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return to subject listingTWiki - Peter Theony
Grades
K to 12tag(s): collaboration (94), social media (54), wikis (14)
In the Classroom
In language arts or history classrooms use a wiki to create a favorite historical figures page, have students share their favorite person from history along with supporting evidence. Use a wiki to set up a debate between students. For example, create a wiki and ask students to debate the use of homework in schools, the effect of social media on society, or year-round school vs. traditional school calendars. As your class builds and adds to the wiki, extend student learning by having small groups of students select a topic to research further. A nice feature of TWiki is that it allows you to set up collaborative groups where students can share information and ideas about their research. Culminate the research by having students use a multimedia creation tool like Sway, reviewed here, transforming classroom technology by sharing information including text, images, videos, and more. As a last step have the small groups load their Sway creation to their collaborative page on TWiki. For more ideas and information on how to use wikis, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a detailed, step-by-step explanation and starter help, including dozens of ideas for ways to use a wiki in your classroom.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Brush Ninja - Ben Gillbanks
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use Brush Ninja in a variety of ways. Share this site with students and give them time to explore and experiment. When working with troubled students, use this site to let students share their thoughts and emotions through an animation. This is an excellent site to use with students who love art and enjoy sharing their learning through creative expressions. Take a look at the images created by other users in the gallery as inspiration for how to use animations. Ask students to create animations demonstrating science concepts like erosion, weathering, or chemical reactions. Use this site to have students create animations demonstrating events from stories, share their thought process in math, or animate an event from history. Have students include their animations when creating multimedia projects in an online tool like Sway, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Glide - David Siegel
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): organizational skills (89), spreadsheets (22)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the video tutorials to learn about how to create and customize apps with Glide. Consider sharing this tool with one or more of your tech-savvy students and let them become the expert at how to use the different features. Ask them to create screencasts using Awesome ScreenShot, reviewed here, to demonstrate how to begin creating an app, how to customize an app, or any other features of this tool. Use Glide as a unique teaching tool to engage and capture student interest in a variety of ways. For example, have students create a directory of characters found in a Shakespeare play and include pertinent information including their relationship to other characters, the character's important moments within the play, and more. Another example of how to use Glide is to create an app for students to use when working on long-term projects. Use the objectives template to set up goals and timelines for students to follow.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DoluWiki - Andreas Gohr
Grades
K to 12tag(s): social networking (64), wikis (14)
In the Classroom
In language arts or history classrooms use a wiki to create a favorite historical figures page, have students share their favorite person from history along with supporting evidence. Use a wiki to set up a debate between students. For example, create a wiki and ask students to debate the use of homework in schools, the effect of social media on society, or year-round school vs. traditional school calendars. As your class builds and adds to the wiki, ask students to select a topic to research further. Ask them to use a multimedia creation tool like Sway, reviewed here to transform classroom technology and share information including text, images, videos, and more. If you have not tried a wiki yet, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a detailed, step-by-step explanation and starter help, including dozens of ideas for ways to use a wiki in your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Notepad - MicroTheta
Grades
K to 12tag(s): note taking (36)
In the Classroom
Use Notepad as a handy way to create lists and reminders and access on any device. Share with students who struggle with penmanship to use as an alternative to traditional notebooks for notetaking. Designate one class computer for students to use Notepad as a collaborative tool to share notes in one place.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Drawings - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): collaboration (94), drawing (60), images (260)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of this easy to use tool for a variety of classroom uses. Upload images and use the text tool to add digital annotations. Ask students to add digital annotations to images, for example, different landforms or to share as an assessment. Use the shape tool to create quick and easy timelines. This is perfect for use as a quick activity on your interactive whiteboard (or with a projector) to help students understand the sequence of a story or a timeline of historic events. Create graphic organizers and mind maps easily by using the shapes tools, drawing lines, and adding text with links to additional information. When working on group projects, suggest students collaborate together to create and annotate images to include with a final multimedia presentation. Use Google Drawings to easily create infographics to share information on any topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ZoteroBib - Corporation for Digital Scholarship
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): citations (32), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (57), plagiarism (33), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Include this tool on all classroom computers and as a link on your class website for student use. This bibliography tool help students properly format their Works Cited pages. Use this tool to help keep your students (or even yourself) organized! Make sure you teach plagiarism lessons about paraphrasing and proper citation of sources, so students use this tool properly! As teachers, we need to be aware that such a tool exists, since savvy students may compile a "paper" without a logical thought pattern simply by clicking to include suggestions from ZoteroBib or other citation creation tools. The best strategy for such a tool is to show students how to use it well. Take the drudgery out of writing formal papers by emphasizing thinking over mechanics. Whether teaching beginning research or seniors in high school, introduce them to ZoteroBib. For younger students, seeing all the formatting and citing done correctly, from the beginning, makes sense whether it is the body of the writing or the bibliography. With either age group, give lessons about each part of a paper or letter. Demonstrate on an interactive whiteboard and think out loud as a group to pull together ideas, sources, quotes, and more to support an argument and build a paper. You can use it, too, when you write for your graduate program. Since you can choose from MLA, APA, or Chicago Style, you do not have to worry about memorizing punctuation and double checking the format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Grammar Lookup - Kamran Khan
