Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 9/18/15

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Coggle – “Produce beautiful notes, quickly and easily. Share them with friends and colleagues to enhance your ideas collaboratively. All for free!” (L:G; SA:A)

Canva – “Design shouldn't be hard but somewhere along the way we became bogged down with expensive, complicated software that put design out of reach for most people. Canva is here to change that, with a tool that makes design simple for everyone. Canva gives you everything you need to easily turn ideas into stunning designs. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.” (L:G; SA:A)

Share to Classroom – Google extension; “Share web pages to your Google Classroom classes. Get your class on the same (web)page, instantly.  Google Classroom Teachers: Save time and create a more interactive class with the Share to Classroom extension.  The extension allows you to push webpages to your any of your Classroom classes, so they open instantly on your students' computers.  With this extension, you can get your students on the right page, quickly and reliably every time.  You can also post announcements, create assignments, or save webpages to post to Classroom later.  Students: The Share to Classroom extension gets you to webpages your teacher shares, without you having to type out the whole URL. You can also push web pages directly to your teacher.   Share to Classroom requires a Google Apps for Education account with Google Classroom.  For more information, see https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6272843.  By installing this item, you agree to the Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/.” (L:T; SA:A)

Seesaw – “Seesaw empowers students of any age to independently document what they are learning at school. Students capture learning with photos and videos of physical work, or by adding digital creations. Everything is uploaded and kept organized for teachers. Teachers can invite families to Seesaw so parents get an immediate, personalized window into their child's learning.” (L:G; SA:A)

Formative – free; “Frequent formal and informal checks for understanding guarantee student growth.” (L:T; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley