I'd like to share with you 10 helpful websites for the secondary teacher when using laptops or utilizing a computer lab. My school district adopted the 1:1 laptop initiative four years ago, purchasing Apple MacBook Pros for all students in 6th - 12th grades. So while I am no expert on technology in the classroom, I have used all of these websites in class with my students. I know there are numerous sites out there just as good or maybe even better, but I wanted to share those which I have had success with my high school students.

2. Turn It In: We realized pretty quickly when we started going paperless for most writing assignments that our students were too tempted to take short cuts by copying and pasting even simple assignments such as journal entries, poems, literature responses, and essays. It took hours to grade assignments because I had to copy & paste their responses in to Google and free plagiarism checkers. We decided to subscribe this year to Turn It In and it has definitely cut back on the amount of copying. Just knowing the assignment will have to be submitted there first is a deterrent. (It also saves their writing samples, so any student who turns theirs in with similar content will be flagged--including a sibling years later.)
ALTERNATIVES: If your district cannot afford a subscription, there are some alternatives, though not as good. Try PaperRater or Grammarly. PaperRater won't check for authenticity, but it's not bad for catching errors. Grammarly will ask for a subscription for detailed results, but it will tell you if there is questionable text first. A good originality checker is Small SEO Tools; it's target audience may not be education, but it still serves the purpose.
3. Socrative: Socrative is a fast, fun way to engage students and check overall understanding. Plus, the kids love it. There's very little set-up (teachers have to create an account ahead of time then provide students with the url). I used this for review games (no need to type anything in, just read your questions and students type their answers in). I projected their answers so they could see how everyone else answered. It's a great listening activity because if they miss the question, their answer won't appear first; that was a key motivator for many of the boys in my classes. You can use this at the end of the class period to check understanding, though it's a site to use sparingly or the novelty will probably wear off.

5. Blogger: Writing is an activity that, when practiced often, builds not only better writers, but better thinkers. Writing for a blog can be difficult. Challenging. Even scary sometimes. So of course I want my students to try it! Setting up a class blog or individual blogs is very easy with Blogger. (Read more about our class blogs here.) I use it for journal entries and this year had my students post their short stories on their blog. Their classmates gave them anonymous feedback via Google Drive forms (only people logged in to our district can submit the form, so if you visit the site you'll see their stories, then a locked form). Slowly, their writing starts to improve as they realize they have a global audience.
6. Project Gutenberg: Over 42,000 free online books, including many classic literature pieces. If your class is reading Tom Sawyer or Jane Eyre, your students can download the free ebook on the site rather than use a paper copy. Here's the top 100 most popular downloads.
7. LibriVox: While Project Gutenberg provides the print copy, LibriVox provides the audio versions of books, stories, and poems. Your students can even record themselves reading literature to donate to the website. I have many students who love listening to the works we read (and many works--especially poems--are meant to be read aloud), so it's wonderful to direct them here so they can listen anytime. The recordings can be downloaded, too, so if they do not have internet access at home, they'll still have the recording. A search for Shakespeare turns up over 100 files, with some links leading to even more.

