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Adobe Spark for Education - Adobe
Grades
K to 12
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Adobe Spark offers this version of it's popular presentation tool, reviewed here, specifically for education. Use Spark to create web pages, video...more
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Adobe Spark offers this version of it's popular presentation tool, reviewed here, specifically for education. Use Spark to create web pages, video presentations, and graphics using the available templates and graphics tools. The Education version provides enhanced data privacy, the ability for students to log in with an existing school id, and school administration of accessibility features. In addition, Spark for Education includes many lessons for all grade levels. Spark is 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.
tag(s): blogs (84), creative writing (169), multimedia (61)
In the Classroom
Use Spark for Education to create videos of student presentations for any subject. Create videos of images taken during science experiments and class field trips to share on your website. Modify student learning by asking students to create infographics explaining facts and information about states, countries, planets, and more. Have students create interactive posters, book report covers, invitations, and flyers to promote school events. Spark offers many possibilities for graphics and redefining student learning by having students create multimedia presentations in all classrooms.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Free Website Map Widget - ClustrMaps
Grades
K to 12
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Add a real-time map of your website or blog's visitors with this geo-location hitmap. Download then customize the widget with your preference of colors, size, and stats available for...more
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Add a real-time map of your website or blog's visitors with this geo-location hitmap. Download then customize the widget with your preference of colors, size, and stats available for viewing. Follow the steps to create your customized code then place on your site.
In the Classroom
Students will love seeing the wide variety of visitors to their classroom website. Have a student share locations of viewers with other students, then research to learn more about those areas around the world. Challenge students to create an interactive map with images and videos using a tool such as Stepmap, reviewed here, for where the visitors to their blog live. With Stepmap students can colorize specific areas including national parks, or the city and neighborhoods of their visitors to their blog; additional options include latitude and longitude lines, and icons. Ask students to create an annotated image of any location including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Display a world map in your classroom and pin locations of viewers on the map for students to see at all times.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Telegra.ph - telegra.ph
Grades
2 to 12
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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. Choose the ...more
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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. 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.
In the Classroom
Use this tool as an easy to use blogging tool in the classroom and in every subject area. Use in language arts classes to strengthen students' writing ability and 21st century skills. Teach about proper commenting etiquette on simple first blog posts. Use for student-written book reviews for the school library. Use as a tool for class or parent communication. Engage students in discussions on current events, independent reading, literature, and more. Ask students to play the role of a historical figure and write about their viewpoints or experiences. Use the site as a forum for any simulated or real task. Invite parents to join to give their points of view on upcoming elections or public policy issues by commenting on student posts. Share a blog in even the youngest of classes, for parents to use to learn about a specific unit of study, field trips, and more. Use this site in world language classes to have students write a blog entry in the new language. Include the principal or superintendent in class discussions of students' rights as you study the Constitution. Create incredible discussions of environmental, political, or economic issues. Create a standing assignment for elementary and middle schoolers on snow days. Have students write a post about the snow using Telegra.ph and share the url on a class wiki. Post the various links on the class web page so students can comment on each other's posts after they come in from sledding.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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StackEdit - Benoit Schweblin
Grades
8 to 12
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StackEdit is a free MarkDown editor offering several options for creating, saving, and collaborating with documents. Choose the "Start Writing Now" link to create a document ready for...more
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StackEdit is a free MarkDown editor offering several options for creating, saving, and collaborating with documents. Choose the "Start Writing Now" link to create a document ready for publication to blogs. Go through the tutorial and then click on the folder symbol all the way to the right of the top menu bar. Select new document. Start typing your document adding images, hyperlinks, and more using the menu bar. The split screen allows users to preview content in HTML and see how the final view will look while creating it, making it easy to see the end product. Open, save, and collaborate using Google documents and DropBox content. Publish the finished product to WordPress, GitHub, and other blogging platforms, or save as a PDF. StackEdit is simple and intuitive, and first-timers will be very comfortable using it. At the time of this review, StackEdit ran very slowly on Chrome.
