Give Struggling Readers a Better Way to Read

As the school year begins, you might discover that you have students who struggle to read. The fact of the matter is that many of our students find reading challenging. The good news is that reading intervention resources, such as BeeLine Reader, are available to help.

About BeeLine Reader

BeeLine Reader is a Chrome extension that changes the color of regular text from black to a color gradient. It allows students to transition between lines quickly and effortlessly by easily moving from one colored line to the next, differently colored line. The colors keep readers on track from line to line and are especially helpful when reading on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet. Readers are less likely to lose their place, since alternating lines are colored differently.

Nick Lum, CEO, BeeLine Reader

In addition to color-coding lines of text for easier reading, the extension will also make text clearer. An obstacle struggling readers have is sorting the “extra stuff” from the actual content. BeeLine Reader strips a website article of the fluff and leaves just the text. The extension also includes a setting option for an Open Dyslexic Font, allowing students with dyslexia to read in an adjusted font.

While at the ISTE 2016 Conference in Denver, Colorado this past June, I was so excited to meet the creator of BeeLine Reader, Nick Lum. I had no idea who he was and that he was the one who created BeeLine Reader. As he started explaining BeeLine Reader to me, I told him I already knew about it and showcase it in many of my workshops. He was thrilled to hear that!

How It Works

BeeLine Reader can easily be added to any Chrome browser. Once added, teachers can prompt students to click the BeeLine icon on their Chrome web browser and choose their color scheme before reading long passages of text online.

Teachers should encourage students to use reading-comprehension strategies while using BeeLine Reader, such as making note of keywords, important characters, or making connections to important details. Students should also get in the habit of summarizing each passage they read to ensure they are understating.

BeeLine is also available as an app on an iPhone and an iPad. However, to get the best user experience, use the Chrome browser version. There is also a PDF converter that allows you to convert textbooks in PDF form to the BeeLine Reader format. You can read as much as you want with BeeLine for 30 days. After that, you can use BeeLine up to five times every day for free. If you would like to use it more than that, then you can subscribe to BeeLine Reader Pro for just $10 a year. Additional educational pricing is available on the BeeLine Reader website.

Try It

The potential to increase reading speed and proficiency when using this extension, especially for struggling readers, makes it worth the try. To use it:

1. Add the BeeLine Reader extension to your Chrome browser.
2. Go to DOGO news and select an article to read. If you aren’t familiar with DOGO news, it is a site that has fun articles for kids on current events, science, sports, and more.
3. Click on the BeeLine Reader extension icon located in the upper right side of your Chrome browser.
4. Watch what happens! Feel free to adjust some of settings for better reading.

Conclusion

According to Nick’s research, more than 90 percent of users report an increase in ease of reading when using the tool’s color-gradient feature. Give it a try and judge for yourself. This is a tool that will be a huge help to some students, and it’s worth a shot for helping build reluctant readers’ fluency.

In addition, don’t forget about the TCEA Recommended Chrome App and Extension List if you are looking for more Chrome resources to improve your student’s literacy skills. If you use the BeeLine Reader extension, we would love to hear from you.

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This blog entry was also published at http://tcea.org/blog.

CloudHQ Saves My OneDrive Account @cloudhq

Like many others, I found my Microsoft OneDrive account (5gigs of storage for free) gasping for space earlier this week. I had accidentally saved all my hard work (mostly OneNote notebooks) by accident to a free Microsoft account based off my work account. Now, my "free Microsoft" account was out of space.

I needed a quick way to back up my data from OneDrive (Microsoft account-based) to OneDrive for Business (Office 365 based account). While I tried other solutions like Multcloud.com or just downloading a copy, I found that they didn't work as well as CloudHQ.net!

Thank you, CloudHQ.net, for your help moving documents from OneNote to OneNote for Business!!

Classroom Icebreakers for Back to School

The first day of a new school year can be awkward and nerve-wracking for both teachers and students. Why not break the ice that day (or week) with a few, fun, getting-to-know you activities? Giving your students a chance to share special facts about themselves and learn about their teacher at the same time will help ease first-day jitters. And it helps to build a sense of community in the class, an important requirement as they collaborate with each other throughout the year.

