Online Tools: Suggestions from TeachersFirst

This editor's choice collection offers timesavers and organizational tools for teachers. They include "utility" sites for teaching tasks such as seating charts, rubrics, and certificates. Other tools facilitate parent communication, such as text messaging or online conferencing. Our editors have also hand picked simple, timesaving, creative tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. These tools organize to-do lists (for yourself or for students), convert files, remove ads from web pages, check web site readability, write a one-time blog, generate an online signup sheet, make a simple graphic organizer or chart, create online corkboards or stickies, and much more. Mark your Favorites using your free TeachersFirst membership, so you can find them quickly!
For a full listing of reviewed "creation" tools by category, try the TeachersFirst Edge, today's hottest tools for creating teacher and student projects online.
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Remind - Remind 101
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Set up accounts for all your classes, and even your extracurricular activities, to send homework, project, and supply reminders. Remind students of upcoming events, practices, or things they need to bring to class or practice. You could also use this to communicate with parents (allow them to sign up for text message updates at back to school night). Share this site the first week of school to save time throughout the entire year. Remind parents of big tests, report cards, field trips, deadlines, back to school night, sneaker days, conferences, and more. Set up a faculty reminder group within your school for emergency closures and more.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Brief.ly - Brief.ly
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Brief.ly is a lifesaver for every classroom, teacher, or school. Whenever you are sharing multiple sites at centers, during small or whole group presentations, or even sites gathered for a research projects, Brief.ly takes away frustration and saves time! Save different content areas, subjects, or study links in one simple click. Gather all grade level websites on your school webpage, and list all classes. Unclutter your own class webpage or blog with just a few links. Sending links to parents or colleagues could not be any easier! Collaboration within classes, groups, or home is a snap! Improve organization for yourself and your class. As students work on group projects, they can share their link list easily. Use a class account so students do not have to register, and you can watch what they are using for sources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Dictation - Amit Agarwal
Grades
K to 12Since this tool has to connect back to its own servers to "translate" your spoken words to text, it may not have the sensitivity you expect. It is a good idea to test it first yourself before assigning students to use it. You might want to demonstrate how clearly you must speak to make it work.
In the Classroom
Use Online Dictation to dictate homework assignments to post on your class webpage. Demonstrate proper note taking using Online Dictation. Leave this site up in your browser, and add notes throughout your lesson. Save notes to your computer to print and use for future reference. Share this site with students who have difficulty putting thoughts onto paper or students with delayed handwriting skills or processing delays. Let students dictate stories, poems, questions, etc. to print and use. Share Online Dictation with your school's ESL/ELL teacher as a resource for use with their students. Speech and language teachers can try this tool to encourage students to improve articulation. If they speak clearly, their words will "magically" appear in writing!Comments
The concept is great but the execution is disappointing. The text response is slow and often captured only an occasional word or phrase. Most of what was returned in text was gibberish. This program is not suitable for student use.Dwight, , Grades: 3 - 7
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Jumpshare - Ghaus Iftikhar
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Eliminate file sharing challenges during projects with penpals or people from other schools anywhere in the world. Create a class account (or several) for students to upload completed class projects. Share this site with older students to use when collaborating on group projects. Collaborate easily on lesson plans with other teachers by uploading and sharing files from anywhere.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Screencastify - Chrome Web Store
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create screencasts showing how to do various computer tasks or navigate websites. Demonstrate how to use a website or software for specific tasks within the classroom. For example, show how to use the comment feature in Word for annotating class notes, reading passages, and other items. Make how-to demos for instructions on using and navigating your class home page, class wiki or blog, or other applications you wish the students to use in creating their own projects. By narrating how students should navigate through a certain site or section, you can eliminate confusion, provide an opportunity for students to replay the information as a refresher for the future, and maintain a record for absent students. Software demonstrations add an increased flexibility with helping students who need it while allowing students to begin and work at their own pace. Added audio is a great asset for many students, including learning support and those who might need to access the material in smaller "chunks." Use this site for students to give "tours" of their own wiki or blog page. The presentation of their web-based projects and resources can be more engaging. Use screencasts to critique or show the validity of websites, identify a resource site they believe is most valuable, or explain how to navigate an online game. Social studies teachers could assign students to critique a political candidate's web page using a screencast. Reading/language arts teachers could have student teams analyze a website to show biased language, etc. For a powerful writing experience, have students "think aloud" about their writing choices as they record a screencast of a revision or writing session. You will probably need to model this process, but writing will NEVER be the same! Math teachers using software such as Geometer's Sketchpad could have students create their own narrated demonstrations of geometry concepts as review (and to save as future learning aids). Teachers at any level can create screencasts to demonstrate a computer skill or assignment, such as for a center in your classroom or in a computer lab. Students can replay the "tutorial" on their own from your class web page and follow the directions. As a service project, have students write and record how to screencasts to help elderly or less tech savvy computer users navigate the web, register to vote, or find important health information. Writing for such a project would fit right in with CCSS informational writing and digital writing standards in middle and high school.Comments
Great tool!Barbara, , Grades: 0 - 12
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Free Online PDF Calendars - Kevin MacLeod