In the Classroom
Sometimes students (and teachers) get distracted by the appearance of a project instead of focusing on the content. Using StackEdit and Markdown language offers the opportunity to set up and format text before adding the "bells and whistles." Have students use StackEdit to create and polish content for blogs or other projects requiring HTML, then upload and add images, graphs, and maps later.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dash - General Assembly
Grades
4 to 12
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Dash is an interactive, online learn to code program. Use Dash to practice HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a website, blog theme, CSS robot, or your own mad libs ...more
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Dash is an interactive, online learn to code program. Use Dash to practice HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a website, blog theme, CSS robot, or your own mad libs game. Choose your project, then follow prompts in each accompanying slide show to add coding and receive feedback. Dash also highlights skills learned to view progress throughout tutorials. Click on any learned skill for a quick review lesson. The one-minute intro video resides on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.
tag(s): coding (66), computers (101), critical thinking (118), problem solving (294), STEM (193)
In the Classroom
Use Dash to learn basic coding skills. Students will quickly catch on to this program when allowed to explore and see what they can make. Provide a simple assignment with defined rules/tasks to learn the tools. Younger students may familiarize themselves more easily working with a partner. Be sure to recommend that students "ask three before me" (the teacher). When finished with these lessons, move to other free tools such as Scratch, reviewed here. Teachers of even very young gifted students can turn them loose with these challenges when they have already mastered the math or science curriculum. Have them create a creature they can explain to the class or share with gifted peers in other classrooms.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Comments4Kids - William Chamberlain
Grades
6 to 12
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We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. Comments4Kids provides that audience. There are four rules for commenting on others' blogs: be relevant,...more
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We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. Comments4Kids provides that audience. There are four rules for commenting on others' blogs: be relevant, be positive, comment only when you have something to say, and always use good conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation). Explore 5 Smart Ways to get Comments4Kids on your blog, read the Rule of Return, and learn how one teacher manages his students' comments on others' blogs. Back on the main page, click the link to see how another teacher manages blogs and also testimonials from several different professionals about why creating an audience for writing is necessary. Then, start by adding your class blog or your blog to the registration area. Consider Tweeting the blog address under the comments4kids hashtag when you want your students to have a commenting audience. On Twitter, type in #comments4kids, to see the current activity.
In the Classroom
If your students blog, you may want to consider using Comments4Kids to encourage them to do their best writing, proofread, and learn how to tactfully and meaningfully comment on others' writing. You might want to consider using the hashtag #comments4kids in your Tweets. Read the 5 Smart Ways To Get Comments4Kids page to learn more. If you are interested in blogging but never have, you might want to check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics For the Classroom. You also may want to use prompts from Thought Questions, reviewed here, as an easy way to get kids writing blogs. There are many other ideas for your students to blog about such as having science students display photos and information about lab work or research findings of a famous scientist. Language arts students can write about the main character in a book. Have literature circle groups create one blog to present the book and its different characters. Create blogs for current events, biographies, or explanations about curriculum topics such as plants.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Makewaves - Mark and Tim Riches
Grades
1 to 12
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Makewaves is shutting down May 24, 2018. Download any content you want to keep before then. a social learning platform for schools to create and publish blogs, videos, pictures,...more
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Makewaves is shutting down May 24, 2018. Download any content you want to keep before then. a social learning platform for schools to create and publish blogs, videos, pictures, and audio. Free accounts allow you to create a school site with any number of teachers and students. Audio and video uploads are limited to 30 minutes and you can create three badges. Use personalized badges to create your own missions that relate to classroom studies or current events. Take advantage of the many badges already available on the site. The teacher dashboard allows teachers to monitor and manage student content.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): classroom management (152), gamification (89)
In the Classroom
Create a class account as a tool for sharing and publishing student creations on Makewave's secure platform. Even if you aren't ready to join Makewave, take advantage of the many lessons and badge activities to incorporate into your teaching units. Share Makewave with parents as a resource for individual learning projects for their student.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
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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shortText - shortText.com
Grades
2 to 12
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0 Comments
Post text online quickly and easily, without registration using shortText. Type or paste text into the text box and click Create URL. Instantly receive the URL to share or use ...more
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Post text online quickly and easily, without registration using shortText. Type or paste text into the text box and click Create URL. Instantly receive the URL to share or use as desired. Options allow users to include a link to a video or image, allow comments, or make the message private.
