Teachers are always looking for new ways of scaffolding their lessons to help students and to meet Common Core requirements. Fortunately, there are technological tools that can make lesson planning much more efficient, taking some strain off educators.

Denise Skarbek, Melinda Carver and Keya Mukherjee outline “9 Free Apps For Common Core Scaffolding,” in a recent ESchoolNews article. In this article, scaffolding refers to an educator’s use of supplemental tools to help students reach the heights of their learning.

The first three apps highlighted are Common Core App, Apps for Common Core and Common Core ConceptBank. These apps are the foundation for exploring the Common Core in Mathematics, English and History. They also provide the standards associated with the previously mentioned subjects.

“Understanding the standards is only the first step,” according to the ESchoolNews article. “Teachers also need to determine how they will scaffold instruction. Various free apps are available for scaffolding instruction and responding to text.”

The next listing of apps provided are meant to be “graphic heavy apps that students will love.” The first app included is called Popplet. The app is designed to help students remember the importance of organizing textual information while building background knowledge for students. One of the features that will appeal to students is the ability to use a graphic organizer to organize terms and idea. Hands on tools tend to be a hit with students as it immerses them in the learning process.

The second app called Subtext is yet another English driven app. According to the article, the app is designed “To help students increase their understanding of non-fiction information, the app Subtext could be used.”

“For example, additional public domain texts (such as Project Gutenberg) are selected and pasted into the app. Portions of the text can be highlighted, linked to other sources, or used as a basis for online discussions.”

Along with Subtext and Popplet, Story Buddy 2 Lite, Evernote, WeChat and Smule Auto Rap were also mentioned as some of the “9 free apps for Common Core scaffolding.”

The final portion of the article contains a full breakdown of the apps, with the descriptions pulled from iTunes and how tos for teachers so they can effectively use the apps for Common Core scaffolding.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor