iCivics

This website is a online game where students are playing characters that apply our American civics to everyday life. There are several topics to play, such as news (fake news, hidden ads, etc.), immigration, the rights of the people, how countries work, and how the president works. There is another aspect of this website, and that is helping the teachers with resources on teaching the students these lessons. There are curriculum units of the foundations of government, the constitution, civil rights, the legislative branch, the judicial and executive branch, state and local governments, and many more. This resource is really cool in using for both the teachers and students. For the students, it gives them the virtual life of living these things out. Also, the students learn what their rights are and how to defend them.This resource is getting the students engage by playing these games like video games and earn points. My generation is addicted to games, especially video game. So for people to incorporate these lessons into games, it does a duel objective. For the teachers, there are so many resources on this site to help them teach their lesson. They can spend all day using all the different topics the site has to teach the students. This is heaven for social studies teachers.

IXL

 IXL is a comprehensive online tool that provides math, language arts, science and social studies practice. The content ranges from PreK-12. PreK-1st grade only has the option of language arts, and math. For second grade and up, there are also science and social studies exercises. Kids can try the skill some skills for free, but to get the full access to the website you must pay a membership fee. Membership fees range from $9.95-$19.95 per month and $79-$159 per year based on the number of subjects your child wants to learn. One really cool feature of the website is the Continuous Diagnostics  tool. This is a great feature for parents, students and teachers. This page shows what the student has already completed, and uses the data to show what exercises the student should complete next. Another good feature is that after the question is answered, the student gets immediate feedback. If the answer is wrong, then there is an explanation as to why the child got it wrong. I work in a kindergarten classroom, and we use this website. The only downfall for younger children is them not knowing how to properly use a computer/laptop. The site does give verbal directions for each question, it's just the matter of whether or not the younger ones know how to click the button so it can tell them what to do. I would recommend working in small groups if you are working with young children on IXL, so you can guide them through if they need help. IXL has an app  for iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, and Chromebook. 

Square Panda

`Square Panda is an excellent resource for schools and parents to use when helping students begin to learn to read, spell, and pronounce words. It uses tablets and plastic letter to help children to learn to read, spell, and pronounce words that are provided by the app. These plastic letters are called Smart Letters and they are used to interact with the sounds, word, and animations that are given in the personalized learning environment that the app creates for the student. This is aimed at pre-k students mostly but would also be helpful in kindergarten and any group of students that are significantly behind in literacy skills. Teachers are able to monitor the progress of each student, use the data to find instructional opportunities and align the lessons in the app to the lessons used in the classroom. This can also be used at home in a similar way. This allows children to have a head start on their reading skills. The Parent Portal allows parents to track their child's progress and even put personalized pictures or custom picked words into the game for their child to see. This would be an excellent resource for both parents and teachers to use for young children to help them boost their skills in early literacy.

TIME

The TIME news website is a great source of information on current events and issues around the world. On the front page of the website, you notice tabs all the way at the top that read: U.S, World, Politics, Ideas, Health, Entertainment, Tech, and Business.

All sorts of learners can find useful current information that will help them make connections with what they learn in the classroom and their textbooks.  The section "Ideas" provides a very interesting collections of issues that the world currently faces, as well as history that is connected with those issues. For example, social studies students in secondary school are learning about xenophobia. In the Ideas section of the TIME news website, is an article labeled "How We Can Fight the Trump Administration's Xenophobia." Students can write a reflection paper connecting what they learned in their class with what the article discusses.

I really love the TIME news website, because it offers so much current information, and interesting ideas that can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning, by "bridging the gap" between the classroom and the real world.

TIME

Doceri

Teaching in a computer based classroom setting? Not sure how to share documents with the whole class? Doceri is the perfect presentation tool to use! The app includes screen recording, interactive whiteboard, and hand drawn graphics. You can make lessons more interactive by annotating whatever material being taught. For a complicated math lesson you can draw in different ways to understand equations making it easier for students to understand. Absent students? No problem! You can record the lesson and post it online for later use. This app is available on iOS devices, iPad, Mac and Windows.

iTunes

iTunes is a well known source for music from artists both new and old, but the site has much more to offer than just the newest singles. iTunes is one of the largest providers of podcasts, on topics like pop culture, entertainment, and especially education. The educational library of podcasts on iTunes is extensive and covers every topic from foreign language and English, to Math, Science, and Social Studies. 

As someone who listens to a lot of podcast I can attest to their educational value, and convenience as they can be taken anywhere and do not require the same kind of constant focus as a book, or long form web-lecture.

Finding the perfect podcast may be difficult, given the size of the library that iTunes has to offer, and I would never recommend presenting, or assigning a class to listen to one that you have not gone through critically before hand.

In the subject of history though I can give a few recommendations based off of the podcasts I have listened to: 

Revolutions recounts the history of the French and American, as well as Latin American Revolutions.

Hardcore History covers in immense and almost agonizing detail the history of WWI as well as other major historic events.

The Civil War Podcast, covers the US Civil War almost day by day, going over every detail, and explaining the battles and buildup to the war.

Using a podcast in the classroom may seem a bit unusual, however to my understanding it is no different than showing a film or video, and unlike film and video can easily be shared with the students through links (all three of the above are free to listen to).

Dash Bot from Wonder Workshop

I had the opportunity to use Dash Robots (the bigger one in the video) when I was a substitute STEM teacher. This robot is the coolest thing I have ever seen! It works off of coding and comes with free apps for iPads, tablets, or really any smart device. I mostly used only one of the 3 apps that the iPads I worked with had on them. It allowed students to create their own codes for the robot to complete. It also had the ability to lead the students through multiple training missions to become more familiar with the robots capabilities. Children can code Dash to drive across the room, dance, make different noises such as animal sounds, among other actions. All of the students absolutely loved this robot. Since it does work off of coding it gives the students practice with these skills and helps prepare them for a future with even more technology. The robots cost about $150 but it is well worth it. They are built extremely sturdy and would be tough to break without intending to. I babysit two of the students that go to the school I used these at and these robots are now at the top of their Christmas lists. I LOVE them! If you ever get the opportunity to use Dash Robots definitely do, it is well worth it.

ExplainEverything

Imagine, if you will, sitting in your math class.  The teacher is furiously scribbling examples, definitions, and equations on the board, all while lecturing on their meanings and how to use them.  You are, also, scribbling as fast as you can, trying to capture every detail of what the teacher is telling you.  All of a sudden, you remember that you forgot to put your cereal bowl in the sink and...wait!  What did the teacher just say?  What does that equation mean?

This situation happens all too frequently to students and they are left to either struggle to catch up, risk embarrassment by interrupting the teacher to repeat something, or, worse yet, do nothing.  It raises the question: is there a better way to ensure students have access to everything you are lecturing?  This is the problem that I am hoping to solve in my math class, and an app like ExplainEverything is, nearly, a perfect solution.  ExplainEverything is a cloud-based, digital whiteboard app that can be used on Smart Boards, tablets, phones, or your web browser.  It, simply, is a digital whiteboard that allows you to create recordings of every pen stroke, in real-time, along with a voice recording!  This would give students the ability to look back at everything that you presented and hear what you were saying at the same time!  Since it is based in the cloud, students that are given access to the “project” can go back and view it at their convenience, or when they need it.  No more do they need to stress about missing a detail during the lesson or try to get a copy of their friend’s notes.  ExplainEverything is a great resource, I would highly recommend spending some time with it!

Nearpod

Nearpod is an educational app which allows teachers to create multimedia presentations which are interactive in nature. It is highly beneficial to those schools who do not have one to one student -to- device ratio. All you need is one tablet or PC/MAC and at least one more device which can be smartphone, PC/MAC, tablets or Chromebook. Both devices should be running Nearpod and connected to the internet. It is very easy and fast to create content and can be broadcasted to any device. The interactive features which teachers can add to their multimedia presentations are quizzes, videos, polls, drawing tools, and many more. It is also possible for teachers to use what has already been created by fellow educators and certified publishers. Students, with their curricular content on their device, can participate in the assessment and collaboration activities. Teachers get the real time feedback on assessment as she can see the data on Nearpod app. The results obtained by teachers can be shared with students in an anonymous way, and thus providing feedback to students. This is highly beneficial to quiet group of students who want to contribute but are too shy to speak in front of their classmates.
                                         

Dungeon World

I've been interested in Dungeons & Dragons for as long as I can remember. I've played here and there since my junior year of high school, but I've never stuck with the same game or group for very long.