Below are some of my favorite icebreaker activities. The activities are fun and easy. Best of all, they help get the first day of school off to the right start. And they don’t require that students take a big risk by speaking in front of everyone or by revealing something too personal.

Emoji Puzzle

Students these days use emoticons all the time. So why not have an icebreaker activity that incorporates them?  As your students enter the classroom, hand them an emoji puzzle piece that will match one other student in the class. After all the students are in the class, have them walk around the classroom and try to find the other student that has the matching emoji puzzle piece.

Once they have found their match, students can interview each other or quietly talk about themselves. Give them some guiding questions, just in case they get stumped for what to talk about. (Have them share birthdays, their favorite snack food, best song to listen to while studying, etc. Just make sure it’s nothing too personal.) You could repeat this activity each day until every student has talked with every other student. If you would like to see a template, check out this one I created in Google Slides. Simply print it out and cut the emojis into puzzle pieces.

Conversation Starter Stones

Conversation Starter Stones are a fantastic way to help your students get to know one another. In addition, they are cheap and easy to make. Drive to your local dollar store and buy some large glass stones. You can find a pack of about 30 stones for one dollar at the Dollar Tree. Next, get some clear glue and scissors. Cut out the starters individually and paste one on the bottom of each stone so that the writing is visible through the stone. Here is a template of conversation starters I use for the stones. This template was created in Google Drawing, so you can simply add it to your drive, edit it, and add your own topics.

Conversation Starter Stones

As your students enter the class, give them a stone. Next, pair them up with another student and have them discuss the topics on their stones. They could even trade stones to keep the conversation going. For an extension activity, have your students create a Google Slide or Office Sway from their starter that could be presented or shared with the entire class or on their blog. You can see examples of completed Sways using the stones here.

QR Code Icebreaker

QR codes are still everywhere and are so easy to create. As you know, once scanned, a QR code can take you directly to a website or reveal images or clues. For this activity, created by TCEA’s own Peggy Reimers, print the QR codes and cut them into four pieces. Give each student one of the four pieces of the code. Next, have your students find their group based on their category. Once in their group, have your students scan the QR code to reveal if their category word is correct. Lastly, ask each student in the group to follow up with their favorite item in the category, such as favorite color, favorite food, etc.

Two Truths and a Lie Padlet

With the Two Truths and a Lie Padlet icebreaker, you must first create a collaborative Padlet. If you have never used Padlet before, it is an online bulletin board and an easy way to get your students to collaborate with each other online. After you have created your blank Padlet, give your students the link and have them add three sentences about themselves (or their summer vacations). Two of the sentences should be true and one should be a lie. Next, each student (including you, teacher!) gets a chance to share their three sentences while the rest of the class takes turns guessing which one is the lie. Take a look at this sample padlet.

All About Me Google Drawing

All About Me Padlet

The All About Me Google Drawing combines two of my favorite tools, Google Drawing and Padlet. Have your students create a Google Drawing from scratch that will share information about themselves. They can add text, images, and links to the Google Drawing as they record facts such as where they are from, favorite sports, hobbies, etc. Once your students have completed their drawing, have them save it as an image and upload it to a collaborative Padlet. If you would like to see an example, take a look at my All About Me Padlet.

As your prepare for the first day of school, don’t forget to try one of these icebreakers. Giving your students the opportunity to get to know one another on day one will make it easier for them to work together the rest of the year.

As always, we love to hear your feedback. Leave a comment below with some of the icebreakers that have worked well for your students.

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This blog entry was also published at http://tcea.org/blog.

Mix Up Your PowerPoints with a Free Tool

Do you create PowerPoints to deliver your classroom lessons? If so, did you know you can make them even more interactive with Office Mix?

About Office Mix

Office Mix is a free add-in for PowerPoint. It is an easy way to take your PowerPoint presentations or lessons and bring them to life as interactive, online lessons. From recording audio or video of yourself giving a lecture to directly writing in the presentation as you would at your whiteboard to quizzing and sharing, it helps you create interactivity simply.

Getting Started

To install Office Mix:

1. Go to https://mix.office.com/.
2. Click on the red Get Office Mix tab located in the upper right hand corner.
3. Log in in with your Microsoft or your Office 365 account. If you do not have an account, you can easily create a free account.
4. Install Office Mix.

