Chalk.com

Good Day Readers!

I know I have been gone for a while, but this school year has been crazy! Anyway, I have been working on some new ideas for the blog and this one can’t wait any longer.

I have found out next year I am going to be a combo teacher; (I was switched to a combo in January) and I DO NOT want to buy 2 lesson planners to allow me to plan for both grades. With this in mind I went online to find a free online lesson planner for teachers. First, there is a plethora of websites out there. The one I have been using is called Chalk. So here we go!

Product Information:
Chalk.com is an online lesson planner for teachers. Teachers can make subjects and schedules BEFORE you even begin putting lessons in. Teachers can upload templates, links, standards, etc. Whatever you need is right there for you. The program is free to use and does offer a school and district package if you are interested.

Glitchy Review:
I have been using this program for a month now. There are parts which I adore and parts which need to be improved. Overall, I like being able to display my lessons (when admin comes in they know what I am doing) for my students so they know what the schedule is for the day. It is colorful so each of my grade levels knows which colors are theirs and which ones are whole class lessons. I can schedule in recess, tests, assemblies, etc. in the schedule as needed. Students like it because they know what is going on and what to expect. We go through the schedule every morning and the day seems to run smoother because they have time stamps to refer to. When I am going to need to link a website, video, or document I can attach the link to the lesson and click it open when I need it!

The actual lesson planning in the system can be difficult for new users, but once you have things set up, it is quiet easy. In addition, you can save these lessons and use them next year! It will alter the lessons for the days to make sure the dates are correct for the current calendar year and will change NOTHING else! Makes it easy to plan the semester with lessons and alter for anything such as assemblies, field trips, etc. I can’t wait to use this feature next year!

With this feature in mind you do need to put in the leg work in the beginning. You do need to input the lessons and items you need. This will take time depending on your technology skill and amount of details you want in your lesson blocks. However, once this information is in, you can reuse later with a simple copy and paste of the semester!

Another thing I enjoy about this program is BEFORE you enter any lessons is you need to set up subjects and a schedule for your lessons. Subjects can be academic or non-academic subjects. For example, you can add Language Arts as academic and the program will allow you to add standards, lesson templates, and UNITS! I was able to input my units and this allows extra organization to your lessons! The non-academic subjects I have added were recess, lunch, assemblies, read aloud, testing (state testing), clean-up time, etc. The possibilities are endless. Once you have created these subjects you are prompted to make a Timetable (schedule) for your lessons. It has an option for alternating weeks (my school has 2) and will automatically upload them to the planner when you give them a start date. WARNING: It will start with week A and I messed this up and had to redo my weeks because the schedule started with the wrong week! LOL One thing to remember is: if you have to change the lesson for the day ONLY you do have that option and the program will label it as a special schedule.

The planner of this program is awesome. I could easily spend 5 blogs on this. As this is an overview, I will keep this simple. You have multiple views for the program such as time, day, week, month, and unit. There is a reminder table on the right and a month calendar as well. If you need to move a lesson you can do this as well. Again, something for another blog.

After all of these goodies in the program I was super excited to be able to plan where ever I needed to plan and just needed a laptop or computer. As I have been using this program there are a few things which need to be fixed. The copy moved lesson option is great, but I think a drag and drop feature would be better especially for teachers who are not all that tech savvy. In addition, there are times when I am planning and inputting lessons and the program has saving issues, which is frustrating when you put in the whole lesson and it is NOT saved. There is an app to go along with the website, this was mediocre at best. The app is limited to displaying your plans and that is it. This is good if you want your plans at your fingertips, but if you are like me the plans are up on a computer, and I use my phone for Class Dojo. I ended up removing the app because of the lack of use; however, some teachers like it. Option is up to you.

User Rating:
This program is definitely a level 3. You do need some tech savvy to remember how to access the different options. I would not use this program if you are not fully committed to using a digital planer and willing to put in the leg work.

Glitchy Review:
This program is a 4 out 5. There are endless benefits to the program with few set-backs. I could see myself using this from now on.

