Tab Scissors and Tab Glue

Tab Scissors and Tab Glue are 2 of my FAVORITE extensions. These 2 extensions go hand-in-hand and are useful for a variety of reasons.

 
Tab Scissors lets you separate 2 tabs within one Google Chrome browser window. Tab Scissors splits the tabs into 2 smaller, equal sized windows allowing you to compare information side-by-side. The extension separates your window at the active tab and the one to its immediate left. If you have additional tabs open, the ones on the left stay in the left window and the ones on the right stay in the right window.

Tab Glue allows you to quickly put all of your tabs back together, into one large window. Your tabs remain in their original order. Tab Glue simply works in the reverse of Tab Scissors.

Otter Voice Meeting Notes

Technology is improving everyday and it seems like nothing is improving faster than speech to text.  AISence Inc. is a startup on a mission to make voice conversations more valuable for everyone.

AISence has created a program called Otter, that will now record and take meeting notes for you in real-time.  Otter helps you capture and manage verbal communication through meetings, video conferences, school lectures, and other important conversations.

There is a free version of Otter and a Premium version.  With the free version you get 600 minutes of transcription every month and the plan does not expire.  The Premium plan offers 6,000 minutes per month.

Download Otter Voice Meeting Notes for:

Android  (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aisense.otter)

iOS  (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/otter-ai/id1276437113?ls=1)

Or, create an account in your Google Chrome browser at otter.ai.

To learn more about Otter go to otter.ai.

Office Lens

Microsoft has another new tool I would like to share this week, Office Lens.
According to the website "Office Lens is the new camera built into OneNote for iPad or iPhone that lets you take pictures of whiteboards or printed documents, then enhances your photo by cropping, sharpening, and straightening it, so it looks almost like a scanned image. Your picture is added to your note so you can retrieve it later."

From within OneNote you can use Office Lens by following the simple instructions here
https://tinyurl.com/uwrldwr.

Office Lens is also available as a stand alone PDF scanning app for Android and iOS.

Installing Google Extensions, Apps and Add-ons

Google has a variety of "add-on" features, many of which are free. They have Google Extensions, Google Apps and Google Add-ons. I review a number of these great features as a part of this Blog. Attached below are instructions for how to add these wonderful features for use in your Google browser or with the G-Suite of applications.

Install a Google Extension or Google App 

(https://tinyurl.com/y4vpgjpd)

Install a Google Add-on 
(https://tinyurl.com/y5xld2bh)

Accessibility at a Glance

Microsoft has created a YouTube channel video series called Accessibility at a Glance.

Accessibility at a Glance  (https://tinyurl.com/y2a9qz7y) is a series of short videos built to help you learn how to create an inclusive digital experience for people with disabilities.  While many of the videos highlight Microsoft's built in accessibility features, there are a couple of sub-series, like Inclusive Interviewing, that contain great, universal information that can benefit everyone.   

Free Audiobooks for Teens is back, again!

Overdrive has paired with SYNC to offer 14 weeks of Free Audiobooks for Teens for the third year in a row!

Individuals will have the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 25th and running through August 1st!
 

You can register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Listen to the books by downloading the Overdrive app (https://rebrand.ly/overdrive).  The app is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

Check out the SUMMER 2019 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://www.audiobooksync.com/2019-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.

This is a great opportunity to provide some fun summer reading for our students!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For younger students, check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)

Kiddle

Kiddle (https://www.kiddle.co/)  is a kid friendly, safe search engine powered by Google Safe Search (but is not affiliated with Google Inc).  Kiddle search results satisfy family friendly requirements, such as filtering out explicit or deceptive content. The search results are kid-oriented, sites and pages are written specifically for kids.  Kiddle has safe, trusted sites that are not written specifically for kids, but that have content written in language that is easy for kids to understand.  

Kiddle makes scanning through most results easier by providing big thumbnails.  Big thumbnails are great visual cues that helps differentiate between results and help more easily locate the results you are looking for.  Kiddle uses a slightly larger font than the standard Google search engine does which also helps with readability of results.

Kiddle does not collect any personally identifiable information and logs are deleted every 24 hours. 

Next time your class is doing research have them use https://www.kiddle.co/ as a safer, more kid friendly search engine.

EDU in 90

Google for Education has created a video series called EDU in 90.  Each episode is under 4 minutes in length and focuses on product updates, new programs, and helpful resources for the classroom.   New episodes are released three times a month and are important topics for educators, administrators, and school leaders.

The videos are available on the Google for Education YouTube Channel (https://goo.gl/HzLhdx).

Subscribe to the Google for Education YouTube channel so don't miss an episode!

InsertLearning

InsertLearning (https://goo.gl/wpKi1a) is a Google Extension that lets you transform any webpage into an interactive lesson.  You can highlight text, insert post-its, ask questions, insert videos and so much more.  It also integrates with Google Classroom directly from the Toolbar.

This extension was designed by two high school teachers who were looking for a way to let teachers turn the internet into interactive learning experiences for their students.  

Download the Google Extension and go through the Tutorial today!

QR Codes

What is a QR code?  

QR stands for Quick Response.  According to Wikipedia, a QR code is  "a specific matrix bar code (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR bar code readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL, or other data."

QR Codes have a large number of educational options available through the platform.  It can be a great way to share information with your student as well as an interactive way for students to complete assignments.  

Below is a link to a YouTube video on how to create Audio QR codes for classroom use.  
Creat Audio QR Codes (http://bit.ly/audioqrcodevideo)

The following link contains some fun math techniques and strategies using QR codes.
Math QR Codes (https://goo.gl/iMny4a)
Check out the sites and explore the use of QR Codes for your classroom use.

