One die has six "creation" apps, while the second die has six "showcase" apps.

For the creation apps I used Popplet Lite, Pic Collage, Doodlebuddy, Trading Cards, Skitch and Word Clouds. For the showcase apps I used ShowMe, Educreations, Tellagami, Thinglink, 30Hands, and iMovie.

Use the image search. Type in your search word, then select Images to use the image search when trying to put a picture to your term. Get a definition. If you want a definition without having to track down an online (or a physical) dictionary, just type "definition:word" to find the definition of the word in your results (i.e.: "definition: serendipity" will track down the definition of the word "serendipity").

Collect research notes with Google Notebook. Use this simple note-taking tool to collect your research for a paper or project.

Study the oceans with Google Earth 5. Google Earth 5 provides information on the ocean floor and surface with data from marine experts, including shipwrecks in 3D.

We’ve theorized before that learning through social networks is the future. 

Use twitter’s search bar–search for your what you’re interested in learning more about. This isn’t as staright-forward as a Google search, for example, but you’ll get a better sense of the kinds of information people are sharing.

Know your hashtags. They’re a valuable tool to use to follow and participate in conversations on certain topics and themed twitter chats.

The Tour Builder uses a slide-like format for creating tours. Each slide or stop in the tour can have a date or range of dates attached to it. The tour plays in same sequence as that students build stops in their tours. Have students create the stops in the tour chronologically to tell a timeline story.

StoryMap JS is a nice tool for creating mapped stories. On StoryMap JS you create slides that are matched to locations on your map. Each slide in your story can include images or videos along with text.

2. Tea Party I have no idea where this name came from as there is no tea served, but the idea is a fun one. Give every student a quote on a related topic. For example, during Fahrenheit 451 the quotes relate to conformity and nonconformity. When we read Lord of the Flies, the quotes are all about human nature. The students have to read their quote to as many classmates as they can in 5 minutes. Then we have a follow up conversation as a class about the quotes they found most interesting and powerful. Just the act of standing up and moving around makes this activity fun for students.

5. Crowdsource Instead of Lecturing It’s not fun for students to sit still, listen and take notes for a prolonged period of time. I’ve tried to replace some direct instruction with crowdsourcing. Instead of telling students about Shakespeare’s sonnets or life during the Great Depression, I allow them to work in groups with their devices to research information and share it with the class.

Storytime Every week I ask students to sit on the floor for a children’s story. At first they think I am crazy, but they love this routine. Regardless of the subject you teach, there are awesome picture books on a related topic. I’d make time to read to your students.

More than that, they need to experience failure. While I am a big fan of both project-based learning and blended learning, I believe the most critical piece of the pedagogical puzzle is what we ought to call “Problem-based learning.”

Give students problems to tackle–and make the problems real! Lord knows we have plenty of problems worth tackling that can be given to students. They cannot be intractable (how can we achieve peace in the Middle East?) or trivial and uninteresting (what color should classrooms be painted?).