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Rewordify - Neil M. Goldman
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
This site is a must for saving and bookmarking for classroom use! Start the school year out by posting the link to Rewordify on your class website and parent newsletter for student and parent access from home. Be sure to share with learning support and ENL/ELL teachers and students. Save a link to Rewordify on classroom computers for students to easily paste text from any website to read in a simpler format. Copy and paste any difficult text into Rewordify and display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to enhance student understanding or show meaning in complex texts. Have students guess meanings from context clues in the more complex version, then share the "rewordified" view to test their guesses. Have students create a word cloud of difficult words identified using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Have students take a screen shot of passages that have been "rewordified" to share and discuss.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Author Name Pronunciation Guide - TeachingBooks.net
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Make author studies come alive by having the authors introduce themselves! Add an author recording link in a QR code attached to book jackets in your classroom or school library, making your library interactive. On your class website, have your student writers make their own introductions to their written pieces using a site such as Spreaker, reviewed here. Enjoy at your literary celebration!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw.io - JGraph, Ltd.
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate creating a mind map or other diagram on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and then allow students to try to create their own. Use this site for literature activities, research projects, social studies, or science topics of study. Use Draw.io to create family trees or flow charts. Learning support students could team up to map out the important concepts from a unit visually as a review activity. Use this mapping website as an alternative to a traditional test, quiz, or homework assignment in literature, social studies, or science. Have students demonstrate their understanding by creating a graphic organizer about the main points or map out a step-by-step process (life cycle). Be sure they name their organizer BEFORE they start work with their name --or code name-- so you know who did it (they could EMAIL it to you!) or have them print their results to turn them in. Anonymously share and compare different students' "views" of a unit so students can "see it through someone else's eyes."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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4teachers.org - ALTEC.org
Grades
K to 12You will also find links to make your own rubrics (or adapt others), adapt or create problem-based checklists, find Webquests or Thinkquests, find tools for students to write persuasively, and you can view online lessons or create your own. Those are just a few of the resources you'll find at 4teachers.org. Enjoy 4teachers video channel to see tutorials and educational videos. You might also consider joining in a weekly teacher blog on structured topics and see the featured site of the week.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is a great site to begin with basic understanding of technology in education. Tutorials explain many of the basics educators must have. Ready to use lessons, rubrics, and calendar resources are easily available. This is also a great site for Spanish resources. Share with colleagues to help boost your technology savvy classroom!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Keeping Score - San Francisco Symphony
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Allow students to explore specific composers on their own (or in cooperative learning groups). Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Animatron, Sway, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.U.S. and world history teachers will love this site! (As well as music teachers) Use interactives to integrate music into history classes, math classes (for timing and fractions), and English classes (reading and writing about music). All teachers can check out the thematic links for their subject to music. Take advantage of the FREE lesson plans. Chances are good that you could incorporate music into every type of class. Simply check out the education link, and your imagination and educational wheels will start spinning!
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Teach With Movies - TeachWithMovies.com, Inc.
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Movies offer an entertaining format for history and thematic studies. Use a video to add to the learning experience of students who are visual and auditory learners. Use this site to find videos in a wide range of topics to share on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Take advantage of the free lesson plans for classroom use. Preview the lessons before viewing and convert those that can be to a real-time discussion to engage students WHILE they watch a video! Enhance classroom learning and technology use and achieve this by setting up a backchannel chat using GoSoapBox, reviewed here. Alternatively, if you are distance or remote teaching or have a blended classroom, use VideoAnt, reviewed here, to ask questions and have students respond directly on the video.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sweet Search - Dulcinea Media, Inc.
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Provide Sweet Search for your students to find some of the best student friendly material on the web. For older students, evaluate Sweet Search with other search engines to determine which provides the best information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Little Shop of Writers - Maria Anderson
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share these videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector with students when you want to introduce or review one of the writing skills addressed. Put a link to the videos on your class website for students and parents to use at home. Bookmark collections of favorite videos (and other tools) for writing and grammar instruction for quick access using a tool like Papaly, reviewed here. Challenge students to create their own writing videos to "teach" the class, using Powtoon, reviewed here. Share the videos on a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fair Dealing Decision Tool - Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Include this site as part of your digital citizenship lessons. Explore together what is the acceptable use, and what is not. Enhance classroom technology use by having students create online posters individually or together as a class using a tool such as PicLits, reviewed here, or transform class tech use with a multimedia poster using Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or Adobe Express for Education, reviewed here, to demonstrate the acceptable use of published work. Be sure to include a link to this tool on your class web page for student use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Sites - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Users must have a Google account or sign up for an account. View the controls in Google sites before creating to get an idea of usable features. Find great hints and tips about using Google sites here.Click "Create a new site" to name your site and begin the process. Choose from a variety of templates and begin building your pages. Click "Edit" on your page to bring up the editing options. Use the buttons on the editor bar to change font sizes, color, etc. Click "Insert" to view a drop down menu of a variety of content that can be included on the page. Use the other tabs such as "Format," "Table," and "Layout" to change other aspects of the page. Be sure to click the "Save" button when finished editing a page. Create a new page within the site by clicking "Create a page." Choose from a variety of pages that have different formats suited for a web page, announcements page, file cabinet, or list. Be sure to select where the page will be found such as the top level menu or as a subpage under a different page in the site. Click on "More actions" to bring up other menu items such as "Manage Site," changing page settings, moving or deleting a page, and more. Share your site with others and invite users who can also make changes on the site.
