Google Slides | Shake Up Learning

3 Essential Guides for Teachers: Adapting Instruction to Every Student Ability

Kasey Bell — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:33:00 +0000

The post 3 Essential Guides for Teachers: Adapting Instruction to Every Student Ability appeared first on Shake Up Learning.

Get ready for some fantastic news from Texthelp—your go-to for making learning accessible and joyful for every student.

Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Texthelp on numerous occasions.

Time and again, they’ve proven themselves as a steadfast ally in our shared mission to make education accessible for all students. I deeply respect their dedication to developing practical, free resources for educators.

They’ve whipped up three incredible guides packed with expert tips to spice up your teaching.

From easy-peasy captioning tricks to making lessons visually vibrant and beyond, these resources are game-changers.

Whether you’re looking to enhance reading skills or make content more engaging for every learner, these guides have got you covered.

Dive in and watch your classroom transform into a place where learning knows no bounds.

3 Essential Guides for Teachers: Adapting Instruction to Every Student Ability

Click To Tweet

This blog post is sponsored by Texthelp.

3 Essential Guides for Teachers: Adapting Instruction to Every Student Ability

by Mary Pembleton from Texthelp

As an accessible technology company, Texthelp is always looking for ways to support educators with the diverse learning needs in their classrooms.

To help, our content team recently asked five experts to share their best tips: a researcher, two teachers turned education journalists, an accessibility consultant, and one AT specialist.

Get the Guides!

They gave us excellent advice, and from it, we created three downloadable guides:

A guide about inclusive reading instruction
A guide to supporting English Language learners in general education classrooms
A guide to essential accessibility practices in schools and classrooms.

…with more on the way.

These guides include advice for administrators and MTSS teams, loads of research studies, and lots of quick tips for educators who need simple ways to adapt grade-level instruction to the different levels of abilities, backgrounds, and needs in their classrooms.

Below are six of their best tips. To gain more, head over to the Texthelp website to get the complete guides delivered to your inbox.

1. Turn on captions when teaching as another way for students to take in information.

It’s easy, free, and super-supported by research.

Turn on live captioning in Google Slides as a visual aid in the classroom, even if you aren’t using a slide deck to teach.

Who it benefits, and how:

Learners who are deaf/hard of hearing by allowing them access to the content in an alternative way
English Language Learners by helping with pronunciation, language acquisition, and comprehension
Learners who are learning to read by increasing exposure to print and building literacy skills
All learners by improving comprehension, attention, and memory of the video content

How to do it:

To display the captions in a captioned video, simply click the “CC” button.
To add live captions to any lesson you teach verbally, you can enable live captions with one quick adjustment in Google Slides.

Here’s how to set up live captions in a Google slide presentation:

Ensure your computer’s microphone is on
Click or enable “Present” in Google Slides
At the bottom left of your screen, select “More options.”
Click “Captions Preferences”
Toggle captions on.

Now, when you speak, live captions will appear on your screen or smartboard.

For more information about live captioning options in Google Slides, visit the “Present slides with captions” section of the Google Help Center here.

2. Teach with a microphone.

Remote Microphone Systems were created for people who have difficulties hearing, and are often used as an assistive technology in the classroom.

Casual microphone use by a classroom educator should never replace necessary assistive technology support. However, the voice amplification offered by any microphone could be a helpful tool for engaging students who have trouble with listening, students with autism, and lend a hand with classroom management.

Pair sound amplification with free live captioning in Google Slides, listed above, for added benefit.

3. Have students record themselves reading, and listen back to it.

To help learners of all abilities with their reading skills, ask them to record themselves reading a text out loud and then listen back to it. This helps struggling readers, beginning readers, and ELLs improve their reading fluency.

4. Use visuals to supplement instruction automatically.

Including visuals in your instruction is a great way to build understanding in all learners, particularly EL Learners and learners with autism, who benefit from the easily understandable additional context of visuals.

To empower learners with one-click visuals while reading, try Read&Write’s visual dictionary tool. Learners can click on an unfamiliar word in a text, and the visual dictionary feature will give them a picture to help them understand it.

5. Give everyone the same required readings, and show students how to adjust the reading level.

Rewordify is a free tool that allows learners to automatically adjust the reading level in any text to adapt any digital content to their ability.

