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.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Thursday, August 3, 2017
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.
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.
Friday, June 30, 2017
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.
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.
Friday, May 26, 2017
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.
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.
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Oh No Fractions App
Product Description:
This is an app from Curious Hat. The app is designed to visually and numerically teach students about fractions. This app allows students to compare, add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. The app walks students through the process to allow them to learn each step as they go. While going through these steps students are encouraged to calculate the information on their own, but does offer help if students struggle with the calculations.
Glitchy Review:
I have used this app sporadically in my classroom mainly focusing on my RSP and low performing students when we learn about dividing fractions. This app allows these students to visually see this information when most of them have auditory processing issues or retention issues. The app has allowed me to access their strengths to really allow them to learn the information. I am able to go back to 4th and 5th-grade skills within the app. The students were able to become successful with this where if I did this a different way would have been longer and harder on me and the students. While this app is very basic in its set-up it works for these students. There are no crazy bells and whistles for the students to get distracted and keeps them focused enough with just the right amount of interaction. Hands down the best part of this app would have to be the visuals for the students. They are able to see the fraction in pieces and bars; which when you get to ratios REALLY helps to transfer the skill sets. I cannot express how happy my students were to be able to FINALLY understand fractions and how to use the steps correctly. They were able to master on the app and feel confident enough to do it on their own. This app is best for lower grades introducing fractions as well as low performing students in the upper grades, not so much for students outside of this group. (Trust me I have tried.) All of this is great for teachers; on top of that, it is FREE! Enjoy!
User Rating:
This app would be a level 1 since figuring out how to use this is basic and the set-up is the same no matter what you are doing in the app.
Glitchy Rating:
I give this app a 5 for the ease of use as well as the drastic amounts of help for the students.
Feel free to leave comments or suggestions below!
This is an app from Curious Hat. The app is designed to visually and numerically teach students about fractions. This app allows students to compare, add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. The app walks students through the process to allow them to learn each step as they go. While going through these steps students are encouraged to calculate the information on their own, but does offer help if students struggle with the calculations.
Glitchy Review:
I have used this app sporadically in my classroom mainly focusing on my RSP and low performing students when we learn about dividing fractions. This app allows these students to visually see this information when most of them have auditory processing issues or retention issues. The app has allowed me to access their strengths to really allow them to learn the information. I am able to go back to 4th and 5th-grade skills within the app. The students were able to become successful with this where if I did this a different way would have been longer and harder on me and the students. While this app is very basic in its set-up it works for these students. There are no crazy bells and whistles for the students to get distracted and keeps them focused enough with just the right amount of interaction. Hands down the best part of this app would have to be the visuals for the students. They are able to see the fraction in pieces and bars; which when you get to ratios REALLY helps to transfer the skill sets. I cannot express how happy my students were to be able to FINALLY understand fractions and how to use the steps correctly. They were able to master on the app and feel confident enough to do it on their own. This app is best for lower grades introducing fractions as well as low performing students in the upper grades, not so much for students outside of this group. (Trust me I have tried.) All of this is great for teachers; on top of that, it is FREE! Enjoy!
User Rating:
This app would be a level 1 since figuring out how to use this is basic and the set-up is the same no matter what you are doing in the app.
Glitchy Rating:
I give this app a 5 for the ease of use as well as the drastic amounts of help for the students.
Feel free to leave comments or suggestions below!
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