What's a good app/website to use in your classroom?

In today's digital age, educators are inundated with so many tools and resources. It's often hard to figure out what is good to use and Common Sense Education is a great site to help you out with this.

Why Common Sense Education?

• Comprehensive Reviews: Offers unbiased evaluations of edtech tools, helping educators make informed decisions.
• Digital Citizenship Curriculum: Provides age-appropriate lessons to instill responsible online behavior in students.
• Professional Development: Features webinars, articles, and training materials to enhance teachers' digital literacy.

Classroom Application: Imagine integrating a new app into your lesson plan. Before implementation, consult Common Sense Education's reviews to assess its suitability. Additionally, utilize their digital citizenship lessons to prepare students for responsible usage.

Common Sense Education isn't just a resource; it's a partner in fostering a safe and effective digital learning environment.

Innovate and Inspire: Leveraging Edutopia

Staying updated with effective teaching strategies is crucial. Edutopia offers a treasure trove of research-backed practices and real-world classroom insights.

Why Edutopia?

• Diverse Content: From project-based learning to social-emotional learning, explore a wide range of topics.
• Practical Resources: Access videos, articles, and case studies that provide actionable strategies.
• Community Engagement: Join a community of educators sharing experiences and best practices.
• Classroom Application: Implement project-based learning by having students design experiments to solve real-world problems. Utilize Edutopia's resources to structure and assess these projects effectively.

📚 Explore Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/

Everything you need to know to teach with Google

 The Google for Education Training Center is your one stop shop for professional development on using Google tools in your classroom, both for you and your students. Here you will find step by stop videos on integrating Google Classroom, Sheets, Docs and others into your classroom.  There are user guides for each product along with quick tips sheets. 

You will find lesson plans that are a combination of teaching students to use these tools and a variety of content areas. 

If you want more, you can take one of two tests to earn Google Certification or apply be a Certified Trainer, Coach or Innovator. Lastly there are the communities to connect with other Google Educators in your area. 

An online classroom preloaded with videos, worksheets and activities

If it hasn't been totally obvious so far, I love using technology in my classroom.  I especially love sites and programs that allow my students to work independently as I can customize learning more and students can work at their own pace.  I recently learned about Study.com and think that it fits the bill of how I want my classroom to run.  I can engage my students with videos, quizzes, worksheets, and activities all online!

There are also videos and instruction for you as the teacher.  You can learn more about incorporating technology in the classroom or brush up on content material (great if you are teaching something new!).  Plus you are able to find worksheets and classroom activities that you can use offline.   Take a look at the video below to get an overview of what Study.com can do for you as a teacher.




Be an Effective Teacher | Study.com's Teacher Plan 


 I suggest checking it out if you are curious about what it's like.  Study.com is also offering my readers 20% their first month if you join via this link.  If you aren't ready to join, try out the free trial to get a sense of what it's like.

Do you think this is something that would be helpful to you? 

Finding fellow Teachers to follow on Twitter

I use a variety of social media, but mostly all for different purposes.  For me, I use Twitter to follow what is happening with education, edtech, science and local news.  I am always looking for new people to follow.  Classtools created a page called Teachers on Twitter as a way to connect follow educators on twitter.

The list is automated and updates itself automatically.  It searches for specific hashtags and uses what it finds to add people to a specific list based on what is written in the person's profile.  The image below shows you what hashtags are connected with each teacher group.  If you have any suggestions of other hashtags you can tweet @RusselTarr to make a suggestion.

This post also appeared on my science blog Savvy Secondary Science

5 Things To Explore in Google Calendar

Another of my favorite EdTech blogs is Alice Keeler's blog Teacher Tech.  She recently posted about five things to try in Google Calendar.  She talk about Appointment Slots, dragging events, Agenda view, toggling calendars on and off and using Google Hangouts from Calendar.  You can read her whole post by going to this page.

Are you a big Google Calendar user? 

G Suite Google Apps Training Chrome Extension

Synergyse is a company that Google purchased some time ago. What's great for us is that they integrate G Suite training right into the apps. When you add this extension to your chrome browser tutorials pop up that direct you on using the program. This makes it really easy to get the training and constructions you need right when you need it.

Add the G Suite Chrome extension from the Chrome Webstore.  (Remember, you must be on a chrome browser for this to work.)

300+ Ed Tech Tools Tutorials

If you've been a long time read of my blog you know that I love the blog Free Tech for Teachers.  Over the last couple of years Richard Bryne has published at least one new tutorial video each week. While most of those videos end up being featured in his Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week, they all end up on his YouTube channel. He has more than 300 ed tech tools tutorial videos on his YouTube channel. Check out what he has to offer; I'm sure there will be something there for you to learn.

Edmodo is more than just for your students - it can be professional development as well.

Some of you may have heard of Edmodo and might even be using it in your classes.  Those of you who aren't using it probably think that it's just for your students.  Edmodo is so much for than that and can actually be a great tool for professional development.  You can join groups for things like middle school science or technology in the classroom.
Of course you can also create classroom groups to assign homework, quizzes, track performances and award badges.