https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm These are five of the most helpful education technology websites that are useful to schools staff and students. en-us 2022-06-01 01:28:44 UTC 2022-06-05 21:58:58 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f4bb.png gwynterry https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2206840588 Clever is a single-sign in digital learning platform that lets students and teachers log in and have their web applications at their fingertips. No more remembering multiple usernames and passwords because once students log in to Clever, all the applications are there and ready to be accessed.
Clever also has an instant messaging feature that allows students to communicate with individual students or whole classes.
One drawback is that Clever is not free. Your district would have to pay for students and staff to access and use this tool. 
My students started using this tool during the pandemic as an easy way to access all the other websites and tools that we use daily. We also used it to take roll while we were distance learning. Students checked in each day so that I could count them absent. If students did not check-in, I would start calling them to check on them.
Clever is a convenient way for students and teachers to access online learning platforms and applications quickly and easily without having to remember multiple usernames and passwords.]]> 2022-06-01 01:44:52 UTC https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2206840588 gwynterry https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207609352 As an 8th grade ELA teacher, CommonLit has been a resource I have counted on for several years. This tool has a vast library of nonfiction and fiction texts for every grade level. Each text includes guided questions that assist students in their reading. There are also discussion questions that allow students to work together in reading groups or whole-class discussions. The assessment questions at the end are standards-based and include multiple-choice and constructed responses. 
Each text has other text that can be paired with it and media resources that can help enrich the student's understanding. For example, CommonLit has units for Civil Rights and the Holocaust, and there are several novel units. In addition, teachers can browse grade level, genre, literary devices, standards, and themes.
I set up classes in CommonLit and sync them to Google Classroom, allowing me to assign texts and post them directly to Google. My students log in and follow the link to the text. My students can read and answer the guiding questions and take the assessment. The multiple-choice are automatically graded, and then I can log in and grade the constructed response. I love not having tons of paper sitting on my desk! I can also set the texts to read aloud for students who have IEPs. 
I love that I can find texts that correlate with the essential questions for each of our curriculum units. For example, the informational texts on the Holocaust have been very beneficial because we complete a unit on Holocaust literature. So many students lack the background knowledge necessary to understand the material.]]> 2022-06-01 14:34:30 UTC https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207609352 gwynterry https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207684287 I live in a small community. When my students look around, they see others who look like them and think like them. Just because my school is rural does not mean that my students are not curious and open to learning about arts and cultures. I have found that they are very receptive to experiences that are outside their frame of reference. This Ed Tool allows studetns to experience Google experiments that give students a glimpse into ancient civilizations, artwork, nature, classical music, and even manga. ]]> 2022-06-01 15:32:12 UTC https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207684287 gwynterry https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207698578 My school is small and has very little diversity. Often, students of color don't have the opportunity to see themselves represented in our ELA curriculum. If students of color look for something to read and only find books with white main characters, the message they receive is that their experience is not important. White students receive the message their experience is the one that matters. Reading diverse material is important so that students of color can see themselves reflected in literature and for white students to learn about the experiences of other races and cultures (Flannery, 2020). 1000 Black Girl Books Resources Guide is a database that features books that feature black girls as the main character. Students can filter their search by title, author, and reading level.
Flannery, M. E. (2020, October 26). Why we need diverse books | NEA. Nea.Org. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/why-we-need-diverse-books#:%7E:text=A%20good%20book%20can%20help,middle%20school%20librarian%20in%20Tennessee.]]> 2022-06-01 15:43:00 UTC https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207698578 gwynterry https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207728689 My students love vocabulary.com. I use it for the vocabulary in our curriculum and novels. I also teach academic vocabulary. Students can practice independently and compete against each other or the whole class through a vocab jam. It is a great way to reinforce the vocabulary we are learning in class. I can also sync vocab.com to my Google Classroom groups to make assignments and automatically grade assessments. There are thousands of created lists, and I can also create my lists. My students beg to use this website because it makes learning vocabulary meaningful and fun.]]> 2022-06-01 16:06:47 UTC https://padlet.com/gwynterry/ue3w01e973n9lelm/wish/2207728689