Not Quite Free: Comic Life

Comic Life from Plasq lets you create comics, albums, how-to's, and much more. The application includes professional templates and special photo filters, as well as comic-style captions and titles. Check out their online project gallery to see what others have done and to encourage your own creativity. Plasq even offers a 30-day free trial.

Classroom ideas:

• Create step-by-step how-to's that students will actually pay attention to.


• Have your students use Comic Life to present the results of a science experiment complete with photographs of the results or to interpret a piece of classic literature (imagine Romeo & Juliet or The Great Gatsby set in modern times with your students as the actors).

For Mac or PC.

Free: iTunes

The iTunes Store offers more than just music, movies, and TV shows. There are thousands of free educational podcasts available for download from iTunes. Simply click "Podcasts" from the iTunes Store home page. Then click "Education." From here, find everything: Language (including ESL), Math, Grammar, Science, and public domain AudioBooks. Dig around! There's something for every class.

Classroom ideas:

• Use the grammar, math, or any podcast for that matter, as exam review for your students.


• Have English Language Learners use the many ESL/ELL podcasts to practice their language skills. Go one better and use an iPod for "anytime, anywhere" language acquisition.

For Mac or PC.

Free: Wufoo

Wufoo is an online HTML form builder to help you create forms, quizzes, surveys, and invitations. Without having to know HTML!

Classroom ideas:

• Create forms and surveys for exam review to ensure lesson mastery.


• Have students use Wufoo to plan school fundraisers, conduct class elections, and complete student surveys.

For Mac or PC.

Free: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

The NVLM, created by Utah State University, is an online Mathematics tool for Pre-K through 12th grade, broken by grade band and math discipline. It provides a wide variety of Java-based tools to teach mathematical precepts.

Classroom ideas:

• Use web-based manipulatives in addition to hands-on tools and classroom activities to improve concept mastery.


• Use the included standards-mapping to prepare lessons and as to individualize practice & review areas for standardized testing.

For Mac or PC.

Free: Apple Learning Interchange

Don't be fooled. ALI is for all teachers, not just those who use Apple products. This online community of educators was created to share ideas, offer support, and provide a clearing-house of technology-rich lesson plans.

Classroom ideas:

• You don't have to re-invent the wheel to use computers in your classroom; you can simply download and modify any of the lesson plans found online. Most lessons include samples of student work, and many include state or ISTE standards.

For Mac or PC.

Free: Grapher (Graphing Calculator)

Grapher is a 2D & 3D graphing application that comes pre-installed with Mac OS X. Use loaded demo formulas or your own formulas. 3D graphs can be rotated for viewing from any angle and to create QuickTime videos of your functions.

Classroom ideas:

• Create custom sample graphs in QuickTime for review and exam preparation.


• Use the ability to make minor adjustments to formulas to examine the results in 2D & 3D. It's a great way to visualize how small changes can result in big changes.

For Mac.

Free: Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is an online catalog of over 20,000 free public-domain ebooks, including classic literature students read every day. The website also includes an extensive listing of computer-read and human-read audio books.

Classroom ideas:

• Eliminate waste, reduce the weight of students' backpacks, AND save the rainforests by reading digital books instead of the paperbacks. Even better, download books to your Palm device or smart phone, where you can have dozens of books in the palm of your hand.


• Use the audio books for "read along" sessions to improve literacy for below-grade readers and ELL students.

For Mac or PC.