I do plan on doing more blogs on this website. Please let me know below if there is something specific in the website you want to focus on. As always comment below and let me know if there is something you wish to see on Glitchy Teacher blog! Enjoy!

Benchmark Advance

Good Day Readers!
Sorry, it has been a while, but I have been working to understand Benchmark Advance. I know there are a lot of opinions out there about Benchmark, but for this post, I am going to talk about things that have worked for me. While I am still working to understand all which is involved in this program there are some things I have figured out. Shall we start at the beginning?

First, I was working on understanding the mini-lessons and workstations. I have read about people teaching all 3 lessons and then doing the workstations, people doing a lesson then a rotation, people struggling to do the lessons and not getting to the workstations. From this, I have come up with something that has worked for me.

I start out each day with the Read Aloud for 10 minutes with my class. I do not use the Read Aloud book because it seemed too much for my students and in the case of Unit 3 of grade 5, my students would check out on more information about corn BEFORE the lessons even started. So for my Read Alouds, I read chapter books such as The Giver, Wonder, etc. I enjoy these more and so do my students. This is especially true when you need to get to the lessons on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. Thus, my students get a 10-minute lesson every day not only on listening but on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. (Check for 2 skills in 1!)

When I have finished reading I pull one of my high groups to work with. This rotation is only 10 minutes but is enough time for me to work with them on a project or activity they will work on for the week. This allows me to meet with one of my high groups every day should I wish; now I don't do this every day but it does give me some play time with the groups.

From here I go into one of my mini-lessons. Now, I am not sure if most of you know this, but the TE for this program gives you the mini-lessons for the day and "in the number order" they should be taught. However, after researching and talking to a person at Benchmark, the lesson order is a suggestion (mainly for the upper grades 3+). This is different for the lower grades. Thus if your students are more focused on the beginning work on the most difficult lesson for them or the one which will be easier for them. Teacher's choice!

After this lesson, I go into a rotation where the students work on the independent or partner work which might not be done within the time of the mini-lessons. From here I repeat the process.

While I know most of you are going but where is the technology piece here? Well, here it is. If you have had a chance to work on the Benchmark website there are a few things which you can use during lessons and rotations. For example, Benchmark has games online to aid with the teaching or workstations for spelling and grammar. I use these to increase student understanding and give them something to do other than "boring work" according to my students.

In order to find these, I am going to type and show the process. These games can be given to students the same way you give assignments. So here we go!

Let’s start on the homepage: From here you are going to go to the drop-down menu at the top and choose Interactive Learning Games.

Once there it is going to produce all the games available for you. You will notice that the grades available are only K-2 which as an upper-grade teacher doesn’t help you, but it does! Instead of just choosing the grade level and unit you will need to look for what it is you are going to teach.  There are 2 ways to do this. 1. Search through the list as a scroll down or search using the search bar at the top.

Now that you have found what you are looking for all you need to do is assign it to your students. You can click on the gear on the lower right (this is the easiest for me) and click add to assignment or drag and drop into the assignment. If you have not assigned something to your students before you will need to do so on the right-hand side of the screen.

You will need to make a name for the assignment. For this, I usually name it whatever skill the students are to practice or the workstation they will be doing the assignment in. From here it is quite easy to use. Next, you can give instructions should you wish. Next, you will need to select your students. This will take you to a new section of the assignment and you will need to choose your homeroom and then students.

Once you clicked on students you can either choose each student individually or go to the bottom and click select all.

Now that you have chosen your students, click done and it will send you back to the assignment page. Finally, give it a day and time to work on it and select save.

User Rating:
Overall, this rating will be for creating assignments in Benchmark Advance. I would give it a level 1 because creating the assignment is quite easy. It is the searching and determining what to use which is difficult.

Glitchy Review:
I will not be giving a review of this since I do not want to have people thinking I am evaluating the program which I am NOT. I am trying to help people use the digital system. Thus I will remain with the User Rating of ease of use and nothing more.

