Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Perusall is a social learning platform that integrates e-reading, annotations, and collaboration as part of the learning process. After completing the account registration, educators begin creating a course by assigning content. In order to create a course, your school must be on the list of included institutions. Otherwise, you need to contact Perusall support to finish setting up a course. Use your documents or upload Open Educational Resources (OER) found on the web. Next, add instructions or annotations to guide students as they begin the assignment. As students access the reading assignment, they engage with the content and other students by adding comments, inserting questions, highlighting text, and more. User comments appear within a chat stream that encourages ongoing discussions of the material. Options such as dark mode, resizing text, and others within Perusall provide accommodations for the various needs of learners.

tag(s): blended learning (16), classroom management (128), collaboration (87), flipped learning (9), Learning Management Systems (22), OER (43), remote learning (61), Teacher Utilities (146)

Discovery Education offers curated calendars of ready-to-use activities for grades K-8. Activities are available in three grade bands and include virtual field trips, reading passages, and more in all content areas. Create an account to begin exploring and using the calendar activities. After reaching the Activity Center, find the three calendars for the current month. Next, use the "Prior Months" tab to find the previous calendars. Each calendar opens up as a full-screen, interactive resource. Click on any day's activity to open the item and view the instructions. Select the "Teachers Notes" icon to view attribution for the images used and suggestions, quiz answers, or other additional information when included.

tag(s): calendars (40), Learning Management Systems (22), Online Learning (40), remote learning (61)

Spaces is a portfolio-creation tool that provides assessment opportunities and demonstrates student progress through three different types of Spaces. First, create a Class Space to share files and media and promote discussion for the whole class. Second, Group Spaces offer the ability to connect with groups designed from within the Class Space. Finally, Individual Spaces allow individual students and families to engage in sharing learning products. Use the tools provided in Spaces to add tags to show progress or curate work products. Other options include the ability to assign activities on specific dates and to particular groups and individuals.

tag(s): assessment (146), communication (136), DAT device agnostic tool (143), Formative Assessment (70), Learning Management Systems (22), portfolios (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

EdLight offers tools for capturing and providing feedback for student work products. Follow the three easy steps to create assignments, take a picture of the work, and provide feedback on any device. Provide student feedback using rubrics, text, stickers, or record an audio message. Share EdLight tasks using Google Classroom, Clever, or student codes. Free accounts allow you to save up to 1000 images with up to two co-teachers.

tag(s): assessment (146), communication (136), editing (89), Formative Assessment (70), Learning Management Systems (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

Boddle is an engaging math learning platform for grades K-6 that adapts to student ability levels. Create your account and classroom to begin. Add your students manually or import information from Google Classroom. When created, share your classroom using the link to Boddle and your class code. Additional options include creating assignments that have specific skills for the entire class or individual students. As students engage in Boggle, view results, and progress on your teacher dashboard. Free accounts include access to games and the learning platform but don't include the instructional videos and professional development offered within the site.

tag(s): differentiation (84), Learning Management Systems (22), Online Learning (40), Teacher Utilities (146)

Canvas is a free learning management system that provides tools for delivering instruction through course modules. Use the included features to set up your class, add students, add assignments, distribute quizzes, and access the online grade book. Use the included calendar to add assignment due dates, upcoming events, and other important information. Canvas also includes ePortfolios for students to share and display their work as part of the learning process. Be sure to visit the tutorials included on the site to learn how to add classes and assignments, and also to understand how to adjust privacy settings to meet your requirements.

tag(s): classroom management (128), Learning Management Systems (22), portfolios (22), remote learning (61), Teacher Utilities (146)

Create, teach, and manage online learning with eduflow's learning management system. First, create a course from scratch or begin with one of the provided templates. Next, use the links within each activity to personalize the course offering and upload files. Then, adjust the submission settings and rules to define course deadlines, options for editing after submission, and adding prerequisites necessary before allowing access to individual activities. Finally, invite students to join the course using their email. Once added, your teacher dashboard will show student progress within each course. Free accounts offer one instructor the ability to provide unlimited active courses with 10 monthly active learners in each course.

tag(s): differentiation (84), Learning Management Systems (22), Online Learning (40), remote learning (61), Teacher Utilities (146)

Classkick is a classroom learning management system that offers several tools for guiding instruction from lesson planning through assessment. Create or customize lessons using your own resources or combine with content available on the site's library. Deliver lessons to students for use on any device and monitor progress in real-time. Classkick includes a private chat for students to ask for help privately and also contains options for peer to peer feedback. This site also includes a number of video tutorials and resources for implementing the tool in classrooms and a variety of ideas on how to use it.

tag(s): assessment (146), collaboration (87), Learning Management Systems (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

