Chrome Extensions for Teachers and Students

 I have several Chrome Extensions that I have downloaded and use, but these are three of my favorite Chrome Extensions!  Do you have a favorite?  Share them with us!

SnagIt

I am a big fan of SnagIt. You can clip images and take videos from within your browser.  Everything you do saves automatically to Google Drive.  Want more information on SnagIt, check out the resources below.

~ SnagIt for Chrome

~ screencasting with SnagIt

MoveIt

MoveIt is a great resource for teachers to get kids up and moving!  MoveIt provides quick movement breaks on the intervals you select. The movements include pushups, arm rotations, and wall sits.

 

Clearly

Clearly is part of EverNote.  Clearly allows the user to remove the "extra stuff" on a website for an easier read. You can also print out the easier read. This is a great resource for teachers who want to use current web articles, but want the students to focus on the article and not the side ads.

What is your favorite Chrome Extension?

 

The Importance of the Keyword

Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to work with a group of 4th graders start their research on various civil leaders. The students came to me with their questions and were ready to find the answers.

The first group was researching Abraham Lincoln, so I asked them what would be a good keyword to start off with, and they said (of course) Abraham Lincoln.

 

We looked at their first question, which was where/when was Abraham Lincoln born, and the students began to look around the screen for the answer. The keyword they selected wasn't good enough. So we brainstormed and the students decided to use Abraham Lincoln and the word born.

 

The students were amazed to see the information they needed just appear on the screen. We continued searching and exploring various keyword combinations.  The basic information was easy to locate, birthdate, birth place, and family. Things like personality traits and life obstacles were not so easy. Thankful this was not a one day lesson! 

One of my goals was for the students to gain a better understanding of just how important keywords can be when you are looking up information online. So why is this important? Without the right keywords, you may never find the information you need. Students need to learn how to take a large amounts of information and sort through it to find just what they need.  Had the students stuck with the first search "Abraham Lincoln", we would have had a too much information to sort through.

If your personal searching skills are lacking, don't worry there is a great collections of resources for you to use with your students (and yourself).

Google's Search Education

Google provides great resources to teachers to use in the classroom! Be sure to click on the Lesson Plans and Activities area. These lessons are great for all grade levels and can be taught over multiple sessions if needed.

Teaching Channel

Do a search for "research skills". You will find a variety of videos that show how teachers are facilitating activities with students on things like keyword selection and website selection.

Read*Write*Think
You can find some great lessons and activities within the International Reading Association's website Read*Write*Think. Be sure to search the learning objective "inquiry/research".

These are not the only three resources, but they are a great place to start!

Do you use a great resource on keyword searches? If so, share it with us!

the power of Google Drive

I was able to witness something awesome all because of my PLC on Twitter!

Around 1:00pm on March 20th, I saw this tweet come across my screen.

I had to click on the link and help show this class how Google Docs (now Google Drive) works! What I saw amazed me!

power_of_Google_Drive (click to see the video)

That one minute video is powerful! It shows how people from around the world can easily collaborate together on a single document. So many people were trying to access the document at one time, that some had to wait to comment because of the collaboration limits.

The class watching all of this unfold was a class of third graders .. YES THIRD GRADERS! These students got to see not only how multiple people can collaborate on a single document, but how awesome a PLC can be!

So, how can this collaboration benefit my classroom? The word "collaboration" is mentioned in the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts 14 times. The word "collaborate" is mentioned nine times.

Allowing your students to work on presentations and documents on Google Drive provides them the means to work collaboratively with other students - other students in the classroom, school, district, state, country, world! That is powerful!

This experience also benefited the teachers and professional who participated in this project. We were able to grow our PLC! Now I have more experts that I can learn from on a daily basis.

Do you use Google Drive? Talk about it! Share your experiences!