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S6: E114 Nine Tech Tools I Plan to Use This Year

Season 6
Episode 114
Nine Tech Tools I Plan to Use This Year



Online.  Hybrid.  In-person.  No matter what your teaching situation technology is bound to be a part of it.  I’ve put together a list of nine tech tools that I’ve either used successfully or am beginning to use that I think might be beneficial for you as well.  All of our situations are different and I hope that at least one tool will spark interest for you.








1 - Screencastify/Screencastomatic: https://www.screencastify.com/

Create videos of your screen or of yourself or both!  All you need is a computer or laptop.  Great way to teach content and to allow students to learn from you.

2 - Pear Deck: https://www.peardeck.com/

Formative assessment

Real-time interaction and responses

Works alongside Google Slides

Customize interactive prompts during presentations

Free Version includes: ready-to-teach templates, keeping students in-sync with locks and timers, help with controlling pact of class and project student answers anonymously, interactive questions, polls, quizzes, formative assessments and more


3 - Flat.io - music notation: https://flat.io/

Free version allows you to create 15 scores and allows you to try it out

Yearly cost currently is $49 or you can pay monthly for $6.99

Customize instruments, create scores, advanced notations, exporting, printing, all sorts of sizing

Check with your school technologist as this may be something they can open up for you on your school account!


4 - Hyperdocs: https://hyperdocs.co/

One of the science teachers at my school  - Cindy Barnes - uses Hyperdocs brilliantly.  I was able to see this done throughout our distance learning since my daughter had her last year.  I loved how the document had different sections and she could pre-plan content with links right inside of the document.  There was only one place my daughter had to go to do her work and it was all there.  I’m still figuring this one out and in fact, I have a session online about it tomorrow where I’ll learn more.  Here’s what I do understand:

Sections of a hyperion may include: Engage - Explore - Explain - Apply - Share - Reflect - Extend. These were the five sections that Cindy used.  Then she’d assign one or more parts of the hyperdoc each class after teaching content.  

There are templates available or you can create your own.  It works great with Google Drive.

There are free courses you can take online to help you navigate how to set it up and get going.


5 - Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/ 


6 - Soundtrap: https://www.soundtrap.com/


7 - WeVideo: https://www.wevideo.com/


8 - Chrome Music Lab: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/

My favorite is the song maker.


9 - Mural: https://www.mural.co/

I attended an online session a few weeks ago and found it really fun!  You can use templates or create your own.  It’s a great place for brainstorming, responding in groups, working online together, and even collaborating with other teachers.  And it’s free!  Students can respond to posted questions, evaluate musical terms, add virtual sticky notes with questions or thoughts about what they’re learning, insert pictures… so much potential.


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