Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Podbean offers free podcasting creation and publishing tools, including a free podcast website. Use the streaming features to broadcast live or record and edit your podcast. After creating an account, create a new podcast or import one from another location. Then, follow the guide to add essential information and a podcast description. Next, upload your podcast, follow the links to publish your episode, and distribute it to major sharing sites. Free accounts include up to five hours of monthly storage space and 100GB of monthly bandwidth.
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tag(s): podcasts (65), sound (70)

Easily design and share comic strips using one of the many templates available from Adobe Express. Select any shared templates on the home page to begin, or sign in to your Adobe Express account and select comic strips from the template options. Searching through the templates is most accessible by viewing only free designs. After choosing a template, use the dashboard to add and modify the contents of the comic strip. Options include changing backgrounds, adding text and images, adding shapes, and much more. When finished, download your design as a JPG, PNG, or PDF document. Then, use the publish option to create a link, share to Google Classroom or Teams, or choose from other social media sharing options.

tag(s): comics and cartoons (48), graphic design (51)

Quickly build your family tree, without registration, using the Family Tree Creator. Follow prompts to add family member names within the labeled boxes. This site is a no-frills way to see a detailed view of your family history. You can add names, dates of birth, and dates of death to each entry. Include an image, if available, with each item included on the family tree. Within each entry is an option to add parent's or sibling's information. When finished, download to your computer or share your link using the unique URL for your ancestry tree.

tag(s): family (53), immigration (63), migration (44)

Create and share professional-looking videos with Adobe Express Video Maker (was Adobe Spark Video Maker). Follow the prompts to begin your creation using a story template or start from scratch. Add videos, text, music, and more to your video. Easily rearrange, change themes, and add components until satisfied. When finished, publish your video to share or download it to your computer.

tag(s): communication (134), digital storytelling (138), multimedia (40), video (246)

boomy uses artificial intelligence to help you personalize and create original music, even if you never created songs before. The more songs you create, the more boomy personalizes offerings based on your preferences. Begin by selecting the option to create a song then choose a style. Style options include Beats By You, Relaxing Meditation, and Advanced. When ready, create your song. It may take a minute or more, so be patient as boomy works it magic. Once your song is ready, listen to the preview and make additional adjustments. Use the Try Again option to make a different mix or use the edit option to adjust the settings. When finished, save your song to your library. Next time you use boomy, the site uses your preferences and saved music to create new music. Download songs to your computer, choosing from a variety of audio file choices or share using the URL or links to social media sites.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (15), music theory (44), rhythm (19), sounds (44)

Design a personalized avatar using the accessible tools at this avatar maker site. Begin by choosing the gender then start customizing features, including facial features. Add wardrobe items and accessories as desired to complete the look. When finished, save your completed avatar to your computer as a JPG or PNG image file.
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tag(s): creativity (91), emotions (45), faces (5)

Create animated gifs using Brush Ninja's paint tools and online editor. Use the paintbrushes to draw and color each frame. The toolbox contains a variety of features, including pencils, text, shapes, and more. Use the control panel to adjust and play the animation. The timeline allows you to see the frames making up an animation, then drag and drop any frame to change the order. When finished, export your gif as an image for each frame, animated gif, or as an animated GIF adjusted for Twitter.

tag(s): animation (59), drawing (61)

Adobe Creative Cloud Express (was Adobe Spark for Education) offers this version of it's popular presentation tool, reviewed here, specifically for education. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education to create multimedia projects or presentations using the available templates and graphics tools. The Education version provides enhanced data privacy, the ability for students to log in with an code. This tool can be available through your school's Adobe Admin Counsel if your IT team already uses Adobe products. If not, follow directions on the site to set up and begin using this tool as an individual educator.

tag(s): communication (134), creative writing (120), multimedia (40), posters (44)

Engage in digital storytelling using the many features included at ABCYA Paint. Choose from the included tools to spray paint, draw, add stickers, and more. When finished, save as a PNG file to your computer or print.

tag(s): digital storytelling (138), drawing (61), painting (57), preK (246)

Create free posters in three easy steps without registration using DesignCap. Begin by selecting a template from the many offerings on the site. Use the tools to edit your poster's features including text, images, and background. Upload your images to use or choose from clipart available in DesignCap. When finished, share to social media using the provided link, download to your computer, or print your project. Registration isn't required; however, it gives you the ability to save projects to your online account.

tag(s): images (253), posters (44)

Create beautiful, multimedia digital books with Book Creator. Scroll down the landing page and find the Help with getting started section. It would be best to read this short Getting Started Overview first and it will stay in your library. Next, scroll down the Features page for more specific directions for creating your book; a few of these are summarized in this review. Then, you can go to the Resources tab from the top menu, where each grade level has a video, and you'll find example books created by students. Under Resources, you can also search by subject to find suggested ideas and books designed for a specific subject. You can also choose Remixable Books to get you and your class started. When finished, publish and share your book using the site's web-based reader for access on any device. A unique, new feature is that you can see how many times your book has been read and where. The free plan offers one library with up to 40 books storage. BookCreator presents a variety of levels for technology use depending on teacher requirements for the project or even student ability; it allows for adding narration, videos, text, using your webcam, and adding links to help explain the artwork. When creating your book, click on the big + sign, and in the upper right corner, the More tab, then WOW! one of the "mores" are apps you can add like Bitmoji, Giphy, Canva, your Google Drive (you can add Slides, Docs, Sheets, and creations from other apps), these all come with the free account. There are other apps, but you must have a premium account. You can use Book Creator on iPads, Macs, Android devices, PCs, and on these browsers: Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Chrome. Teachers need to provide an email to create an account. However, students do not need emails to make their books. Once you're ready, follow the site's prompts to add video, text, images, audio, and more to your book.
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tag(s): collaboration (87), DAT device agnostic tool (134), digital storytelling (138), ebooks (34), literacy (98), preK (246), reading comprehension (132), writing (302)

Telegra.ph is a simple to use web publishing tool for even the most novice creators. Click and type to fill in the title, your name, and add content. After starting your writing, you can choose the camera icon to upload images from your computer or select the brackets to paste a YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitter link. When finished, click on the publish button. That is it! Your work is now online. Just copy the URL to share. Add or delete content at any time using the link to edit.

tag(s): blogs (70), communication (134), writing (302)

Use Sway to create interactive presentations across all devices. Drag and drop content from your device, social networks, and the web directly onto your Sway canvas. Log in using your Microsoft account to begin or create a new account using your email and a password. Add content to your storyline using links to add text, images, and media. Change the look of your Sway using the Design tool to change the color palette, layout, and fonts. When finished, click the Share button for options to share to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, URL, or copy the embed code. Sway will work on any device with a modern Internet browser and an Internet connection. They also have an iOS app. The introduction video and tutorials are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): communication (134), digital storytelling (138), Microsoft (75), multimedia (40), slides (42), visualizations (11)