Technology is a wonderful tool to help students learn, but there are often when we need to hand-write or draw something to solidly its meaning. Writing on a tablet can feel awkward and unnatural.
What if there was a way to use technology and write naturally? Blackboard by boogie board is an excellent solution to write naturally, erase like a pencil, and save your notes electronically. I recently received a Blackboard and had to check it out.
How does it Work?
First, you will need to purchase a Blackboard by boogie board, which includes everything you need. Each board is accompanied by a pen with eraser and four writing templates. Whether you want to use lines, dotted grids, a planner, or a blank sheet of paper, there is a template for you.
This inkless pen on paperless paper, which requires nothing to charge, plugin or turn on. Merely use Blackboard to plan, sketch, or draw. Blackboard allows you to write comfortably by hand, whether you are writing, editing, or erasing. The free Blackboard app helps you save, organize, and search for your writings, drawings, or plans.
The board is easy to use and transport, which makes it ideal for any situation. Check out this video for more information!
CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH!
Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatoblastoma in March of 2016 at 9 months of age. Hepatoblastoma is a cancer so rare, that only 1 in 1.2 million kids are affected. Ava’s numbers have fluctuated over the past several months, but her family is hopeful that she will fully recover. Although Ava will face a lifetime of lasting effects from the chemo, she looks like a happy little 2 year old. Currently she is getting adjusted to wearing hearing aids, and they have already greatly improved her speech! Her family is looking forward to watching her life return to normal and seeing her be able to enjoy just being a child.
During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Ava and her family! Here is how!
Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.
Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit or debit card. Make a contribution to Ada's PayPal account or contact Matt to send check/cash. At the end of the month, all funds will be directly sent to the family.
Show your support with a Like - “Like” Ava’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!
Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!
Many students struggle with learning Math because it can be difficult to understand for some of our students. Some students struggle to make real-world connections to Math concepts.
Dan Meyer has created a highly engaging site called When Math Happens. The website contains a variety of real-life math problems, which Dan uses the power of technology and Math to solve. Problems are available for students in grade 3 through Calculus.
Conclusion
Each problem is aligned to the Common Core Standard and are based on real-life situations. The problems are structured with a real-life scenario, a video preview, guiding questions, and silent solution videos to help guide students to the answer.
As more classrooms become 1:1 and BYOD, there is a need for interactive and engaging tools to stimulate learning. One of my favorites is PearDeck, which is very similar to NearPod.
PearDeck has recently added an Add-On, which converts your Google Slides presentations into interactive presentations. You can design a presentation that contains interactive components, such as warm-up questions, multiple choice questions, exit tickets, temperature checks, and reflection questions. You can choose the pace, whether teacher-paced or student-paced.
How does it work?
First, you will want to create your Google Slide presentation. Visit the Add-Ons menu, visit Get Add-Ons, and install the PearDeck Add-On. You will want to make sure that you create a PearDeck account to use this tool.
Then, visit the Add-Ons menu and use the PearDeck Add-On to add interactive components to your presentation.
Finally, you will want to visit the Add-Ons menu and Present with PearDeck. Your presentation will convert from Google Slides into a PearDeck presentation. Have your students visit peardeck.com/join to join your presentation. Students will need to login using their Google account to access the presentation.
Conclusion
One of the best things about this tool is that it creates an interactive environment for students. Students have multiple ways to interact with the presentation. I also like that you can change the pace of the presentation, whether self-paced or teacher-paced. Students need different options for demonstrating their knowledge and the PearDeck Add-On provides this!
CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH!
Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatoblastoma in March of 2016 at 9 months of age. Hepatoblastoma is a cancer so rare, that only 1 in 1.2 million kids are affected. Ava’s numbers have fluctuated over the past several months, but her family is hopeful that she will fully recover. Although Ava will face a lifetime of lasting effects from the chemo, she looks like a happy little 2 year old. Currently she is getting adjusted to wearing hearing aids, and they have already greatly improved her speech! Her family is looking forward to watching her life return to normal and seeing her be able to enjoy just being a child.
