Dear Anxious Teacher

The following teacher apps below are the best pieces of digital technology to add to your classroom. Supportive and helpful to teachers, these apps will offer benefits to grading, communicating with families/students, building communities, and managing behavior in your class. I will update this list as I review more and more apps to help you in the classroom.

Google Classroom: Rating: 9/10

This app and website offers a gradebook, integrates with Google Drive, and provides a one stop be-all and end-all of an online classroom with apps to help support your learners. Invite students into your class, setup a gradebook with percentages, create Google Slides (presentation software), and write with Google Docs. I recommend being “all in” on Google Apps like Docs, Sheets, and Slides because these services work collaboratively; however, one issue with the gradebook is that it doesn’t allow you to create a new quarter. You might need to remake another classroom and again mass invite all your students. Good news though, all your guardians or parent invites carryover from the previous classroom. This year I am currently running Google Classroom full time and away from my district’s grading platform.

ZipGrade: Rating: 8/10

Do you remember the days of scantrons? Well, it’s back in an app and website format. You can print out a scantron on their website with any numbers of questions you need. After students complete your test, you scan student papers with your phone and you will receive the grade. The app offers item analysis and will also save a digital copy of your students’ tests. You can create classes and add your students to the website. You can print personalized Scantron sheets. This is only a multiple choice assessment, so add quick responses or essays on an additional page. I create my tests or quizzes on Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Then, I print out the Scantron to use with the test. This app cost 7 dollars for the year and will save you a tremendous of time.

Class Dojo: Rating: 9.5/10

I teach 8th grade ELA, and this is a great app for classroom management. You can give points for positive behavior, take away points, create digital portfolios, contact parents, and communicate with your class in mass announcements. Apps like Bloomz, Teacher Kit, ClassCraft, Class Tag, and others lack the polish and simplicity. It’s beautiful, easy to use, and even has translation features for families. Despite the childish monster creatures, the app features outweigh the immature look. My middle school students still enjoy earning points for participation and effort points. Also, group creation, timers, focus music, and random student selector make this a must-have in the classroom. Check this out if you need help with behavior management.

Remind: Rating: 8/10

Great communication app to use with parents and students. I really appreciate the auto-translation features that exist within the app. Families can choose their preferred language. This app connects with Google Classroom, OneDrive, SurveyMonkey, and Smore. I use the app to alert families about homework and school events. You can even log into the app through the website and send out a text to your students without your phone. This lacks the other features of Class Dojo, but is a great and simple communication tool to use in the classroom.

One Calendar by Code Spark: Rating: 9/10

This is a fantastic calendar app that can connect multiple accounts from Apple iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, Mailbox, Google, and more. My work account is connected to this app and so is my personal calendar app. The app displays everything on one widget, allowing me to see my school events and personal events together. You can have this removed, but I like to have one calendar displaying the entire month with all my events added. The integration between Google and Microsoft with this app makes it worth it.

Turboscan: Rating: 7/10

Great app that can connect to your cloud services. You can email yourself, convert to PDF or JPG, print, fax, and have copy features. I use this app to upload short-stories, worksheets, and other materials to Google Classroom. Note: Google Drive offers a scan feature, so you may choose to stick with Drive, especially if you keep your lesson plans and materials in the cloud.

ChatGPT: Rating: 7/10

This app/website is great for creating rubrics and brainstorming ideas. I often use this app to create vocabulary sentences, write rubrics, adjust reading difficulty of passages, and brainstorm ideas. Copy and pasting are not perfect and often results in color problems with the text copied. Edit the text to be presentable to students. Font color and type need to be adjusted.