Grammarly - an extension for better writing

We do so much writing on our computers, as do our students.  I always want to make the best impression when sending an email to parents or an administrator and I hate when I find out I sent something with grammar mistakes.  I've been using Grammarly on my computer and I'm ashamed at the number of mistakes that it catches. I've mentioned it to several students and they have been using it for their writing as well

You can use it in several different programs, but I have been using it as an extension in Chrome and Edge, in Outlook, and in Word. There is also a desktop app, but I haven't quite figured out how to use it and these other ways are easy to use.  It does the basics of finding spelling and grammar mistakes but also points out when something is unclear, when you are being wordy and when you aren't consistent in your tone. 

As with most things, there is both a free and paid version. The paid version is $12 a month, but you don't really need it.  While the program will let you know of the number of additional things that can be fixed with the premium version, the free version does enough for me.  Who doesn't want free right?!

If you use Grammarly, let me know what you like about it and what programs you use it in. 

If you want to see it in action, take a look at the video below.

Certified Media Literacy Educator

Media literacy is something that I feel is very important, but I sometimes struggle with how to teach it in a meaningful way.  The students seem to think that approaches so far have been corny.  I've found that this course has some better resources (hopefully my students will find these less corny 😉)

PBS has a Media Literacy course for educators to develop and hone literacy skills across several forms of media and communication.  These skills are important to help your students grow. The PBS Media Literacy Certification gives you tools to implement lessons that help students foster media skills.

The modules in this course include: Evaluating Online Information, Analyzing Media, Creating a Code of Conducts, Evaluating Online Tools for Classroom Use, Making Media for Classroom Use, Assessing Student Media, and Implementing Media Projects (an option for either Early Childhood or Upper Grades).

If there are modules that you don't feel comfortable with or don't want to take the whole course) PBS offers courses that focus on just one of the modules.  Even if you don't directly teach media literacy, these skills are important for all teachers to have.  We all use the internet with our students and we need to be able to ensure that we are guiding them in the best way possible. 

A quick video walkthrough on creating a Microsoft Team

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Playlists you might be interested in ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Microsoft Teams

OneNote

Classroom EdTech

Google

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Enhance your reading with Picture Dictionary

Picture Dictionary is a great addition to Microsoft's Immersive Reader. Immersive Reader is in so many apps and websites, Flipgrid, Wonderopolis, Buncee, Wakelet, ThingLink, and Nearpod just to name a few. I especially like this for English Language Learners. When learning English reading (or trying to read) a definition might not be sufficient. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this is one situation in which I would say this is true.

When Immersive Reader mode is one, one can click on a word and a picture pops up.  

Leave a comment and let me know how you would use this in your classroom.

Save the date: Join the Kahoot! EDU Summit on June 16-17!

Reserve your spot at the Kahoot! EDU Summit!

 

Join us on June 16 and 17 at 9:00am PDT for our FREE virtual PD event! As countries gradually return to in-class instruction, our ambassadors, pedagogy experts and partners will host two days of inspiring sessions focused on how to make coming back to the classroom awesome for students, teachers and school administrators.

Register for free

 

 

Here are some of the sessions we're planning:

Expand your innovative classroom toolkit together with Leslie Fisher; See a demo of all the most exciting Kahoot! features for all learning environments and be the first to hear what’s coming for back to school; Hear how Kahoot! Academy will help you find ready-to-use high quality learning content and connect directly with your favorite content creators; And, of course, play live kahoots, join our competitions, and win prizes!

 

All attendees will receive a certificate that can be used to claim PD credits. Hurry and reserve your spot! By registering, you’ll be able to watch session recordings if you’re not able to attend.

 

Zoom gets a new feature -- Immersive View

I am so excited that Zoom now has an Immersive View!  Microsoft Teams has had something similar to this and I was always a little jealous.  So quick overview of what immersive view is.  It's a way to bring participants into a virtual room that actually looks like a room.  There are options that look like classrooms, board rooms, picture galleries, and much more.  You'll need to play around with it to see how it works.  To access immersive view, you can click on the icon in the top right where you can change from gallery and presenter view and now there will be a new option for immersive view. 

Some things to note:

• you have to be on version 5.6.3 or higher (so check for an update and encourage your students to as well)
• participants with an older version of zoom will see the normal view
• most views can have up to 25 people shown, but some allow for less (if there are more than 25 the others will appear at the top of the screen)
• it does not work in breakout rooms
• a shared screen will take over for the immersive view
• as of right now, recordings will look as they always do.

Zoom has a help article if you want more information.

Math Solver App

Math Solver is a website and app that will show you how to solve a problem and create practice problems for you.  While I know that many teachers will scoff at a website like this, I think that they can be very helpful. I do think that it is important for students to to know how to solve these problems themselves, this can be helpful when practicing.  This app will show students how to solve problems and define mathematical concepts, graph problems, and allows students to practice.  As I mentioned this is both a website and an app.  The app has OCR and math problems can be scanned in with the camera on the phone.  

I love the simplicity.  Students choose a topic, see sample problems, and then can practice themselves.  In the end, what I like most about this app/website is that gives students the independence to practice on their own.