Wizer.me Digital Worksheets & Plickers App

Technology Tip of the Week: Wizer.me

Wizer is a free online tool where teachers can create interactive online activities for students.  These activities can include videos, links, images & more!  In addition, the activities can have embedded assessment questions.  The question types include matching, fill in the blank, open response, label an image, & more! When logged in, the teacher can see each students response and even give feedback to students.

Wizer integrates well with Google Classroom, so you can assign the activities through Google Classroom to your students. 

Wizer includes a public gallery activities for language arts, math science, & social studies that have already been created by teachers.  

Get started today! http://app.wizer.me/ 

Support: 

• Free Tech For Teachers Blogpost
• Wizer.me on Twitter

App of the Week: Plickers 

App Store Link:

• Plickers  

Description:

Plickers is a multiple choice clicker made of paper. This tool requires the teachers to have a device but students do not need devices. Each student is assigned a paper Plicker card. Plickers can be used for quick checks for understanding to know whether your students are understanding big concepts and mastering key skills.

Integration Ideas:

• Plickers can be used as an exit ticket to check for understanding 

• Plickers can be used for instant questions for immediate feedback 

• Plickers can be used for a short quiz that's instantly graded 

Support:

• Plickers Tutorial

• More About Plickers

Thinglink

Technology Tip of the Week: Thinglink

Thinglink makes images come to life with video and text. It is a unique way to turn an image into something interactive, making it an engaging and useful resource for students. There is a free basic educator version that will allow teachers to add students from their class.

App of the Week: Thinglink

App Store Link:

Click here to download Thinglink

Examples:

• Community Helpers
• Desert
• Farm

Integration Ideas:

• Thinglink can be used to share videos and information on a common topic to introduce new content. A Thinglink can easily be added to a teacher website making it easily accessible for students and parents. 
• Students can use to create interactive reports.
• Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Thinglink

Support:

• Thinglink Tutorial
• Create a Thinglink for EDU

Speak It Chrome Extension & Dragon Dictation

Technology Tip of the Week: SpeakIt Chrome Extension & iSpeech App

The Google Chrome browser has a wonderful extension that will allow readers to hear the text they are trying to read on a web page. SpeakIt converts any highlighted text into speech. This allows readers of all ages to have any length of text read to them. SpeakIt reads selected text using Text-to-Speech technology with language auto-detection. It can read text in more than 50 languages.

How this works: 

• First select the text you want it to read.
• Then click the icon to start listening.
• When it is ready to read, the number of sentences is shown on the icon.

The extension can be loaded under a teacher or student login for use. Contact your campus DLS for more information and/or help using this extension.

App of the Week: iSpeech

App Store Link:

Click here to download iSpeech

Description:

iSpeech allows users to convert text to speech, convert documents to speech, convert web content to speech, or convert blogs to speech. iSpeech text to speech allows readers to "Read with their Ears" allowing students and adults more time to process in a way that suits their learning style. iSpeech simple online text to speech software tool supports over 20 languages.

Examples:

• SpeakIt Example 1
• SpeakIt Example 2
• iSpeech

Integration Ideas:

SpeakIt and iSpeech can be used across all content areas where students need to have words, sentences, and entire paragraphs read to them. Research projects are happening in many content areas at this time of the year. These two resources work well for students who need to hear what they are reading to help build meaning.

Support:

• SpeakIt Chrome Extension
• iSpeech

Free Apps for iOS

Technology Tip of the Week: Free Apps for iOS

Every day there are certain apps that are FREE in the Apple App Store.  Purchasing an app on the free day, means that you own it, even if the price changes.  

There are many websites and apps that will help you find the free apps of the day. 

AppsGoneFree by App Advice is a great way to see which apps are free each day. Click here to visit the AppsGoneFree website.  

App of the Week: Apps Gone Free

App Store Link:

• Click here to download the Apps Gone Free App  

Description:

• Lists some apps that are free each day 
• Detailed descriptions of each app
• Click to go directly to that app in the app store