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Some great apps in here including Book Creator, Explain Everything and iMovie. Check out the full presentation for more.

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Introducing ClassDojo Groups!

A much-awaited and much-requested feature has today been released into the wild by the good people at ClassDojo. Many teachers use groups in their classrooms in one form or another, and it is now possible to group your students and award group points on ClassDojo! The timing of this feature’s release is perfect as it gives teachers a chance to check out how groups are created before starting another school year. Here in Ireland we still have plenty of summer holiday time left, thankfully, so it will be a few weeks before we need to set up our groups!

Follow this link to learn more about this excellent new feature. If you have any questions about ClassDojo, get in touch with me on Twitter.

The ClassDojo team are always working on new features and are always listening to their users. So if you have an idea for a feature you’d like to see, just drop them a line.

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There is a Digital Divide in the United States Infographic

“Here’s the challenge: While high-speed internet access is a given for millions of Americans, it remains out of reach for far too many. And as a result, they’re falling behind – from the educations they’re pursuing to the businesses they’re running.”

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Awesome map where you can dig down to your specific community to see how income affects connectivity.

Zoom into your town and see how everyone in your community is connected.

Click on title to go to map.

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Book Creator

Shadow Puppet Edu

Explain Everything 

Adobe Voice

Thinglink

Buncee for Edu 

Pages 

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What is Formative Assessment? -Gives teachers information to drive instruction -Provides ongoing feedback -Helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses

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Animaps is a free service built for the purpose of allowing users to create animated Google Maps. The basics of creating maps in Animaps is very similar the process for creating maps in Google Maps.

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1. Sharing Resources: Google Classroom allows you to take a document, video or link and push it out to your students. 2. Create a Lesson: More than simply assigning work to students, Google Classroom allows you to build an assignment. Include a description and attach multiple documents, links and videos. This puts the entire lesson in one place. 3. Make Class Announcements: Google Classroom gives you a place to post your announcements. Unlike a website with one way communication, students can comment back on the announcement. 4. Go Paperless: Using Google Docs you no longer need to collect and pass out paper. You can assign students a blank Google Doc or use a template that your students will fill out. Google Classroom creates a copy for each student and gives them a turn in button for when they are done. 5. Simplify the Turn In Process: When using Google Documents, notoriously students forget to change the sharing settings or to turn in their work. Google Classroom eliminates this issue by placing the document in the teacher and the students Google Drive immediately. Students simply need to “turn in” within Google Classroom to signal the teacher they are ready to have their work assessed. 6. Protect Privacy: Rather than creating a global folder shared with all of the students in the class, Google Classroom restricts access to the documents to the teacher and the individual student. 7. Reduce Cheating: Since the entire classes documents are not in a shared folder the temptation to copy another students work is eliminated. 8. Classroom Collaboration: When sharing a document the teacher is able to choose if the students can view the document or can edit it. Creating a document and giving all the students in the class editing access to that same document allows every student to contribute their piece to a class project. 9. Create a Discussion: A spreadsheet can be utilized to collect student opinions on a discussion topic. The ability to have multiple tabs allows for multiple discussion questions. Sharing a single Google spreadsheet with student editing access gets everyone on the same page quickly and gives every student a voice in the discussion. 10. Organize Assignments with Due Dates: In creating an assignment in Google Classroom you are able to assign a due date that is clear for both you and the students. 11. Capture the Middle of the Process: An important shift in the teacher student relationship is to get away from evaluator and focus on being a coach to your students. Google Classroom places all of the students work into a folder that is easily accessible from your Google Drive. While students are in the middle of working on their assignment you are able to go in and insert comments and guide them through the process. 12. Email Students: No longer do you need to create a group of student email addresses, Google Classroom allows you to email everyone at once. 13. Notify Students Who May Need Help: Google Classroom show you who has and has not completed an assignment. Send an email notification providing tips for success and encouraging the student to work on the assignment. 14. Assignment Q&A: When an assignment is posted to Google Classroom the students have the ability to comment on it. No longer do students have to wait to be called on to ask a question. This transcends the walls of the classroom to allow students to ask questions outside of class. When the teacher posts the response it is available to all of the students. 15. Create an Ad Hoc Playlist: Google Classroom allows you to attach multiple YouTube videos to an announcement or assignment. 16. Email Feedback: When returning work to students you can provide a global note to all the students or individually provide feedback. Google Classroom provides the ability to post a note to the assignment from the teacher, and allow the student to comment back. This replaces the one sided note in the margin of the students paper, providing a more dynamic experience. 17. Create Folders: What was once a cumbersome process in Google Drive is now done automatically. The teacher has a folder in Google Drive that contains a folder for each assignment. This makes locating student work a snap! 18. Link Directly: While Google Classroom places the student work into a folder for the teacher to find, a student list with a link to the students work is easily accessible directly from Google Classroom. This reduces the need of the teacher to dig through their Google Drive to find the work a student has completed. 19. Multiple Files in an Assignment: Google Classroom allows you to assign more than a single document. This means students can create a multi-stage project and submit all of their pieces in one place. 20. Easily View Student Submission: Google Classroom clearly counts how many students have and have not submitted an assignment.

