Annotate Meet (from freetech4teachers.com - Richard Byrne)

Richard Byrne of Free Tech 4 Teachers, creates multiple posts each week centered around technology that many of us did not realize was available at our fingertips, and are free! Mr. Byrne's blog posts are to the point, quick but effective. He often includes a "how to" youtube video with his posts when applicable. The first post that I read already gave me a sense of a relief as it was centered around a tool that I desperately need. Annotate google meet is a wonderful tool for educators teaching remotely via google meet as it allows you to draw, type, and highlight, among a few other features. You can also save or "capture" the annotations to post them or share them later. You do have to present your screen first to use annotate meet but that is a pretty simple step to remember. I will definitely be trying out Annotate Meet this week during a few math and reading sessions. I can also see this as a very useful tool for creating instructional videos or posts for parents and students to help them navigate online learning tools. I am looking forward to learning more useful tools from Mr. Byrne that I can use not only during virtual learning, but when we return to in-person school!

Here is a how-to video from Denis Sheeran the developer of the Annotate meet extension (along with Vlas Bashynskyi)







Comments

  1. DrTJanuary 27, 2021 at 11:53 AM

    Byrne has been around for ever. I hope you find his blog beneficial. Let me know who the tool worked for you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Didax Math (virtual manipulatives)

Image
In a typical classroom, you can find a plethora of math manipulatives. Anything from base-10 blocks to geo-boards are stowed away in cabinets, ready for a lesson at a moments notice. Going to virtual instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic has presented a particular challenge. How can we get students the tools they need to help them understand math instruction and complete math tasks? Didax math offers one such solution, and one that does not require hours of packaging materials and delivering to students. On the didax website, they offer a set of virtual manipulatives that encompasses the aforementioned items in addition to quite a few others.  On my search for virtual manipulatives at the beginning of this virtual teaching/learning experience, I came across several other websites that offered similar tools. However, I did find that Didax's virtual tools were pretty extensive and very easy to navigate. My students and I use the base-10 blocks most frequently and I think some may ...
Read more

Week 4: Flippity.net (from Fee Technology for Teachers - Richard Byrne)

Image
 In an older post (summer 2020) by Richard Byrne, he discusses a new template on Flippity.net - an interactive game board.  This is an awesome tool for educators looking to make a fun, engaging activity for students to either review topics, practice math skills, or a number of other possibilities. Editing the game board does take a little practice as it runs using google sheets. Some cool features of the board game template include the ability to play with up to eight players; customization of player markers (can upload images); you can edit the directions or prompt on each square; up to three dice that roll; up to two decks of cards that can be edited to include anything from just text to videos or links. One major downside is that only one computer can control the game board while playing. This means that playing online during virtual instruction may be difficult or less fun for students compared to playing with everyone present where they could take turns moving their own d...
Read more

Screencastify

 Screencastify has been one of my most used tools during virtual instruction. With screencastify, you can record videos of just your computer screen, just yourself, or have both your screen and a small window of yourself. With virtual learning seeming so impersonal at times, it is a nice feature for students who are accessing recorded lessons to see a familiar face. This tool can actually be added as a chrome extension and is extremely to access and navigate. It allows you to save videos and even has an option to upload directly to youtube or google classroom which many of us are using as our virtual classroom.  When schools went to virtual learning in March of 2020, screencastify offered educators access to their services that normally would require a membership. Using their membership services, screencastify allows you to record video at extended lengths (normal free version is limited to 5 minutes) and you can edit the recorded video (unavailable in normal free version). Th...
Read more