TeachersFirst's Organization Tools for the BYOD Classroom
This collection of resources provides some of the best DATs to use to get organized. Some of these resources are more ideal to help teachers organize their time, resources, classroom design, or professional development. Other resources are ideal for students to use to organize projects, assignments in various classes, or their entire life and schedule! Create lists, organize desks and classroom layout, design a study plan, and so much more. Many of these DATs offer free reminders (great for forgetful students and teachers). If you feel like you need to get more organized (or your students need some help), check out these fabulous resources.
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Simplenote - automattic.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Use Simplenote for all notes and ideas in all aspects of your busy life. Keep your file system with you all of the time! Instruct students in the use of Simplenote for notetaking needs. Share outlines and study guides with students. All members can collaborate and add thoughts. Offer as a way to improve organizational skills.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Symbaloo - Learning Paths - Symbaloo
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (46), curation (36), DAT device agnostic tool (147), game based learning (181), gamification (78), multilingual (69), personalized learning (9), playlists (10), Teacher Utilities (158)
In the Classroom
You will want to use Symbaloo Learning Paths for many different types of classroom instruction! Create lesson plans to differentiate learning and assign based on student needs and interests. Embed a lesson on your class website for students to complete at home. Using this site allows you to create a clear and concise learning path for any lesson. Share it on an interactive whiteboard with students as you follow through any learning path. Be sure also to include a link to the lesson on your class website for students to use throughout the unit and as a review. Use Symbaloo Lesson Plans as enrichment for independent learning for advanced students, or for remediation with students needing additional help. This site is perfect for use with ENL/ELL students - include links and activities to resources in their native language or add tools for practicing English. There are too many uses for Symbaloo Lesson Plans to include here, be sure to take the time to learn how to create and use this wonderful tool with your students!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bloomz - Chaks Appalabattula
Grades
K to 12tag(s): calendars (37), communication (138), DAT device agnostic tool (147), images (260), parent conferences (21), parents (59), Teacher Utilities (158)
In the Classroom
Use Bloomz for all your communications with your classroom community. Not only that, but share important documents (field trip permission slips, a syllabus, etc.) for others to access; post photos of special projects in class or from field trips. P.E. teachers and coaches can use this tool to post what skills students are learning and action pictures of student involvement in games and activities. Parents can download the free app or receive updates via email. Currently, there are three ways to invite parents and other class members. Email, enter the information manually, or upload an Excel spreadsheet and send a bulk invitation. Create groups within your Bloomz class and invite members. These groups might be volunteers in the classroom, volunteers for driving on a field trip, and more. Then you can communicate just to that group when necessary. Introduce Bloomz to parents at Back to School Night in the fall, Open House in the spring, or during parent conferences. Encourage resource teachers and others to join your class community to see what your class is doing. Update Bloomz on the go with your mobile device!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MediaFire - MediaFire
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147)
In the Classroom
Use MediaFire to transfer files and images between devices quickly in your BYOD or 1:1 classroom. Student groups working on projects in class can gather and share data easily from anywhere. Use for any work students may wish to collaborate on. They can easily make documents public or private and share with others. What a great way for students to turn their work into you when completed on their devices! During curriculum development and other professional development activities, members of a department (or even school-wide) can share resources and documents easily with each other.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Legend - Jay Meistrich and Grant Watters
Grades
K to 12tag(s): calendars (37), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Any student would appreciate having an online time/task management tool they can access anywhere, but learning support students and disorganized gifted students need one. If they are over 13 or have parent permission, this is perfect! You may want to model using this online tool to help middle and high school students learn better personal organization. Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector during the first week of school to help students set up their own accounts. Parents may appreciate learning about this site also. Use this site professionally to keep yourself organized! Make a demo account for a mythical student and organize it together so students can see how it works. Teachers in lower grades can use this tool for their own productivity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Raindrop.io - Mussabekov Rustem
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bookmarks (46), collaboration (92), curation (36), DAT device agnostic tool (147)
In the Classroom
Use Raindrop.io to create a bank of resources for each content unit within your subject or your class. Have students download and use the materials you provide via Raindrop to make their own projects, complete webquests, or to learn independently. Create a separate class account for students to curate their own lists of bookmarks and resources. Use this tool to compile web treasure hunts to learn or introduce any topic within your content area. Collect links to informational texts for students to read "closely" a la CCSS. With younger students, create collections of audio books for children to view and listen to. Share simple interactives teaching colors, numbers and more for a computer center. Have students create their own Raindrop as a place to store links for a project and ask them to attach it to attach it to their final project. Share a link to your Raindrop on your class webpage. Save pictures of class activities with a Raindrop collection to share with parents. Encourage your gifted students to curate collections of media and articles above the level of current curriculum or for individual research on related topics they are interested in. Share these "advanced" collections with all students to spark personal learning.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Send Anywhere - ESTmob, Inc
Grades
K to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147)
In the Classroom
Use Send Anywhere to quickly transfer files and images between devices in your BYOD or 1:1 classroom. Student groups working on projects in class can gather and share files easily. This tool would work well when students do not have email addresses or Google Accounts for sharing work with their teachers or each other. What a great way for students to turn in work done on their devices! Just make sure you retrieve it before the time limit expires. During curriculum development and other professional development activities, members of a department (or even school-wide) can share resources and documents easily with each other.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Slack - Slack Technologies, Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): chat (41), communication (138), DAT device agnostic tool (147), microblogging (15), organizational skills (87), social networking (64), video (260)
In the Classroom
Share this resource with high school students working on group projects for better group communication, managing workflow, and more. Take the time during the first week of school or as group projects approach to model how to plan and manage group processes using such a tool. Use this tool with school clubs, as well. Manage professional discussions by creating channels for different departmental or grade level teams.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
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Toggl - Toggl
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): classroom management (122), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (87), Teacher Utilities (158), time (92)
In the Classroom
Introduce this tool to students as you talk about study skills and homework habits at the start of the school year. Make it part of your lessons on "how to study" or part of your first long term project, especially with disorganized middle schoolers (and gifted students). Have students track how they are spending their time outside of school and make resolutions about how they can adjust it to improve grades, etc. Even teachers need to track time spent on activities. Record time spent in preparing lessons, collaborating, maintaining your PLN, communicating with parents, extra-curricular activities, and more. This tool is beneficial with student groups and tracking time spent on activities. Be sure that students break down the specific responsibilities needed for the project and separate them out to the group. Students can show the work they completed as well as the summary report of time spent. Students can use this information as self-reflection upon completion of any class project and see the possible impact of time well spent!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remind - Remind 101
Grades
K to 12tag(s): chat (41), communication (138), DAT device agnostic tool (147), microblogging (15), Teacher Utilities (158)
In the Classroom
Set up accounts for all your classes, and even your extracurricular activities, to send homework, project, and supply reminders. Remind students of upcoming events, practices, or things they need to bring to class or practice. You could also use this to communicate with parents (allow them to sign up for text message updates at back to school night). Share this site the first week of school to save time throughout the entire year. Remind parents of big tests, report cards, field trips, deadlines, back to school night, sneaker days, conferences, and more. Set up a faculty reminder group within your school for emergency closures and more.Comments
Love this site! I'm using it to send reminders to students about overdue library books and/or fines!Terri, VA, Grades: 9 - 12
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Diigo - Education - Diigo, Inc. 2010
Grades
1 to 12This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Additional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bookmarks (46), collaboration (92), curation (36), DAT device agnostic tool (147), forum (2), organizational skills (87), social networking (64)
In the Classroom
Teachers even in very early grades can use Diigo simply to share links with students and parents. To get more ideas on the potential education uses of this site, see this SlideShare powerpoint here. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.Assign students a research topic and allow them to use Diigo collaboratively to collect and share resources. Share teacher-selected options (complete with comments or directions) easily using Diigo. The research and conversations created through highlighting and annotating what they read can greatly enhance both their research skills and their online interaction on academic level skills. Or use Diigo to post discussion assignments on specific articles or even parts of articles using the highlighting tool. Find a relevant article for your subject, highlight the part that you want students to read. (If students are younger, keep it short to reduce the intimidating reality of too much information for kids.) Attach a sticky note with a discussion question for the students. Have them comment on the link in a "class discussion" as a homework assignment. If you are fortunate enough to have all students with computer access in your class and at home, such as in one to one laptop program schools, you can organize many assignments using Diigo. Use this site to help all of your students stay organized. Share this resource with your (not so organized) gifted students to help them manage projects and not "lose" the information they "found somewhere." Post assignments, readings, online interactive labs, and more. The site even allows students to submit responses by adding a comment. Of course others will see what they said, so you may not want the comments to be the only thing they do! If you assign gifted students to do projects beyond the regular curriculum, consider having them curate and annotate a collection of resources on a higher level topic. For example, extend your study of World War II by having them collect web-based primary sources showing the propaganda leading up to the war, political cartoons during the war, and advertisements from the time. Have them annotate the collection explaining each artifact and how it reflects the sentiments and biases of certain groups. That same collection could provide other students a class opportunity to interact with "objects" from the time. If you have contact with other teachers of gifted students, they could collaborate across different schools or classrooms.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
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
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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My Study Life - Virblue
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): classroom management (122), DAT device agnostic tool (147), Learning Management Systems (20), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Start the school year off by sharing this tool with students for planning homework assignments, tasks, and exam dates. Create an account to share with your learning support teacher and specialists to collaborate and know upcoming events in each other's classrooms. Share with parents as an option for student use. Use this site personally to keep yourself organized! If you have students aged 13 and up, encourage them to choose a consistent planning tool like this one to stay organized. Share this site with gifted elementary students to help them stay organized and manage their life. Promote organizational skills with your learning support or gifted learners.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pocket - Read It Later, Inc
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (46), curation (36), DAT device agnostic tool (147)
In the Classroom
Use Pocket professionally to collect and share websites, videos, and images for lessons and units. Use Pocket to share sites with colleagues, parents, and students. Share this site with older students to use to save resources they find for research. Demonstrate how to use Pocket and share with students as a resource for collaborating on group projects. Be sure to talk about using tags to organize things so they don't end up with a giant "pocketful" of tangled "stuff."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Keep - Google, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), note taking (36), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Take pictures of things to do, buy, or finish. Create checklists of steps in a project. Place all of your notes in one place so you do not forget. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. They could "keep" assignment information, reminders, and more. Consider creating a class account that can be used by all students. Spell out the use of the site and what is allowed and not allowed -- and the penalties. Even though all students have the same login, create different notebooks for different tasks that students can use to upload information to be shared by all. Create separate accounts for student groups who can then share their notebook with other groups. Use Keep to snapshot and share links, documents, files, and pictures for any group project or class work. Whole class accounts can be used by a class scribe during class and accessed from home for review, by absentees, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Docs/Drive Templates - Google Docs/Drive
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (122), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (87), rubrics (35), spreadsheets (22)
In the Classroom
Find specialized templates for teachers and students by clicking that category in the left sidebar. You can find templates for all sorts of "real world" tasks in the broader collection, including authentic writing tasks such as press releases, project proposals, and resumes. Upload commonly used classroom documents and share with students to retrieve at home. Search for templates for outlines, rubrics for reports, or guidelines for classroom projects. Share this site with students to use for their own projects. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Trello - Fog Creek Software
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), graphic organizers (50), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Use this site in the classroom for organizing any long term project such as a research report or collaborative projects. Create a board for each group with a timeline and assign parts for each project. Gradually release the responsibility from one project to the next, asking students to create their own task lists so they learn time management. Teachers of learning support and gifted will love this tool as a way to teach organizational skills. Share it with parents to support their organizationally challenged students. Yearbook or school newspaper advisors may want to consider this site for organizing and assigning tasks. Share this site with your school's PTA as a resource for organizing and planning school events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ClassDojo - Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don
Grades
K to 8Please be aware that ClassDojo falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use ClassDojo with their child.