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Socratic Smackdowm offers a fun approach to having students practice discussion strategies.

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Just as interactive white boards and iPads are changing how you interact with students, online applications enhance (and increase!) parent engagement in the classroom. Here are top apps and tech solutions that are trending in the classroom and helping get more parents involved: Skype: Skype for computer, smart phones and tablets lets parents join in classroom events like story time and special presentations without having to be physically present. Even military parents overseas and grandparents who live far away are taking advantage of the Skype platform to read to students and participate in celebrations. Creative teachers ask students to find the parent’s/grandparent’s location on a map and ask a few questions to learn about the local geography, landmarks and culture. >Skype can also be helpful as a way for working parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. Twitter: Whether it is class homework updates, project deadlines, school news or dinnertime conversation starters, teachers are taking advantage of Twitter’s free tool and keeping parents up to date and involved in classroom happenings. In a day-in-age where most parents have cell phones, Fast Follow by Twitter becomes a simple and reliable alert system. To use it, all you need to do is setup a Twitter account and ask parents (and older students) to text Twitter’s shortcode of 40404 with the message “follow [your Twitter username].” From there, parents will start receiving all of your updates via text message in real-time. VolunteerSpot: Get more parents involved in the classroom by streamlining how you ask for help and making it easier for parents to sign up to help. VolunteerSpot replaces paper signup sheets, reply-all email chains and backpack Pony Express. Simple online signups from smartphones, tablets or computers make it easy for class parents to choose a spot that fits their schedule or to send food or supplies for special events; auto reminders and calendar syncing help parents keep their commitments. Quickly organize parents to read to the class, help in the lunchroom or at recess, attend parent-teacher conferences, and help with class parties, field trips and performances. Pinterest: A virtual vision board for classroom inspiration, Pinterest offers a great way for teachers and parents to build community and share ideas. Invite class parents to create and share pinboards with links to age-appropriate themes and ideas including educational boards like fun math apps, favorite books, vocabulary games, and science fair ideas – student-centric boards like recess games, scholarships and prom fashions – and boards geared towards parents such as healthy snack and lunch ideas, afterschool sports resources, and class party ideas. Edublogs: A free, safe blogging platform for teachers, students and school communities, Edublogs lets you easily create and manage student and classroom blogs that keep parents up-to-date on class happenings and give students a safe portfolio for sharing their work with parents and extended family (via password-protected blogs). Post a few times a week adding videos, photos, links to volunteer signup sheets and educational resources – parents will enjoy your current content and feel more informed and connected to the classroom.

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Digital citizenship is not a one time discussion. It is an ongoing process that needs to be taught to all grade levels and to all stakeholders.

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-simple to use for middle and high school students -uncluttered interface -ability to manipulate ideas

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50 likes!

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Some sound advice from Kasey Bell

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edshelf Weekly - Tools to Make an Educator’s Work Easier

Looking for a good tool to make one of your classroom routines a little easier? Here are some tools recommended by teachers. They may not all be relevant, but hopefully there will be at least one gem here for you.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN SUPPORTER Permission Click - Digital permission slips, forms, and payment collection for K-12 schools (PTAs & daycares too!) Free to use! Easy setup.

NaturalReader Text to Speech - Convert any PDF file, MS Word document, and e-book to spoken words.

Backchannel Chat - Facilitate controlled online classroom discussions, often called “backchannels.”

Smithsonian Tween Tribune - Read daily news that has been curated for tweens and tagged by reading levels.

RawShorts - Create professional-looking presentations and videos that look like the ones on company websites.

Want more? Check out these shelves of tools created by educators on edshelf.

iPad Movie Creation - Curated by teacher and technology integrator Tom Mussoline.

CoolTools Workshops - Curated by consultant and educator Polly-Alida Farrington.

Enjoy these great tools for educators!

Want a fresh copy of the edshelf Weekly newsletter in your inbox too? Sign up with edshelf today!

- Mike Lee, Co-founder of edshelf