Thing 39: Productivity

Tool #1

In searching for productivity tools, I realized that before I get tools from EdShelf, I needed to register with EdShelf.  Alas... this is an amazing productivity tool itself!

I love EdShelf! Making my own shelf full of tools that I determine useful is such a convenient way to organize them and keep them in one place.  :D

This is what I would call a productive tool.

There is an "open directly" option that bypasses EdShelf but I need to figure that out.  For now, as a new user, even though we can shelve our favorite tools here, once selected, we need to launch the tool from the "Get this tool" icon.  Still, it beats having to type everything into the address bar or take up bookmark space.

I plan to share this with my students as we use a few different tools in our classroom.  This way, my students can have all of our tools in one place just like I do.  When I write up a lesson plan, it will be easier on me as well as I can have them go to their own EdShelf and select which tool I plan to use.

The best feature is that we can add websites or apps to shelves that aren't yet in the EdShelf directory. I was very happy to see this!

Tool #2

Once I got the hang of EdShelf, I dragged and dropped a few tools onto (into) my "For School" shelf  (not a very creative title, I know).  One of my tools is called Super Teacher Tools.  I selected it because it offers a few different games students can play.  Also, there are useful classroom tools, and it lists that digital tools are on the way.

Again, I mainly want to use the games Super Teacher Tools offers.  The games include Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Speed Matching (my favorite).  Like Kahoot, one can search a database of existing games by topic, or create new games.  I am all about existing games if I can find any as it saves me a lot of time.

The databases are not as extensive (or pretty) as other educational games I've found but there are enough for me to use it now and then.  It seems that there are more social studies games than English/Language Arts games, at least for the high school level. The downside to searching the database is the actual visual of the search page.  It reminds me of DOS.  😒   It doesn't look nice or inviting and actually makes me think one needs to be a tech specialist to use it.

The other tools in Super Teacher Tools are pretty groovy.  There is a group maker that will randomly assign students to groups.  One simply enters either how many groups or how many students per group are needed.  There is a random student selector and a seating chart creator as well.  

I will definitely use Super Teacher Tools with students and I may even create a game or two on this.  The Millionaire game is an excellent way to review.  Just like the game show on T.V. one wrong answer warrants a start-over.  Of course, this would shut some students down but I can think of other students who will go the distance to reach the top!