Teaching Creation

Almanack AI is a good, helpful foundation for educational content creation but ultimately requires teacher expertise to ensure content is both engaging and educationally sound.

This is a great introduction to generative AI and an easy in for teachers curious to see what all the fuss is about.

Tools are designed specifically for teachers; site is unfancy but functional.

A developing tool for helping teachers to quickly generate resources in just about any format for their classes.

A robust resource for targeted, individualized instruction in most standardized subject areas.

Teacher-created “Spaces” are an exciting way for students to engage with classroom material, the rest is on par with other generative AI tools

A standout tool for helping teachers learn to use AI prompts to help make time-consuming tasks more efficient.

With a lot of teacher input, Curipod can be a fun tool to add to any classroom.

With some good scaffolding and class ground rules, it can be a slick, flexible tool for digital collaboration.

Both teachers and students can create impressive presentations, but it may not be worth the price -- or the effort to learn and incorporate yet another platform.

This could be a powerful replacement for traditional search engines, though teachers would benefit from discussing AI literacy skills first.

More than a novelty, ChatGPT offers educational value with time-saving tasks and personalized learning opportunities.

A decent AI tool for making lists, generating images, and creating text—but don't forget to check for errors.

A cool approach for creating AI-generated text for your classroom, but look elsewhere for a tool to create meaningful assessments.

The highly customizable interface gives writers detailed control over the AI output and overall experience.

Google's Gemini delivers as a personal assistant, but keep in mind the need to check all responses, even those that seem correct.

A thoughtfully planned, produced, and curated set of free resources bound to get kids hooked on learning to code.

These creative, beautifully made craft- and interest-based projects have the potential to bring students -- particularly girls -- into the world of coding and computers.

For students with some creativity and tech skills, this can offer a new spin on more traditional computer science tools.

Makes artificial intelligence and machine learning accessible to students of many ages and abilities.

This is a much-needed curriculum that helps students explore complex concepts through low-tech lessons and high-interest projects.

It takes a topic that would be difficult to teach in any practical way and makes it accessible for the classroom.

This is an effective and well-designed intro to the dangers of algorithms and how we have to approach them with care.

A fabulous resource for teaching about one of the most important fields in technology today.

Without a lot of support, these complex challenges require either a teacher knowledgeable about the topic or highly motivated students.

These trusted lessons, a great fit for middle school, empower students to approach media more intentionally, but teachers might need to adapt.

The AIM Buddy Project is an enjoyable, effective program for teaching SEL concepts and making elementary students feel more connected with each other.

Simple SEL integration with conversation starters and team building.

This tool opens up avenues for conversation and relationship building between teachers and students.

inspirED delivers exactly what it claims: empowering, easy-to-search content for social and emotional learning.

Flexible and collaborative lesson planning, calendar design, and classroom site creator save teachers precious time.

You pay for quality with Goalbook Toolkit, including access to clear, well-crafted learning goals and strategies that allow for far easier differentiation.

This rich database of literary resources is a must-bookmark for teachers looking to extend learning experiences with books and their authors.

Impressive resource opens access to quality materials for all educators.

This platform simplifies lesson planning with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Students will appreciate this 21st-century take on worksheets, and teachers will love all the different options for creation and assessment.

This is a top-quality creation tool that lets students of many ages and abilities publish their own digital books.

It's a great option for teachers who want to go paperless, provide specific feedback, and encourage collaboration among students in virtual or 1-to-1 classrooms.

This tool's dynamic presentations strike a nice balance between information and interaction.

A powerful multimedia learning and communication tool that demonstrates student progress over time.

It's designed with student learning in mind, and teachers can encourage students to submit quality content and engage in reflective feedback.

This smart tool helps teachers gather a variety of student response types and then offer targeted feedback.

More than a quiz tool: With Quizizz you can create interactive learning experiences, but you'll need a school subscription.

If your classroom relies a lot on Google Docs, this might just be the feedback tool you're looking for.

A neat tool for publishing online, possibly better suited to teacher content creation than student publishing.

Though it doesn't have it all, it's an incredible tool for managing and organizing learning.

Kami is an effective way to promote student interaction with texts, authentic documents, and pictures.

Educators will likely find that the wide variety of features Teams offers is worth the time it takes to learn how to use it.

An excellent tool that lets students make their notes thorough and useful in the way that best suits their learning styles and abilities.

With a Diigo educator account, teachers and students have a safe space to organize, customize, and share Web content while learning about a variety of subjects.

Easy-to-use tool for supporting communication and engagement with families in 150+ languages.