tag(s): blogs (84), creative writing (169), descriptive writing (41), writers workshop (35), writing (364)
In the Classroom
Use shortText for quick writing projects on an interactive whiteboard or projector. When modeling writing or notetaking in class, open shortText instead of a word document! Enabling comments would allow students to ask questions about the assignment. When finished, share on your class website using the URL created. Have students use shortText in your classroom when using mobile devices to write a short journal entry or exit ticket at the end of a lesson. Be sure to give students the URL for this and have them identify themselves, so you don't end up with 30 URLs to open and assess. Use this site in world language classes to have students write a blog entry in the new language. Have students write about how they solved a math problem and include an image of their work. Create a standing assignment for elementary and middle schoolers on snow days. Have students write a post about the snow using shortText and share the URL on a class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Seesaw - Charles Lin, Carl Sjogreen , Adrian Graham
Grades
K to 10
5 Favorites
0 Comments
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 ...more
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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. 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 post 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. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Online-Convert, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.
tag(s): blogs (84), DAT device agnostic tool (177), digital storytelling (152), portfolios (30)
In the Classroom
Sign up for Seesaw and generate a join code for the class from the menu at the upper right corner or by clicking your name or initials in the left corner to get a drop down menu. The join code expires in 15 minutes, so it is best to do this in your classroom or computer lab. Teachers can add photos, drawings, links, notes, and upload a file from this same menu by clicking the + symbol. You can even add a co-teacher! See Seesaw's FAQs for ways for parents to sign up and letters to send home. Use Seesaw portfolios for any subject or grade level. Once your account is set up, create a simple project or borrow one from the Activities on the Help and Teacher Resources page. Share the project on your interactive whiteboard or projector to get your students started. The teacher portal allows you to access and comment on student work. View the work of an individual or the entire class. The ability to import work from many creation apps to Seesaw makes this a perfect portfolio tool. Don't forget to watch the video about setting up blogs for your students. Remember, this is all free! Science teachers could have students write up their lab reports, take photos of their labs and label them in a portfolio. History teachers could set up portfolios for student report writing or digital storytelling projects. Seesaw is the perfect tool to use during parent conferences.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100 Word Challenge - J. Skinner
Grades
2 to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
The 100 Word Challenge provides weekly prompts and will publish your writing to an audience. We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. So, ...more
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The 100 Word Challenge provides weekly prompts and will publish your writing to an audience. We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. So, write 100 words in response to the prompt on your blog, and then send the URL for the entry to 100 Word Challenge. There is a page with screen shots telling you exactly when they release the Challenges and how to get them published. Be sure to read the information about Team 100 WC, since you must have at least one adult volunteer to make a comment (100 words or less). It is also important for you read Allowing Comments on Your Blog Posts. If you have not started blogging yet, check out TeachersFirst Blog Basics.
tag(s): blogs (84), digital storytelling (152)
In the Classroom
Share the weekly prompts on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Replace paper and pencil writing journals and have students respond to the prompt on your classroom blog. If you teach younger students or resource students, you may want to apply to the 5 Sentence Challenge, instead of the 100 Word Challenge. They are both available at the same URL. The benefits of participating in a blog like this go beyond just writing. Submitting your students' writing to either of these Challenge blogs will provide the all-important publish piece that students need in order to feel accomplished and to do their best. They can also build cultural understanding through reading the responses from others to the same prompt. If you would like your students to write their blogs more than once a week, you might want to visit Thought Questions, reviewed here.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)
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Otus - Pete Helfers, Chris Hull, and Andrew Bluhm
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Otus is a simple, powerful online classroom management and learning tool. The teacher version offers a dashboard with whiteboard capabilities and split screens. Create assignments,...more
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Otus is a simple, powerful online classroom management and learning tool. The teacher version offers a dashboard with whiteboard capabilities and split screens. Create assignments, polls, bookshelves, reading material, and quizzes with immediate feedback when complete. Work in real-time to take attendance, assess students, and get poll results. Do all of this from your computer or mobile device. Students join with a class code. Otus is optimized to work on any device with a modern web browser and an Internet connection.There are eleven tutorials accessible from the home page. These are YouTube videos. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Online-Convert, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.
tag(s): assessment (117), blogs (84), classroom management (152), microblogging (39)
In the Classroom
Once you set up your account and classes, this could be your classroom online! Teach anything here that you can teach in a physical classroom with a lot less hassle and prep time! Choose to have the parent portal active or not. Save all resources by using the bookshelf, so you can use them again in the future. You have a central bookshelf, and you can share anything from there to your classes (each class has its own bookshelf), other members of Otus, and more. Use the calendar for scheduling assignments, tests, field trips and anything else for your classes. On the class home page there are two different type posts: they are the Side Bar and Main Bar, both of which can be renamed to make them pertinent to your class. Title the posts and add media if appropriate. Students can comment on posts.Sharing via the bookshelf is one reason Otus is such a powerful tool. Be sure to watch the video tutorial about it. The Assessment section is another powerful tool that can include short answer, multiple choice, and true/false questions. Add a photo (such as a graph, map, cell, etc.). The ability to randomize questions and answers, assign Common Core standards, create tags to make it easier to find in the future, and grade online all make the assessment section very teacher friendly.
