Fantastic Online Resources for Educators

    Hello everyone! I hope that everyone is having a good week so far. Mine has been going fine so far and continues to look very similar to the previous ones. My school district is still completely in a virtual setting. I have gotten quite used to this type of setting, but I would rather be in person with my students. Virtual learning has been difficult for my special education students, but they have working very hard. During virtual learning, certain online resources such as Epic! Books, Quizziz, and UJU brain breaks have been super beneficial for my virtual classes. I am always trying to learn about new online resources to incorporate into my classroom and that is why these articles I came across were very informative.

     The first article I read this week talked about some great online resources for educators to use that can also be very beneficial for English Language Learners. The first resource mentioned was Padlet.

 According to the article, Padlet is an awesome source where students and educators can interact. Padlet has the option to be displayed in multiple formats. For example, educators have the ability to set up their Padlet into a chat box form, a bulletin board form, top to bottom form, or into columns. One awesome feature that Padlet provides is great for English Language Learners. It has a feature where students can create a map of the countries they are from and tell a story about their home country. A feature like this is great for ELLs because an activity like this is something they can feel more comfortable about and relate to. Another great feature that Padlet has is a timeline where students can write out the plot of a story as well as write a summary. Another helpful feature for ELLs is a voice record feature where students can upload voice recordings if they are not as comfortable with writing the language.

     The article also mentioned another awesome online resource called Google Slides. This resource can also be very beneficial for ELLs. Here are some reasons why:

-Google Slides contains a feature called “Voice Type Speaker Notes” where students can voice-type speaker notes in their native language

-Google Slides contains a feature that allows any text in the slides to be translated into different languages

-Google Slides allows ELLs to incorporate art into their work by choosing different colors or images for slides

    Another article I read this week discussed some online resources that teacher votes their favorite so far this school year. Here are some of the online resources mentioned:

1.       Quizziz- an online source where students can take mini quizzes and compete against their classmates based on accuracy and speed. I currently use this resource now for my students as a review game or as a study option.


2   Math learning center- virtual manipulative source where students can interact with different manipulatives such as base 10 blocks. I have not heard of this source before and I will definitely be using it for my special education kids!

3.       FlipGrid- students are able to take short videos of themselves and upload them. It also allows students to be able to have back and forth dialogue between them. I have never utilized this resource before, but I think it would be a great way for my students to collaborate and have discussions virtually.

4.       Peardeck- a source where teachers can post a google slides and it has the option for students to type responses during the presentation. This is a great resource for students to engage during the lesson and discuss what is being taught.

Sources:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/11/ten_favorite_online_teaching_tools_used_by_educators_this_year.html

 http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/11/teacher-recommended_tools_for_online_learning.html

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 13, 2020 at 6:51 AM

    Thank you for all the great resources. I am glad that you are doing well with the online format and I can see your concern about the special education students. I am fortunate enough to still be in person classes and I am so grateful for that. Hopefully the weeks to come continue to get better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 13, 2020 at 1:08 PM

    I think I read the same article as you! I really liked all of the different resources they listed. Some I had tried before and others were completely new. I will definitely be adding these to my list to try if we continue virtual! I have really been liking Quizziz which I use for all different subjects. The kids really like the activities and the quizzes are more visually appealing than the ones I make.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 14, 2020 at 4:01 PM

    Hey Natasha!

    WOW! I got the same article sent to me as well. I really enjoyed reading this article. I found information that can be really useful for ELLs and the current situation that we are in with online learning. Honestly, I was struggling at the beginning with this online stuff. I have found some resources that has helped me that were mentioned in this article. However, there are some days I feel defeated as a teacher. Each day is different and I learn something new.

    Thanks for listing more resources that can help.

    ReplyDelete

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