Being able to use Google Classroom is an invaluable tool for teachers today— especially in our ever-increasing technological world. Not to mention that this technology can make teaching more effective and efficient for both teacher and student— and it’s also great for distance/ online learning.
However, a lot of times, our worksheets are saved as PDF files, and if we want our students to be able to type on these documents, we need to know how to digitize them so that students can use them online. One easy and efficient way to do this is to upload these documents to Google Slides and edit them so that students can type directly on them to turn them into worksheets or workbooks. That may sound difficult, but it’s actually fairly easy to do.
Here are the steps to convert your files into Google Slides worksheets or workbooks so that your students can type directly on them.
Step One: Save Your PDF Worksheet as a Photo
Now, for this step, there will be various ways to accomplish this task, but I am going to share how I save a PDF file as a picture.
The first thing I do is open up the PDF file and go to the worksheet that I want to save as a picture.
Then, you will right-click on the thumbnail image on the left-hand side, and some options will appear. You will want to select the option that says “Export as” and then select a photo file such as JPEG or PNG to save the image as a picture.
Another way to do this is to take a screenshot of the worksheet. There are various ways to do this, and it will differ depending upon what kind of computer you have. The best way to figure out how to take a screenshot on your computer is to ask Google. Simply ask Google: “How do I take a screenshot on a PC?” It will probably involve something like selecting the PRINT SCREEN (PrtScn) button on your keyboard or selecting ALT + PrtScn. Once you figure out how to take the screenshot, you will want to open the file and take a specific cutout of what you need. Again, I would turn to Google for help in figuring out how to make the cutout.
As you can see, taking a screenshot is much more involved than simply saving the file as a picture from the PDF doc. Nonetheless, you need that worksheet as a picture because you are going to insert it onto you Google Slide in the next step.
STEP TWO: INSERT WORKSHEET ONTO A GOOGLE SLIDE
The next part of this process is to go to Google Slides and open up a new slide. Now, we all know that a standard PowerPoint slide is NOT the same size as piece of paper… and we all have those dimensions engrained into our brains: 8.5”x 11”. So, we need to change the slide so that it is the same size as our worksheet. Here are the steps to do that:
Delete the text boxes that are currently on the slide.
Then, go to FILE/ PAGE SETUP. Once there, select the CUSTOMIZE option and change the dimensions of the slide to 8.5”x 11”.
Once your slide is in the correct dimensions, it’s time to insert the picture file of the worksheet. Now, if you simply go to INSERT PICTURE, this will create a problem for you and your students because the image will be moveable. You DO NOT WANT the worksheet to be moveable because students will have issues with it moving around as they try to type on it.
So, to circumvent this issue, you will want to go to BACKGROUND in order to insert the worksheet picture as a background image. This will make the worksheet immovable, which is what you want. So, when you select BACKGROUND, you will upload your worksheet picture to set it as the background image.
Once you’ve done this, you will want to add text boxes onto the worksheet where you want students to type text. Once you’ve added your text boxes, be sure to set the font and font size that you will want students to type in… because I guarantee that students will use whatever font is in that box and won’t bother changing it. I also add the words “Type here…” to each text box so that students can see where to type. If you don’t do this, your students might have trouble finding where they need to type.
Finally— be sure to give your Google Slide a TITLE :)
Step THREE: share the link to the Google slide
There’s a simple trick to share out lessons from Google Classroom so that students copy them into their own Google Drives. This is important to do because you do NOT want to share out an editable copy to students because someone could end up changing the document for ALL students, and you don’t want to share out a VIEW ONLY copy because then students won’t be able to type on the lesson or do anything with it. So, here’s what to do instead:
Click on the SHARE button on the top right-hand corner of your Google Slide.
Then, select GET SHARABLE LINK. Once you have the link, copy it and paste it onto a document or onto a Google Classroom assignment. BUT BEFORE YOU assign it, you need to find the word EDIT in the link (should be somewhere near the end of the link) and DELETE the word EDIT AND EVERYTHING THAT FOLLOWS IT.
After deleting these items, REPLACE them with the word COPY. By changing the link in this way, students will be forced to make a copy of the document into their own Google Drives and will be able to type on their own personal copies of the worksheet.
That’s it! I hope this helps you get your PDF worksheets up on Google Slides so that you can assign them digitally. Be sure to subscribe to BespokeClassroom.com to unlock the FREEBIE LIBRARY by clicking HERE.
About the Author
Meredith is the founder and creator of TeachWriting.org and Bespoke ELA. She has taught high school English for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City and holds a M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. She has always had a connection to the written word-- through songwriting, screenplay writing, and essay writing-- and she enjoys the process of teaching students how to express their ideas. Meredith enjoys life with her husband, daughter, and sweet pups.