Tag:

Android

Come Read with Me: Google’s Read Along App

by Miguel Guhlin June 17, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

Want to improve your child or student’s reading ability? Google has created a new reading app to make that easier to achieve. You may recall Google’s previous entry into reading apps, Rivet. We wrote about it in Reciprocal Teaching with Google’s Rivet App. Today, we’ll review some important research on reading and then jump into the new Read Along app.

Note: Trying to open the link to the Rivet or Read Along app? Read Along is now in public beta for the web and works in popular browsers. Read Along includes brand new stories from two YouTube content creators. Those include ChuChu TV and USP Studios. Use Read Along as a reading practice tool in schools and at home. For each, use Google Workspace for Education account or personal Google Accounts with Family Link at home, respectively.

The Power of Reading

“On average, Americans aged 20 to 34 spend a 0.11 hours reading daily, which amounts to less than seven minutes per day.” (Source: Statista). Is that trend reflective of what happens in schools?

This can have a profound impact on student learning over the long run. Jennifer Gonzalez (Cult of Pedagogy) highlights these points from Schmoker’s book, Focus:

In the early years, students need time to read, not to do skills drills or reading “activities.” Students should “never, ever engage in cut, color, or paste activities.” Those occupy more than 100 instructional hours per year, asserts Schmoker.
Students should read fiction and nonfiction. He says, “We learn to read well by reading a lot for meaning,” when we read to do the following:
- Analyze or support arguments,
- Arrive at our own opinions as we make inferences or attempt to solve problems.
Students should engage in discussions at least three times per week. These discussion should have established criteria to guide them.

His assertions underscore the importance of reading. You can use Reciprocal Teaching and TRTW. As you can see from the chart below, getting children to read early on has a direct connection to whether students graduate.

With those statistics and information in mind, we must do more than encourage reading. We have a mandate about what it can do in the lives of our children.

The App

In the free Android Read Along app, young readers have a digital tutor that assists them in reading text on screen. If you ever read Living Books’ Arthur’s Teacher Troubles, then you have an inkling of how things work.

The app has a reading buddy who listens to your young learner read aloud and offers help when they struggle. Rewards are given in the form of stars. It works best for children who already have some basic knowledge of the alphabet.

Watch this video of it in action:

The app combines games and stories, as shown below:

The app shows pictures and text on screen and listens to the child read a story. It encourages students to read for ten minutes a day. It will also keep track of how much they’ve read and offer prizes. It has a fun option of playing music in the background that may become annoying.

You can also switch to a variety of languages, such as Spanish. See how books appear in Spanish when you switch languages.

Don’t be afraid to give this app a try with your young reader. It may be the type of engagement your child needs. Read along with your child to improve engagement.

June 17, 2020 0 comments

TCEA Responds: Exploring Google Contacts

by Miguel Guhlin March 23, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

How do I manage or find my addressbook in Google? I upgraded from my old phone, but somehow, I now have a lot of duplicates in my smartphone. I have two or more of everything. Finding the duplicates takes forever on my phone. Is there a way to do this online?

-Monica

Dear Monica:

Thank you for your email. Working with your smartphone contacts can be a bit daunting. I know people who hate upgrading their phones because they worry their contacts will go away. If you are using an Android phone, or even an iPhone, many of your contacts are safe. That’s because Google saves them to the cloud for you.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

Let’s review a few ways you can solve your duplicate problem. You didn’t say which phone you had, so I’ll focus on Android.

Dealing with Duplicates in Google Contacts

Dealing with duplicates on your Android phone can be a pain. If your phone is backing itself up to Google, then switching to a new phone may have resulted in lots of duplicate entries.

Many people are unaware that they can access their phone contacts list online. You can get to it via the Google Contacts website. Once you are there, you can take advantage of its “Merge and fix” option, as seen below:

As you can see in the screenshot, this is one of the easiest way to merge and fix contacts. You also have more options available through Google Contacts. Let’s take a look at them.

Organizing Your Contacts into Label Groups

Did you know you can organize your contacts into Groups so that whatever changes you make in Google Contacts will end up in your smartphone? You can do this through the use of labels. Any labels you create and assign to your contacts appear as Groups on your phone. That may make a specific group of people easier.

You can’t delete the contacts in your Directory in Google Contacts, but you can organize them into groups that will appear on your smartphone. The way you do that is to assign them a label. While it’s easy to select contacts in your Directory list, then assign them a label, let’s take it a step further. Let’s export your contacts. This could come in handy if you want to keep a list of people in your work contact lists. Some people find it easier to work long lists in a full-screen editor or database tool.

Exporting is another way of saying “Save these contacts to my computer as a CSV file.” CSV is a comma-delimited text file that is often used for database imports/exports.

Note: To protect the innocence of the privacy of people in my contacts, I have pixelized names and emails. This makes them unreadable.

Before you start the export process, you will need to take some steps. Let’s review them:

Step 1 – Create a Label

This is an important step. The reason why is that Google Contacts does not allow you to export your Contacts Directory. First, you have to assign them a label you have created, then export that label.

For example, I have created a “MyContacts” label in Google Contacts. You can title this label whatever you want (e.g. “Keepers”). Once I have that, I can go to label specific contacts. These are the ones I want to keep.

