Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> Jena: Hi, and welcome to another episode of PATINS TV. I’m your host, Jena Fahlbush.
Today is February 2nd, the first Tuesday of the month, and not only is it Groundhog
Day, but it’s the 75th episode of PATINS TV!
To celebrate, I have with me our Southeast Coordinator, Sandi Mahl. She is here to tell
us about Read and Write for Google and its free features. Welcome Sandi.
>> Jena: I’m happy to have you here with me. So what is Read and Write for Google?
>> Sandi: Read and Write for Google is a text reader or a text-to-speech function for almost
every device. Let me demonstrate what it sounds like. (Device: Welcome to the 75th Episode
of PATINS TV.) The first version that we are going to talk about is available on the Chrome store.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: So on this document that I have for us I have a link to where you download
it. It is free and you get it from the Chrome Store.
>> Jena: Okay. Are there any special offers for teachers?
>> Sandi: Yes. For teachers I have left a link for us here. You can get a free year’s
subscription. So far that free year’s subscription is in its second full year.
>> Jena: Oh, that is cool.
>> Sandi: It just keeps going on.
>> Jena: Yes, we will take that.
>> Sandi: Yes.
>> Jena: So if I am not a teacher what can I access for free?
>> Sandi: Well you can always get the text-to-speech functions and the two dictionaries, both the
regular dictionary and the picture dictionary.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: Let me show you a little bit of what it can do.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: Just working with the free stuff you are going to see all sorts of different
things on my screen. I told you Read and Write for Google Chrome actually does a whole lot
of other things. It has fact finders. It has speech-to-text. You can highlight. You can
gather your highlights. It has vocabulary functions. It has word prediction. It goes
on and on and that is in the paid subscriptions.
>> Sandi: But let’s just talk about the free stuff for now. I wrote this narrative
and you are going to see this and we will have her speak to us again. You can change
the settings here and have a different voice. You can have the speed at slow, very slow,
medium and fast. I usually have it set on fast. It continues reading or not. Translation
is always there. So just start reading this here. (Device: This is a narrative that I began for this episode of PTV.
It is written to show all the free features of Read and Write for Google Chrome and iPad.) It is like having your finger underneath every word that
is being said. It is helping them continue to learn to read while they are still able
to get the content material. I used a couple words on here just to show off some of the
dictionary. The first one is narrative. So I want to pull that up on the dictionary.
Here it has this, but what I really like (Device: …tells the particulars of an act or occurrence
or a course of events presented in writing or drama or cinema or as radio or television
program.) There is also a picture dictionary and if you look at that it shows you a book
and it shows you the writing.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: It is pretty clear. I also used the word human down here instead of people.
>> Jena: Alright. That is great.
>> Sandi: Helps make it pretty clear. This not only reads in Google docs, but it will
go out on to the internet. You see I have the same toolbar and I think that is so powerful
that it doesn’t change when you go out there so that the software that you are used to
using in a classroom continues to be the same all the way through your experience.
>> Jena: How do you access Read and Write for Google? Is it an extension? Is it up at
the top?
>> Sandi: It is an extension.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: Okay. If we are on the internet you are going to see a little puzzle piece
with RW on it. It is purple. If when we are here it is going to be dangling down here.
>> Jena: Where else can I use Read and Write for Google? Is it just with Googles, you know,
stuff on platforms or can we use it elsewhere?
>> Sandi: You can use it everywhere. It is…the people at Texthelp have made it what I call or
what I have heard called device agnostic. You can have it on a MAC. You can have it
on a PC, Chromebook or on an iPad.
>> Jena: Alright.
>> Sandi: It works a little different because of the way that the iPad operating system
works. On the iPad all of these little icons are sort of like little islands that work
separately. If you push the Read and Write actual icon this is what you are going to
see. You are going to see your dashboard. You are going to get premium access to it
for 30 days.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: I do not know for sure because I just got it if it goes on with premium access
for the full year with the teacher account or on and on.
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: Since it is linked to that I would like to think it is, but we will have to see.
The setup wizard on this is very important. It will send you through a lot of things.
It works through a keyboard so you are going to have to setup a special keyboard, enable
a special keyboard with this. They really do they go right through it and tell you how
to do it. So down on this I have to push the little pencil. I have a keyboard instead.
Hi. It will pull words in. Let me see. Excellent. Let’s spell it wrong. Opportunity. Okay
it put it out there.
>> Jena: Yes.
>> Sandi: Opportunity to…let’s say I want to know what make means?
>> Jena: Okay.
>> Sandi: If I swipe down.
>> Jena: Oh.
>> Sandi: There is my definition. Here is my picture definition on this side. The other
thing it will do is, again, read what is up here on my Google doc for me which, you know
is nice and it will also go out on to the internet and read for me. I like that it is
that same exact…
>> Jena: Toolbar. >> Sandi: Toolbar. I am not messing with it.
I don’t need to highlight or anything like that and do that. All I need to do is push
this and start reading. (Device: The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers
to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.)
>> Jena: That is awesome!
>> Sandi: Yes. I love it when a tool will go across different mediums like that.
>> Jena: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well thank you Sandi for all of the great information
on Read and Write for Google. We appreciate your time today and we are excited to see
that we can use it across many platform. In case you’re interested in the document that
you have seen on the screen with all the links and information that Sandi has been sharing
with us today just visit the URL, the Google shortened URL there and you can also access
that document. In honor of our 75th episode and Groundhog Day, please take a look
back at some of the past episodes of PATINS TV on our YouTube channel. You never know
what you may have missed the first time around. Thanks for tuning in. See you next time on
another episode of PATINS TV.