Please let me know if there is something you wish for me to write about or create a video for! Leave your comment below! Enjoy!

Legends of Learning

Product Information:
Legends of Learning is a website where students go to play games to aid them in achieving the NGSS standards. Teachers create "Playlists" where they are able to pick and choose which games students play and for how long. Students then access the website and sign-in and begin playing. The games range from the introduction of material to (what I can call) assessment games. Teachers will then be able to see student progress within gameplay and achievement to the standard. This website runs different account types: free, school, and district. Additionally, they offer ways for teachers to earn coins to help maintain their FREE account. (This I will get into later.)

Glitchy Review:
Let me start off with this website seems to be in the beginning stages so you do need to go in with the understanding of that. With that being said they are doing a lot of great things and really have potential as their product ages with use and feedback. (I will come to the feedback later and you will NOT want to miss that!) So with that warning, let's begin!

First, the games are quite user-friendly I can see students of all ages being able to play these games in some way, shape, or form. The games seem to remind me of old arcade games where they are in 2D and "walk" from left to right. The developers seem to get this because there are some games where they play up this fact. For example, some games look like they are directly from the original Nintendo system. I loved this because it made the game easier to use. They were not focused on creating a Minecraft game but simple, fun games for students. These games do get the job done when it comes to engaging and teaching the student. Each game has a specific purpose either to introduce or begin a unit to the final assessment. The ONLY catch here is as the teacher you need to PLAY the game first in order to figure out which one is which. (Again, I believe this goes back to the fact that this is new and requires feedback to hopefully, organize the games better so teachers do not have to do this.)

Second, the website is super easy to use and creating a playlist is as easy as drag and drop. The website allows the teacher to visually see how much time the students will be on each game. The only catch is you have a limit of 30 minutes. Mind you this is only for the FREE account. Like all things, you get better options when you pay. This leads me to my third point.

Third, would be the different account options. Legends of Learning has a unique idea when it comes to accounts. While they do still have the FREE account for teachers, school, and district accounts; they do have some cool perks. As a teacher, I do have the FREE account, but they do have things in place to make it easier for teachers to keep and maintain a free account. When teachers play a game to test them out before students do if you review the game you get 30 coins which go to your account to allow your students to play more. Pretty nice, huh? (The coins are used to allow students to play. Please visit the website to understand the coin system more.) You do have the option to pay to add more coins should you need it. They really seem to have thought of different ways to aid teachers; something this teacher enjoys.

Overall, this website has a lot of potential and for what is available now really works! This website has many different ways of being used depending on what you want to use it for. Please go and check it out! Legends of Learning

User Rating:
I would give this website a user rating of 2 because there are some confusing parts, but it does have a lot of ease of use which is great.

Glitchy Review:
I would give this website a Glitchy rating of 3 out of 5. While, creating playlists is easy, there are a few things that they do not seem to explain all that well. First, I ran into issues adding students. In the help section, it showed a student list at the top of the page, however, it failed to mention in the beginning of the article, that this is only available AFTER the students use the product not before. Second, you have to play the games before to know what each one does. Should these get fixed I would change my rating.

Back to School

As the school year begins there is one thing all teachers are going to need to do. Placement testing to see where our students are. As a teacher this is both the best information I will be able to get from my students to understand them more, so I know how to help them learn AND the hardest because this testing is LOOOONG and arduous. I wanted to find something which would help me increase engagement in my students to allow them to truly show me what they know. After this hard summer, I was able to find something to help! I want you all to know there are programs I have already suggested which allow you to do some of this testing such as Frontrow and Read Theory. These are great, but for those of you who either don't want to use them or want something different: here it is!

Product Information:
Formative is a website where teachers can create, assign, and visualize student growth. This website allows the user to create different types of assessments from basic choose the answer to interactive assessments where the students need to move items around to create the answers. (Just like the spring testing!)