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)
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Youth Voices - UC Berkley Grad School of Education National Writing Project
Grades
K to 12
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Youth Voices is a social networking site for young writers seeking an authentic audience and a space to publish writing across a range of genres. Search the site using the ...more
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Youth Voices is a social networking site for young writers seeking an authentic audience and a space to publish writing across a range of genres. Search the site using the keyword search or scroll through articles and topics from the home page. Click on the Guides tab to find resources for teachers. Some of the topics include Argument, Booktalk, Arts & Entertainment, Our Space (K-5), From the Middle (6-8), and many others. Registration isn't required to view articles and guides. However an email address is required to write blog posts, complete missions, and join communities. Please note: that while there are limited resources available for all ages, most of the resources and topics are more appropriate for secondary students.
tag(s): blogs (84), creative writing (169), descriptive writing (41), digital storytelling (152), expository writing (40), paragraph writing (17), persuasive writing (55), process writing (46), social networking (108)
In the Classroom
Share blogs and articles found on Youth Voices as examples of peer writing. Share this site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use the Guides tab as an excellent, relevant resource for writing prompts and ideas for classroom use. Students become better writers when they have an authentic audience, so encourage student writers to join and become an active part of this online writing community. There is a special section for grades K-5 only and another for grades 6-8.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)
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Global Read Aloud - Pernille Ripp
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
The Global Read Aloud offers you a chance to share a book with other students from around the world. This program is in its fourth year and has had over ...more
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The Global Read Aloud offers you a chance to share a book with other students from around the world. This program is in its fourth year and has had over 200,000 participants. The Global Read Aloud is a six-week event that ends in November. Announcement of the book list and the author study selections occur each spring. Student involvement starts in the fall each year. Teachers, parents, and individual students are invited to join. Choose a book to read and sign up at the very beginning of each October. There is a Google form on the main page for registration. On this main page, you will find several suggested ways to participate: The Global Read Aloud wiki, Edmodo, reviewed here, Kidblog, reviewed here, and several others. Also, find a list of teachers who have already started connecting and their Edmodo links.
tag(s): authors (120), guided reading (47), reading comprehension (128), reading lists (78)
In the Classroom
Start looking at The Global Read Aloud program before the school year starts. The author study can be useful for students who have difficulty reading chapter books. There are also pictures books available for younger students. Choose the book early, or get your students involved once school starts. Have students vote for the book they want to read by using a program like Wejit, reviewed here. WeJit allows students to write why they want to read that book. As you are reading the book, you may want to have small groups research and investigate the setting, author, inferences, references, and allusions to other books, history, and places. Book Drum, reviewed here, is a good example with ideas for "profiling" a book. Researching and presenting their findings will help students with deep reading experience required by the Common Core Standards. Have students create a class wiki modeled after Book Drum. To learn more about using wikis in your classroom, check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Webnode - Webnode AG
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Webnode is a free and easy website builder. Create an account. Choose from hundreds of template design options, including personal blogs. Add many site features: photo galleries, polls,...more
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Webnode is a free and easy website builder. Create an account. Choose from hundreds of template design options, including personal blogs. Add many site features: photo galleries, polls, forums, social features, and much more. Webnode saves changes as you make them, so information is stored in real time. Possible uses are only limited by your imagination!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (84), social networking (108)
In the Classroom
Create a Webnode class website at any grade level for parents and students to stay updated about what is happening in the classroom if your school does not offer a class web site tool. With teens (and in accordance with school policy), try using Webnode for: "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital photos students take), online literary magazines, and personal reflections in images and text. Consider using Webnodes for research project presentations, comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias). The tool requires that a member be 13+, so you will want to create an account for your younger students to use. Using a whole-class account under your supervision, students can create pages documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle, and "Visual" lab reports. Create digital scrapbooks on a class or individual page using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties, Local history interactive stories, and Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding. For younger students, provide the digital images, and they sequence, caption, and write about them on the class site under your supervision. For older students, provide the steps in the design as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own. After the first project where you provide "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what students can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class product together using an interactive whiteboard or projector. You might consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" long after the unit ends.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quadblogging - David Mitchell
Grades
2 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Give your student writers an audience... possibly an international one! Sign up for Quadblogging and be guaranteed that your students will have at least three other classrooms...more
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Give your student writers an audience... possibly an international one! Sign up for Quadblogging and be guaranteed that your students will have at least three other classrooms to read and respond to their blogs. We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. The creator of this program has hard evidence of that. His students (in the UK) were scoring at 9% on the British writing achievement test before Quadblogging. After a school year of using Quadblogging, his students increased their scores to 60%. In subsequent years, these students continued to have their scores grow by two grade levels per school year. There are two short videos on the home page. One video explains the concept of Quadblogging, and the other is the creator speaking at BETT, the world's largest ed tech conference. You will also find the form to fill out to have your class join others in Quadblogging.
