Actively Learn- Actively Learn is an annotation and assessment tool, geared toward helping students get a close, authentic analysis of a text. With it, students are presented with an article uploaded by the teacher or chosen from a diverse database. From there, students can annotate, read teacher annotations, read other student annotations, answer teacher-created questions (by which they cannot pass until they answer the question), have text read out loud to them, and mark a section as confusing to let the teacher know! I'm pretty excited about this tool.

 

Edpuzzle- this is a tool that lets you annotate videos with questions, notes and audio. This is a great tool for flipping or blending your classroom experience. It is easy to screencast a lecture, fill it with questions for reflection, and have the students view it for homework, so that you have more time in class to apply the concepts. Some rebel-without-a-cause teachers have been known to download videos from youtube to upload (pursue at your own risk). For those in districts that don't block youtube, Edpuzzle allows you to stream right from the website, and more importantly, access Edpuzzle collections put together by other teachers!

 

Edmodo- A learning management system that allows you to collect a lot of best practices in one place. Students can submit work, take quizzes, comment on each other's posts, practice with standards-based math and english questions, etc. I use it to help students build test taking endurance, provide quick and in-depth feedback, store files and videos for students to access, and create discussions. 

 

Green Screen by Do Ink- a green screen app for the iPad. VERY user friendly, allows you to build awesome green screen videos and pictures through a simple layering system. Great for student creations, engaging lecture videos, etc. I use it to make commercials for the yearbook with my journalism class, for quick formative assessment of student understanding of a given topic or skill, for quick, interesting lecture videos (hopefully soon!), Ms. Middaugh uses it to produce our morning news. 

 

LiveSchool- this is a behavior management system, designed ultimately to document behavior - good or bad- for both teacher and student (and parent) to review. Students earn points based on a rubric of your design, with target behaviors specified. I use this tool to reward classroom involvement, and document disruptions and disengagement. Students can spend points they earn - if the teacher so chooses- on whatever rewards the teacher deems fit. I use mine to get at target behaviors I want to see in class. I do let students spend points on rewards, and have found throughout the year that I keep raising the prices of these rewards as students do better and adjust to my expectations. 

 

Nearpod- A presentation tool geared for classrooms with iPads. This is one of my current favorite tools. Take any powerpoint, Google slides, or presentation in other format, and upload it to Nearpod. Why? It transforms the presentation process. Nearpod allows you to insert all kinds of formative assessment tools into your presentation, including open-ended and multiple choice questions, fill in the blank, and even a blank drawing canvas (great for student engagement). I use this tool for almost everything because it flows so well with whatever you're doing. I will include a series of close readings with discussion questions as we read a novel or article, I will fill my presentation with quick videos explaining a concept so students can check it out outside of the classroom, and I will use the multimedia tools to beef up a presentation. This resource is nice because it doesn't require a student account, which saves eons of time; students simply enter a code. 

 

QR Codes- QR codes are a simple way of embedding a resource into a code. Depending on the type of account you have (paid or free), you can embed all kinds of things, including free text, websites, pictures, videos, emails, Facebook profiles etc. I use it as a means of engagement for students. Sometimes it's a simple repackaging of the normal info, sometimes activities rely on the nature of the QR code. Come into my room at any given time and you will see codes everywhere. I have used them for scavenger hunts, scenario responses, research starters, vocabulary warm ups, class competitions, means for displaying student work, and shameless advertising for the yearbook. The possibilities are limited to your creativity. 

 

Quizizz- Quizizz is a bigger better version of your beloved Kahoot. If you're not familiar with Kahoot, both resources are fun game-oriented formative assessments that kids get into from the start. With Quizizz, quiz creation is far easier: you can find a bunch of fun public quizzes and take specific questions you like from them to build your own quiz. Super quick and easy. 

 

Schoology- A learning management system very, very similar to Edmodo. Main differences include the structure of units, and extra grading and progress features. 

 

Screencast-O-Matic- A screen capturing tool that one-ups Quicktime by allowing you to do a screen-in-screen recording, showing you in the corner of the screen. I also prefer this tool to Quicktime because you can pause your recording quickly and seamlessly, so you don't have to have a script to get you from beginning to end, or suffer through long pauses.

 

Stop Motion - There are lots of free stop motion apps available. It's a small niche, but I like to use stop motion as a creative visual vocabulary project, or display of knowledge of a skill or topic, similar to the effect of the green screen (there are some student examples in the student work section). It's a simple process, taking lots of pictures while moving something little by little in between each picture. I like to combine this app with white boards. I've seen a lot of creativity come from this. 

 

Tween Tribune- this is a website designed to get students interested in reading non-fiction articles. Teachers create accounts for students, assign articles (that come with prebuilt quizzes), and track their progress. It also allows for discussions between students and keeps track of discussion posts. I like this resource because it encourages student choice over content, and allows students to work at a pace that is right for them. Tween Tribune also offers various lexile levels of each article, so students can read everything at the appropriate level, without focus being brought to the differences.