In the current atmosphere surrounding K-12 edtech tools, one might be forgiven for thinking that any tool without AI is hopelessly obsolete.

Au contraire, mes amis.

There are many advantages to education technology from a simpler time—i.e., the ancient days of the early aughts.

Such advantages include an easier interface, quicker mastery for both teachers and students, zero cost, and no concerns about data privacy. Not to mention 100% hallucination-free learning.

In this article we explore the uses of PIC-LITS, a relatively simple yet powerful tool for teaching literacy.

What is PIC-LITS?

PIC-LITS is a free interactive literacy website that teaches writing by allowing users to easily combine words and pictures. With this engaging blend of the visual and the verbal, PIC-LITS allows students to experiment with sentences, captions, parts of speech, poetry, and much more.

The site provides hundreds of curated photos accompanied by unique word banks. Each word bank is organized by parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and universal (prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions). Users of any age can benefit from PIC-LITS, as exercises can be adapted to individual literacy levels.

How does PIC-LITS Work?

It’s easy to get started using PIC-LITS for both teachers and students. While students can create PIC-LITS without an account, I recommend creating a free account so you can save, edit, and share your creations. Users can quickly sign in with Google or register with their email and create a password.

Choose a Photo

To get started, simply click "Create a PIC-LIT" from the main menu and view the featured photograph with its word bank. To the right, a dropdown menu allows users to select a subject, from "Animals, Pets and Wildlife," to "Weird and Unusual." Photos from the selected topic can now be chosen from the scroll below the menu

To view all photos, click "Choose a Photograph."

Create a PIC-LIT

Two options are available for creating PIC-LITS: Drag-N-Drop and Freestyle.

Drag-N-Drop

With Drag-N-Drop, users simply drag words from the word bank, which is specific to each image. For example, the word bank for the above photo—an ambiguous representation of a backlit man in what appears to a tunnel—includes words such as destination, light, traveler, path. scary, shiny, metal, trap, and forever. Yet there are plenty of less dramatic words as well, including beginning, boring, and patiently.

Freestyle

To create a freestyle PIC-LIT, click the "Go to Freestyle" toggle button to the right of each photo and start typing. Text will appear over the image as it would in a text document, with regular lines and spaces. Although you won't be able to drag and drop the text, you can still move text around via the space bar and enter key.

Editing Your PIC-LITS

Editing PIC-LITS is as easy as everything else on the site. Simply go to “My PIC-LITS" and select the PIC-LIT to be edited. Click the edit pencil to view the alternative versions of any word, and select the desired one. To delete a word, just drag it off the image and it disappears.

Each PIC-LIT can be shared via email or Facebook, downloaded as a jpeg file, or printed, if desired.

What are the Best PIC-LITS Features?

LESSON PLANS

The PIC-LITS site makes it easy for teachers to incorporate PIC-LITS into their language arts lessons. Dozens of lesson plans are organized according to types of PIC-LITS, poetry, or parts of speech. Each lesson includes an objective, example PIC-LITS, writing prompts, and examples of correct and incorrect usage.

FEATURED PIC-LITS

When you or your students feel uninspired or are lacking imagination, that’s when the Featured PIC-LITS shine. Browse the gallery to be inspired by diverse images—everything from sunglasses in the snow to camels in the desert—accompanied by equally diverse texts. Just about any idea can be amplified or illuminated using the basic PIC-LITS platform.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

PIC-LIT's tutorial provides quick and clear instructions for anyone using the site, whether student or teacher.

Does PIC-LITS Employ Artificial Intelligence?

Nope! PIC-LITS relies on 100% natural intelligence supplied by site founder Terry Friedlander, his staff, and—of course—teachers, students, and other users.

What's more, PIC-LITS assignments are reasonably immune to cheating with AI. In many cases, there is no "right" answer, as the answers depend on student creativity. In others—such as grammar exercises—the framework provided by the word bank helps to guide students to complete their own work without revealing the correct answers.

In other words, exercises are structured so that kids are encouraged to keep at it on their own.

Is PIC-LITS safe for kids?

All PIC-LITS content is screened and selected by the PIC-LITS photo editor. Additionally, users' email addresses are not shared with third parties.

How Much Does PIC-LITS Cost?

PIC-LITS is 100% free. However, users with excess cash may consider purchasing the amusing and unique PIC-LITS tee shirts and hats available in the site shop.

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Duolingo gamifies language learning in a way that is so powerful many apps have copied it since its launch. It is now the name synonymous with digital language learning.

As such, this can be a powerful tool to employ as a supplement to a traditional language lesson. Use it in class as a reward that keeps them learning, or supplement homework with this as a way to continue development.

Many language options are currently available, with more added regularly, from Spanish and French to Korean and Japanese – and it's all free. You can sign up for premium features, but it's not required to get access to the learning resources.

Expect this to work on varying skills areas, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

This guides aims to show you all you need to know about Duolingo, including how it can best be used for teaching.

What is Duolingo?

Duolingo is a game-style language learning tool that's based online. It offers a digital way to learn a whole host of new languages for students of varying ages and abilities. Thanks to smart algorithms, this can even adapt to help specific students in areas they need, but more on that later.

Duolingo comes in app form as well as being available on the Dualingo site itself. This makes it super accessible, and it can be downloaded by students onto their own devices. This kind of access, along with the ability to create game avatar characters, adds up to a great sense of ownership for students. All that helps make this more immersive and a tool that students choose to come back to.

