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TOP PICKS | 30 TOOLS
Lesson-Planning Apps and Websites
Top Picks
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Digital Planners
Common Curriculum
Sleek lesson planner replaces bulky binders, promotes collaboration
Bottom line: Ditch pen-and-paper planning; embrace the flexibility of collaborative lesson planning and calendar design.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Free for the Basic plan. $4.89-$6.99 per month for Pro plan. $7.50 per teacher per month (for 20 teachers - price per teacher goes down with more teachers) for Schools plan. $1,500 when purchasing for 3 or more schools for Site License. Free 30-day trial also available.
Planboard
Handy one-stop digital lesson planner saves time
Bottom line: Simplifies lesson planning with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid Free for individual teachers; lesson sharing is available with a Chalk.com Collaborate subscription for $60 per year.
Standards Planner
A step up from standard calendars but has room to grow
Bottom line: With proper maintanenance, good curation of relevant resources, and up-to-date classroom lessons, Standards Planner can give teachers and students a learning advantage.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Ogment
Get beyond binders with digital, remixable lesson-planning tool
Bottom line: If you invest some serious time in preloading your content, this is an exceptional tool for building and using your lesson plans.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try, Paid Licensed at the school or district level.
PlanbookEdu
Pretty basic online planner with a few teacher-friendly bonus features
Bottom line: Create and organize all your classes and then some on this glorified day planner, but it's not a whole lot better than the paper version.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free, Paid
Teachers.io
Organizational tool helps teachers plan, communicate with students
Bottom line: Scheduling solution for teachers is at its best when used alongside student homework app.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Creation Tools
Nearpod
Interactive slideshow tool engages students, promotes collaboration
Bottom line: This effective tool leverages the capabilities of 1-to-1 environments and offers both teacher- and student-paced learning.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid The Silver edition is free for up to 30 students, the Gold edition is $120 per teacher per year for up to 50 students, and the Platinum edition is $349 per year for up to 75 students. In-app purchases are available for additional content, and schools and districts can receive volume discounts.
Wizer
Digital worksheet builder lets students show learning in multiple ways
Bottom line: Students will appreciate this 21st-century take on worksheets, and teachers will love all the different options for creation and assessment.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid Wizer Lite is free for up to two classes. The premium version is $69 per year and includes additional features, such as unlimited classrooms, differentiation options, student insights, and Google Classroom integration.
Spiral
Provide instant feedback with collaborative, multimedia assessment tool
Bottom line: Engaging, easy-to-use tool that supports both formative and summative assessment while allowing for student collaboration.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Spiral Teacher is free and covers up to five classrooms. The Pro Teacher subscription is $39 per teacher per year and offers unlimited classrooms, student accounts for home use, and progress reports. The Pro School subscription is estimated at $3 per student and offers Pro Teacher features plus additional ones, including full integration with the school's LMS.
Edpuzzle
Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool
Bottom line: As a flipped classroom or student creation tool, there are lots of opportunities for use, but teachers will need to be creative if they want students to engage.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid The basic version is free. The Pro Teacher plan is in development but is slated to cost $6.50 per month. The Pro School plan starts at $55 per month (call for quote).
LessonUp
Flexible interactive presentation tool engages kids at school and home
Bottom line: LessonUp is for teachers who like designing unique lessons to reach every learner.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Free basic subscription and a free 30-day trial of the teacher license; contact for the annual subscription cost.
TES Teach with Blendspace
Create multimedia lessons with engaging but not-so-interactive style
Bottom line: Allows you to incorporate lots of multimedia resources, but be discerning with content and assessments to avoid lazy teaching or learning.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
ClassFlow
Robust lesson-creation, presentation tool offers built-in assessment
Bottom line: This powerful tool supports connected and blended learning from instruction to assessment, though it's best used to enhance already great instruction.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free
Online Resources
BetterLesson
Exemplary lessons, strategies, and coaching from master teachers
Bottom line: Take advantage of the offerings of this professional community to improve the quality of your classroom instruction.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free, Paid The site and its resources are free. Contact the developer for pricing for consultations with one of the more than 60 instructional coaches who provide individual, school, or district support.
