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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OK2Ask: Tech Made EZ with Clipchamp - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12Discover the power of using instructional video in your classroom by exploring Clipchamp, Microsoft's user-friendly video editing tool. In this workshop, you'll learn to create engaging videos that enhance instruction, support differentiation, and cater to the needs of all learners, including multilingual students. This session will equip you with the skills you need to leverage Clipchamp's latest features for effective teaching and assessment. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Master the fundamentals of Clipchamp. 2. Implement strategies for using video content to differentiate instruction. 3. Collaborate on strategies for incorporating Clipchamp into classroom instruction and assessment. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.
tag(s): creating media (16), OK2Askarchive (79), professional development (281)
In the Classroom
The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Once registered, find additional reference materials, tutorials, and how-to information to help you review or extend your knowledge from the session in the handout posted on the session landing page. Resources may include additional ideas and examples on integrating the tools and strategies shared in classroom instruction. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Digital Learning and Teaching Resources - Miss Aird Teach
Grades
K to 12tag(s): Accessibility (8), disabilities (36), dyslexia (11), learning disability (21), learning styles (18), Microsoft (54), professional development (281)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site as a quick resource for understanding many of the features built into Microsoft products--print guides as needed to share with students and parents. Take advantage of the Digital Tools for Accessibility Presentation materials to learn more about ways to support students with disabilities. Consider using the accessibility presentation as part of your professional development activities within your school or district by saving it as a Microsoft Word document, then add collaborators to add comments as part of your ongoing discussions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Frame VR - Virbela
Grades
K to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (218)
In the Classroom
Use Frame VR in many different ways in the classroom. For example, teachers can create virtual field trips for places such as ancient cities, allowing learners to explore and learn in an immersive way. In addition, using the platform to create stories or narratives and develop educational games would increase student engagement. With older students, Use the collaboration tools within Frame VR to create group projects or provide a place for students to display their work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacherstack - Teacherstack
Grades
K to 6tag(s): classroom management (107), Teacher Utilities (175)
In the Classroom
Use Teacherstack to manage everyday classroom routines easily. Display on your whiteboard to help students understand group rotation schedules, use the time and transition sound to keep everyone on schedule. Start with longer transition times as you introduce station rotations, then reduce the time as students understand rotation procedures. Create a to-do list to display and share with reminders of upcoming events throughout the day. A to-do list is beneficial for use on days when there are disruptions to normal routines and schedules, such as early release days or special events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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RecordCast Screen Recorder - PearlMountain Ltd
Grades
K to 12tag(s): tutorials (47)
In the Classroom
Use this handy screen recording tool in a variety of ways in your classroom. Record tutorials for students to demonstrate how to access and use online sites, create recordings for substitutes to explain how to find and use the software on your computer, or make a how-to demo on where to find information on your class website to share with students and parents. Help students understand how to use the different features of documents, such as creating a tutorial showing students how to format cells in Excel, add comments to a Google document, or find and insert images in slides. Share this site with students to use when analyzing websites as part of your ongoing digital safety lessons. Ask them to include a video as part of a larger multimedia presentation. After exporting their video, ask students to include it within a presentation created using Sway, reviewed here, or Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Site123 - Site123
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (63), communication (115), portfolios (21), writing (302)
In the Classroom
Use this site for students to post or collect material for simple projects such as stories, poems, art projects, science lab write-ups, or the week's problem in math. Collect a master list of URLs to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, or blog for easy access. If students are creating pages, check with your district's policy on publishing student work. Create pages for quick link-sharing or upcoming events such as field trips, class party information, school events, science fairs, etc. Students can create simple pages to share links to include in presentations so classmates can participate on laptops. If you are beginning a major creative project such as a literary magazine or research project, Site123 is a wonderful place for writers to collect questions and ideas to be developed later.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teacher Utilities Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): Teacher Utilities (175)
In the Classroom
Find new tools to try in your classroom, for communication with families and more. Each review includes classroom use ideas. Read the details of each tool and find the ones that will make your tasks easier to manage.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Password Generator Tool - Comparitech
Grades
K to 12tag(s): internet safety (114)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students as part of any online safety unit. Discuss the importance of creating strong passwords. One disadvantage of using a site like this is trying to save and remember the unique passwords. Use information on this site to find free, online tools for saving and managing your passwords. As students learn more about online safety, modify classroom technology by asking them to share their tips using a video response tool like Gravity, reviewed here . Use Gravity to provide video questions to students with scenarios that might occur online due to lack of knowledge or application of safety techniques. Have students respond with solutions to these problems. Transform classroom technology and ask students to share their advice with other students using a video explanation tool like FlexClip, reviewed here. FlexClip is designed to allow you to create short animated or explainer videos to share on YouTube and other social media sites, to create short, animated video explanations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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LOOPY - Nick Case
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Share LOOPY with students then have them explore the features included on the shared models. LOOPY would work well in classes with gifted students as an exploration project of different cause and effect relationship influences. Use the embed code to share student examples and explanations on your class website.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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bulb - Bulb, Inc.