Glitchy Review:
I have recently been playing with this program and it is difficult for users to create assessments, however, the benefits really out weigh the difficulties. The interface when you are making the assessments is easy enough and getting started is simple, but it really seems to stop there. On the plus side, you really do have a lot of options to choose from. From embedding information to adding basic questions (multiple choice, short answer, etc.) to advanced questions where the students can orally give responses or interactive answers such as moving parts around. Like I said there is a lot to do and can be both a great thing and bad at the same time. There is one downside to the advanced questions, like most programs are only if you pay. While the price is not bad ($12 per month), I just like things that are free. Don't you? Anyway, there are benefits to the monthly subscription especially for those of you reading this and going "I don't think I could do this...." For example, you have access to formatives made by others. (My colleague has access to this and if you are nervous about making your own this would be your best bet because some are really good!) In the end, I am excited about trying this in my room this year! I will be able to get rid of more paper in my classroom! I will be able to grade and return to students even with the free version! By the way, when you sign up regardless of which plan you choose it will automatically sync to your Google Classroom!!!!

User Rating:
I would give this program a user level of 3 because you do need a decent amount of tech savviness to really be able to use this program especially if you are using the free program.

Glitchy Review:
I would give this program a 3 out of 5 because it is hard to use and can get confusing.

SayHi

Product Information: 
Say Hi is a real time translation program. It uses your microphone in your iPad, iPhone, or android device to allow the users to speak into and translates it to written form into both languages you are using.

Glitchy Reivew:
As a teacher who works in a district with high ELs being able to communicate with parents in a language I do not speak is difficult. There are times when finding a translator is difficult because of the high need of them. For me to find something which can open communication is key. In light of the translating ear pieces and other technology available out there I began to wonder if it would behoove me to buy one. (This is not for a lack of trying to learn another language. I have tried with Spanish for 8 years!) However, before I was about to spend $100-$300 I wanted to see if there was an app out there which could be used. After searching multiple different apps, Say Hi seemed to be the best.

The app is easy enough to use where you have 2 microphone symbols at the bottom and you simply choose the languages you are going to be using. All you need to do is speak your language in, the app then transfers the spoken word to the written in both languages. If you want to have the translation spoken all you need to do it tap it! That is it! Easy and simple for both users. When you are done the app saves the conversation automatically until you tell it to delete the conversation.

While this app is basic it does get the job done. It can take some time during conferences to use this app, it is workable. My parents were happy with the app, but like me were frustrated with how long it took. The app is not immediate or as fast as the ear pieces but does get the job done!

User Rating:
I would give this app a 1 out of 3. It is easily used by anyone at any level.

Glitchy Rating:
I give this app a 4 out of 5 because of the time it takes to have a conversation with people, but it does show promises.

Sutori

Product Description:
This month I will be talking about Sutori. Sutori is a website were teachers, students, writers, professors, etc.; can go and make interactive articles. The website allows people to create their own from scratch and share them on the website or print.

Glitchy Review:
I have to admit I was skeptical of this website when I started poking around. I saw some beautiful articles (I guess this would be the best word) created by Sutori and a few members; however, this left me wondering would this be something I as a teacher could use?

The sign-up process is a breeze particularly if you sign up with Google. Once you get in there is a tutorial for you to get acclimated to the different parts of your dashboard as well as when you start your article. (Don’t skip this if you are a level 1 user, even some level 2 users should check it out.) This makes the adjustment to the program easier.

I have to admit as a teacher I could see while putting my first article together there are A LOT of ways for students to get distracted with the different things you can put in the article. Unless the teacher put requirements in this could go one of two ways. One the students pick and choose and do so minimally like so:

The article is clean and to the point, but not too interactive.
Then there is option 2 where students get so overwhelmed they don’t do anything.

I would like to let you know these are 2 students of the same technological ability as well as academic ability so you can really see how drastic the differences can be. In addition, I let my students have at it with Sutori to see what they would do. After all if we don’t let them play we can’t get a really good idea of what they can do to start off.

