Using Technology to Read Aloud to Students

For students who struggle with reading, having assignments and tests read aloud may remove a barrier to learning. These universal supports are available to all students. To make any modification successful, take time to teach the student how to use the technology so they can access it independently in the future and make it work for them.
Here are some strategies to use:

Strategy: Take a video of someone reading the assignment out loud and post it to Canvas or YouTube (each Lindbergh gmail account has a YouTube account connected) - email or post the link for students to access
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZ8Sw6Jwc4
Tip: This is helpful for worksheets or paper copies that can't be accessed in a web browser. Teach students how to watch instructional videos - pausing the video in between questions for "think time", pausing to ask clarifying questions, following along on paper as they watch and rewinding to listen to something again or clicking on the gear in a YouTube video to change the playback speed.

Strategy: Provide students with an electronic copy and have them use the iPad "Speak Screen" from the Accessibility menu under "Speech"
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eyo1ObNRws (in settings, it may be under Speech or Spoken Content depending on software version)
Tip: This works on any Apple device and is a great tool to teach students to use! It reads anything in a web browser (Safari or Chrome), but does not work for PDFs.

Strategy: Show students how to add the Google "Read and Write" extension to their Google account. When they're logged into Google, they can click on the purple puzzle piece on their Chrome toolbar to read highlighted material out loud
Link to extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd?hl=en
Tip: Teaching students how to use Read and Write will help them in all areas and also offers speech-to-text. Give students time to play with settings and controls.

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File . 1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .

Learning in the Lou

Search This Blog