February 6

Website Worth Sharing: Parlay for Round Table Discussions

If class discussions are a part of your curriculum, you might want to check out Parlay https://parlayideas.com/how-it-works/  to help you conduct and monitor class discussions both verbally and in a written format.

It works with Google Classroom so you don’t have to worry about creating classes. It supports both written and verbal discussions. There is even support for having online discussions in a Zoom-like environment. In the written mode, the students are anonymous to each other in their comments (but not to the teacher who will see who said what- which should be emphasized from the start). At first I questioned why they would do that, but it makes sense because the students would weigh the ideas on their own merit and not based on who said it. One of the advantages to having a digital discussion is that all students, not just the outgoing ones, are able to have a say. Another benefit if that you, as the teacher, have a record of student contributions to use as a formative assessment tool.

I like that it teaches students how to participate respectfully in an online dialogue.

You can create your own “round table” discussions, or use one of the pre-made discussions found in the Parlay Universe.

Parlay used to have a free trial model, but they have moved to a totally free basic version account that will not expire. There is a premium option that provides more reporting options and unlimited discussions (basic limits you to 12, but you can delete one if you want to add another).

Here is an introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e74BPgyiLqo

Directions for a written round table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A6_SYBtJJc

Directions for a verbal round table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kht0Sn3ZJPE

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December 12

ChatGPT- The New Calculator?

The tech world is all abuzz about a new artificial intelligence tool called ChatGPT. It is an online tool that uses AI and machine learning to create essays, stories, poems, etc. that are customizable. While I called it plagiarism in the subject, it is really more than that. One video I watched compared it to the introduction of the calculator- a tool that will change the way we do things. At first it will seem like cheating, but I have a feeling it won’t be long until this kind of tool is used for generating writing. Just like a calculator, there will be a need for someone who understands the process to refine and check for errors, but the work it does is pretty impressive (for a program).

Apparently students are becoming aware of this (I don’t see much evidence of our students using it yet), so I went ahead and blocked it for students for the time being- putting it into the category of plagiarism or homework sites. I’m not sure we will want to block it in the future, but until this tool can be tamed, this will give you time to discuss it with your colleagues. We can’t block them from using it at home on personal devices, and because it generates text that is infinitely customizable, any plagiarism checkers won’t be of much use.

I think it might be worth your time to review a couple of videos about it.

This one was made by our ESD tech guy, Curtis. You can stop once he starts talking about coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50HtJyZutjw

Another one that shows how it writes a poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBhdEPXlGSE&t=17s

Here is one from the perspective of an educator that show how it can generate a compare/contrast essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9reY1J5JXTA

Update:

I found another essay generator site today (https://www.the-good-ai.com/ ). They are popping up all over the place. I also found this article that you might find helpful that includes plagiarism checkers. I haven’t used any of these, but thought I’d share in case you might find any of them helpful: https://beebom.com/best-ai-plagiarism-checkers/

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December 5

Extension(s) Worth Exploring: Immersive Reader and Helperbird

There is a nice extension called Immersive Reader that combines text to speech and translation tools.  It’s pretty impressive. I made a video on how it works. https://watch.screencastify.com/v/X7kYnJoh30kL71yLvWqz

You can download the extension here so you can experiment with it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/use-immersive-reader-on-w/fmidkjgknpkbmninbmklhcgaalfalbdh?hl=en-US Our secondary students can install it on their Chromebooks.

While Immersive Reader is great for web content, it doesn’t work well for Google Docs. There is an extension called HelperBird that bridges the gap and allows you to use the Immersive Reader tools in Google Docs. Here is a video on how it works: https://watch.screencastify.com/v/bZBaYTyiVjkrsvrymRU2

Helperbird can be downloaded here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/helperbird-accessibility/ahmapmilbkfamljbpgphfndeemhnajme

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December 5

Website Worth Sharing: Speechnotes

Sometimes I am asked to provide speech to text tools for students who have difficulty typing. I am a fan of Google Voice Typing which is in the Tools section of Google Docs, but I found a new tool that rivals that and might be a good companion for OW.

Speechnotes (https://speechnotes.co/  ) does a nice job transcribing dictation, but also has a clickable sidebar that allows you to add punctuation as you are dictating. Once done, you can click the Enter key and then click on the Speaker button on the lower right to have it read back to you. The copy button  next to the speaker allows you to quickly copy the text so you can paste it elsewhere.

There is also an extension that students can download that may work right in the OW fields. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speechnotes-speech-to-tex/nncconplehmbkbhkgkodmnkfaflopkji/related  I can’t test it so you’ll have to try that out and let me know how it goes.

Here is a video with some instructions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khktjg7C3jw

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June 9

Websites worth sharing: Virtual Buzzer

Here’s another tool to add to your “review games” toolkit. A virtual buzzer.

Playing a virtual or in person game? Give every kid a way to buzz in. To host, go to www.ccg.buzz/host and enter a title for your game and click begin. Students visit www.ccg.buzz . Provide your students with the game code, let them join, and start your game (Powerpoint, Google Slides, oral questions, flashcards, whatever) . You turn the buzzer off and start it again with each new question. Instead of watching to see who put their hand in the air first, you’ll see it on your screen!

