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Explore tips, tools, and resources for teaching English Language Arts and Reading. Enhance literacy and inspire students with creative strategies.

Content AreasEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ReadingRoboticsScienceSocial Studies

How to Integrate Robotics into Elementary Content Areas

by Laura Mackay
written by Laura Mackay

Are you looking for a way to engage your students with content? Tired of the same old routines? Think about integrating touch-based robots into your curriculum. Most teachers, when they hear the word “robotics,” immediately think, “Nope. Not me.” or “I have no clue.” Coding a robot can seem daunting! That was our first thought when we were asked to integrate robotics into the regular curriculum. Luckily, kids have no problem trying something new! Here are some simple ideas for you to try as first steps to integrating robotics into content area instruction. 

Types of Robots

First, there are so many different types of robots! Some are simple, like Bee-Bots, Code and Go Mouse, or VEX 123. With these types of robots, you simply push buttons and go. Many videos are available on YouTube to show how easy it is to program these. They help students focus on creating algorithms and learning executive functioning skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Additionally, you’ll see that the mats used with these robots can be very versatile! You can easily adapt them for whatever skill you want students to practice – from phonics to addition and subtraction.

Getting Started with Robots

Our first lesson is simply setting a structure and having students learn to program the robot and use the mat. We have them write their algorithm on a whiteboard or a planning guide, program the robot, press start, and see what happens. The key is classroom management. Set a structure of making students think and plan before touching the robot. This engages critical thinking. Once students have the planning and programming down, you’re ready to go. And they catch on very quickly!

Two photos of students using the VEX 123 robot for content practice
Notice students have a map to plan their algorithm before programming the robot. We are using the VEX 123 robot in these pictures with a plastic mat. You can also make your own mat with a poster printer or out of paper.

Many teachers will say they do not have time to teach the regular curriculum, much less to play with robots. The key is to incorporate both into lessons! I’m going to share some types of lessons we’ve had success with in my district. Most are done in the classroom, but some are in the library’s Makerspace. We are still in the pilot phase of integrating content and robotics, but hopefully, some of these ideas can work for you.   

Example Activity Using Robots in Math

In math stations, students practice a variety of skills. Why not add robots? One favorite activity is rolling the dice and practicing addition, subtraction, and coding robots with One More, One Less, or Two More, Two Less. This lesson can be differentiated based on students’ personalized learning needs. 

How to Play:

Two photos of students using the VEX 123 robot for math practice
  • First, students place the robot on the number 1 or a designated “Go” or “Start” square on the mat.
  • Students roll the dice. You can differentiate by using different types of dice or rolling more than one to make it more challenging.
  • Write down the number rolled (for example, 6).
  • Do the appropriate math (for example, if you’re playing Two More, you add 2: 6 + 2 = 8).
  • Find the number from the answer (8) on the mat.
  • Write out the algorithm for coding the robot to go from where it is on the mat, to the number in the answer (for example, straight 2, right 2, left 1, straight 3).
  • Program the robot to go from where it is on the mat (1 or “Go”) to the number from the answer (8). Press start!

If the student programs to the wrong number, they can take another turn, or another person can take a turn programming the correct number. Notice that sometimes we make cards to tape to the robot mat and other times we simply write numbers with an Expo marker. You do not have to be too fancy! Students are happy to simply engage with the robot. Can you think of other math concepts students could practice using robots?

Robotics and English Language Arts (ELA)

There are so many content ideas for ELA. In the lower grades, the focus can be on retelling a story or telling the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Simply change out the content cards on the mat and students become engaged in coding the robot to retell a story. Phonics practice is also important, and it is hard to make it fun. Teachers have created lessons helping students to learn contractions, CVC words, CVCE words, different word families, and diagraphs with robots. Once students learn a concept, it is easy to change the topic to practice a new one using the mat.  

Image of Vex 123 mat used to retell a story
Heidi Danner at Ward Elementary created the ELA activity for Halloween using the VEX 123. In this activity, students practice retelling “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything,” but the idea can be used with any book. Students code the robot to move to the images in the order they appear in the book and retell the story as they go.
Image of students using the Bee-Bot robot for sight word practice
Here, the Bee-Bot mat is used with students practicing sight words.

Science Review with Robots 

Science started easy with students coding the robot to a picture that showed either a living or non-living thing. After teachers saw the engagement level with the students, they created a “Four Seasons” mat to review what type of clothing and weather goes with each season. Third graders practiced reviewing solids, liquids, and gases. Fifth grade students in Texas take the Science STAAR assessment, and teachers wanted a fun way to review material. Amanda Hughes at Ed White E-STEM created a Water Cycle mat with question stems to review important vocabulary and knowledge. The sky really is the limit to what you can practice!

Science challenge cards for robotics activity
Here are example challenge cards for the living a non-living activity.
Example science activity robotics mat for practicing solid, liquid, and gas
Here you see a printed mat with a practice review activity for solid, liquid, and gas.
Science challenge cards for the solids liquids and gases robotics activity
These challenge cards were used for the solid, liquid, and gas activity.

Using Robotics in Social Studies

Developing lessons in social studies has been fun for teachers. For one activity, we had students identify the continents. Images of the continents were placed on a mat, and students were tasked with locating a continent and coding the robot to move to it. In the first iteration of the lesson, we had the image of the continent labeled with its written name on the mat. The students simply had to match the card and code. To make it harder, we then used images of continents without their names. The students drew a continent card, found the continent on the mat, and then coded.

Image of students identifying continents using the VEX GO
Students are identifying the continents using the VEX GO.