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this calendar maker to create calendars throughout the year. Create a calendar from a year in history to discover days of the week that historic events took place. Include a calendar with multimedia projects for a written perspective of time and events. Create a calendar for the future to explore events such as days of the week birthdays will occur, day of the week for future holidays, or for the upcoming school year. Create calendars for upcoming years to view days of the week for annual events. Give your students calendars to highlight in different colors showing vacations, major projects, field trips, and other events. Help your "organizationally challenged" students by printing calendars they can annotate and keep inside the clear cover of their binders or in a plastic sleeve page. Have young students (or ELL students) decorate a yearly calendar as they learn the months of the year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hemingway - Ben and Adam Long
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use this highly visual revision program with your students who are ready to refine and improve their writing. This is a wonderful program to use for revision after editing of grammar and mechanics is complete. Discover what is making your writing too wordy (excessive prepositional phrases or adverbs?) Partner an advanced writer with one not so advanced and have them use Hemingway to improve their styles. Put the URL on your website for students and parents to use from home. Remind seniors to use it for their college essays. Use this tool to polish your own professional writing, parent newsletters, blog posts, and papers for grad classes!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WhenIsGood - Keith Harris
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create a calendar for scheduling parent-teacher conferences to send to parents. Scheduling a special presentation and inviting parents? Use this tool to find out what date and time of day will work best. Use WhenIsGood to set up grade level or department meetings. Share with your school's Parent Teacher Organization as a tool for scheduling meetings, fundraisers, or book fairs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Down For Everyone Or Just Me? - downforeveryoneorjustme.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Add Down For Everyone Or Just For Me to your bookmarks for quick and easy checks when websites won't connect. Share a link on your class website or blog for students to find and easily use this tool at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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calmCounter - James Barrett
Grades
K to 8In the Classroom
Share calmCounter at the beginning of the school year with a projector or your interactive whiteboard. Have your class practice different noise levels and come to an agreement about where the thermometer should be for different activities. Display calmCounter on your interactive whiteboard or projector during your troublesome, noisy times: centers, indoor recess, or group work. If you have an autistic or noise sensitive student, calmCounter can help your class become more aware of their noise levels. In music class, use to aid students in understanding dynamics in written music such as pianissimo, mezzo forte, and forte. During your science unit on sound, use calmCounter to show a rudimentary measurement of different types of sound.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Delivr - delivr.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use Delivr to shorten and share any long url. If you have a BYOD or 1:1 classroom with mobile devices, be sure they include free QR reader apps to open the codes you create. Create a QR code that directs to your class site or blog and include it on handouts for Back to School night. Create a QR code scavenger hunt for students, making a webquest or research project more engaging. Add QR codes to documents for students to access a key or information to check their answers to questions. Expand knowledge of a topic by adding a QR code to a site that goes beyond the textbook. Create a data chart accessible via a QR code. Students can easily access the data and manipulate the information. Have students create a book trailer or review and affix a QR code to the outside of the book. (Students may be more apt to read a book that has been reviewed by another student.) Make a display completely interactive with a QR code that describes the assignment, the process, the research, student's reactions and more! Add extra help information to any assignment that asks students to solve problems. Create an online help tutorial accessible via a QR code, and place the code beside a similar problem. Even non-readers can use QR codes that lead to images or videos. Link directly to a Google Map. Place QR code contact information for you and your school on contact cards to give to parents. Attach QR codes to physical objects around the room to provide information about the object. Place the links in a newsletter using QR codes instead of a series of words that need to be typed.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Strong Random Password Generator - Passwordsgenerator.net
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Have student partners share the advice about passwords. Discuss these and why they are important. Use this tool anytime a password is required for students. Display this link at the beginning of the school year on your class web page for students (and parents) to use, too!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Scrible - Scrible
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Your students' online research will be efficient and effective with Scrible. Students can take notes on their bookmarks. They only need to bookmark the part of the website they need for their assignment. Students can collaborate with peers on their research. Post articles and documents online for your students to highlight and annotate. Bookmark this tool on your website or blog for your students to access in or outside of the classroom. Use Scrible to annotate professional development articles or to highlight important information for your students. The best part? It will instantly create your bibliography for you!How many times have we heard students complain during a group project, "But I couldn't get to his or her house to work on it?" Tell them to use Scrible to interact online. The research and conversations created through highlighting and annotating what they read can greatly enhance both their research skills and their online interaction on academic level skills. Or use the site to post and share discussion assignments on specific articles or even parts of articles using the highlighting tool. Find a relevant article to your subject. Highlight the part that you want students to read. (If students are younger, keep it short to reduce the intimidating reality of too much information for kids.) Attach a note with a discussion question for the students. Have them comment on the link in a "class discussion" as an outside assignment. If you are fortunate enough to have all students with computer access in your class and at home, such as in one to one laptop (or BYOD) program schools, you can use this essentially to run your class. Post assignments or post readings. Science teachers can post online interactive labs, and more.
