Wix

 Wix is an online website creator that was created in 2006.  Creating websites from scratch can be a little difficult, and someone as new to this as me, will obviously have a hard time getting started. For a recent project, I have used Wix to create a website of my own. After sorting through the site, and learning what to include, and what not to include, I created a pretty decent looking site. I did not expect my site to look professional. I was quite impressed with the way my final results turned out. For people who aren't quite sure how to start a website, I would strongly suggest Wix. 

    When you enter the site, you are prompted whether you want to start from complete scratch, or if you would like assistance. Upon selecting you are then moved to another page where you begin piecing together your website. I had obviously chosen the option where you are assisted. I was asked a few questions about my site, what I wanted it to look like, and what the purpose of the site was for. I was then prompted to select the format and layout I wanted. When given the option to select a color, they scanned an image I input into my website, and created a color palette for me. I then was given the put together site they came up with, and then filled in the holes, and changed what needed to be changed. It was easier to have at least something to edit and bounce off of rather than a blank page.

Google Classroom

 

Google Classroom is a great service for schools that is simple to use and free for everyone. With Google Classroom, students and teachers can easily connect both inside and outside of the school. Google introduced Google Classroom in 2014 and today it is estimated to have about 70 million users. 

    Many features and benefits come with using Google Classroom. Popular apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail are all within Google Classroom. Teachers have the ability to create, share, and grade assignments in the classroom. Teachers can monitor students’ progress and make comments about student submissions. Students can choose what to attach to their submission such as pictures, links, or a URL. Teachers and students can really benefit from the use of Google Classroom.

Screencast-O-Matic

 

Screencast-O-Matic is a tool that can be used by both educators and students. For educators, it's an excellent tool to use to record lessons. They can record their screen, show their face and record their voice as they explain the lesson. They can also use it to take screenshots. Once educators are done with their videos, they can save their video to their computer before uploading the file to a site such as Google Classroom. Or, they can upload the video to YouTube. For students, Screencast-O-Matic can be used for a variety of activities: presentations, projects, and speeches are just a few examples. 

During the distance learning of this year, I've been forcing myself to use PowerPoint for my presentations and projects solely because of the record feature it has. I've been using Google Slides for six or seven years, so I know more about how to use Google Slides than I do about PowerPoint. However, Screencast-O-Matic would make it easier for me to stick with my preferred presentation program. If I were to use Screencast-O-Matic, I could also share my screen and easily switch between different applications.

Pixton EDU - Online Comic Maker

 

 

Pixton is a website application that allows teachers and students to create unique stories, demonstrate learning and enhance writing assignment through the art of digital comics. There are a variety of comic strip layouts, many characters and background choices, and a ton of creative options. This learner-centered tool allows students to construct their own knowledge and display it in a meaningful way to create comics, storyboards or even graphic novels to represent their concepts and ideas. Pixton EDU is the educational division of the website application that is accessible through any web browser and on phones, tablets, and computers.

 

 

 

Pixton is accessible to many students without complicated directions and tools from the relatively intuitive way to create the comics from each icon having images indicating what they do. There is a tutorial that will run the first time anyone accesses the program and have many accommodating videos in the help center in the bottom question mark icon. Teachers will also have ease using the website by creating their own assignments or borrowing pre-existing ones. A fun activity that many students enjoy is creating their own avatar that can look like them and use in their future comic strips. A free game through Pixton EDU is the game of Truth or Lie where students can create a short comic strip where they tell a truth or a lie. The students share the comic with the class and have their classmates guess if the comic represent a truth or a lie.

 

 

 

Flipgrid: Letting Everyone Join the Discussion

     

Seeing as we have all been using it for this whole semester I thought I would spend some time discussing Microsoft's Flipgrid and why I believe its future is bright in this ever-changing educational landscape we find ourselves in. Flipgrid on its surface is quite simple, the instructor creates a topic that can include a video of their own or just plain text to jumpstart the discussion. From there, the class can create their own pre-recorded responses to the discussion with a built in simple editing tool the students can use for a bit of post-production. Aside from its obvious uses in the time of Covid as a virtual discussion hub that allows students to join the discussion when they have free time, I believe a lot of Flipgrid's value lies in its ability to open up discussion to shyer students or students who need a bit more time to formulate their arguments.