The same structure works with a variety of topics. You could code the robot to important mountain ranges in Texas. Or code the robot to important cities or places in the United States. Upper grades had students design their own content-based robotics games about important places in the American Revolution. 

Robotics is an engaging and fun way for students to learn the core content curriculum. Hopefully, a few of these ideas will inspire you to try something on your own! 

Don’t miss Laura Mackay at TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference in Galveston, Texas! She’ll be presenting two sessions: “Integrating Scratch Coding and Core Curriculum” and “Robotics for Littles – Using VEX 123.” Only a few days left to register!

Sign Up Today!

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ANTON
ChromebooksContent AreasCurricular StandardsEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Foreign LanguageMathMusicReadingSpanishTEKS

ANTON: Free Digital Activities and Games for K-8 Students

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

ANTON is at first glance, a German-based free learning app now available in the United States. The system works on a variety of devices, including Chromebooks. With over 200 interactive exercises for students in grades K-8, you can make your free account now.

“As a teacher, this app is excellent! Easy to use with scaffolded exercises to progress students through a variety of standards and skills. Visually it is not overwhelming while still engaging and has games. I love the multiple response types and organization of content. I highly recommend this app for continued support across learning standards.”

– U.S. Teacher

That’s 200+ exercises for each school subject, from math to language arts to science, and more. Plus, there is multi-language content aligned to state standards, including Texas.

image of Anton app features

Let’s dig a little into Anton to learn more about it.

ANTON login processes
Overview of New Account Creation Process for a Teacher

Wait, What About Student Privacy?

Worried about creating an account and compromising student privacy? No worries, teachers and students can create accounts without giving out personal information. If you’re a teacher, you can create a classroom and assign exercises to your class. You can even check student progress. It also appears that Anton does not use login authorization through popular services. Those services include Google, Facebook, etc.

What’s more, ANTON meets the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). It also adheres to European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And, more important for some, it is free from advertising. All data is deleted after 12 months of no use (unless you have an ANTON-Plus school contract).

ANTON getting started quick guide for teachers

When I signed up for an account, I provided an email and a password. I did not see an option to skip providing my email address or school location. Students would be asked to provide a nickname, a school, and at which subject they would like to start. Students who are at least 16 years of age may enter their email address or mobile phone number in the Settings of the app.

Screenshot by author with permission of publisher

Aligned to Texas Standards

ANTON is also aligned to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Here’s a quick example as an animated GIF:

Here’s a short video overview (updated):

A Short Introduction

“This app has everything. For a free app, it teaches and lets your student practice and then test what they learned,” said one teacher. You can get started with a free teacher account, choosing from human or monster avatars. Once you create your class, students can connect and start to work inside ANTON. It works as a learning management system, allowing teachers to track student progress. These features make grading and offering feedback easy. This video provides a quick overview of the login process:

You can find more relevant videos about how to use and navigate ANTON online. Here are a few you can explore right away:

Don’t be afraid to explore. Get started now.

Anton grade 1 math activity with subject menu

Grades and Subjects Available

“I like the way ANTON breaks down a lesson into very small steps but builds the lesson back up with more info with each step taken making it easier to understand the concept,” said a classroom teacher. There are a lot of amazing subjects you can access in Anton. Each is replete with instructional activities that include images and sound, like this science activity for grades 3-5:

ANTON example science activity

Here’s a quick video tutorial:

Subjects addressed for K-8 include:

  • English/Language Arts: reading, phonics, the alphabet, grammar, and more.
  • Math: numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and geometry.
  • Science: plants, animals, the solar system, and more.
  • Music: instruments, melody, rhythm, and reading music.

Of course, Spanish and other languages are included, as is social studies.

ANTON example social studies activity

ANTON Games

Love to share games with your students? ANTON offers quite a few. Every time students finish a lesson, they earn a gold coin. These coins can “buy” games that students can play. A few games from the long list include:

  • Hidden
  • Sports: Long Jump
  • Astro Bang
  • Avatar Superstar
  • Bat Cave
  • Block Puzzle

There are many more games in ANTON that students can play. Of course, they can only do so after completing an exercise.

What can you do with ANTON infographic

Is It ALL Free?

While ANTON appears to offer a lot of value at no cost, you can choose to use ANTON-Plus, a paid service. This paid service offers additional functions. In the Terms of Service, you can read:

2.8 Schools can purchase an ANTON school license and thus unlock additional functions that improve their use in school. In addition to the ANTON school license, schools can also activate ANTON-Plus for all school students and teachers.

A teacher could adapt the use of the free activities for the classroom, as well as assign them to students. Given that the activities range from K-6, the content is easy to work through.

best practice for ELL in ANTON graphic

“Intuitive app, easy to use, and creative exercises for easy understanding and learning,” reported one educator. ANTON is also available via the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and/or Amazon Appstore. If you need a cross-platform app that works in the browser, ANTON meets your needs there as well.

Try it for yourself and then watch the fun and learning begin!

This blog entry was updated with new content on 10/14/2024.

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Content CreationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Writing

What You Need to Know About Copyright

by Renee Bogacz
written by Renee Bogacz

Most people don’t find themselves breathless with excitement at the prospect of learning about copyright. If you were to play a word association game with the term copyright, you would likely get responses such as boring, confusing, unnecessary, or annoying. While those emotions might be legitimate, the truth is, understanding copyright is a necessary evil for both teachers and students. Let’s break it down into the most useful pieces of information.

