Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Create impressive, interactive presentations, images, infographics, charts, and anything else you can think of with Genially. Easily insert maps, surveys, video, audio, and more. Choose the type of project you want to create to see the templates available, then select from the free plan templates. Genially is an all-in-one tool that will soon become your go-to tool for creating visual content. All your projects are stored in the cloud making collaboration a cinch! Register for the free account with email, or a Google or Facebook account, and then start creating! A Genially must be saved to share. Share creations from your dashboard on different social networks, copying and pasting a link, using an HTML code to embed it in a website/blog, or sending it directly by e-mail. Click the arrow to the right of your account icon to find Help (FAQs), a blog, and tutorials (Tour). Note: Genially changed its domain name from .ly to .com. Your content will NOT be affected. However, you will want to change this in your bookmarks.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (170), communication (138), digital storytelling (152), images (260), infographics (56), interactive stories (21), multimedia (45), posters (43), video (260)

Design professional looking front pages for a newspaper with this tool. Simply fill in the pertinent information (headline, date, place, and more) and an image. Share via URL, Twitter, or download to your computer. Be sure to view the several samples available, and click on the little question mark at the end of the title to see ideas for use of this tool. No registration is necessary.

tag(s): digital storytelling (152), images (260), newspapers (91)

Here is an excellent site for finding images for non-commercial use that will have the proper citation downloaded with it. Find a photo you want to use. Click the download link under the picture. The downloaded image will have the appropriate attribution information with it. Note: right clicking on the photo will not produce the attribution information. Our editors found all photos to be "class appropriate." However, it is always best to use caution with image searching. Provide students with clear guidelines and expectations.

tag(s): images (260), photography (118), search engines (49)

PicResize is the free, easy way to resize and alter photos online without requiring expensive programs! Use this tool for a quick altering of a single picture: resize, crop, or shrink. Resize multiple pictures as well. Upload your picture from a computer or from the Internet. Use the Crop and Rotate menu to alter the picture. All changes are viewable in the preview window. Use the default options for resizing: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% or customize as you like. Add image effects from a multitude of choices: Grayscale, Sharpen, Gaussian Blur, Oil Paint, Rotate, Polaroid, Brightness, Contrast, or Raised Frame. Save your finished image to your computer or the web as a GIF, JPG, PNG, or BMP. For privacy, PicResize keeps your pictures for 20 minutes for you to download and save it on your hard drive. After 20 minutes, picture(s) are automatically deleted from the server. PicResize offers an alternative to the usual image editor. For one, it's web based.
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tag(s): editing (91), images (260), photography (118)

moovly is a wonderful animation tool for creating videos and presentations. Create an account with your email and watch the two-minute video about how to use this tool. Click on "New Moov" to begin. Give your Moov a title and description then choose from templates offered or create your own Moov from scratch. Modify slides, text, font, image holders, and props. Preview your creation at any time with the play button. Stop and make changes as needed. Upload sounds from your computer in MP3 format: voice, music, or noises. These can be used in parallel, or click the microphone to record your voice. You can also make your moovly interactive by using Flash. Save and share via YouTube, Facebook, or email. You can also download to your computer using MP4 (video) or SWF format. Download the 28-page PDF guide for step-by-step directions and answers to specific questions. Emailing customer support will get you answers within 24 hours.

Click Solutions from the top menu bar, and choose For Educatin and then Teachers. This is the version of moovly that offers special FREE plans to teachers, students and employees with email addresses from educational email domains. Members from educational email domains known by moovly automatically get a free Education license. If your educational email address is not recognized on sign-up, you can request access. You can now search the VideoBlocks catalog of stock video, sound and graphics via the extended library search. And upload it into your story in just one click! Free accounts can create unlimited videos that are each ten minutes long. The intro videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): animation (64), communication (138), movies (53), multimedia (45), slides (42), video (260)

Visme helps you create presentations and documents, charts and infographics, videos and animations (GIFs), documents, and social posts. There's more! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page, find the Create column, and click More to Create. Find templates for all the projects listed, there are 5,000 audio files to select from, and Visme includes the capability of audio voice-over; you can also make your objects into interactive hotspots! At the bottom of the page, under Resources, you'll find the Templates and Video Tutorials for just about anything you want to do. Fortunately, there is a menu on the left for all the video tutorial categories.

