Google apps, such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites, can be great for student collaboration, organization, and online work that can be accessible anywhere.
BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, has become a more common classroom approach to incorporating students' personal technology into the classroom, rather than fighting it. Cell phones can be used for research, a calculator, giving feedback in polls, apps, etc.
Google Hangout to promote discussion and debate with other classrooms or experts.
SMART Tech is being purchased by more and more schools and includes SMART Amp, SMART Notebook, SMART Board, and more, making education interactive and differentiated.
MindMeister is an application that lets users easily create mind maps for brainstorming, that can be edited collaboratively, and presented.
A webquest is a lesson format that 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 many already made webquests that teachers can use, or it is quite simple to make one specific to your assignment and expectations.
TedTalks or TedEd videos and blogs are great for either inspiration, critical thinking, or learning about a topic like coding or even grammar. You can create your own or watch lessons already uploaded.
The NY Times Learning Network has a ton of resources, including writing prompts, lesson plans for different content areas, a weekly news quiz, Teenagers in the Times, crosswords, On This Day in History, and more. There are also contests, like student editorials.
Evernote is an easy way to take notes on the go that updates automatically on all devices. It is a voice, text, and image-based note taking and organization app.
Subtext is an e-reader on steroids where you can embed instruction and scaffolding directly into the pages of most digital books. Within the app, you can layer web links, videos, assignments and quizzes – making it both straightforward and interactive to engage students, improve critical thinking & writing skills and assess student progress.
Padlet can be used to create a board with pictures, text, links, etc. Students can make an individual board or collaborate for assignments, such as book reviews, story maps, topic summaries, research on a topic, etc.
AirServer gives teachers freedom to move around the classroom with a portable device that transfers what is on the screen to the classroom board through the projector so that everyone can see. Students can also share what is on their device through AirServer and collaborate with the rest of the class.
With Khan Academy, students can use thousands of uploaded educational videos for tutoring, differentiation, or self-paced assignments. Although, it is primarily focused on math, more and more content areas are being added.
Blogs and Wikis are good tools to give students purpose and a space to publish their written work for the class, parents, or beyond to see. They can also be used for out-of-class discussions and collaboration with classmates. There are multiple programs that can be used for classroom blogs and wikis, such as blogspot, edublogs, wordfair, or wikispaces.
YouTube can be used for inspiration, to gain knowledge on a number of topics, and to engage students through teacher create or student created videos.
Elevate is an app that uses games and activities to “train your brain” in a personalized program improving skills on a daily basis.
Twitter can be used in the classroom in multiple ways for access, feedback, and engagement. Following education hashtags is a great way to start using Twitter.
PowToon is a free tool for creating animated videos and presentations for teachers and students. The Introduction video to this page was made using PowToon.
Prezi, PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Slideshare are all tools for creating a great presentation. Teachers can create presentations for instruction and lectures, while students can use them for individual and group presentations to the class to display knowledge on a topic.
Minecraft brings gaming into the classroom in a way that teaches reading, math, problem solving, and more, while keeping students engaged.
Makerspaces, also called hackerspaces and fablabs, are collaborative creative DIY spaces in schools for students to create whatever they imagine.
The Stock Market Experience is an example of a simulation game for students in Colorado to learn about economics in a real-life and competitive scenario. There are also simulations for marketing, business, medicine, and more.
EngageNY is a wonderful source full of Common Core aligned lessons, largely focused on math and language arts.
Code.org is a free tool that teaches students at all levels how to code in a fun, interactive, and an on-going way. Coding is a new type of literacy that our students need to be familiar with for future jobs.