My last step will be to use the EXPORT option and export only the MyContacts label. This is great because I can choose to add only the correct entries in my contacts directory.

Step 2 – Label Directory Entries with “MyContacts” Label

Now that you have your “MyContacts” label created, you can go through your directory. You can multi-select the ones you want to keep as shown in the screenshot below.

Once you have added all the contacts you want to keep to the “MyContacts” label, you’re ready to move on.

Step 3 – Export the Entries Labelled “MyContacts”

In this step, you are going to export the entries you labeled in Step 2 as “MyContacts.” As you can see from the image below, you can export the contacts with the “MyContacts” label.

Note that you have three options. While Google CSV is the best option if you’re trying to clean up your contacts, there are others. You could use Outlook CSV if you want to move to Outlook email client, or vCard for iOS.

If you look at the file you have exported in MS Excel, LibreOffice, or Google Sheets, you will see the following:

Once you have verified you have an export file, close out of it without making changes.

At this point, you can choose to completely wipe out your Google Contacts Directory. That is, you can delete or remove any contacts you have labeled. Google prevents you from removing contacts from the Directory itself in order to safeguard your data.

Ready to import your contacts from a particular group to a new label? Let’s take a quick look at that.

Step 4 – Import Contacts Exported Before

Since you have that exported contacts file on your computer, you can choose to import it. In the screenshot below, you can see how we can import the contacts into a new label, MyPeeps.

As it imports and when it finishes, you will seen screens like this:

And that’s pretty much the process. If you look at your phone, you will see that you have Groups that reflect your labels in Google Contacts.

There is a lot you can do via the Google Contacts web interface. Take some time to explore it and organize your phone groups using it. Use it to clean up your duplicates with Merge & Fix.

March 23, 2020 0 comments

Android Google Tips and Tricks Social Studies

Celebrate Notable Women with Google’s AR App

by Miguel Guhlin March 13, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

“When women succeed, America succeeds,” asserts one Congresswoman. Women have worked to build America. But as President Jimmy Carter has said, “their contributions went unnoticed.”

Congress selected March, 1987 as the first official Women’s History Month. National Women’s History Month celebrates women so vital to the building of America. Their achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love are on proud display in March. This is true during 2020 since this year marks 100 years since the 19th Amendment (1920) granted some women the vote. To celebrate, some teachers have chosen to dress up as famous historical women. Others have staged women’s marches at school. Raising awareness of the contributions women have made is front and center.

Source: Maya Angelou as portrayed with Notable Women app

In this blog entry, we’ll explore a new technology tool, Google’s Creative Labs’ Notable Women app, that can make celebrating this and other historic events more fun.

Have access to Alexa? Learn about a different trailblazing woman every day in March for Women’s History Month. Ask “Alexa, who inspires you?”

Get free poster celebrating mighty women role models

See Kimothy Joy’s watercolor portraits of mighty women and get copies.

Resources for Teachers

Ready to teach National Women’s History month? You’re not too late, even if International Women’s History day is March 8, 2020. You have the entire month of March to celebrate the achievements of historic women. President Jimmy Carter said:

I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality– Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul. Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people. (Source: National Womens History Alliance)

The American Library Association shares their resources for this month online. They include:

notable women

Looking for lesson plans, posters, primary sources, and more? Look no further than the National Women’s History Museum website. They offer a searchable database of lesson plans, biographies, posters, and other resources. You can search via topic, theme, or resource type. Also, be sure to check out Scholastic magazine’s online articles on women’s history.

The National Education Agency also has resources organized for you. You can find them linked below:

AR/VR App: Google’s Notable Women

Want to engage students with AR/VR? You can use this Android and iOS app, Notable Women. What it does is allow you to point your smartphone or tablet at a dollar bill. The app will then replace the face of George Washington with a notable woman. Here are some of the women that may appear. You can check the website for more.

notable women

The result is startling and works even on “digital dollars,” so it’s perfect for students to use. Here’s one example (showing Sacagawea) I took with my Android phone:

notable women

Using the app is easy and students shouldn’t have any problems with it. Give it a try as part of your station rotation. Let us not forget the words of President Ronald Reagan:

“As leaders in public affairs, American women not only worked to secure their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity but also were principal advocates in the abolitionist, temperance, mental health reform, industrial labor and social reform movements, as well as the modern civil rights movement. Their dedication and commitment heightened awareness of our society’s needs and accelerated our common efforts to meet those needs.”

Stay connected with others who are sharing about Women’s History Month. Follow the hashtag #womenshistorymonth on Twitter.

These 6 women are just a small selection who have inspired generations of scientists. #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenInScience #SheInspiresUs pic.twitter.com/cOQcVrsy5I

— Rangam (@RangamC) March 3, 2020

March 13, 2020 0 comments

Android Chromebooks Good Teaching iOS Tips and Tricks Online Tools and Apps

Learning to Juggle with Seesaw

by Guest Blogger July 22, 2019

written by Guest Blogger

Are you a juggler when it comes to education?

