Have you ever really taken the time to see what tools are available to you in the Google Web Store? I'm not even sure I'd know where to begin if it wasn't for an instructor or two sharing their expertise with me. Today, that very thing happened. I was able to sit in a class with many other educators from our district to learn from TCEA's very own Dr. Bruce Ellis (@drbruceellis).
I took PAGES and PAGES and PAGES of notes, but I'll spare you and only share a few of my favorite tools I learned about today.
Rewordify (rewordify.com)
Have you ever found an article that you wanted your students to read, but the reading level wasn't quite appropriate for all of your students? Rewordify is just the thing for you! It's so easy to use! Simply highlight, copy, and paste the section of the article that might need to be reworded. This tool will either re-word the hard words, or it will put synonyms in brackets next to those tougher vocabulary words. Settings can be changed by clicking on "Settings" in the top right-hand corner of the page.
For an example, I copied a recent blog post from my principal to see how it would change her words. Rewordify found 19 (NINETEEN!) hard words and gave me simpler synonyms. Sometimes, as adult readers, we forget which words are still hard for our kids, so I can definitely see this tool being useful this year with my fourth graders. I'm already picturing finding a passage/excerpt from a book that would be great for Guided Reading and using Rewordify to help support some of my lower level readers.
I also asked myself why I didn't know about this tool when I was going through grad school. It would have made all those journals so much easier to understand!
Timer Loop (app found in Google Web Store)
This app actually made me think of my Camp Gladiator trainer and how often she gets distracted by a camper who's asking questions while the rest of us are dripping in sweat waiting for her to change the exercise. She says one more minute, but what really happens is we're left hanging for three minutes which isn't really that long unless you're in the middle of doing bear crawls. Ha!
Timer Loop would be perfect for when your classes are going through stations/centers/guided reading groups. You can set up the timer for a specified work time and transition time, and it will continue looping until that station time is up.
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to not having to keep up with my timer during my rotation period. Timer Loop is going to be a time saver!
Google Tone (extension found in Google Web Store)
How much time do you spend creating QR codes or shortened URLs for your students? This tool is going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Google Tone allows you to broadcast any URL to other computers within earshot. This would be amazing for students working in small groups or at the teacher table. I could also see Google Tone being used during research units. When a student or teacher finds a good resource, all they have to do it click on the little blue megaphone extension in the toolbar to share it with everyone else's computer who might be sitting nearby. I will most definitely ensure Google Tone is added to all of my Chromebooks at the beginning of the 17-18 school year!
Appear.in (app, extension, and a website - https://appear.in/)
Last, but certainly not least, I want to share Appear.in with you. I wasn't successful getting the app or extension to work, but the website worked fine. This is similar to Today's Meet, but with a video conferencing piece to it. My table group at today's class discussed a few different ways we could see this tool being useful:
* Students can meet with students in other classrooms (book studies!) or even at other campuses. Our GT teacher was especially excited about this possibility since it would give her GT students the opportunity to confer with like-minded students across the district.
* Teachers could plan with grade level teachers all over the district without having to leave school! We all know we already don't have enough time in the day, but how great would it be to quickly share an idea "face to face" from the comfort of your own classroom?
* Parent Conferences/Open House - As a teacher who is also a mom, I can appreciate how some parents simply can't get away or maybe don't want to drag little ones up to the school for a meeting. Appear.in is a perfect alternative! You can have a conference over the computer, and the parent can leave their napping toddlers in bed. It's a win for everyone! Also, we have an Open House scheduled for September. We invite parents up to hear more about academic expectations, homework requirements, and behavior policies. It's also a great time for parents to ask any questions they've had over the first few weeks of school if they haven't already been asked and answered. We could broadcast our presentation, and parents who can't leave the house can still participate!
I'll save some of my other favorite tools for another time. If you have suggestions about how you'd use any of these tools, I'd love to hear them!
I don't know about you, but I'm getting increasingly excited for the 2017-18 year!
