Get to Know The BookWidgets Ambassadors as They Reveal Their Favorite Classroom Activities - Part 4
Chelsey Both —
Behind every great learning experience is a teacher experimenting, adapting, and finding new ways to engage students. In part four of our Ambassador blog post series, we’re excited to introduce two more BookWidgets Ambassadors who are doing just that. ❤️
Their stories show how educators around the world are bringing interactivity into their classrooms and using BookWidgets to make lessons more engaging and meaningful for students.
In this blog post, we will share the stories of:
Meet Gerardo Elías: Engaging Students Across Multiple Subjects
Gerardo brings lessons to life for secondary school students with energy, creativity, and a passion for learning. He has taught ESL English to 7th–9th graders and 9th-grade Ecology, and currently teaches 7th-grade Biology and Geography as well as 9th-grade Financial Education.
By using BookWidgets, he creates interactive lessons and exams that get students thinking, exploring, and participating in every class. These activities are shared seamlessly with his students through platforms like Google Classroom and Algebraix (a cloud-based school administration and learning management system popular in Latin America).
This way of working highlights the versatility of BookWidgets. With so many ways to design lessons and assessments across subjects and grade levels, it’s a tool that grows with teachers as they explore what’s possible. His creative approach demonstrates how technology can turn lessons into dynamic and inspiring experiences.
This is my go-to app to make grading, feedback and secure test taking easier. I remember it took me about a week to really get a hang on what I could do with it, but now I’ve used almost all of the question types at one point or another. For exams I always use BookWidgets with SEB,” says teacher and BookWidgets Ambassador Gerardo Elías.
As Gerardo’s experience shows, it does take a little time to get the hang of all the features, but once you do, the possibilities are endless. If you want to explore everything BookWidgets has to offer, check out our free upcoming and recorded webinars, covering a variety of topics for every teacher and showing how features can be applied in the classroom.
Let’s take a closer look at three widgets from Gerardo that show how much you can do when you really get to know BookWidgets 👇
1. Interactive Biology Exam
The first activity Gerardo shared is a Worksheet widget he used for a Biology exam. He structured the exam with multiple questions per page, allowing him to design it according to Bloom’s Taxonomy and guide students through different levels of thinking.
Before starting, students are given instructions that clearly outline the exam rules, along with some specific biology guidelines. Once they close the instructions, they can begin the exam, but they can always refer back to them by clicking the information button in the top-right corner next to the envelope icon. This setup provides students with clarity and independence while keeping them on track throughout the exam.
💡 Pro Tip! Grading exams can take a lot of time, but there are ways to make it more efficient and easier. Explore these resources and see the BookWidgets reporting dashboard in action. 👇
2. Video Quiz for Independent Learning on Latitude and Longitude
Another activity Gerardo shared is a Video Quiz about latitude and longitude. As students watch the video, they encounter a mix of multiple-choice and short-answer questions that appear at specific moments.
By adding questions at key moments in the video, Gerardo encourages students to pause, think, and respond as they watch. Since they know a question can pop up at any time, they stay focused on what’s being explained. This also lets students move through the lesson at their own pace, making it a great activity for independent work in class or as a homework assignment.
3. Hands-On Split Worksheet for Language Learning
The last activity Gerardo shared with us is a Split Worksheet that turns reading and language practice into an interactive experience. Using a PDF, students engage with the text, apply language concepts, and practice grammar in a hands-on way.
By combining reading, vocabulary, and grammar in one interactive widget, Gerardo creates a hands-on learning experience that keeps students engaged and thinking throughout.
💡 Pro Tip! If your students need extra resources during an exam or activity, you can easily add them in your worksheet. For more guidance, check out our blog post on structured multimedia quizzes or watch our video tutorial on how to create them.👇
Transforming Learning and Teaching
Gerardo transforms learning and teaching by combining creativity, interactivity, and technology. He designs lessons that engage students in thinking, exploring, and actively participating, turning traditional classrooms into dynamic learning environments.
By leveraging tools like BookWidgets, he creates interactive exercises and assessments that challenge students while providing instant feedback. This approach shows how technology can empower teachers to innovate, streamline grading, and make lessons more engaging, flexible, and effective.
Through his work, Gerardo demonstrates that with the right tool and mindset, teachers can expand the possibilities of instruction, inspire curiosity, and foster a love of learning in every student.