Have you ever wanted one spot to keep track of everything as a teacher? Sometimes, we educators feel learning something new is “just one more thing to add to our plate.” But being a digital leader means sharing and collaborating effective, efficient ideas and tools. Seesaw Learning Journal is such a tool. It even can help educators communicate effectively and efficiently with both students and parents.

Seesaw is a platform to encourage student engagement online, where they can showcase their voice and ownership in their work. It is a student-driven online journal that can be used in many ways and is available through the web, iOS, and Android.

Ups and Downs of Seesaw

seesaw There are several benefits to using Seesaw. Students are able to showcase their best work for parents, peers, and teachers. Students are able to explain their masterpieces, and take pride in ownership through their use of camera, video, drawings, and notes, especially when they know it is being published. This helps shy students who want to speak but are not very vocal. Teachers benefit from Seesaw by being able to use the student journal as a paperless storage for work samples, to show and discuss at parent conferences, and even use as an assessment tool. Additionally, teachers can make private notes and give feedback.

Seesaw is also user-friendly for families. Parents can see and comment on all their child’s masterpieces, and they can communicate one-to-one with the teacher. Best of all, multiple parents or any family member can join and comment. I have one student right now that has her grandma, aunt, and mom connected, and they all comment on her work!

The core Seesaw service is free for teachers, families, and students. It is a key part of their mission to impact as many students as possible. They also offer Seesaw Plus and Seesaw for Schools, which are optional paid upgrades for teachers and schools who want to do even more with Seesaw. You can view a comparison of Seesaw, Seesaw Plus, and Seesaw for Schools features here.

As for the disadvantages of Seesaw, if students are signing in through a class QR code, they are not able to edit previous work. This requires the teacher to navigate this extra step. The appearance of the dashboard needs to be updated to be more appealing to the student. The disadvantage for the teacher is printing out invitations to the parents. You must download the entire class PDF file, not just one student’s, in order to send the QR code home. The con for the parents is the lack of push notifications on iOS and Android. On tablets, students are not able to draw on a still picture while recording their voice. For example, when my kindergarteners are reading a list of sight words, I like them to check them off as they read. They can on Chromebooks, and it may come Android soon.

Using Seesaw Learning Journals

Teaching students to use Seesaw Learning Journal is an easy task, even for kindergarteners. First, students can sign in either by email (recommended for grades 3-12) or by QR codes (recommended for grades PreK-2 ). I teach kindergarten, and in my classroom of 19, the students log in and add their “Wow Work” (best work) themselves on Chromebooks and tablets by signing in with a class QR code.

Next, students can add content by camera, video, notes, Google links, drawings, or even by uploading a PDF. My students this past week chose their “Leaf Projects” to showcase. They appsmashed with Chatterpix and uploaded it to Seesaw. Some then chose to type a sentence about their projects; others choose to type describing words. It was their choice, their voice, and they have ownership in their work.

Third, students have a choice when it comes to assignments within the “Activities Tab.” The assignment can be specifically for a certain student or be the same for the whole class. Finally, the student logs in and clicks his name, then his activity tab. After they complete their assignment, they save it to their Seesaw account.

Grown-Up Growth

Teaching the adults to use Seesaw is my favorite. After using Seesaw for six years now, my interest sparks each year as Seesaw is updated.

As a teacher, the class is set up by entering your students’ names and their email addresses, if you chose for them to sign in with emails. The teacher is then able to let students upload their work and can give feedback and comments about their work. Teachers also have the option of giving the students more power by letting them comment on their peer’s work. This is recommended as long as a digital citizenship lesson has been provided.

Next, teachers get to differentiate student work in the activities tab by only assigning certain work to certain students or the whole class. The activities tab provides teachers with a single place to see who has completed and turned in their assignments and who is still working on them. Teachers can also tag certain TEKS/objectives to certain activities. This makes it easy to pull up reports on a certain TEK and see if you need to reteach that concept, or if your students are grasping the lessons.

Seesaw has a plethora of activities already made for you. They are sorted per subject, per grade level, and are available to add to your students’ accounts. No reason to reinvent the wheel! The teacher can simply copy and adjust it to the student’s needs. The Skills tab on Seesaw is a great way to assess a child on a four-star scale.

Staying Connected

Another great part for teachers is the parent communication. For years, I used Seesaw, Class Dojo, and Remind for parent communication. I was all over the place, with some parents connected to this one but not that one. The last two years, I have only used Seesaw, and all my parents are connected in one place.

This makes it easy to send out announcements for the class, to send flyers home, or even a quick message. You can communicate to the parents/families, or just to the students, or just to one parent. It is a great way to send weekly personalized messages out on how their child is learning and participating in class. I also send out a weekly announcement on what their child is learning in my class for that week. I was able to embed my link to my Google document to sign up for parent/teacher conferences and was able to get real-time feedback.

As you can see, there are many pros and just a few cons to using Seesaw Learning Journal. Overall, Seesaw is user-friendly for the students, parents, and teachers. Give it try!

Laressia Martin is an educational technology leadership expert and elementary educator. You can learn more about her on her website or on Twitter.