Finance Activities for the Classroom

Learning money skills can be difficult for some students. I am continually looking for ways to help teachers teach money skills to their students, in meaningful and entertaining ways.

Practical Money Skills (practicalmoneyskills.com) is a website that offers fun interactive activities to help your students learn about money and finance.

               

• Financial Football is an advanced financial trivia game embedded in a Madden-type football game. You can play as a single player or go head-to-head (maybe as review, in 2 teams, as a class). 
• Cash Puzzler is puzzles from US currency; $1, $5, $10, $20, $50 & $100 bills.
• Pete's Pig's Money Counter is a beginner level activity that introduces money skills.  

All of these different activities can be done as a whole group or a single player. They can be used as a lesson, classwork, or review for students. There are so many ways these activities can be used in the classroom. How will you use them with your students?

Free Audiobooks for Teens is back!

Overdrive has again paired with SYNC to offer 13 weeks of Free Audiobooks for Teens!  

Individuals will have the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 26th and running through July 25th!
 

You can register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Listen to the books by downloading the Overdrive app.  The app is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

Check out the SUMMER 2018 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://audiobooksync.com/2018-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.

For younger students have them check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)

This is a great opportunity to provide some fun summer reading for our students!

Google Sheets Add-on: Save as Doc

There are a number of reasons data may be saved as a Google Sheet.  Maybe you created a Google Form for a quiz or maybe a Sheet was the easiest way to input the information from a paper-based survey.  What ever the reason, there are just as many reasons why you might want to view the information in a Google Doc as well.  

'Save as Doc' allows you to do this very thing.  'Save as Doc' allows you to take information in a Google Sheets spreadsheet and view it as a Google Document. This is a great tool for making lengthy cell text readable.  This can be a great way to sort out individual responses to a quiz or a survey.

For quick instructions on how to use 'Save as Doc' please follow the instructions in the link below.

'Save as Doc' instructions.
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/10lJadrHRUrEH9qZrzsB2EuZE5CHenVRO07cmnCE4P04/view)

YouTube "Read Aloud" Book Videos for Kids

I follow a blog called "Control Alt Achieve: transforming education with technology" (http://www.controlaltachieve.com/).  In December of 2016 they posted an article about Video Books.  The post includes a list of suggested YouTube channels and playlists for a variety of book titles.  

Please take a look at the blog post from their sight titled "YouTube 'Reading Aloud' Books Videos for Kids (http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/12/youtube-read-aloud.html)"

Consider pairing these videos with EDpuzzle 
(https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2018/03/edpuzzle-guest-writers.html) for an enriching experience.

BeeLine Reader

Do you have a lot of reading to do? Do some of your students struggle with tracking?
Make reading easier and faster using BeeLine Reader!

BeeLine Reader is backed by research.  It is a tool that improves reading ability for individuals of all ages and skill levels. BeeLine Reader displays text using color gradients that wrap from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.  It facilitates visual tracking which allows a reader to focus on decoding and comprehension.

You can download BeeLine Reader in the Chrome Web Store and try it out for yourself.

The BeeLine extension works on millions of news websites and blogs, Kindle books, Google Docs, and even G-Mail.
BeeLine has been adopted by the California Public Library System (http://www.publiclibraries.com/california.htm), Bookshare.org (bookshare.org) and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF.org). 

With the extension, you can read as much as you want for two weeks. After the trial period, you can use BeeLine up to 5 times every day for free.  For more reading freedom, subscribe to BeeLine Reader Pro for just $2/month (or less if you subscribe annually). Students and teachers can also apply on our website for our free Student Pass (certain limitations apply).

Please check out BeeLineReader.com (BeeLineReader.com) for more information.

Google Keep

Google Keep is a helpful tool that can be used for taking quick notes or making lists. You can save notes on the Google Keep dashboard or export them to Google Drive.





You can quickly capture notes, lists, documents and photos to Google Keep.  You can also record a voice memo in Google Keep.  

Google Keep notes can be shared with others for easy collaboration on any activity.

Keep notes can be color coded or labeled for easy organization.  

Google Keep is available as:
a Chrome Extension,
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-chrome-extens/lpcaedmchfhocbbapmcbpinfpgnhiddi?hl=en_ )
a Google App,
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-notes-and-lis/hmjkmjkepdijhoojdojkdfohbdgmmhki?hl=en)
an iOS app 
(https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-keep/id1029207872?mt=8)
and on the Google Play Store
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep&hl=en).

keyboard shortcuts

I love keyboard shortcuts.  They make my life so much easier at times.  

In the article "35 Keyboard Combinations For Windows And Mac That Will Change How You Use Your Computer" 
(https://shareably.co/secret-combinations-keyboard-comptuer/) 
there are some keyboard shortcuts that I did not know about and thought I would share.  

I hope you find them as useful as I did.

Natural Reader

Natural Reader (https://www.naturalreaders.com) is a professional text to speech program that converts any written text into spoken words.  It offers downloadable software, available for both Mac and PC, an online version, as well as Android or iOS apps.  

The free downloadable version of Natural Reader offers: 

• Text to Speech
• Works with PDF, Docx, TXT and ePub
• Change speed and speaker
• Floating bar to read text in other applications

The free web version offers:

• 20 minutes per day for Premium Voices
• Unlimited usage of Free Voices
• Supports PDF, Docx, RTF and TXT documents

With the free web version you can drag and drop your files, or type, paste, and edit text directly in the box on the page.  You can also convert files using the bookmark bar icon.

The free Android or iOS apps offer:

• support for PDF, Word documents, eBooks, HTML files, and PowerPoint
• provides a variety of ways to import text, including a built-in browser and copy and paste input
• access to Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive 
• synchronization with the NaturalReader desktop software 
• import function to access documents from your Android’s micro-SD