The purpose of this blog is to provide technology tips for teachers to use in their classroom. I also plan on highlighting some of the great ways I'm seeing technology used in Granville County Public Schools.
For those of you who are Gmail users, I encourage you to check out either of the following extensions for scheduling emails to send at a later date/time: Boomerang for Gmail and Right Inbox for Gmail. With the free version of each extension, you can only schedule a limited number per month (10), but it's still worth it! Besides scheduling emails to send at a later time, you can set up reminders, add notes, and set up recurring emails. Here's a brief summary of each add-on:
Boomerang is a helpful Google Chrome extension you can add from the Chrome Web Store. Boomerang allows you to write an email now and schedule it to be sent automatically at the perfect time. You can also set up reminders so you don’t lose track of important emails and set up reminders if you don’t hear back within a specific time frame after sending a message.
It integrates with Gmail and lets you schedule emails to be delivered at a future time. Once the extension is added, you'll notice additional buttons available on your Compose window within Gmail:
Go ahead and add one of these to your Chrome extensions. You’ll love it!
Epic for Educators offers thousands of children's books to teachers and librarians for FREE. The site contains instant access to 25,000 eBooks, learning videos, quizzes and more for K-5 teachers and students. Epic can be accessed on any device: desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, iOs and Android devices.
Students can read books that interest them during silent reading or free-choice time. They can build their own collections, rate what they've read, and then report back to the teacher offline with a summary or a reflection on what they learned or liked about the book. Teachers can assign a theme (for example, biographies of important people in history) and let students find and read material on that theme. Or teachers can assign specific books based on reading level or by topic to get students investigating a particular subject or literature theme. Teachers can check on each student's progress through the dashboard. Given that this is a digital library, teachers also can project the book onto a SMARTBoard and read to the class. After reading, follow up with related activities.
To get started, teachers should sign up for a free account. Then you can create unique student profiles and track students' reading progress. Student profiles can be created on the web or you can import your roster from Google Classroom. Students will then go to www.getepic.com/sign-in or use the Epic! app on their iOs device. They'll click "Student Sign In", enter their classroom code, and then select their student profile.
Google Cast for Education is an app accessible in the Chrome Web Store that allows you to turn your computer into a wireless projector for screen sharing from another device (similar to a Chromecast). Just install the extension, give your device a name, and invite your students to cast.
Teachers and students simply need to install the extension to set up devices for wireless screen sharing. The teacher sets up Cast on the computer that's connected to the classroom projector and then invites a student to cast their screen. The student casts their screen to the teacher's computer and the teacher can then project the screen to the whole class.
To start a new board, click on "Add a Board" on your Dotstorming homepage:
(2) Invite participants
To do so, click on the "Share" button in the top right corner of your board and you're given the option to share using a URL or embed code:
(3) Add your ideas
To add an idea, click "Add a Card" and enter your text:
(4) Vote on the ideas you like by clicking on the dot underneath the card:
Dotstorming creates a space where people can post digital notes that can have text and images. Once the notes are posted, people can vote for their favorite. As the creator, you can determine how many votes each person has (e.g. one, two, three, etc.). Once everyone has voted, you can sort the notes based on the number of votes each received by clicking "Rank by votes".
Finally, as the creator of your board, you also have the following options:
If you're interested in viewing a quick tutorial video, I encourage you to check out Richard Byrne's video. He even demonstrates how to import a Pinterest board into Dotstorming!
Looking for an easy way to use videos for student discussion and engagement? Check out Flipgrid, an awesome app that came out in the summer of 2017. It works on iOS, Chromebooks, and all major browsers. The free version of the product allows you to have one grid (your classroom or group) with unlimited topics and unlimited student responses videos (90-seconds each). Once you create a Flipgrid account, you will name your grid and give it a purpose, pick your grid background, and then add as many topics as you'd like.
As the teacher, you can add topics to spark discussion and students can build a dialogue as they share their short video responses with you and their classmates. Teachers can moderate videos, provide custom feedback, view analytics, and set the privacy rules.
To access your grid, students will either use a direct link you share with them or enter your unique Grid code on the Flipgrid homepage:
Students can easily post their videos on your grid using the following simple steps located on the Student Guide from Flipgrid:
Students can respond to each other's videos using emojis and see how many people have viewed their videos. How motivating!
If you're looking for a quick tutorial, check out this short video:
Furthermore, Flipgrid also has a great Teacher Guide. Here's a glimpse of the handout.
Can't wait to hear how you use Flipgrid with your students!
If you're looking for an easy, FREE digital portfolio tool to use with your students, I can't recommend Seesaw enough. It can be used for any grade level and allows students to take ownership in their learning as they reflect on their work. Teachers can provide feedback to the students and the ability to share the journal with classmates, the teacher, and/or parents creates an authentic audience.
Seesaw works on many different platforms: iOS devices, Android devices, Kindle Fires, Chromebooks, and any computer with Chrome or Firefox.
Here is the basics flow of Seesaw (accessed on their webpage)
Seesaw has several built-in creation tools including taking photos, videos, adding links, entering a note (text or audio), sketching a drawing, or adding labels. You can also upload a file or a picture from the camera roll.
Here are the tools available on a mobile device:
And here are the tools available on a computer:
Another great feature of Seesaw is the many, many apps that are compatible with it. For instance, if any other app allows you to create a product and save it to the camera roll, then you can upload it to Seesaw. Here's a list of compatible apps.
Adding something to a Seesaw journal is very simple. Check out this video demonstrating how to do so in less than a minute:
As the teacher, all posts from your students come to you for approval before anyone else can see them.
Before long, you'll want to invite families to view their child's portfolio. Doing so is quick and easy. Check out this video below on how to do so. You can also send announcements and private messages to families.
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Interested in diving in? Here's a quick tutorial on how to set up your class.
Seesaw has some free Teacher Courses that can be completed in about 30 minutes and will introduce you to Seesaw, explain why to use it, and give you time to explore its creation tools through the lens of a student. The four Teacher Courses include PreK-2nd Grade, 3rd-5th Grade, 6th-8th grade, and High School and Beyond.
There are also Getting Started Guides for each grade level (K through High School). These guides will provide step-by-step, grade-specific lessons to introduce Seesaw to your students, task cards, and badges and certificates.
Want a free month of their premium features in Seesaw Plus? Scan the following QR code to sign up
If you're looking for a great resource for students to use to create videos, check out WeVideo. It's an online video editor that you can access from any device with Internet. The free version of WeVideo allows you to have five minutes of published video each month, 1 GB of cloud storage, 480p video resolution and the ability to download the edited video to your computer.
Creating an Account
To begin, go to www.wevideo.com and sign up with your email. You might consider signing up through Google in order to have one less password to remember.
Then click the green button, "Sign up for WeVideo"
You'll then receive a confirmation email to verify your account.
Starting a New Video Project
1. Once logged in, please click on the "+ Create New" button
2. Select the type of project you would like to create: Video edit or Project
3. You'll then use the green cloud button to import video, images, and audio files to your video edit or project.
4. Once your media is imported, you can drag and drop the content into your project.
5. You can change the theme, add audio, or record voiceovers using these buttons:
6. Once you're done editing your video, you will need to publish it. All videos are automatically saved to WeVideo but you can also publish to Google Drive or YouTube, among other tools.
Another great aspect of WeVideo is their WeVideo Academy which has videos of tutorials, lessons, and tips.
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