The most basic way to explain copyright is this: It’s a law that protects people who create by giving them the right to control who can use their creations and how. The following are protected by copyright: 

  • Books
  • Stories 
  • Articles
  • Blog Posts
  • Song Lyrics
  • Musical Composition
  • Works Of Art
  • Photographs
  • Video Recordings
  • Audio Recordings

Essentially, if it is highly creative, it’s protected by copyright law. 

How do you know something is copyrighted?

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright. So if you scribble a poem on a cocktail napkin, it’s copyrighted. Every picture you take with your phone is copyrighted. You don’t need the symbol, and you don’t need to officially register your work to have copyright law apply.

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright.

How can you use a copyrighted work?

Copyright law can be pretty unforgiving. To use a copyrighted work, you would have to determine who the copyright holder is and get permission to use the work. That can be time-consuming or even close to impossible. The internet makes it more confusing because it looks like everything is freely available to use. It can be really difficult to track down a copyright holder online because so many things, especially images, get shared over and over again. So if you’re about ready to give up ever using anything copyrighted ever again, don’t fret! There are a couple of things that make it much easier for educators to work easily within copyright law!

Fair Use

One nice option is Fair Use. While not an official part of copyright law, it still allows copyrighted works to be used for some very specific purposes – one of which is education. Now, that doesn’t mean you can run to the copy machine and make copies of a novel for your students instead of buying them! Fair Use says that copyrighted works can be used for educational purposes if used in small amounts (as opposed to in entirety) and if the impact doesn’t harm the market for that item. Since Fair Use isn’t officially part of copyright law, there aren’t any hard and fast guidelines for using works and calling it Fair Use. That makes some people nervous because they just don’t know when they may have crossed a line and used too much work or used it inappropriately. 

Creative Commons

Luckily, there is another option that can be useful in the educational setting. That’s Creative Commons. This does work within existing copyright law, so it can be much clearer to understand what can and cannot be done with a copyrighted work. Creative Commons licenses were developed to give copyright holders clearly communicated control over certain aspects of their work, ranging from fairly lax requirements to pretty stringent. Creative Commons licenses indicate the following things:

  • Attribution: all licenses require you to give credit to the original creator of the work; this also allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work.
  • ShareAlike: this indicates that you are allowed to adapt, remix, and build upon another person’s work and then share your creation using the same licensing the original creator used.
  • NoDerivs: this allows you to use someone else’s work but you can’t adapt it.
  • NonCommercial: this allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work, but you can’t do it commercially.

There are actually six different Creative Commons licenses, using different combinations of the above elements. The least restrictive would be Attribution (do what you want, just give credit); the most restrictive would be Attribution-NonCommericial-NoDerivs (share someone’s work only as it is, non-commercially, and with credit given).

List of creative commons licenses

Because teachers and students alike use copyrighted materials daily for education, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what copyright is and how to work within it. Here is an excellent resource from the Learning Technology Center of Illinois that serves as a great guide for educators when it comes to Fair Use and Copyright. 

For the younger learners, simply teaching them that anything they didn’t create on their own belongs to someone else and having them share where they found it will be sufficient. As students get older, however, they should learn the nuances of copyright, become familiar with Fair Use and Creative Commons, and learn ways to formally document their use of any copyrighted materials in school projects. 

Copyright violations become increasingly severe as kids get older and become adults. Anything from a failing score on an assignment or a failed course to disciplinary measures like expulsion could happen to a student, depending on the severity of the violation and the student’s age. As an adult, it could cost someone his or her job or even result in fines or jail time. That’s why starting early instruction on copyright is so important. 

If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! Here are a few great resources for you to keep the learning going!

Kids Can Care About Copyright, Too! Think kids can’t understand copyright? Think again! Learn how to break down copyright so it’s easy to understand, and discover tools your students can use to respect copyright!

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ClassQuiz
AssessmentChromebooksContent AreasEducational ResearchEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Instructional CoachingMathReading

ClassQuiz: A Free Tool Supporting High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Educators are buzzing around a new Kahoot and Quizziz-like tool available at no cost. This quiz website offers a host of features, the most important being that it doesn’t collect data. If you’ve used other quiz tools, you know data is collected about you and your students for their own use. ClassQuiz asserts that, unlike these other quiz tools, it doesn’t send information to third parties.

Let’s take a closer look at ClassQuiz to see what it can do. You will also see how it aligns with evidence-based instructional strategies as well as see new research updates about those strategies.

Screenshot by author

Git ClassQuiz

Unlike it’s commercial, closed-source competitors, ClassQuiz offers a GitHub website. That means that you could, if you chose, set up ClassQuiz internally in your own server farm. The benefit? You would have sensitive data under organizational control. This is like hosting your own WordPress or Moodle installation.

What Is ClassQuiz?

ClassQuiz works in a simple way. It allows you to take three primary actions:

  • Create a quiz that allows the insertion of pictures/images
  • Explore and find quizzes others have created
  • Import quizzes from Kahoot! that you can then edit in ClassQuiz

As you might imagine, this import option gives you access to the content in a more established tool. Once the quiz has been set up, students select responses, view results, and see a leaderboard.

Screenshot by author

What Security Safeguards Does ClassQuiz Offer?

ClassQuiz boasts of the following features that safeguard student data:

  • No tracking
  • Self-hosting
  • Cost-free
  • Multilingual
  • Dark mode
  • Save quizzes
  • Save quiz results
  • Community-driven

Hot to Get a ClassQuiz Account

Getting an account is easy. Click on the Register button at the top left of the screen, then fill in your desired information, as shown below:

Screenshot by author

You will need to confirm your email address via an email in your inbox. Using your school district or organization email? Be sure to allow emails from classquiz@mawoka.eu.

