Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Learn what a QR code is and how it works. These little images have amazing powers! This blog post includes a link to install a QR reader onto your computer (works with your webcam). This site/tool works with both Mac and Windows/Linux.
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Create visually stunning graphics, presentations, flyers, and more without any graphic design experience using Desygner. Created for non-designers, Desygner uses drag and drop features and ready-made templates that make it easy for everyone to build and share content to use for many different needs. Create an account to begin designing using templates, upload a PDF document, or start from scratch. Select items from the dashboard to add and edit text, images, YouTube videos, and more features. When finished, share your project using the provided link, or download in JPEG, PNG, PDF, or MP4 format.

Use this nicely organized PowerPoint presentation to introduce the concept of sentence diagramming. Clearly explained steps and animated illustrations move students from simple verb-subject structures to complex sentences.

Create, collaborate, and share flowcharts and diagrams with Diagramo, no account required. Click the link to "Try it Now!" to access your dashboard. Drag and drop shapes, add connections, change colors, and add images to shapes. When complete, save to your computer or create an account with Diagramo and save to your account.

Dictionary.com provides much more information than a typical dictionary. Browse the page to find the Word of the Day, grammar tips, and word trends. Use the menu tabs at the top of the page to play games, find the meaning of Emojis, Slang, Acronyms, and more. Creating an account isn't necessary; however, it allows you to save words as favorites.
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Diffit is a tool that helps teachers differentiate lessons using any text, article, or web page. To use Diffit, you need to create a free account. Then, select one of three options: Literally Anything, An Article (or URL), or Any Text or Excerpt. Then, choose the approximate reading level you want for the differentiated materials. After entering all the necessary information, click Generate Output. Diffit will produce an adaptive reading passage, a summary, key vocabulary words, multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and open-ended prompts. All of the generated content can be edited or added to. Use the dropdown box to adjust the reading level or language. Share the materials with students by copying them into a document, printing, or exporting them to Google Docs/Forms.

Digg is a social news network similar in some qualities to Facebook and other such social media. You can post stories you find interesting and browse "Top Stories" which are more or less the most popular stories shared by others on the Internet. It is meant to share a snapshot of the most interesting, relevant, quirky, and fun content on the web! Once you sign up, you can start to Digg your own favorites. This site also features "Digg Dialogg" where members submit questions to notable leaders and community members decide on which questions will be asked and interviews are shared on the site. Be sure to preview items that you wish to share. Noted were a few "violent" warnings at the time of this review, but the other 99% of the shared items were excellent for use in the classroom.

Digital Citizenship offers a large number of resources for teaching digital citizenship for students of all ages, teachers, and parents. Scroll down the page to find categories for Online safety, Healthy online habits, Teaching and learning, and more to begin. Each section includes articles and resources for learning responsible digital citizenship. The site was created in Australia. American English speakers may notice some slight differences in spellings and pronunciations. The videos reside on sites other than Digital Citizenship. Some are on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Digital Learning Day is an annual February event spotlighting successful instructional practice and effective use of technology around the country. Choose the "About DLDay" option to find out more about the goals of Digital Learning Day, begin with a detailed description listing the characteristics of digital learning. View exemplary models, showcases, lesson portals, and more using links provided. Sign up as a participant for Digital Learning Day then plan your own classroom activity, provide a presentation to parents, or choose from other ideas offered on the site. Explore the Participate portion of the site to find digital tools, online resources, graphics, lesson plans and more. Sign up isn't required; however, it does allow you to receive emails with updates and learning ideas throughout the year. The digital learning content demonstrations are conducted in four areas: math, science, language arts, and civics/social studies; critical areas, such as working with ELL or special education students, will be woven into the lessons.

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research curation tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly. At this time Diigo is experiencing issues with the "Top 10 Tags" from the menu on the left.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Additional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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Travel to the world's most amazing places whenever you like with Discovery Education's Virtual Field Trips, no chaperones or payment required! Explore the Curriculum tab at the top by subject and scroll down the landing page to view Virtual Tours where you can filter by subject area. The virtual field trips include a video along with multiple additional resources like a Teachers Guide, links, and additional resources to download. Some videos are hosted on YouTube. Search for your topic in the search bar, you never know what you'll find. This review found Pi Day virtual field trips!

