reports, dissertations, policy manuals, etc.

9. Figjam gratefulness wall - many years ago I designed a Thanksgiving activity using Jamboard. Since Jamboard has entered the Google graveyard, I decided to re-design this activity using Figjam.

10. Thankfulness Turkey - Eric Curts has re-created a classic November activity in Google Slides. This is a great activity for younger students.

Happy Thanksgiving!

John R. Sowash

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John R. Sowash is a former HS biology teacher and principal who helps teachers use technology to improve instruction. You can pick up a copy of his book, read his blog, or invite him to come and visit your school​