With this in mind, I was able to see some potential here. If I was to give them something to write about and gave them requirements to add; I could see students being successful. This would be a perfect website for students to use to show their knowledge in a different way. I could see my students (of all levels) being able to use this website fluently (with time and practice of course!)

With the new NGSS standards (which are inquiry based) this would be the best way for students to show their knowledge with writing as well as with models. Additionally, this allows students hands on experience with parts of informative text! Students really can’t understand this without using it themselves and this program allows them to do this. Finally, the website makes sure the students or user creates a bibliography or citation list. This is great for upper grades where students really need to do this. The only downfall here is the set-up is the same for a 5th grader as much as a 12th grader. I would suggest this change for grade levels to aid students in learning how to do this. For example, type of fill in the blank for the lower grades to allow them to learn and a blank box for upper grades.

Overall, the website is a great tool for teachers to use and have their students use. While it does have some work to aid teachers with their students it certainly has potential.

User Rating: This is a level 2 website where you do need some experience to get all the perks out of the program but it is not out of reach of level 1s either.

Glitchy Rating: I would give this website 4 out of 5 because students DO need an email to access and I know there are teachers out there whose students don’t have them. Definitely something I would fix to allow more classes onto the website.

TimeMap

Product Description:
This website allows the reader to visually see the world history. The website contains "TimeMaps" which are a combination of an encyclopedia and atlas. This allows students to see all the different historic events happening at the same time around the world.

Glitchy Review:
I stumbled on this website a few months ago and to be honest I don't remember how. I remember thinking this is a great resource! As time went on I would teach a part of history and then go "Oh! I forgot to use this!" Oh how I wish I would have remembered. When I finally did remember and show my students this website you should have heard the "OHS!" coming through the room! You know that amazing teacher moment when the students finally get the clear understanding and everything finally makes sense! That amazing moment that we as teachers strive for! I was so happy to have done this; I kick myself for not doing this sooner. The best part of this website is the thought, research, and dedication put into this website is astounding. Reading about the history of this website and how each of the maps are made is interesting within itself. There really was thought put into how this will and does benefit the student. How this can work for the teacher in their classroom and what they can do to make it better.

This website offers so much more to the user than any book or activity could. It has lessons for the teachers as well as articles for the students on topics pertaining to each map. While most of these great features are free, there are things you would have to pay for. For example, there are interactive maps which you can buy and download to your iPhone or iPad which allow for even more detail that what is available on the website. I could go on and on, however I believe you should go check it out for yourself. Click here to go check this out.

User Rating:
This is easily a level 1 website for any user. While adding the apps will take using of an iPad or iPhone into play, but the actual app is very user friendly.

Glitchy Rating:
I give this website a 4 out of 5 simply because finding the lessons and apps can get a bit confusing but easy for even a novice tech user to figure out.

Just a few pictures to show you what I am talking about!

Easel.ly

Product Description:

Easel.ly is an online program where you can make “presentations.” These presentations are more like digital posters you or your students can make.  https://www.easel.ly/

Glitchy Review:

After playing around with Easel.ly I was able to see the benefit of the program for teachers and students alike. For example, AVID schools this is great to create different types of one pagers or notes pages for students. However there were some reservations I had about the program.

First, the program is difficult to use and understand, so if you are a teacher with not so good technology skills STEER CLEAR of Easel.ly. As an experienced technology user I struggled with the program. With that being said I did have a couple of my students work on Easel.ly to see if they could do it. I did not give them directions, videos, or anything beyond what I wanted them to make. Here are the results: (left picture is start, right is after 1 hour.)

Student A start 

Student A after 1 hour

Student B before

Student B after 1 hour

As you can see the students were able to get something but the amount of time they need to acclimate to the program as well as learn how to do the different things was very time consuming. This is what they were able to do in 1 hour. While I am able to see the benefits of this program the amount of work which needs to go into it is not conducive to a classroom. For teachers it does offer them the ability to make unique posters for their classroom, you still run into the issue of printing them. When I asked the students what they thought of the program both stated it was "kinda easy to figure out, but it was still hard to use." Might I make a note that the students I gave this too are my "technology proficient" students in my class. I can only imagine how confused my other students would have been. This is the other factor to think about when using this program; each student's exposure and experience with technology.