Please note, before you install Office Mix, make sure you are running a recent version of Office 2013, 2016 or O365.

After you install Office Mix, explore its new tab:

1. Open PowerPoint.
2. Explore the tools on the new Mix tab.

 

Things You Can Do Now You Couldn't Do Before

As you explore Office Mix, you’ll notice some of the things that you can now do:

• Insert web pages, videos, polls, and other interactive content into your presentation.
• Record your voice and draw on your slides while you present.
• Record your screen while explaining how to do something.
• Share your Mix online; it plays back on any device.
• Track how people use your Mix.

In addition, Office Mix is a great way to flip your classroom. Check out this video by Microsoft in Education on how you can create an interactive lesson that students can review at home. This will allow you to reserve limited class time for group discussions or for focusing on the more difficult material.

A Challenge

If you have never used Office Mix before, I challenge you to give it a try. If you want to see some examples first, there are quite a few on the Gallery.

Drawing to Learn on an iPad

In a recent workshop on integrating iPads into the classroom, I talked about the power of using drawings and illustrations to help students master both simple and complex concepts. When I think back to my time in school, I never took an art class, which is where most drawing activities would occur. However, today, drawing can be incorporated into any subject area. 

The Benefits of Incorporating Drawing into Your Classroom

There are so many benefits of incorporating drawing or sketching in your classroom. For example, it helps:

• Develop students’ visual literacy skills
• Develop students’ observation skills
• Encourage creativity
• Reveal student understandings and misconceptions
• Make connections between observations and ideas

iPad Drawing Activities

During the workshop, we used the free Doodle Buddy app in order to participate in some of the drawing activities. Any iPad drawing app can be used; however, the Doodle Buddy app is a favorite among the TCEA Professional Development department. (Peggy Reimers explains her love for Doodle Buddy in the Get Your Picasso On blog entry.)

One activity we did centered around drawing conclusions. The participants in the workshop were to gather all available information as I read to them, reflect on past experience or knowledge to see if there was a connection with the present information, make inferences, and use the sum of what they knew to make a judgment about the situation. They then drew their conclusions using the Doodle Buddy app.

I created “App-Tasktic” cards for each of our activities, which contained the teacher lesson, as well as the student activity. You can view the sample cards of the drawing conclusions activity here. I think these will spark other activity ideas for you.

iPad Drawing Apps

As I mentioned earlier, Doodle Buddy isn’t the only app you can use. There are several iOS apps that can be used to incorporate sketching or drawing in the classroom. Below are a few:

• Draw Free
• You Doodle – Draw on Photos
• Hello Crayons
• Draw for iPad
• Paper 53
• Bamboo Paper
• Sketch Book Express
• Kids Doodle
• Draw Your Stories
• Draw in 3D

What are some lesson ideas for your classroom that incorporate drawing apps? Please share in the comments below.

3-2-1 Action! Screencasting Tools

Screencasting is an easy way of making recordings in your classroom. Whether your students create screencasts for project-based learning or you create them for flipped learning, you'll love these ideas and tools for enhancing your teaching.

Ways Teachers Can Use Screencasting

There are many ways teachers can utilize screencasting in the classroom. Check out a few below:

• Flip your classroom - Create content videos for your students
• Demonstrate how to complete homework
• Create training videos for staff or students
• Explain to your sub what the students are to do for the day
• Introduce material if you are out; your sub can show it
• Make screencasts of your student’s presentations in order to showcase them
• Create screencasts for parents about a big upcoming student project

Ways Students Can Use Screencasting

Likewise, there are many ways students can utilize screencasting in the classroom. For example:

• Show understanding of taught material
• Teach others how to do something
• Show off work
• Illustrate concepts or solve problems
• Create voice-over images or screencasts that tell a story

 Ways Administrators Can Use Screencasting

Screencasting isn’t just for teachers and students. Administrators can utilize it too. This would be a great way to model technology use as well as show support of technology. Some ideas include:

• Share information with parents
• Flip faculty meetings
• Explain a concept to your staff
• Give school updates

