Week 7: Read & Write for Google Chrome

Read & Write is one of those essential chrome extensions that every student should have added to their chrome toolbar.  It is very simple to use and get started! Once added to your toolbar, you click on the Read and Write icon (a purple puzzle piece) and it brings up the toolbar across the top of your web page or the document you have open. It is compatible with almost any website, however, it can be quite finicky. Students must be patient and allow the toolbar time to pop-up as clicking it again turns off Read & Write and makes the toolbar disappear.

(Above: Image of Extensions Toolbar)



(Above: Image of Read & Write Tools)




 The main features that my students use it for are the speech to text and text to speech technology. Students can simply click on the play button and it will start reading from the beginning of the document or they can highlight a portion of the text they want it to read. The speech to text technology can be accessed by clicking the plain headphones. There are several other features that come with Read & Write including a regular dictionary, picture dictionary, highlighters, an audio maker, and a few more. Most of the tools can be accessed and used by just clicking on them or by first highlighting a word or a portion of the text and then clicking on the icon you want to use. For example, to use the picture dictionary, simply highlight the word and Read & Write will display pictures that depict the word you have highlighted. While this tool has been great for my students, there are other ways to access speech to text technology or a text reader. Chromebooks do have an accessibility setting that when turned on, offers those tools. Also, google documents have a "Voice Typing" feature that is very easy to use. With that being said, I do like Read & Write as it reaches across websites and platforms to make learning accessible for all students!

Comments

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