Second, this program does not allow for the teacher to add students to their class. Each student will have to individually sign-up for the program. As a teacher this is difficult because while my district has Google accounts for all students, most do not. This begs the question of how should the students sign up?

Overall, this program has a great start for teachers, but after seeing everything it really is best for businesses. This program has not adapted enough to allow teachers to really use this in their classroom.

User Rating:

This program is a solid level 3 with even some of the most experienced users having issues the first couple of times out. This is not to say you couldn’t figure it out; it would just take you some time to do that. Let’s face it as teachers we do not have a lot of time left for things like this.

Glitchy Rating:

I would give this program a 2 because of the difficulty in use as well as the lack of real use for a teacher.

Bloomz

Product Description;
Bloomz is a type of social media for teachers to use for their classrooms. It allows parents to join the classroom and the teacher the control of what happens.
https://www.bloomz.net/

Glitchy Review:
I love Bloomz! This app/website allows me to communicate with my parents quickly and effectively. I am able to create a type of "Facebook" page for my classroom where I can create posts, announcements, alerts, or events. This allows my parents to be informed of what is going on in the classroom whether it is for homework, project, awards, etc. I can even schedule conferences, that's right CONFERENCES! I just post when conferences are, time slot duration and Bloomz does the rest! I can send out reminders to parents of their conference time! In addition you can post for Volunteer Help. This is where you can have parents sign up for items or times to come in and help! Just like conferences you can send reminders to parents!

The app allows you to customize your Bloomz account to either allow or deny inter-parent communication, parents can choose a preferred language from 75 (goodbye to language barrier issues!), even how you want messages between you and parents will be stored!

Hands down the best part of this app is the set-up. This is almost identical to Facebook so user issues are almost non-existent. Parents can download the app on any SMART device and have immediate and up-to-date information about their student, activities, announcements, events and not have to worry about papers coming home from their students. I could go on and on about the awesomeness that is this app/website; but please go check it out for yourself!

Glitchy Rating
I give Bloomz a 5 because it is easy to use and incredibly valuable to teacher/parent communication.

User Rating
This is a level 1 app/website. If you can work Facebook, you can work this app.

Nearpod

Product Description:
This product is to allow teachers to create interactive lessons for their classroom. Teachers can create or use previously made lessons in their classroom. The product has a free account (which I always suggest); however, there are multiple different accounts available. (Refer to picture below) For this review, I will be using the free account or Silver account.

Glitchy Review:
When I found this website I thought it was just a different version of Spiral. After playing around with it I noticed it was not. I am happy I was wrong! This website allows teachers to create interactive slide shows or "lessons" for their class. You can either create your own or user created one. This allows teachers to check for understanding throughout their lesson. (As a teacher a different way of CFU is great!) There are multiple things I like about this website and a few I am not too keen on. Like always I will start with the good things.

The best part of Nearpod is the ease of use. This is SUPER easy for everyone to use (teachers and students alike). The dashboard, creating lessons, adding slides, adding activities, or adding web content is simple. Using the website is great for every level of technology user. Second, this website allows teachers to check for understanding in different and more engaging ways. Being able to check student knowledge in a way they are familiar with and more engaging overall increases student learning. The learning process has now become a game for students. Third goes along with checking for understanding; aside from being able to engage with technology are the different types offered by the website. Nearpod has 6 different ways (open-ended questions, poll, quiz, fill in the blank, draw it, and memory test) which students can answer in real time. These different types of activities allow the teacher to gain access to multiple learning styles within one lesson! Fourth, students are able to use their own devices! Any of those schools with BYOD policies, rejoice! Your students are able to learn how

