If there’s one profession where people are consistently asked to do more with less, it’s teaching. And yet, teachers play a critical role in our society and in shaping our future. Between lesson planning, managing a classroom, and communicating with students, parents, and administrators, teachers have their hands full in unique ways that many don’t understand.

That’s why we are happy to try to make their lives easier with advice on the best apps for teachers. Fortunately, today’s technology offers a ton of options for streamlining their work. In fact, there are so many apps that it can be hard to narrow down the ones that are worth trying. That’s why we created this article: to help teachers understand the best educational apps for teaching that can save them time, effort, and energy.

The Benefits of Apps for Teachers

The best educational apps offer numerous benefits for teachers, enhancing both teaching effectiveness and classroom management. Here are some of the reasons teachers have come to rely on these tech tools:

• Enhanced Engagement - Interactive features in educational apps can captivate students' attention and make learning more enjoyable, leading to increased participation and motivation.
• Personalized Learning - Many apps allow teachers to tailor lessons to individual student needs, accommodating different learning styles and paces, which can help improve learning outcomes.
• Resource Accessibility - Educational apps provide access to a wide range of resources, including videos, articles, and quizzes, enabling teachers to enrich their curriculum and provide diverse materials.
• Efficient Assessment - Teachers can use apps to create quizzes and assessments that provide immediate feedback, making it easier to track student progress and identify areas needing improvement.
• Collaboration Opportunities - Many apps facilitate collaboration among students, allowing them to work together on projects and assignments, fostering teamwork and communication skills.
• Time Management - Educational apps can help teachers organize lesson plans, assignments, and grades, streamlining administrative tasks and allowing more time for instruction.
• Data Tracking and Analytics - Apps often provide analytics tools that help teachers monitor student performance over time, enabling data-driven decisions to enhance teaching strategies.
• Parental Involvement - Certain apps enable communication with parents, keeping them informed about their child's progress and encouraging their involvement in the learning process.

Overall, educational apps serve as valuable tools that can enhance the teaching and learning experience, making education more effective and accessible.

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Classroom Management Apps

Teachers have gotten by for years without this form of technology. However, now that it’s here, savvy educators and administrators are taking advantage of platforms that are suitable for their goals.

Teachers say that such apps help them to manage their time and save more of it. Technology allows them to deliver and assess learning, improve student behavior, and set timed tasks so that a classroom runs more efficiently. Users can also track engagement and participation and get a clearer picture of student comprehension.

Classroom management apps also help teachers to adjust to various learning styles. As we all know, no two students learn the same way or at the same pace. Educational apps for teaching can show you how to tweak your materials for different learning styles. It’s also a great way to stay up to date on news and events, and communicate facilitation with families. Here are some of our favorites.

1. ClassDojo - Research has shown that when teachers use positive reinforcement in the classroom, students focus on tasks up to 30% more. This app serves as a hallmark of positive reinforcement in the classroom. It allows teachers to engage students through instant feedback and rewards for good behavior while also facilitating communication with parents. By bridging the gap between home and school, ClassDojo fosters a community-focused environment that encourages student accountability and parental involvement.
2. Remind - Another invaluable tool, it reminds teachers to send quick updates and reminders to students and parents without disclosing personal contact information. This app streamlines communication, ensuring that important messages about assignments, events, or changes to schedules reach families promptly, thus minimizing confusion and promoting awareness. In an era when more parents are craving communications directly from the classroom, this helps teachers to keep everyone in the loop.
3. Google Classroom - Helps teachers by providing a comprehensive platform for managing assignments, grading submissions, and giving feedback. It simplifies the workflow for educators, allowing them to create a structured environment where students can access resources, submit work, and receive timely evaluations—all in one place. The use of this tool doubled during the pandemic and experts estimate there are currently about 6 million teachers utilizing Google Classroom.
4. MagicSchool - Called “a teacher’s best friend” by one reviewer, this popular app can create lesson plans, generate questions for passages, differentiate text, and even write letters of recommendation. Teachers say they use it for things like identifying accommodations for students, designing math problems, and summarizing YouTube videos. Use the tool to generate text outputs for everything from notes to parents to worksheets - it can even come up with fun gift ideas!

Lesson Planning and Content Creation

Most teachers have the goal of making learning fun. Apps can help them to do that without taking away from the purpose or culture of the classroom. Use them to foster engagement, personalize learning, and make lessons more interactive. There are so many tools available that the challenge isn’t finding an app to help; it’s finding the right one. Here are our suggestions.

