Imagine K12 is an Accelerator for EdTech programs. They invite those with interesting ideas in the Educational Technology field to come and get support for their new companies. Part of that is "Educators Day" when teachers and others are invited to come and hear brief presentations and visit with the founders. The latest group presented on Nov 17, 2016.
Here are the ones that
look interesting this year. Most of them are giving free trials for some
period of time right now, and others are free all the time.
RocketLit -- Lots of reading passages for Social
Studies and Science tied to many Common Core Standards for grades 3-8.
But, the best part is, you can assign every student in your class to read
the same passage, and the student or you can pick the reading level for that
passage. Each passage can be as low as 3rd grade or as high as 12th
grade. They have quizes that go with them, tied to the reading level
also. Each article adapts individually to all these levels. As I
was talking to the founder, I asked him to connect with Study Sync and see if
he can apply his method to their reading passages. I've heard from
several of you that this is a problem. He had never heard of Study Sync, but
thought it was a great idea. I'm going to try to connect them. www.rocketlit.com
Kaizena -- Fancy ways to give feedback on student
written work. Ties to Google Classroom and other Google Docs. You
highlight any word or words and can give oral feedback for students to listen.
Or type the first few letters of a common critique, like "comma
splice" and it inserts a short video to explain the concept to the student.
Free to teachers. www.kaizena.com
Sown to Grow -- I look at this as next level up past
Class Dojo. It's all about increasing growth mindset. Students each set
their own goals. They record their own scores on those goals, and then
program and teachers give suggestions for reflection and evaluation.
Students feel like they earn their own scores, not something the teacher
gives them. Free 3 month trial, then price/student. www.sowntogrow.com
Plickers -- I've seen this one before and it's very
slick. It's "paper clickers." If you've always wanted a
set of the clickers where students can do answers to questions and you
automatically see the answers, then this is what you need. Those sets
cost hundreds of dollars. Plickers are free. You print out a page
for each student. Pages are on their website. It has a funny-looking
pattern and the small letters A, B, C, D on each corner. You can ask a
multiple choice or true-false question, and the students hold up their papers
with their choice of answer at the top. You scan the room with your
phone's Plickers App, and get immediate scores on your phone for the classroom
as a whole and each individual student. It's a great way to check for
understanding. Students keep their paper in their desk or binder and you
can use them on a moment's notice. www.plickers.com
Kickup They do
analysis of District PD and follow up to see how teachers are using it in the
future. It's being used in some other districts around here, and they seem
to like it. It's more thorough than just our surveys. It does
analysis and suggestions for large groups or individual teachers. www.kickup.co (yes, it really is .co, not .com)
Try any of these that
look interesting to you and let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Sue Allen
