TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jul 26, 2020
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
Twitter Chat: Using Technology to Support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): Accessibility (9), twitterchatarchive (173)
In the Classroom
Find resources and information about how to use tech tools to support universal design for learning (UDL) principles. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for resources related to school to home communication.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Twitter Chat: Tech Tools for Accessibility - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): climate (80), professional development (394), Special Needs (53), twitterchatarchive (173)
In the Classroom
Find resources and explore ways to provide accessibility to learning for all learners. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to assistive technology and inclusion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sticky Notes: Just Popped Up! - Ukiv
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): brainstorming (16), note taking (34), organizational skills (90)
In the Classroom
Make notes for conferences, lab materials, books needed, or even parent conferences on any web page. Add sticky notes to any webpage or PDF shared with students on your interactive whiteboard to remind them of the necessary information or as a list of important items to watch for when viewing a page. Create a list of vocabulary words from any website as you view it together. Share this extension for students to use on their device for note-taking.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Loom - Vinay Hiremath
Grades
K to 12tag(s): video (257)
In the Classroom
Download and install Loom on classroom computers using Chrome. Have students make screen recordings to share how to use websites or software with their peers. Enhance learning by asking students to create a recording to demonstrate where to find information on a website, or point out specific areas of difficulty when working on a computer. Share a link to videos you create on your website to demonstrate specific instructions on finding information on the computer or how to get started on a computer game. Although only available in Chrome at the time of this review, Loom states that it is working on making the download available for other browsers in the future.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Text Mode - omarr.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): media literacy (102), multilingual (66), reading comprehension (143)
In the Classroom
Install Text Mode on all classroom computers for use throughout the year. Turn distracting images off when sharing web pages with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard to help students focus on content. Use this tool in technology training with students to share how images, videos, and ads change the look of web content. Share how adding images helps viewers understand the content. Text Mode is excellent for use with ESL/ELL and special education students as a method for focusing. Share web pages with images to help students get the big picture, then remove images to deliver and understand the content offered.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Skimcast - Bill Hollingsworth
Grades
5 to 8tag(s): multilingual (66), note taking (34), reading strategies (98), summarizing (22)
In the Classroom
Skimcast would be the perfect tool to show students how to take notes for a report or speech or create a study guide during, or at the end of a unit of study. Work together as a class and read the sentences that are just the relevant facts. Then show students how to pull out just the important words - deleting all prepositions, articles, and connector words. Resource teachers can use Skimcast to make reading from core classes shorter and easier for their students. ESL/ELL teachers can use this tool to make the text more understandable to limited English speakers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ZenPen - Tim Holman
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): editing (89), process writing (38), proofreading (21), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Use this simple tool with an interactive whiteboard or projector to demonstrate different writing techniques without any distractions. Create and save student writing projects such as short stories, poems, and reports. Create study guides before tests or directions for assignments. Have students write a progressive story where they each add a portion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Mighty - Mike Porath
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): disabilities (29), diseases (66)
In the Classroom
Share The Mighty with parents and even older students as a resource for finding positive news about those with disabilities. Read these stories together on your projector or interactive whiteboard to teach about tolerance and acceptance of differences. Encourage parents and students to submit their own story of inspiration to the site. Search for articles dealing with challenges your students face to read and discuss together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rewordify - Neil M. Goldman
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): multilingual (66), reading comprehension (143), vocabulary (237), vocabulary development (90)
In the Classroom
This site is a must for saving and bookmarking for classroom use! Start the school year out by posting the link to Rewordify on your class website and parent newsletter for student and parent access from home. Be sure to share with learning support and ENL/ELL teachers and students. Save a link to Rewordify on classroom computers for students to easily paste text from any website to read in a simpler format. Copy and paste any difficult text into Rewordify and display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to enhance student understanding or show meaning in complex texts. Have students guess meanings from context clues in the more complex version, then share the "rewordified" view to test their guesses. Have students create a word cloud of difficult words identified using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Have students take a screen shot of passages that have been "rewordified" to share and discuss.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quietube - STML
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (128), safety (71), video (257)
In the Classroom
Share "distraction-free" videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share the URL for the clearer video on your class website or in assignments. Removing the comments and advertisements can make for a much better viewing experience. This is especially true of your ADD, autistic, unfocused gifted, or other special needs students. Less distraction = better learning experience for all.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Symbaloo EDU - Symbaloo BV
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bookmarks (47), curation (35), DAT device agnostic tool (143), gamification (74)
In the Classroom
Be sure to know the URL's of the resources you are planning to share or have them open in other tabs to copy/paste. To share you must be able to copy/paste URLs (web addresses). Have older students create their own webmixes, but this resource is best used as a teacher sharing tool for sharing links, RSS feeds, and other resources for students to use in specific projects or as general course links. If shared with the world, the webmix can be viewed by others and is public.Create a webmix of the most used sites for your class and first demonstrate how the webmix works on a projector or interactive whiteboard if you have special instructions or color coding for its use. Some examples include links to copyright free images, online textbooks, or online tools such as Google Drive/Docs, Google Drawings, Prezi, and more. Link to teacher web pages, webquests, resource sites for your subject, and any other resource that is helpful for students. Consider creating a login for the whole class to update with suggestions from class members. Use this AS your class website. Color code the tiles on a webmix for younger, non-reader, or ESL/ELL students. For example, color each subject differently from the others. Differentiate by color coding varying levels of skills practice at a classroom computer center or to distinguish homework practice sites from in-class sites. Differentiate difficulty levels using the various colors enabling you to list resources for both your learning support students and gifted students and all in between. Use color to organize tools for different projects or individual students. You may want to share Symbaloo EDU with parents at Back to School Night and the color-coding system for differentiation. This will help parents (and students) find what sites are ideal for their levels. Be sure to link or embed your webmix on a computer center in your room for easy access. Share a review site webmix for parents and students to access at home before tests, as well. Team up with other teachers in your subject/grade to create chapter by chapter webmixes for all your students. If you are just starting with Symbaloo, this is a simple way to differentiate, however, Symbaloo now has a Lesson Plans tool (also called Learning Paths), reviewed here, to help you differentiate for individual or groups of students.
Challenge your gifted students to curate and collaborate on their own webmixes as a curriculum extension activity on topics such as climate change or pros and cons of genetically engineered food. They can use color coding to sort sites by bias (or neutrality) as well as to group subtopics under the overall theme. Use the student-made webmixes with other students to raise the overall level of discussion in your class or as an extra credit challenge. If you embed the webmix in a class wiki, all students can respond with questions and comments for the gifted students to moderate and reply, creating a student-led community of learners.
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