Gooru is a free, online learning management system for classrooms. Use their Learning Navigator system to assess and assign content based on student knowledge. The Learning Navigator provides information on student knowledge then provides a course of learning. Content is continually adjusted and monitored to match student growth and engagement. Use your teacher dashboard to assign and customize learning using Gooru's content. Content is provided for math levels from preK through calculus, English/Language Arts from preK through 10th grade, and middle and high school science and social studies. Students engage with assigned materials using the code generated when adding content.

tag(s): differentiation (84), homework (34), Learning Management Systems (22), Teacher Utilities (146), tutorials (51)

Seesaw is a digital portfolio that is totally free for all devices and on the web. Students can showcase their work, videos, text, drawings, and images, and get feedback from teachers and parents. Create a class blog in your Seesaw for students to write blog posts. Teachers create an account with email and then start creating as many classes as needed. There is no limit on the number of students a class can have. Once students have parental permission, give students a "join" code for their class, and they sign up from there, choosing to access their account through a Seesaw generated QR code or their email. Teachers can enable or disable student likes, comments, and editing. Blog posts and comments must have teacher approval before becoming public. Students will be able to reflect on their work with a voice recording or text, and can share artifacts from their portfolio by clicking the red button at the bottom of the screen and then either print or get the item QR code. Once you have an account, click Help & Teacher Resources to find Getting Started Tips, Tutorial Videos, FAQs, and Activity Ideas grouped by grade level. If your district blocks YouTube, the tutorials may not be viewable. Please be aware that Seesaw 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 Seesaw with their child.

tag(s): blogs (66), communication (136), DAT device agnostic tool (143), digital storytelling (141), Learning Management Systems (22), portfolios (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

Use this free slide-based multimedia app to put lessons and other material on any web browser OR iOs and Android devices. Build your presentations using pre-made templates. The site does offer ready-made presentations (some free). The interactive, pre-made videos and text presentations are from Ted-Ed, Khan Academy, Nearpod, and others. Some include questions to answer as you work through the presentations. What is the best part of Nearpod? There are now three different presentation modes.

When in the "live presentation" mode (in person or remote web conferencing), teachers control the lesson's pace, and students do not move to the next screen until advanced by the teacher. With the "student pace" mode, students progress through independently, whether at home or in class. The third mode is "front of the class;" you project your presentation, and the students do not use their devices. Use the teacher version of the app to push out the presentation to your students. For the first two modes, every student uses their own student app to follow the screens and answer the questions. This provides immediate feedback about every student. The feedback can be emailed to the teacher for later review. This formative assessment tool is invaluable and a unique part of the app. The tool also includes drawing for students to work out problems. Teachers can identify students who are not "on task" and not working within the app when a little red light pops up. Absent students can complete the assignment at home.

The free version of Nearpod for Educators is called Silver; you get 100 MB of storage, 40 students per session/lesson, access to 20+ formative assessments, 7,500 pre-made interactive lessons, 1,000 pre-made interactive videos, 40 students can sign up per lesson, and more. How many lessons and videos will depend on your storage.

tag(s): assessment (146), classroom management (128), DAT device agnostic tool (143), differentiation (84), Formative Assessment (70), gamification (74), Learning Management Systems (22), multimedia (43), Online Learning (40), personalized learning (9), playlists (10), remote learning (61), slides (45), Teacher Utilities (146), teaching strategies (41)

As of December 31, 2023, the ClassFlow.com Service will be sunsetted. At that time, you will no longer be able to access your ClassFlow account. ClassFlow is more than a lesson builder, more than a presentation tool, more than an assessment tool; it is all of these and more! Access everything in one place: create, present, and share lessons; connect, poll, and assess students with devices they use every day. After registering, you will receive a welcome email with several "getting started" links. The lesson developer is a very powerful tool, with options for embedding, linking, or adding images and shapes. There are also annotating/highlighting tools, and more. ClassFlow has an is optimized for Chrome or Safari on an iPad. Demonstration videos hosted on YouTube show how to have students sign up via a web browser. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): assessment (146), classroom management (128), Learning Management Systems (22), Teacher Utilities (146)

Showbie is a tool for assigning, collecting, and reviewing student work. You can access Showbie via the web or download the free app to your iPad. Begin by creating your class list and noting the class code to be provided to students. Add assignments including a due date, and add files, images, or videos directly from your computer. This tool also works with the Pages application used on iPads. Upload these files directly from an iPad onto Showbie. Additional options to add to assignments include text and voice notes. Students use the class code to access assignments and return for review and grading. The free version allows unlimited classrooms and assignments. However, the maximum amount of students you can "enroll" in a class is 35.
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tag(s): assessment (146), classroom management (128), data (147), Learning Management Systems (22), organizational skills (90), Teacher Utilities (146)