When used thoughtfully, ClassDojo can help adults support students' growth through goal-setting, reflection, and celebration.

This multifunctional platform provides many ways for districts, admins, teachers, families, and students to connect and offers a ton of features—perhaps even too many, for some.

Well-designed, highly effective messaging tool delivers on its promise to connect home and school.

Far-reaching communication tool helps teachers cultivate a connected classroom.

It runs great, works on all devices, and can be used to enhance interactive learning.

This tools offers a fun, simple, and safe way to hold real-time online discussions that might just increase engagement, interest, and even learning.

It's a pressure-free place to start looking for high-quality videos to supplement existing lessons in traditional, one-to-one, or flipped classroom models.

The teacher- or student-paced learning can improve 1-to-1 environments and the learning activities are top notch.

This is the most flexible screencasting tool, but it requires patience -- and perhaps a subscription -- to unlock all of its possibilities.

As a tool for the flipped classroom or for student-led creation, a cool tool for teachers to create and share engaging video content.

It’s an appealing platform that can improve formative assessment, particularly for teachers using Google Classroom.

With some creativity, this interactive platform can support instruction and assessment.

Take advantage of the offerings of this professional community to improve the quality of your classroom instruction.

Stay on top of the trends and take the fear out of media-making in the classroom.

Professional educators can watch, share, and learn in a continually updated environment.

A great resource to share and gather ideas on teaching with technology and media, but there are some bugs that need fixing.

Twitter offers something for everyone: information, resources, and an easy way to connect with just about anyone.

A thoughtfully-created collection of tools for teaching media literacy across the curriculum.

This is an expertly scaffolded and pedagogically sound resource for developing critical reading and writing skills.

The comics are impressive and the lessons provide useful conversation starters, but they'll likely need to be supplemented with additional material to be effective.

This platform features excellent videos students will enjoy discussing, but teachers will need to prep students to make quality contributions.

This is a site that offers both actionable resources and an active community for student voice and civic engagement.

For teachers looking to make civics relevant to students, there's nothing else out there as extensive or relevant.

This site offers smart, fun resources for exploring the layers of meaning in media and finding causes to fight for.

This text-rich app encourages students to conduct their own analysis of history, but the formats and graphics may prevent them from making a thorough analysis.

This is a great tool to kick off critical discussions about news and social media.

This is a powerful framework for building critical media literacy, but teachers might need to bring in some extra perspectives.

Platform can motivate students to share subject knowledge in a way that blends art and literacy.

This is an instructional tool that could reinvent classroom workflow, especially for classrooms in the Google ecosystem.

DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.

This tool opens up digital text and the web to analysis, annotation, and discussion, whether inside a classroom or with the world.

This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.

With a super-simple design and tons of flexible features, this is an appealing and intuitive way for teachers and students to organize and share class content.

With a growing set of unique features and multiplatform support, this is a neat way to reimagine how to present and share info -- for a price.

This beautiful and collaborative platform is useful for everything from workflow tasks to creative expression.

Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.

It's a great choice for students and teachers with needs beyond simple tweaking, cropping, and color correction, but requires significant self-directed learning.

Detailed social and emotional learning lessons provide teachers with almost everything they'll need to spark positive character development and reflection in their students.

A fantastic resource for teachers looking to integrate SEL into their classrooms and lessons.

Fun for students, easy for teachers, QuaverSEL uses the power of music to boost social and emotional learning.

A complete SEL solution with lessons, games, resources, and training that meet seemingly every need.

This detailed yet easy-to-implement curriculum can provide classrooms and schools with a common language for social skills.

Students and teachers develop proficiency in vital social and emotional learning skills through well-designed, interactive learning modules.

Interactive program with practice activities teaches SEL to young students.

If they can get through the confusing bits, students will be able to identify, label, and perhaps manage strong feelings of anger or frustration.

Excellent program for teaching young kids emotion identification, regulation, and social relationships.

Compact, flexible lessons can help teachers introduce students to valuable social and emotional strengths.

This site has a decent library of movement and mindfulness videos that give kids an energizing way to help themselves and some charities.

If teachers take advantage of the extension activities, students can get great in-depth instruction and practice in SEL skills needed for life.

This quick, easy way to consistently assess students' emotional health requires thoughtful implementation.

Teachers should use the extension activities in the lesson plans to take full advantage of the program.

Riveting role-playing game reinforces relationship skills, but plan carefully so that students can save their game.

Highly effective tool for whole-class instruction or one-on-one intervention.