Once you have a registered account, you can log in and get access to options that include create, import, results, settings, explore, and search.

How to Import a Kahoot!

You can import a Kahoot! by selecting Import, then pasting the link (a.k.a. URL) to a Kahoot! quiz into the box. To keep it simple, I found a Technology and Robots with Star Wars quiz on Kahoot. Note that I did not create the Kahoot! quiz, but I was still able to import it into ClassQuiz.

Screenshot by author

Here’s what the import process looks like in ClassQuiz:

Screenshot by author

And once complete, the imported quiz appears in ClassQuiz ready to be edited, if needed:

Screenshot by author

Two Strategies to Use with Digital Quiz Tools

Tools like Kahoot, Quizziz, and ClassQuiz offer educators access to digital quiz tools. Each of these tools can be useful for teachers and students. That’s because, when used in alignment with research, they can impact student achievement. How? Through the use of high-effect size instructional strategies.

Did You Know?

“When repetition leads to long-term memories, there are physical changes in the brain. Brain memories disappear very quickly unless they are repeated. Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells or neurons, all connected together. We form memories when some of these pathways become strengthened by being repeatedly used. (Source: Mike Bell, The Fundamentals of Teaching)

Two powerful strategies can inform our use of quiz tools, like ClassQuiz. Those include:

  • Rehearsal (d=0.73). This is a high-effect size strategy that accelerates student learning. It refers to mental techniques designed to help us remember information.
    • It includes memorizing information through repetition. It can involve repeating information upon seeing a visual cue (like images or flashcards).
    • What’s more, team competition as a rehearsal strategy works. That is, the teacher asks questions requiring rehearsed information. Students answer on their own to gain points for their team. (Learn more!)
  • Retrieval Practice (d=0.46) is often referred to as Practice Testing.
    • It is a way to support long-term information retention. It also assists learners in increasing access to the “to-be-remembered” information (source).
    • This strategy can strengthen learning. It does so when the teacher or student draws out information through a variety of approaches. The information is “pulled out” of students’ brains when they are prompted to retrieve it. Example approaches include flashcards and low-stakes quizzes.

With these two strategies in mind, you can approach the use of ClassQuiz to see how effective it is.

If the rehearsal strategy relies on repetition through the viewing of visual cues, how does ClassQuiz work? You can create flashcards in ClassQuiz that feature images. Then, students can select responses to match.

Retrieval practice (or practice testing) relies on students retrieving information from their minds on cue. Low-stakes quizzes, entry/exit cards (a.k.a. bell ringers) work well in ClassQuiz.

Screenshot by author

Shocking Research Update

A new study published in “Psychological Science in the Public Interest“ provides evidence that these strategies are ineffective:

  • Re-reading
  • Highlighting
  • Mnemonics

Pretty shocking, no? If those strategies are ineffective, what strategies are MOST effective?

Whenever you see these three strategies, think of this diagram:

Created by author as adapted from a workshop presentation

Leverage ClassQuiz for Effective Learning

Don’t be afraid to leverage ClassQuiz. It can enhance student use of effective learning strategies. This includes strategies like retrieval practice and rehearsal. Teaching students to engage in distributed and interleaved practice amplifies strategies’ effect. It can ensure long-term information retention beyond re-reading and highlighting.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author, ClassQuiz

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hands with a book and different sized books floating in the background with the title "How to Differentiate Texts with ChatGPT"
Artificial IntelligenceEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ESL/ELL

How to Differentiate Texts with ChatGPT

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Differentiation means providing a meaningful onramp to the content you are studying and supporting all students in skill mastery. We can differentiate the content, the process, the product, or the learning environment. Differentiating content, well, that is not quite so easy to do as some of the others. It could involve adapting or searching for adapted text that uses shorter sentences, fewer words with more than two syllables, and easier vocabulary. It could be adapting or searching for text at a higher reading comprehension level, including longer sentences, use of idioms, higher vocabulary word choices, and more complex sentence structures. Or it might mean making the text available in a different language so that it is more easily understood by the students. This can be quite time consuming. Let’s explore how we can use AI, like ChatGPT, to create differentiated text.

Prompting ChatGPT to Create Simplified Text

While ChatGPT does not have the ability to rewrite content just by us identifying the target lexile, we can create a prompt that will help ChatGPT rewrite the text so that it is at a lower lexile than the original text. To do so, we have to consider what we need changed. For our purposes, here are the criteria we want to include in our ChatGPT prompt to make this happen:

  • Shorter sentences
  • Simpler vocabulary
  • Swapping out idioms for more concrete and direct language

By incorporating these in a prompt, we can have ChatGPT rewrite a given text. The prompt we will use is:

Act as an expert educator who has a deep understanding of [CONTENT OR SUBJECT AREA]. Rewrite the following text with these specific modifications: use shorter sentences; replace current content-related words with simpler vocabulary when possible; replace idioms with more concrete and clear language so that an English language learning student is more likely to understand. Do not bring any extra content into the rewriting unless it is critical to helping the student understand the original content. The final rewritten product should be about the same length as the original.


[PASTE ORIGINAL TEXT HERE]

For this example, let’s consider a 9th grade biology lesson on cell division. Your original text is from Scitable’s site and talks about the cell cycle and cell division. After we tweak the above prompt to include “cell cycle and cell division” in lieu of the [CONTENT OR SUBJECT AREA] placeholder, ChatGPT should generate text that is much easier to comprehend. Click here to view what ChatGPT generated for me. If the results aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, edit the prompt or click the Regenerate response button.

