Junior High School and Social Studies Department Apps

1. Assessment:

1.1. Zipgrade: Allows teachers to quickly grade any multiple choice assessment.  It is simple as using the camera on your mobile device to take a picture of the answer sheet and it is instantly graded.  It is a great resource and time saver for grading multiple students and classes.

1.2. Google Forms: On-line and digital testing/assessments.  Create assignments and use the google form app to allow students to access them on the web.  Google form will instantly grade their answers and quickly gives feedback for the students.

2. Organization, Collaboration, & Administration

2.1. Google Drive: Google drive as several uses. One of the best uses our district has found is to create a shared folder or on-line curriculum on the cloud. It proved to be an essential tool when working with several other professionals in our department and building. It allows many to people to work on one shared document which can be viewed anywhere the user has access to the internet.

2.2. Canvas: Classroom content page.  The app allows users to access their classes content and curriculum across many different devices as long as they have access to the cloud.  The website and app is the place to go for students to get access to the materials and content needed for their classes.  Teachers can easily manage the content with uploading and downloading features.

2.3. Google Keep: create notes and to-do lists: user can edit, share, and collaborate any notes as long as there is access to the cloud.  Very useful when managing time and a variety of tasks.

2.4. Google Docs: individual or many users can work, edit, and share the same document in real time.  It is on-line and can work anywhere that there is access to the cloud.  Great for managing multiple users and quickly communicating information between staff.

3. Communication:

3.1. Remind: This app allows teachers to quickly and easily communicate with a group of people.  You have up to 140 characters to send out information over upcoming events in the classroom.

3.2. Edmodo: It is a platform that allows teachers and students to send notes, links, files, and assessments to one another. This allows the classroom teacher to create a blended classroom where parents can also access the class and easily find information about content, due dates, and assessments

3.3. Class Dojo: Manage classroom-positive reward system and tracking student's attendance and behavior.  Instructors can share this report with teachers and parents.

4. Student Engagement and Integrating Technology:

4.1. Quizlet: This app and website allows the users to create study sets.  Very similar to traditional flashcards but much more interactive on-line.  Students can research, play games, and review classroom content on any subject.

4.2. Edpuzzle: is a useful interactive educational video website. Edpuzzle has compiled videos from several different websites: You-tube, Khan Acedemy, Crash-Course which you can edit and insert questions while the video is being watched by the student. This is a great way to get information across to the student and it immediately gives the teacher data and statistics about students strengths and weaknesses.

4.3. Thinglink: build and enhance on-line social studies content. Our department is constantly searching for tools to make historical content more interactive. Thinglink is a media platform that allows the user to create interactive pictures, videos, and secondary sources on the web.