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June 1

Websites Worth Sharing: Review Activities

As you work to engage your students in review activities, in addition to Kahoot, Quizziz, Blooket and your favorite game based tools, don’t forget about the old standard, Jeopardy. Jeopardy Labs allows you to create your own online jeopardy board or just borrow one in their system.

https://jeopardylabs.com/

If your review activities include vocabulary terms, Quizlet Live is a fun game that encourages collaboration. You can build your own flashcard set or use one already in their system. Here is a video on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q64qTBfK0iE

If you want a game to get your students out of their seats, I saw this idea in a recent article and thought it sounded like fun:

Around the Room: Prepare a problem set or other review activity, and using a Word or Google doc, type the 1st problem or question at the bottom of page 1. Type the answer to the 1st problem on the top of page 2. Next, type the 2nd problem at the bottom of page 2, and the 2nd answer on the top of page 3. Continue until the last answer is typed on the top of page 1. Print out the pages and hang them around your classroom, says Maynard, but not in order. “Students can start anywhere and solve the problem on the bottom half, then find the answer on another sheet of paper,” she says. Students should end up “back where they started.”

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May 4

Websites Worth Sharing: 5 for Teacher Appreciation Week

In appreciation for all you do for Kelso kids, here are some tech tools that you might find useful.

https://classroomscreen.com/ – Many of you are already fans, but if you haven’t used it recently, check out some of the upgrades. Make this your home screen or bookmark it so you have it handy.

https://ed.ted.com/ – Student and teacher friendly TED videos. Click on the “Discover” link on the main toolbar. There are collections organized by theme and lesson plans attached to the vidoes. Take a minute to check them out, and I think you’ll enjoy what you find.

https://www.teachingbooks.net/ – Do you use certain books with your students? If you search the book name at this site, you might find some resources you could use including “meet the author” recordings and lesson resources. There is a paid version, but there are still a lot of resources available for free.

https://museumsfordigitallearning.org/ – Museums are a great teaching tool, but the logistics of getting a class of students to a museum can be very challenging. This site provides resources for lessons and activities that are based off of actual museum collections.

https://spinnerwheel.com/  This site provides a customizable spinner tool. If you login with your Google account, you can save your spinners. Here is a video that explains some of the option: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHm0wCbsd5E

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April 20

Website Worth Sharing: Google Experiments

Google encourages experimentation with their staff and other contributors. I found this collection called “Creatability” which incorporates music with visual arts and movement. I think the kids might have fun with some of these: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/creatability

The Arts and Culture Experiments also look interesting: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/arts-culture

Digital Wellbeing experiments would be good for older students: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/digitalwellbeing

For the older students, it could be interesting to have them explore one of these and share with the class.

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March 8

Website Worth Sharing: Girls4Tech

Even though this site is directed at getting girls into STEM, the lessons would be good for all of your students when you focus on careers in tech and cybersecurity. There are downloadable lessons on this page: https://girls4tech.discoveryed.com/classroom-resources The All Things Digital PPT has teacher directions in the notes section of the PPT and would make a fun introduction to your classes.

The bottom of the page has 5 different activities on various tech topics. This would be fun to do as a jigsaw activity- having small groups complete the activities, and then present about their activity to the rest of the class (maybe in a poster or Google Slideshow) or they could also be great lessons for subs (they are just worksheets so no tech required) or days you aren’t in the lab for some reason. The activities look engaging and cover some interesting topics.

This page covers various careers: https://girls4tech.discoveryed.com/career-profiles while women are featured, this would be good information for all students.

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March 2

Website Worth Sharing: Custom Wordle

Are you a Wordle fan? Even if you’re not, you might want to check out the custom Wordle site that allows you to make your own puzzles at https://mywordle.strivemath.com/

Just enter a word and it will make a custom Wordle for you and provide a puzzle that you can project or share as a link in Google Classroom. You can display it for your class as an opener or lunch activity and have kids solve it on your SMARTboard or Interactive projector- or if you don’t have one of those, they can call out their guesses, and you can enter them on your laptop.

Primary teachers could create short 3 or 4 letter Wordles when teaching about word families. If you teach older students, you could use more complex words or focus on words with certain prefixes or suffixes. You can give them clues to reinforce concepts you are teaching such as “It is plural word” or “it is a compound word”.

You could also use vocabulary words that you are studying or words from a spelling list. It would be a good fit for World Language folks.

Math Teachers: Don’t feel left out by the Wordle craze. This one, while it’s not customizable like the one I sent out earlier today, is definitely for you!

https://nerdlegame.com/

Also Mini Nerdle for shorter sequences: https://mini.nerdlegame.com/ and Pro Nerdle https://create.nerdlegame.com/ (where you can create your own challenge.)

Here is a version developed by Kelso Grad, Eric Lemiere, that lets you have an unlimited amount: http://lemierecs.com/Wurtle%20Game/wurtle.html

Check out this article for more ideas: https://www.eschoolnews.com/2022/06/06/how-teachers-use-wordle-for-next-level-engagement/2/

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