Example of ChatGPT generated text with lower lexile level
Screenshot by author

Prompting ChatGPT to Create More Complex Text

You may have students that are reading above grade level in which case you may need to differentiate the text to accommodate high reading comprehension levels. Here are things we want to include in our prompt to make this happen:

  • Longer sentences
  • Complex sentence structure
  • Higher-level vocabulary
  • Use idioms and pictorial language to reinforce concepts

By incorporating these items in a prompt we can have ChatGPT rewrite a given text. The prompt we will use is:

Act as an expert educator who has a deep understanding of [CONTENT OR SUBJECT AREA]. Rewrite the following text with these specific modifications: use longer sentences with complex sentence structure; replace current content-related words with higher-level vocabulary when possible; use idioms pictorial language to help reinforce concepts. Do not bring any extra content into the rewriting unless it is critical to helping the student understand the original content. The final rewritten product should be about the same length as the original.


[PASTE ORIGINAL TEXT HERE]

For this example, let’s consider a 4th grade social studies lesson on Native American groups in Texas, such as the Caddo. Your original text is from Texas Beyond History and is just one section on Caddo Fundamentals. After we tweak the above prompt to include “Caddo Indians in Texas” instead of the [CONTENT OR SUBJECT AREA] placeholder, we should be able to proceed with a text that is much more challenging. Click here to view what ChatGPT generated for me. If you’re not pleased with the results, you can edit the prompt or click the Regenerate response button.

Example of ChatGPT generated text with more challenging lexile level
Screenshot by author

Prompting ChatGPT to Translate Text

Your students may find it easier to read text written in their home language. ChatGPT is fairly robust when it comes to translating text. Prior to using this feature extensively, consider having a native speaker of the target language review the output so that you can have confidence that it’s correct and clear to the reader. For this, it’s simple – we just want to tell ChatGPT to translate the given text into a specific language.

Act as an expert translator who knows English and [TARGET LANGUAGE]. Translate the following text from English to [TARGET LANGUAGE]. Use the conventions and rules of [TARGET LANGUAGE] when translating.


[PASTE ORIGINAL TEXT HERE]

For this example, let’s consider a high school ELA class about to read Macbeth. Prior to reading, the teacher wants to give the students a summary of the play in order to help them later on, when they analyze the play and speak about the different conventions Shakespeare used. Your original text is from CliffsNotes and is a play summary of Macbeth. After we tweak the above prompt to include “Spanish” in place of the [TARGET LANGUAGE] placeholder, we should be able to proceed with a translated version. Click here to view what ChatGPT generated for me. Again, you can always edit the prompt or click the Regenerate response button to produce different results if you’d like.

example of ChatGPT translated text
Screenshot by author

Things to Keep in Mind

Level: Just because you have AI change the level of complexity of the text doesn’t mean that it has changed it to exactly accommodate your students. It might get closer, but it may not be perfect. You want the text to meet them at their cognitive load. If they are working below their cognitive load, then they will be bored. If they are working above their cognitive load, they will become frustrated.

Length: You may find that the text you want to edit is more than what’s allowed for a free account. You may have to edit smaller pieces of the original text, especially if it is several pages long, instead of doing it all in one go.

Content: If your text contains violence or other themes that go against the AI policies of use, it will not be processed. You will receive a message that it violates their standards. This may happen with texts that your students read, such as Romeo and Juliet, and other classic literature pieces due to violence, examples of bullying, etc.

Translation: If you are using the assistant to translate the original text, ask a native speaker to review the output for accuracy. Additionally, it might take the assistant longer to translate text than it would other tasks you prompt it to complete. If you don’t have an interpreter to check the work, you can copy/paste portions into Google Translate to gain some confidence as to its accuracy. I did not have a native speaker check the work that I shared in this post, so you could see the actual output unedited.

How Will You Differentiate for Your Students?

These are just a few ways that you can use ChatGPT to differentiate text to better support your students. What other ways can you think of? Share with us in the comments below. And, if you create an effective prompt, be sure to share with others and pass on the love.

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English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Online Tools and AppsSocial Studies

Five Steps to Student Podcasting with Canva 

by Jillian Pratt
written by Jillian Pratt

Research can be a daunting task for students and educators. Navigating topics, locating information, and how to share the information can be challenging and overwhelming. When a third grade teacher came to me, the school librarian, looking for an innovative way for her students to discuss research she wanted her students to conduct for Women’s History Month, I knew exactly what to suggest, making a podcast. 

Step 1: Have a Listening Party!

The teacher surveyed her class before we started the project to see how familiar students were with podcasts. The results concluded that our first step was to showcase some podcasts  to get students familiar with them. So we had a listening party. Brains On! Podcast is a fantastic resource, and during their visit to the library, we listened to the episode “Do Scientists Have Super Powers?” about women in science. Students were engaged while listening, so we knew we had them hooked. 

Screenshot of Brains On! podcasts for kids website.

Step 2: Pair students and conduct research. 

Students were split into pairs, assigned a woman in their history standards to research, and given a few days to research using databases and texts. We encouraged them to collect information that focused on the following:

  • Why their historical figure was important. 
  • What they did to change the world. 

We also encouraged them to use taught strategies for collecting research and make note of any details about their topic that would become a good talking point. Here’s a great editable template in Canva that students can use for organizing their research.

Example editable Canva template students can use to gather podcast research.
Editable Canva Template for Biography Research

Step 3: Guide students in podcast planning.  