tag(s): behavior (45), classroom management (122), DAT device agnostic tool (147), game based learning (181), gamification (78), Special Needs (56)
In the Classroom
Consider using this program to reward a group of the week. Award points for positive behaviors such as participation, helping others, creativity, hard work, or create your own categories. Using ClassDojo for group behaviors will give immediate feedback to students if projected on your whiteboard or your projector. Use this tool to help your unfocused students stay on task. Share this site with students on the first day of school as you go over class expectations and your behavior plan for your classroom. Use ClassDojo to offer both negative and positive feedback to parents and students.Are you a regular education teacher with special education students mainstreamed into your classroom? Use Class Dojo to privately keep track of student behaviors and send a report to special education teachers or parents. This could be invaluable to a life skills, autistic support, gifted, or emotional support teacher who needs to track the behavior of each of the students as part of an IEP/GIEP. Alternative ed programs may find this tool very useful, as well, even up through high school.
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Pearltrees - pearltrees
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bookmarks (46), curation (36), DAT device agnostic tool (147), webquests (8)
In the Classroom
In the simplest form, Pearltrees could be used to store links for classes that you are teaching or taking. More creatively, however, you could use this site to create a guided online field trip from one site to another. Even try pairing Pearltrees with the use of a highlighting style website such as Twiddla reviewed here, to direct students to the information on the site that you, as their teacher, want them to see. Try turning the tables on your students, and have them create a Pearltree for short research projects or as a working bibliography for their research papers. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.Edge Features:
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Requires download/installation of software
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Todoist - Todoist
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): calendars (37), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (87)
In the Classroom
Your students need to know about time management skills. odoist will help you teach them and give them practice. Any student would appreciate having an online time management account, but learning support students and disorganized gifted students need one. You may want to model using this online tool to help middle and high school students learn better personal organization. Make a demo account for a mythical student and organize his/hers together so students can see how it works. Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector the first week of school to help students set-up their own accounts. Parents may appreciate learning about this site also. Use this site professionally to keep yourself organized!Comments
What a fabulous organizational tool for teachers and students!Melissa, , Grades: 0 - 5
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lino - Infoteria Corporation
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bulletin boards (15), collaboration (92), collages (16), creative fluency (5), creativity (90), DAT device agnostic tool (147), gamification (78), note taking (36)
In the Classroom
Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. Students can use this when researching alone or in groups, sharing files, videos, and pictures quickly from one computer to another. Have students write tasks for each member of the group on a sticky so that everyone has a responsibility. Show them how to copy/paste URLs for sources onto notes, too. Use lino as your virtual word wall for vocabulary development. Use a lino for students to submit and share questions or comments about assignments and tasks they are working on. Use it as a virtual graffiti wall for students to make connections between their world and curriculum content, such as "I wonder what the hall monitor would say finding Lady Macbeth washing her hands in the school restroom... and what Lady M would say back." (Of course, you will want to have a PG-13 policy for student comments!) Encourage students to maintain an idea collection lino for ideas and creative inspirations they may not have used yet but do not want to "lose." They can color code and organize ideas later or send the stickies to a new project board later. In writing or art classes, use lino as a virtual writer's journal or design a notebook to collect ideas, images, and even video clips. In science classes, encourage students to keep a lino board with (classroom appropriate) questions and "aside" thoughts about science concepts being studied and to use these ideas in later projects so their creative ideas are not 'lost" before project time. A lino board can also serve as a final online "display" for students to "show what they know" as the culmination of a research project. Add videos, images, and notes in a carefully arranged display not unlike an electronic bulletin board. This is also a great tool to help you stay "personally" organized. Use this site as a resource to share information with other teachers, parents, or students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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