    In my time substitute teaching I found that quite a few students best avenue for demonstrating their comprehension of a topic was through a verbal explanation, but struggle to put it in writing or express it on a quiz. Using Flipgrid these students could be given sufficient time to form their thoughts and put them out into the discussion. Similarly, students who might struggle to talk around their peers or in front of a class Flipgrid allows them to express their thoughts where and when they feel comfortable. Flipgrid is more than just a tool for virtual learning, it also fills an accessibility role for students with social anxieties and those that struggle putting their thoughts and words into writing.

Crash Course

    

 

     Crash Course is a YouTube channel started by Brothers John and Hank Green. It covers a variety of topics including Science, Civics, and History. Each subject has its own presenter that does not change from video to video. The videos tend to be 10 to 15 minutes long, and focus on a particular topic.

    The World History videos are presented by John Green. His style is very rapid fire and full of humor. This keeps viewers engaged while never going too far off track. Often, he is interrupted by a younger version of himself asking a stupid question, which serves as an opportunity to add in more humor and transition to a new concept.

    In my Sophomore year of high school, my World History teacher used Crash Course videos at the beginning of a unit to introduce the period we were about to study. The videos cram a lot of information into a short amount of time, which could result in students not retaining everything, but they are perfect for an introduction to a unit.

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is an educational company. It's a school communication platform that teachers, students, and

families use every day to build close communities by sharing what's being learned in the classroom home

through photos, videos, and messages. It saves much time when needing to record down

accomplishments or behaviors. Class Dojo can do more than just send things through because it can help

improve behavior within students and in a classroom. It’s also able to facilitate classroom activities,

curate student portfolios, and communicate with parents as it’s like a one on one meeting. 

How can teachers start a messaging group on Class Dojo? First off you are going to need to go to the Class Dojo homepage https://www.classdojo.com/. When you get on there, select the “Teacher” box from the center of the screen. Next, enter your personal information and click the “Sign Up” button. After that, enter the name of your school, select the matching school listed from the lists of schools and then click on the “Join this School” button. When done doing all that, follow the steps listed on the page to add your first class, students, and skills. If you ever want to go back to your account dashboard hit the “Cancel” button.

Class Dojo helps promote constructivist ideas, as students are encouraged to change their avatar model to

their liking. In addition, they are encouraged to talk about positive/negative behaviors and pick icons that

represent themselves. Within this program, teachers are able to set high expectations for students,

establish a classroom routine, vary their instructions to their own meetings, and be transparent and ready

to help students. Teachers are also able to teach different features that Class Dojo offers to the students,

for example the “Daily Fives” and climb Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid. Class Dojo helps teachers by

helping them continually grow in their professions and show that they care about every student and are

willing to do anything to help them succeed. 

Overall, Class Dojo is a helpful website that allows teachers, students, and parents to stay connected and

help promote education every day twenty-four seven. 

Eye Gaze Devices

        

        When thinking about technology that can be useful for students, it can be easy to forget about devices that are created specifically for students with special needs.  One device that can be very helpful for students with paralysis or who lack movement in their bodies is an Eye Gaze device.  The way an Eye Gaze device works is by tracking eye movement, and allowing users to control screen settings with just their eyes.  The device looks like a tablet, and can be propped up to the user’s liking by using different types of stands.  The device uses a camera to calibrate the user’s eyes.  This means that whatever an individual wants to control on the screen, they are able to do through controlling their eye movement.

           Many special education classrooms use devices like this as a form of communication, education, and entertainment with students.  I was actually able to see an Eye Gaze device being used in person about two years ago when I helped out in a special education classroom.  The teacher set up the student so that his face was about three feet away from the screen.  Then she chose a game for him to play on the screen where he would look at different instruments to see how their sounds were different from one another.  There were other games such as chasing a butterfly around the screen by staring at it, and counting games as well.  

         I wish that these devices were more easily accessible to all students that could benefit from them.  They tend to cost thousands of dollars, and many schools aren’t able to afford them.  I wanted to write about these devices specifically because I think that they can be so beneficial for students who aren’t able to express themselves through language or movement.  It acts as an outlet for them, and I believe that everybody deserves a way to express themselves. 

