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Use these tech tools to pull together great lessons and design amazing and memorable student projects. Teachers Pay Teachers: Have great lessons to share? Looking for something to add to your classes? On this site you can do both, selling your own class materials and buying high-quality resources from other teachers. Planboard: Make sure your lessons are organized and that your day runs smoothly with the help of this amazing online tool designed just for teachers. Timetoast: Timetoast is a pretty cool for student projects, allowing them to build sleek, interactive timelines in minutes. Capzles: There are so many different ways that Capzles can be used in the classroom, there’s bound to be an application that fits your needs. What does it do? Capzles makes it simple to gather media like photos, videos, documents, and even blog posts into one place, making it perfect for teaching, learning, or online projects. Prezi: Want to build presentations that will wow your students? Make use of this online tool that makes it simple to do all kinds of cool things with your lessons, even allowing collaboration between teachers. Wordle: Create stunning word clouds using Wordle, a great complement to language lessons of any kind. QR Codes: QR codes (or quick response codes) are showing up with greater frequency in education. If you’d like to get in on the trend, you’ll need a tool to create and manage the codes like Delivr and one to read codes, like any of those listed on this site. Quizlet: Quizlet makes it easy for teachers to create study tools for students, especially flashcards that can make memorizing important information a snap. MasteryConnect: How are your students performing with regard to state and common core standards? MasterConnect makes it simple to track and analyze both, as well as other elements of student performance. Google Docs: Through Google Docs, teachers can create and share documents, presentations, or spreadsheets with students and colleagues as well as give feedback on student-created projects. YouTube: Not all schools allow YouTube, but they are missing out as the site contains a wealth of great learning materials for the classroom. There’s even a special education-focused channel just for teachers and students. TED-Ed: TED isn’t just a great place to find inspiration anymore, the site also contains numerous videos that are organized by subject and can help you to teach everything from how pain relievers work to Shakespearean insults. Glogster:Glogster is a social site that lets users mash up music, photos, videos, and pretty much anything else you’d like. It’s a great way to create learning materials and a handy tool for creative student projects. Creaza: Want to bring your student projects into the 21st century? Creaza can make that possible, offering tools to brainstorm, create cartoons, and edit audio and video. Mentor Mob: On Mentor Mob, you or your students can create a learning playlist, which is essentially a collection of high-quality materials that can be used to study a specific concept.

Social Learning These tools use the power of social media to help students learn and teachers connect. Edmodo: Teachers and students can take advantage of this great tech tool, as it offers a Facebook-like environment where classes can connect online. Grockit: Get your students connected with each other in study sessions that take place on this great social site. EduBlogs: EduBlogs offers a safe and secure place to set up blogs for yourself or your classroom. Skype: Skype can be a great tool for keeping in touch with other educators or even attending meetings online. Even cooler, it can help teachers to connect with other classrooms, even those in other countries. Wikispaces: Share lessons, media, and other materials online with your students, or let them collaborate to build their own educational wiki on Wikispaces. Pinterest: You can pin just about any image you find interesting on this site, but many teachers are using it as a place to collect great lesson plans, projects, and inspirational materials. Schoology: Through this social site, teachers can manage lessons, engage students, share content, and connect with other educators. Quora: While Quora is used for a wide range of purposes, it can be a great tool for educators. It can be used to connect with other professionals or to engage students in discussion after class. Ning: Ning allows anyone to create a personalized social network, which can be great for both teachers and students alike. OpenStudy:Encourage your students to work together to learn class material by using a social study site like OpenStudy. ePals: One of the coolest benefits of the Web is being able to connect with anyone, anywhere. ePals does just that, but focuses on students, helping them to learn languages and understand cultures different from their own.

Embrace Discomfort

Before Meyer integrated learning technology with content, the school's technology focus was on the how-tos of learning a program or an app. Now, with the current approach to tech integration, students must call upon their critical thinking skills.