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Text Compactor - Knowledge by Design Inc.
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use this resource when reducing original passages (not plagiarized) to fit a specific number of words or characters. Use this resource when teaching summarization. Paste in a text to summarize and discuss/brainstorm what makes a great summary. Challenge students to look for ways that the tool may have actually missed an important concept through its automated process. Have the class decide whether their own summary or the one offered by this tool is best -- and why. Use this tool as one of many angles on revision during the writing process. Have students paste in their own writing to see what ideas "show" as the most important and to consider revising to emphasize what they really intended to say. If your emails get a bit too wordy, try this tool to shorten them! Shorten your assignment descriptions to make them easier for your ESL/ELL students and lower level readers to understand.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online-Convert - online-convert.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Mark this tool in your favorites (or bookmark) for easy access and professional use, no matter what grade you teach. Model ethical use of electronic resources (other people's work) for students. Making a "derivative work" from someone else's pdf handout should include a printed credit within the new document, giving credit for the original source, Ex. "Adapted from a handout by xxx available at www.theoriginalhandout.pdf." Such derivative use should only be done when the original copyright permits it, such as using materials that grant permission for classroom use. Be sure to give proper credit for videos and other files you save locally. Have students practice giving proper credit to their converted files.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CloudConvert - Lunaweb Ltd
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save CloudConvert for use throughout the year. Upload PDF files to convert into Word documents, save PowerPoint presentations as a PDF, convert movie or audio files to one single type for use in class projects. Use CloudConvert to change files that won't open to a different format accepted by your computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Voice Recorder - 123apps
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Have students practice spelling words orally, record speeches, practice reading fluency, and much more using Online Voice Recorder. After recording, allow students to listen to the playback and reflect upon the quality of their work. Do before and after recordings of students to share with parents during conferences to demonstrate reading progress. Have students record weekly summaries for what has happened in your class to share on your class website or blog (you will have to upload the files). Record weekly or daily homework assignments and share as a voice recording on your website. Save file space by replacing old files with new ones. Online Voice Recorder would be an excellent resource for recording and sharing more complicated directions for projects and assignments (adding you voice intonation and cues!). Your weaker readers and ENL/ESL students may do better with a combination of written AND auditory directions. Provide the link on your class website for students to use at home for additional practice in spelling, reading, practicing reports, and more. Share this site with parents at Back to School Night. Have students write and record audio book reviews others can play on iPads in the school library. If you have gifted students in your classroom, this tool is simple enough for even the youngest to be able to record audio mini-dramas portraying a historic figure, poetry readings, and more. Be sure to show them how to NAME and download the files to the local computer! Anything they can say out loud can become a creative project recording. Don't forget about recording musical performances or practices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacher Lists - School Family Media
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create a TeacherLists account for your building or teaching team and distribute your supply list or a wish list in an easy to find format for parents to access anytime and anywhere. Share what your class specifically needs to be ready for the start of school or a new marking period. Include the links to your lists on your class web page. Library/media specialists can share a schoolwide list to keep the media center well stocked with supplies. Art teachers can request the craft items and supplies they need. Even grandparents can help out the school when they know what is needed. Share with your school's parent organization for creating their own lists.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cloze Test Creator - l.georges
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to review parts of speech or sentence functions. Teach ESL/ELL students to succeed in adding troublesome prepositions or articles, especially in their writing, since the missing word is at the top. Use a cloze test to have students review terms and concepts in science, geography, and history. Use this site in world language classes to help understand verb tenses and more!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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StoryToolz - Chuck Heintzelman
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Enhance and modify student writing by having them use StoryToolz. First, share it with students with a projector in your writing class to generate ideas for stories, possible centers of conflict to map out the new tale, and show them how to use the tool. Use the readability section with any writing to determine appropriateness for use with students. Have students paste their writing in the readability section to determine if their writing is at an appropriate grade level or to note information such as words per sentence or use of various parts of speech. Paste into the cliche buster to point out ho-hum wording and overused expressions. Suddenly, students may begin to write more complex sentences or use more vivid language. Be sure to include a link to this site on your class webpage and classroom computers for use throughout the year. The readability portion of the site is a great resource for ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers to help determine the appropriateness of reading materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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