Once they found all their information, it was time to get creative! The pairs were encouraged to name their podcasts, write a commercial, and develop a script demonstrating what they learned about their woman in history. I created a slide deck with one slide for each component of the podcast:

  • Introduction
  • Information
  • Commercial (if they made one)
  • Closing Credits 
  • Bibliography

I shared the slide deck as an assignment with each group in Canva, and students completed the slides with information for their podcasts. Students were encouraged to be creative, engage with their partner in conversation, and have fun. 

One pair of students gathers research for their podcast
Once pair of students completing their podcast slides in Canva

Step 4: Use Canva for podcast production. 

We used Canva’s video presentation to organize and record our podcasts. Our students are very comfortable with Canva, so this tool was the best fit for us. They recorded in Canva, added music, and used the slide deck they completed as a script.

Additional Tools for Podcasting 

When working with eight year olds, it is best to stick with what they know. We did not want to spend too much time teaching students how to use recording technology, so we decided to use Canva since it was already familiar. However, there are other modes of creating podcasts. 

For Apple iPad users, you can use iMovie. Students can load the slides into iMovie as a script and voice record their podcasts. To share the podcasts, students must download and share the video using Google or YouTube.  

Students can also use Flip to record their podcast presentations. A plus to using Flip is that student peers can listen to each other’s podcasts and give feedback to their classmates. In order to use Flip, you must have an account to share the link with your students. 

Additional tools, like Audacity and Garageband, are also available and can work well for older students. 

Step 5:  Have another Listening Party!

Once they finished their recording, they shared it with their teacher and me. We uploaded the videos to YouTube and created listening links for the students and their parents to enjoy. We hosted another listening party in the library, but this time we listened to our own work. 

Screenshot of the student podcast playlist in YouTube
Listen to the students’ podcasts!

You will find that research standards list that students are to demonstrate their research in a multimodal format. Multimodal is the strategic integration of two or more modes of communication to create meaning. It’s another way to say to move away from research papers being the only way students demonstrate their learning. Creating a podcast is a modern and innovative way to engage students in research and have fun while you do it.

Did you know that April is School Library Month? TCEA will feature a guest article by a member librarian each week of the month! The month also includes:

How will you show appreciation for your librarian, media specialist, and library staff?

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English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Reading

How to Close the Reading Gap Before Summer

by Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP
written by Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP

As the end of another school year is coming into sight, is it too late to see accelerated learning gains from students who are struggling to find success? What if there was something that could have a positive domino effect on the students who are still struggling in their classes, even at this point in the year? Closing the reading gap to improve reading can have that domino effect.

Reading is the foundational skill that permeates all other subjects. A student who struggles to read faces insurmountable challenges in any subject area, while a student who reads at proficiency engages in school subjects on a level playing field. While there is no shortage of reading supplements and tools, there is one option that can accelerate reading growth before school ends for summer.

Audiobooks for Students

For students struggling with reading proficiency, an audiobook solution designed for education, which features high-quality, human-read audiobooks and a suite of resources educators need to drive outcomes, can be the missing element to success. But how do audiobooks specifically help improve reading proficiency to close the reading gap?

  • Listening to real people narrate while following highlighted text on a screen helps students model fluent reading.
  • Using audiobooks designed for the classroom, students can read the same books as their peers, allowing them to participate in class discussions with confidence.
  • A proven audiobook solution developed specifically for schools can help students master basic reading skills and build reading independence lacking in those struggling with literacy.
  • Access to math, science, and other textbooks in audiobook format ensures students don’t fall behind in other classes and supports growth and development as the curriculum gets more advanced.
  • Audiobooks help students stay on top of classwork and promote staying in school and reaching their potential.
Screenshot of the first page of chapter 1 in the book "Wonder."
Example Audiobook from Learning Ally Audiobook Solution

Five Steps to Set up a No-Cost Audiobook Solution

But is it too late in the year to get started? Simply put– no. It’s never too late to remove barriers preventing students from succeeding. Breakthrough results can be achieved with struggling readers, some of whom have realized rapidly accelerated reading growth– with an ease of effort and time investment for educators– through the implementation of the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution.

Here are the steps you can take today to accelerate reading growth, improve reading, and close the reading gap before the end of the school year. Best of all, you can address student reading gaps and make an impact with no cost to you, your school, or your district. 

  1. Learn more about the funding the Texas Education Agency has provided for K-12 public schools and open enrollment charters to support struggling readers with the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution.
Screenshot of an example audiobook library for a student
Example Student Library in Learning Ally Audiobook Solution
  1. Enroll your school using the Texas-funded Institutional Membership Application. Once the form has been submitted, you will receive emailed instructions on how to get your account set up and get started. 
  2. Set up your school access once your account is active. Determine eligible students, identify educator roles, and assign access accordingly.
  3. Launch the audiobook library for your students. Browse titles and assign books individually or in groups. Integrate instructional strategies with the app, which allows for note-sharing, onboard dictionary, and more.
  4. Monitor student progress and tailor instruction to meet goals. Use reporting dashboards to easily track student advancement toward reading targets and monitor growth.

Make Independent Reading Time More Effective

With audiobooks available to struggling readers who need them, independent reading time will be more effective. Students can don their headsets and dive into an audiobook from the library, anytime from any device. Some suggestions to extend and explore include pairing with a classmate to discuss the story and demonstrate their comprehension in the form of a book report, giving an oral report, acting out a scene, designing a poster, playing a guessing game of “who am I,” or doing a Q&A with their teacher.