That all said, there are teacher-level controls that allow for specific learning goals which can focus on words, grammar, or skills. More features are available in the Duolingo for schools version but more on that below. Needless to say, when paying for it the ads are removed, but there are also offline courses and more.

What's new in Duolingo?

The Duolingo home screen has had a major redesign to help make learning more effective, says the company. Now students should be shown the perfect lesson at exactly the right time to help make step-by-step progress more efficient. 

This works by mixing older lessons with new materials so as to create a more intuitive outcome, specifically to help learning stick with students to cement lessons.

How does Duolingo work?

Duolingo is free to access and can be signed up to get started working with immediately by students. Download the app, go to the website, or use the Chrome app to get going. Or assign student accounts if you're a teacher using the schools version of the platform.

Duolingo starts by giving you a choice of languages to pick from with more than 36 options. For pure beginners, there are basic lessons to get started with right away. For those who already have a level of understanding, a placement test can be taken to determine the right starting point.

Students create their own cartoon avatar character and then navigate the learning games to earn rewards. A streak count for the most days in a row spent learning with the tool is available. XP points can be earned for time when using the app. Badges can be displayed on the avatar profile, while flag icons show the languages they're learning. Finally, there are gems that can be earned that are spent to change avatars and buy cosmetic upgrades. An overall mastery level shows the number of words they've learned.

This sample Duolingo lesson plan is designed to implement the tool into instruction.

What are the best Duolingo features?

Duolingo uses a really helpful self-correcting learning system that shows students when they've made an error and also lets them see the correct answer right away. This makes the platform a suitable way to learn independently.

Duolingo requires students to go back and forth between their native language and target language across reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In the stories section, students can practice more conversational, situation-based skills.

In the paid version there is smart adaption in which learning is targeted based on the mistakes a student has made and on areas in need of improvement. 

In the free version for schools teachers can add class sections, link student accounts, and track progress. Teachers can set stories to work on conversational skills or they can set specific grammar or vocabulary areas for improvement.

Teachers are able to see generated reports that show at a glance the XP earned, time spent, and progress toward goals of each student as well as an overall course view.

How much does Duolingo cost?

Duolingo comes in a free version that features near complete functionality but is ad supported. The free schools version for teachers and students has extra features focused on teaching, goals, and feedback.

Duolingo Plus is $6.99 per month after a 14-day free trial. This removes advertisements and adds features such as unlimited hearts, a progress tracker, streak repair, practice mistakes, mastery quizzes, and unlimited test outs.

Duolingo best tips and tricks

Get guided
Duolingo has created a free guide that helps teachers get started using the service in class, offering guidance and advice. Check it out here.

Make points real
Apply points rewards in the class, giving students extra privileges as their XP level ranks up in the Duolingo world.

Run camps
Setup extra class groups for afterschool and break-time activities so students can keep progressing and maintain momentum in their learning.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Digital Tools for Teachers
• Duolingo Lesson Plan

Learning languages in schools comes in many different forms. In pre-kindergarten and elementary classes, there are often translated words at centers around the room. In middle and high school, students often have the opportunity to choose a language as an elective. Bilingual schools and classrooms also integrate foreign languages into daily instruction. 

Regardless of the format in which language is being introduced, Duolingo offers an exciting technology-based platform for students to improve their foreign language skills. Thanks to the game-based format of Duolingo, students will be encouraged to continue to use the app. 

For more information on Duolingo, check out What is Duolingo and How Does it Work? Tips and Tricks. 

This sample lesson plan is focused on using Duolingo to support students' development of their foreign language skills. 

Subject: Foreign Languages

Topics: Vocabulary and Conversational Phrases 

Grade Band: Middle School

Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify at least 10 vocabulary words in a foreign language 
• Speak at least 3 conversational phrases 

Setting Up Duolingo For The Class

Create an introduction to Duolingo with Google Slides and screenshots so students can get a sense of how you want them to engage with the app. With the free teacher account, you can set up a class for your students and all of their interactions within Duolingo will be connected. 

Once you have set-up a classroom and added your students, create an assignment, which is an easy automated process in the Duolingo teacher site. The assignments are a combination of the interactive activities within the app, such as listening to stories, practicing conversational phrases, and matching what is heard to what is written. You must also choose how long you want students to engage in the app, which will dictate how long each unit takes to complete. 

Add the link to your class Duolingo to your LMS, and your students can quickly go into the assignment. Students will be prompted in English first, then can move through the different language learning activities. 

Be sure that students have headphones so they do not get distracted with other students’ engagement with Duolingo. If you choose to have students repeat words and phrases, try to space them out in the classroom as much as possible. 

You will also be able to monitor student progress and see what areas they need more support in through the analytics through reports that Duolingo provides.

Connecting to Other Lessons 

Instead of having students go through random modules to improve their foreign language speaking and listening skills, you may want to connect the lesson to other lessons students are engaged with. For example, with a Google Earth Social Studies lesson focused on landforms, students can choose a language that is connected to the country where the landform was located to learn related vocabulary.  Or with a Storybird Writing lesson focused on fictional storytelling, students can try to use learned foreign language conversational sentences within the story.  

Duolingo Support for Teachers? 

Duolingo offers a wide range of support for teachers as you incorporate the use of the app into your lessons, including activity templates, a guidebook, and a robust help center. 

If you would like to connect with other teachers for peer support, there is a Duolingo Educators Facebook group, for which the link is available on the Duolingo site. 

What if Students Are On Different Ability Levels? 

The great thing about Duolingo is that the content is offered at the introductory, beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. 