Finding and implementing engaging lessons is difficult and time-consuming; Ditch That Textbook offers practical teaching ideas that adapt quickly to all content and grade levels. There are three main areas of the site to search for resources - the Blog, Google Ideas, and Resources. Blog content includes suggestions for feedback, gamifying classrooms, and sources for finding free content. Use the keyword search to look for specific information. The Google Ideas section shares material for all things Google, including using Chromebooks. Scroll down the page to find ideas sorted by Google tools and links to videos, templates, and related blog posts. Select the Resources link to find an abundance of free templates, how-to videos, and tools for remote learning. Be sure to dig around at length; there is much more available on this site, including a handful of free online courses for educators. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

This one is quite a bit of fun for the English language enthusiast. Explore the origins of hundreds of words and expressions, participate in some online exercises to determine which kind of speech is preferred, tune into radio stations from all 50 states to follow the rich regional variety in American English, and follow the mispronunciation debate. A thought-provoking and enlightening side trip for your AP students.

Organize student Google documents with Doctopus! This tool is essential for organizing of documents both to and from students. Create a Google Doc template. Next, create a spreadsheet containing the students who will be using the document. When you install Doctopus as a Chrome add-on, a Doctopus folder is created in Google Docs. Be sure that the template you create and the spreadsheet containing student names are in that folder. A script needs to be installed to pull the student names from the spreadsheet and then send them the document. Find simple directions with screenshots here. Doctopus is a Google Chrome add-on and is available for Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, and Linux. This add-on is not available for Windows RT, iPad, or mobile devices as of this time.

DokuWiki is an open-source wiki creator that doesn't require a database, making it simpler to use than some other wiki creation tools. Use DokuWiki to create collaborative workspaces for any number of classroom uses. Some of the site's features include unlimited change revisions, a large variety of extensions for customization, options for sharing content in many different languages, and many templates and themes. Click the download button to build and install your wiki. Be sure to check out the site's features page to find links and information on how to create your wiki.

Doozy is a social platform for teams to chat, create quizzes, participate in group games, and much more. Register and create an account with Doozy to create your social space. Grab the link to invite others to your game room to begin group activities. Once in the room, use chat features to interact, create a quiz or choose from the library of pre-made quizzes, or add a playlist from Spotify as part of your activity room. With the free account you get 1 meeting room, 10 participants,15 min sessions, games, quizzes, and icebreakers.

Convert the content of any webpage into an e-book format to read on your tablet, phone, or other e-reader device using dotEPUB-- even offline! Install the browser bookmarklet in Firefox, Safari, Opera, Mozilla, or Chrome to begin. In Chrome and Mozilla use the dotEPUB browser extension to create documents. Once installed, click on the bookmarklet or browser extension while on any page to convert the page and send to your e-reader. Choose from either epub or mobi (Kindle) format for use in e-readers. View the instructional videos for complete directions on how to use the bookmarklet or extension. This site is also available in Spanish. The instructional videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube and you wish to share the videos in class, they may not be viewable.

Create an online bulletin board (much like Padlet, reviewed here, or Lino, reviewed here) for brainstorming and VOTING on any topic. The voting is what makes this tool different. Create an account. There is no waiting for email approval. Add a board, title, select how many votes the participants will have (up to 10), and start adding posts with text, images, and video. Add images and video via URL or upload from your computer. When participants join, they give their name. Participants can add posts. Names of participants using the board appear below the chat box. Participants name's appear when they make a comment in the chat. However, comments on posts don't have the participant name. Once the board is complete, the creator can finalize the board so no new ideas can be posted, but the voting feature is still open. At the time of this review, a free account allows you to have one fully featured board. If you wish to create another board, you will need to delete your existing board.