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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Favorite Tech Tools of 2017

As I reflect on 2017, I wanted to share the top 30 technology tools I've used, trained on, or recommended to teachers this year. 


  1. Answer Garden: quickly gather data in the form of a word cloud
  2. Canva: create images, posters, and presentations
  3. Classroom Screen: all your must-have tools are located in one place online
  4. Go Noodle: free brain breaks all in one spot
  5. Google Chrome and its extensions: log in to save all your bookmarks and preferences (click here to see a list of my favorite extensions)
  6. Google Custom Search: create a custom internet search with pre-approved websites
  7. Google Drive and all its components: I cannot say enough good things about Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Forms...the possibilities are endless!
  8. Google Earth Voyages: fantastic for virtual field trips or to just add a little extra "oomph" to your lesson
  9. Google Hangouts: Conduct meetings even when you're not in the same room! I love the "share my screen" feature, which allows me to let teachers see what my screen looks like as I walk them through a project
  10. Google Voice: gives you an extra phone number that connects to your existing mobile number. Great for making parent phone calls or texts without revealing your personal phone number. 
  11. Instant Classroom: upload your class roster and generate seating charts, groups, and more. 
  12. Kerem Erkan QR Code Generator: there is no shortage of QR code generators online, but this one is my favorite because you can create codes to plain text, maps, text messages, and more. 
  13. Online Stopwatch: counts up or down, includes fun animations (if you want to use them), and gives your students a visual as to how much time is left 
  14. Padlet: virtual corkboard that can be used for exit tickets, question parking lots, backchannel tool, and more. The addition of a column layout was HUGE this year
  15. Pic Collagecreate posters, collages, and other projects by layering images and text
  16. Plickers: a digital assessment tool that only requires one device (the teacher's!)
  17. Poll Everywhere: use the "clickable image" feature to assess very young students or those that struggle with reading 
  18. Popplet: create online brainstorm webs that include pictures, drawings, and text
  19. Quizizz: a fun game that provides practice for students and assessment data for teachers
  20. Reflector Teacher: mirror your mobile device on your computer screen, record movements on your mobile device, and all students to project as well
  21. Remind: communicate with a large group via text or email without revealing your personal information. I regularly recommend this just for the scheduling feature
  22. SafeShare.tv: crop YouTube videos while filtering ads and video recommendations
  23. Screencast-o-Matic: create videos of your computer screen
  24. Seesaw: ePortfolio tool geared toward young learners. The Activities feature has been a game-changer this year
  25. Shadow Puppet Edu: create slideshows with music or narration 
  26. Sign Up Genius: I used this when I taught Science Lab to gather volunteers for stations during Science Night. Since then, I've seen it used for potluck lunches, field trip volunteers, and mystery reading guest sign-ups. 
  27. Socrative: a digital assignment tool where any amount of planning will work
  28. Symbaloo: Out of all the ways to share links with students, this one is probably the easiest and most universal. 
  29. TweetDeck: schedule your tweets in advance and keep up with Twitter chats more easily
  30. Wifi Mouse: an iOS app that works over Wifi to connect to your computer and act as a mouse, letting you control your computer screen from anywhere in the room

Are there any tools you'd add to my list?