If you have students who need more time with the concepts, have them repeat modules before moving on to more difficult ones. For students whose language skills are more developed, encourage them to move on to more advanced modules. Also, because you will set-up the lesson by time, a student who is more advanced can easily move on to other concepts while students who need more time work on their items.  

Duolingo is a fun learning tool that can be used for students to start or build their language experiences. Give it a try and see how your students’ develop their language skills.  

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Duolingo and How Does it Work? Tips and Tricks

Duolingo is the world’s most downloaded education app according to the Pittsburgh-based company. 

The free app has more than 500 million registered users who can choose from 100 courses in more than 40 languages. While many use the app on its own, it is also utilized as part of school language classes through Duolingo for Schools. 

Duolingo gamifies the learning process and uses AI to provide individualized lesson plans for users. But how well does Duolingo actually work when it comes to the notoriously difficult process of teaching a second language to an adolescent or adult? 

Dr. Cindy Blanco, a well-known language scientist who now works for Duolingo, has helped conduct research into the app that suggests using it can be as effective as traditional college language courses. 

Laura Wagner, a psychology professor at Ohio State University who studies how children acquire language, uses the app personally. Though she has not conducted research into the app, which is designed for older kids or adults, she says there are aspects of it that align with what we know about language learning and that she trusts Blanco’s research on the topic. However, she adds there are limitations to the technology. 

Does Duolingo Work?  

“Our research shows that Spanish and French learners who complete the beginning-level material in our courses – which covers levels A1 and A2 of the international proficiency standard, CEFR – have reading and listening skills comparable to students at the end of 4 semesters of university language courses,” Blanco says, via email. “Later research also shows effective learning for intermediate users and for speaking skills, and our latest work has tested the effectiveness of our English course for Spanish speakers, with similar findings.” 

How effective Duolingo is depends in part on how much time a user spends with it. “It took learners in our Spanish and French courses an average of 112 hours to have reading and listening skills comparable to four U.S. university semesters,” Blanco says. “That's half as long as it actually takes to complete four semesters.” 

What Duolingo Does Well

Wagner is not surprised by this efficacy because, at its best, Duolingo is combining aspects of how both children and adults learn languages. Kids learn through full immersion in the language and constant social interactions. Adults learn more through conscious studying.  

“Adults often are actually quite a bit faster to learn language at the very beginning, probably, because they can do things like read, and you can hand them a vocabulary list, and they can memorize it, and they actually have better memories in general,” Wagner says. 

However, adult and adolescent language learners lose this lead over time, as this type of rote memorization may not be the most effective way to learn a language. “Adults can over memorize, and it's not always clear that they're getting the implicit understanding that is actually the basis of real fluency,” she says. 

“Duolingo is fascinating because it's sort of splitting the difference,” Wagner says. “It's taking advantage of a lot of the things that adults can do well, like reading, because there are words all over these apps. But there are a few things that are actually a little bit like early child language learning. It throws you in the middle of everything, and is just like, ‘Here are a bunch of words, we're gonna start using them.’ And that's very much a child's experience.” 

Where Duolingo Has Room for Improvement  

Despite its strengths, Duolingo is not perfect. Pronunciation practice is an area in which Wagner suggests the app leaves something to be desired as it can be extremely forgiving of mispronounced words. “I don’t know what it is trying to pick up on, but it doesn’t care,” Wagner says. “When I go to Mexico, and I say something the way I said it to Duolingo, they look at me, and they just laugh.” 

However, Wagner says even that imperfect vocabulary practice is helpful because it makes the learning on the app more active and gets users at least saying some approximation of the word. 

Blanco also acknowledges that pronunciation is a challenge for Duolingo. Another area the app is working to improve on is around helping students to master everyday speech. 

“One of the hardest parts of language for all students, no matter how they're learning, is having open-ended conversations where they have to create new sentences from scratch,” Blanco says. “In a café, you have a pretty good idea of what you might hear or need to say, but to have a true, unscripted conversation, like with a friend or coworker, is much harder. You need to have sharp listening skills and be able to form a response in real time.”

Blanco and the Duolingo team are optimistic this will improve with time. “We've had some big breakthroughs recently in developing technology to help with this, especially from our machine learning team, and I'm really excited to see where we can take these new tools,” Blanco says. “ We're testing this tool for open-ended writing at the moment, and I think there's a lot of potential to build on it.” 

How Teachers Can Use Duolingo

Duolingo for Schools is a free platform that allows teachers to enroll their students in a virtual classroom so they can track their progress and assign lessons or points to students. “Some teachers use Duolingo and the Schools platform for bonus or extra credit work, or to fill extra class time,” Blanco says. “Others use the Duolingo curriculum directly in support of their own curriculum, since our schools initiative provides access to all the vocabulary and grammar taught in the courses.” 

Teachers working with more advanced students can also use the podcasts offered in the app that feature real speakers from around the world. 

For students or any person looking to learn a language, consistency is important. “No matter your motivation, we recommend building a daily habit that you can stick with and incorporate into your routine,” she says. “Study most days of the week, and help yourself make time for your lessons by doing them at the same time every day, maybe with your morning coffee or on your commute.” 

• What Is Duolingo And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks
• What is Duolingo Math and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks

Learning a new language is an important part of any young person’s education. And, whether starting in kindergarten or 12th grade, every student needs an abundance of practice in all aspects of language learning—from vocabulary and grammar to listening and speaking.  