To start, choose your type of creation and then a specific template theme. The Navigation area is along the left side. Customize the various tools by clicking on My Files, and upload your Google Drive, Dropbox, and/or OneDrive. The work area is to the right of the Navigation, and where the template you selected appears, various new tools, grids, and texts appear to the left. Drag and drop items into the work area and even include vector images. Click My Files to upload images, audio, and video from your computer. Once placed in the work area, style images the way you want, including animation! Invite collaborators or team members through email. Products created by this tool play on any browser or device or can be embedded in a web page or blog. Free accounts allow 100 MB of storage.
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tag(s): animation (64), charts and graphs (170), images (260), infographics (56), multimedia (45), presentations (17), video (260)

Powtoon is an amazing, free, animated presentation tool. Sign up for your free account then choose from one of many templates available to edit, or start from scratch. Next, start making magic! Create your title and description. Modify slides by changing text, font, image holders, and props. Preview your creation at any time with the play button. Stop and make changes as needed. Change styles easily by choosing a different style within the program. Select from the royalty free music options offered by Powtoon to enhance your presentation. Share the finished presentation via social media buttons on your page to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other popular pages or export to YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then using YouTube may not be your best option. Use the embed code provided to easily embed in your website or blog -- or simply share your Powtoon using the URL provided. Exports are not included with the free membership plan. Email is required to register and use Powtoon.
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tag(s): animation (64), digital storytelling (152), movies (53), multimedia (45), slides (42)

After a 60 day free trial, Thinglink is no longer free. Try using a similar program like Genially, reviewed here, Image Annotator, reviewed here, or even Google Drawings, reviewed here. If you need help using any of these replacement tools, you could watch an archived OK2Ask session: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here, OK2Ask Genially, here, or 3 Cool Tools for Images (Image Annotator is 1 hour and 5 minutes into the presentation), here. ThingLink is an interactive image tool offering a unique way to link "things," within images. Teachers and students should register using the EDU area. Although the example on the home page uses Facebook to share a ThingLink, you do not have to use Facebook at all. Start with an image from upload, online URL, or Flickr. Select specific items within your image (called "things") and link them to resources or other websites. By clicking an area within the image, viewers can access the "thing" (website) that you have linked. Add multiple links to separate items from areas within a single image. Choose or upload an image and click on the ThingLink icon on your image to begin editing. Click on specific spots to add information to the link. If you plan to create many ThingLinks from your own images, it may be easier to use a class or personal Flickr account to pull images from instead of using the maximum number of images to upload. Preload your images to that Flickr account before starting your ThingLinks. ThingLink 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 and links to help explain different parts of the image. Free Android and iOS apps are available. Teacher tools include making student groups and more.

tag(s): bookmarks (46), DAT device agnostic tool (147), game based learning (181), gamification (78), images (260)

Kaseta allows you to create editable sequences of video and sound from different online sources, including YouTube. You can create up to a three hour long playlist of videos and music, and share them through both URL and embed codes. Embed multiple videos in ONE box or page. You can add new clips during the playback. If you have a Twitter account, you can gather clips from feeds of those you follow and enjoy. You can trim and use the fade feature on video clips for more seamless viewing. Basically, you can create your own online "bookcase" for web based videos. This is a great collaborative tool for merging videos, and it is so easy to use that the creators have what they call "couch editor mode." This means you do not have to do anything but DRAG ON to tape, a great online equivalent to the tape recorders of the past.

tag(s): sounds (42), video (260)

Write your own original books, add images and artwork as illustrations, and read your published books in interactive, online form. There is no fee for the online publication and sharing. This is the ultimate in "digital storytelling." Take advantage of the free apps that make Bookemon even easier to use with any device! Use Bookemon Reader to READ books you created in Bookemon or Bookemon edCenter (available for both iOS and Android). BookPress for iOS devices only allows you to CREATE books from scratch, including using photos from your iPad/iPhone. InstaPress (for iOS only) offers options to make books from documents, pdfs, etc. to be shared on mobile devices as eBooks. Here is an example of a book created by the TeachersFirst Edge editors. Once you set up free membership on this site, students (or teachers) can select to create from a blank start or to use the templates provided. You can also create a book starter of your own as an example so students can follow the prompts you have created. The book creator allows you to upload your own images and to create books from a Word document or PowerPoint file you have already made. EdCenter users can collaborate on books.

After you save and publish the work, share the URL so people can read the entire book online, either among an audience of "just my friends" or publicly. They also offer the embed code to place your books on a class or school web page, wiki, or blog. The easiest option is to copy the address of the new window displaying the interactive book. There is an option to have the book printed for a fee, but this is not required. You can also read books created by others (if they make them public). Use the fully-public option to create learning materials for classes to access year to year for at-home review or reading practice.