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): multimedia (57), portfolios (21), writing (302)
In the Classroom
Use bulb for student portfolios in any subject. Set up an account with your teacher name, email, password, and some basic information. Once you and your students' accounts are set up, share how to get around bulb on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to get students started. When you (or your students) create group pages, anyone you invite can publish to the group. However, students will also have their own account and can keep pages private. Science teachers could have students write up their lab reports in a portfolio, and history teachers could set up portfolios for student report writing. Have teens and older students upload work throughout the year to create their own "me-portfolios." Create portfolios (with permission) to share younger students' work with parents and students during conferences. Use this tool to show finished projects or to show changes in a project from start to finish. Make a work prototype site and upload examples of exemplary work to share with students to set expectations for completed products before beginning a project. Create a link to this tool on your class website for students to share projects and information. (Get parent permission before posting students' work!) Have students take ownership of their own portfolios to show progress and products across several years. Have older students build portfolios to share as part of career and college preparation. Art teachers will want to share this as a portfolio option for their students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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eMargin - Birmingham City University
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): collaboration (87), note taking (30), questioning (34)
In the Classroom
eMargin is a great tool for you (or your students) to annotate research and information on the Internet or from personal documents. Create teacher annotations or question and answer comments on pages. Ask comprehension questions or guiding questions for places you send students on the web. Ask questions that students can complete as homework to show that they accessed the web resource assigned. This tool would also be a powerful way for students to point out bias on a web page or for art students to comment on images and design elements. Create writing prompts by adding questions or comments to a webpage and sharing it with students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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KQED Media Literacy Courses - KQED Teach
Grades
K to 12tag(s): media literacy (105), professional development (281)
In the Classroom
Gain a better understanding of media literacy tools by taking KQED's professional development courses. Participate in classes on your own or with colleagues as part of your ongoing professional development. Begin any of the self-paced courses anytime and complete them at your own pace.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gamification Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): coding (90), game based learning (244), gamification (90), polls and surveys (41)
In the Classroom
Create your own games for review and classroom activities. As a final assessment, challenge students to create their own games to share with their peers. Use this collection to find the best gamification tools on the TeachersFirst site!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MathScienceMusic - Theolonius Monk Institute of Jaz
Grades
K to 12tag(s): angles (44), animation (58), brain (55), coding (90), fractions (158), geometric shapes (130), india (31), multiples (15), music theory (47), musical instruments (54), musical notation (34), numbers (109), patterns (65), preK (289), ratios (46), sound (71)
In the Classroom
Share activities from MathScienceMusic on your interactive whiteboard with students, then let them explore independently. Scratch Jazz is perfect for teaching basic coding; students interested in music will enjoy creating their own jazz-themed project using the site's tutorial. Add interest to math lessons by taking advantage of the free lesson plans. Be sure to check out the link to Math and Music Standards found on the music and math curriculum page. Have students modify their learning by creating videos of their music creations using Vmaker, reviewed here, and share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Be sure to have them discuss their journey from the beginning through the final creation of their project. Team up with your school's music teacher to collaborate on the many activities provided on this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hypothesis - Dan Whaley
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): citations (30), collaboration (87), note taking (30)
In the Classroom
Use Hypothesis as part of your flipped classroom. Annotate and share web resources with students and ask them to contribute notes and additional information. Ask ENL/ELL and resource students to write text to explain concepts by rewording, or to ask questions about the parts they do not understand. Add questions to math explanations, highlight landforms, or discuss information on maps. Share with students for use when collaborating on research projects. Install the Hypothesis bookmark on classroom computers for use at any time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Airtable - Emmett Nicholas, Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (32), collaboration (87), curation (23), DAT device agnostic tool (124)
