Google Slides for Teachers

When it comes to distance learning, the tool I have used more than ever before is Google Slides for teachers! I found it extremely helpful for staff, students, families, and myself to have all the pieces of our lessons and meetings mapped out on Google Slides! Since it’s been such a huge help to me, I thought I would teach others some of the most helpful tips I’ve learned!

Getting started – Google Drive and Slides

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First things first, if you want to use Google Slides for teachers, you need a Google account. My district all uses Google, so we all have a Google account. Google is free but depending on your account there may be an amount of space limited. I’ve never gone past the amount of space on my personal account, FYI. Once you make a Google account, you can go to your Google Drive. You can personalize your Google Drive with organized folders and even different colors for each folder! From the Google Drive, you can get to Google slides and make a new slide. Make sure you save it in a folder where you can find it! Or name it something that can be easily searched!

Make a background

Adding Text

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When you add text, you can add right to the text box already on the slide or insert a new text box. Depending on your background image, you might want a colored text box. Personally, I like to make the text boxes slightly see-through. I do this by changing the transparency level (you can see here).

Don’t like the fonts on Google? Did you know that you can add more fonts?! Google has so many fonts to choose from. Sit back with a nice cup of coffee and get scrolling! Simply add the fonts you like!

Adding New Slides

There are a few different ways to add new slides. If you like the format of the slide you created before, you can use shortcuts (I’m on an apple) command+D duplicates the slide. Command+c copies the slide and command+v pastes it. You can also simply click the + button and decide which slide format you want. This will not keep them same background or fonts, unless you picked “add to theme” for the background. Also, you can click on the “Slide” tab to add a new slide, duplicate a slide, delete a slide or skip a slide.

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Adding Images to Google Slides for Teachers

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I love to add images whenever possible. This will support my emergent readers and visual learners! You can easily add an image by pressing “Insert” and then hover over “Image” and from there you can choose to upload an image or search the web. Like the background, if you are using this for your class then you can use any images from the web (since it is not for commercial use). I like to add the word clipart to my search to keep the images to this style, but that’s just my preference! When you find the image that you like, you may want to edit it! I often find myself copying the image and then flipping it so it can be a mirrored image. You can also change some of the coloring.

When adding images to your slide, try to keep in mind the other images you have used previously. If I’ve just added an image of a boy, I try to find an image of a girl. I try to find diverse children or adults when using people in my slides. I want all my students to see someone that looks like them in the visuals!

Adding Videos in Google Slides for Teachers

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I LOVE adding videos to my slides. Not only do we use them all the time in class as additions to lessons and fun movement breaks, we can use them in our distance teaching as well! You can directly insert a video from youtube with the url. You can also upload a video you recorded and added to Google Drive. I love having all my videos in one spot – you can play the videos directly from the slide itself! You could also have the videos autoplay, which helps if you are sharing the Slide with students.

Adding Links

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Just like with videos, I love to have all the links I need for the lesson in one spot. Simply highlight the words that you want to be turned into the link and then you can add a link right from the “Insert” tab. You can also use command+k. The text should change color when it becomes a link. You can use command+k to edit any links as well, or just click on the link and an option will pop up to edit the link.

What’s nice is you can link to other websites or resources, but you can also link directly to any of your google resources (docs, other slides, or pdfs you add to your Google Drive). If you are adding anything from your Drive to share with other staff or families, make sure you change the sharing permissions. (We will talk about that below!)

Adding Audio

Adding Animations in Google Slides for Teachers

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One way to bump up your Google Slides is to include animations. I especially love to do this when teaching reading or phonics by using shapes or lines to highlight words or parts of words. I especially love to have dots appear under words when learning about one-to-one correspondence. You can learn more about these slides here!

To add an animation, highlight the shape, image, or text box that you want animated and then click “insert animation”. From there you can click on any other shapes or images and add other animations. If you click on multiple shapes or images you want animated, then they will all appear or disappear at the same time. You can choose to have the animations make images appear, disappear or spin!

Sharing Google Slides for Teachers, Students, and/or Families

The second thing to consider is whether you want the person you are sharing with to be able to edit, comment, or simply view the document. Unless I am collaborating with someone at my school or asking students to complete something on a Google document, I make every document set to view only. When documents are set to “can edit” then anyone could accidentally delete or edit your document. When it is set to “can view” and someone wants to tweak the document for their own class or family, they will have to make a document before changing your original document.

Other Tips

Did you know that you can change the size of your slideshow? Just click on “File” and then “Page Setup”. If you want to make these slides printable, you should make it the size of paper (8.5×11).

Conclusion

I hope that these tips have helped you feel more confident to try out making your own Google Slides for teachers! If you do use some of these tips, I’d love see what you create! Send me an email or tag me on Instagram so I can see!