During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Ava and her family! Here is how!
Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.
Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit or debit card. Make a contribution to Ada's PayPal account or contact Matt to send check/cash. At the end of the month, all funds will be directly sent to the family.
Show your support with a Like - “Like” Ava’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!
Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!
The Ed Tech Team recently launched the AudioPlayer for Slides Add-On. This Add-On allows you to embed any audio file (.WAV, MP3, MP4) into your Google Slides presentation.
Not sure how to install?
Simply, go to the Add-Ons menu in Google Slides.
Choose Get Add-Ons and search for the AudioPlayer for Slides Add-On.
Once you have found the Add-On install and give it permission to access your Google account.
How does it work?
When you are ready to use this tool, visit the Add-Ons menu in Google Slides and choose AudioPlayer for Slides. Then you will need to select Open Files.
A side menu will appear on your screen. After a few seconds, you will see any uploaded audio files in your Google Drive. Choose your file
Start playing your file and then choose present.
What I Don't Like
There are several things that I don't like about this tool. First, its current design is disappointing. It is designed to provide background music from your Google Drive. Although this is a cool idea, I don't see how this is any different than using my media player or playing Pandora in the background of my presentation.
Second, it was difficult to understand the concept. When I first found this tool, I though that it would be a great tool to embed audio like PowerPoint. I imagined students being able to click an icon (there currently is NOT a button) and listening to me present a topic, hear a sound effect, or listen to a speech.
If you are looking for a tool to present a slideshow with music, then you should check this out. If not, it might not be worth the install.
CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH!
Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatoblastoma in March of 2016 at 9 months of age. Hepatoblastoma is a cancer so rare, that only 1 in 1.2 million kids are affected. Ava’s numbers have fluctuated over the past several months, but her family is hopeful that she will fully recover. Although Ava will face a lifetime of lasting effects from the chemo, she looks like a happy little 2 year old. Currently she is getting adjusted to wearing hearing aids, and they have already greatly improved her speech! Her family is looking forward to watching her life return to normal and seeing her be able to enjoy just being a child.
During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Ava and her family! Here is how!
Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.
Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit or debit card. Make a contribution to Ada's PayPal account or contact Matt to send check/cash. At the end of the month, all funds will be directly sent to the family.
Show your support with a Like - “Like” Ava’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!
Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!
Even the smallest changes are good changes! If you have worked in Google Docs or Slides lately, you may have noticed a new way to insert images into your documents and presentations.
If you visit the Insert menu, you can select the exact type of image that you want to insert. You can quickly add any image by URL, uploading from your computer, searching your Google Drive or Photos, or doing a Google search.
CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH!
Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatoblastoma in March of 2016 at 9 months of age. Hepatoblastoma is a cancer so rare, that only 1 in 1.2 million kids are affected. Ava’s numbers have fluctuated over the past several months, but her family is hopeful that she will fully recover. Although Ava will face a lifetime of lasting effects from the chemo, she looks like a happy little 2 year old. Currently she is getting adjusted to wearing hearing aids, and they have already greatly improved her speech! Her family is looking forward to watching her life return to normal and seeing her be able to enjoy just being a child.
During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Ava and her family! Here is how!
Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.
Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit or debit card. Make a contribution to Ada's PayPal account or contact Matt to send check/cash. At the end of the month, all funds will be directly sent to the family.
Show your support with a Like - “Like” Ava’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!
Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!
November is Clicks 4 a Cause Month! Check out how you can help Ava below!
I love to use Quizlet as a way for students to remember key vocabulary terms! Quizlet just launched a new feature called Quizlet Learn, which customizes the way that you learn.
How does it work?
When you open a set of flashcards in Quizlet, you will have the option to select the Learn feature. The learn feature tests your knowledge by giving you a variety of question types to choose from. The better you do, the harder the questions and question types.
