With much more emphasis on using technology to teach than ever before, these extensions can help you be more efficient and better reach your students whether they are online or face-to-face!

The Great Suspender

All right, I’ll be the first to admit it… I am a tab hoarder! I often leave tabs open of work I plan to come back to later or want to look at later and somehow find myself with 15 or more tabs open all day! Now, more than ever, as we navigate different website to plan, prepare, and execute lessons for face-to-face and remote students, educators got tabs open all over the place! Here’s the problem – having all those tabs open slows down your computer CONSIDERABLY. The Great Suspender is the solution!

The Great Suspender Extension takes tabs that have not been open for a considerable amount of time and automagically suspends them in the background, freeing up your CPU’s memory being consumed by that tab. The best part – it doesn’t close the tab, so when you click back on the tab, it will reload and come back to life when you need it!

Has tons of ways to customize for your needs:

Mote

Mote allows you to quickly and easily add voice comments to Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, as well as Google Classroom. Then, mote transcribes your recordings so you can leave them as comments on your students’ work. Even if your students don’t have Mote installed as a chrome extension, they will get a link to hear the voice message you left them! I am a much faster speaker than I am typer – and I love the idea of students being able to hear the tone in my voice – especially when giving feedback for improvement. Students will know you are sincere and trying to help them succeed.

Check out the promo from Mote’s CEO:

Custom Cursor

If you are not already using Custom Cursor to keep your students eyes exactly where you want them on your screen – you’ve got to try it! If you already have it installed – it may be time to change things up and surprise your students with a new cursor! Here’s what it does – it changes your mouse cursor from the usual white arrow to what seems like millions of super fun and silly options! They’ve got Disney characters, holidays, characters from TV shows, cool, colorful updates to the traditional pointer cursor, and much, much more! It is a fun way to keep students attention right where you want them to look while you’re using Chrome. Check out their promo video below to learn more:

Crafty Cursor

This is alternative option to Custom Cursor, or can take your Custom Cursor to the next level. Crafty Cursor highlights where you point on screen with a big circle hovering under your cursor. It also shows shows your clicks by changing color to red momentarily. A great way to demonstrate where to click/where to go on a website for students. On most websites, Crafty Cursor also shows with words on screen what keys you touched. Another great way to be able to show students what you are doing when demonstrating.

Web Paint

The Web Paint extension allows you to draw or type on top of any website! You can help your students know what to do on a webpage and even leave your own custom instructions RIGHT ON TOP with arrows pointing to where to click! The extension even has a screenshot feature built in if you want to take a snapshot of your finished instructions/drawing to drop into your learning management system for students to reference later. A great little annotation toolbox to use on any website!

Screencastify

Screencastify is a GREAT extension for creating videos for your students. You can record your screen, yourself (using your webcam) or BOTH. You may already have this little gem installed. What many educators don’t notice or take advantage of is the GIF function! You can show exactly where to click or how to start an assignment by recording a screencast using screencastify and then downloading as a GIF. AWESOME way to have the exact demonstration showing over and over right inside of an assignment!

JUST FOR FUNSIES

Confetti Cannon

Did your whole class just rock an assignment online? Did your in-class kids exceed your expectations and deserve a celebration? You need Confetti Cannon!!! With one click of the extensions confetti cannons in the right and left bottom corners of your screen explode to fill your screen with confetti!!!! This makes me happy EVERY TIME I use it!!! So simple, so delightful!

Cornify

Add this fun little gem and anytime you hit the “Cornify” button while using Chrome, the extension will add a Unicorn (or unicorn inspired) sticker to your screen. A fun way to add a little sparkle when your class or an individual student is doing a great job! You can even hit the button multiple times to add loads of magic unicorn wonder to a page. Look for the rainbow cupcake button in the top corner to remove the “cornification” from the page and get back to business.

There are so many more extensions I love and use every single day such as Keep, Bitmoji, and Clipular. What extensions can you not live without??? What would you add to this list? Please share in the comments!