Grades
K to 12tag(s): editing (91), grammar (134), proofreading (21), spelling (98), writing (323)
In the Classroom
Include Grammar Lookup with other options for students to use when editing and revising work. Have students copy and paste writing projects into the text editor for a final check for spelling and grammar mistakes after making their last revisions. Continued use of this tool helps students correct writing on their own after seeing common errors in their writing. Never send out a newsletter or post to your web page with spelling or grammar errors again! Use Grammar Lookup to spell check and suggest corrections for any published writing projects. Reinforce learning by asking students to share before and after of written projects. Along with submitting a rough draft and final draft, ask students to take a screenshot of text copied into Grammar Lookup along with the highlighted errors. Insert this screenshot into the rough draft as an image using Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Modify learning and ask students to use their screenshot with highlighted errors to create a annotate an image using Image Annotator, reviewed here. Add text, image examples, and voice recordings to create a short presentation highlighting grammar mistakes and suggestions for corrections.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Collabify - collabify.app
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): chat (41), collaboration (94), parent conferences (21), parents (59)
In the Classroom
Use Collabify to set up virtual parent/teacher conferences with participants located anywhere in the world. Collabify is especially useful when multiple teachers are involved or when parents may not reside in the same location. Share your screen as needed to provide information on assessments and student work.Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Anything students can do on a single computer; they can do collaboratively on this tool, accessing their work from any online computer. Be sure to test out this tool before using with your class. It may be a good idea to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity and are within your school's Acceptable Use Policy.
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Construct3 - Construct.net
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): coding (90), game based learning (181), gamification (79), STEM (279)
In the Classroom
Include Construct3 with your other options for teaching coding to students. Take advantage of the included levels to differentiate learning based on knowledge of coding. If you are uncomfortable with coding, enlist students to become technology coaches in your classroom to teach and share their knowledge with others. Use and share Google Forms to create how-to guides for students to get started including images with tips and suggestions. Ask "in-the-know" students to enhance their learning and create one-page websites using Jimdo, reviewed here, sharing advice for individual games included in Construct3. As students become familiar with coding, have them use FlexClip, reviewed here, to extend their learning by creating simple explainer videos detailing how to build and share personalized games.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mix - StumbleUpon
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): bookmarks (47), evaluating sources (28), social networking (64)
In the Classroom
Use Mix for your personal research and professional development. Visit Mix occasionally to find new ideas and new sites for teaching. Create and share collections of websites to share with students for use with research projects. For example, as you prepare to teach a science unit on plants, create a collection containing news articles, explainer sites, and online games for students to use as a virtual resource for supplementing classroom lessons. Include documents, slide presentations, and more from your Google Drive for student access from any device. Another use of Mix is to create collections when teaching students how to evaluate online resources. Create a collection from a variety of different resources based on the same topic and ask students to reflect upon the validity of the information and the source. Ask them to use a presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share their findings by including links to the information along with supporting evidence. Another idea for using Mix is for students to create collections to share as part of multimedia projects as a virtual bibliography. In addition to websites shared, ask them to add their written work, images, or other creations. Mix is an excellent tool for creating an online portfolio for students to use when applying to college. Show students how to easily create new collections using their work, but personalized to individual college applications.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Venn Diagram Creator - Canva
Grades
K to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic design (49), images (260), venn diagrams (15)
In the Classroom
Work together as a class to complete a 4-Circle Venn Diagram on your interactive whiteboard (or with a projector) to represent an overlap of topics in any subject. For example, use this tool to compare and contrast students' involvement in four different sports, compare events or settings in four novels, or characteristics of four groups of animals. Once students become comfortable with Venn Diagrams, ask them to include them in a longer presentation created using a tool like Wakelet, reviewed here. Use Wakelet to modify classroom technology by having students include their writing, images, diagrams, videos, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Microsoft Forms - Microsoft
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (148), polls and surveys (48), spreadsheets (22)
In the Classroom
Discover the benefits of using Microsoft Forms in your classroom to create surveys for parents and students at the beginning of the year to learn about student interests, create parent volunteer lists, and much more. Create a sign-in and sign-out sheet for classroom library materials, including books and digital equipment. Use Microsoft Forms to set up and collaborate on lesson plans, including checkboxes to standards, materials needed, and covered content. Microsoft Forms is perfect for assessment - create online quizzes and exit tickets. Have students use Microsoft Forms to prepare and submit reading logs, brainstorm and collaborate with fellow students, create "choose your own adventure" stories, or schedule reading and writing conference times. Use Microsoft Forms to set up and share rubrics for any project, have students complete the rubric, and turn it in with any completed assignment. Use the practice mode feature to build student confidence by providing practice and review materials before final tests. The uses for Microsoft Forms are as unlimited as your imagination; this is a must-have tool for all classrooms!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Golden - Sam Fankuchen