tag(s): blogs (84), cross cultural understanding (125), writing (364)
In the Classroom
If you never blogged before, you might want to check out TeachersFirst Blog Basics for the Classroom. Have your students choose a question from Thought Questions reviewed here. Have students respond to the question, and then have them ask the reader to respond to their writing and answer the question from their point of view, too. The benefits go beyond just writing. You can also build cultural understanding and world language skills through blogs. Help your students become aware of environmental issues or how to live "green" for our planet. Try Greenlearning.ca, reviewed here, or choose something from the Environmental News Network, reviewed here, for students' Quadblog projects.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)
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Webs - Make a Free Website - webs.com
Grades
K to 12
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Webs is a free, easy to use website creator with many features for personalizing content. Drag and drop to add content: images, photos, video, slideshows, and more. Choose from a ...more
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Webs is a free, easy to use website creator with many features for personalizing content. Drag and drop to add content: images, photos, video, slideshows, and more. Choose from a variety of themes in the template gallery. Add pages for blogs and online forums. Viewing on mobile and desktop computers is supported. The free version includes use of the mobile site (with ads) and storage for up to 40 MB and up to 5 items in an online store.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (84), social networking (108)
In the Classroom
Possible uses are only limited by your imagination! Create your own website for parents and students where they can stay updated about what is happening in your classroom. Include links to where students can submit their assignments, your contact information, and anything else you might want to put on your website. There is a free blogging tool for writing assignments, reflection, or reading journals. Have everything you need on one website! Find more specific blog ideas in TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom.Try using Web for: "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take); online literary magazines; or personal reflections in images and text; research project presentations. Create comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias); science sites documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle; "Visual" lab reports. Have students create digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history - - such as the Roaring Twenties; Local history interactive stories or Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding: you provide the digital pictures, and they sequence, caption, and write about them (younger students) or you provide the steps in a project as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own.
After a first project where you provide "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class product together using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" long after the unit ends. Use as an online portfolio for high schools students to include with college applications.
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SchoolRack - Artia Moghbel
Grades
K to 12
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SchoolRack is a free service for creating a classroom website or blog. Designed with schools in mind, its features include options for managing student and parent groups, discussion...more
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SchoolRack is a free service for creating a classroom website or blog. Designed with schools in mind, its features include options for managing student and parent groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists. Post, collect, and report grades using site features. Use the password protection feature to protect privacy in any or all portions of your site. Use the Quick Start Guide to set your site up easily and quickly. The free account allows for 5 pages, 100 MB of storage, 1 class, 1 mailing list, and unlimited discussion topics. Although we recommend this site for all grades, in elementary school an adult would need to be in charge of the "creating" part. The limits to free pages most likely mean its use for a class web page is best suited for elementary teachers who have only one class.