“Vitz-9572”by Jon.Proehl is licensed under CC BY 2.0

July 22, 2019 0 comments

3D design of a tennis shoe on a computer screen

Coding/Computer Science

3D Tools, Libraries, and Resources

by Miguel Guhlin June 24, 2019

written by Miguel Guhlin

If your campus or classroom is just beginning to dabble in 3D design, you may think you are limited in the resources available to you. But there are tons of amazing tools and even libraries available for you and your students. Imagine an online library where anyone can browse, share, and remix a 3D object. For example, you might design a tour in Google Tour Builder. Now you can put that into Google’s Poly, an online library, and you have something you can share. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few tools for creating 3D assets (i.e. models, scenes, tours) and examples.

Why Learn to Create 3D Assets?

When students work in virtual words, they are learning to manipulate 3D objects and navigate virtual 3D environments. Minecraft: Education Edition and Sketch Up Pro are two fantastic tools for this. TinkerCAD enables students of all ages to design in 3D. Put those designs in a 3D printer and you have a physical artifact. Don’t forget that 3D printing is about more than small curios. 3D printing houses, bridges, clothes, and even glass objects and more is a reality now.

As the 3D printing industry grows, so do opportunities. It is critical for students to “become fluent with programs and machines for 3D printing.” The Try Engineering Institute points out several important job skills in this area, such as the following:

3D Design: Take a product idea, then make it into something that can come to life. Consider the importance of rapid prototyping for design thinking and engineering design processes.
3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Modeling: This involves converting product designs into digital blueprints. These digital blueprints are then used in 3D printers.
Biological and Scientific Modeling: Engineers, designers, and modelers design and create 3D-printed organs and more.

Poly Toolkit offers a wealth of resources needed to build augmented reality (AR) applications. This short, 35-minute video will provide some background on the toolkit:

Making the ISTE Student Standards Connections

Wondering how learning 3D design is important from an ISTE Standards perspective? Consider the following relevant standard and indicators:

1. Empowered Learner

1.d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

4. Innovative Designer

4.a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

4.b. Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

4.c. Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

4.d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

5. Computational Thinker

5.a. Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.

5.b. Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

6. Creative Communicator

6.a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.

6.b. Students create original works or responsibly re-purpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Now that you can see the connections, let’s take a look at the evolving tool set and some examples.

What Tools Are Available to Create 3D Assets?

Although I’ve mentioned a few tools for creating 3D assets, others exist. There are some you may be unfamiliar with. Please find a short list below:

Poly Toolkit : This cross-platform tool works on Android, iOS, Web, as well as Unity and Unreal. If you’re using Blender, Cinema4D, Maya, or 3dsMax, you can get a plug-in for the Toolkit. Using the web version, you may need some background on Javascript or Python. Don’t know coding? That’s OK. There are simpler tools.
Tilt Brush: Do you have access to Google VR on VIVE, Oculus, or Windows Mixed Reality? Then you may want to explore the Tilt Brush Tutorials.
Blocks: This tools enables you to create 3D models as well (see image below). The goal is to enable developers to create 3D objects in 3D environment. Then you can publish those.

To be honest, most of the activities and skills needed for this require special equipment. But there is one tool you may already be familiar with. The tool? Google Tour Builder.

Tour Builder

Tour Builder enables students to create a virtual tour of their research data. They can add photos, text, and video as needed. Students use a map-based approach to organize research as location and impact are the two organizing principles. Check out this Getting Started with Google Tour-Builder guide for more information.

Tour Creator

Did you know that you can use Tour Creator to design virtual-reality tours and then publish them on Poly? This means you, as a teacher, can add tours you create to Expeditions. This allows you to guide your students in your class on an Expedition because tours that you add to Expeditions on Poly are auto-added to your Expeditions app.

Publishing Google Tours into the Poly Library

Once you create a Google Tour, you can share it and make it public. That’s important because it will make it available in Poly for students to access. Jen Cauthers suggests these steps:

Log into your account (the same one you would use on your phone).
Go to Poly and click the share button for that tour.
Choose “Expeditions” for the way you want to share the tour.
You should now see the tour you want to share under your tour list in the Expeditions app.

Make the tour public in Poly, then you can share the link with anyone. This means they need not sign in as a Poly Tour designer to view it. One neat feature is the ability to save items in the Poly library as animated GIFs. Give it a try!

Some Examples

Ready to see some examples? Here are a few to get you started:

Lewis and Clark Expedition – In this tour, you see six different landmarks that Lewis and Clark stopped at.
Gettysburg Battlefield – Includes seven scenes depicting a tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.
Isabel’s Journey – A story of Isabel, who lived in Cuba under Fidel Castro, and left. Some interesting text items illustrate the tour. Great example of how to capture student’s family history. Of course, the source is Alan Gratz’ book, Refugee.

See many more examples are available online in the Poly library. Organized in collections, you’ll find a variety under many headers, including Animal & Pets, Architecture, Art, Culture & Humanity, Food & Drink, Current Events, and more.

June 24, 2019 1 comment

Android Chromebooks Content Areas ESL/ELL

Reciprocal Teaching with Popular Reading Apps

by Miguel Guhlin June 20, 2019

written by Miguel Guhlin

Few would disagree that reading plays a crucial role in life. Scaffolding student cognition during reading can enhance student achievement. One of the techniques I employed as a young teacher included Reciprocal Teaching. In this blog entry, you will see a few amazing reading apps you can try reciprocal teaching on.

