It's time to push into the 21st-century and work smarter, not harder.
Check out these technology tools we've had first-hand experience with to take you every step of the way. Many of these can be found on the Bloom's and the 21st century pages listed under their appropriate level, but here's a more simplified and tried-and-true list of things we've personally used in our own classrooms and how.
Play around, try something new, OR, better yet, have your students do that. You DON'T have to be the expert on every piece of technology; you simply have to be the expert in finding help if you don't know the answer. The funny thing is, that expert is probably sitting in your classroom right now; tap in to the potential and knowledge your students have about technology and you'll be surprised how rewarding it is for the both of you!
Play around, try something new, OR, better yet, have your students do that. You DON'T have to be the expert on every piece of technology; you simply have to be the expert in finding help if you don't know the answer. The funny thing is, that expert is probably sitting in your classroom right now; tap in to the potential and knowledge your students have about technology and you'll be surprised how rewarding it is for the both of you!
Tools to foster Habits of Mind
Reaching to Higher Levels
- Class Dojo (both mobile and web-based): Manage impulsivity by tracking student behavior throughout the day. Award points for positive and negative behavior quickly and easily, to show students the consequences, both positive and negative of their actions...and send those reports directly to parents.
- News 360 (for mobile devices): Help students think flexibly, respond with wonderment and awe, remain open to continuous learning, and ask questions by comparing news stories on the same topic from sources around the globe. Great for discussing bias, perspective, and accuracy while honing up on current events as well.
- Haiku Deck (for mobile devices): Take images and add captions to help students be creative and innovative. Also a great way to find humor and apply past knowledge to new situations.
- Flow Free (for mobile devices): Do students have a little down time? Force them to think critically with this simple, yet complex game to help them think outside (or around) the box.
- Pearltrees (web-based): Want to blow your mind? This site is similar to Pinterest as it collects links to different sites, BUT it puts them into a mind map. Mind-blowing! Great way to think flexibly, gather data through all senses, and remain open to continuous learning.
- Prezi (mostly web-based, but has an app): Tired of PowerPoint, both in appearance and its limitations for group projects? Foster collaboration with this fantastic presentation tool that ups the ante on visual displays. Multiple users can edit the same presentation at a time making it the perfect tool for group projects.
- Popplet (mostly web-based, but has an app): Very similar to the collaborative concept of Prezi, this tool helps create mind maps to display information.
- Voki (web-based): Speaking clearly and thinking flexibly: Create and give voice to your very own avatar to help explain your knowledge and understanding of a topic.
- Splashtop is an easy and free way to remotely connect to your computer so you can present from anywhere in the room.
Reaching to Higher Levels
- Socrative (both mobile and web-based): Check the level of remembering, understanding or application of knowledge your student possess with easy-to-create quizzes. This site will provide instant feedback of their knowledge as well as provide a data-filled report to help you analyze student understanding of any concept.
- NearPod: A new way to manage your classroom while you impart knowledge, this tool helps sync your device and presentation with that of your students so you control when they move to the next slide. You can also embed quizzes, so you get real-time data on their understanding.
- Blabberize (web-based): This entertaining website adds a little fun to remembering and understanding information. Simply pick an image, give it a mouth, and make it say what you know.
- VoiceThread (both mobile and web-based): Yet another alternative to PowerPoint, this site and app allows users to create narrated stories or presentations. Use your own images or others to create narrated slideshows to take the understanding of the material to the next level by creating your own version.
- Storybird (web-based): Another way to create your own representation of information, this site helps you create a "book" to detail your understanding. Pre-made images and templates allow students to concentrate on content and not format.
- Aurasma (for mobile devices): Have students create their own Google glasses simply and easily with this app. Take any image and make it act like a QR code to take viewers to more content. Augmented reality in the classroom.
- Sock Puppets (for mobile devices): Fun for all ages, have students create stories using sock puppets as their characters. Perfect for a retell, summary, or new creation.
- Skitch (for mobile devices): Take a picture, image, or graph and annotate it to point out key elements. Perfect for students to analyze an image.
- Animoto (for mobile devices): Have a few pictures centered on a topic? Use this site and app to create a beautiful slide show with the clicks of a few buttons.
- Flashcardlet (for mobile devices): Help students remember those basic details quickly and easily so you can move on to the application and creation stages more quickly using flash cards.
- Quizlet (web-based): See above only apply to the web instead.
- ThingLink (both mobile and web-based): Take one image and make it interactive by adding links, sidenotes, videos, and other information to make that one image truly tell a whole story. Make your images interactive and FULL of content
- Tagxedo: Wordle on steroids.