With audio, video, and gamified lessons, the online environment can be an ideal place to learn and practice a second or third language. The following free sites and apps offer a wide variety of language learning resources for students of all ages. 

 Best Free Language Learning Websites and Apps 

• Anki
  Anki is not just a flashcard language learning tool -- it’s a flashcard memory tool. Anki requires a free software download and has a steeper learning curve than the simpler language learning sites. But it’s one of the best flashcard-based systems available as it uses the research-proven spaced repetition flashcard method. Extensive text and video user support is provided as well.
• BBC Languages  
  A collection of free language-learning resources, including courses and online video tutorials for French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek and dozens of others. BBC’s Guide to Languages  offers introductory facts, words, phrases, and videos about many of the world’s languages. 
• Clozemaster   Web/Android/iOs
  Clozemaster’s charmingly retro font belies its modern, gamified approach to learning languages. Taking cloze testing to the next level, it provides multiple choice or text input games for common words, grammar challenges, listening skills, and more. It’s easy to set up a free account and start playing/learning languages, and the site keeps track of users’ progress. 
• Duolingo    Web/Android/iOs
  Duolingo’s short gamified language lessons are fun and rewarding, with instant validation of correct answers and a scaffolded approach to learning. The site uses images to help users arrive at answers, as well as sound effects, which add to the entertaining aspect. Integrated with Google Classroom and Remind, Duolingo for Schools is free for teachers and students. 
• Imendi
  Super easy-to-use free site for practicing vocabulary. Choose one of eight languages -- Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, French, Italian, Arabic, or Czech -- and start solving the digital flashcards. Switch languages or flashcards easily. Twelve lesson categories range from basic conversation to sports and hobbies. 
• Lingq   Web/Android/iOs
  Lingq invites users to choose their own learning sources, from YouTube videos to bestselling books to popular music. Browse the extensive lesson library and check out videos with intriguing titles, such as “8 French Idioms to Complain like a French Person,” or simply follow the beginner, intermediate, and advanced guided courses. Free account includes thousands of hours of audio with transcript, access to all lessons on web and mobile, 20 Vocabulary LingQs, five imported lessons, and other features. Premium upgrades available
• Lyrics Gap
  Lots of people struggle to learn a new language, so why not pair language learning with music? Lyrics Gap does just that by letting users fill in the missing words of popular songs in 14 languages. Provides thousands of free song exercises for users. Teachers, create a free account to start inventing your own missing-lyrics lesson!
• Memrise   Web/Android/iOs
  Memrise offers not only a full panel of foreign languages to learn, but also topics in the arts, literature, STEM, and many more subjects. Learn basic vocabulary in your selected language through short video flash cards, which give users a chance to gain confidence by demonstrating learning right away. Freemium model. 
• Open Culture
  On this site devoted to free educational and cultural learning resources, explore the extensive list of 48 foreign language courses, from American Sign Language to Japanese to Yiddish. The list links to free academic websites, podcasts, audio, video, and text resources for learning foreign languages. 
• Polyglot Club
  Learn new languages, cultures, and customs by connecting with native speakers from around the world.  Advanced students and teachers can sell their language lessons or translation skills on the exchange.   
• Talk Sauk
  Wonderful free digital resources for learning to understand, speak, and write the Native American Sauk language. A dictionary of selected words and phrases is accompanied by games, audio storybooks, and videos.
• RhinoSpike
  Taking a different slant on language learning, RhinoSpike emphasizes listening and speaking above all else. The system is simple and innovative: Share a text file to be read aloud by a native speaker, then download the audio as a template for practice. Bonus -- help others to learn by recording audio in your native language, while boosting your own place in the text file queue.
• Surface Languages
  An easy-to-navigate site providing free text and audio basics for learning 82 languages, including common phrases, numbers, days and seasons, foods, and more.

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According to the National Education Association, a majority (55%) of U.S. teachers have at least one English language learner in their classroom. The NEA further predicts that by 2025, 25% of all children in U.S. classrooms will be ELLs.

These statistics highlight the need for widespread availability of high-quality ELL teaching materials. The following top lessons, activities, and curriculum are designed to support English language learners and educators as they strive toward English proficiency.

