Tagul.com -- Word Clouds for Chromebooks

Many teachers like to use word clouds either as a teaching tool themselves or as a tool for students to look at and analyze the content or themes of their reading and writing. Unfortunately, many of the most popular tools are not compatible with Chromebooks, which has limited their use in classrooms where most devices are Chromebooks.

Tagul.com is a tool that allows you to create very customized word clouds with ease. It allows single log-on with Google, so it's very compatible with our Google Apps for Education environment. It also lets you customize word choices; choose shapes, colors, fonts and layouts; and download or share in a variety of ways.

Control Alt Achieve has a review of other Chromebook-compatible word cloud generation tools as well as Tagul.

Tech integration training from and with Google

With spring break just moments away and summer around the corner when we return, you may be thinking about some opportunities for professional growth and development. One easy way to both learn and be recognized for how you are currently integrating technology into your curriculum and classroom is through Google for Education training. Google offers free online courses in both Fundamentals and Advanced use of Google Apps specifically in education, from the basics of using Google Drive and Google Classroom to using conditional formatting, charts and pivot tables in Forms to analyze academic trends in student data.

You can complete the entire course, check your skills by "testing out" of subject areas you are already adept in, or just select the specific skill you want to focus on to improve your classroom workflow. If you really get motivated, you can take a certification exam to become a Google Certified Educator at either level (fundamentals or advanced). Have fun exploring!

Chrome extension that supports good digital citizenship

Reword is a new Chrome extension that may help prevent online bullying behavior by drawing a red line through hateful or insulting words or phrases and asking users to reconsider their choices, almost like spell-check. It's a very simple idea but might be the thing that causes a potential harasser to rethink the words and actions they are using. I've tested it on Twitter and Instagram and while it is still in its infancy and doesn't work on all insulting language everywhere, I could see this having a very positive impact.

Here's a link to an NPR article on the subject.

Audio recording and editing

Several teachers are using Chromebooks for in-class audio recording. This can look like traditional voice recording, like voiceovers for multimedia or individual podcasts, but some classrooms are using audio tools to record group conversations for lit circles, foreign language discussions and other kinds of formative assessment tasks. In the past, teachers could only meaningfully hear and assess one group at a time, but with audio recording, both teacher and student participants can archive and retrieve group conversations, brainstorming sessions, and other informal communication. Here are some tools to do it on a Chromebook:

Vocaroo is a web-based tool that uses the device microphone OR a plug-in mic to record audio. It has a single click to record and stop, and then allows you to share a link to the recording in a variety of ways, OR download the recording as an mp3 file to be saved in the student's Google Drive account. Teachers could have students submit the file itself or a link to the file through Google Classroom or School Loop. There's no ability to edit your file -- you are just recording what the microphone hears.


Voice Recorder is the Chrome app of the same simple feature. Students can add this app to their Chrome browser and use it for simple recordings. The only additional feature is the ability to trim the size of recordings.

For more advanced audio edits, TwistedWave is another online audio tool that provides many more features for audio editing, like trimming, effects, etc. It's also available as a Chrome app. You can record directly into the app or upload a file to make edits to it. Free accounts are limited to 5 minutes in length.


Using a USB microphone can greatly improve the quality of the recording and the reduction in ambient noise. The library has a set of 6 omni-directional snowball mics that can pick up the conversation of a group or can focus the audio of an individual speaker. There are many applications of audio recording in the classroom -- have fun with the experimentation!

Google add-ons for writing

Google Docs offers a whole bunch of add-ons to explore that can support and enhance student writing and evaluation, or can just make it more efficient. Here are a few to check out:

First some simple ones that can add efficiency. One is called Change Case, and does exactly that. You can select a block of text and change it from ALL CAPS to Title Case to all lower case to Sentence case and back again. A potentially useful time saver.

Easy Accents is another time saver, especially for students or teachers writing in another language with a primarily Roman alphabet on a Chromebook (which makes simple keystroke combinations a little more difficult than on a laptop or computer). After launching the add-on, users have the accent or symbol they need right at hand as they write.

The Highlight Tool is more involved but also more powerful. Students can establish their own highlight colors and labels, have them on hand in a sidebar, and export them in a document either by color or by sequence. Teachers or collaborators can also share pre-established highlight colors for a group to use together for consistency. For example, teachers could create a set list of highlights labelled with key aspects of writing or research (e.g. thesis, evidence, counterargument, etc.). Students could self- or peer-evaluate using those highlights, export just the highlights into another document and submit it using Google Classroom.

To add, use or manage add-ons, go to the Add-ons menu in any Google Doc and go to Get add-ons (to see what's available) or Manage add-ons (to change or get rid of add-ons you don't use). Once added, you can start using any of your add-ons from that same menu. Enjoy!

Using Revision History to battle procrastination and cheating

Google Docs has a great tool called Revision History that can help teachers look out for the nefarious issue of cheating and the prosaic but pernicious issue of procrastination.
Revision History lets you click through all the changes in a document, along with a timestamp and the person that made the change. You can restore older versions of a document, or just see what changes or progress has been made (and if any large chunks of text were posted or if any other user made contributions). This can corroborate (or disprove) a student that claims to have been working really hard and but not making progress by demonstrating when they've accessed or modified the document.

It's easy to find.

The revision history is grouped into time periods but can be expanded to see individual changes. 

Eric Curts, a Google Education Trainer, has a more detailed post on avoiding and addressing cheating using Google Apps here: http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/01/student-cheating-google-apps.html

Gale Opposing Viewpoints database now at HHS!

If you are not yet using Gale Opposing Viewpoints with your classes for research and curriculum support, you may want to explore it. This is the first year that Homestead has subscribed to this database and it has a number of great features for both teachers and students.

Gale has a wide variety of content, from traditional reference to consumer-driven publications to more than 2000 academic journals.

The content is searchable by level, from easy-access (green) to general audience (yellow) up through academic content (red), which makes it accessible for students at a variety of achievement levels.

The content itself is easy to work with. All articles provide persistent links to content, an audio read-aloud feature, direct download to Google Drive, sharing to Google Classroom and a variety of annotation features. The coolest option is the ability to download annotated articles to Google Drive with the annotations intact.

Please explore this fantastic research tool with your students.