Apply the SAMR Model When Meyer Elementary first introduced technology, they focused on using it to teach technology separated from content, and on remediation for differentiation in the classrooms. Since then, they've adopted the SAMR model, created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura (PDF). Defined by Puentedura, the four levels are: Substitution: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change. Augmentation: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement. Modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign. Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.

Things Id Do Differently the Second Time Around I had a woeful initial understanding of the state of technology-readiness of my new students at Sri Padmavathi Womens University in Tirupati, India. I know now I should have spent at least the first couple of weeks in the computer lab going over the basics.

The projects created are excellent tools for formative and summative assessment. Yet more than that, through creation activities, students design products that make them active partners in constructing learning experiences in the classroom and beyond. In demonstrating their skills and knowledge, they become more confident in their own abilities and their own voices.

A webquest guides students to search the Internet for specific information. For example, students are asked to serve as curators of a museum on a particular topic. They must search the Internet to determine what artifacts belong in their museum and explain their choices. There are tons of already-constructed webquests out there, a perfect way to teachers to begin integrating Internet searches into their curriculum. Here's a good introduction to the process. Once you get really comfortable with the process, you may even want to create your own!

Take appropriate precautions for Internet safety, but a class blog or wiki can be a great way to integrate technology in the classroom and develop student knowledge. Some teachers use blogs to drive outside-of-class discussion – particularly helpful for AP/IB students who are motivated but short on class time. A wiki is a website that uses software which allows many different people to edit it (think Wikipedia). Have your students work together to create a wiki on a topic they are studying. They will need to correct each other’s work and collaborate in order to make it a success.

For younger students, have them write a “how-to” piece about using technology in the classroom. It’s a natural fit, as young people usually have a higher comfort level with technology than many adults. Tell kids to write a piece instructing someone – maybe a grandparent? – on how to send an email, set up an Ipod, or play a video game. For older kids, have them research the impact technology has had on a particular time in history or science or include a unit on science fiction and technology in your Language Arts curriculum.

Liven up a traditional lecture by using a PowerPoint presentation that incorporates photographs, diagrams, sound effects, music, or video clips. For high school teachers, consider having your students develop presentations as a review tool before semester exams. Their work may be so good that you will want to use it in future classes!

There are thousands of podcasts available on the Web. Search for ones that meet your students’ needs. Some colleges are offering professors’ lectures via podcast, which can be great for advanced students. In other cases, you may be able to find an interview with the author of a book your students are reading, or other supplemental material. Make arrangements to download it and play it for your students. For the really ambitious, have students create their own podcasts to document their progress through the year or discuss their ideas on a variety of issues pertaining to the course.

While some schools are mandating the shift to web-based gradebooks, you don’t have to wait to try one out. Sites like MyGradebook.com (http://www.mygradebook.com) offer the opportunity to track grades, record attendance and seating charts, and compile reports on student progress. You can also email students and parents directly to allow them to view their updated grades. Never worry again about bringing home your gradebook – you can access it from any computer.  

When you’ve taught the same material for awhile, you – and your students – may find it less-than-exciting. A quick Internet search may help you identify ways to supplement your lessons with interesting new material. Make a habit of searching before you begin each new unit. You may find photographs, sound clips, video clips, and more that can bring your lessons to life. Many museums now offer online “virtual tours” and teachers are constantly developing new presentations and webquests, which are posted online. Add these in to keep your lessons fresh.

When we were kids, some teachers had class penpals or had you practice your penmanship by writing a letter to an author. Try the 21st-century version of that by instituting an email exchange. Have your students exchange emails with students in another school, city, state, or country – especially valuable if both sets of students are studying the same material. Or arrange for a group of experts to accept emails from your students on a particular topic. Students who fail to see the “real world implications” of math or science may develop new interest if you can put them in touch with a video game designer, astronaut, or engineer who uses those skills every day. And for adults who might want to volunteer but feel pressed for time, email can be a great way to help out, since they can respond on their own schedule.