My Top 10 Free Web Resources for Teachers

Top 5 Apps for Administrators

I am not an administrator (yet) but in my past life I was a project engineer and I really wish I had some of these tools back then (ok, we had email). I do help the administration and work on many projects at school and these 5 apps have helped me. I do use a lot of other apps on a daily basis, but I think that these are the top 5 apps that administrators should learn and use, especially if they are new to Web 2.0 and Social Networking. 





1. Email - may be obvious but there are still administrators out there who don't use email, or don't use it effectively. Email is a great way to communicate with staff, faculty, students, and parents. Forget printing memos (and wasting money and paper) send an email. Set up email groups for different groups of staff members. Easy to use and everyone has email. 







2. Evernote - I'm a huge Evernote fan and user. Administrators can take notes, clip articles from the web for future use and reference, upload files to attach to notes and share notes with their staff. It's a great tool to stay organized. 







3. Twitter - Twitter is an excellent resource for administrators. They can use it to connect with other administrators and educators from around the world and share, learn, collaborate, and teach with them. They can also use it to communicate with their faculty and staff, students, parents. 







4.  Dropbox - Dropbox is a file sync and storage system that allows you to keep files in sync across multiple computers and backed up on their servers. There is a free account available and ways to increase your free storage. You can even select which directories and files to sync on which computers. Administrators could keep their files in sync between home and school, work on their files from any computer, and not have to worry about a computer failure and losing their files. They can also share files with their staff. 

5. Google Applications

•  Google Calendar - Administrators can stay organized by having appointments, due dates, meetings, school calendar days, and more all in Google Calendar. They can also create a school calendar and share it with students, parents and faculty. Everyone could just look at the calendar and see what is going on. The calendar can even be embedded in a site. 
• Blogger - Blogger is a great, free, easy tool that you use to create blogs. Administrators could use Blogger to create their own blog for reflections and learning, or set up school blogs with announcements, information, and other resources. Educators and Administrators should blog, as it not only allows you to share your experiences and knowledge with others, but you also learn while blogging. 
• Google Docs - Google Docs can be used by administrators as an alternative office suite, but also to use as a collaborative way to work with staff and faculty. It can be used to work collaboratively on a document, as a virtual meeting, to create surveys and questionnaires, and so much more. It can save time, money, and paper. 
• Google Sites - easily create web sites for your school or for different groups within the school for communication and information.
  

I also think that all administrators should have a smartphone or tablet. This way, they can be mobile and still have access to their data, information, and resources and be able to communicate more effectively and efficiently with staff, students, and parents. 




These apps are all easy to learn and use, free, and very powerful. This is a great place to start for administrators looking to go more digital and interactive.




Administrators - share your favorite apps with us.




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READ MORE - Top 5 Apps for Administrators to learn and use

LearnBoost is an online grade book and lesson planner that is available for free to educators. It has a grade book, lesson planner, attendance, reporting and calendar. It is easy to use, visually appealing, and you can share information with students and parents. The lesson planner is integrated with state standards and you integrate the whole system with Google Apps.


The grade book has easy inputs, real-time stats, grading scales and weighted assignments. 

The lesson planner makes it easy to create new lesson plans, align them with state standards and keep all your materials in one place. You can attach files and pictures, create assessments, and comment in the reflection section so you remember what you want to change for next time.

You can easily take attendance using a visual seating chart or list and quickly check student attendance history and records.

It allows you to easily create reports on classroom and student data so you can make decisions based on student data. 

Parents and students can have read access to view their progress.

The seating charts are visual and dynamic so you can try out different arrangements. 





You can also use it for scheduling and creating calendars and integrate it with Google Apps for Education. 


  


They also have a blog where they discuss education technology, ed reform, policy, strategies and best practices, product releases, technology and tips for using LearnBoost. 


This is a great tool for teachers to use and it's free! It is full featured and easy to use.

READ MORE - LearnBoost - free online grade book and lesson planner and more

Recently, Teach Paperless had a blog post asking readers to finish the statement, "If I were an administrator, I would...". 


I replied with "encourage teacher collaboration, support teachers in every way possible, encourage projects and team work, visit classrooms and talk to students, work WITH the faculty, parents and students to make the school the best it could be."


I wanted to expand on this idea and list what I would do if I were in charge of curriculum or educational technology for my district.


1. Implement Project Based Learning throughout the curriculum and in every grade. I would also want it to be interdisciplinary. 


2. Change the curriculum to be more in depth, and less breadth of topics (complaint of colleges). I would still have to make sure students are prepped for standardized testing (unfortunately), but I would look at better ways of having students learn and be able to do well on a test without resorting to teaching to the test.


3. Make sure the curriculum applies what students are learning to the real world. They won't remember a lot of facts and details, but if things apply to real life, it can make them better consumers and better citizens (by being knowledgeable). 


4. The curriculum should emphasize discovery, inquiry, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving, not remembering tons of facts. 


5. Ala Carte Professional Development for teachers - let them pick and decide what they need and want for training and support them throughout the year. 


6. Research, find, implement, and support new technologies that can improve teaching and learning. Find free (or cheaper) resources to replace paid or more expensive resources. (Ex. Google Apps for Education and Open Office instead of Microsoft).


7. Provide year-round support to teachers who are using and implementing technology resources. Make sure that they have both technical support and integration support. Ask teachers what they need or want for resources and help them find it. 


This is my short list of what I would want to do as an administrator. What would you do if you were in charge of curriculum or educational technology for your district? (and if you are in charge, what you do?)

READ MORE - If I were a curriculum or edtech administrator, I would...