1. Canva for Education - Has become a go-to resource for many. This app offers teachers an array of visually engaging templates for lesson materials, presentations, and classroom decor. Teachers say it has a user-friendly interface that allows them to  easily design eye-catching resources that engage students and enhance the learning experience.
2. Nearpod - Designed to elevate interactivity in the classroom, the platform allows teachers to develop lessons that include polls, quizzes, and even virtual reality experiences. This app transforms traditional lessons into interactive sessions that actively involve students, catering to different learning styles and keeping them invested in their education.
3. Kahoot! - Takes engagement even further through gamification. Studies have shown that games in the classroom can increase engagement, communication, and focus. With this app, teachers can create fun, interactive quizzes and games that not only boost student participation but also serve as effective tools for assessing understanding in real-time. This playful approach to learning encourages a competitive spirit and reinforces key concepts.
4. Planbook - This platform offers support in class scheduling, lesson development, teacher collaboration, administrator tasks, student views and more. Planbook also offers an extensive resource library and knowledge base with plenty of videos and other great content, and they have a dedicated support team that teachers can rely on.

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Collaboration and Communication Tools

As technology plays an ever-increasing role in our classrooms, teachers rely on various tools to keep administrators, students, caregivers, and other stakeholders in the loop. Generally, parents feel that being informed about their child’s education is empowering and important. Additionally, teachers continue to have reporting and other administrative tasks heaped on them, and collaboration tools can help them to cooperate with administrators and other people in the school system. Additionally, teachers can get updates on a student’s home situation and be proactive in addressing any potential setbacks. We really like these education apps for teachers.

1. Microsoft Teams and Google Meet - In a world where virtual learning has become increasingly prevalent, these platforms are essential for facilitating online classes, staff meetings, and one-on-one student check-ins. These robust video conferencing platforms provide educators with the tools to maintain connection and communication, ensuring that learning continues seamlessly regardless of location.
2. Slack - Enhances communication among staff members by offering dedicated channels for specific classes, projects, or discussions. This organized approach to messaging fosters collaboration among teachers, enabling them to share resources, strategies, and insights efficiently.
3. Padlet - A collaborative board tool, it encourages student participation in brainstorming and sharing ideas both in and outside the classroom. By allowing students to contribute their thoughts in a visual format, Padlet cultivates a sense of community and encourages active engagement in the learning process.
4. Klassly - Positive parent-teacher communication helps kids, families, and students (and research tells us that parents who communicate with teachers have a friendlier view of teachers). Offering messaging, video, multimedia attachments, calendars, videoconferencing, and more, there are lots of ways for caregivers and teachers to seamlessly communicate.
5. Living Tree - Home schooling increased dramatically following 2020, and more parents and educators are using home-based or hybrid models for education. This is a smart tool that helps parents stay in the loop and get notifications, schedules, messages, photos, and more. There are also RSVP and volunteer sign-up functions to make involvement seamless and simple.
6. TalkingPoints - The ability to operate a multilingual classroom is becoming more important. This messaging app enhances school-to-home communication across languages, and reviewers say that it really speeds up the process of getting information out to people in the ways they communicate best.

You may also want to explore this list of impactful communication tools, especially if you need to communicate with a geographically diverse population.

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Productivity and Organization Apps

Most teachers feel swamped. In such a busy and dynamic environment, having tools to streamline workflows, save time, and amplify effectiveness can prove invaluable. Productivity tools can serve as a catalyst for truly transformative practices that help teachers and students alike. We recommend the following tools.

1. Trello - To manage their many responsibilities, a lot of educators turn to this app. It helps them to organize lesson plans, track student progress, and manage classroom projects. Its intuitive boards and lists help teachers stay on top of their tasks and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. It can also be helpful when working with others, such as managing tasks for a special committee, holding people accountable and ensuring everyone understands their role.
2. Notion - Offers a customizable workspace where educators can create a central hub for lesson plans, notes, schedules, and resources. This all-in-one solution allows teachers to streamline their organizational efforts and access everything they need in one place, enhancing productivity and focus.
3. Shift - A powerful tool that integrates all educational apps, email accounts, and calendars into a single streamlined browser. By reducing distractions and centralizing resources, Shift helps teachers maintain focus and efficiency throughout their busy days. Teachers save a lot of time by skipping endless toggling between apps and logging in and out of various accounts. You can also aggregate notifications from all of your email, apps, social media, and more into one place and customize how you like to see them to limit disruptions.
4. Kami - This Chrome extension helps teachers to annotate various file types with comments, drawings, and even audio notes, offering massive time savings. This allows teachers to provide quicker and more robust feedback on assignments. Not only that, students can interact with the feedback they receive in the same formats. The app can also digitize things like worksheets, exams, and any other printed materials teachers would normally distribute to or collect from students.

The benefits of utilizing these apps extend far beyond simple task management; they enhance classroom management, streamline processes, and foster communication with students and parents. In short, they can make teaching easier and a lot more fun - not to mention more rewarding by encouraging engagement with students.

By exploring these tools, educators can discover what best fits their teaching style and classroom needs. You can also get more out of all of the tools you use by implementing Shift. Trying out Shift can significantly improve productivity and focus by keeping all of your essential apps and resources easily accessible in one place.

Embracing these technological advancements not only supports teachers but also enriches the learning experience for students, paving the way for a stronger educational journey and brighter future for all of us.

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