15 Undeniable Reasons for Teachers to Love Chrome Extensions

It seems there is a Chrome Extension for everything, but how do you know when ones are worth it? Check out this list of pre-vetted Chrome Extensions for teachers.

Google Keep

Google Keep is one of my absolute favorite Chrome Extensions because I have it on all my devices and it syncs seamlessly. I have everything from notes to myself, reading lists, and grocery trips planned in Keep. It really is a lifesaver. It is also totally free.

Grammarly

Grammarly is another one of my must have extensions because it runs in the background constantly checking my grammar and spelling. For an individual who has never felt confident in their spelling this is a big one.

Grammarly offers both free and paid services. I myself have only used the free version. If you do choose to go for the premium services, wait for a sale, as they have them ALL the time.

Kami

Kami is one of those Chrome Extensions that is so good there is no reason not to use it. Like that double negative do you?

Kami works with your PDF uploads in Google Drive to allow annotation and drawing. This means all those PDFs you have downloaded from your favorite authors no longer need to be printed out to be completed.

Kami is a free download.

Custom Cursor

This one is honestly just for fun. Custom Cursor allows you to choose an object to change your cursor from the boring old arrow to something more fun and engaging.

You can choose a seasonal option or something you and your students love. My online students LOVE to see what cursor I will use next.

Giphy

Who doesn’t love a good GIF? Giphy is a great way to inject some humor and character into otherwise bland text. Students and your coworkers will all appreciate you upping your GIF game!

Screen-Cast-O-Matic

This one is a little bit of a cheater. While Screen-Cast-O- Matic is not purely a Chrome Extension, is my favorite way to record my screen! They have a free and easy to use version as well as a paid premium version that I personally think is some of the best money I have spent for teaching in the last year. The price is EXTREMELY reasonable $4 a month and allows you to caption your recorded videos which is huge for accessibility.

Pear Deck

Pear Deck will level up your lectures by allowing you to add questions to individual slides in a presentation. Students are then served these questions and able to answer them right there.

No more clicking around to a million tabs!

Save to Pocket

Have you ever found the best thing ever that you can’t wait to share with students or colleagues, but don’t want to do it right away. Then, when the time comes you can’t find it? Enter Save to Pocket.

This Chrome Extension allows you to store all your favorite finds in one place and makes it easy to share from there.

Google Dictionary

We all need a little help from a dictionary from time to time and this extension makes it easy as pie. Google Dictionary works seamlessly within Chrome to help with definitions of unknown words with a pop-up style bubble.

VoiceIn

We are asking our students to type more than ever now, and for some, it is quite the challenge. VoiceIn allows students to use a voice to type function. I invite students to use this extension then encourage them to go back to read and edit their work.

Diigo

Diigo is one of those one stop shop kind of Chrome Extensions. This tool allows you to save, bookmark, highlight and annotate webpages and screenshots. Talk about a Jack or Jill of all trades!

AdBlock

While not exactly an education-based Chrome Extension, AdBlock can save you a lot of headaches from the constant ads you are being bombarded with while online.

If you are anything like me, it will increase your productivity and save you some money too, because those ads can be a bit tempting.

Last Pass

These days we each have a million and one passwords, and if you are practicing cyber safety they are all unique and hard to figure out which means hard to remember. Last Pass is a password locker that will do the work for you.

This free password manager can save you the stress of being locked out of important accounts.

ToDoist

Finally, I bring you my favorite productivity extension, ToDoist. Similar to other Chrome Extensions mentioned above, ToDoist is a to do list for the internet age. It allows you to save items, make lists, and add items to your list like blog posts to read or emails to respond to.

The Best Chrome Extensions

In the end, the best Chrome Extensions are the ones you use. My favorites may not even crack your top ten, and that is okay!

What Did I Miss?

There are new Chrome Extensions and other tech tools coming out every day. What tools did I miss you think I should know about? Leave a comment below and share your wealth of knowledge!