Instructional Tech Talk
December 4, 2015
Helpful Extensions on Student Chromebooks
When students access the Chrome browser on a Chromebook, they will see small icons for extensions. These extensions add special functions to the web experience. South Redford's student accounts are pre-loaded with Read Comfortably, Select and Speak, Google Dictionary and Share to Classroom. If you discover an extension in the Chrome Web Store that you'd like added to student accounts, contact me and we can discuss having it pushed out to all students instead of each child manually adding it. Upper elementary teachers may find it appropriate to teach students about adding these extensions themselves. However, be aware that the Chrome Web Store includes games and other items that you may want to restrict students from loading themselves.
Readability
This Chrome extension disables web page clutter and noise which makes reading web pages easier. Users can create a "read later" personal reading list.
Select and Speak
Selected text will be read aloud to students using this text-to-speech extension. Multiple languages are available.
Share to Google Classroom
Teachers use this to push websites out automatically to student Chromebooks. A Google Classroom must be configured to access this feature.
Inappropriate Images Online...Oh My!
Google image searches can return surprising or inappropriate photos at times. The website www.photosforclass.com can help students avoid this. It also provides an opportunity to talk with students about copyrighted material. All of the photos on the site are licensed by Creative Commons for public use.
The Hour of Code Global Event Begins December 7th
Star Wars and Frozen are just a few of the themes likely to be extremely popular this year. The following links can help you get your students coding. Everything is free and you don't need an ounce of coding knowledge yourself to get them started.
Code.org How-to Guide: https://hourofcode.com/us/how-to
Made with Code: https://www.madewithcode.com/
4th graders enjoyed helping teach their 1st grade buddies how to create a student profile on a Chromebook for the first time.
A 2nd grade class tried Google's voice typing for the first time. We found it to be more accurate when used by small groups instead of the whole class accessing it at the same time.
Michelle Mack
Instructional Technology Coach
Email: michelle.mack@southredford.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/southredford.net/srsd-tech-connection/
Location: South Redford School District, Redford Charter Township, MI, United States
Phone: 313-535-4000