McNair's Tech Toolbox

 Threadit is a new tool offered as a chrome extension by google. This extension seems very similar to video and screen recording apps like screencastify or flipgrid, but adds seamless integration with google. Users can easily share their "threads" with others in the same way they would share a google document. This takes out the added steps of downloading the video file after you finish recording it and then uploading it to a shareable platform. Also, users that your video is shared with can respond to your "thread" with their own video (similar to flipgrid). Another feature that separates Threadit from other video recording tools, is they provide a gallery of templates. See these options below:  Also, Click Here to check out Richard Byrne's quick tutorial on Threadit!

 Here is another free resource for teachers! The first year of my teaching career, I found it extremely difficult to find enough leveled texts for my students. Readworks.org offers a plethora of leveled texts that teachers can sort through based on grade level. The texts can also be sorted by content type, fiction versus non-fiction, lexile levels, and a few other controls as well. Most, if not all, of their texts also come with a full set of comprehension questions. They have also added an eBook feature and the ability to import google classroom classes making it even easier to assign texts for your students to read! The website itself is extremely easy to use and navigate.   Check our what ReadWorks has to offer by clicking HERE.   

 Earlier this week, Richard Byrne made a blog post about this online classroom economy called PayGrade. This post was just an update in reference to his previous post a year ago (PayGrade now allows you to sign in with Google). I decided to check out PayGrade for myself and I was amazed at how realistic this online tool is.  Once your educator account is created and your students are added (requires parent permission), you can begin having students interview for jobs and assign classroom job roles for students. PayGrade has a good amount of pre-created jobs (which can be edited) but you can also add your own jobs. Students are even set up with a virtual bank account where their pay will be deposited either daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. They can use this "virtual money" to spend on rewards that you have created within your classroom. However, they can't just pile up the cash; you can set up weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly bills that students are required to pay. The ...

Prezi is closely related to other presentation tools such as powerpoint, google slides, but now offers a varying range of tools users can use to share information. In addition to presentations, users have the ability to create info-graphics, videos, and many more displays which are pictured below:  They also have a plethora of templates within each category. I have really only used their presentation tool which is basically presents the information in a web format. It makes it really easy to show how ideas or concepts are related to one another. The other thing I like about the presentation with prezi is how easily you can go back and forth between topics, between information. If something earlier in the presentation needs to be revisited, simply go back to the home screen and click on the topic needed. Check out Prezi's sample presentation HERE  For educators, Prezi offers a free basic version, or two paid options. One of which costs only $3 per month for the membership. Here...

Wordtune is yet another simple to use google chrome extension. This tool, compatible with Google Docs, Gmail, and Outlook, seems like a beefed up grammar check. However, instead of only offering suggestions for a few word changes, it provides suggestions for an entire portion of highlighted text. Also, instead of just one suggestion, it creates multiple alternatives that are offered in a drop-down menu in the text. I really like this tool because students have to read between several choices and make a decision on which one makes the most sense with their sentence. It also seems much more intuitive than the regular grammar check.  Here is a quick video from Richard Byrne about using wordtune! Click Here for the video.  It may be worth it to check into the paid version as it includes a word finder, basically a thesaurus all  and a few other useful features all in one place. 

This has been one of the most useful tools during virtual online instruction. The Mute Tab extension is pretty self-explanatory as it allows the user to mute selected browser tabs rather than muting the entire window of tabs or the entire computer. During online instruction, I often use the breakout rooms feature in Google Meet to give my students a collaborative space to work together, or to work independently without having the distractions of me talking or other students taking in the "main call." In order to monitor students in each breakout room, I had to join the same meeting from two different tabs. In one tab, I stay in the "main call" and in the other, the breakout room (I was able to be two places at once, virtually). The only caveat being that I could hear students talking in every tab; talk about audio overload! My saving grace, the Mute Tab extension, allowed me to mute breakout rooms while still being able to toggle quickly back and forth to monitor, a...

     After reflecting on my instruction in regards to digital literacy, it was clear that I need to be much more intentional with my instruction. There are plenty of resources out there to help me, as an educator, develop engaging lesson plans to teach students digital citizenship (without sounding like a lecture to my students). On the Kentucky Department of Education website, they have a link to a "Digital Drivers License" which it looks as though it offers different learning tracks for educators, students, and parents. This seemed to be a tool that provides presentations as well as quizzes and checks for understanding. It looks to be rather information dense and would likely aid in delivering information to students and their parents. I really liked the Digital Passport from the Common Sense website. While it seems rather rudimentary and basic, I played a few of the games and they were engaging, simple to understand, and guided students through simple digital citizensh...

     Digital citizenship is an extremely important component to healthy and productive internet use. However, in many classrooms across the United States, digital citizenship is often glossed over, and I'm guilty of that myself. Maybe it's because many teachers today either grew up in an era where digital technology was uncommon or they grew up during the technological boom and "learned by fire" without any formal instruction. For me, I'd like to say it's the latter, but maybe I'm just making excuses. There are likely many factors that contribute to lack of instruction in digital citizenship. Whichever the case may be, as I reflect on my current practices, it is evident that I am not doing enough formal instruction. Looking at the 9 elements of Digital Citizenship that Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey created, I see room for growth in all 9 areas. With the advent of widespread online learning that began almost a year ago, I have spent more time with instructi...

 Google meet has recently made an update that any educator using Google Meet, was calling for long ago. Teachers will now have the option to end the meeting for all participants or let them stay in the meeting. Until now, teachers had to either remove students one by one or wait until every student left the meeting on their own, otherwise students could stay in the meeting even after the teacher (who is the host of the meeting) had left leaving students unsupervised. Had Google made this update to Meet almost a year ago, it could have saved a lot of time, energy, and frustration for educators. Many of us were bounced back and forth between different platforms making it difficult to maintain consistency for students and families. With that being said, I think we can all agree that everyone, including google, was forced to build the ship as it was sailing. We can all be thankful to have the technology we have today which allowed learning to continue during these strange times.  ...

Boom cards were first brought to my attention at the beginning of virtual learning as many teachers were raving about the fun, engaging activities they had created for their students. Boom cards are essentially interactive flashcards that teachers can either create themselves, or download pre-made activities to their library. The activities or sets of cards are known as decks and they can be made into several different forms such as games, fill in the blank, matching, and sequencing. They can be used to create activities for almost any subject as well. Teachers can assign these "decks" to kids to use at school or for parents to use at home and there are a plethora of already made "decks" that can be purchased teachers pay teachers and downloaded for use. They do offer a free version as well as several paid versions. The main differences being that the paid versions (past the basic) allows you to make unlimited decks and store unlimited downloads in your library. Als...