Do you know about the availability of Read & Write for Google? Last week, Texthelp released an update to it's Read & Write for Google Chrome extension. Gone is the green arrow, here is the purple puzzle piece icon. Once this chrome extension is installed, the purple arrow will appear whenever a Google Document is open; it just needs to be clicked on and used! Click the purple icon to open and close the Read & Write for Google toolbar.
Read & Write for Google is free for teachers, but for student use, there is a fee. See pricing here. In my district, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, we are fortunate to have a district subscription for our Google Apps domain. It is available to all students who have a district Google Apps for Education account. The district has pre-installed it for all users, so there is no need to go to the Chrome web store to get it.
As I work with teachers, I find that many are not aware of this powerful toolbar. This could be due to three possible reasons:
- They are not logged into Google Chrome with their Walled Lake Google account.
- When prompted, they are closing the window for the user agreement instead of clicking the "agree" button.
- They haven't clicked on the icon to open the toolbar to see what it does. Once I show them.
Once I show teachers that this is available, they are amazed!
Using a tool like Read & Write for Google can provide learning support to all (this is called a "universal support." Yes, using it will help students become familiar with similar type tools that are available when taking online standardized tests. But it makes sense to show students what it does so that they can use it when they need it on a daily basis. They decide if they need it and they decide on which tools they want to use based on their own learning needs.
My Favorite Tools:
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| Electronic Highlighters |
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| Text-to-Speech |
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| Speech-to-text |
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| Vocabulary Builder |
- Electronic highlighters: Provide a reading selection about a topic in a shared Google Document. Ask students to identify the main idea or words they do not understand. For their own writing, they can highlight parts of speech, areas they need to embellish, or use for just about any writing skill they are working to develop.
- Text-to-speech: When students write, they often are able to self-correct and improve their writing when they listen as their writing is read out loud. They notice problems with word choice, tense, omitted words, and punctuation.
- Speech-to-text: If students prefer talking instead of writing to get their ideas down, they can use this tool. They'll need to click a button to allow the microphone to record their voice. Once their ideas are on "paper," they can edit as needed. Often the hardest part when writing is simply getting started.
- Vocab Builder: Students can highlight vocabulary words using one of the electronic highlighters (yellow, blue, green, or pink), and then click the Vocabulary Builder button. Google will automatically generate a new Google Document with a table that includes the highlighted words, a definition for each words, along with a picture to go with it. This table can be modified. It's magical!
I write this post to help raise awareness of this toolbar's existence. It could be helpful to students of all grade levels. Walled Lake staff, please help spread the word, and if you need help using it, let me know!