• American English Webinars
  From the U.S. Department of State comes this diverse collection of webinars and accompanying documents covering topics such as using audiobooks for teaching, the color vowel chart, games, STEM activities, teaching with jazz chants, and dozens more. Free.
• Dave’s ESL Cafe
  Free grammar lessons, idioms, lesson plans, phrasal verbs, slang, and quizzes comprise the ELL teaching resources from longtime international educator Dave Sperling.
• Duolingo for Schools
  One of the best known and most popular language learning tools, Duolingo for Schools is completely free for teachers and students. Teachers sign up, create a classroom, and start teaching language. Kids love the personalized lessons, which turn language learning into a fast-paced game.
• ESL Games Plus Lab
  Extensive collection of ELL games, quizzes, videos, printable worksheets, and PowerPoint slides. Search by topics to find the specific teaching resource you need. In addition to ELL games, you’ll also find math and science games for K-5 students. Free accounts offer full access with (blockable) ads.
• ESL Video
  A well-organized resource offering ELL learning videos according to level, quizzes, and activities that can be copied into Google Slides. Super guidance for teachers in this top-notch site. Bonus: Teachers can create their own multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes.
• ETS TOEFL: Free Test Preparation Materials
  Perfect for advanced students aiming for English fluency, these free materials include an interactive six-week course, full TOEFL internet-based practice test, and practice sets in reading, listening, speaking, and writing.
• Eva Easton’s American English Pronunciation
  A comprehensive, in-depth resource devoted to the understanding and practice of American English pronunciation. The interactive audio/video lessons and quizzes focus on specific aspects of American English speech, such as reduction, linking, and word endings. A remarkable and free website from expert English speech educator Eva Easton.
• Interesting Things for ESL Students
  On this free website, students are invited to start with easy English vocabulary games and quizzes, then explore the variety of other offerings, such as anagrams, proverbs, and common American slang expressions. Be sure to check out the InterestingThingsESL YouTube channel for listen-and-read-along videos of every type, from popular songs to sports and history lessons to a myriad of sentence types.
• Lexia Learning
  A research-supported and WIDA-correlated full curriculum for English language learners, offering scaffolded support in Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Haitian-Creole, Vietnamese, and Arabic.
• ListenAndReadAlong
  A great way for older ELL students to learn English by watching news videos from Voice of America. The narrated videos feature highlighted text to help kids understand both vocabulary and pronunciation. Free.
• Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary
  Students can easily discover word pronunciation and meanings, as well as test their vocabulary with multiple- choice quizzes, all for free.
• Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
  ESL Cyber Listening Lab is well designed, easy to navigate, and chock-full of useful ELL activities, games, quizzes, videos, and classroom handouts. A free, standout effort from longtime educator Randall Davis.
• Real English
  As its name suggests, Real English features videos of ordinary people, not actors, speaking everyday English naturally. The site was developed by English language educators who wanted to provide their students with a more realistic—and therefore, more effective—listening experience. In addition to the interactive lessons, the practical insights for teachers makes this a great free resource.
• USA Learns
  USA English is a free website offering English language courses and video lessons for speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing, and grammar. Guidance for teachers includes instructions on using the site and an overview of the resources. Although aimed at teaching English and U.S. citizenship to adults, students under 18 are welcome to register and use the site’s resources.
• Voice of America
  Learn English from the Voice of America, which offers free beginning, intermediate, and advanced video lessons, as well as lessons in U.S. history and government. Check out the Learning English Broadcast, a daily current events audio broadcast using slower narration and careful word choices for English language learners.

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National Geographic Learning has partnered with not-for-profit assessment organization NWEA to help teachers assess student proficiency and personalize learning paths across K-12 reading instruction. NWEA assessments will be integrated with National Geographic Learning’s Panorama reading program, giving teachers insight into what each student knows and how they can differentiate instruction.  

Starting this fall, the MAP Growth assessment from NWEA will be administered as a benchmark test and then paired with National Geographic Learning’s skill lessons to give teachers the ability to use the MAP Growth results to create customized assignments for students. Educators will have access to progress reports up to four times a year to offer ways to close achievement gaps.  

National Geographic Learning’s Panorama reading program uses fiction and National Geographic nonfiction, as well interactive text and video, to help students learn how to read science and social studies content. 

For more information, visit NGL.Cengage.com/panorama.

Dictionary.

Vast word reference features tons of content and word games

Pros: It's comprehensive, multilingual, and engaging, and games are fun for all vocab levels.

Cons: The interface is overwhelmingly busy.

Bottom Line: Powerful tool crammed full of games, classic reference information, and flexible controls.

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Do your students like Scavenger Hunts? What about emojis? If your answers are yes to these questions and if your students can bring/use their phones or tablets to school, Emoji Scavenger Hunt is a fun AI- powered experiment that you can play on your phones or your iPads in the classrooms.

When you open the game on the browser, click on ‘Let’s Play’ button. Here, your students need to give access to their phone’s camera. When you allow the access, a countdown will appear. The game will show you an emoji such as a shoe, a keyboard, a hat, a hand etc. Your students need to walk around and find the real world pictures/objects of the emojis. Also, there is a timer. They need to find the emojis before the timer finishes. As you find each emoji, more seconds will be added to their timers.

This is a fun game to play in the classroom to tune in or to stir the students up for the next activity. When they finish, we can ask the students to write down the emojis that they have found and we can turn this activity into a word game. Then, we can ask them to write a story using their emojis.

Enjoy!

cross-posted at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org

Özge Karaoglu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series, which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web-based tools at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.

IXL Learning today announced that Cicero District 99 in Cicero, Illinois, has purchased IXL Math for all 4,500 sixth through eighth grade students.

District 99 is a public elementary school district in a suburb of Chicago that receives Title I funding for several of its initiatives. The district piloted IXL and two other products during the spring of 2018 and selected IXL after seeing its positive impacts, which included increased mastery of mathematical concepts and higher confidence among students.

A study of all 3,764 public schools in Illinois found that the proficiency rate on the PARCC in schools using IXL for one year was 5 percentile points higher in math and 4 percentile points higher in ELA compared to schools not using IXL. Schools using IXL for two years saw even bigger gains (9 percentile points higher in math and 8 percentile points higher in English language arts).

Built on more than 3,900 skills that deconstruct every concept into scaffolded building blocks, IXL's math curriculum allows teachers to target specific areas of need. Each skill offers built-in adaptivity that ensures students are working at the right difficulty level and getting the appropriate support.

IXL also offers tools that allow teachers to make more effective instructional decisions. IXL's Continuous Diagnosticpinpoints students' grade-level proficiency in math and English and generates personalized skill recommendations. IXL Analytics provides reports such as Trouble Spots, which District 99's teachers use to uncover the skills that groups of students are struggling with. 