Google Rivet Transitions to Google’s Kids Space

This blog entry previously featured Google Rivet, which Google shelved on October 16, 2020. The Rivet content (3500 books) found its way into Google’s new Kids Space. Per the Google Kids Space website, you can get to it via select Android tablets. Children are able to access apps, books, and videos. These are age-appropriate and targeted by age. One neat feature is that multiple children can use the same tablet. This is because children’s accounts are kept separate. Children’s education and media specialists have all reviewed apps and books included.

Effect Size of Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) has strong support among researchers. Consider that John Hattie’s meta-analyses results include reciprocal teaching as a high-impact strategy. Its effect size of .79 means that it can advance student achievement almost two years growth for one year of school. (You can learn more about Hattie’s research in these blogs or join TCEA’s empowerED program and receive inexpensive professional development on his strategies.)

rivet

What Is Reciprocal Teaching?

This tried-and-true technique works especially well with second language learners. Under the tutelage of Mark Gabehart (Round Rock ISD CTO), I discovered this first-hand working with bilingual/ESL students in urban school settings. Reciprocal teaching includes a cycle of predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. The video below illustrates the reciprocal teaching cycle:

Through the use of statement stems, students are able to learn critical processes. For example, for Predictor, students think about what they have read. Then they predict what will happen next. Assisting students in understanding how to predict is key. For questioning, students can use sentence stems such as “I wonder…” or the five Ws to unearth ideas and information. You can see some sentence stems via this reciprocal teaching Pinterest board. Explore the Wakelet embedded below:

View Wakelet on Reciprocal Teaching

Why Is Reciprocal Teaching Needed?

If your students face any or all of the following obstacles (adapted from ASCD Publication: Lori D. Oczkus’ Reciprocal Teaching At Work), reciprocal teaching may be what’s needed.

Students don’t remember what they read, even when they can decode text
Little to no engagement with reading material
Students read at two or more years below grade level
Informational text (non-fiction) is difficult to understand
Challenging words are difficult to decipher
Students may be unable to describe the difference between main idea and supporting details

As a result of reciprocal teaching technique’s effectiveness for over thirty years, it is worth adopting. The National Behaviour Support Service offers this visual which may assist you:

Image Source: The National Behaviour Support Service

Reciprocal Teaching Outside the Classroom

We imagine that RT may be for classroom use only, but that’s not true. We can encourage its use outside of the classroom by helping students to become teachers. “The act of teaching activates more regions of the brain,” says Dr. Lou Whitaker. Another approach could involve students modeling the RT cycle. They use this high impact reading strategy with Flipgrid, as you can see below.

Can #FlipgridFriday be a thing?! Ss created SWBS summaries after using reciprocal teaching strategies to understand details in the text. Most importantly they had fun recording their responses ???? Thanks @Flipgrid pic.twitter.com/MzPM1xgFdL
— Ashlyn Pierce (@ashlynpierce4th) August 17, 2018

Another may involve recording a video and then using EdPuzzle.com to empower students. These students create a video with questions interspersed throughout.

How could students use this with new reading apps, such as Google’s Kid Space and other amazing reading apps?

:video

Exploring Five, Incredible Reading Apps

One of the challenges students face is access to common text. Now, with these reading apps, students can access common content and can apply reciprocal teaching strategies to that text. Having apps you can share with students that feature common content is a win for both teachers and students.

A Story Before Bed. Record a children’s book with audio and video. Kids can play back recording on iPad, iPhone, Mac, and/or Windows. Pre-recorded stories are also available for free or purchase.
Epic! books. An incredible collection of ebooks available via the web. Educators get free access to the content and can generate class codes for their students.
FarFaria Read Along Kids Books. Available for Android and iOS, you get access to one free story per day. More are available for a subscription. Preview their book catalog online.
Skybrary Kids Books and Videos. This free, albeit with in-app purchases, app is available from Reading is Fundamental, Inc. You can get it in Android and iOS flavors.
Tales2go. This website and cross-platform app features over ten thousand high interest audio book titles from leading publishers. Get a look at their catalog. Pricing varies for school districts, schools, and individuals.

While most educators may rely on Epic! books as their common text, don’t forget about other great sources of reading material online. You can find a comprehensive list in this TCEA TechNotes blog entry, Digital Stories for Remote Learners.

This blog entry was updated on 6/29/2021 with new content.

June 20, 2019 1 comment

Educational Trends

Creating a Mindful Classroom with Six Helpful Apps

by Guest Blogger April 23, 2019

written by Guest Blogger

Mindfulness, meaning mental presence and reflection, is a popular practice across the U.S., incorporating tools to help people think clearly and critically, calm their minds, and be more productive.

Many teachers also believe mindfulness can help students feel more relaxed and focused, not to mention make them less likely to engage in disruptive behavior than those who don’t meditate or undertake other mindfulness practices. Research shows that mindfulness practices can have a generally positive effect on students, though it’s not yet clear whether those outcomes are caused by specific practices or simply giving students the chance to take a breath during a busy school day.