PowerMyLearning Connect
Create playlists and differentiate with quality third-party content
Bottom line: A curation of some of the best educational content on the web made easily accessible, both for students and teachers.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free, Paid A basic edition for individual educators is free; annual prices for a school edition range from $2,900 to $4,900 per school, depending on enrollment.
ReadWriteThink
Excellent free resource for all things reading and writing
Bottom line: A language arts teacher's dream; lesson plans, professional development, and all-around quality support.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Tailor-ED
Create differentiated math lessons and assessments in minutes
Bottom line: Easy differentiation and unique insights that can improve math instruction.
Grades: K–8
Price: Free, Paid The free Teacher Basic plan limits teachers to four units while the $9 per month Teacher Premium plan allows for unlimited student grouping and unlimited units. The School Premium plan (contact for pricing) includes school-wide insights as well as PD workshops.
ACT Academy
Personalize and differentiate with expansive multimedia resource library
Bottom line: Whether it's skill-building, test prep, interactive lessons, or games you're after, this extensive site has it all in an easy-to-use platform.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid The site and most resources are free. A premium subscription ($9.95 per month) gives students access to widely used testing program questions and high-quality assessments.
LearnZillion
Quality Common Core-aligned lessons with great modeling for teachers
Bottom line: An innovative way to enhance lessons and tailor learning for individual needs.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
OER Commons
Free, easy access to a wealth of resources
Bottom line: Impressive resource opens access to quality materials for all educators.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
ReadWorks Digital
Research-based site makes it easy to assign, differentiate readings
Bottom line: An effective digital reinvention of the trusted ReadWorks platform that makes it simple to distribute and track high-quality reading assignments.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Gooru
Personalized tool fosters exploration, teacher-led meaningful learning
Bottom line: A great portal for supplementing classroom instruction; supports independent and personalized learning.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
Standards and Goals
Goalbook Toolkit
Set tailored targets with pricey but worth-it kit of tools, strategies
Bottom line: You pay for quality with Goalbook Toolkit, including access to clear, well-crafted learning goals and strategies that allow for far easier differentiation.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free to try, Paid 30-day free trial. There are three paid plans: $995 per year including district/administrator support, $395 per teacher per year with district/administrator support, or $795 per teacher per year with online PD and 1:1 coaching for teachers. The latter two plans require a minimum purchase of 10+ licenses.
Common Core Standards
Complete Common Core State Standards in convenient, searchable, free resource
Bottom line: Love 'em or hate 'em, this resource puts them at your fingertips.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Next Generation Science Standards
Free resource puts Next Generation Science Standards at your fingertips
Bottom line: Super-handy resource makes science standards easy to access anytime, anywhere.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Learning Management Systems
Kiddom
LMS offers tangible options to differentiate learning
Bottom line: An excellent option for monitoring individual progress toward goals, but teachers will need to be deliberate when selecting and assigning content.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Otus
Free LMS feels rich in offering data-driven differentiated instruction
Bottom line: This teacher-created site solves more problems than it causes, but it will take some up-front professional development to take full advantage.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid Otus is free for teachers and students and includes data management and progress monitoring features. The district plan ranges from $3 to $12 per student up to a certain number and then decreases with increased enrollment.
Google Classroom
Simplify communication, collaboration, and document sharing
Bottom line: Google Classroom is a great way to manage and organize learning, though teachers who need more features may need to look elsewhere.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
Schoology
Top-tier LMS for digital classrooms
Bottom line: To make the most of Schoology, you'll need some ramp-up time and great tasks and assessments, but it can offer rich learning and collaboration experiences.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free The Basic version is free to instructors. There's a paid Enterprise version that adds administration features attractive to districts. Call for pricing.
PowerSchool
Full-featured LMS great for instructional design
Bottom line: With planning for content and design, and some restraint, teachers can create and manage relevant pages ideal for extending and transferring learning.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid Teachers can obtain a free account with limited cloud-based storage. Upgraded paid accounts start at $4.95 per month and add more classes, storage, and users.
