Top Go-to Sites for Teaching from Anywhere in 20-21

It’s anything but “that time of year again” as the typical “What will my class be like?” questions teachers often ask themselves are being overshadowed by much more ominous and anxiety-inducing ones such as “Where and how will I be teaching this year?” The situation seems to change by the day, and schools and districts are scrambling to best prepare teachers for multiple scenarios. 

But what if the instructional options provided by your school or district fail to meet your specific needs? My advice: pick one or two “go-to” tools ASAP that are easy for you and your students to use both within the classroom and remotely to start off and quickly become familiar with then continue using consistently throughout the year no matter where teaching and learning end up taking place.

Here are my ‘go-to’ sites to ensure you and your students’ success from anywhere in 2020-21:

1. Boomwriter - You may already know I’m a big Boomwriter fan, and I continue to be even though they’re not free anymore. Regardless, Boomwriter’s tools (Assignments, Student Journals, Stories) let teachers easily create and share any kind of writing activity in any and all subjects. Your students will love writing on BoomWriter, and there are many features (peer-to-peer review, teacher-student chat, vocabulary tracking, etc.) that when coupled with the ability to provide personalized feedback from anywhere are sure to consistently engage your students and improve their writing all year long. Go to Boomwriter.com and start your free trial.
2. Buncee - Buncee is a fantastic learning tool and digital canvas that educators are using in a wide variety of ways (i.e. flipped classroom, project based learning, digital storytelling, etc.)  Educators are loving new features such as: Ideas Labs, Boards, and Immersive Reader.  Best of all, is the educational portal that allows teachers to create and manage students as well as a wide variety of educational resources/templates to help educators integrate Buncee into their curriculum.
3. I Know It - A fantastic site for interact Math practice for grades K-5.  Also, educators can assign lessons, assess students, and differentiate instruction.
4. Otus - A excellent all-in-one mobile learning solution for schools that combines the best features of a Learning Management System and Data Management System.
5. Socrates - A great new site where educators can asses students and differentiate instruction through a unique Game Based Learning system.
6. Storyboard That - Storyboard That is a widely popular website that teachers are using to integrate technology in their classroom.  This is a great learning tool that educators are using for project based learning, graphic organizers, digital storytelling, writing prompts, and much much more.  Also, there are lots of lesson plans, assignments, and templates, for teachers to choose from to help meet their needs.
7. TypeTastic - A excellent K-12 site for educators integrating keyboarding/typing into their curriculum.  Best of all are the wide variety of resources and ability to track students progress.