Two years ago I asked some friends if they'd want to play D&D. They had never really done so before, but were interested. Part of what piqued this interest was Stranger Things. The references to D&D in that show were really great. I ran the game as Dungeon Master (DM) for a few months--I know, how cool am I? Eventually when I returned to school I couldn't spend enough time planning the games and we stopped playing. In January of 2018, we decided to play the game again with a new DM. We've been playing that game since.

For a while, it was incredibly fun. I looked forward to our sessions held once every one or two weeks. But eventually, I started to lose interest. I didn't feel engaged as I had before. I started to dread our sessions. They felt like work instead of fun.

A few weeks ago, a couple of the party members were unavailable to play. One of our players took this opportunity to schedule something called a one-shot. Normally, our sessions have a connected story that plays out over the course of months or years. In a one-shot, the story is contained in a single evening of play. We could try new characters and a new person would be our DM.

I don't want to take anything away from our normal DM. I know how hard of a job it is and how much work he's put into our game. But the new DM was fantastic. He abandoned the old set of rules and used an alternate role-playing template, called Dungeon World. He started the session by giving the players the guidelines to how this game would be played. He wrote them out on a numbered list, explaining the significance of each has he went along. He then posted the list to the wall above his head. It was like how courts post the U.S. Constitution. Guideline number one: Have fun.

He was engaged and engaged each player. He helped each person create a meaningful character with a compelling story. He raised thoughtful questions and elaborated on our answers. There was a collaborative effort between all involved to make the game as fun as possible. He promoted this atmosphere and guided our group to success.

If you want some insight on how to be a good teacher, watch my friend run a game of Dungeon World. It should come as no surprise that he excels in this area: he has a Master's Degree in Speech Language Pathology. It's his job to talk to students, get them to talk, and foster their development. I also want more people to play games like Dungeon World. It's a creative and metacognitive exercise that should be especially rewarding for teachers and students. Learning how the game works might help teachers plan their lessons better. Students could benefit from an alternative outlet for writing.

Please give Dungeon World, D&D, or something like them a try. You can come play with my friends if you want. I promise you'll have fun.

linoit

https://en.linoit.com/

This web 2.0 tool is a resource where it is use like Canvas, but sticky notes are used for communication.

ABCya!

ABCya! is a FREE website with educational games. This is a great website to use if children have free time on the computer. You can ensure the students are having fun, but also in some way, are learning. The games are categorized by grade level, so students can easily find games that are for them. The games range from K-5 level and most of them feature some type of "lesson". The games range in all types of subjects as well. The five subjects are ELA, Math, Holiday, Strategy, and Skills. ELA and Math are the two tabs with the best educational games. There are arcade-style games that kids use arrow keys to play, word find games that can be played on screen or printed, racing games that can be played virtually against other players, typing games, and more. Most of the games, do not need explaining either, they are rather easy to figure out.

Animoto

Animoto is a web 2.0 tool where educators can make videos for their students to watch and help them better understand the material. What you do is go to the website and sign up through Facebook or your e-mail (personal or school account). In signing up you put education for why you are using this tool. Then all these different storyboards comes up for you to choose. I went to the education one. The videos and pictures that you use you have to drag into this tower like shape, and the site will put them in these different boxes for you. You can go into these boxes to edit them so the students looking at them can have an easy time looking at these items. You can add more boxes if you want to or need to. Students will have a fun time with this since students love watching videos and looking at pictures. This will be another way of allowing students to understand the material they are learning. Today's age is where students have a way of learning on technology. Students, it seems like, pay more attention to the pictures and videos more than the teachers. Maybe it is how a lot of teachers are where they are boring and are not good at teaching the material. Not all teachers are like that, but a good number of them.

https://animoto.com/projects

Codemoji

Trying to find ways to get your students excited about coding? Codemoji is the perfect technology to use! Codemoji is geared towards 1st - 8th grade students and allows them to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript intuitively. Students can create websites and animations which is a stepping stone into the coding world. The website uses emojis to grab young learners attention, making coding relatable with modern technology. 

