Supports for Research & Studying
Britannica School, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, provides resources with a built-in text to speech function which highlights the sentence being read aloud. The highlighting invites learners to follow along with their eyes to track the content. Text to speech is accessed by pressing the play icon located in different locations based on which level (elementary, middle, or high) is being used. Britannica School is available through LCPS Go.
Prevent students and family members from being drawn to the Dark Side by inviting them to choose from a list of videos which play different ambient background music and images while they work on other projects all with the theme of Star Wars. Display on any screen, such as a Chromebook or shared interactive whiteboard, for a multi-modal sensory experience that is out of this world. This is the way to participate in Star Wars Day that invites choice, provides a soothing experience, and that helps provide rich opportunities for language expression! May the Fourth Be With You!
A function of Nearpod is an interactive, digital collaboration board where learners can share their ideas using a variety of modalities. They can record audio, upload video, type, and share images to express their thoughts.
Enjoy this short video reviewing the update which featured the new media formats.
Google Keep is a note taking application available to any student in Loudoun County Public Schools. One way users can take notes using a mobile device is by recording audio. The recorded audio is both saved and transcribed so the user can access the note again in their preferred modality. They can listen to the recorded audio, read the transcribed text, or do both! Watch this video titled Google Keep: Voice Notes and Transcription.
OneNote is a tool included in the Microsoft Office Suite of programs. It acts as a digital binder where a user can keep notes in a variety of formats. Users can include text, audio, or photos and organize them using colored tabs in sections within a binder. Additional tabs and sections can be added and then rearranged as necessary. Every student in LCPS has access OneNote. Watch this short introductory video titled “What is OneNote?” to learn more about OneNote to decide if it might help you or a learner you support.
OneNote in Microsoft Office 365
One strategy to help learners understand a particular concept is to systematically describe the salient features of that concept. Asking oneself a series of questions provides that individual with a system for how to understand the concept. Some sample questions might be as follows:
These questions can also be paired with colors, icons, and tactile symbols (like beads, 3D printed objects, or other materials) to provide a multimodal experience to help learners remember what to ask themselves. Placing the symbols in order, such as on a string or dowel, helps organize thinking into sequence helping to improve recall.
Watch the short video below to learn about one example of the implementation of this type of strategy.
Nearpod is an interactive, multimedia presentation tool. Immersive Reader is an embedded feature created by Microsoft. Immersive Reader provides text to speech, text display options, syllable and parts of speech support, and more! Explore the integrated features that Immersive Reader provides by watching this brief video below.
Click on the purple puzzle piece to install the Google extension Read&Write for Google Chrome.
Or click here for installation instructions in English
Or click here for installation instructions in Spanish.
to listen to text being read aloud in Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Schoology, and the Chrome web browser. Try it now to listen to any text in this blog post!
button to hear the text in the chat read aloud. Place the cursor over text in the chat…no need to click!
to draw a box around the text to have it read aloud. Try it with the text in the image below.
Sketchnoting is a form of notetaking where the person taking notes draws an image. The visualization is meant to tie concepts together and can be made using a combination of text and pictures. The active process of creating the sketch note along with the visual representation of the concepts helps the learner make connections and remember the content. Beyond paper and pencil, any tool that provides a drawing feature could be used to create a sketchnote including but not limited to the following:
Check out this video from educator and author Carrie Baughcum describing sketchnoting.
The school year may be over but the learning never stops! Learning happens anytime, anywhere! When learners are doing their own independent research on the web they need a way to keep the resources they find. The Google Keep Chrome extension allows learners to save a link to a web resource (website, video, audio file, PDF, etc) directly into Google Keep. Users can add labels, colors, and text to the note to help with organization. Users can then access the web resource again from their curated list kept in Google Keep. Learners can use this method for keeping track of important materials they discover over the summer and beyond! The following video tutorial from Anne Arundel County Public Schools can help you learn how to save web resources into Google Keep.