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (122), organizational skills (89)
In the Classroom
Many schools require students to volunteer, use Golden to help manage your school's volunteer program. Be sure to use the sharing features to place volunteering opportunities on your district, school, and class websites. Help students understand the value of volunteering by taking their work beyond just time spent. Use an online bulletin board like Pinside, reviewed here, to share and brainstorm areas of student interest with the understanding that volunteering will be more meaningful if it is something chosen by the student and not viewed as a required assignment. Encourage students to document their volunteering by taking photos and videos throughout the experience. Consider extending classroom technology by asking students to create a podcast using Buzzsprout, reviewed here, to encourage others to volunteer by sharing their personal stories and reflections upon their own experience. As a reflection activity, and to modify classroom technology use, ask students to create and share a presentation using Sway, reviewed here. Use Sway to include images, text, and more to tell their volunteering story.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Blockly - Google
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): coding (90), computers (109), game based learning (181), STEM (279)
In the Classroom
Use Blockly as an interesting way to introduce coding to your class for beginners and experienced coders. Display Blockly on your interactive whiteboard or projector as you explore the different features of the site, then have students create and explore on their own. To generate ideas on how to use Blockly, have students practice using Blockly at Blockly Games, reviewed here. After school clubs can use Blockly to learn to code. Use this tool with gifted students for a great challenge. Set up a coding activity center for interested students when they finish class work or for rainy days and snow days. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remove Background - Kaleido
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for many classroom uses. Combine your downloaded image with others using a variety of tools including Google Slides. Choose a background image of a city being studied, a different time, or in a far-away setting like the moon, then place your student image on top. Resize the image to fit the scene. Include this image as a starter for class projects. Use images on top of book covers for book talks, create images for story characters and heroes, or use for weather reports. The ideas for using this tool are only limited by your imagination and that of your students. Use your new images to modify or refine classroom technology use by creating a Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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FlexClip - Patrick Ma
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communication (138), editing (91), images (260), video (262)
In the Classroom
Use FlexClip even with young students to create videos for many topics. Ask students to share pictures demonstrating the before and after of a science experiment, then add student voice recordings to explain the experiment. Modify and enhance learning by asking students to use FlexClip to create short videos, then include them with other images and videos as part of a multimedia project or digital portfolio. Seesaw, reviewed here, is an easy to use tool for creating and personalizing digital portfolios. The following tools are great for transforming learning and creating multimedia projects: (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Animatron, Sway, and Presentious.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quillionz - Harbinger AI
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): assessment (148), Formative Assessment (73), quiz (66), quizzes (90), reading comprehension (147)
In the Classroom
Use Quillionz as a time-saver to create quizzes covering any content. Before teaching the material, use this tool to help define key terms and content you want to cover. Share Quillionz with older students as an excellent tool to help with reading comprehension and understanding content. Ask them to use the site to create questions to review before quizzes. Enhance learning by asking students to transform technology use and transfer their learning from quiz questions into the creation of an infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here. Have students include images, data, and links with additional research information into their infographic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Soundcite - Knight Lab
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): blogs (65), communication (138), sound (73)
In the Classroom
Combine audio with text to bring life to student work. Share some examples with students before asking them to create Soundcite files. If you have some tech-savvy students, share this site with them before sharing with your whole class. Allow the tech-savvy students to create some examples and tutorials for all to use. Have these students transform classroom technology use and their learning by sharing step-by-step directions using a video explainer tool like Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here. Include with student work on their blogs or digital portfolios, or include with any multimedia presentation created using Sway, reviewed here, or Adobe Creative Cloud Express, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Z-A Quiz Generator - ClassTools
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): assessment (148), game based learning (181), quiz (66), quizzes (90)
In the Classroom
Use the Z-A Quiz Generator as a motivating way to introduce a new unit to students (even as a formative assessment for the class), or to review information before quizzes and tests. Instead of asking students to memorize a set of dates or events, help them by organizing the information into common features. For example, during a Civil War unit group together events taking place in different cities as a way to help provide context for students. Include a link to your quizzes on your class webpage or blog for students to practice at any time using the URL or embed code. Enhance technology use and learning by having students create their own Z-A quizzes to share with peers when studying for tests or use as an introduction with class presentations. When sharing student-created multimedia presentations, modify technology use by using a tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share their final projects including a Z-A quiz for viewers. This quiz generator is also a great resource to use during professional development sessions with your peers. Create a quiz to increase your viewers' interest in your topic as you begin your discussions or as a final activity to review information shared.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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