To check out more info about these devices, visit:  https://eyegaze.com/products/eyegaze-edge/

Science 360

 Science 360 is a free app that allows users to view scientific information from a wide variety of sources such as colleges, scientists, and The National Science Foundation. Science 360 gives kids access to hundreds of videos and they can choose whatever video looks interesting to them. These videos are great because they engage students and allow them to choose a topic that interests them. Science 360 would be ideal for when you want to transition into a science lesson, or at the beginning or end of the day and allow one child to choose the video and have a class discussion afterward. Science 360 provides insight into different science topics and presents this information in a fun educational video. The one thing I do not like about this app is that it is only videos. There are no fun games to play to check for knowledge and there are no articles or anything in between, this app is exclusively for videos. One way to still use these videos and still be able to check for understanding is either by the whole class watching one video and then having a discussion about it or have each person watch the video they choose and share/summarize what they watched. Overall I believe this app is super great and should be used in the classroom because it has a lot of helpful information and is great to engage students, but I do advise if you use it to plan out exactly how you are going to use it before you assign it. 

Hemingway Editor: An ELA Teacher's Best Friend

As Michigan experiences another school closure due to the pandemic, many teachers are starting to feel like public education will soon mirror the school system in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. And, while we may not have the resources available to create VR classrooms and avatars for our students to work from home, it is impossible to deny that education has become increasingly dependent on technology. As teachers try to get creative to create meaningful lessons with online tools, we should be encouraging our students to embrace the digital world, too. One way to do this is with one of my favorite websites: Hemingway Editor. 

This website allows you to type or paste in a text, and it will check your paper and provide corrects. But this is not your mother's handheld spell-checker--Hemingway Editor does much more. It shows you where you used a passive voice, where you included adverbs, if a sentence has a simpler alternative, and if a sentence is lengthy or difficult to read. It labels each correction with various color highlights and even provides you with a readability score and grade level! 

This website is a grade saver, so why would we not teach our students to utilize it? Many students, though they are surely tech-savvy, do not realize that they can make the process of editing their papers and assignments a hundred times easier by simply copying and pasting them into a website. I encourage ELA teachers to inform their students about this website to help them improve their papers and further their learning experience with editing and identifying grammatical mistakes (not to mention, it makes teachers' job of grading a little bit easier😁). According to a review of the Hemingway Editor on ReedsyBlog, "working with the Hemingway Editor for an extended period would likely train you to spot [...] mistakes as you’re writing." 

In the new world of online learning, teachers should help guide their students to make the most of technology and digital education. Showing students websites and other tips that can make their independent learning a little less challenging is crucial to helping us all thrive in these unforeseen circumstances. 

Goodreads

 Goodreads is a social cataloging website that gives users the freedom to search its wide database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Goodreads is free and creates a digital library for users to add to and edit. Goodreads provides a search engine in which users can search any book and it will show hundreds of ratings, reviews, books that are similar to that one, and direct links as to where to buy the book/ebook/audiobook. 

Goodreads allows users to add books to personalized lists such as Already read, currently reading, and want to read. This site even allows users to update their progress in the book they are currently reading for their friends to see. Goodreads acts as a social platform by giving users the option to add other users and see what their "bookshelf" looks like at the time (their lists). Goodreads allows for a ton of communication and discussion with "groups" and "discussions" always active and available to join/create. 

Goodreads provides book recommendations based on users' book selections. Goodreads also does a "Goodreads Choice Awards" every year where they rate the best books of the year from each genre. As a teacher, Goodreads is a great tool to use when trying to get your students to read and find new books. With features such as Trivia, Quizzes, and Creative Writing, Goodreads is a great way to engage students and assign reading-comprehension assignments. Goodreads is available as a website or an app. 

AirDroid

    AirDroid is a free to use application that is available on multiple devices. Users are able to easily transfer files such as photos, music, and videos from a smartphone to a computer wirelessly. AirDroid makes life easier for users with an Android device and Apple computer. AirDroid is available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac OS. AirDroid is useful for everyone especially students and teachers. AirDroid users can transfer videos and/or photos for an assignment with ease and it is free.