In addition to common core math, IXL covers K-12 English language arts, science, social studies and Spanish, and is aligned to the Common Core and all state standards. IXL is available online and as an app for iPad, iPhone and Android tablets. For more information, visit www.ixl.com.

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

I’ve worked with language learners in over 20 countries. I’ve seen first hand how technology can be used in incredible ways to motivate and engage language learners of any age. Even with little access to technology teachers can add background music to a story or show students a short clip to spark conversation or inspire ideas for writing. I regularly share free web tools, resources, and tips on ESL Library to help teachers find great resources to use with their learners. Below are a list of the articles I’ve written in 2018. If you enjoy these tips, then check out my Fully Accredited online course (In-Service and Graduate course options), Methodologies and Best Practices for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. 

• 10 Uplifting Ways Students Can Use Technology
• 7 Incredible Websites & Tools to Enhance English Comprehension & Fluency
• Engage Learners with Bell-Ringer Activities, Warm Ups, and Starters
• A World Cup of Knowledge! 18+ Resources & Activities
• 19 Award-Winning English Language Teaching Innovations
• Amplify Story Time! 9 Tips + Fun Resources & Apps
• Congregate for Change! 9 Advocacy Groups & Events Enhancing ELT
• 25 Engaging Ways to Practice English with Voice Assistants

Challenge: Try one of these resources or tips to engage and support your language learners. 

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Kialo

A troll-free zone for student discussion and debate 

Pros: Fosters thoughtful discussion and debate. Can be used to discuss any question big or small.

Cons: Slightly complicated interface. Students might rely on it too much for future essays.

Bottom Line: This is a valuable platform for students to learn about social and political issues while practicing digital citizenship and argumentation. 

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education  

ReadWorks has tons of free resources for ELA teachers, but is it the right tool for your needs? This quick video digs into this popular reading and literacy tool's key features from its library of texts and questions to lesson plans and units. For more, make sure to check out the full review on Common Sense Education: https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/readworks 

Related Words is a tool that helps you find words that are related to a specific word or phrase.

Simply write the word or a phrase that you would like to find related words/phrases about and the tool will come up with many words or phrases. 

[Reverse Dictionary]

This can be a neat and a nice tool to learn new vocabulary. Also, when students do a writing activity, they can use this tool to come up with more ideas about their writings.  This tool also can be used for brainstorming  on the topics that we are working. 

cross-posted at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org

Özge Karaoglu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series, which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web-based tools at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.

When I’m searching for an answer to a question – big or small – I often head over to Google. If the first search term I type in doesn’t send me in the direction I was hoping, I head back to the top of the screen and try typing in something different. Now we often do this without thinking; it’s become a natural way we navigate online spaces. But these simple steps involve a set of problem-solving and vocabulary skills that students need in order to successfully navigate the digital world.

Vocabulary instruction is sometimes an isolated event in classrooms. As an elementary school teacher, I definitely introduced word lists and spelling tests with vocabulary unrelated to the topics we explored in different parts of the school day. These activities weren’t particularly authentic or relevant to my students. But there are lots of ways to leverage “real” moments through the school day to help students discover new vocabulary and put their English Language Arts skills into action.

Keyword Searches in Spark

I’m a huge fan of Adobe Spark and if you’ve visited my blog before that’s no surprise. You might have grabbed my free Spark graphic organizers or picked up a copy of my book, co-written with Ben Forta, 40 Ways to Inject Creativity into Your Classroom with Adobe Spark. When it comes to exploring new vocabulary with your students, Spark is a perfect place to put your subject matter into action.

Spark Post, Page, and Video all include options to search for images and icons right from within the tool. Having access to this feature means your students don’t have to worry about uploading pictures from other places. Unless of course, they want to add a picture they’ve snapped themselves.

In the screenshots in this blog post, you can see the search features in each of the three Spark tools. Users can look for pictures from Unsplash and Pixaby all tagged for reuse in your project. In Page and Video, the credits for the images you choose will automatically appear at the bottom of the Page or the last slide of your Video. Spark Post and Video also let users search for icons from the Noun Project to add to their creation.

Tips for Teaching Vocabulary with Keyword Searches

A keyword search requires students to pause and think about the perfect word to use as a search term. If students are looking for something very broad or very specific, it can be challenging to find the perfect image or icon. As students create a Page, Post or Video they can brainstorm the type of pictures and icons they will need. Then they can develop a list of potential search terms. This exercise can happen as a pre-publishing activity before they even jump into the tool.

Imagine your students are publishing a Post, Video or Page after researching facts about Toucans. They can develop a list of keyword search terms that relate to the subtopics they will include in their final product. So in addition to preparing a paragraph for a Spark Page, or a script to read for the narration of a Spark Video slide, they can pull out the keywords that compliment each subtopic.

[Sparking Student Creativity with Big Ideas from Adobe MAX]

Search Term Brainstorm Example

If the big topic for a student project is Toucans, the subtopics might include (1) habitat, (2) diet, (3) geography, or (4) threats. The subtopics of a student research activity may align with a checklist or rubric you have shared with them. Or it might include areas that students have identified themselves after conducting preliminary research on a topic.

When you share strategies for keyword searches with students, you can model with a teacher example. You might think aloud as you ask questions like:

• What type of picture do I want to include in this section? Ex. When talking about geography, I want to use images of South America and the rainforest.
• What type of search terms will help me find pictures for this section? Ex. South America, Brazil, rainforest, Amazon, trees, leaves, branches, toucans

In addition to posing questions to students, you might introduce a mind map activity. This can help students connect words that relate to one another. It’s also an opportunity for you to share a thesaurus tool with students. This can help students explore relationships between words. You can tailor this activity your goals around domain-specific vocabulary words and ELA instruction.