In one study, students said they spent one-third of their study time feeling worried, stressed, or stuck. A variety of factors could cause those feelings, but the decision to make your classroom a more mindful one could help students learn valuable stress management skills. Here are six apps that might help your students be more present, relaxed, and productive.

Stop, Breathe & Think

One of the advantages of Stop, Breathe & Think is that it gives customized meditations based on how you’re feeling at that moment. First, users go through a brief survey about their current state, then receive meditations to match the results. Students can take part in the activity even if they only have about five minutes.

Depending on the age of your students, there is a kids’ version of the app intended for young people from 5-10 years old. Also, the app creators offer educators a free lifetime membership that provides access to hundreds of activities, plus both the kids and all-ages version of the app.

Headspace

Hundreds of schools use the Headspace app to introduce kids to mindfulness practices. Users get the Basics course for free, allowing them to determine if meditation is something they want to continue. If it is, subscriptions provide access to mindfulness exercises of various lengths and topics. Moreover, the content gets delivered in an extremely accessible manner. So, if you’re not yet familiar with mindfulness, but want to learn along with the students, check out Headspace.

DreamyKid

Featuring quotes, a visually pleasing interface, and helpful elements like a built-in timer, DreamyKid is another mindfulness app built for young people. However, individuals of any age can get something out of it. There are apps for specific needs, too. Some of them work well for helping kids wind down before nap time, and others can help them stay committed to tasks.

Also, schools and other organizations that work with children can get DreamyKid for no charge. One of the possible downsides is that it’s only available on iOS for now, but an Android version is on the way.

Insight Timer

Insight Timer claims to offer the most extensive library of free guided meditation content with more than 15,000 options available. Also, the “timer” part of the name relates to how you can choose from several sounds that signal to listeners when it’s time to start and stop meditating. As such, learners could begin to associate a soothing noise with getting in the frame of mind to meditate. There is a specific section of content for beginners, too.

Calm

This highly-rated meditation app goes beyond the kinds of mindfulness that people typically associate with the term. For example, there is a section of material for mindful movement, plus exclusive music tracks to help users get engrossed in their quest toward mindfulness.

If you get the premium version of the app, it offers a daily calm, which is a new meditation for each day. It could be an excellent way to start the school day.

Chill

This app encourages people to make mindfulness part of their everyday activities, so it could help show kids that they shouldn’t only engage in mindfulness when they’re in your class. It can send up to five random reminders to people that urge them to meditate. There are also quotes and photos for users to share with their classmates on social media.

This app proves that although there are distracting ways to use smartphones in schools, it’s also possible to depend on them to help kids learn something new that could benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Meditation Apps Offer Accessibility

As this list demonstrates, there are numerous apps to promote mindfulness in your classroom. Even better, some offer the content free for educators, meaning you can try meditation with your students without cutting into your budget.

Have you tried to introduce mindfulness into your classroom? What apps or other technologies have you used? What were the results? Let us know in the comments!

Kayla Matthews is an ed tech journalist whose work has been featured in InformationWeek, Noodle, InnovateMySchool and VentureBeat. To see more of her writing, visit ProductivityBytes.com or follow her on Twitter.

Photo by Jenny Downing via Flickr.

April 23, 2019 0 comments

Android Good Teaching iOS Tips and Tricks

Take Reading to the Next Level with Novel Effect

by Dr. Bruce Ellis April 1, 2019

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

I often think back to when I was teaching elementary school. Even though it was important for my students to do well in all subjects, it seemed that reading was the subject that held the key to all the others. Whatever I could do to help them learn to love reading, I was all-in for.

For example, I worked hard to make sure that I had an extensive library of books for my kids to read, and regardless of how many years I read Old Yeller aloud, I always dreaded the ending. That is, I dreaded knowing I would cry as I read the ending, no matter how many times I read it. But I also knew that my students would cry as well — some of them always did, too — and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is something special that happens when you really get into a book and it make an emotional connection.

For many of my students, those who lacked the joy of reading, it was my goal to take their reading to the next level. Not just in regards to the next Lexile level, but the next level in connecting reading to their heart.

Creating an Effect

reading dr Seuss novel effect app That’s exactly what the creators of Novel Effect hope to do. The free app for both Apple and Android allows you to read a book aloud while it provides special effects and relevant audio. Instead of speech-to-text, think of this as speech-to-sound effects. As you are reading out loud, the app listens and provides audio to enhance the reading. Leaves rustle, animals howl, and footsteps crackle as you tell your tale, adding life to every line and engaging your audience.

Whether you are reading aloud to your class, a parent reading to his/her child, or a student reading aloud to his or herself or a small group, Novel Effect is a clever tool that follows your lead and makes reading (and listening) that much more fun.

Hear an Excerpt

In the clip below, you can hear my rendition of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who! with the assistance of the Novel Effect app.

Explore the Novel Effect Library

reading with the novel effect app

Novel Effect has a lot of books in their library already, so you’re likely to find one your students will enjoy. As you start reading, the app will begin following your voice and interact with you as you read. You can scroll through popular books (and even make recommendations if a book you love is not already included in the app) or search for books by grade level. Here are a few of my favorites included in each of the categories, with more being added.

