Nifty 50: Microsoft Tools, Tips & Treasures
Discover 50+ Microsoft Tools and Ideas
Microsoft Educator Center (10+ Tips, Professional Learning Opportunities, and Lesson Ideas)
- Search for your topics of interest: learn tools, pedagogy, classroom implementation ideas, and more.
- Discover free courses for teachers on a variety of topics (and earn PD points!)
- Educators can earn points, badges, and certifications for completed courses
- Learning Paths provide more in-depth learning experiences
- There are also resources and lesson plans to find classroom integration ideas
- Don’t miss the Products link, where you can find blogs, tutorial videos, and more about all of the Microsoft products shared in this session and more.
- Many resources and lessons designed for remote and hybrid learning
- TeachersFirst Review of Microsoft Educators Center
Hacking STEM (12+ Tips and Lesson Ideas)
- Find many free lesson plans by Microsoft
- Many require little or no technology
- Start at the STEM Library to find many ideas (new lessons are added often)
- Check-out these Low-Tech (or No-Tech) STEM/STEAM Activities:
- Wave Machine (applies engineering design process) – Grades 4-9
- Comparing Speeds (applies engineering design process) – Grades 4-10
- Slime – Grades K-12
- Cloud in a Jar – Grades K-12 (depending on chosen activity)
- Oil Spill – (applies engineering design process) – Grades 5-8
- Coding a Lego Maze – (applies engineering design process) – Grades K-6
- Building with Jelly Beans – (applies engineering design process) – Grades K-6
- Shrinking Chip Bag and Crushing Soda – Teacher-led activity Grades K-12
- Hurricane Mapping – Grades 6-12
- Rubber Band Cars – (applies engineering design process) – Grades 5-8
MakeCode (4+ Tips, Tutorials, and a Blog Post)
- Introduce your kids to coding for FREE
- Virtual micro:bit available
- Topics include tutorials, games, fashion, music, videos, and more
- Read the blog post related to MakeCode
- Use this search engine to save time and your favorites
- Sign-in to access all of the features
- Save time by using the Hamburger menu
- Customize your homepage
- Share “This Day in History”
- Don’t miss the “Image of the Day”
- Share the Home Page Quiz to connect current events and history
BING Images (5+ Tips to Organize and find images, plus tips to teach copyright)
- Use the Search options to teach about copyright
- Search the Images by size, color, layout, type of image, and more. Get as specific as you want.
- Save collections for projects (unlimited saves)
- Collect all of your saves (personalize your videos, images, and articles)
- Share the Image of the Day (if you missed it on the Home Page)
BING Maps (10+ Ideas to Use BING Maps in your lessons)
- Find directions
- View current traffic
- View 3 types of maps
- Show students where a story in the news took place
- Show students the location from a novel
- Show students the basics of their community
- Have students create their own map route plans for historic sites
- Use in math class, have students plan the most economical route to visit several vacation destinations, include gas mileage and gas prices
- Use in history, have students create place-marker files of important places in the life of a famous person from a certain time in history, such as the Civil War, World War II, Great Depression, etc
- Don’t forget to share or embed student-created maps using the links and embed codes provided
Microsoft Translator for Education (10+ ideas and tips for using Translator)
- Translate text in over SIXTY languages. Simply copy/paste or type your text and click translate.
- Have a conversation with someone in another language.
- Currently available in thirteen languages.
- Once you click to “start conversation” it will translate into the desired language AS YOU SPEAK. You say the words, and participants see the words in the language that they chose.
- Tip – don’t forget EARBUDS!
- Use with ESL/ELL students and their parents (perfect for conferences)
- Use at Back to School night, so all can understand in their native language or through text if hearing impaired
- Use this tool in world language classes for students to hear the correct pronunciation of the words
- Use this tool with hearing-impaired students. You SAY the word and they can SEE it! They follow along in real-time! There is no interpreter necessary and students feel included in the discussion. Teach them to use this feature now, so they can use it in the future outside of the 4-walls of the classroom.
- Check out this blog post with lots of great ideas for using Microsoft Translator
- Learn more about Translator in this demo video.
- View this video of Microsoft Translator in action
Microsoft Immersive Reader (10+ ideas for using Immersive Reader)
- Learn more at this introductory video
- Use with students who have visual needs or reading needs
- Personalize the playback speed, highlight text during audio reading, adjust text size, and spacing
- Click on any word to listen to the pronunciation
- Use to teach parts of speech.
- View words divided into syllables, use labels to color-code words by parts of speech, increase the spacing between lines and letters.
- View this up-to-date chart of learning tools for using Immersive Reading
SWAY (8+ Resources and Tips to Learn More about SWAY)
- Create simple interactive presentations that work across all devices
- Add text, images, videos, and more
- Change the color palette, layout, and fonts
- See the TeachersFirst Review for classroom ideas, anytime you need to have students create a presentation (such as a final project) – Sway is the Way!
- View the On-Demand OK2Ask Archive (virtual workshop) to learn more about Sway.
- Read all about Sway in this blog post.
- Article about how to Sway
- Learn more about Sway at this demo video.
OneNote (12+ Tips and Tutorials to learn more)
- Check out this video explaining how and why teachers should use OneNote
- OneNote is device agnostic, so available as an app or on the web browser
- Use OneNote to keep yourself organized
- Use OneNote to keep your STUDENTS organized
- Keep your notes, emails, photos, and more
- Use this for collaboration with students. All students can add their own thoughts – Great for group work!
- View this What is OneNote video
- View these OneNote tutorial videos
- Organize into folders and access from any device
- OneNote for Beginners (available as a course at the Microsoft Education Center)
- View this video to learn more about OneNote Class Notebook
- Microsoft offers this Introductory Guide to Using OneNote in Education.
FlipGrid (10+ Ways to Integrate FlipGrid)
- FlipGrid allows your students to create video responses using ANY device
- Ask a question, and it is a great way for ALL students to participate – regardless of reading ability
- Give all students a voice. Even shy students can easily participate
- Use for formative assessment, an exit slip at the end of class, beginning of the year introductions, and more.
- FlipGrid has been acquired by Microsoft and now you can create UNLIMITED grids in your class, as an educator. ALL FREE!!!
- FlipGrid has over 30,000 READY TO LAUNCH topics for you to use (see the Discovery Area)!
- Find countless additional ideas in the TeachersFirst Review of FlipGrid
- Don’t miss the GridPals area to find educators from around the world for collaboration.
Microsoft TEAMS (10+ Resources to learn all about using Microsoft Teams for Education)
- If you are teaching virtual, Teams can be a true game-changer.
- View this short demo video to learn the basics.
- Use teams to keep your class notes together and collaborate.
- Use Teams for students to collaborate on group projects and text each other.
- Use Teams to host class meetings on virtual learning days.
- View an On-Demand workshop – Microsoft Teams for Assignments and Feedback
- View an On-Demand workshop – Microsoft Teams for Live Lessons and Meetings
- View an On-Demand workshop – Microsoft Teams getting Started with Class Notebook
- View an On-Demand workshop – Microsoft Teams Basics and Best Practices for Use in Remote Learning
- Use Teams to bring in “experts” to talk to your class.
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