Meet Cassandra Sparks: Making Writing Accessible for All
Meet Cassandra Sparks from the United States. With more than three decades of experience teaching English Language Arts and Special Education, she thought she had seen every instructional tool imaginable. Yet despite all these tools, writing always remained an insurmountable mountain for her students. She provided countless models and practiced many times with them, but students still struggled to structure a clear thesis statement. Everything changed when she started using BookWidgets!
For the first time, her students could practice the structure of a thesis statement independently and receive instant, meaningful feedback before drafting their own. A sequence of interactive tasks allowed them to explore thesis writing from multiple angles. This combination enabled Cassandra to achieve something she had never been able to do at scale: students practicing writing skills with accuracy, independence, and confidence.
"The impact on student writing was immediate. Students who once waited for reassurance before writing a single sentence were suddenly experimenting, revising, and trying because BookWidgets let them see their mistakes instantly and correct them without fear. Their drafts improved because they had already rehearsed the structure multiple times in low stakes, interactive ways," says teacher and BookWidgets Ambassador Cassandra Sparks.
Let’s take a closer look at the widgets Cassandra designed to help her students explore thesis writing from multiple angles 👇
1. Structured WebQuest for Independent Learning
First, let’s explore the WebQuest Cassandra created to help her students understand thesis statements. She divided it into multiple sections, creating a clear step-by-step path that students can follow at their own pace.
What makes a WebQuest so powerful is that, once shared, students can work through it independently. Everything they need is gathered in one place, giving them a structured overview of the learning process.
Take a closer look to see the different types of content she included in each section.
💡 Pro Tip! Watch this webinar to discover how you can build a complete digital and interactive lesson step-by-step with our Webquest widget.
2. Applying Knowledge with an Interactive Worksheet
The next widget is a Worksheet Widget in which students analyze thesis statements. You may have already spotted it in the WebQuest shared earlier. Before reaching this activity, students first explore the theory behind thesis statements within the WebQuest.
Once they’ve built that foundational understanding, it’s time to put their knowledge into practice. Before asking students to write their own thesis statements, Cassandra uses this worksheet to check their understanding and ensure they’re ready for the next step.
3. Guided Writing with a Split Worksheet
Now it’s time for Cassandra’s students to put their learning into practice by writing their own thesis statements. To guide them, she uses a Split Worksheet: the left side provides additional information and examples, while the right side is where students begin writing. The layout encourages students to work from top to bottom, ensuring they follow each step and don’t miss any part of the process.
Transforming Learning and Teaching
Beyond teaching thesis statements, Cassandra discovered many powerful ways to use BookWidgets. Students can demonstrate their learning through images or audio, giving learners who think or communicate differently a chance to participate fully. These options help students rehearse ideas, clarify thinking, and build confidence before putting words on the page.
At the same time, BookWidgets makes differentiation effortless. Text to speech tools have been a game changer for Cassandra’s struggling readers, giving them access to directions, models, and feedback without waiting for her to read aloud. This independence has transformed her classroom: students no longer feel stuck or embarrassed, they feel capable and empowered to take charge of their learning.
💡 Pro Tip! Cassandra only highlighted a few ways to differentiate with BookWidgets. To explore more possibilities, watch our webinar on differentiating your lessons with BookWidgets.
Not only has BookWidgets enhanced learning for Cassandra’s students, it has also transformed her workflow. She can create reading and writing tasks that mirror SBAC assessments, embed scaffolds, and update materials instantly without interrupting student work. When grading, she can provide both verbal and written feedback.
Cassandra said, "The platform’s flexibility allowed me to focus less on managing the mechanics of assignments and more on giving meaningful feedback where it matters most: their writing."
Wrap Up
Our ambassadors continue to show how passion and creativity can transform learning. We are thrilled to celebrate their work and share their stories with the wider BookWidgets community. This series is far from over, and we look forward to featuring even more inspiring educators and their innovative approaches.
Looking for inspiration? Check out our earlier blog posts:
- Get to Know The BookWidgets Ambassadors - Part One
- Get to Know The BookWidgets Ambassadors - Part Two
- Get to Know The BookWidgets Ambassadors - Part Three
Stay connected and keep inspired by following us on Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn, or join our Facebook Teacher Community to connect with fellow educators, swap ideas, and find fresh tips for your classroom. 💡
And if you’d like to stay connected, feel free to follow me, Chelsey, on LinkedIn ! 👋
