The worksheet - the old, but reliable, teaching material that we all know and love. The worksheet has been maligned in recent years as we transform our classrooms into differentiated and dynamic student-centered learning spaces for the 21st century. The paper-and-pencil and one-size-fits-all paradigms of worksheets are outdated. However, the underlying concept of worksheets is still valid. We just need to adapt it to our modern world, which leads me to Wizer - an educational service that enables teachers to create and share interactive and dynamic digital worksheets. Let me give you a rundown of its features.
First, the service is free for teachers. Although there are premium levels a teacher or school can purchase to gain access to additional features, the free version is still very powerful. Teachers can create and share digital worksheets in which they can embed video, audio, images, links to websites, and much more. Additionally, Wizer has a gigantic gallery of worksheets that other teachers have created. You can search these by grade and subject, and all of them are free to use.
Second, there is a nice variety of question types to use: open response, multiple choice, fill in the blank, fill in the image, matching, completing a table, etc.
Third, there are many creative themes and backgrounds to choose from to make a visually appealing and fun digital worksheet.
Finally, Wizer offers automatic grading of worksheets, and it integrates with LMS, including Google Classroom. You can create a worksheet, and then send it to your students in Google Classroom in only a few clicks.
The premium versions offer more features, such as text-to-speech, differentiation, school repositories for all teachers to collaborate, administrative controls, analytics and reports, and intervention alerts.
To learn more about this great tool, check out these links:
About Wizer
Wizer FAQ
Wizer Blog
Wizer Video Tutorials
January 25, 2017
January 12, 2017
How to Create and Use Gmail Groups
In a school or business, there are always certain groups of people we email on a regular basis. Typing in each recipient in the To field (and even remembering all the people you want to include) can be tedious and time-consuming. Having a ready-made email group makes the sending and organizing of emails faster and easier.
I created email groups for each grade level in my school, so we could have organized and targeted conversations about technology. I also created an email group for our Technology Committee to keep those messages together. Email groups can be handy for teachers as they can create groups for parents, committees, courses, extracurricular activities, etc. Below are screenshots and instructions on how to do this yourself in Gmail.
First, click the down arrow next to "Mail", and then click on "Contacts".
Next, click on "New Group...", and then name the group.
Now, you can add people to the group. Click the button with the plus sign, and then type in the email addresses of the people you want in the group. When you've included all of them, click "Add".
On the Contacts page, you can select a group to email. Or you can return to the Mail page (click the arrow next to Contacts), compose a new email, and type the name of the group in the To field.
Hopefully, this makes all your emailing faster, easier, and more organized!
I created email groups for each grade level in my school, so we could have organized and targeted conversations about technology. I also created an email group for our Technology Committee to keep those messages together. Email groups can be handy for teachers as they can create groups for parents, committees, courses, extracurricular activities, etc. Below are screenshots and instructions on how to do this yourself in Gmail.
First, click the down arrow next to "Mail", and then click on "Contacts".
Next, click on "New Group...", and then name the group.
Now, you can add people to the group. Click the button with the plus sign, and then type in the email addresses of the people you want in the group. When you've included all of them, click "Add".
On the Contacts page, you can select a group to email. Or you can return to the Mail page (click the arrow next to Contacts), compose a new email, and type the name of the group in the To field.
Hopefully, this makes all your emailing faster, easier, and more organized!
January 6, 2017
How to Use Google Image Search
Finding the right image can work wonders for a presentation, document, or website. Using Google Search to find the right one can leave you with thousands to choose from, which can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Just like with using Google Search to find websites or publications, there are filtering tools you can use to fine tune your search and quickly find the right image.
Click on Tools, and several filter drop-down menus appear. The first lets you filter by the size or dimensions of an image. You can even specify a particular size by clicking on "Exactly...".
The next one filters by color. For example, I could filter by yellow if I wanted to find yellow foliage. The transparent option is very handy because these images have no background, so you can seamlessly integrate it into anything you want. Images with no background look slick when you add them to something.
The Type filter allows you to narrow your search by the following attributes in this screenshot:
The next filter gives you the ability to find images from a certain period of time. You can even set a custom range if you know of an exact time-span from which you want images.
The next one might be the most important since it identifies if you can legally reuse and/or modify an image. This filter is especially important to students who must maintain standards of digital citizenship and avoid plagiarism. The first two filters apply to commercial use. You can reuse without modifying the image, or you can reuse and modify the image. The last two filters apply to noncommercial use.
Now, you can find the right image without worrying about being sued!
Click on Tools, and several filter drop-down menus appear. The first lets you filter by the size or dimensions of an image. You can even specify a particular size by clicking on "Exactly...".
The next one filters by color. For example, I could filter by yellow if I wanted to find yellow foliage. The transparent option is very handy because these images have no background, so you can seamlessly integrate it into anything you want. Images with no background look slick when you add them to something.
The Type filter allows you to narrow your search by the following attributes in this screenshot:
The next filter gives you the ability to find images from a certain period of time. You can even set a custom range if you know of an exact time-span from which you want images.