A proven audiobook solution developed specifically for students with reading difficulties can be the key to unlocking potential. It’s simple to implement, easy to set up, and proven to accelerate reading growth. And with the funding the Texas Education Agency has provided, there is no financial impact for K-12 public and charter schools in the state to offer this resource to students. 

Summer is right around the corner. Get started with this no-cost audiobook solution today.

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The title "6 Strategies to Boost Reading Comprehension" is shown on the left side of a rectangular box in blue and white text. On the right, the strategies are listed in white text.
English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Reading

Six Strategies for Boosting Reading Comprehension

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

One big area of learning on most elementary educators’ minds? Reading comprehension. We all want our students to be strong readers who read for both information and enjoyment. Additionally, we want our students to become independent, autonomous readers who can support their own understanding of texts. Luckily, there are many fantastic strategies out there for improved reading comprehension. Let’s take a look at six big skills that students can build and some correlating strategies for advancing reading comprehension, increasing understanding, and building confidence when it comes to reading.

1. Visualizing

Have students close their eyes and create a movie in their minds as they listen to the story, then describe what they visualized in a class discussion or with a partner during a “turn and talk.” Students can also make drawings to represent their visualization and comprehension. For example, you can skip an illustration in a book you’re reading aloud and have students draw their own illustration as you read the coordinating page. You can do a gallery walk or have students “show and tell” with a partner, in small groups, or with the class. Then, show the students the illustration in the book you’re reading.

2. Using Context Clues

I found that teaching students to use context clues to help them understand a story better is invaluable. Reminding students that they don’t have to know every single word in a story is critical to making them comfortable with unfamiliar words and trying to find meaning on their own. Autonomy is so important! This a great post from The Stellar Teacher Company about teaching the five context clues: inference, definition, example, antonym, and synonym.

3. Making Inferences

This can be tough, especially in the lower grades of elementary when students are used to more straightforward texts! However, making inferences is a skill that students must be explicitly taught, and The Classroom Nook has some great ideas on how to teach students to infer. They suggest starting out using pictures, mystery bags, and modeling and then moving to “It says, I say, and so I infer.” They also offer a few suggested picture books for practicing making inferences with students.

4. Summarizing

Summarizing can often be difficult for students. They aren’t always quite sure how much detail, or what details, to include! I recommend teaching this skill using a text that students are already familiar with. Model summarizing yourself or review exemplars with students. You can also provide rubrics or an anchor chart to clarify the expectations for summaries. In the lower grades, this can be done orally. And in the upper grades, students can move into written summaries. Use graphic organizers or visual tools to help students understand the elements that should be included in a summary. Think, Grow, Giggle suggests three strategies to help students with summarizing:

  • The 5 Ws– Focus on answering these questions: Who, what, when, where, and why?
  • SWBSA– Using a graphic organizer, students outline information about the “somebody, wanted, but, so, and” parts of a story.
  • Story Maps– After reading, have students complete a story map outline and use it to write their full summary.

5. Monitoring Comprehension

According to Reading Rockets, monitoring comprehension teaches students to:

Be aware of what they do understand.

Identify what they do not understand.

Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension.

Source

In this article, C.R. Adler suggests five strategies for comprehension monitoring: 1) identifying where the difficulty occurs, 2) identifying what the difficulty is, 3) restating the difficult sentence/passage, 4) looking back through the text, and 5) looking forward in the text. Adler also offers clear examples for each of these five strategies.

6. Activating Prior Knowledge

A great way to start out with reading is by activating prior knowledge. You can do this by encouraging students to make connections between the text and their lives, the text and previously read texts, or the text and previously taught topics or concepts. Four strategies for activating prior knowledge are:

  • The KWL Chart– Have students brainstorm what they already know, what they want to know, and then what they learned.
  • The Power Preview– Students can preview a text, paying attention to titles, subtitles, words in bold, definitions, and any special images or text features. Students pay attention to and identify what they recognize and are familiar with already.
  • Turn and Talks– When introducing a new text, students can turn and talk to a peer about what they know about the story or topic already before discussing as a class.
  • The Brain Dump– Students dump everything they know about a text or topic on paper or using a digital tool. This can be done as a class, with a partner, in a small group, or individually.

Do you have any strategies you love to use with students for improved reading comprehension? Comment below so we can all add them to our list!

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accelerating learning
CommunicationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)MathMicrosoftReadingSocial-Emotional Learning

What Are Microsoft’s New Learning Accelerators?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Announcing a host of new tools, Microsoft seeks to accelerate learning and reporting in the classroom. These tools expand on their ongoing effort to reimagine education with technology. Their tools seek to empower teachers and students with coaching and progress tracking.

“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

Source: Microsoft Blog, 01/23/2023

What will resonate with educators in Microsoft’s February announcement? These are AI-powered tools blended into Microsoft 365 products, including Bing, Teams and OneNote. PowerPoint, Word, and Immersive Reader have also been supercharged. These Microsoft 365 integrated tools, a.k.a Learning Accelerators, target critical skills, including:

  1. Reading and Literacy
  2. Information Literacy
  3. Mathematics
  4. Speaking and Presenting
  5. Social-Emotional Learning
Immersive Reader now features Reading Coach.