Codemoji website

Memrise

Memrise is an app that ties in fun lessons into learning languages. Entertainment mixed with real life, relevant content is the very core of Memrise. Memrise works with a talented team of linguists and developers to tie in actual things from the languages culture into each language lesson. Memrise runs at $8.99 per month, and has 4.8/5 star average on the iOS app store, with reviews stating it's "annoyingly effective" and "what I was missing with Duolingo". Memrise offers videos of how local speakers pronounce words so you can get the authentic dialect out of your learning that you do not get with other language learning services. It also places a focus on objects and activities that have close ties to certain cultures, religious events, etc. Memrise believes that when they make learning languages fun, the learning part comes second nature, which gives them a superior product.

Prelude to Google 20%

I work at a small market and one of my coworkers is a senior in high school. At the start of the year, he told me about a new class he was taking this tear, called Innovation Tech. The premise of the class is that the students can work on any project they choose as long as it is approved by the teacher and involves technology. I had to know more about it, to see it for myself. I emailed his teacher and set-up a time where I could visit the class, interview some students, and interview the teacher himself.

Last week I conducted that interview and in doing so set the groundwork for my Google 20% Project. My plan is to create a one-of podcast about the class. It will be a mix of my narration plus the recorded interviews I conducted. Or at least it would have been, but yesterday I cleared my downloads folder and accidentally deleted the only copies I had of the recordings. I used Online Voice Recorder and downloaded the clips onto my chromeboook. It's no fault of that program, it was my negligence. That program is great and it is integrated with many other programs, such as audio/video editing.

It's really unfortunate because those interviews went great. The students were all very bright, well-spoken, and excited to talk about the things they had been working on. One had 3D-printed a phone holder for road trips. A group of three were working on an idea-sharing app. Solar-powered cell phone charger and pencil vending machine were some projects as well. I talked to the teacher for over thirty minutes and learned so much, not just about the class but teaching in general.

I now have a choice to make: either abandon this project, learning from it what I can OR I could pivot my project. It's really a shame I won't have that audio anymore, I don't think I can schedule another interview in the class. That would have been a great feature to my podcast. I can probably still interview the student who helped me get my foot in the door. The good news is I took notes on the interviews so I can probably still record much of my narration. So I think I will try to finish the project, with apologies to the teacher and students who helped me in vain. I think I'll add another interview as well, maybe a professor who could reflect on the principles seen in a project-based classroom.

For files as in life, always have a backup.

BBC

BBC is a well-known website that presents readers current news, providing them with objective and accurate information. Journalists post articles from a variety of topics and issues, such as politics, business, nature, cultures, and travel.

BBC is a website that is easy to navigate and so much fun to use! BBC provides a lot of interesting articles and up to date information.On the uppermost top of the website are the various headings, that divide the information in categories, such as news, weather, etc.

BBC can be used to enhance student learning. For example, in a middle school geography class,  students explore and learn about political events, various regions of different countries, and landscapes. On BBC, if students went to the section labeled "travel" and then clicked mountains, they would be able to learn more about the Rocky Mountains through visuals and short descriptions. BBC is also a great website for having students write essays comparing and contrasting current political events and past political events.

Visit BBC today!

BBC

Tes Teach

TesTeach is a free online tool which allows educators to create digital lessons by compiling information from across the web into a single interactive creation.

Tes allows teachers to upload images, link videos from YouTube, as well as providing access to worksheets, diagrams, maps, PowerPoints and other pre-made documents.

These can all be previewed, added, removed, or changed around according to the educator's needs.


Teachers begin by creating and naming their class, as well as choosing the grade level. this last part is important as the website allows the teacher to link relevant Common Core Standards for the subject matter and grade level of the material, ensuring the students are aware what they will be expected to accomplish.