After you choose "Learn," you can choose the Options feature to customize your study session (bottom-left corner of the Quizlet web version).
You can select from a variety of question types to customize your experience.
Finally, test yourself! As you progress through questions, Quizlet Learn keeps track of your performance! If you get a question wrong, it provides you with tools to correct your answer (see image below).
Conclusion:
This is a free-feature of Quizlet and there is nothing special that you have to do. Have your students use this easy-to-use feature to transform the way that they study!
CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH!
Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 Hepatoblastoma in March of 2016 at 9 months of age. Hepatoblastoma is a cancer so rare, that only 1 in 1.2 million kids are affected. Ava’s numbers have fluctuated over the past several months, but her family is hopeful that she will fully recover. Although Ava will face a lifetime of lasting effects from the chemo, she looks like a happy little 2 year old. Currently she is getting adjusted to wearing hearing aids, and they have already greatly improved her speech! Her family is looking forward to watching her life return to normal and seeing her be able to enjoy just being a child.
During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Ava and her family! Here is how!
Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.
Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit card, debit card, check, or cash. Sign up to make a donation using this Google Form. I will send you an invoice via PayPal. At the end of the month, I will make a donation directly to the family.
Show your support with a Like - “Like” Ava’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!
Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!
As learning becomes increasingly digital, teachers need to find quick and innovative ways of providing timely feedback. Unfortunately, it is very time consuming to leave comments for every mistake that a student makes on an essay. The CheckMark Chrome Extension is a perfect solution for grading papers because it provides you with a menu of canned comments that automatically insert as comments into Google Docs.
Next, open up a student essay in Google Docs and highlight the text that you want to comment on. Once text is highlighted, you will see a list of comments that you can select.
Finally, choose the comment that you would like to insert. CheckMark will automatically insert the feedback as a comment in Google Docs.
Conclusion
Timely feedback is an important aspect of increasing student engagement. Students need to know what they are doing well and what they need to improve. When grading in an online environment, this can be a very difficult and time consuming task. CheckMark reduces the amount of time spent adding comments and allows you to provide students with better feedback. November is Clicks for a Cause Month! Every November, my blog helps a child in need through a program called Clicks for a Cause. Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For every visit during the month of November, my blog as well as other sponsors will contribute to the medical fund of a child in need. For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page! How can you help?
Please consider making a donation or buying a gift card for the family (more information will follow). Contact me for more information.
Support my blog by reading and sharing. The more visits, the more money we can raise!
I'm always looking for new Add-Ons to try out in Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, and now Slides. One particularly helpful tool is the Highlighter Add-On for Google Docs. Want to see it in action? Check out my video below:
Conclusion:
Students can use this tool to highlight text to identify patterns, take notes, and organize information. The Highlighter Add-On then saves your highlights and generates a new document containing your highlights in sequence or organized by color.
This is a helpful tool in any classroom, especially where students need to take notes and identify patterns. What's your favorite Add-On? Leave a comment below.
When you think of GIF's, you might think of funny animated images on social media or text messages. Over the past year, I have learned the value of creating animated GIF's to help enhance step-by-step instructions for students and teachers alike.
How can you create animated GIF's from screen recordings? One possible option is the Bukket Chrome Extension, which allows you to create screen captures and animated GIF recordings on your web browser. Many schools restrict teachers from downloading applications from the Internet, so this may be an option.
How can you create an Animated GIF with Bukket?
First, you will want to make sure that you install the Bukket Chrome Extension. Remember: Chrome Extensions only work in the Chrome Browser.
Next, choose the Bukket extension and choose "Record Selected Area" to record a specific area on your browser window OR you can choose "Record Visible Area" to record your entire open window.
Then, you will choose "Record" to record your GIF. Bukket will capture any action on your screen including your mouse movements.
When you are finished, choose "Stop Recording." This will begin the encoding process, which will take a few moments.
