My Favorite Apps
New organizational and educational websites/apps seem to appear every day. The list of useful tools is continually growing. Instead of trying to list all useful apps here, I've decided to do two things. First, I refer you HERE (websites & apps that are devoted to helping you keep up with educational technology). Second, I discuss below some of my personal favorites. Click on the logos to link to each site.
Google has an amazing menu of tools in addition to its popular search engine and Gmail. Some of the most used include Google Docs, Blogger, Forms, and Calendar. These tools take collaboration to a new leveI. I organize all my meetings, deadlines, and appointments in Google calendar. I like the reminder feature which enables Google to email or text me appointment reminders. It's also easy to reschedule appointments, color code tasks, and organize in various folders and calendars. Google Calendar also has a "To-Do" task feature which can be synced with mobile phones. I also love Google Classroom and use many of the Google tools to collaborate (share documents - always the most current version, etc.). Google also works well on smartphones. Our school uses Chromebooks and the Google For Education collection of tools. I love using Google!
Search open source photos. When you download the photo, the citation and licensing information is included automatically at the bottom of the photo!
Remember anything. Capture anything. Access anywhere. Find things fast. Evernote has so many possibilities! Use it to record important notes to yourself or save links when you're researching. (Evernote has a convenient web clipper that will copy entire pages for future reference.) Organize notes and resources. You can organize everything in "notebooks" and search by tags. Click HERE for a great blog article on how to organize Evernote and go PAPERLESS.
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This is one of my favorite presentation tools. It's so easy to use and yet the finished products are amazing. You can even export Haiku Decks to PowerPoint (and then Google Slideshows) if needed. An entire presentation with stunning images and text can be created in minutes - and all the images are "open resources" that are permissible to use (no copyright violations). Citation information is included at the bottom of each slide.
A great "to do" list app.
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Weebly is one of the easiest tools you'll find for building a website. (This website is built/hosted on Weebly.) It's all drag-n-drop - you don't need any knowledge of HTML or coding. Weebly's free version is impressive and the Pro version is reasonable.
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WeVideo is an online video creation platform for video editing, collaboration, and sharing across any device. (I also like PowerDirector, although this is pricier software that needs a heftier computer.) WeVideo is an excellent app for Chromebooks because everything is done "in the cloud."
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GameLab™ is a gamified learning management and content creation platform where teachers design, play, and share quests and badges to create personalized learning for their students. By earning experience points, badges, and achievements, players “level up” through the curriculum, choosing quests they want to play, with the ability to align to standards, including Common Core. Teachers turn class and the curriculum into a game, providing the opportunity for true mastery learning.
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MobyMax combines curriculum resources like placement tests, adaptive lessons, progress monitoring, and IEP reporting with teacher tools, such as Clicker (a student response system), Vibes (a behavior management system), Messenger (a communication system), The Wall (a social wall for homework assignments and class communication), and motivational features (badges, games, and contests). Moby's adaptive curriculum creates a unique, individualized education plan for each student.
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Use quizlet to study. You can create flashcards, quizzes, and games to help you review vocabulary and other information.
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I like to use this tool to help students practice various writing skills (nouns, verbs, adjectives, sentence-writing, etc.).
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