Spiral UPDATES!

I know I have done a review on Spiral already; however, they have made some changes that I must talk about. I want to make sure my readers know all of the things I have learned so here are some of the new things going on with Spiral.

Let’s start with the Quickfires:
First, they have added the ability to create planned Quickfires where you can pre-write the questions in (which they had before) but now you can also opt for quick. Quick Quickfires are where your students are still able to answer your questions, but you DO NOT have to pre-plan them. You can verbally state them and the students can type their answers just as with a traditional Quickfire. The program does require you still title your Quickfire (which is not bad) but gives you the ability to get students to answer questions ACTIVELY in class without having to stop the class to create this. Yeay!

Second, the Quickfire now offers a canvas answer feature! I really didn’t know how to use these Quickfires for math and now I can! The drawing features are the same as Paint or Google Drawing just in smaller and not as many bells and whistles. All you need to as the teacher is change the answer format next to your question! Great update for Spiral!

If these changes weren’t good enough then let me introduce you to Clip.

Clip is a different type of discussion or quickfire (whichever you wish to use). With clip you just start the clip and you are taken to a screen where you can automatically search Youtube videos to show your students to spark debates or discussions. Now I do know as teachers we will still need to pre-watch these videos to make sure they are school appropriate, but it does produce a still of the video so you can go directly to the one you want. You can add multiple videos to your clip as well. Once you have set this up you will be given the option of an open-ended question or a multiple choice question. While in the actual Clip you can choose to hide or show answers. My students preferred to have the answers hidden because it made the clip take up the whole screen and easier for them to see it. Clip does have an extension you can add to chrome. I have not tried it because I prefer to access this from their website it does sound promising.

Finally, they have added a teacher only buying option! You no longer have to try to convince your admin to purchase this product! You can buy it for your classroom for $29 a year! While this is still in the beginning stages it is exciting!

As a teacher, I am really happy with these changes and additions. I can now use Spiral in numerous new ways in my classroom. While I do know some of you teachers do not have a 1-to-1 classroom, but please remember the students can use their phones or tablets as well. I have used this product whole class as well as in small groups with the same benefits.

If you have any comments or ideas please feel free to leave them in the comments below! Enjoy!

DK Find Out!

Product Description:

This is a website created and maintained by DK. This website allows for interactive images on multiple topics for the classroom. Think of the ThingLinks I talked about in a previous blog and you have the idea.

Glitchy Review:

When I found this website I was really excited about it. Then I got into the nitty-gitty of the website and the excitement started to fade. While this website is still strong with information the layout and interaction could get boring for students the more you use it. I strongly caution using this website sparingly. My students-were like me- excited at first but as we used it more got bored and eventually stopped reading the great information on the website. The interactive pictures have great introductory information on them as well as their linked pages. Again, I want to reiterate introductory information. The website is perfect for setting students up to begin a unit or review key points of the unit, but really digging in deep is not its forte. It does include a short quiz for students to take when they are done with a particular section, again the information is rote at best and does not really align with the Common Core standards. Overall, it’s great for introductions and reviews of basic topics to make sure students have these mastered before move on. This is not a product to use to go deeper into a subject though. BEST part it is FREE!!! (We teachers love free!)

User Rating:

This website is level 1 where you can pop in and go! Great for all grade levels!

Glitchy Rating:

I would give this a 3 out of 5 because of the repetition of the layout and the lack of going deeper into topics/skills.

Go check it out for yourself!  Click here!

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.