In the Classroom
Use Airtable to collaborate on lessons with other teachers, both local and across the world. Share with students to use when collaborating on projects or to create study guides. Use the provided templates to catalog your books or share study guides with students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Printing Press - ReadWriteThink
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): book reports (26), creative writing (123), newspapers (89), posters (42)
In the Classroom
Students can use Printing Press to demonstrate learning of any kind across grade levels and content areas. Instead of writing a boring research report, have your students create a professional looking newspaper or brochure! Math and science students can create posters explaining concepts they learned. Students can photograph experiments and write up labs. Use Printing Press for students to "report" out the important events in a book they read, or make a poster advertising it as a movie. Teachers can use this tool as a jump page to guide a lesson or upload images and write up examples of exemplary work to share with students to set expectations for completed products before beginning any project. The uses for this tool are wide open!Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Products can be shared by URL
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MoocNote - MoocNote.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): note taking (30), organizational skills (80)
In the Classroom
Be sure to view the Help link the bottom of the page for directions about how to use MoocNote. Share YouTube playlists with students using MoocNotes, add questions or additional information for student viewing. Only registered members can access your videos so that each student will need his own account. Another option is to set up a single teacher account and have all the students use the class login to avoid safety concerns. They could add their own information by including their code-name on notes. This tool would be perfect for adding student accountability to the flipped or blended classroom!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Classtools Countdown Timer - Classtools.net
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (107), counting (57), time (87)
In the Classroom
There are many uses for this practical online tool. Get out your interactive whiteboard or projection screen (or even the classroom desktop computer) and make sure the speakers are turned up. Use this tool for students to practice speeches, or to limit the time for a quiz or spelling test. Use the countdown feature for timing the rotations from center to center. You can even use the timer for reading fluency exercises or physical education warm-ups! A clever classroom management tool would be to start the visible count-down on your computer screen when you want the class to settle down for directions or to transition to the next subject. Select calming music for quiet times. Students may even want to use this tool for themselves. Kindergarten students can practice counting along with the watch!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dotstorming - Gareth Marland
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): bulletin boards (13), gamification (90), images (250)
In the Classroom
Share your board with a projector or interactive whiteboard. Put the URL link on your website for students to access. If you don't want to share the link that way, then use a tool such as Stich, reviewed here, for students to type in (and reduce input mistakes). You may want to think about students using only their first name or their code to participate. Dotstorming does not show which posts belong to which student, so you may want to require that students identify their post and comment by putting their initials, their first name, or their code on their contributions to get credit. If you plan to allow all students to post to the wall or make comments, you may want to discuss Internet safety and etiquette and establish specific class rules and consequences.Use Dotstorming to collect WebQuest links and information to share with students. Assign a student project. For example, have students create a board about an environmental issue. They can include pictures, video, links, and other information to display. Use as a new format for book reports. Do your students have favorites such as music or sports? Create a board around these favorites or hobbies. Use a wall for grammar or vocabulary words. Create walls for debates or viewpoints. The voting is perfect for that idea! Post assignments, reminders, or study skills on a board. Do you use student scribes or reporters? Use Dotstorming to create a board with class news and updates.
Use Dotstorming as an "idea bin" where students can collect ideas, images, quotes, and more for a project. Require them to share a brainstorming Dotstorming board to show you the ideas they considered before they launch into a project. Have them brainstorm (and rank by votes) the possibilities for a creative problem solving or a "Maker Faire" project. In writing or art classes, use Dotstorming as a virtual writer's journal or design notebook to collect ideas, images, and even video clips.
Use Dotstorming as your virtual word wall for vocabulary development. Have students submit and share questions or comments about assignments and tasks they are working on.
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