Finally, you can choose "Save" to save your GIF to your device.
After you finish, you will have your very own animated GIF! See my example below:
Conclusion:
There are many great animated GIF creators out there. What are some of your favorites? I would love to hear your ideas. Please leave a comment.
First of all, I want to thank you all for your feedback! After my last post titled 3 Alternatives to YouTube, I received many great ideas from you. Without further adieu, here are 3 more alternatives to YouTube!
# 1 - Watchkin Watchkin is another great YouTube video alternative that I recently learned about. It provides a safe environment for watching YouTube videos, as well as creating a safe URL similar to SafeShare.Tv and NiceTube. Users can also search for YouTube videos within the website, which makes it a very good tool to use in the classroom.
#2 - Embed YouTube Video in Google Slides
If you are looking for an easy way to show videos without the distractions, you might want to try embedding a YouTube video in a Google Slides presentation. Your presentation can be shared with students and they do not have to be distracted by suggested videos.
How does this work?
First, create your Google Slides presentation.
Next, you will choose the Insert menu and select "Video."
Then, you will need to search for your YouTube video. As a side note, you can insert videos from Google Drive tool.
Finally, you will choose "Select" to embed your video in your presentation.
# 3 - NearPod
I like NearPod as a presentation tool, but have you ever thought of having students watch YouTube videos via the site / app? This might be a good alternative to YouTube because you can control how long students watch the video and you have the ability to restrict students from visiting other sites.
Simply embed the link of your video in a NearPod slide and students are ready to watch!
Conclusion
Do you have any other alternatives to YouTube? I would love to hear about them! Leave a comment below.
This is a question that I have been pondering in my own life. As many of you know, I set the ambitious goal of interviewing 50 leaders in a one year period. Today marks the ending of a one year journey.
Throughout my journey, I have seen many excellent and poor examples of leaders. I have sat across from leaders who kindly gave up hours of their time to share their experiences with a stranger. Many graciously bestowed their prized life stories, lessons, and resources without any expectation of repayment. Many were kind. Some were egotistical. Most were extremely helpful. Some were surly and curt.
After interviewing 54 different people, I learned that all leaders have a compass for service. The arrow points in one of two directions, towards the leader or others.
The Arrow Towards Me
When the arrow points towards us, we expect others to serve our needs, expectations, and desires. I found this to be true in one leader, who told me in no uncertain terms that he expects his employees to make his preferences their top priority. Although this has helped him "get to the top," has it really?
We have to be careful, because there are other times when we "cloak" the arrow to appear one way, but it is just a disguise for personal gain. Unfortunately, this type of style creates an organization filled with confused and fearful subordinates, who are inefficient and unsure of expectations. This mentality creates fear that produces a cut-throat and power-hungry environment, where it is difficult to trust the actions of leaders within the organization. It is disappointing that leadership becomes a game to get ahead in this type of environment.
The Arrow Towards Others
When the arrow points away from us, we shift the focus from ourselves to others. I know this sounds a little cliche, but the most effective leaders find serving others. One leader that I spoke with talked about how she would visit every single employee every morning. She learned more about his employees' lives, motivations, interests, and abilities.
Travis Roy
One of the best examples of the arrow pointing towards others is in the life of Travis Roy. For the first 20 years of his life, Travis was an accomplished hockey player. All he wanted to be was a hockey player. Everything else fell secondary.
Travis received a scholarship to Division I hockey-powerhouse Boston University. In the first game of his freshman season, he received an opportunity to play. Within 11 seconds, his career and hockey career was over. Travis was the victim of a freak accident, leaving him paralyzed for the rest of his life.
It's hard to have your arrow point towards others, especially when you have such a life-changing injury. It's hard to not succumb to bitterness in the midst of such difficulties, but Travis had a desire to make more of an impact. He desired to be more than "just a hockey player." He wanted to make a difference in the lives of others.