 Screencasting Tools

There are many good screencasting tools available today. Below are just a few of my favorites:

• Jing - Jing is free, but you must download the software to your computer. It can record up to five minutes at a time. You have the option to either upload the finished screencast to screencast.com or download your video to your computer.  Jing captures still images and video.
• Screencast-O-Matic - This tool is free and you can either download the software or record directly from their website. You can record up to 15 minutes at a time and it allows a webcam picture in the recording. The videos are saved in either MP4, FLV, or AVI format or can be directly uploaded to YouTube.
• Snagit Chrome Extension - While the desktop version of the Snagit program is not free (unless you are a Google Certified Trainer), the Chrome extension is. The extension allows you to capture great-looking screencasts with just a few clicks.
• Screencastify Chrome Extension - Screencastify is a simple video screen capture extension for Chrome. Just press record and the content of your tab, webcam, or desktop is recorded.

Just Try It

Why not give screencasting a try? Your screencasts don’t have to be very long or perfect. It is actually recommended that you keep them as short as possible and only stick to one subject per screencast. So create one today!

Express Yourself with Office Sway

At the upcoming Tots and Technology conference, I will be presenting on Office Sway. Office Sway is a presentation program that allows users to combine text and media to create captivating presentations and was released by Microsoft in August 2015.

The purpose of Sway is to convey concepts quickly, easily, and clearly. It is primarily used for presenting ideas onscreen, such as tutorials, topic introductions, and interactive reports. Sways are stored on Microsoft's servers and are tied to the user's Microsoft account.

A Sway is composed of multiple cards that are combined into a storyline. Cards are containers that hold text, images, and videos. You can combine cards into groups. A collection of cards makes up the storyline.

Accessing Office Sway

To access Office Sway:

1. Go to Sway.com.
2. Login in with your Microsoft or Office 365 account. If you do not have an account, you can easily create a free account.

There is also an app for Office Sway for iPhones and iPads. The app can be found here.

When to Use Office Sway

There are many instances in which you might want to use Sway. Below are just a few:

• When creating media-rich content - After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
• When you want your reader to interact with content - Sway has the ability to include live content, such as tweets and embedded sites from numerous sources that the user can interact with, including Google maps and numerous other sites. See a list here.
• When you want to focus on content rather than formatting - You can choose from numerous canned designs, fonts, and navigation patterns or you can have Sway remix layouts for you.
• When a document is not required - Sways can be shared, but not exported.
• When you want to create tutorials, newsletters, or interactive reports

Office Sway in the Classroom and Beyond

There are many ways in which you can use Office Sway in the classroom, as well as for personal productivity. Take a look at a few examples below:

• Reimagine class lessons
• Recap class projects
• Provide supplemental material for parents
• Provide new accessible storytelling tools to students
• School projects
• Class reports
• Personal portfolios

Give It a Try

If you have never used Office Sway before, I challenge you to give it a try. Many tutorials exist, from how to create a newsletter and a digital story to how to create tutorials and presentations.

The Flipped Side of Professional Development

I am very honored to be presenting at the upcoming ISTE conference in June. I will be presenting on ways in which you can flip your professional development. As we all know, there are many challenges to traditional professional development, such as large group instruction with a one-size-fits-all type of delivery. This is why many school districts are turning to the flipped model for their professional development.

Just like the flipped classroom model, flipped professional development involves teachers reviewing resources or watching videos ahead of the designated meeting time. This would then allow the PD time together to be spent in more meaningful ways. Meeting time could turn into a discussion about a topic or planning time with colleagues.

Benefits of Flipping PD

There are many benefits of flipping professional development, for both teachers as well as staff development facilitators. Below are a few:

• Teachers can learn at their own pace.
• Teachers have the opportunity to review the material over and over again, if they need or want to.
• Teachers are engaged and can take ownership of their own learning.
• Facilitators can spend more time supporting teachers with practice.
• Facilitators can be involved with teacher learning rather than lecture.

Some things I will be sharing in my presentation include:

• Steps for getting started with flipping your professional development
• Examples of how schools are flipping professional development
• Digital tools that can help you move your content online.

The ISTE conference will be held in Denver, Colorado on June 26-29, 2016. I hope to see you there!