One App, Many Activities

I teach in a 1:1 iPad/G Suite for Education district, so I'm always on the lookout for new apps. A couple of weeks ago, I came across the BookWidgets app that I think will be a great addition to my digital toolbox. This app can also be accessed by the BookWidgets website. The screenshots below show the types of widgets available and some examples of interactive activities I've created:

Here is my example of an exit slip. In my opinion, I probably wouldn't use this particular widget as it lacks the ability to customize it with my own questions. Hopefully in the future, they'll improve on this.  After more exploring, I realized that you can edit the questions! 

I really like the Bingo widget, especially for vocabulary review. Once I've uploaded the vocabulary terms, the widget does the rest of the work. Once you push out the widget to students, each will get a different Bingo board. Fabulous!

The Bookwidgets YouTube channel has lots of tutorials, lesson ideas, and tips to help you create some really interesting interactive activities for your students. 

You can sign up for a free 30 day trial and play around with some of the apps before deciding whether or not to invest in a paid account. If you think the app is worth it, then it will cost $49/year for a basic teacher account, which includes an unlimited number of widget users and the ability to share widgets via Google Classroom (a huge plus for me). There are other paid options, including Teacher Group (5 teachers at $49/year and 10+ teachers for $39/per with extra features) and Professional accounts. There is also a Chrome extension called the Bookwidgets Google Classroom Integration. Once you've installed this, you can create widgets within Google Classroom when you click the "Create" button. 

Take a look at this app and let me know what you think! Is this something you might use in your classroom?

Chrome Extensions Every Teacher Should Check Out

One of the things I love about using the Chrome web browser is the ability to add extensions to the top of my browser. These extensions are a great way to personalize Chrome and make it function for my needs. As a busy teacher, I love anything that cuts down the amount of time it takes me to finish a task or to make a presentation look better. Here are some of the extensions I use (or will use) frequently:

• Share to Classroom- Click on this button and it will allow you to quickly push a webpage to students instantly. You must have a Google Apps for Education account to use this.

                                        

• Screencastify- This year, in an effort to do a better job flipping my classroom, I'm going to create my own videos. I've decided to use Screencastify because of its simplicity and it's free for a basic account. Simply click on the extension, choose what you want to record, and go! Videos automatically save to Google Drive and publish directly to YouTube. The free account is pretty generous--- up to 50 videos per month at 10 minutes per video. Not bad!

                                                         

                       

• Edpuzzle- This extension puts a small "edit with Edpuzzle" button beneath any YouTube video. Click on it and quickly edit a video for your classes.                                

• Drive Companion- Quickly open up Google Drive in a popup window, search your files or create a new Doc, Slide, or Sheet.

• Quick QR Code Generator- Click on this extension and instantly turn your URL into a QR code without having to go to a QR code generator website and copying/pasting a link. (Note: the QR code is no longer active).

• Save to Google Keep- This extension reminds me a little of Pinterest, only better. It allows you to save to Google Keep with a click of a button. This includes websites, videos, images, and more. You can add notes, label and organize Google Keep into your own categories. You can also color the different labels. It's so simple!                                

There are tons more that I've seen and tried out, but it would take me forever to share them. Here are a few others that I've found to be useful:

• Nearpodize- This allows you to quickly turn any Google Slides presentation into a Nearpod lesson. Simply click the extension, grant permission to access your Google Slide presentation, and it will open up and automatically create a new Nearpod lesson. You can then add interactive elements to your lesson.
• Eyedropper- Click on this extension, pick a color from any webpage, and add it to your custom color palette for presentations and web development.
• EquatIO- I'm not a math teacher, but I think the math teacher on my team would love this (this one's for your Mrs. P!). Use this with Docs, Forms, Slides, Drawings, or Sheets. Simply type, handwrite, or even speak your equation and this extension will do the work. Voila! It's a freemium product, so some of the goodies go away after the free 30 day trial. Here's a link to check out the difference between the free and paid versions. 
• Bit.ly- shorten any URL with bit.ly. Just click the extension, then copy and share. You can even customize the link.

Hopefully you've found something useful that can make your teaching go a little more quickly and smoother. What are some extensions you use? Let me know in the comments section.

Taking a Chance and Diving In

Who says teachers have three months off to do nothing? Ha! Not this girl. Since getting out of school at the end of May, I've been on a nonstop, brain-busting, full of ideas kind of ride. To start off, I made a to-do list, which is great, unless you have a tendency to put it down somewhere and forget about it. That's me. Usually. But not this time. This time I decided to make the most of the summer off and get caught up on all the stuff I've been wanting to do for a while but just didn't have time.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

The first item on my to-do list was to get my Apple Teacher certification. Check! Finished that bad boy 4 days after school was out. I learned a lot and have some great ideas for next school year.

The next item on my list was to earn my Level 1 Google Certification. As of last night...Check! Good Lord! That test had my stomach in knots prior to starting it, but once I did, I was psyched that I knew how to do everything it asked, though Sheets still kills me.  Now I want to work on Level 2, but I do need to take some me time and just relax before school starts back up next month. Yes, we teachers go back the last week in July. Sigh.

Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash

The final BIG item on my to-do list was this blog. While preparing for the GCE1 exam, I found myself on an old blog I had back in 2009 when I was teaching English. At first I was good about keeping up with it, but then it fizzled out. I guess life got in the way. However, rereading the old posts (especially about losing my fur baby Max after 14 yrs) reminded me of how much I actually enjoy writing, sharing ideas, and connecting with others. So I decided to dive right in again and start fresh. My goal is to set aside at least an hour per week and blog about some of the things I'm doing in my 6th grade social studies classes. I'd like the focus to be fairly broad, including how we use tech in our class, as well as good old-fashioned hands-on learning. I'd also like to share what I've learned from others and from both the Apple and Google certifications process to help other teachers in my building. Check!

I'm really lucky that I get to teach in a 1:1 iPad/Google for Education district. For most of my career (25+ years!), I taught with little to no tech at all. Now? The tech I have access to is incredible. We even have a Z-Space 3-D lab at the end of our hall! But technology only goes so far. Kids can and will get bored if all we use the iPad for is to play games or assign them drill and kill activities. Trust me on that. So this year, I'm stepping up my game. I'm going to put my newly earned skills to good use and change up how I've been doing things in the past.

Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Unsplash

Interest in gamifying classrooms have really skyrocketed in the last couple of years, and I'm no exception. However,  I need to step it up a couple of notches and move beyond Quizlet Live/Quizizz and ClassCraft. This summer, I've read a couple of books that really inspire me to take my teaching to the next level and boost my students' engagement. If you haven't read EDrenaline Rush by John Meehan, you should. His website is loaded with great ideas and resources. Check it out! You won't be disappointed. But just be warned. You might find yourself filling your Amazon Prime cart with all the goodies you read about in his book. Other authors/teachers who inspire me include Explore Like a Pirate's Michael Matera, Play Like a Pirate's Quinn Rollins, Make Learning Magical's Tisha Richmond, and Ditch that Textbook/Don't Ditch that Tech's Matt Miller just to name a few. My stack of books keeps growing!

Well, that's it for now. It's time to close the computer, grab a book, or maybe just veg out in front of the tv for a while. I hope you enjoyed reading and that you come back soon!