Lemon Tech Tidbits

Never underestimate the power of angry people on social media. Verizon has backed away from charging Remind for SMS messages sent from the popular social media platform. Here is a statement from the people of Remind: "We have heard from Verizon that they don’t have plans to change the fee structure applicable to Remind for SMS messaging," Grey said in a statement on Thursday. "This means we will no longer be forced to shut off text notifications for Verizon Wireless customers using Remind. There will be no service disruptions for Verizon Wireless customers." So what exactly is Remind? Remind is an app that is used by many teachers, sponsors, and coaches. It is a way to communicate with parents and students quickly and efficiently in a safe environment. For more information on Remind as well as how to create your own account, click here: https://www.remind.com/teachers

John Green and his brother, Hank, along with some friends have created many wonderful videos over everything from understanding Shakespeare plays to famous historical events throughout time called Crash Course . All of the Crash Course videos are arranged by subject and have their own playlist. So far, they are: Statistics Engineering Physics Economics Literature Theatre and Drama Media Literacy Intellectual Property Computer Science U.S. Government & Politics U.S. History World History World History 2 World Mythology Big History (Big Bang to now) History of Science Biology Chemistry Anatomy and Physiology Astronomy Ecology Psychology Sociology Games Film History

Perfect for younger students. The Amoeba Sisters was started by two sisters who love science and want to share it with others. They have created a very popular Youtube Channel focusing on Biology . Each video is less than 10 minutes long and comes with recommended handouts . In addition, they have custom made GIFs and cartoons free to use in your instruction. (make sure to give them credit though). 

Did you have an Etch-A-Sketch you loved to play with as a child? Well, there is now a website version! It is called Web-A-Sketch . Here is an article posted by Erin Whalen giving you all of the information including some ideas of how it can be used in a classroom. *I have been playing around with it on my MacBook and it is as challenging (and addicting) as the original toy. I do wonder though how it would work with students who have a touchscreen computer….

If you haven’t heard, Remind will no longer allow any text messages to be sent to phones using Verizon for free. The reason is Verizon is going to start collecting fees on “spam,” even if the “spam” is from a teacher to a student or parent. (you can read an article detailing the situation here ). Because of this, many youth coaches, sponsors, and teachers are looking for other solutions. You can use Google Classroom as a way to send notifications but to do so successfully, the student and parents will need to download the app onto their phone. For younger school students, there is ClassDojo or Bloomz as an alternative.

Have you ever wanted to use an image of yourself but didn’t like the background? Remove.bg can help. It is a very simple website that will remove the background in less than five seconds. This site only works if a person is in the picture. It does not work on animals or other subjects.

If you haven’t heard yet, TodaysMeet has been officially closed down. However, there is a new site called YoTeach which does pretty much the same thing. With YoTeach, you can set up a free room, share the URL with your students, and have your students chat just like they did in TodaysMeet. Students can also share pictures and drawings. The room can be password protected and it looks like it will never expire which could be good news if you want to revisit the discussion. Setting up YoTeach is very easy but I would recommend you go beyond the first two steps. Click on Administration and make sure to select the Password function and to select Avoid Search. This will allow your classroom to be “hidden” from the public making it safer for the students. The Admin features can be used to mute or remove a student from your class, look at statistics, and delete the entire room if needed. One of the cool features of YoTeach is the statistics which shows you how many times a student has part

Geoguessr is an educational game in which students must use reasoning, research, and geography skills in order to play. When you start the game, you can choose either a single player or the challenge mode. Once entered, you are plunked down in the middle of a street somewhere in the world. You have access to Google maps that allows you to zoom in on different features around you. You can navigate forward or look around you to try to find clues as to where you are. In most cases, you are in such an isolated place, it may be a while before you come across your first clue. Students will need to use their geographic skills as well as researching the clues in order to play the game. Interference and reasoning skills also come in handy. The best part, as the students play the game, they find themselves learning interesting facts along the way.