Read&Write also offers a Rewordify feature, which allows students to adjust their reading levels wherever they are reading.

6. Play an audiobook while having students read along from a physical text.

Complex texts and grade-level content benefit all learners, but are also not accessible to everyone. One way to normalize accommodations and make content accessible to everyone in class is to play an audiobook while students read along with a physical text.

Another benefit is that bimodal presentation, or providing both audio and written forms simultaneously boosts processing speed and information recall.

For additional ways to make learning more accessible to everyone in class, visit the Texthelp website’s Tier 1 is for Everyone page.

© Shake Up Learning 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

The post 3 Essential Guides for Teachers: Adapting Instruction to Every Student Ability appeared first on Shake Up Learning.

Say Hello to FigJam: Your Jamboard Alternative with Endless Possibilities

Kasey Bell — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:21:45 +0000

The post Say Hello to FigJam: Your Jamboard Alternative with Endless Possibilities appeared first on Shake Up Learning.

Over the last few years, teachers have come to LOVE Google Jamboard!

But just when we settled into using it regularly, Google decided to take it away! BOO!

Have no fear! My friend, Tom Mullaney, is an expert on FigJam–your Jamboard alternative with endless possibilities!

Tom has been kind enough to share ideas from his TCEA conference presentation with us.

No TCEA FOMO for Shake Up Learning readers!

Say Hello to FigJam: Your Jamboard Alternative with Endless Possibilities (guest post by @TomEMullaney)

Click To Tweet

by guest author, Tom Mullaney

App Smashing with FigJam is going down RIGHT NOW at booth #2339 with @TomEMullaney He’s a Fig deal!! #FigmaEdu #FigJamFunhouse #FigJam #TCEA #TCEA24 pic.twitter.com/ws1EScGiRx

— Alex @ Figma Edu (@Alex_FigmaEdu) February 5, 2024

Google’s announcement that Jamboard is going away can cause teachers concern. All that work is gone, right? The good news is that one replacement option, FigJam, has an import from Jamboard feature. It also has App Smashing that solves a persistent problem: Students have too many tabs open on 11-inch Chromebooks.

App-Smashing with FigJam (YouTube Presentation by Tom Mullaney)

Say Hello to FigJam

FigJam is Figma’s collaborative whiteboard. Unlike Jamboard, it pairs with apps and websites teachers use. Students can use these apps directly in a FigJam, enabling one-tab learning instead of multiple-tab confusion.

Here are educational apps and websites students can use directly in FigJams.

Google Docs

Copy a Google Doc’s sharing URL and paste it into FigJam. Students can see the Doc in the FigJam and even edit it. Teachers can use this to have students enter responses to items in the FigJam.

Google Doc in a FigJam.

Google Slides

Teachers can add their Google Slides to a FigJam, allowing students to use sticky notes to answer a prompt related to the slides. Students can also edit a collaborative Slide presentation in a FigJam.

A Google Slides presentation opened in FigJam.

YouTube

Copy a YouTube link and paste it into a FigJam. Students can watch it directly in the FigJam. Students can watch at their own pace and respond to a related prompt in sticky notes.

Two YouTube videos, a prompt, and blank sticky notes in a FigJam.

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Books Ngram Viewer compares the usage of terms in printed materials from 1500 to the present. It is a good resource for spurring student inquiry and questions about data and vocabulary terms. Copy an Ngram chart’s embed link and paste it into a FigJam. Students can interact with the chart directly in the FigJam.

A Google Books Ngram viewer chart showing the use of “suffrage,” “nationalism,” “militarism,” “trench warfare,” and “shell shock” in books written from 1900 through 1930 is displayed in a FigJam.

NPR Audio

NPR audio segments cover a wide range of content teachers teach students. Copy any NPR audio file’s embed link and paste it into a FigJam. Students can play and replay audio and respond to prompts with sticky notes.

An NPR audio track, a prompt, and blank sticky notes in a FigJam.

ThingLink

ThingLink is a web-based app that allows students and teachers to add interactive “hotspots” to images. Copy a ThingLink’s sharing link and paste it into a FigJam. Students can click on hotspots in the ThingLink to see the link content, such as images, videos, and text.