No-stress introduction to 12 yoga poses and the importance of good breathing captures kids' attention and gets them moving.

In a genre of its own, GoNoodle is a ready-to-go, classroom-friendly exercise program that challenges students to get moving.

If you're looking for a captivating app to teach relaxation and calming skills to students, Calm is an essential tool to add to your toolbox.

This art and SEL combo invites all students to play, focus, and create.

Meditation lessons and visual timers act as decent supplemental activities for introducing SEL skills.

If you're someone who needs mindfulness-based approaches, Mind Yeti's characters could be the right fit.

This expert-guided SEL tool can help students -- and teachers -- build lifelong habits for relaxation, reflection, and focus.

Powerful therapeutic tool teaches positive coping skills and mental wellness.

This easy-to-follow meditation program can help reduce stress and support social and emotional learning.

Daniel Tiger and his friends present excellent examples for kids who are just learning healthy emotional expression.

Important info for all kids is especially helpful for at-risk students.

Must-have, free, comprehensive audio resource that promotes way more skills than sleep.

A powerful and focused social problem-solving game designed to reach kids who need direct instruction.

This trustworthy app could be a playful supplement to a mental health curriculum, but might be challenging to implement in classrooms.

This approachable and contemporary content can help teachers and caregivers field tough questions, but the firmly progressive approach could prevent use.

A valuable series of modules to get kids thinking about how their choices help build strong character.

An unusual app that will confuse and entertain classrooms, generating discussion on a number of societal and philosophical topics.

Appealing, thought-provoking tool builds emotional intelligence.

A practical tool to use in combination with discussion about emotional intelligence and character development.

If used delicately, this is a potentially eye-opening tool that can help teachers modify discussions.

A great starting point for conversations about students' strengths; skip some of the digital content.

Great for a quick bonding activity when led by a positive instructor.

With plenty of ways to express and document their thoughts and more, this app can help students learn something new about themselves.

This impressive tool uses normed digital assessments to create a specific learning profile and provide authentic tools for individual learners.

If developing a growth mindset is an important part of your teaching practice, this is a solid choice.

Students identify career values and use them to evaluate STEM options.

For educators who have the time, drive, and buy-in, this program is a great data-analysis and character-development tool.

Sift can supplement students' study of a few hot-button topics -- and open up a conversation about media balance -- but it's lacking some learner supports.

Robust collection of learning resources covers an impressive array of topics.

Bridges the gap between feeling or witnessing emotions and using words to describe them.

This could be a fun introduction to talking about a variety of emotions and how to recognize them in others.

Simple tool for a quick, daily check-in on students' emotions.

If your school or home can afford it, Better World Ed is a well-done interdisciplinary curriculum that will expand students' global view.

A well-intentioned, vetted source of mental health content for and by teens.

Wonderful and fun social-interaction game designed to teach cooperation and friendship skills needed for middle school and beyond.

A slow-paced SEL game for helping students understand the nuances of managing mental health.

This heartwarming game helps kids empathize with the highs and lows of romantic relationships.

This handy tool encourages collaboration and creativity, and it makes sharing assignments and giving feedback a snap.

This tool offers some perks over physical whiteboards, and while it has some room to improve, it's worth exploring now.

Impressive, unparalleled versatility makes this more of an instructional platform than a whiteboard, but it'll require a lot of up-front work to get comfortable.

A basic whiteboard with useful chat and video features for live sessions for small groups.

While many other whiteboard tools offer endless -- and often overwhelming -- options, this app is usefully refined and could be that "just right" experience for many.

With a paid subscription, a stellar suite of features that offer maximum flexibility without overwhelming users with too many options.

This basic collaborative whiteboard app is super simple to use for sharing ideas visually but doesn't offer anything extra.

Great collaborative tool for groups, whether remote or in person.

Mural facilitates lesson presentation and group project collaboration from anywhere by making idea sharing a simple, visual process.

A versatile, full-featured online brainstorming collaboration tool that can facilitate small-group projects.

Teachers and students can spice up presentations and demonstrate processes and problem-solving skills with this well-designed tool.

A stellar -- if somewhat pricey -- creation tool for the classroom.

A good tool for annotation and collaboration in the 1-to-1 or BYOD classroom.

A tool teachers and kids can use in every subject area.

Easy-to-use idea organizer can help with simple mind mapping.

Text 2 Mind Map can be used as a helpful organizational tool, but would be stronger with additional content and added security.

Students and teachers can use this tool alone or collaboratively to build and share stunning, effective visuals that stretch thinking.

