Great+Websites+and+Tools



1. http://www.prezi.com This is a great replacement for power point. What's more, the Prezi's created by your students don't have to be saved on a flash-drive which means, they can work on it at home or any computer without worrying about compatibility or software version issues.

2. http://www.wallwisher.com This is a great website that allows you to pose a question and have students respond on the wall. great way to start class, review material, or close a lesson.

3. http://www.polleverywhere.com This allows you to create a survey and have students respond in a variety of ways. Simple yes or no answers, multiple choice answers, or realtime text message answers with their cellphones. This is a great tool to open a lesson or close a lesson as students see their responses and classmates responses in "realtime".

4. http://www.shmoop.com This is a great study reference for students. Every possible topic is there for them to use and review. In addition it includes study guides for the ACT and SAT (at a reasonable cost). However, the main site is free. Probably a middle school or secondary website.

5. http://www.sketchup.google.com Allows students to create models and 3D renderings of just about anything. Excellent to enhance a project. An example of how this can be used "research the corn palace and then build it using google sketch". What's more google sketch will render the dimensions to an actual size or a small model version. Excellent math applications here.

6. http://www.earth.google.com Google earth is excellent for geography applications. See photos, satellite views, and 360 rotation for any location on the planet. Easy to use for any age group.

7. http://www.voicethread.com This is an excellent site that allows students to record their voice to slides in order to develop a project. You can create two voice threads for free and then the site cost money, however there is an educator discount. You can also search other voice threads made by other users. The teacher can create a voicethread and have students respond. This has been used extensively by other schools in the state and instructors have reported excellent results and feedback.

8. http://www.glogster.com Students can create interactive posters and share with classmates and the teacher. This site is incredible. Free for up to 50 students if you enroll using your K12 account.

9. http://www.tripline.com Allows students to plan a trip anywhere in the world and have that trip stored on tripline. Students can make an itinerary with their map and load pictures as well. Excellent for those "plan a trip" assignments. There are also other trips on tripline students can view "Mountain lion found from black hills in Connecticut" where the path of the Mountain Lion is traced.

10. http://keepvid.com

Ever get tired of using a video off the web and then the next year it's gone? Keep vid allows you to drag a url from a streaming site such as youtube and save it to your hard drive for future use. A great way to save videos in a simple and easy fashion.

11. http://betterlesson.com Search thousands of lesson plans and ideas from other teachers to use as a reference when planning your lessons. There are thousands of excellent lesson plans and ideas on this site as well as ideas for implementation. Best of all it's free.

12. http://ge.tt/

This allows you to share any file with any user you want. Great for sending large files as there is no restriction on size. Post files to your wiki, facebook page, or website with ease; or post directly to ge.tt for 90 days.

13. http://www.triptico.co.uk/ Explaining this would take to long. Simply put, it allows you to create and search interactive activities with students. It creates quizzes, "races", and other fun tools. Word Maps is incredible.

14. http://wifitti.com/ This is wallwisher on steroids! Allows you or students to create a wall with a question and students respond using there cellphones or computers. What's more, you can decorate the wall or students can design there own. Simple, fast, easy and interactive.

15. http://www.thatsnotcool.com This site addresses the negative issues and pressure the digital world has on students. This is for secondary students, but I recommend every teacher view this site and see the issues are kids face from their peers with technology. Rumors, harassment, picture issues, are all discussed here. There's also a forum where students can talk to other students about issues they face. A definite resource for students in the digital age.