A Standards Connection

In our book 40 Ways to Inject Creativity into Your Classroom with Adobe Spark, we make connections to different standards for each activity shared. When it comes to vocabulary instruction, states and countries may word their expectations differently. But exploring new words and applying them in context is always essential. One example is the Common Core Anchor Standards for Language which state how students should be able to “Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases…”

Learn more about Spark for Education by heading over to this page from Adobe. Although your older students can jump in right away, this post includes directions for getting full premium features for free and setting up accounts for students under 13.

Freebie: Find a graphic organizer for this activity in this bundle of freebies!

Ready for more: Here’s a link to the book 40 Ways to Inject Creativity into Your Classroom with Adobe Spark.

I've had the pleasure of working with this company. All opinions are my own.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

EDSITEment

Extensive humanities resource offers deep well of great content

Pros: In-depth lesson plans give teachers plenty to choose from.

Cons: It's not the most exciting site in the world, especially for kids.

Bottom Line: The National Endowment for the Humanities has put together an outstanding place for art, history, language, and literature.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Today, IXL Learning announced the release of its iPhone app, which features more than 5,700 skills in math and English language arts. The app covers math from pre-K to Calculus and language arts from pre-K to 12th grade. The IXL iPhone app can be downloaded for free on the Apple App Store.

[Google Classroom Feedback: New Features]

IXL provides personalized learning and detailed explanations help students grasp new concepts and correct mistakes. Problems on IXL are algorithmically generated, rather than pulled from a static question bank. This ensures students can practice as much as they need and never see the same question twice.

[Do you have an innovative edtech product? Nominate it for the Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence Contest! Click here for details]

The IXL app also includes mobile-specific features such as handwriting recognition, which allows students to enter answers to math questions by writing on the screen.

Learn more and download here: www.ixl.com/apps.

IXL’s student-centered learning experience has been recognized by the SIIA CODiE Awards as the Best Educational App for a Mobile Device for two consecutive years.

Kai's Clan is a coding platform that tasks students with solving real-world problems. What's different? Students can collaborate with other students from across the globe. With a camera pointed at a map showing the location of Kai's Clan robots, students can work together using Blockly or JavaScript to solve challenges in real time.

What's special: Most coding tools are for individual students, or have students work together on projects in the same physical space. With Kai's Clan, team-building is built in to the learning process. Being able to share data with other classrooms makes for authentic critical thinking and ups the ante for innovation in a coding tool. While this all sounds great, there's a serious investment to get all the robots, sensors, maps, and cameras.

Other tools with potential

Here are some other tools that caught our eye for trying something different in their field. They may not be for every educator, but one might just be the hidden gem you've been looking for:

• ClassHub: Any 1:1 classroom is gonna face some challenges managing devices and distractions. ClassHub provides live device monitoring, showing teachers a live feed of every screen and allowing them to send alerts, push content, or even lock devices down. Of course, whether this is the right way to deal with these problems is another issue.
• Meet the Teacher: In edtech, we've found that it's better to home in on one key feature than to try to be everything to everyone. Meet the Teacher seems to think so as well, offering a classroom management tool that focuses solely on setting up parent-teacher conferences. But is it useful enough to be worth the price for schools?
• EdgeMakers: While companies like IDEO and institutions like Stanford's d.school have been exploring ways design thinking can help students tackle the tough challenges of the future, EdgeMakers claims there's no other innovation-focused curriculum on the market quite like theirs. After taking a look at it on the show floor, we just might agree.
• Polyup: "Modding" is a term often used in reference to video games, but the makers of Polyup have created an app for students to "mod with math." What you're really doing is modifying expressions, functions, and algorithms to solve a series of puzzles. Students in grades 3-12 can tackle everything from order of operations to calculus.
• Substantial: Each year students spend some time in the classroom with substitute teachers. Instead of losing out on instruction, Substantial has plans to provide schools and educators the data and coaching they need to make the sub experience more efficient. It's a lofty goal, and since there are very few tackling the problem, we hope they succeed.
• GoGo Brain: Teachers know that metacognitive and executive function are essential to student success; however, there aren't many tools out there that focus specifically on these skills. Enter GoGo Brain, which offers a range of Pre-K-5 games that challenge students' working memory, self-control, focus, and direction-following.
• Words Liive: While it's still in beta, Words Liive has tons of potential. It's unlike anything we've seen before, helping teachers create culturally relevant, timely, and relatable ELA and social studies lessons and assessments connecting and comparing pop culture like hip-hop lyrics with literary texts.

This article was previously published at Common Sense Education.

Tanner Higgin is director of education editorial strategy at Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

Smithsonian Education Students

Kid-friendly access to museum resources on wide range of topics

Pros: The wide range of resources empowers kids to make sense of the world around them.

Cons: Content doesn't expand to fit your screen, sometimes resulting in small, hard-to-read text and a lot of white space.

Bottom Line: Even given some limitations, the site is filled with ways for kids to explore meaning in historical artifacts, scientific data, and art.

[Free Digital Art Museum Showcases Student Creativity]

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

With donations from the Atlanta Retailers Association (ARA)and the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, Alive Studios is equipping all 15 Gwinnett County Public Library branches with its Learning alive™ kits.