This site requires a simple registration. Teachers can set up an edCenter for their school or class in accordance with school policies. See more detailed suggestions "In the Classroom" below and in our sample book! Newer mobile device options include players to view your books on iPads and more.
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tag(s): creative writing (121), digital storytelling (152), writing (319)

This word cloud generator is made specifically for children. This site takes any text and creates a "word cloud" (graphical display) of the words in a passage of text. The most frequent words appear larger. Paste in any passage or grouping of text to create a word cloud of the text. Students can choose their own colors, type of display, font, and the final cloud can be printed or saved.

tag(s): speech (68), vocabulary (237), word choice (14), word clouds (13)

Create online sticky type bulletin boards to view from any online device using lino. Click to try it first without even joining. The "Give it a shot!" button has a "How to" canvas has stickies explaining how to use lino. Join and create your own canvases to share stickies, reminders, files, and more. Change sticky colors from the menu in the upper right hand corner or use the easy editing tools that appear when the sticky is selected. Use the icons at the bottom of each sticky note to "peel them off," share, edit, and more. Create a group from your lino page to share and collaborate on canvases. You can also share canvases publicly so anyone with the URL can participate. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

tag(s): bulletin boards (15), collaboration (92), collages (16), creative fluency (5), creativity (90), DAT device agnostic tool (147), gamification (78), note taking (36)

This site takes any quotation or poem and creates a "word cloud" (graphical display) of the words in a passage of text. Paste in any passage or the URL for any blog entry or web page (including newspapers online) to create a word cloud of the text. Enhance basic word clouds by using this site to create clouds in various shapes, use mouse rollover options, use font effects, and more. Elevate your word clouds into an art form. Once registered, change your password by clicking on the profile tab and entering your changes. Before creating a word cloud, agree to their terms that includes only using appropriate content. Copy and paste series of words or use the URL of a page where the words can be found. Choose a shape such as a heart, cloud, or geometric patterns. Choose a font as well as other options, and then click "Build the Cloud." Preview your cloud before saving. WordArt.com is free for personal and non-commercial use. However, you can only download Standard Quality (SQ) images for free.

tag(s): images (260), vocabulary (237), word choice (14), word clouds (13)

This animation tool will help create a video or a video slideshow with pizzazz. Add personal sounds, videos, and other media to create the next level of video for your classes. This tool is great for schools without access to other free video or multimedia creation software. Create 30 second videos including music choices from over 50 soundtracks. A typical thirty second video requires twelve images making this a reasonable choice for projects with middle and high school level students. Also look through their many templates making this video creator easy to use for anyone. Students ages 13+ can set up their own Animoto account if they have a school email, but their account won't be connected to your teacher account, therefore, they will need to email you their completed video links. A better solution for some teachers may be to consider using a "class set" of Gmail subaccounts, explained here; this tells how to configure Gmail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Using Gmail subaccounts will provide anonymous interaction within your class. You will also recieve emails from Animoto when videos are completed and passwords are changed. You can also use the Gmail subaccounts for students under 13, with appropriate parent permission. See this Animoto Blog Post, about how teachers can set up student accounts.
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tag(s): animation (64), images (260), movies (53), photography (118), slides (42), video (260)

Padlet offers many tools and resources for creating online bulletin boards to display and organize information on any topic. Create a new board from scratch or choose from many templates, including timelines, maps, storyboards, KWL boards, and many more options. Padlet also offers AI features to use as a tool to automatically create interactive activities and custom boards based on topic, grade level, and additional details such as standards or teaching objectives. Padlet Sandboxes allows members to interact and collaborate in real time using sticky notes, drawings, and more. Customize the appearance and format of your Padlets using options such as allowing comments on posts, moderating posts and comments before they are publicly posted, and sorting options for easier viewing. When adding posts, you can add links, images, videos, documents, polls, and more. This is a link to Padlet's Help section for posting a video or an image. Free accounts allow you to make 3 Padlets that include search, themes, stats, premium wallpapers, and cross-device support for uploaded videos. You can always delete an old Padlet to create a new one. Find video tutorials and examples by scrolling to the bottom menu and clicking "Support" on the left side of the page. Padlet is a device-agnostic tool available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (141), biographies (95), blogs (64), book reports (28), brainstorming (17), bulletin boards (15), DAT device agnostic tool (147), images (260), journals (16), rubrics (35), timelines (56)

Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share, for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of the recipient. Share on many social media sites witht he press of a button. Recording the message is easy and embedding into a site such as a wiki or blog has never been simpler! No login or registration is needed. Although, if you choose to send a message via email, you must choose a password to use at the site. Vocaroos are stored on their server. Created messages can also be downloaded to individual computers. Visit their FAQ's for frequent questions and responses.

tag(s): communication (138), speech (68)