Simplicity is the key with Coggle: Students can create elaborate mind maps and brainstorms in a matter of minutes, and the collaboration options are a nice bonus.

Inspiration Maps can help students learn to organize information, a skill they will find invaluable in school and in life.

Sophisticated productivity tool enhances learning and organization with simple dashboard and slick workspace.

This visually appealing, simple-to-use corkboard is most useful with Pro upgrade.

With its zoom in and out capabilities, Prezi helps teachers and students go beyond traditional presentations to put important content front and center.

This silly animal app is a fun way to teach kids about emotions and creativity.

Toto's Treehouse invites kids to play and explore -- just the way they learn best.

This cute little story could be a nice launching pad for big discussions about friendship, tolerance, and acceptance.

Wee You-Things may not be a book that kids revisit many times, but the message is powerful.

A compelling read for tweens and teens looking for guidance and understanding of common social situations.

Journey is a must-play experience and a shining beacon of the good that games can do.

A beautiful achievement developed in cooperation with indigenous folk that offers players valuable SEL skill building and a respectful window into Inupiat culture, ways of life, traditions, and stories.

A beautiful game that's sure to build students' empathy skills and provoke deep conversations about alcoholism and abuse as well as metaphor.

This unexpectedly thoughtful and emotional puzzler could offer valuable lessons about friendship and empathy to kids experiencing trouble socializing.

With good support, an extremely powerful game to build empathy.

Culturally rich and emotionally moving, with purposeful opportunities for interactivity.

It'll need some scaffolding, but for students ready for the subject matter it's a great -- if sobering -- way to illustrate to students the daily realities and struggles of poverty in America.

An absorbing experience that'll motivate students to piece together a family's story of survival during Nazi occupation.

It effectively connects students with the harrowing journey of a Syrian refugee, even though some of the interactive elements are underwhelming.

If you're searching for a unique way to analyze storytelling from a social and emotional angle, look no further.

The short length and powerful themes make this an effective way to help students consider the brutal effects of war on families.

It's a provocative simulation about ethics and immigration that could spark debate but might be tough to implement.

A useful, if a bit repetitive, game to help high school students plan for the future and gauge how their choices impact many areas of well-being.

A stark portrayal of civilian life in a war-torn city that requires strategic thinking and invites repeated plays.

Meaningful and humbling take on interconnectedness, but in that existential sort of way that's highly individual and potentially hit or miss.

This is an excellent, cross-curricular news source that'll keep kids current and build their thinking skills.

This tool defines engagement and offers a completely open-ended experience perfect for use across the educational spectrum.

It's an invaluable teacher tool to help reduce prejudice and encourage tolerance in schools, as well as within society as a whole.

A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art.

While pricey, Newsela has ascended into an all-in-one destination for leveled, non-fiction reading.

Versatile video-based curriculum inspires reflection and action.

This is a thoughtful, ready-to-go platform that facilitates authentic and safe cross-cultural collaboration.

This thoughtfully crafted, open-ended curation and creation tool has a place in most classrooms.

Unparalleled science documentaries offer a window into real-world scientific topics in a high-interest way.

This high-quality collection of museum resources -- ranging from artifacts to full-blown exhibits -- provides unlimited exploration for students, reliable primary sources for teachers.

Desmos combines interactivity, visualization, personalization, and collaboration to deepen students' understanding of geometry and graphing concepts.

A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.

Thorough digital literacy curriculum offers mix-and-match options to fit any classroom.

A valuable platform for students to learn about social and political issues while practicing digital citizenship and argumentation.

A stellar program for exploring foundational concepts in history, humanities, critical thinking, and science with tons of support for teachers.

An irresistibly fun way for ELLs to practice high-frequency English vocabulary, but as an app it's a bit rough around the edges.

Game-based platform can get kids interested in world geography and expose them to different cultures on a surface level.

These varied games are great for introducing the fundamentals and practicing but aren't sufficient as a complete curriculum.

Offers a valuable alternative perspective to the colonial history found in U.S. classrooms, through a familiar, Oregon Trail-style format.

This amusing puzzle game encourages creativity, perseverance, and systems thinking, and with creative integration it can build interest in math, science, history, and literature.

Text adventures can be a blast to play and make, but the Quest game-making tool, while offering some decent support, can be tough to use effectively without coding experience.

This is a high-quality, surprisingly fun way to see how the Bill of Rights relates to everyday situations.

A refreshingly modern way for students to explore how to filter and interpret info and media during breaking news events.

A fascinating way to address how communities become segregated due to individual bias.

This video-heavy platform is best used as a supplementary activity to get students to explore their interests and related vocations.