The next one might be the most important since it identifies if you can legally reuse and/or modify an image. This filter is especially important to students who must maintain standards of digital citizenship and avoid plagiarism. The first two filters apply to commercial use. You can reuse without modifying the image, or you can reuse and modify the image. The last two filters apply to noncommercial use.
Now, you can find the right image without worrying about being sued!
December 20, 2016
Better Bookmarks
The Internet abounds with great resources and materials for teachers. Thus, bookmarks have become a teacher's very close, if not best, friend. However, teachers end up having lots and lots of these friends, and they can only fit so many on the always-visible bookmarks bar that runs under the URL bar in the browser. Once that bookmarks bar fills up, anything you subsequently bookmark will be added to a drop-down menu at the end of the bar. People have come to me asking where their new bookmarks went. Here is where you need to look:
Click on that double arrow to bring up the list of bookmarks. That's where new bookmarks will go when the bar is full. You can drag and drop them into the bookmarks bar. Also, you can drag and drop the ones already in your bookmarks bar to rearrange them. Still, this doesn't solve the problem of running out of room for bookmarks in the bar. Here is a solution.
Much like with icons on your computer desktop, smartphone, or tablet, you really don't need the text next to a bookmark to know what it is. Almost every website uses favicons (a portmanteau of favorite and icon), which are the icons you see in the bookmarks bar. Most are instantaneously recognizable, such as the one I'll use for an example: IXL. You can edit the bookmark to delete the text, so all you have is only the favicon. This will allow you to store many more bookmarks in the readily accessible bar. Here's how to do it.
1. Right click on the bookmark.
2. Click "Edit..."
3. Delete the text in the "Name" box.
4. Click "Save" at the bottom of that window. This is what IXL will look like without text next to it. QwertyTown would just have the QT favicon if you did the same for that one.
Voila! Now, you can keep more of your bookmarks right where they're easy to see and access!
Click on that double arrow to bring up the list of bookmarks. That's where new bookmarks will go when the bar is full. You can drag and drop them into the bookmarks bar. Also, you can drag and drop the ones already in your bookmarks bar to rearrange them. Still, this doesn't solve the problem of running out of room for bookmarks in the bar. Here is a solution.
Much like with icons on your computer desktop, smartphone, or tablet, you really don't need the text next to a bookmark to know what it is. Almost every website uses favicons (a portmanteau of favorite and icon), which are the icons you see in the bookmarks bar. Most are instantaneously recognizable, such as the one I'll use for an example: IXL. You can edit the bookmark to delete the text, so all you have is only the favicon. This will allow you to store many more bookmarks in the readily accessible bar. Here's how to do it.
1. Right click on the bookmark.
2. Click "Edit..."
3. Delete the text in the "Name" box.
4. Click "Save" at the bottom of that window. This is what IXL will look like without text next to it. QwertyTown would just have the QT favicon if you did the same for that one.
Voila! Now, you can keep more of your bookmarks right where they're easy to see and access!
December 13, 2016
Sharing is Caring with the Google Classroom Extension
Almost any teacher understands the struggle of trying to get all the students in a class onto a specific website or other Internet resource at the same time. Students may type the website address incorrectly. They may accidentally close it and don't know how to get back to it. They may just not even go to it in the first place. We have high speed Internet now, but trying to share Internet content with students in the classroom in real time can take a long time. Alas, there is a better way!
Meet the Share to Google Classroom Chrome Extension. With this extension, you can push (send) something on the Internet to each of your students' screens instantly. If you want them to see a specific website or video on the Internet, then simply use this extension to push it to their screen. No hassle, no struggle, no time wasted. Here's what it looks like:
Once the extension is installed in Chrome, click on its icon (looks like Google Classroom logo). The above will appear, and you can push whatever website you're currently on to your students. That website will open in a new window on their computers. There are also other options available under the extension you can explore. Students should have this extension installed on their computers as well. Students can also push Internet content to the teacher too.
Here's how to install it in Chrome:
1. Open Chrome and click this link.
2. Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3. The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!
Now, you can instantly share anything on the Internet with your students in real time without any hassle because, as we all know, sharing is caring!
Meet the Share to Google Classroom Chrome Extension. With this extension, you can push (send) something on the Internet to each of your students' screens instantly. If you want them to see a specific website or video on the Internet, then simply use this extension to push it to their screen. No hassle, no struggle, no time wasted. Here's what it looks like:
Once the extension is installed in Chrome, click on its icon (looks like Google Classroom logo). The above will appear, and you can push whatever website you're currently on to your students. That website will open in a new window on their computers. There are also other options available under the extension you can explore. Students should have this extension installed on their computers as well. Students can also push Internet content to the teacher too.
Here's how to install it in Chrome:
1. Open Chrome and click this link.
2. Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3. The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!
Now, you can instantly share anything on the Internet with your students in real time without any hassle because, as we all know, sharing is caring!
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