Infants & Toddlers (0 – 3 Years Old)

Edgar Gets Ready for Bed by Jennifer Adams
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
One the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier

Pre-K and Kindergarten (3 – 6 Years Old)

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer
Corduroy by Don Freeman
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

Grades 1 and 2 (6 – 8 Years Old)

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
You Don’t Want a Unicorn! by Ame Dyckman

Grades 3 and 4 (8 – 10 Years Old)

How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace
If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Grades 5 and Up (10+ Years Old)

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

Suggested Classroom Uses

To start, have students locate a book to perform for the class, either individually or in pairs. It’s okay if the book is below the student’s reading level. Let this activity be about building fluency, using voice and inflection to add interest, and pacing. If you find that you don’t have time for every student or group to perform, consider having Flipgrid set up so that they can each record their performance. This allows students to find and enjoy stories that other students have performed.

Then you can get really creative. After your students have had a chance to read with Novel Effect a few times, allow them to create their own set of sounds and music to go with a text of their choice. For this, you may prefer that they use a shorter text or one that would need fewer audio effects so that student don’t get bogged down. For free sound effects, consider using the following websites: Free Sound, Partners in Rhyme, Sound Bible, ZapSplat, and the BBC Sound Effects. Or, if you are really adventurous and want to create your own sound effects, then read Robbie Janney’s post on ShutterStock Blog. In it, he even provides some great video to get you started on your journey.

What is your favorite book to read to with Novel Effect? How have you used it with your students? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

April 1, 2019 0 comments

Technology Applications

Seven Keyboarding Tutorials to Share

by Miguel Guhlin January 3, 2019

written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a touch typist or do you thumb and one-finger type your way through life? For a year, I learned how to be a two-fingered typist. Then, I took keyboarding in high school and I no longer agonized over every key’s location. When people comment on how I get work done so quickly, a part of me says “Thank you!” to the matron who drilled us in touch typing. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few keyboarding tutorial programs.

typing tutor

Source: What Makes a Faster Typist? (April, 2018)

Keyboarding Research

Is teaching keyboarding necessary? My own children thumbed their way through many an essay or poem. On Twitter a few days ago, I read a teenager’s poem where he describes the joy of writing on a small screen. Of course, he’s not handwriting on a small screen using Google Handwriting Input app. Using the built-in keyboard to his iPhone, he’s two-thumb typing. Let’s hope he doesn’t get smartphone thumb, a painful inflammation of the thumb tendons.

Poet: J.E. Guhlin (@jguhlin)

Dr. Leigh Zeitz shares a recent roundup of research relevant to keyboarding. A slight paraphrase of his text appears below:

Keyboarding is a life long skill. It has evolved from a transcription typing skill to generative typing. Transcription typing involves typing hand-written content. Generative typing involves composing original thought at the keyboard (Cooper, 1983).

Student writing develops faster through generative typing. It facilitates the review and revision learning process. Efficient keyboarding skills allow students to emphasize concept development instead of key location.

Source: Zeitz, L. (2008). A New Look @ Research-Based Keyboarding Instruction. Chicago, Illinois: Sunburst.

Learning to type with a full-sized keyboard may be passe. Brain chips and other interfaces offer hope. One day, we may shed the keyboard as an input device. Until then, learning to use a keyboard may remain our best option.

Type Faster on Your Mobile Phone

Have you tried one of the various keyboard apps that make typing on a small screen easier? To type faster on a small screen, consider these tips:

Use emojis
Enable always-on number row
Turn on text correction and next word prediction
Empower contact name expansion

Find more tips available for Android and/or iOS. Of all the typing tutors reviewed, only Z-Type offers a browser and smartphone-friendly app (more on that below). For now, let’s take a look at some full-sized keyboarding tutors.

Typing Tutorials

Ready to explore a few typing tutorials? Here are a few you may want to introduce to your children and/or students. They range from boring to engaging games.

Source: Doorway Text Type 3

Tutorial #1: Doorway Text Type

“Doorway Text Type is a touch typing tutor (TTT),” says their website. It “takes learners from the home keys to mastery of the whole keyboard and typing sentences.” It is accessible to visual impaired learners. You can get a CD for offline access.

Tutorial #2: Dance Mat Typing

This site offers four levels to play. Each level is divided into three stages. The end of each level allows you to test your typing speed. It appears intended for a younger audience.

Sense-Lang’s Meteor Game

Tutorial #3: Sense-Lang

This keyboarder’s dream offers lessons as well as a plethora of games. One of my favorites includes Meteor Game. You will stumble on that past level sixteen of the keyboarding lessons.

Source

Tutorial #4: Peter’s Online Typing Course

Peter’s Online Typing Course is just that, a rich assortment of lessons. It has several distinct web pages displayed in a table of contents. Each leads you to a lesson that you read and then practice on.