This one-stop shop is best used for helping teachers plan engineering lessons and getting students involved with the community.

A go-to site for teachers looking for well-presented project ideas; kids will need opportunities to share work locally.

Empowering tool encourages girls to explore engineering but is mostly static and best-suited for choosing courses and looking at colleges.

This is a fantastic, hands-on experience featuring practical advice and planning tips that'll satisfy many -- but not all -- students.

Incredibly inspirational and helpful framework for building a sustainable, fulfilling future.

Teachers and students willing to invest some time will find tons of resources in this one-stop shop for nearly all things career-, college-, and interest-related.

This site will build high school students' future planning skills, but the design falls a bit short of offering a truly compelling learning experience.

A simple PBL tool that promotes digital literacy and lets kids create flexible, accessible digital portfolios.

A useful tool for issuing digital badges.

For students who are unsure where to begin, this app helps jump-start the college and career application process.

While it offers resources for kids headed to college, it's hard to envision them actually wanting a LinkedIn profile.

This tool takes some mystery out of the financial aid process, and the ability to earn early may motivate financially strapped or otherwise reluctant students to dream bigger.

Guides high school students (and teachers and counselors who want to help them) who are unsure about how to navigate the search for the right college.

An approachable tool that empowers students to face the overwhelming task of financing their college educations.

Kid will gain confidence as they review practice tests, videos, and SAT advice.

A variety of question types and on-the-spot analytics help teachers individualize test-prep practice.

This highly useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary school classrooms.

This a pricey tool but it's packed with a school year's worth of content and handy accessibility features.

A fantastic resource that brings both historical and current event public radio stories into the classroom.

Provides an easy-to-use news resource, but only section front pages are accessible without a subscription.

As a truly unique resource that's worth using, teachers will need to create lessons that scaffold students' understanding of the complex issues found within.

An enticing free option for connecting current events to content through podcasts, but student engagement hinges on how you incorporate it.

This impressive program has ready-to-use and expert-vetted content that'll help advanced students engage meaningfully with foreign policy issues and processes.

Dive right in to world geography with a beautiful, interactive globe full of narratives and photos of different cultures and traditions.

Kids learn about the world through easy-to-use flashcards and exciting stacking games.

This is a clear go-to if you're looking to help students memorize state locations, shapes, capitals, history, and more.

An amazing experience that brings the world to life, despite the heavy investment in VR required.

Students can experience some of Egypt's most famous pyramids and tombs while learning more about the life of Ancient Egyptians.

Offers a delightful and accessible way for kids to learn about the world's cultures.

Kids get a sense of culture and global responsibility via kid-friendly articles and great multimedia.

These valuable materials empower students to understand and address difficult ethical choices -- past and present.

Teachers looking to enrich their curriculum with high-quality, thought-provoking videos and photos will find plenty of inspiration, but may need to create or fine-tune some lessons.

While there aren't ready-to-go curricular materials, this modern, well-curated, and well-contextualized digital collection is sure to inspire compelling lessons.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has put together an outstanding place for art, history, language, and literature.

This site can support meaningful, primary source-driven examination of some of the most important events in U.S. history, but educators will need to dig a little.

This site's materials have the potential to supplement, augment, or even replace favorite units of study, once teachers dig into and master what's offered.

IWitness allows students to reflect upon the past, looking toward today’s values and society. Students build knowledge about the past using a dynamic, specific tool.

Materials and activities support a thorough study of World War II, making this a valuable resource for both teachers and students.

These philosophy podcasts and videos offer entertaining introductions to key concepts and thinkers, but require some smart lesson planning for deeper learning.

This is a handy resource that, with some effort, will uncover resources for kick-starting curious learning.

NARA's website wasn't designed for kids, but they can definitely use it to research and learn about history, genealogy, and the U.S. population and government.

Go for the videos, stay for the lessons: Annenberg Classroom saves teachers' prep time when teaching the Constitution, current events, or other civics lessons.

This game-based curriculum would be an excellent addition to any secondary social studies.

Free downloadable resources encourage critical thinking and active learning in search of a more accurate picture of American history.

This is a strong resource for showing the power of journalism and research, and it'll engage most students; others will need teacher support.

This artful re-examination of the '92 LA riot can offer new insights and diverse perspectives, if students don't get too lost in the design.

Multimedia timelines connect events visually, creating pathways for deeper analysis of any chronological story.

An easy to use timeline tool for one-off projects, but for sustained use teachers will need to upgrade, and ultimately the features might not be robust enough.