1. Reading and Literacy

Reading Coach and Reading Progress focus on helping “students practice fluency,” ostensibly through individualized instruction in critical literacy skills. Included in Teams and Immersive Reader, students get guided reading support. They can practice reading with exercises that aid with a variety of skills, such as:

  • Pronunciation
  • Syllabification
  • Reading Speed
  • Vocabulary Recall

Additionally, teachers are able to track students’ reading skills. This allows them to provide timely feedback that is actionable. With Reading Coach, teachers can upload a reading selection of their own or browse a catalog. The catalog allows you to filter by these criteria in search of “the perfect passage:“

  • Grade Level
  • Genre
  • Lexile Level
  • Word Count

These two Learning Accelerators offer a few more features of interest in the classroom.

2. Informational Literacy

Worried about fake news and misinformation finding their way into the classroom? You may need to be. Consider these statistics:

  • 62% of all Internet information can be fake
  • 80% of US adults have consumed fake news
  • 64% of US. adults believe that fabricated information causes much confusion about basic facts (source)

Worse, NPR reports that 80% of students surveyed believe fake news is actual news. Getting to the truth involves teaching critical thinking skills.

We tempted the AI chatbot [ChatGPT] with 100 false narratives from our catalog of Misinformation Fingerprints™. 80% of the time, the AI chatbot delivered eloquent, false and misleading claims about significant topics in the news, including COVID-19, Ukraine and school shootings.

ChatGPT generated false narratives — including detailed news articles, essays, and TV scripts — for 80 of the 100 previously identified false narratives. For anyone unfamiliar with the issues or topics covered by this content, the results could easily come across as legitimate, and even authoritative.

(Source: NewsGuard)

Microsoft’s Search Coach seeks to assist students in distinguishing fact from opinion. Their goals include assisting students with the following:

  • Forming effective search queries
  • Finding trusted sites
  • Thinking critically about search results in ad-free environments

Students can find Search Coach in Microsoft Teams. They can then rely on filters such as domains, date range, operators, and other sites. Search Coach includes NewsGuard results, a search progress component. Search Coach allows teachers to:

track the development of information literacy skills. It creates a window into students’ search activity and behaviors.

3. Mathematics

Math is not far behind reading in Microsoft’s Learning Accelerator Suite. Scheduled for release in the 2023-2024 school year, Math Coach and Math Progress (along with Speaker Progress mentioned below) will become available in Microsoft Teams. You can watch a demo of Math Coach and Math Progress in this @petrijamsen TikTok video:

@petrijamsen

Quick view of the new upcoming Math Coach #teams #microsoft #microsofteducation

♬ alkuperäinen ääni – Petri Jämsen

4: Presenting and Speaking

PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn now feature Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress.

Preparing students to speak can be tough. Microsoft’s Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress offer information and analytics. Teachers and students can now measure speaking performance using criteria such as:

  • Pitch
  • Filler Word Usage
  • Pacing

Find these two Learning Accelerators in PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn.

5: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Recognizing the importance of SEL, Microsoft has another enhancement for its digital classroom. Microsoft Teams, a learning management system, now has a reflection tool for students. Students are able to identify and express how they feel in “safe and fun ways” through emojis, emotional vocabulary, and a “Feelings Monster.”

With Learning Accelerators, Microsoft is making its student learning surveillance efforts more transparent. Data tracked and reported includes students, classrooms, and schools.

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interactive map radio
CommunicationCulturally ResponsiveEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ESL/ELLForeign LanguageMusicSpanish

Three Online Public Radio Search Tools

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

This past holiday season, I spent some of my time listening to music from around the globe. I didn’t have to pay a cent for it, and what fun to explore the world in an interactive audio map. Wish you had a way to listen to music from around the world? Explore online public radio with one of these tools.

Why Listen to Public Radio in the Classroom?

EdSurge offers a few compelling reasons that go beyond it being pleasant:

  • Listening is a great mode of delivery for informational “texts.” Public radio stories can be a great example of spoken academic language.
  • You can hear and interpret emotions, which gives students a powerful connection to the speaker.
  • Radio announcers use techniques in their voicing that keep you listening. They create drama with their voice.

Be sure to read the complete article for more reasons why. Others suggest that listening to radio announcers and audio content can help you learn a language.

Tool #1: Radio Garden

Radio Garden makes it easy to explore audio around the world. You can click and drag the world map on your screen to place a circle anywhere in the world you want. Here’s what that looked like as I was listening to music from Spain:

Radio Garden online public radio Spain

This service is a nonprofit Dutch radio and digital research project. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision developed Radio Garden from 2013 to 2016. It was a project of The Transnational Radio Knowledge Platform and five other European universities (source). You can add your favorite stations to a list or bookmark them in your browser. Additionally, you can share the link to the station on Twitter, Facebook, or via email.

This site is hours of fun. I ended up visiting many locations around the globe to listen to music in English, Spanish, and others. You can guess what language I was listening to with this picture:

Radio Garden online public radio Italy

Give it a try.

Tool #2: Radio.net

Radio.net makes it easy to find public radio stations online, albeit in a less interactive way than Radio Garden.

You can type in the name of the desired country and get a list of public radio stations to explore.

This site works more like a search engine, making it easy to locate the public radio stations you want. You will be listening to music pretty quickly after you begin your search, though.

Tool #3: FMRadio Online

Another amazing music finder is FMRadio Online, which lets you surf via radio stations in the United States. But there’s more!

You can find radio stations by country flag, getting a list of radio stations for each country. I found myself captivated by local radio stations in Costa Rica, including classic songs. For any globe-trotter, a world of audio and music lies at your fingertips via your web browser.

Bonus Tip

Want to record audio from an internet radio station or any audio on your computer? Why not give Audacity a try? Look for a brief tutorial post on how to get it done next week.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author

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