Once a document is added, whether through the website, or a google link, the teacher can provide text explaining what the students are expected to learn, and the ways they can interact with the document.


The website allows students the option of commenting which allows them to voice ideas, concerns, or discuss with one another what exactly it is they are looking at.

Aside from text and comments teacher's can also create quizzes for the materials provided to check understanding, and measure student performance.

When the lesson's creation is complete, the teacher can choose whether the finished product is shared between their classes, remains in their possession alone, or they can allow it to be used by the general public adding to the sites large number of pre-made lessons.

Tinkercad

A wise person once told me, “You learn science by doing science!”  This mantra is true at every level. This makes the tools that you use with your class a critical component of the activity.  A utility that can be used across all grade levels to illustrate the physical composition of shapes and objects is Tinkercad. This application is excellent and was created by the company behind AutoCAD, one of the most used 3D modeling software in manufacturing.  The tool is completely FREE to use and has a large warehouse of basic shapes to get a designer started. However, it goes beyond just designing objects. Tinkercad allows designers to build objects in 3D space, with LEGO bricks, Minecraft-like blocks, and electric circuits.  The amount of options available on this tool are amazing, and did I mention that it’s completely FREE? If you think all of that is great, there’s still more! Tinkercad has a library of lessons for educators and students to learn how to use all of the tools and integrate them into a classroom environment.  They also have a repository of resources for teachers to use and effectively use Tinkercad. But wait, there’s still more! Tinkercad works with 3D printers to allow for the printing of the objects designed! Taking the learning off the screen and into the hands of students. This tool has so much to offer STEM classes that I would highly recommend checking it out.  Let’s build!

InserLearning

Developed by two high school teachers, 

Developed by two high school teachers, Insert Learning can let you turn any web page into an interactive lesson which a teacher can share with all his students. The fantastic toolbar allows you to highlight text, add notes, insert questions, YouTube videos, all on one web page. The other content which can be embed are like Think link images, flashcard from Quizlet and even the video clips from your own camera. This makes learning experience not only richer but also easier. Now you do not need multiple links for students to bring a lesson together. You do not need separate links to directions you want to give, the power point you want them to see, the YouTube video you want them to look at, or a discussion question that they need to work on All these contents can be blended together on one web page. Although the uses are seemingly endless, but it works amazingly well for vocabulary development with younger students. Teacher can click on a vocabulary word and add definition or any insight or add a sticky note where a number of things can be embed. Even an audio clip of teacher reading that article or any text of interest. What an excellent way of helping students to build fluency.

Teacher Planet

Do you like to create fun-filled and themed classes?  Are you struggling to come up with an idea about Groundhog Day, or Bubbles?  This website can help you!  With hundreds of suggestions of themed lesson plans, templates, and fun, creative, things to bring to your class, this is the website for you!  This website also has completed rubrics and rubric templates to help you when in need to making rubrics.  Check out this joke from the website:
Better Grades - The little boy wasn't getting good marks in school.  One day he made the teacher quite surprised.  He tapped her on the shoulder and said ... "I don't want to scare you, but my daddy says if I don't get better grades, somebody is going to get a spanking."

Popplet

  Popplet is an interactive learning tool that can be used on an IPad or a computer to help students and even teachers organize their ideas. This tool helps students visually map out different ideas. They are able to create a spider chart, and branch off different ideas and thoughts. They have the ability to add pictures and graphs to aid in their learning. Students learn how to stay  organized and it is helpful because all of their notes are in one spot. Teachers can also benefit from using Popplet because it helps them create project plans and jot down their notes. Popplet is a great tool that all ages of students can use from elementary to college level students. 




http://popplet.com/

Read/Write/Think

http://www.readwritethink.org/

This is a website that will help teachers keep lesson plans in one place. This interactive website has tabs for Classroom Resources that include Student Interactions and Mobile Apps that will keep today's children connected. The Professional Development tab has on-line Professional Development class as well as Strategy Guides.
There is a new tab labeled Videos which includes Presentations and Just for Fun links.

There is a Parent and After School Resources link. This makes connecting classroom and home a breeze. The link is categorized by grade level.


































http://www.readwritethink.org/