I have some exciting news to share!! As of January 1, 2019 all BSD students in grades 1-12 and all BSD staff now have access to premium TextHelp tools. Some of you are already aware of these tools and are familiar with them. For those who are not here is a brief overview of what will be included:
Read & Write for Google provides everyone with tools that allow them to read, write and express themselves to their fullest potential. Students can access this tool on websites and in documents they are writing. Websites and documents can be read out loud, students have access to word prediction, picture dictionaries, summary highlighters, grammar/spelling checker and so much more! Read & Write also includes a tool for PDF reading and editing.
Fluency Tutor is a tool that allows students to practice reading fluency in a risk free manner with any passage from the Fluency Tutor library, any passage the teacher uploads or any passage the student uploads. Nothing can replace students reading with a teacher, but this lets students get even more practice while their teacher works with other students. The teacher can access the student's reading at a later time.
EquatIO helps teachers and students at every level, including elementary school. Teachers and students can create math equations, formulas, graphs and smart shapes (which includes a protractor, number line and grid). Teachers and students can type, handwrite or dictate any expression and click to add it into the document. This tool is one everyone currently has access to.
If you have students who have great difficulty accessing your worksheets due to any number of reasons, then Snapverter will be for you. This tools lets you snap a picture of your paper and then converts it to a PDF which the student can then access using the many Read & Write tools.
I have to tell you that I am very excited about these licenses for our district. They are not tools we will use everyday, but they are tools that will make a teacher's life easier and allow students better access to the curriculum. Look out for some new flipped professional development later this month so you can become better acquainted with these tools. Also feel free to visit their website - https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/texthelp-toolkit/ for more info. Of course I'd be happy to sit with you one on one, as a PLC and/or as a grade level to show you one or all of these tools.