Use a Google Site to create a simple web page for communication with students and their families at any grade level. In middle and high school, use student-created site(s) as a way for students to collaborate and share with many of the same features as a wiki.
Comments
Very versatile for portfolios. Does take some work, not particularly well-documented.Frances, CT, Grades: 6 - 8
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Animatron - Dmitry Skavish
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Challenge older students to create their own Animatrons. Students can use Animatron to share their ideas or to "prototype" an idea. Students can create videos to show math processes, explanations of complex concepts, review new learning, teach others, explain scientific processes, tell stories, or present research. Flip your classroom using Animatron presentations. Use Animatron to create teacher-authored animations for students in ANY grade. Animatron is an excellent way to present new information or ideas for discussion. It is an easy way to prepare information for the class when a substitute is coming. Share Animatron creations on your website or blog for students to review at home. Use an Animatron video on the first day of school to explain class rules or give an exciting introduction to the year ahead. Use Animatron to create movies or presentations for back-to-school night or conference nights to display on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Teacher-librarians can ask students to create Animatron book reviews to share kiosk style in the library/media center.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kahoot! - Mobitroll
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This is a powerful formative assessment tool that is also fun! Create pretests to offer to gifted students to "test out" of already learned material. Students can easily see the choices and choose answers using a browser on a laptop or any device. Make it a class challenge! Use this tool at the start of a new chapter or unit. Project your quiz to the entire classroom using a whiteboard or projector. Students can easily see the choices and choose answers using a browser on a laptop or any device. Use the Team choice when reviewing for a unit test. Students can see who is at the top of the leaderboard during the play and can even ask questions while going through the quiz. Use this tool often to obtain a snapshot of each student's understanding of content.Comments
What makes a good web tool? In my opinion, a web tool should be two things. They should be easy to look at, and easy to use. When you use these tools you need to be able to see clearly what a site does and the purpose it serves. Not only do you need to be able to see what you are doing, but do it easily. If it takes students more effort and energy to use a web tool or website, they will stop using it. You have to be able to keep the attention of the user. Beyond that an education tool needs a few additional items. Education tools need to be fun and interactive to continuously grab the attention of students. Students should have fun when using the site/tool.Ad, , Grades: 0 - 12
Kahoot fits all the above criteria. Not only is it fun and easy for students to use, but easy for teachers to set up and use for students. Kahoot is a fun quiz tool that teachers can use to build discussions, polls, and quizzes for the classroom. Students can then log into the quiz using smartphones, tablets, or computers. The tool is designed for students and works for students. Kahoot is well thought out, and well executed. This tool really brings the learning experience to students who are so familiar with technology.
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Nearpod - Nearpod
Grades
5 to 12When in the "live presentation" mode (in person or remote web conferencing), teachers control the lesson's pace, and students do not move to the next screen until advanced by the teacher. With the "student pace" mode, students progress through independently, whether at home or in class. The third mode is "front of the class;" you project your presentation, and the students do not use their devices. Use the teacher version of the app to push out the presentation to your students. For the first two modes, every student uses their own student app to follow the screens and answer the questions. This provides immediate feedback about every student. The feedback can be emailed to the teacher for later review. This formative assessment tool is invaluable and a unique part of the app. The tool also includes drawing for students to work out problems. Teachers can identify students who are not "on task" and not working within the app when a little red light pops up. Absent students can complete the assignment at home.
The free version of Nearpod for Educators is called Silver; you get 100 MB of storage, 40 students per session/lesson, access to 20+ formative assessments, 7,500 pre-made interactive lessons, 1,000 pre-made interactive videos, 40 students can sign up per lesson, and more. How many lessons and videos will depend on your storage.