Z-Type

Tutorial #5: Z-Type

My favorite typing tutor, Z-Type turns you into a starfighter pilot. You zap letters and words as they fall towards you (compare to the author’s XType 2012). It reminds me of my old Apple //e typing game. If this is too tame for you, older learners may appreciate the Typing Game of the Dead. This is in Adobe Flash and has you slay the zombie horde one-at-a-time with a quick-typed word. The use of weapons, while not approved for school, is tame compared to Fortnite, and other FPS games.

Z-Type is available via Google Play store and iOS App store, making it ideal for thumb-typing practice.

Typing Lessons’ TypeLift

Tutorial #6: TypeLift

This browser-based solution offers “a free touch typing courseware.” Get started via their website. Sporting a clean keyboard look and the use of lorem ipsum text, you will soon find yourself “turning off” your reading for comprehension, letting your eyes and hands take over as they type information on the screen. All the best typing tutors will move you into the zone at the higher levels.

Tutorial #7: TypingClub

TypingClub is a free web-based site. They have made a promise to always remain free for both individuals and schools. You can keep practicing your typing skills until you get five stars.

Thanks for joining me on this quick exploration of seven keyboarding tutors you can share with K-12 students or adult learners. Each has something to offer to a particular audience, whether its striving for perfection or avoiding certain death. What’s your preference? While you are pondering that, you may want to check out Timothy Cayer’s list of best keyboarding sites.

January 3, 2019 6 comments

Android Google Tips and Tricks

Must-Have Tech Gifts for Android Users

by Dr. Bruce Ellis December 3, 2018

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Whether you are an Android lover or just an Android user, you will find this list of gift ideas will make you green with envy. So before you spend a lot of time driving around everywhere or searching all over the Internet for great ideas, scan these ideas to find ones that be perfect for that Android person in your life this holiday season!

Lenovo Smart Display

The Lenovo Smart Display is a great tool to make your home, office, or other room smart. Enjoy the built-in Google Assistant to enjoy your favorite music, control other smart devices you are connected to, and run routines that you have created. You can even use Google Duo to make voice and video calls to your other favorite Android friends. You can get this smart display in an 8-inch model or 10-inch model. I have the 8-inch model and find that it is great – not too big for the bedroom side table.

Google Home Hub

If you want to spend less than the Lenovo Smart Display, consider getting a Google Home Hub. Smaller in size but still powerful, you will find that the Google Home Hub fits nicely in any room with its 7-inch display. I purchased one the other week to go in my kitchen and it’s been great. I have used it multiple times to pull up recipes and listen to music while in the kitchen. When I’m not using it, I set it to display favorite photos I have in my Google Photos folder…and since I shared the folder with my son, he can add his favorite photos and enjoy them in the mix while he is in the kitchen or just walking through.

Google Home Mini

The Google Home Mini goes in any room to bring convenience and connection. Ask it questions, run routines that you create, play games, and more with Google Assistant. You will enjoy this small device so much that you will find that you may need more than one. I actually have five in my house. I purchased the first one myself, and received a free one when I purchased the Lenovo Smart Display and a second free one when I purchased the Google Home Hub…then I lost track what I got the others with. If you are watching holiday sales carefully, you are sure to find items that come with a free Google Home Mini.

Smart Outlets

Even if Santa is not able to bring a smart display, then maybe you will get a smart outlet in your stocking. Smart outlets connect to your WiFi and allow you to control them through an app, Google Assistant, or Amazon Alexa. I found a pair online on sale the week before Thanksgiving for about $15, making them very reasonable. When not on sale, you may expect to pay twice that price or more for more functionality. These are great if you want to use with a lamp or other appliance where you can turn it on and off just by starting with, “Hey, Google….” Postscapes has compiled a list of recommended smart outlets to consider.

The Frame Smart TV

If you have some extra money hidden away that is burning a hole in your pocket, then consider going all out for the Samsung UN43LS03NAFXZA Flat 43” LED 4K UHD The Frame Smart TV 2018. When not using it as a crisp, beautiful TV, it can display favorite artwork. For friends who aren’t familiar with the Frame Smart TV (yet), they will think you just have high-end digital artwork on display. It has a sensor that detects when you walk into the room, at which time it will display your favorites. It will set you back about $1,300, so make sure are prepared if you decide to get one.

Connecting Your Devices

One of the powerful features of these devices (excluding the Frame Smart TV) is that you can connect them together in the Google Home app to play your favorite music on a particular designated set. I have done this so no matter where I am in the house, I have my favorite playlist, podcast, or other audio playing so I can hear. Creating routines will also help you feel like you are a tech genius even though it is very simple (but you don’t have to tell anyone that last part). For example, on my Lenovo Smart Display I created a routine so that when I say, “Hey, Google, it is time to go to bed,” my bedtime routine begins playing. That includes telling me the weather for tomorrow, asking what time I want the alarm to be set for (and then it sets it), turning off the bedroom lamp, adjusting the Nest thermostat, dropping the volume to 10%, and beginning to play a favorite playlist I have specified.

Lots of stores will be competing for your dollars during the holidays, so watch for special discounts that may reward you with some extra tech for you or another Android-loving friend. You may be surprised how much you love it…so much so that your friends will be green with envy.

Share with us in the comments what other devices, gadgets, and “stuff” make for great gifts for Android users. We’d love to hear!

December 3, 2018 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts