Ms. Cotton's Corner

Maybe you have been doing what I have been doing lately – a crash course into all things Google! If so, I can’t wait to share this tip that I just learned!

Often when I create Google Slides for my students, I need some of them to be portrait orientation and others to be landscape. Because Google Slides is meant as a presentation platform, that just isn’t possible. But, we teachers need it to be so much more! We need kids to drag and drop, underline, insert, and interact with the slides. AND we need the slides to go the way we need them to go. Here’s how I’ve solved that problem.

First, since my students need to interact with the slides, they know NOT to use the slides in Present mode. When I’m teaching them, I DO use present mode. This work around WILL NOT work in Present mode, but it is awesome for students.

1. Create the content you need. In my classroom we are working on grammar, so I’ve created this Grammar Adventure for my students. As you can see, most of the slides need to be Portrait orientation, but the brochure about Tikal really needs to be Landscape.

2. I created the slide in Portrait orientation by creating text boxes and images, and then rotating them.

3. Then I downloaded the brochure as a png. Making it a png means the content is locked and no one can edit it – not you and not your students.

4. Next, I created a new blank slide. I inserted the image of the brochure I had just downloaded. Don’t make it a background, insert it as an image. It will fill the entire slide. You are probably thinking, um, yeah, it looks just like it did a minute ago.

5. Now, the work around. Rotate the image. It will hang off the edges of the slide.

6. Go ahead and resize it to cover the entire slide. Now it will really hang off the edges!

7. That’s it. If you want to see a video of this, check it out here!

For other great tech tips for you and for your students, be sure to follow me on You Tube. I regularly post tech tips and instructional videos.

And I have tons of awesome print and digital resources on TPT, including this resource, Grammar Agents – the Quest for the Missing Mayan Medallions! Follow me so you find out about all my newest resources and insights to grow your teaching.