Free Technology For Teachers

Richard Byrne's blog is all about some "Free Technology For Teachers."
In his e-books section, there is a rockin' presentation called "The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators." He has some amazing ideas for using web tools in the elementary school classroom. I won't talk about them all, so definitely check out his blog and e-books to see the rest!!

"Wiggio (http://wiggio.com) Wiggio is a free online toolkit that makes it easy to work with and coordinate groups. It is simple to use and has an intuitive interface that makes it easy for students, parents, and teachers alike. Wiggio is a place to share and manage files, manage a group calendar, poll your group, post links, set up
conference calls (including voice, webcam, shared whiteboard space, and screen sharing),
chat online, send out mass text messages, and send voice or email messages to the entire group."

This would be great in my classroom to create class groups and update parents on upcoming events/concerts.

"Symbaloo EDU (http://edu.symbaloo.com) Sharing the web with students can be a challenge. Websites can often have urls that feel unending, students can copy down a url incorrectly, students type with different speeds, or characters show up in the address that they are unfamiliar with. Complicated urls can single-handedly persuade the elementary teacher to ditch a wonderful web resource for something easier to manage...like a worksheet. Sharing websites with your students doesn’t have to be a challenge."
Symbaloo can be used to create web mixes to share folders of related sites and resources making it easy to find, organize, and present information. It can also be used as an e-portfolio for students.

Two other sites similar to symbaloo are weblist (http://weblist.me) and (http://livebinders.com). Here you can pull together content on the web and create a list of urls centered on a theme.




"Answer Garden (http://answergarden.ch) Answer Garden can be used as an online answer collection tool or be embedded into a website, wiki, or blog. Students can post answers to questions by entering their own text answer or by clicking on, and submitting, existing answers. Answers are represented as a word cloud. Answer Garden is a fun way for students to brainstorm, plan, and work together.
What a cool way to get students to brainstorm!!! Adding a technology component makes it THAT much more fun!

"Kerpoof (http://kerpoof.com) Kerpoof is a necessity in any elementary classroom. This free online creativity center lets students create their own pictures, drawings, storybooks, movies, and practice spelling."
I could use this in my classroom instead of asking student to "draw" on paper what they hear when listening to music, they can use their creativity and "kerpoof."

This site has many educational videos and lessons... even music lessons!!!



This site I currently use. It has created ways for me to make a poster web page that is attached to my wikispace allowing students to see the latest music news. Students have created glogsters to display their work and I upload it to my wiki or email it to their parents.

"Storybird (http://storybird.com) Story bird is a fun collaborative storytelling website. Storybird makes it easy to create and tell stories digitally."
The final product can be printed, watched, or shared online promoting imagination and creativity.

"The Museum Box website provides a place for students to collect information and arguments in a virtual museum box of their own. They can collect items to provide a description or add to an
argument of a historical event, place, or time period. Students can add images, text, sounds, video, external links, etc. to each compartment of the box helping them form their own virtual museum."
This would be an awesome way to research composers in my classroom. Audio clips, pictures, dates, maps... limitless!!


"Creaza (http://creaza.com)is a suite of web-based creativity tools. There
are four tools in the Creaza toolbox that will help your students organize knowledge and tell stories in new creative ways."
The two tools I would be most likely to use are "Audio editor" and "Movie editor." Student can produce their own and splice them together to create their own composition, etc.


In this e-book found on Richard Byrne's blog, there are many other website resources for elementary school as well as some for middle and high school aged students. CHECK IT OUT!!!