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!

Extensions

This post is going to be different from my others. I will NOT be reviewing a website, extension, or app. In fact, while going through my research for extensions for teachers to use, I have come across some things I believe teachers should know. Being a teacher who uses technology daily in my classroom, I work to make sure my students are using the technology properly. This has brought me to this post about extensions. Most extensions out there are amazing and great for work, classroom, blogging, social media, etc. However, there are extensions out there that not only teachers should be aware of, but parents as well.  I have caught a couple of my students trying to install some of these onto their Chromebooks at school. With our students being so techy I am not surprised they have found these already; especially when I have students who have already changed the layout and theme of the Chromebook within the first week of using them! (Gotta give it to my students for figuring that out when I wasn't planning on telling them.) Anyway, here are the extensions I have found and ones I have found my students trying to install.

I have gone through and categorized the extensions to allow you to know what the extension does. Feel free to share this information with parents as well! Please note all listed extensions are rate 4 stars or higher.

Extensions which allow you to BYPASS firewalls, unblock websites, etc:

• Free Proxy to Unblock any sites
• Gom VPN aka Go away MDA
• Unblock embedded Youtube videos
• Stealthy
• Incognito-Filter
• ProxyList
• FastStunnel VPN unblack sites & Proxy
• Privacy Manager
• Veil Duck
• Auto Proxy
• aProxy
• Privatix
• Hotspot Shield Free VPN
• ZenMate VPN
• Unblock Now
• FlexiPrivacy

Extensions which BLOCKS content:

• Adult Blocker
• Simple Porn Blocker
• Parental Control & Porn Blocker
• TinyFilter Pro
• Simple Blocker (allows user to create a list of restricted websites only accessible by password.)
• See No Evil (youtube block only)

Extensions which ERASE/ Leave NO history:

• No History
• Forget that Page
• Incognito for Chrome
• Recent History & Clear
• History Cleaner

Safety Extensions:

• Location Guard
• iGuard

Read Thoery

Product Description:
This is a website where it will assess student reading levels, comprehension level, and standard achievement.

Glitchy Review:
I found this website via a colleague of mine. I was intrigued at first and decided to try it out with my students. Might I say I am HAPPY to have done it! This website allows teachers to assess student reading and comprehension level; along with standard achievement! Who could argue with that?

This website is super easy to use for both teacher and students to use. All you really need to do is set up your class and then have them go! I signed my class up last week and it began with an initial assessment and results begin. Now to really see information about your students you really want them to take about 2-3 quizzes. As the students take more quizzes the more information the teacher gets. I was able to see grade level performance, Lexile levels, and mastery of ELA standards. You are able to see this overall for your class as well as for individual students. (Hello RTI/SST data!)

The graphs the teacher is able to see are easy to see and read. In addition, should you wonder about something on the graph you can always hover over the information and it will tell you! The graphs are broken down into pre-test results with current quiz results incorporated. All these graphs are great, but when you get to the individual student information THEY GET BETTER! Didn’t think this could happen, but it did!

When you choose a student you are able to see the grade level, Lexile level progression, and the ELA standard performance. The best part is at the bottom of the page where you are able to see the results of each individual quiz the student takes. This is where the product gets better. The breakdown of the quizzes allows you to see the percent and if their reading level changed based on it. PLUS as the teacher you are able to click on the quiz to see the passage given, questions asked with the student’s answer and an explanation of the answers. This allows me so much insight into what my student’s know; don’t know, if they have a skill they are lacking, or if they are struggling with reading and comprehending questions in and of themselves.

Since using this program I have coupled this with Newsela and Front Row to really allow me to alter reading, reading comprehension and lessons to each individual student. I am able to make my small groups and individual work even more effective to aid my students. Needless to say, I am a happy teacher! By the way, did I happen to mention this website is FREE?! Excited yet?

User Rating:
I give this website a level 1 since it is so easy to use. Should you get confused there are multiple help sections and pop-ups. There is no need to watch any videos to use this; which is great for teachers!

Glitchy Rating:
I give this website 4 out of 5. I only give this because I believe there is so much more this website could do.

Go check out Read Theory here.

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.

Kahoot

Product Description:
This is an online quiz or testing system for teachers. Teachers have the ability to create or use quizzes or tests on the program. Students engage by using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to submit their answers.

Glitchy Review:
I have used Kahoot in my classroom for YEARS! I love it because I am able to test or quiz my students on anything I have taught them in the classroom in the most engaging way possible. They have made tests and quizzes into a game. When my students know they are going to do a Kahoot they get so excited and engaged that their behavior is perfect, they are excited, and are following the classroom rules and procedures better than any other time. This program takes the stress away of testing and replaces it with excitement and fun.

The program allows the teacher to decide if the students should work individually or with a partner (team). The teacher then displays the Kahoot to the class and it will automatically generate an access code for the students to use to log in. Once in the students can choose a nickname for themselves; sometimes I have the students use their name when I know this will be part of their grade the rest of the time they can choose nicknames. "But what if a student chooses a name that is not appropriate for school?" Teachers have the ability to kick a participant out before the game starts and the student can re-log in with a proper name. Once the game has started the students are given 5 seconds to read the question before the timer starts. When the timer starts the students are given multiple answers to choose from and on their device (laptop, tablet, phone, etc) must choose the corresponding color or shape with their chosen answer. When time is up for the question students are shown the answer and where they are in the standings. Please note students get points for clicking the correct answer and how quickly they click that answer in. After the Kahoot is done with all questions you and the class will see "the final results" (the top 5 students in the class.) As the teacher you will have the option to download ALL student answers with a breakdown of correct and wrong answers (I will attach a result to the bottom of this blog) for you to download. The students will also get the chance to rate the Kahoot! I always have my students do this because someone (or you) did spend time on it and would like to see how other students are enjoying it.

I would absolutely recommend this program to every teacher. The best part....it is 100% FREE! That's right you heard me FREE!

Glitchy Rating:
I give this a 5 because you can use it with any grade 1-12th. Student engagement is astronomically high and really shows students how using technology can be a great learning tool!

User Rating:
I give this a level 1 user rating. This program is super easy to sign up and start your first Kahoot. Creating, downloading, and all the perks of this program are user friendly and easy to figure out.