Using Language tool in spreadsheets

Spell checkers have evolved a lot, and I think one that works very well is Language Tool.

It is an extension that is installed in the browser and, from then on, it warns you of spelling and grammatical errors in almost all the texts you write in your browser: documents, presentations, blogs, etc. If you do not have it installed, you can do so at this link.

But it does not work on spreadsheets. It does not recognize the cells of spreadsheets as text, and this means that it does not mark the errors. In the educational field (and also in the business field), this is a major limitation, since we use spreadsheets a lot: to make notebooks to monitor the progress of students, end-of-term bulletins, school organization, etc.

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Removing line breaks in documents or spreadsheets

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post with a technical trick. I always doubt if people will know them and it will look like I’ve discovered garlic soup. In any case, if you already know it, just skip the post and that’s it.

This summer I have been copying a few competences from the decrees of the new curriculum to make the new version of the qViC. The decrees are published in PDF and of course, when copying and pasting them into a spreadsheet or text document, line breaks appear.

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Reducing grades is the consequence

For some time now, when I do trainings, I have been meeting teachers who want to reduce the grades in their subjects, but don’t really know how to do it. Since we opened the No Grades group on Facebook (not yet part of the group? There are already over 400 of us!), I get even more enquiries from teachers who are concerned about the over-reliance of students on grades.

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There is life beyond the analytical rubric

Analytical rubrics have been in vogue for a few years now. You talk to teachers at all levels and many of them use analytical rubrics. And it seems that by using these rubrics they are already doing formative and formative evaluation.

My experience, however, tells me quite the opposite. I am not as radical as a good friend of mine who says that the rubrics are obsolete, but she has a point. Continue reading “There is life beyond the analytical rubric”