🏆 Interested in earning your Google certification? Join me May 21 for a FREE webinar! 🏆

Hi Reader!

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the school year! Being a teacher is an intense profession. There are good days and hard days. I remember many days when I wondered if it was worth it. The impact you are making on your students IS worth the effort. You are awesome! 👏

As you wrap up your school year, here are a few quick suggestions for boxing up your digital files so that you can have a peaceful, relaxing summer vacation!

✨ Listen to the Gemini Audio Overview of this email ✨

1. Text formatting in Google Keep - You can now add text formatting (bold, italic, etc) to your Keep notes. Welcome to the 21st century!

2. The Boston Marathon and cheating with AI - Tony Frontier explores the challenges of teaching in the age of AI by examining a 45 year old Boston Marathon cheating scandal.

3. Google Takeout for HS seniors - The Google Transfer tool makes it easy for HS seniors to move their files to a personal Gmail account. This video will help them get started!

4. New AI certification - Google is launching a “Generative AI Leader” certification. This non-technical certification validates your ability to use AI creatively in professional capacity. I’m definitely going to try this out over the summer!

5. AI generated video - “Veo,” Google’s AI video generator is now available inside Google Vids and the Gemini app. It’s crazy what you can do with a simple text prompt!

Summer is a great time to rest, relax, and spend some time working on special summer projects. That might include becoming a Google Certified Educator. Did you know that Google offers 7 different certifications for educators? Join me on Wednesday, May 21 for a FREE overview of Google Certification program to boost your career and sharpen your tech skills! Details: Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 Time: 8-9pm EST Location: Google Meet Cost: FREE! Can't attend live? No problem! RSVP and I will send you the replay you can watch at any time. Click to RSVP

6. Group updates for Classroom - You will soon be able to email project groups, edit groups when creating assignments, and sort your gradebook by group. Coming soon to EDU plus domains.

7. Emoji reactions in Gmail - You will soon be able to react to emails with emoji, similar to an iMessage conversation. This feature is OFF by default and must be enabled by your IT administrator.

8. Using AI with Google Sheets - I am not a spreadsheet person...but I have learned to fake it! AI has helped me explore more advanced spreadsheet features that seemed daunting.

9. Color Zilla- This handy Chrome extension will identify the precise color value of anything on your screen. It’s great when you need to match a color from a logo or photo.

10. Draw with Chrome Canvas - in honor of national drawing day I’m sharing a podcast episode from 2022 with my favorite drawing apps for Chromebooks!

You're almost to the finish line! 🏁

To those of you with a few weeks left in the school year, hang on, you're almost there!

John R. Sowash

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