With this passion in mind, he created the Travis Roy Foundation. The foundation is designed to change the lives of spinal-injury victims, through raising money for research and grants. The organization inspires, raises awareness, and gives hope to thousands of spinal-injury victims and their families.
Conclusion:
Travis Roy is an example of the benefit of turning your arrow towards others. Each time we turn the arrow to serve others, we serve ourselves. We give ourselves life, hope, and meaning to live. Turning the arrow towards others is one of the most life-changing things that any person or leader can do.
As a secondary teacher, I used YouTube as a teaching tool on a regular basis. Although it has improved over time, questionable content sometimes appeared in the suggested videos section. Since my move into the elementary level as a Learning Technologies Specialist, I have began to search for alternatives to YouTube. Here are 3 alternatives to YouTube:
# 1 - NicerTube
I just came across NicerTube in searching for YouTube alternatives. It is very easy to use. You simply copy and paste the URL of a YouTube video, choose a creative background, and NicerTube creates your video.
Want to see an example? Check out my video tutorial from a previous post. I love the fact that this tool is free, easy-to-use, and allows you to make as many videos as you would like; however, it does contain advertisements.
# 2 - SafeShare.TV SafeShare.TV is extremely easy to use and customize to the needs of your students. You simply copy and paste the URL of any YouTube or Vimeo video and SafeShare.TV generates a new URL. You can customize when your video starts, the title of your video, the description, or whether you want to hide buttons to control the video. Once your video generates a unique SafeShare.TV URL, your video is protected and students will no longer see previews to other videos.
What I don't like is that you have to have an account to create a video; however, you can easily use your Google or Facebook account to link to SafeShare.TV. The free version also limits you to 20 videos per month. Check out pricing information for more.
# 3 - Google Drive
If you are creating your own videos, you may want to consider using Google Drive as a place to house and share your videos too. If you are a G Suite school, then you realize that you have unlimited storage space. This strategy limits what students are exposed to because they will only see your video in a preview window.
How does this work?
Simply upload your video to Google Drive, which may take a few minutes to upload and encode.
After your video is ready, click on the 3 vertical dots (right-side of your screen) and choose share.
Click on "Get Shareable Link" icon and select "Anyone with Link Can View."
Copy the URL and share away!
Conclusion:
Do you have other alternatives to YouTube? I would love to hear your ideas. Feel free to leave a comment below.
Choice is an important aspect of student engagement. If we know that it works, why do we sometimes limit the amount of choice that we give students? I know that it is not always appropriate or possible, but there are always ways to provide options.
With this in mind, I decided to combine the idea of a Tic Tac Toe board and choices. There are many great examples across the Internet of educators using this idea to create assignments. Here is an idea that I created:
Here are 5 tips for creating your own assignment Tic Tac Toe board:
1. State Your Goals
If you notice, because humans are naturally goal-oriented, I provided the goal for each section. We need to understand "why" we are doing something; therefore, I stated it in clear terms (i.e. find a current event, summarize, share your opinion).
2. Clear Goals, Require Clear Assessments
Although it is important to share your goals, it is also important to have a rubric communicating specific behaviors and actions. Students should have access to your rubric. Avoid Likert scales 1 - 5 without any description of the behaviors!
3. Structured Options
Too many options creates the burden of choice. I have learned to provide students with a few structured choices. My Tic Tac Toe board provides students with the ability to construct (hand written or typed) or create (with audio or video). In my experience, if students have too many options, they will sit there and do nothing.
4. Scaffolds and Supports
In any assignment, there are always high-probability barriers. It may be helpful to provide scaffolds, supports, and examples of what you are talking about. In the Tic Tac Toe board, I provided several different scaffolds and supports. For example, I suggested approximately 2 -3 tools they should consider when doing the project, such as Google Docs, QuickTime, etc.
I also placed arrows on the Tic Tac Toe board as examples of what diagonal or vertical mean. Why? This can be a difficult concept for some students.
