Elevating Classroom Instruction with YouTube Music's Enhanced Lyrics Feature

 

In today's digital age, educators are constantly seeking innovative ways to engage students and enhance learning experiences. The newly enhanced lyrics feature in YouTube Music presents a golden opportunity to better integrate music into classroom instruction, fostering reading, literacy skills, and aiding English learners on their language journey.

Music has a unique power to captivate and connect with students. YouTube Music's upgraded lyrics feature goes beyond just playing tunes. It displays synchronized lyrics, turning the act of listening to music into a type of interactive reading exercise. As students follow along with the lyrics, they sharpen their reading comprehension and fluency skills in an engaging and enjoyable manner.

For learners of English, the advantages are even deeper. According to Belgian researcher Pauline Degrave*, songs offer genuine listening content. Learners are exposed to native speakers using authentic language, pronunciation, intonation, etc. This aids in the development of listening skills. Lyrics also support the acquisition of vocabulary. New words and phrases are reiterated in the lyrics. Combining them with melody can assist in memorization and recollection. Teachers can select songs with themes matching classroom topics, adding contextual richness to language lessons.

Desktop View

The mobile app view has karaoke style lyrics

Furthermore, YouTube Music's variety of options enable educators to cater to various learning preferences and age groups. Whether it's historical ballads for a history class, or lyrical poetry for an English literature session, the tool offers a wide array of possibilities.

Integrating songs with lyrics in the classroom enhances not only literacy and language skills but also fosters creativity, cultural comprehension, and emotional self-expression. As educators, embracing technological advancements such as YouTube Music's improved lyrics feature can transform our teaching methods, creating an engaging and melodious learning encounter for everyone involved.

If you would like to bring me to your school for PD, workshops, a keynote, training or a follow-up on this or previous blogposts, click here to schedule an appointment to chat.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

*Degrave, Pauline. "Music in the foreign language classroom: How and why." Journal of Language Teaching and Research 10.3 (2019): 412-420.

MagicSchool Tools: A dozen ways it can help educators

 

In an ever-evolving educational landscape, the search for effective teaching tools never ceases. Teachers today face the challenge of not only adjusting pedagogy for diverse learners, but also keeping up with the rapid technological shifts. Enter MagicSchool Tools, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed specifically for educators. This platform is the one-stop shop educators never knew they needed.

MagicSchool Tools helps educators expedite their laborious tasks, allowing more time for the human aspects of teaching and learning. Remember, AI tools are only as effective as the human input they receive. Vet all AI output before utilizing it.

Here are a dozen ways in which MagicSchool Tools can help.

• Student Work Feedback Tools: Manually checking student work taking tool long? MagicSchool Tools' Student Work Feedback tool helps educators to more quickly analyze student work and provides instant, tailored feedback, ensuring personalized learning. 

• Lesson Plans & Academic Content: With a few clicks, educators can generate lesson plans tailored to their standards, classroom's needs, complete with academic content that's up-to-date and engaging.
• Unit Plans & Syllabus Generator: Planning for the entire year? These tools can generate unit plans, and even a full syllabus, streamlining the process.
• Diagnostic Assessments: It aids in identifying student strengths and areas for improvement, paving the way for targeted instruction.
• Interactive Learning: From ice breakers and team-building activities to the 5E model science lesson plans, learning becomes a fun and interactive experience.
• Assessment & Feedback: Rubrics, spiral reviews in math, and even 3D science assessment generators make both teaching and grading more efficient.
• Communication Tools: The 'Email Parents Tool' and class newsletter generator allow for seamless communication with parents.
• IEP Accommodation Suggestions: With the IEP suggestion generator and accommodation tool, educators can ensure that every student gets the attention they deserve.

• Diverse Learning Tools: From vocabulary lists and reading quizzes to SAT practice test generators, the tool covers a wide spectrum of academic needs.
• Behavioral Intervention: Both behavioral intervention generators and restorative reflection tools provide solutions to manage classroom behavior effectively.
• Advanced Analytical Tools: Data table analysis and text analysis assignment tools assist educators in delving deep into content and drawing meaningful conclusions.
• Recommendations & Responses: Writing letters of recommendation or responding to emails is made effortless with MagicSchool's dedicated tools.

MagicSchool Tools is captivating not only due to its vastness but also its depth. Each tool is crafted with the unique obstacles educators encounter in mind, augmenting the efficiency, personalization, and interactivity of the entire teaching and learning process. Moreover, these tools align with FERPA regulations and reject non-educational prompts. Remember that these tools do possess restrictions. They might generate biased or unreliable data. Their dataset is current until 2021 and does not yet support web searches or image production. This highlights the significance of scrutinizing the resources and information they provide. Despite these constraints, MagicSchool AI Tools can greatly expedite any educator's workflow.

If you would like to bring me to your school for PD, workshops, a keynote, training or a follow-up on this or previous blogposts, click here to schedule an appointment to chat. My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

New Google Classroom Feature Allows Teachers to Close Submissions After Due Dates

 

Google Classroom recently launched a new option for teachers to close submissions once the due dates have passed. As per the Google Workspace Updates Blog, this feature was made available on July 27 and is now being gradually rolled out to users. If you haven't noticed the update yet, it will reach you shortly. This feature has been widely requested by teachers, enabling them to better oversee their workflow and ensure timely submission of all student assignments.

With this new feature, teachers can choose to disable submissions for an assignment after a certain date, regardless of whether or not the assignment has a strict due date. This means that teachers can now prevent students from submitting late work.

Of course, this feature is not without its drawbacks. Some teachers may worry that it will prevent students from having enough time to iterate on their work and achieve mastery. However, teachers can, and should, still provide students with opportunities to revise and resubmit their work, even after the due date. Even if the submission is closed for a specific assignment, students may still access their assignment-related documents to continue to edit. 

Take a look below to see how to get started closing submissions after a due date.

Overall, the new Google Classroom feature that allows teachers to close submissions after due dates is a valuable tool that can help teachers manage their workflow and ensure that all students are submitting their work on time.

If you would like to bring me to your school for PD, workshops, a keynote, training or a follow-up on this or previous blogposts, click here to schedule an appointment to chat. My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Google Classroom Grading Periods: A New Way to Track Student Progress

 

Google Classroom is a useful tool for teachers to manage assignments, communicate with students, and track their progress. However, tracking student progress over time hasn't been easy. That's where the new Grading Periods feature comes in.

Grading Periods is now available for domains with the Teaching & Learning Upgrade or Education Plus subscription. To begin, teachers can go to the Class Settings page and access the "Grading Periods" section. From there, they can create and configure grading periods.

With Grading Periods, teachers can define and apply grading periods to their Classroom assignments. This enables them to observe student performance trends over time, both as an aggregate by grading period or within a specific grading period.

For instance, a teacher could use grading periods to monitor student progress throughout a semester, quarter, trimester, or even based on benchmark assessments. This provides valuable insights about each student's performance over time and helps identify areas where they may require additional support.

Grading Periods is a powerful new feature that enhances teachers' ability to track student progress effectively. If you're a teacher, I encourage you to give it a try. Check out the accompanying screenshots below to see how to get started.

Begin by clicking the settings gear in the top right corner.

Scroll down to the section titled Grading and click Add grading period.

Name the grading period and specify the date range. You can easily duplicate these periods for other classes and assign them to existing assignments.

After creation, go to the Grades tab. Apply the filter to view student work corresponding to the Grading periods you've included.

If you would like to bring me to your school for PD, workshops, a keynote, training or a follow-up on this or previous blogposts, click here to schedule an appointment to chat.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.