    Users easily make a free account and connect a device that is on the same network. AirDroid has many features with being able to transfer files easily with no wires, respond to text messages, and the ability to screen mirror each devices screens. AirDroid is a very useful application and is very simple to use.

Pear Deck

 

    While working in a face-to-face school these past few weeks, I have learned more about different technology uses in different schools. Pear Deck is one that I just recently discovered. From Pear Deck, it states that "Learning science research offers ever increasing evidence that learning is social, emotional, and academic. It is clear that learning does not happen in a bubble and that to prepare our young people for healthy, successful lives we need learning environments to provide strong, welcoming cultures that develop good social-emotional habits and academic mindsets. Pear Deck is designed to support proven strategies in daily classroom instruction, making it easy for teachers to follow the best practices that reduce achievement gaps and improve outcomes for all students."

    Pear Deck is an application you can use for formative assessments, active learning, retrieval practice, feedback, and social learning in your classroom. To use Pear Deck, you can create an account and then get started! You can create several different types of writing, reading, math, science, and social studies assignments or presentations. To gain students access, you simple have a class code which they go to PearDeck.com. On the home screen, they then will click on join a session and enter the code given from the teacher. They have question prompts already made that you can simply choose for a morning of afternoon question. You also can create your own documents to share on Pear Deck too. I just created and tried out Pear Deck for my first time and I will tell all of you that it definitely is very easy to use and share with your students.

Sources:

https://www.peardeck.com/efficacy

iMovie

  

iMovie is a video editing app that was developed by the company Apple. iMovie is great for creating short trailers or long video projects. This app is available on most ios devices such as iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads. With iMovie you are able to edit any video that you upload onto iMovie like a professional videographer. You can add photos, music, sounds, voiceover audio, clip and adjust parts of your video, and add great transitions for a smooth and professional look. iMovie also provides interesting filters to give off a cinematic touch to whatever video you are making. iMovie allows creators to express their passion through the videos that they create. iMovie is great for students who would like to add something special to their projects and really show their hard work and dedication. iMovie can work for almost any age group. Students who are in middle school can use this for their class projects/presentations. Students in high school and college can use this app as well for their projects/presentations but can also use this for their school's news or any other important announcements that their school might provide access to. iMovie is great for educators as well, whether it be for regular lesson plans or presentations at pep rallies. Teachers can use iMovie to make their lessons a bit more interesting and keep their students engaged in the lesson. Overall iMovie is a great app for anyone to use and is great for people to use and express their creativity.

Storyline Online

 

                    

Storyline Online is an amazing resource for early childhood and elementary teachers. It is a website, app, YouTube channel (also on SchoolTube and Vimeo), and blog that provides story times from all kinds of different people reading a bunch of different books. It has many, many videos to offer!

By doing this, teachers can fully engage their students without having to buy a physical copy of a book or bring a guest reader to the classroom. The videos also give teachers a break and keeps them from losing their voice. It is a great setup for virtual learning, since Storyline Online is so accessible and free!

Pandora

 

                Pandora is a mobile radio station for your phone. I have used Pandora for as long back as I can remember. Admittingly, Pandora is responsible for half of my music taste today. Pandora, as well as any other type of radio, has introduced me to many different songs and artists. Pandora radio has gotten me through middle school and high school. Pandora is a music platform with an optional subscription feature. Pandora was actually created about 20 years ago, which thoroughly surprised me. I had always assumed Pandora was a more recently made app. Although Pandora is not necessarily a direct educational tool, I would still strongly consider it an important part of education for most people. Music can help so many people focus, and get into the zone when doing school work, or taking notes. When walking through hallways, or sitting alone, popping in a headphone and listening to your favorite radio station can help relieve the stress from school pressure and expectations. Although Pandora is free, getting rid of ads, and having endless skips costs roughly 4 dollars a month. In comparison to Spotify, I consider paying only 3.99 instead of 10 a month is a steal. 

When I become a teacher one day, I hope to use Pandora in my classroom to help my students focus, and to feel relaxed. I could use a lo-fi music station, pop and more; catering to my student's music tastes. Even though Pandora largely has music available, they also offer podcasts as well. I am not exactly a podcast fan, however, for people who really enjoy them, Pandora can be used as a great listening platform as well.