In the Classroom
This is an exciting way to begin iPad (or BYOD), blended learning, or remote learning integration into the classroom. Initially it may be difficult to determine the best pacing of the lesson, the ability to slow down the advancement of the next screen allows more time to digest the information. Be aware that students needing more time may be very frustrated as the screen may advance before they are able to finish. Start small by uploading presentations and using JPEG and other images. Add interactive elements such as polls and videos. Grab students attention by using the first slide to deliver a piece of humorous information. Create guided learning stations and push out several presentations to different devices as students move through the various lessons to be learned. This technique can be helpful for struggling learners. Use this tool to help reinforce the most difficult parts of the lesson. Use the app to create schedules for training, clubs, and more. For English, learn about grammar rules, sentence structure, and other elements necessary for good writing. For ENL/ESL classes and world languages, practice various vocabulary words and learn tenses of verbs. Learn vocabulary and basic scientific concepts in any science class or facts about historical periods in history classes. This app is a valuable tool in any classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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LiveSchool - Matt Rubinstein
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Consider using this program to reward a group of the week. Award points for positive behaviors such as participating, creating, working hard, and helping others. Using LiveSchool for group behaviors will give immediate feedback to groups when projected on your whiteboard or your projector. Use this tool to help less focused students stay on task. Share this site with students on the first day of school as you go over class expectations and your behavior plan for your classroom. Use LiveSchool to offer both negative and positive feedback to parents and students.Use LiveSchool to privately keep track of learning or emotional support student behaviors and send a report to their special education teachers and/or parents. This tool could be invaluable to the life skills, autistic support, gifted, or emotional support teacher who needs to track the behavior of each of the students as part of an IEP, GIEP, or behavior plan. Alternative Ed. programs may find this tool very useful, even up through high school.
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Learning Disabilities - Great Schools
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as a resource for understanding and finding resources for learning disabilities. Share articles and information with parents during conferences. Use this site as a resource during professional development sessions.Comments
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Museum of Obsolete Objects - MoooJvM
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use as a introductory video into science and technology. Identify the science understanding and concepts needed to change the technologies. Brainstorm other technologies that could be added to this list from the various decades. Brainstorm together using a tool such as Mindmeister, reviewed here. Challenge cooperative learning groups to investigate a specific decade and determine what was a new invention then but is no longer used today. Have students create slideshows using Slides, reviewed here. Display these on a blog or wiki for students to review and comment. Assign students to do a written or recorded interview of those who have used these old technologies to find out how life has changed before and after the technology.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw.Chat - Positive Studio
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Allow students to create collaborative drawings as responses to literature. They can map out the plot or themes, add labels, create character studies, and more. Share the finished products on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or your class website. Have a group of students create a drawing so that another group can use it as a writing prompt. Use a board as a brainstorming or sketching space as groups (or the class) share ideas for a major project or for solving a real-world problem. Use this site with students in a computer lab (or on laptops) to create a drawing of the setting in a story as it is read aloud. As an assessment idea, have students draw out a simple cartoon with stick figures to explain a more complex process such as how democracy works. If you are lucky enough to teach in a BYOD setting, use Draw.Chat to demonstrate and illustrate any concept while students use the chat and drawing tools to interact in real time. If you are studying weather, have students diagram the layers of the atmosphere and what happens during a thunderstorm, for example. Introduce this tool to students who are working on group projects. Alternatively, have students use this to work as partners or as a small team to complete complex math problems or equations. Give students a problem by typing it on their board. Take advantage of the map feature to share and annotate landforms, historic places, or locations in novels.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Formative - goformative.com
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this tool at the beginning of chapters or units to identify information students are already familiar with. Be sure to use this tool to check for understanding. Use as an exit slip, to identify material that needs to be retaught, or to locate specific students that need remediation. Students can easily see the choices and choose answers using a browser on a laptop or any device. Use this formative assessment tool to create pretests to offer to gifted students to "test out" of already learned material. Make it a class challenge! Project your quiz to the entire classroom using a whiteboard or projector. Use this tool often to obtain a snapshot of each student's understanding of content. Use this tool to give students the opportunity to predict the content of tomorrow's lesson based upon today's.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachers and Writers Online
Grades
6 to 12Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NYLearns.org - The Research Foundation of State University of New York and PL
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Begin or extend your experiences with Common Core. Find real examples to use or be inspired to create one of your own. Educators and administrators alike can examine, discuss, and reflect on website materials and current practices. Save this in your bookmarks or favorites to explore as time permits.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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