5. Create an Electronic Version
If your students have access to technology, I would create an electronic version of your Tic Tac Toe board. Why? It provides students with visual difficulties with the opportunity to zoom in and out. Students can print out copies if they lost the copy you handed out. Hyperlinks provide an interactive component to take students to various resources.
Conclusion:
Have you created your own Tic Tac Toe board? I would love to hear about it! Please share a comment below.
Google Forms is quickly becoming one of my favorite formative assessment tools. In the past, you used to have to limit self-grading questions on Google forms to multiple choice, checklists, and dropdown menus.
Google recently made an update to Forms, which allows users to create self-grading quizzes with short answers. How does it work?
Step 1: Choose the Settings Button (Gear Icon)
Choose the Settings button, select the Quizzes tab, and turn on the Make this a Quiz feature. Make sure that you save your progress!
Step 2: Create Your Question
Create your question on Google Forms. Type in your question and make sure that "Short Answer" is selected.
Step 3: Add Your Correct Answers
While you are still editing your question, select "Answer Key" and enter in all of your possible short answers. You will also want to select the box containing "Mark All Other Answers as Incorrect" and add a point value for your question.
NOTE: If you want students to type text or numbers a certain way, you can use the description and response validation features of Google Forms. Make sure that you are back in the editing feature of your question in order to access this.
The description section is useful for writing a helpful hint, such as "Capitalize the first letter!"
The response validation feature is useful for restricting responses to a certain type of answer. For example, you may want to limit responses to numbers and whole numbers.
Student engagement is a highly debated issue in education today. Brain research has revealed that we can engage students through recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and helping develop self-regulation skills (CAST, 2017).
Providing timely feedback is one way to create engagement and help sustain student effort and persistence. ClassKick is an excellent tool to provide students with engaging assignment, monitor progress, and provide timely feedback. ClassKick is free and is available for students to use on an iPad, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop.
Features
There is a paid version of ClassKick; however, the free version offers many great tools and resources for both teachers and students in the classroom.
View "live" student work and write real-time feedback. You can watch your students as they progress through a lesson without any expensive monitoring software.
Share content through text, written instructions, audio recordings, text, links, and images.
Students can "raise their hand" if they have any questions. Teachers can see who has a question and offer timely help.
Real-time feedback is enhanced with the ability to add teacher comments, pre-made feedback stickers, annotate student's work, and grade assignments.
You can enable student helpers, who provide feedback to other students.
Want to know more? Check out the ClassKick in 1 Minute video below:
How do I get started?
First, visit the ClassKick website or open the App to to create a free account.
Next, you will want to create your first assignment. Add content in the form of text, audio, images, and recordings.
Finally, open your assignment and share with your students by using the ClassKick App and entering your class code.
Have you ever wanted to share highlighted information from a website with someone? How do you typically solve this dilemma? Do you print out the document and physically hand it to someone else? Not only is this practice time consuming, it is also quickly becoming obsolete.
Marker.to
The Chrome Extension Marker.to gives you the ability to annotate and send your webpages to others. Simply highlight text on a webpage (using a yellow highlighter), click on the Marker.to extension icon to highlight your text, and send the text to someone else via social media or a link. The other person does not need the extension installed or even use the Chrome browser to see what you highlighted!
How does it work?
Watch my brief video below:
Conclusion
This is a great tool for students and teachers alike. Someone using this tool can find and highlight valuable information on the Internet without the need for special software, apps, or extensions!
I also like the fact that you can keep analytical information (the number of clicks) to your link. This is a great way to keep your students accountable - if you are sending them information and want them to check out a highlighted webpage that you created. You can do this by clicking on the My Markers link on the Marker.to webpage.
What if there was a way to use technology and write naturally? Blackboard by boogie board is an excellent solution to write naturally, erase like a pencil, and save your notes electronically. I recently received a Blackboard and had to check it out.