Kahoot!

                  

In education today technology is always advancing, and one way it has advanced is in the form of online testing.  A prime example of an online application that is widely used across the country to quiz students on their knowledge is Kahoot.  Kahoot is a game-based learning platform that allows teachers and administrators to self-generate multiple choice quizzes that are accessed via the web.  The process behind creating a Kahoot is rather simple, which is a positive for teachers that have little experience with technology.  Kahoot requires teachers to generate questions in the form of a typical multiple choice question seen in a pencil and paper version; however, student answer using their technological device, whether that be their phones or a laptop.  Once the question is created, teachers then have the option to set a time limit per question, requiring students to answer the question in the given amount of time or receive a wrong answer if not answered on time.  the next step is for the teacher to publish the quiz and share the entrance code with their class.  Whoever has the access code will be admitted into the game.  When students enter the code they will then be instructed to enter a display name.  This function can be risky in the sense that students like to mess around and enter inappropriate names, nevertheless, the teacher has the ability to remove the student from the game, which in that case, they will be required to re-enter under a different, more appropriate name.  Once the game has started students will be competing with one another to see who can answer the most questions correctly as well as who can answer them the quickest.  After the game has concluded their will be a leaderboard with first, second, and third place.  While some may think that only certain subjects would be able to apply to Kahoot, there are actually endless possibilities to what subjects are best suited for the application.  Anything that can be answered with multiple choice answers is suitable for the Kahoot application.  

In terms of using it in the classroom, I believe that it has been a revolutionary development in online learning that has sparked a drive in students to do well.  The feeling of competition is a great motivator as many students find themselves competing quite regularly whether that be in academics, athletics, video gaming, etc.  When I was in high school I remember using Kahoot in many of my classes and every time the teacher said we were playing a Kahoot everyone got excited and very invested.  In my future classroom I plan to utilize the Kahoot application because it is an effective way to test students knowledge as they are taking the time to answer correctly and efficiently, overall enhancing their learning experience.  

LOOP

 

 

Loop is an application that was created in Melbourne, Australia to help educators find a more effective method to collect student feedback.  The tool offers many forms of feedback for teachers from text responses, multiple choice questions, even emojis and includes a device to reply to student’s individual response to a group survey. Through this application student feedback will come back instantly in under 30 seconds where teachers can filter and reply to all students with similar response at once or even follow up directly. This will help strengthen relationships with students to get a true understanding on how they are doing in the class by enabling anonymous replies and helping solve individual issues students may have. The platform allows educators to focus attention on any trends in feedback to improve the outcomes of their class and even export their data to use for future analysis of their classrooms. Some other fun features that is available is easy setup through Google Classroom, safety and security of all user’s data, and even a way to schedule questions for enter/exit tickets.  

 

 

 

 

Bloomz

 What is Bloomz?

Bloomz is a parent communication app that teachers can use to give updates, post photos/videos, and as a class calendar. It even has volunteer signups as well as 2-way messaging, student portfolios, and behavior tracking.

What else is there to Bloomz?

It is available on apple, android, and computers. You can even choose to receive text/message alerts.

Best of all, its services are FREE!

Remind

  

Remind is a website/app that acts as a messaging system for teachers to text their students or the parents of their students one on one without having to give out their actual phone number. Remind is great to give out mass group texts that don't require an individual message. If teachers need to send out any updates regarding the class they can send out a group text to their students or the parents of their students and provide them with the additional information that they would need to know. You can use Remind with any age group or grade. This is available for students K-12 and also some high school professors happen to use Remind as well. Remind is also great for the environment. Teachers and other educators tend to use a lot of paper for very simple things such as classroom updates, individual messages for students, and any news regarding the school or the classroom. With Remind, people won't have to use as much paper that they have used before and they can also guarantee that the student or parent did receive their message since students can misplace or lose the worksheets that may have been provided to them from their teachers. Remind is free but if you would like to use any additional features other than what they already provide you with than you will be charged additional fee's. Overall Remind is a great service that can come in handy for last minute updates so that any educator does not have to stress out about getting their message to their students or their parents.