10 Websites to Use This School Year

Websites to Use in the Classroom (Virtual or In-Person)

I want to highlight some of my favorite websites that bring 21st-century technology into an engaged classroom. These websites are a great way to bring the classroom inside the homes of your students, especially now that virtual learning is so common. Hope these help!

1. Weebly

I use Weebly for my classroom site and my personal website. It's easy to navigate and is a great platform for linking other technological tools. I use the button tools to link my semester schedule and run updates from a Google Doc. I use the pages to give my students access to the subject areas of class. Weebly also has a blog feature.

2. Smore

To me, Smore is a more visually pleasing presentation tool than PowerPoint. Users can pick a background to match the topic and select colors and fonts to go with it as well. After that, the layout is up to the designer.

There are embedding, calendar, audio, picture, and form features that flow in a logical manner as the viewer scrolls down. Smores can be printed out, too, and look more put together than a regular poster. A free subscription only allows you a limited number of Smores, but I got around that using multiple email addresses.

3. Padlet

Padlet can be used as a presentation or collaboration tool. Teachers can post a prompt or question while students respond simultaneously. Again, users have the opportunity to be creative with the ability to design their own background, title, and icon while posting pictures, videos, audio, or documents to the wall.

Padlet is great for before, during, and after reading discussion as well as encouraging peer feedback on a student project.

4. Piktochart

Piktochart is an easy-to-use infographic maker similar to Smore in that it can be used as a presentation tool, except it allows for the use of charts and graphs as well as a little more flexiblity in the design and layout. It's a great way to show reports, data, and statistics. I have even used it to make large anchor charts for my classroom.

5. Linoit

Linoit is a fun site that allows teachers and students to collaborate by sharing photos and sticky notes. It's great for discussions and brainstorming ideas.

I like to take advantage of the different colors by assigning different categories for each color. For example, after posting a text on the site, I have students use the green stickies to post whenever they have a question. The yellow ones are for whenever they run across a difficult vocabulary word, and finally, the red post-its are whenever they have a thought or idea. Students can be working on one Linoit at the same time as well.

6. Screencast-o-matic

I discovered Screencast-o-matic a few years ago and absolutely love it! It's perfect for my deaf and hard-of-hearing students. I have used this site in a number of ways. First, while I was out of the classroom one day I made a video and posted it on my website, so my students were still learning from me even though I was out.

Secondly, I recorded a video of myself teaching and showing them how to take interactive notes. This method allowed me to walk around the classroom and observe how they were doing.

Third, I have used it, so students can self-evaluate themselves on their manual and oral fluency as well as for me to go back and grade them. Lastly, students have used screencast to present and share projects. Use this site today!

7. Socrative

Socrative is an engaging site that is perfect for on-the-go assessment and comprehension quick check. As a teacher teaches, she can quickly throw up a discussion question or a short quiz to see if understanding is taking place.

Once all of the students answer, Socrative calculates the results and displays them on a graph. This website is great for a quiet discussion or game and for those students who are shy or nervous to participate aloud.

8. Slido

I was a bit fan of Today's Meet (see the picture below), but I just learned that Slido is very similar. This site is an online discussion board that gives everyone a voice. I have used this tool after listening to a podcast or reading a text.

Normally, I give the conversation a time limit and require that students comment a certain amount of times for full credit. In the beginning, I usually guide students with teacher-led questions before gradually releasing control and letting my students guide the conversation.

A note of caution: The discussion can veer off track and become inappropriate if teachers don't monitor carefully.

9. Pear Deck

I was relatively new to Pear Deck, but when online learning happened in the spring, I quickly discovered how much I liked this site. It is an interactive presentation tool in which students log in to join your presentation.

Students can only see what you have up and can't move ahead until you you move onto the next slide unless you turn on student-paced. After each slide, the presenter can post a discussion question or quick assessment for the class to answer. I have even seen a drawing feature! Take a look at the tutorial and have fun exploring!

10. Adobe Express

I love Adobe Express! While some of the ways to use this site are not very deaf and hard-of-hearing friendly, there are ways to adapt to make this site a great story sharing tool.

Students or teachers choose a theme, layout, and background music for the presentation and then design each slide with graphics, pictures, captions, or recorded audio. In the end, it plays like a mini movie, and students are completely engaged!

Happy School Year!

Hope you find a site you can use this school year! Vote below on your favorite.

More Resources for Teachers

• 5 Teaching Strategies to Engage Students Effectively
  Are you a teacher looking for proven strategies to get your students focussed on learning? Here I present five reliable teaching methods that you can easily integrate into your classroom.

Comments

Fero123 on November 16, 2018:

oh, I like this

kidiquno on December 20, 2017:

All these sites can really be useful, at least this year. But I just needed the one that's https://youtu.be/ju0PZY_XzM4 . Everything I could have needed I did or with his help or I could do without problems myself.