• students can use their own device to respond (BYOD)
• SUPER easy for students and teachers to use
• add multiple slides with ease

One great benefit to signing up for Nearpod is you are able to access many interactive lessons created by other teachers. You have the option to create your own or use other ones. Either one you choose is going to be easy for you to use. The only catch is if you have the free account you have a limited presentation size but is still workable. In the end, the benefits to teachers and students are immeasurable (granted you can measure results, but you get what I mean.). The ability to create even more interactive lessons, beyond what we already do, is amazing! I can't wait to have classes start to get going on this program! I will have to see how this works in my classroom before I will decide to buy the Gold level. However, I am optimistic and should this do what I hope, I will buy it ASAP.

Glitchy Rating: I give this website a 5 because of the ease of use, student access abilities, and the multitude of lessons available to the teachers.

User Rating: I give this a level 1 rating; the ease of use on both teacher and student ends is outstanding. You don't need any videos to know how to use this, however, you can watch videos to get ideas of different ways to use Nearpod in your classroom.

If you would like more information on Nearpod please click the following link from the Nearpod blog. Enjoy!
https://blog.nearpod.com/improvement-to-the-live-session-experience/

Spiral Extension/Website

Product Description:
This website is designed to allow teachers real-time information from the students. There are 3 different ways provided to allow teachers access to the information. Students access spiral by downloading the app and entering the code. The product has team up abilities, sharing of anything you or other teachers make, and automatic save of information from the students.

Glitchy Review:
This product has some great parts and not so great parts. I will just start with the good parts. The product can be easy to use. The layout of the website is incredibly user friendly. Students are able to log in using a computer generated code, just like Kahoot and FrontRow, so no confusion there. Students are able to respond easily with little computer experience or from their smartphone or tablet.

Positives-
Quickfires: These are simple to set up. It is perfect for KWL charts. The Quickfire allows teachers to either prepare questions before hand and add questions as you go. Perfect if you want to gain more information from students as you go. This allows teachers to really gain knowledge from the students in a quick efficient manner and saves the answers for teachers to reference through the unit or lesson series. In addition, student answers are posted on the board and done anonymously (as the teacher you will know individual student answers) which allows all students to feel more comfortable sharing their answers.

Discussions: Again these are easy to set up. This is a digital version of classroom discussions; however with students being able to answer without speaking in front of the class allows teachers to hear from those students who are not keen on speaking in front of the class. The discussion is set up as a power point where you can either create one or upload one you have already created. I would suggest making one in Power Point or Google Slides before hand because you will not be able to move the slides around as you are making it. In addition, it has limited things to do. You will not be able to alter text size, font, or color. You are limited to what the program has. However, if you pre-create one using the tools previously mentioned ALL of your customization will upload and remain. (NOTE: animations will not load.) Again, this allows answers from students to be posted anonymously and as the teacher you will know individual student answers.

Negatives:
Team up:This part of the product seems to lacking. While it is great to show students what teams they will be in what they will need to do in their teams, even create specific objectives for each team; it can be difficult to set up. Again, this is basic in it's abilities. There is no real way for the students to digitally turn in their finished product. While it is great to keep up on the board for reference for students; that is really all this can be used for. If you are looking for something to create digital assignments I would use Hapara or Google Classroom. While it does has potential, it does not seem beneficial for teachers beyond a reference for students.

Extension: This product is found in Google Extension, but it really is not like an extension. There is no button added to the omni bar of Google. You still need to go to the website to access the product without a shortcut added. I don't really know if this can be called an extension if there is no shortcut added to Google Chrome. Please click here for direct access to the website.

Glitchy Rating;
I would give this product a 3 out of 5 because of lack of real classroom use for one of the key parts of the product and it not really being an extension of Chrome like it says it is.

User Rating:
This is a level 1 product (when you eliminate the Team Up part) because it is so user friendly for both teacher and students.

Here is a walk through video I made to aid in creating Quickfires and Discussions.:

Below are some videos for you to watch to see if Spiral will work for you.: