Tools, Tools, Tools!!!
Technology tools are everywhere on the internet. The internet has winners and losers when it comes to technology tools. It also has expensive, non-expensive and free tools. Here are the tools I found worth using this past year:
Remind the messaging app you want to use for communication. Remind gives you a direct line to students and parents with quick, simple messages on any device. Free for educators, students and parents.
(https://www.remind.com)
Kahoot is an exciting way to review with students or adults. Create, play and share fun learning games for any subject, for all ages and it's all for free. Love free.
(https://getkahoot.com)
Goformative and it's free for teachers and students. Transform your content in seconds and go paperless. Create incredible online assessments, class work or homework.
(https://goformative.com)
Edmodo the safest and easiest way for educators to connect and collaborate with students, parents, and each other. Free.
(https://www.edmodo.com)
ClassDojo the classroom management system that makes management of behavior positive. ClassDojo encourages participation, teamwork, hard work and it's a great way to communicate with parents. Customize ClassDojo to fit your classroom. Free.
(https://www.classdojo.com/learnmore/)
Smore a personal favorite of my own. The first few flyers are free. Then you have to pay. I used the free ones and paid for the education addition. Smore a fascinating website for creating beautiful flyers.
Check out a flyer we created for a book study. (http://bit.ly/1kPo1bE)
(https://www.smore.com/)
ExitTicket the student response system, designed by teachers to achieve one simple idea that is student achievement. Free
(http://exitticket.org)
Class Hook an excellent website to find just the right clip for your lesson or presentation. Whether it is on math or communication, it will find the video clips within seconds. The best part it's free.
(http://www.classhook.com)
Quizalize designed for teachers by teachers. They know how many hours you spend marking, comparing and making spreadsheets of student's strengths, weaknesses, and progress. No set up and no special knowledge. Quizalize is in beta version.
(https://www.quizalize.com)
Iris Center the website with Universal Design for Learning Modules. This module examines the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and discusses how to apply these principles to the four curricular components (i.e., goals, instructional materials, instructional methods, and assessments).
(http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/#content)
Amara the website to caption your video. Amara is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization. Amara's mission to reduce barriers for communication and foster a more democratic media ecosystem. They state by choosing Amara, you are making video more globally accessible.
(http://www.amara.org/en/)
Appear.in lets you communicate in the most natural way; seeing the person you're talking to, hearing their voice and taking in all their body language.
How to use with students in class.
(https://appear.in/information/appear-school/)
No logins no install.
(https://appear.in)
Quickrubric The very simplistic rubric creator.
(https://www.quickrubric.com/r#/create-a-rubric)
Gifmaker.me the great website to create animated gifs.
(http://gifmaker.me)
Presefy go mobile with your presentations, and your audience can follow in real-time with any browser. You can upload and use two for free.
(https://presefy.com/#/landing)
CEEDAR Center The website features Course Enhancement Modules. They include Disciplinary Literacy, Classroom and Behavior Management and Universal Design for Learning.
(http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/cems/)
Ideas That Work The website that focuses on Teachers and Families with an ever growing amount of research based resources.
(http://ccrs.osepideasthatwork.org)
ClassDojo is built by more than 3 million teachers worldwide. It’s a course management tool that allows you to give personalized feedback to each student or the whole course.
(https://www.classdojo.com/learnmore/)
Richard Byrne’s Educational Website. The place to register for email updates from Richard Byrne on the latest and greatest in educational technology and how to integrate it. One of the best.
(http://www.freetech4teachers.com)
Eric Sheninger is a Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership.
(http://ericsheninger.com/esheninger?sid=28)
@E_Sheninger on Twitter
Nathan Hall’s website on web tools: no registration needed, for students by Nathan Hall has an overabundance of organized web tools.
(https://nathanghall.wordpress.com/webtools-no-registration-needed-for-students/)
Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) has too many resources to even begin to mention. It's best to check it out. You will love it. Keep an eye on OCALICON.
(http://www.ocali.org)
Hopefully, you found one tool to integrate and implement into your classroom or educational environment. Always remember the person who bought the drill.
The person bought the drill because they wanted a hole, not a drill.
Make sure you choose the goal and then align the needed tool. No one ever removed a splinter with a hammer.
This blog post offered many ways to SPARK the engagement of students and adults.
So go fellow educator and electrify your learners.
If you like this article, please feel free to tweet it on Twitter or post it on Google Plus, Facebook or even Linkedin. Find me 24/7 @ronbrogers on Twitter.
A person that has invested in the lives of others through many avenues including education.