A ThingLink displayed in a FigJam.

Felt Maps

Felt is a collaborative web-based mapping app similar to Google My Maps but with more features such as drawing, comments, text, YouTube videos, and hyperlinks. Copy a Felt map’s sharing link and paste it into a FigJam. Students can navigate the map and adjust the zoom right in the FigJam. Any maps students and teachers create can prompt collaborative activities in FigJam.

A Felt map displayed in a FigJam.

Other FigJams

One final edtech app smashes with FigJam: FigJam itself! Copy a FigJam’s sharing link and paste it into another FigJam. Collaborators can navigate the embedded FigJam and adjust the zoom. Students and teachers can embed FigJams to refer to prior learning and activities.

A FigJam embedded in a FigJam.

Conclusion

Students and teachers regularly use apps and websites for student creation and consumption. Accessing these in a collaborative file allows clarity instead of confusion. FigJam empowers collaboration and interaction with multiple files in one place.

How will you App Smash with FigJam?

About Tom Mullaney

Tom Mullaney (he/him) is a former teacher who uses his Special Education and Instructional Design background to help teachers design inclusive lessons with creativity, collaboration, and fun. Tom’s education experience includes Special Education, Social Studies, educational technology coaching, and digital design. Contact him on Twitter, @TomEMullaney, or via e-mail, mistermullaney@gmail.com.

The post Say Hello to FigJam: Your Jamboard Alternative with Endless Possibilities appeared first on Shake Up Learning.

15 Plug-and-Play Lesson Plans from Google – SULS0198

Kasey Bell — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 13:32:15 +0000

The post 15 Plug-and-Play Lesson Plans from Google – SULS0198 appeared first on Shake Up Learning.

In this blog post and podcast episode, I’m sharing 15 Plug-and-Play Lesson Plans from Google’s Applied Digital Skills program.

These are perfect for Back-to-School or ANY TIME of year!

And Google has improved the integration of these lessons with Google Classroom, so it’s even EASIER now to assign these to students.

Kick off the school year with lessons that help students express themselves, build relationships, and stay organized while learning new technology skills.

15 Plug & Plan Lessons from #GoogleEdu

Click To Tweet

Listen to this article.

This episode is sponsored by Everfi.

Want to prepare your students for career and life success, but short on time? Busy teachers use EVERFI’s standards-aligned, research-based digital lessons, recently awarded with the ISTE Seal for high quality curriculum, to teach students to thrive in an ever-changing world. Interactive, game-based lessons designed by experienced educators help you engage students at all grade levels and bring critical real-world skills like financial education, early literacy, character education, health & wellness, and more to your classroom. Thanks to partners, these lessons are FREE for all K-12 schools and students. With back-to-school season gearing up, now is an exciting time to give your students a jumpstart on their future. Go to everfi.com/shake to learn more, and sign up to get a virtual swag bag full of free goodies to get the school year off to a great start.

15 Plug-and-Play Lesson Plans from Google

Did you know that Google’s Applied Digital Skills program has readymade, plug-and-play lessons for your classroom?

Today, we are exploring a special collection of lesson plans for the back-to-school season, but this collection has ideas that will inspire you all year long. There are actually 21 lessons in this extensive collection, 15 of which are listed below.

Oh, and did I mention they have improved how these lessons integrate with Google Classroom? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, y’all!

What is Applied Digital Skills?

Google’s Applied Digital Skills program is a flexible video-based curriculum that prepares students of all ages for the growing number of jobs that require basic digital skills.

This is a growing resource of lessons that walk students through each step of the creation process. You get the entire lesson, AND the step-by-step tech how-to.

And since this is video-based, students can pause the videos and rewatch them as needed.

But the best part is that these lessons are free and ready to use!

As you are getting kids back in the swing of things this school year, you can rely on these lessons to help your students learn how to complete basic technology tasks like using Google Classroom and help them learn how to use Google tools to create!

Learn more about using the Applied Digital Skills program and set up your teacher profile here.

1. Introduce Yourself in Google Slides

STUDENT DESCRIPTION: Create a slide that represents what makes you special or unique using Google Slides.