tag(s): blogs (84), social networking (108)
In the Classroom
Use SchoolRack to keep parents and students updated with class information. Create, collect, and post assignments using features on the site. Try using SchoolRack for student created "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take); online literary magazines; personal reflections in images and text; research project presentations; comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias). Use this tool to make for science sites documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle; "Visual" lab reports; Digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties; Local history interactive stories; and Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding: you provide the digital pictures, and they sequence, caption, and write about them (younger students) or you provide the steps in a project as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own. Of course, the limits to the free pages will mean you can only choose one or two of these ideas!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Loose Leaves - looseleaves.me
Grades
2 to 12
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Loose Leaves is a place to put thoughts that don't quite fit anywhere else. As they put it, "For Thoughts That Don't Have a Home." It is similar to ...more
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Loose Leaves is a place to put thoughts that don't quite fit anywhere else. As they put it, "For Thoughts That Don't Have a Home." It is similar to an instant web page maker. No registration required. Click on the leaf and begin composing your thoughts. Insert a title and begin writing. Edit font style, alignment, indent, and paragraph style using tools provided. Insert images using the image link. Images must already be online so you can point to them by url. Adjust image size, description, and placement in your document as desired. You can even drag images directly into your document from another open browser window! Choose Save to receive the url for your page. You will receive 2 url's: one for sharing and one to use for editing your page. Be sure to save that url in your Favorites or a document so you do not lose it! Collect lines for future poems, figures of speech that you like, or simply thoughts in this "idea bin" for writing.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (84)
In the Classroom
Use this site for students to post or collect material for simple projects such as stories, poems, and art projects. Collect a master list of urls to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, or blog for easy access. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district's policy on publishing student work. The beauty of Loose Leaves is that there aren't any identifiers such as email address, name, or other information about the user. Publications are completely anonymous, if desired. Create pages for quick link sharing or for upcoming events such as field trips, class party information, school events, science fair, etc. Students can create simple pages to share links to include in presentations so classmates can participate on laptops. If you are beginning a major creative project such as a literary magazine or research project, Loose Leaves is a wonderful place for writers to collect questions and ideas to be developed later. Share this one with your gifted students as a place to collect written ideas or to collaborate on any kind of writing, such as a poem or script. Just be sure your disorganized ones save both the sharing urls: the one to view it and the one to edit it. If they do not mark these and save them to favorites, they will be gone forever! (You COULD start the page for them and give them the url to edit it... but you would not be helping them learn organization skills!)Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BlogBooker - BlogBooker and LJBook.com
Grades
K to 12
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Turn your blog into a PDF book featuring all your blog's entries and comments. This tool works for the following blog tools: WordPress, LiveJournal, and Blogger. Creating the PDF book...more
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Turn your blog into a PDF book featuring all your blog's entries and comments. This tool works for the following blog tools: WordPress, LiveJournal, and Blogger. Creating the PDF book is simple. Export your blog by following the directions given for each specific type of blog and then upload the file to BlogBooker. All your content and comments are assembled into a high-quality PDF file. Note that this process can take a few minutes or longer depending on the size of your blog. This is a great way to print your BlogBook or make an archive/backup of the blog. It could also be useful for students and educators as a way to save a blog as a portfolio item. At the time of this review WordPress, LiveJournal, and Blogger were all 100% FREE!
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (84)
In the Classroom
Print your BlogBook to share with your class. Use as a way to have an archive or back up of the class blog. Keep the PDF files for use in portfolios to show student work. Challenge students to create their own BlogBook about a subject they are learning in class. All three tools are free and fairly simple to use. In primary grades, the teacher would need to do most of the Blogbook work. Secondary students could create their own BlogBooks independently or in small groups.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pen.io - Anthony Feint
Grades
K to 12
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Write and publish a very simple blog post or writing piece instantly. This is a simple tool and requires NO membership. Pen.io is also ideal for collaborative drafts. All you ...more
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Write and publish a very simple blog post or writing piece instantly. This is a simple tool and requires NO membership. Pen.io is also ideal for collaborative drafts. All you need to do to create a page is to choose a name and a password for editing. (You may have to try a few names to find one that is unique.) You receive a URL you can give to others along with the password to be able to collaborate. Or simply share the url for them to read only. You can include an image by dragging and dropping.
tag(s): blogs (84), editing (75), process writing (46), proofreading (25), writing (364)
In the Classroom
Publish student writing projects such as short stories, poems, and reports. Publish study guides before tests. Publish directions for assignments. With the options for password protected editors, students could post a collaborative report and have others help edit the work. This is an easy way to set up a student blog, especially if the focus is on writing rather than multimedia. Have students write a progressive story where they each add a portion. Practice vocabulary in English or world languages by having students add sentences throughout the year, continuously using the newest words. Just make sure that students use the same password for all the stories started in a class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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