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.