9. Google Drive (Formerly Google Docs): While I hate Google Docs as a word processor, it is a nice way for students to compile an online portfolio of their writing samples. I have my students type their essays using Mac's Pages, then they upload it to Turn It In to get feedback on grammar, usage, and whether they cited sources correctly. After they receive feedback, they revise their drafts and can resubmit to Turn It In. I also have them upload it to Google Drive. Because they all have Google Drive downloaded on their computers, it's a matter of dragging the file to their Google Drive folder. This way they have their final draft saved online in case they lose all their files on their computer. (This happens a lot because students use their desktop to save files, which doesn't sync with the server. If they didn't back it up on Google Drive or Turn It In, I usually have no sympathy for them. They've had their laptops for four years, so they should know better! ) Besides using it as an online portfolio, it is nice for students to use for collaborative assignments, creating forms and surveys like voting for Homecoming court and to poll their classmates on various issues. Here's a document that offers 37 ways to use Google Docs in the classroom; and 81 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom.
10. YouTube: YouTube is a site that I both love and hate. It is definitely one of the biggest time-sucks for many of our students. They will spend hours just watching stupid videos, then complain that they had no time to get their homework done. So while I would love for YouTube to just not exist, I also find that it can be rather resourceful for educational videos. I created several playlists that I will refer to for enrichment of a topic or piece of literature. Students can subscribe to my channel here, here, or here to find videos I WANT them to watch. Why do I have three channels? One is my school account, another is my personal account (but I use it mainly for educational purposes), and the third was my first YouTube account before Google took over and made me create a new account.
For additional tips and links, you can follow my 1:1 Education Technology board on Pinterest.
Not mentioned, but worth noting: having an online grading app is essential. Our district uses Skyward, which handles grades, attendance, lunch accounts, registration, and discipline records. When I create an assignment in my gradebook, I can securely upload a file they can download. (I never share on Google Docs or any other website because once you share, they are picked up by Google searches and become part of the internet where future students can easily find them.) I can also create online assignments, quizzes, and tests that are secure. The best part? It automatically grades and records them for me after students complete. Having a SECURE way to transfer assignments is definitely something a district needs to have in place before implementing a 1:1 initiative. Do not assume outside websites are secure--they aren't.
Let's Share! If you teach in a 1:1 school or are able to use a lab regularly, post your favorite websites to use in class below.
This is a great list! Many of the apps I have used, but there are a few I can't wait to try. Another one that I would add to the list is VocabularySpellingCity. You can use your own spelling and vocabulary lists in their games and even give your tests online. http://www.spellingcity.com/app
ReplyDeleteCara
Teaching...My Calling
I have heard of that and haven't tried it yet. Thanks so much for the tip, Cara! I'll be checking it out soon!
DeleteAwesome list. My district is 1:1 as well (K-8). I couldn't live without Penzu, which my students use for work on writing during Daily 5. Gooru is also my new favorite for research projects.:)
ReplyDeleteKristin
iTeach 1:1
Wow--I've never heard of Penzu but am definitely going to check it out! Thanks so much, Kristin!
DeleteI am interested in your reasons for not liking google drive. We are 1:1, high school only at this point. I use google drive all the time. They send me their journals responses, I share out worksheets, they work collaboratively on assignments. If there are downfalls to it, I'd like to know so I can decide if I want to keep using this or not.
ReplyDeleteMy newest find is glogster.edu Interactive online posters. Teacher creates an account and students link their accounts to it. Free- for up to 200 accounts under a teacher, but a fee for whole school. If whole school gets involved, students have one account and connect with each teacher. My kids are really enjoying it. They are doing character sketches at the moment, they can add pictures, music, video etc.
Can't wait to try the other sites mentioned!
Karen
Hi Karen! Thanks for posting. We have used Glogster before, but my students had problems with Safari and saving their projects. All that work and they were lost. Since Safari is their only option (because Chrome was disabled because of the chatting), it does limit them with some websites.
DeleteThe main reason I don't like Google Drive is because compared to Pages, it stinks as a word processor. Working with images, graphs, tables, even just page breaks. It doesn't upload their Keynotes, either. That is very frustrating. Also, I can't share my resources because almost all of them are copyrighted. Google changed their terms last year and once a file is shared with one person, it becomes searchable and is picked up by third-party websites and shared with the world (even if the document is secured). It's much easier for me to just attach the worksheet within our grading app, too, because I know it's secure. I think if it is working for you and you don't have to worry about the information you share being in the public domain, then it's probably fine.
Thanks for sharing, Karen!
I teach at a elementary 1:1 school - my second graders have MacBook Pros. Many of my students' favorite sites require membership fees, thankfully paid for by the district: Raz-Kids, SuccessMaker, IXL, BrainPopJr. and Tumblebooks. A few free websites that stick out in my mind are Sumdog, Scootpad, Storybird, and Screencast-o-matic.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and I'm so glad I found your blog. There are a scarcity of HS English teacher blogs out there, I have found. Our school is considering 1:1, so I especially found this post helpful.
ReplyDeleteJessica
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