Tech Tools for DifferentiationPresenter: Wendy Scruggs, NBCT, Pinecrest High wscruggs@ncmcs.org

Practice with Google 1. Open your home school’s website.2. Under the Staff link, click Google Docs.

3.4. The first screen you’ll see is an gmail account. 5. Now we’ll go into other Google options. At the top

left side, click the little squares.

Click on this blue link that tells you how to access your county Google account.

Here

6. Go to sites by clicking the sites Icon.7. Now click the red button in the top left side Create

Name your site You can select a template or blank template Then you can select a style. When you finished customizing, then you

scroll back to the top and hit the red Create button.

Once you create it, go to the top right corner where you see Share in blue. Click that.

When you see this, if it’s a site you want students to post work on, then select specific people. You can add them in later. If it’s a parent site with no student names or work, then you can open to either anyone with the link or public on the web.

7. We will look at some ways to use google by looking at my class sites quickly.

**The key is that they will have to provide you with an email at the beginning of your course. I’d

also make sure that you have parents sign a permission form.

8. Now let’s explore my favorite: Google Docs. Click on Docs. Now you’ll see these notes in the All items

folder. Type a sample word document and upload by

clicking on the “upload” button on the top left underneath the words “Google docs.”

Now we’re going to look at one that I use with my classes.

If you look at the docs my students uploaded, you can see how we use this for peer-editing. It’s a great way to provide feedback your students can access from anywhere they have internet access. You can share the doc account and invite students to join by feeding in their emails.

I used this same technique to create discussion sites for our AP Language summer reading assignments.

This is also a great way to review with students. You can upload homework for kids that are absent, homework calendars, anything you want them to have access to for your course.

You can also create a chart, spreadsheet, whatever, and create a simple wiki by posting a question at the top of your form, then having students type in their answers onto the same form!! It’s a great way to do an interactive study guide or workshop for group projects.

Other Cool Stuff for Free

1. Voki. You can create an avatar by using www.voki.com. Try the Create your own voki.

2. Slideshare. www.slideshare.net You can create a free account and upload powerpoints into it so they can be embedded into your website or Edmodo. My kids love these. You can also upload pdfs and documents and make them interactive. It allows you to favorite, download, and search for items related to your content.

3. Padlet. www.padlet.com My student love this. We use it for all kinds of quick things on the smartboard with laptops and/or smartphones. It works with both.

4. Livebinders. www.livebinders.com can be used by you for resources and shared with your class/parents, have students create eportfolios, etc.

5. Animoto. www.animoto.com. It’s free if your clip is 30 seconds or less. Try to make one now by signing up (top right of page).

6. Glogster. www.glogster.com. Make a free one by clicking the try it now.

7. Toondo. www.toondoo.com allows you or your students to create their own cartoons to illustrate lessons you do in your classroom. Try it now for free.

8. Wordles. Create these as warm-ups, reviews, conversation starters, etc. www.wordle.net/create

9. www.textbooksfree.org . This site as tons of free books, reviews, lecture notes, etc. One I like is Academic Earth for video lectures from professors from all over the country. Select one of the topics on the left to preview something to use in your class. Try the www.hippocampus.org link for interactive lessons with algebra, biology, history, environmental science, and more.

I hope this helps you find lots of free and great resources for you and your students to use in the classroom!