Alive Studios’ programs use a technology called augmented reality (3D without glasses) to bring lessons to life. Students interact with 26 virtual zoo animals while learning the essential fundamentals of reading and math.

[Mock It Up! 9 Tools for Learners to Design, Blueprint, and Visualize Their Innovations]

The Learning alive Plus kit that will be donated to each library branch includes 26 letter cards, 97 sight-word cards, and 84 word-family cards. Each card is interactive and triggers multiple 3D animations depending on the word or sentence that is created. While learning to identify and sound out each letter, children are able to hear, see, touch, build, and speak throughout the lesson. Also included are three Interactive Stories and a full, supplemental math program aligned to state standards for kindergarten.

• Flipsnack supports digital magazines with audio, video, text, images, links and voice-over. Quickly transform a pdf into an embeddable ezine.
• Canva (Web/iOS) also has a template for creating a digital magazine and a collection of images, clipart, and graphics to choose from.
• LucidPress‘s drag and drop publishing platform makes it easy to create a digital ezine. Students can add stock images from their library.
• Book Creator can be used to create a sophisticated multimedia digital book and works wit iOS and Android devices. There are several learning needs friendly features. To publish on the Google Play Store or iBooks isn’t free.
• MadmagZ has one free ezine template students can edit collaboratively.
• Create a class magazine with this Time Magazine Google Slides template.
• Flipboard (iOS/Android) allows you to curate students’ posts from blogs or websites into a magazine like format.
• Issuu is another free way to create and publish a digital magazine with less options than the other tools and doesn’t have an education account like the other tools. Issuu has a new update where you can share stories more easily.
• Yumpu is a free web tool for creating engaging digital magazines and flip books with links, videos and sounds. Here is a review of this cool tool.

Challenge– Get your students to create a digital magazine and teach them about being media reporters in the digital age.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is an education consultant, technology trainer, and author. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Waggle (wagglepractice.com) today announced its return to the K12 EdTech market with its “flying pig” logo and AI-enabled adaptive learning solution providing personalized, practice-based mastery of math and ELA for grades 2-8.

[ISTE 2016 BEST OF SHOW TECH&LEARNING]

CEO Aoife Dempsey and team are backed by several prominent technology and education investors, including lead investor, Platform Ventures LLC, of Stamford, Connecticut and Peter Davis (former President of McGraw-Hill Education and newly-installed Chairman of the Waggle Board of Directors). Waggle is actively bringing districts onboard for Summer 2018 programming.

Waggle has won the SIAA Education Technology CODiE award for Best Learning Capacity-Building Solution; been named a District Administration Magazine Reader’s Choice “Top Products” winner; and earned Tech & Learning’s “Best in Show” designation twice.

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

Listenwise

Bring real-world stories from public radio into the classroom

Pros: Vast range of solid current event info and historical stories from public radio let students make genuine connections.
Cons: Audio-focused site could use a few more videos and images to entice kids used to snazzier visual content.
Bottom Line: A fantastic resource that brings both historical and current event public radio stories into the classroom.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

wagglepractice.com■Retail Price: Waggle: $9.99/student/discipline (math or ELA) or $17.99 for both disciplines Waggle Premium: $17.99/student/discipline (includes the entire content library) or $32.99 for both disciplines

Quality and Effectiveness: Waggle is a Web-based program that allows students in grades 2–8 to effectively practice math and/or ELA skills. Student practice is individualized, with customized feedback, and is well organized. The program focuses on three key metrics: proficiency, grit, and pacing levels. Teachers have access to all levels, with a heads up on students or skills to watch. Reports, which are simple to use, include graphics that help teachers monitor classes, groups, or individual students. Teachers can create groups and assign students to those groups. Work is organized according to goals and skills. Teachers receive actionable information about their students to inform instruction. Professional development is available to help ensure implementation success (PD workshop series as well as live chat for program or tech questions), along with ongoing support for teachers.

Ease of Use: Waggle’s sharp, clear, and colorful screens are simple to navigate. Students should find it easy to use the program, with its interactive experiences—hints, text-to-speech feature, and feedback for answers. Navigation includes point-and-click options, drag-and-drop, and drop-down menus for selecting responses or information. Students receive instant feedback when they click on a button to ask if their answer is correct. Hints and written feedback are given if they need to reconsider their response. Math tools (ruler, protractor, and basic and scientific calculators) are available at the click of a mouse. ELA exercises use clear fiction and nonfiction passages at each grade level with written directions onscreen. Teachers can easily add students and groups and access graphic reports for individuals, groups, or classes.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: Waggle is easy to integrate into the school setting. It offers different implementation models—in-class, extended learning time, RTI, data teams, summer school, or homework—so districts can choose how to use the program. The program provides personalized practice (each goal encompasses a set of skills and standards) and gives teachers quick summary windows showing the progress of individual students or groups toward their goals. If the premium level is purchased, teachers also have access to the entire content library. This is a suite of three titles for each grade level with resource materials for lessons. It is searchable by skill, standard, or student so teachers can find additional materials for instruction. With this model, teachers in need of instant materials for struggling students can use the “Find Additional Materials” button on their screen for immediate instructional materials.

OVERALL RATING:

Waggle is an excellent program. It is difficult to find a well-priced, quality program for individualized practice offering students in math and/or ELA that has strong student and teacher support. Waggle, with its solid but flexible programming, fits the bill.

TOP FEATURES

● Quality, easy-to-use, individualized practice program in math and/or ELA for grades 2–8.

● Students can work independently after their teacher sets the goal.

● Teachers can easily access information on student progress.