This is part 2 of a post about technology tools to use in your classroom. In case you missed part 1 you can find it here. This part will focus on tools I have researched and think would be a good addition to my classroom but I haven't actually been able to test them out yet.
Tools I Want to Try
Storybird—Storybird is a digital story telling platform. Students select a picture that that enjoy and write about it. Students publish their writing to the class you have set up. As the teacher you are able to see all projects and add comments. Peers can also leave comments on work. A great feature is the ability to share the class link with parents so they can view their student’s writing. You can also order a hard copy of the class book. The major limitation is there is no option to upload your own graphics. I think this would be a great tool for a poetry or short story unit. I also love the option to order a hard copy of the book.
WriteWell— Some students do not have a problem organizing their thoughts for a writing assignment, but let’s be honest, many students struggle with how to organize their thoughts. WriteWell provides students a visual platform for their thoughts Assignments are “chunked” into small sections, and students can reorganize as needed. Write well also allows students to create notes and add audio. While the end result is similar to Easy Bib, I like the visual layout of WriteWell better.
Realtime Board—Collaboration is a foundational skill for today’s learners. Realtime Board provides a virtual whiteboard for collaboration. Unlike Google Docs, students can draw, upload videos and insert virtual sticky notes straight onto their whiteboard. Students can also chat directly in the application. The share feature allows students to share their work with one another and with you as the teacher. The program is easy to learn with little learning curve.
A sample of boards
EduClippler—Portfolios are a great way to show student progress. EduClipper is an online portfolio system. Think of it as Pinterest without the need for images. Students can create multiple portfolios, one for storing articles for research, one of final projects, etc. Teachers can also pull documents from multiple portfolios into their own to show student achievement. Portfolios can be shared easily through many networks or downloaded directly to your computer. I think it would be great if a whole school utilized this program. That way when students graduated they would be able to see how much they have progressed.
Animato—Animato is a web-based movie production program. Students can create digital stories using music, photos, videos, text and audio recording. This platform was more user friendly than others that I tried, but there is only a free trial version. It has more options than iMovie, and is easy to share. I believe that this would be a great tool to promote digital literacy and an alternative to traditional book reports and presentations.
Well, there you have it–my top 10 tech tools. Which ones have you used before? Do you have any other ideas that I should incorporate into my highschool classroom?
If you are interested in more tools for your classroom, I highly recommend The Teacher’s Guide to Tech by Jennifer Gonzalez.
Concerning writewell. I'm ask for anything that teaches students to write well. I hate the slang and the white emoji trends. It creeps into their writing. They are at a loss for being able to write, express their thoughts on paper.
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