ABC teach is a tool that is very beneficial for teachers. I particularly like this technology because as a potentially new educator it gives plenty of tools I could use to teach my class. The majority of this website is available free of charge, there is a separate section available for a cheap membership fee, but I believe there is enough to get out of the website without becoming a member.
One tool that is useful is the section on flashcards.
For example I am going to show you what the math flashcards section has to offer
This section consists of printable flashcards that can be as simple as numbers to help children with counting.
Or can consist of things that may help children who are older or farther along in their education. Flashcards are available to help children with fractions, multiplication, economic vocabulary terms, and so much more.
These flashcards have illustrations on them so a child could count the number of lady bugs and it helps them what the number looks like in numeric symbols and how it is spelled.
Flashcards can be used for all sorts of things that are helpful to students who are learning something new. They help students use repetition to memorize.
Another tool that can be useful
Is the crossword puzzles tool.
There are tons of crosswords that a person can use. Crosswords are beneficial because they are a fun way to keep students interested in what they are learning. A student must know how to spell a word, or think creatively to find the appropriate word.
This is where you can edit settings and create a crossword that is more along the lines of what you want your students to achieve out of the lesson.
For example if my class was working on antonyms, then I would select the word list opposites.
Notice how then the word list would change to give a few basic examples of some antonyms. Next would be
Customize the settings by changing the colors to the background, the letters, and so on. The size of the crossword can be adjusted by changing the maximum width and/or height. The size of the boxes for the letters can be adjusted, as well as having the option to show the word bank.
This is the type of crossword that one can create from using ABCteach. It is simple and easy to use.
The crossword maker also makes an answer key. The best part about this technology is that a teacher can do all these things and make worksheets for their students free of charge.
Several other of my favorite tools on the abcteach website include
Word unscramble
sudoku
Missing letter worksheets
Circle the correct spelling worksheets. I went through and circled the correct spelling of each word just to give you an idea of what it would look like. I was going to only do one, but I was really enjoying doing it so I just kept going.
Youtube is a simple to use technology that is a video sharing website where users can upload and share videos. All one needs to do is go to the youtube website, by typing in www.youtube.com into your browser.
Youtube has all sorts of uses. You can find nearly any kind of video you are looking for, dirty inappropriate ones, or you can choose to use it to fit your educational purposes. For example I have typed into the search how to tie a shoe. Several results come up
The first result is a video that gives narration by a lady who is demoing how to tie a shoe.
Something as simple as tying a shoe can be demonstrated and watched over and over again for those who are just learning to tie their shoes.
The tying the shoe video was great and all, but youtube can help people with so much more then just the basics to everyday life. Math tutorials and several other videos are available if a person needs a review on how to complete something. I typed in “how to convert fractions to decimals”
The search returned 390 possible options of videos about converting fractions to decimals. Once you get your results you want to start looking at
How long the video is.
How people rated it out of 5 stars. if you look at how people rated it
Then you also want to take a look at how many views the video received. Because a video that has a 5 star rating and had over 40,000 views such as this one, will probably provide a lot of help. If you find a video that is rated 5 stars and only has 1 view, you may need to broaden your search.
Not only can a user access all of these videos on youtube, you can also add your own videos on youtube. If a person has a webcam on their computer they can record the video right off of it.