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return to subject listingSlideShare - SlideShare, Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Pull published slide shows for use in your classroom. Download a slide show as a template and modify it for your specific needs. In science class, have students record each other completing a lab activity. Then have the students put that footage into a slide show with snapshots of work and products of the lab. Have students create a voice over track and sync it using the slidecast part of the site. It would make for a powerful learning experience. Post slide shows of class notes and have students comment on what they understand or do not understand as an online discussion. If you teach online through cyberschool or virtual learning programs, use slidecast to create "teaching tracks" to go with your notes. It allows you to create a short, but helpful lecture for your distance learners. They will appreciated the verbal aspect of the learning.This website allows you to upload, so you will need a basic understanding of where your files are located on your computer to do this. However, you are not required as a member to upload anything unless you want to do so. An interesting and valuable feature of this site is that it will allow you to sync audio files or podcasts with your slide show, creating what the website has coined a slidecast. You can create groups to share slideshows privately to only your group members.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Alternative to... - alternativeto.net
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Click on one of the applications to see a great list of alternatives that may meet your needs or those of your students. Offer this site as a means for students to differentiate and express their understanding of the content in different ways. In a technology class, provide time for groups to explore the variety of options and report on ease of use and features for each. Be sure to check whether the sites listed are blocked by any filters in your school first.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PBWorks - PBWorks. Inc.
Grades
K to 12If you are not sure which wiki tool is best for you, see our detailed TeachersFirst review of PBWorks (formerly PBWiki) features, pros, and cons(done as part of the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through). Ignore the persistent and pervasive suggestions that you upgrade to a fee-based membership!
In the Classroom
Click through the first two steps to create a free wiki, including the name (which becomes part of the wiki URL). Be sure to select "education" as the answer to "What is this wiki for?" Wait for your confirmation email (may take a while...check junk mail folder). After the email, choose whether your wiki is public or private (visible to members only or to the public). Set a "key" (password), if you wish. Bypass the offer to PAY. Use the Quickstart steps to configure the wiki just the way you want it or simply play to learn the Clickable editing toolbar. Add and edit pages, invite new members, explore the three template options and a few options for "skins." You may want to become familiar with the tool as a teacher-created site at first so you know its capabilities before turning students loose.See the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for practical management and safety tips.
Safety concerns: Students need email accounts to have individual log-ins. Note: with this wiki tool, you do not have the option of "locking" certain pages or setting different "levels" of users. You and your students have equal access to make changes, once you make them "members." There are also "plug-ins' (widgets) available from the toolbar, some of which may connect you to sites with unmonitored content. Decide ahead of time what you policies are concerning use of the "plug-ins."
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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X (formerly Twitter) for Teachers - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
There is a wealth of information about X (formerly Twitter) on this site, so you will want to bookmark it in your favorites to return to often. Make this page a must-learn for teaching in the 21st century. Refer this tutorial to other teachers and administrators in your building. Once you finish with module 1 you will have a X (formerly Twitter) account of your own. Follow @teachersfirst, @OK2Ask, and our lead Thinking Teacher @morerukus2, and we will surely welcome you!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OK2Ask - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Attend OK2Ask'® sessions with your teacher friends or "meet" teachers from far and wide. Mark OK2Ask in your Favorites. Then check back often for new offerings during the school year and summer breaks. During the school year, LIVE OK2Ask sessions are usually offered on Tuesday evenings in a 90-minute format. You can earn Professional Development Certificates for attending the LIVE sessions (and completing the requirements) or learn on your own from the archived recordings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Literary X (formerly Twitter): 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter - Mashable
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
A whole class X (formerly Twitter) account can follow favorite authors and authors' read through of class novels. The class can direct message them with questions about the book: how they came to write the story, are the characters based on anyone the author knows, and any other ideas your students might come up with. In literature circles a different member of the group each week can X (formerly Twitter) the author of the book as part of the "author analyzer" job. Learn more about X (formerly Twitter) and find many more ways to use it from TeachersFirst's X (formerly Twitter) for Teachers page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Flubaroo - Flubaroo.com
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Users must be familiar with Google documents and forms. You must also have a Google account (FREE). Follow the demo and overview to become acquainted with this tool. This tool is best used by teachers for ongoing formative assessment. If allowing students to create formative assessments, be sure to create a separate class Google and Flubaroo account for use. Consider assigning groups to to make daily quizzes for the whole class to take as an ongoing formative assessment. Use for check point quizzes to check on terminology, general understanding, and to identify weaknesses in student understanding. Be sure to save this site in your favorites to use professionally to save time and keep your learning tasks organized.Comments
I would be curious to know how good you have to be with Google docs to be able to use this. Sounds like a summer project for me!Thinking, PA, Grades: 5 - 10
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Big Huge Labs - Big Huge Labs
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
You can choose images from Flickr, Instagram, Dropbox, your files or provide a URL. This tool is so simple with very few steps for creating. Simply upload your photo, select from a few options, and then create.Check out the Big Huge Labs educator account. Easily pre-register students to avoid creating logins, view and download their creations; view the site advertisement free. You will find information about the Educator Account here.
Options here are endless. Find out what students understand about a concept by creating a 6 word story. Students find a suitable picture and sum up the concept in 6 words. Students can use the Motivator tool, reviewed here, to create. Place their creation on a blog, wiki, or web site and have students write about how their understandings of the concept have changed throughout the study of it. Create Badges for field trips and other activities. Use the Trading Card Maker, reviewed here, to identify what a student understands about a concept. Create trading cards of the many species that exist in the world or of places to visit, past leaders of nations, or states and other countries. Create vocabulary trading cards. Use social networking in the classroom? Create an Avatar to use on these spaces. Reading a book or viewing documentaries? Create Movie Posters to share information or to inform others about various times in history. Whatever you use this tool for, it is powerful for students to use a great image and word captions to display their knowledge.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Requires registration/log in (NO email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Do Something.org - Do Something.org Team
Grades
7 to 12There are suggestions, resources, and support to empower young people and give them the energy to take action and make a difference. Whether their passion is to feed the homeless, end bullying, help even the playing field of educational inequalities, or many more needy causes, this website is chock full of easy to access information and strategies that encourage teenagers to decide for themselves how they can contribute their time and desire to make a difference.
In the Classroom
Do you believe that kids can change the world? What are you doing about that? If you have been thinking about involving your class in some type of community service and project based learning, but need some direction, DoSomething.org is a phenomenal place to "shop" around for ideas. Perhaps you may want to start by showing the film, Pay It Forward, or with a writing prompt, "If you were given time in school to come up with one idea that could be put into action right now by people your age that would make this school or this community a better place, what would it be and how would you put your plan into action?" Have students share ideas in small groups, then introduce them to DoSomething.org by projecting it on your classroom whiteboard or projector, viewing some of the short videos, and using the power of the internet to empower them to act now. Challenge students to collect Internet resources for their cause using Wakelet, reviewed here, where they can add a cover image, background, collaborate with others, and chose the layout they prefer. Next, enhance learning by asking your students to create an interactive infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to explain their ideas about their cause and how they would put their plan into action. Club advisers, school counselors, and teachers of gifted can use the empowering resources of this site to inspire students to ACT.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Autism Speaks, Family Services - Autism Speaks Inc.
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Teachers, plan professional development using the free videos and resources from the site. Share the web link on your school's webpage for parents to access. In addition, encourage your PTO/PTA to host an Autism Speaks evening for all interested parents. If you are dealing with an autistic child in your own classroom and feel ill-prepared or uncertain of the best strategies to use, the explanations and ideas on this site will definitely help.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Add-Art - Steve Lambert
Grades
K to 12*Note from the creators of the site, "Firefox 4 compatibility - Add-Art does not work w/ Firefox 4, yet. But it is an open-source, volunteer project and has always been improved by people like you. The code is free for you to modify so you don't have to start from scratch."
In the Classroom
Blocking ads on school computers is a great way to avoid inappropriate content and will reduce the confusion that visual inference can cause. Be sure to get permission from your IT department before installing this ad-on to school computers. Maybe you can even convince them to install it schoolwide! Preview the artwork that Add-art uses by clicking on "Shows" before installing this ad on. Plug-ins such as Add-Art are not permanent and are easy to disable.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Post-it Teachers - Post-it
Grades
K to 8In the Classroom
Add Post-it notes to your back-to-school supply list and "stick" to this website for ideas that will make teaching and learning fun, motivating, and practical. Maybe even ask for Post-it contributions from home. Find unique ideas for using the repositionable sticky notes for Venn Diagrams and more comparing and contrasting techniques, timelines, story maps, bulletin boards, classroom management, and other sticky ideas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Whichbook.net - Opening the Book Ltd.
