Post # 5: Free Technology

Post #5: Free Technology

I found several free technology resources that I plan to use in my classroom.

Plickers     https://help.plickers.com/hc/en-us

Plickers is a free tool that teachers can use to quickly assess their students.  I love this tool because students do not need to have their own devices. They just hold up a card that is oriented a certain way to show their answer.  The teacher will scan the classroom with her phone to instantly record student answers. Our school is not 1:1 with devices and it can be a challenge to reserve technology when I need it.  I am excited to use Plickers in my classroom.  It looks like an engaging way to assess my students and receive instant feedback.

Jeopardy Labs     JeopardyLabs - Online Jeopardy Template

My students love playing Jeopardy, but it is time-consuming to make the review games for them on PowerPoint.  Jeopardy Labs has an easy to use template that just takes a few minutes to fill in and does not require PowerPoint.  Even better, there are over 2 million saved templates that you can search and use.  I found some great pre-made templates for my students on fractions and the American Revolution. I’m looking forward to using this site for our next review game.

YouTube Teachers  https://www.youtube.com/user/teachers and YouTube Edu https://www.youtube.com/EDU

Both of these sites have a ton of educational videos to inspire students.  I love to begin lessons with videos to get my students interested in the topic.  I am looking forward to utilizing both sites to add more interesting video content to my lessons.

Pixton     https://www.pixton.com/

Pixton is a cartoon creation platform where students can create comic strips to represent their understanding of concepts. My students love using Make Beliefs Comix, but there are limited characters and layout options.  I noticed right away that Pixton will give my students a lot more options for characters, layouts, and backgrounds.  I look forward to showing students how to use this site for their next comic strip assignment.