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Trying to motivate reluctant readers to pick up a book or to require independent reading is not always an easy task. Make the task more glamorous by providing your students the link to Whichbook. Demonstrate the site and invite students to try it on your whiteboard to witness the fun they will have discovering books they want and need. Then, provide a direct link on your class web page or wiki to make it easily available. Technology has built-in appeal; therefore, the idea of using it as a method to choose a book offers an imaginative way for promoting reading. As always, while in the classroom or computer lab, caution should be taken to oversee students' use of the website as it is possible to type in characteristics that may not be appropriate for the grade level. As an extension or book report alternative, challenge students to make their own simple graphics categorizing books they have read using the same system, determining where they would fall on each of the different scales. Have them explain why they would label the book that way. Share the student-made graphics and explanations on your class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Longwood Central School District SMART Board Lessons - Longwood Central School District
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
These lessons are great for the new SMART Board user or the seasoned pro. Use these if you need a lesson but don't have time to create one from scratch. View the lessons and use them to help you create your own lesson. Click the different tabs to view the different grade levels. Please note that all of these activities require SMART Notebook software (which comes with SMART brand IWBs). Don't have SMART brand IWB's? Some files will work using the SMART Notebook Express online viewer available here. (Download the notebook file from Longwood's collection to your desktop and then upload to SMART Notebook Express site.) If you use a lesson, go to the staff directory under District Information -> Email Directory and send the creator a thank you. Think how great it would be to receive an email from a teacher "out there" thanking YOU for sharing?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachley's Amazing Talking Brain - Donna Sawyer
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Share one thought a week with your building's teaching staff or teachers you mentor for motivation throughout the school year. Share this site with classroom tutors when training them to work with students. New teachers or student teachers will also benefit from this clever compilation of tips. With older (or more advanced) students or psychology classes, have cooperative learning groups research one of the topics at this site and create a multimedia presentation. Challenge students to move past PowerPoint and create an online Prezi presentation (reviewed here) or another reviewed presentation tool from the TeachersFirst Edge to explain the topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Internet Shakespeare - Michael Best and Roberta Livingstone-University of Victoria
Grades
7 to 12Be aware: at the time of this review, a few of the links were no longer active. What remains is quite worthwhile, however.
In the Classroom
Be sure to bookmark this website in your favorites for your study of Shakespeare. Post a link to it on your class page to give students access to the literary works at home. Not only will they be able to have an entire copy of Shakespeare's works on hand, they will also be able to click on links for summaries, analysis, and assistance with nearly everything they will need to know about his life and writing. This is a great resource for you and your students to refer to for review, research projects, or just for reading the text, both in and out of your classroom. Are you looking for more Shakespeare sources and ideas? Save yourself plenty of time by visting TeachersFirst Shakespeare Resources reviewed here, where you will find almost everything you are looking for within this rich collection of valuable materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Text Mechanic's Toolbox - Text Mechanic.com
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
How many times have your students used the same word over and over again, accidently typed an entire response in all CAPS, or spent more time counting how many words they used than they did writing their essay? Demonstrate some of these text manipulation tools on your projector or interactive whiteboard and make the link readily available from your web page or class wiki and have students bookmark it in their favorites. They will love having these helpful tools when completing assignments on the computer. Although some of them are customized on word processing programs, they are often "hidden" or "well-kept secrets." The Text Mechanic takes the time and guesswork out of manipulating text.Some of the tools are just plain fun to experiment with and make good time fillers when your students are using the computer lab or a class set of netbooks and some of them finish the assignment before others. For elementary grades, use some of the tools to scramble the letters on weekly spelling words or to generate scrambled sentences.
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Disability Fact Sheets - San Ramon Valley Unified School District
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Special education teachers, school psychologists, and the Special Education department will appreciate being able to download these pdfs for handy references that can be shared with parents and teachers. You may want to distribute them as an attachment to the student's IEP in order to make that document more meaningful and understandable. Another valuable way to use this resource is to send the link and description of this site via email to the entire faculty to use as a means to become familiar with the expectations of students with disabilities included in regular education placements and as a checklist as to whether a referral for intervention or full blown multidisciplinary evaluation is warranted.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Embrace Civility In The Digital Age - Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use the handouts and resources as part of a schoolwide anti-cyberbullying campaign. Have a parent information night and provide them with the Parent Information Handbook that can be found in the "Articles and Reports" section. Send articles home with your weekly newsletter to keep parents informed about the latest information on cyberbullying. Have students create anti-cyberbullying posters using Poster My Wall, or traditional paper posters.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyberbullying Research Center
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
This site is a one stop shop for information on cyberbullying. Use the resources from this site to put together a parent information night on cyberbullying. Teachers, librarians and counselors can use the videos and present them at a staff meeting. Purchase copies of the book "Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard" and run a book club. Post the links to the resources for students on your website for students to access from home or during library time. Include this resource as part of a schoolwide anti-cyberbullying campaign, challenging students to make their own anti-cyberbullying posters, videos, or songs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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