Hey, tech gurus! It’s Tuesday, which means I’m ready to share another segment of “Tech It Up Tuesday”, a series devoted to sharing an edtech tool, app, site or other resource that can be utilized in the classroom setting.

This week’s feature, the Breaking News Generator, is a quick and simple yet effective interactive resource that will give students the opportunity to create their own version of a screenshot from a newscast in a fun and interactive way. And in just six user friendly steps to be exact.

All you have to do is let your group loose on the Classtools.net web site, access the Breaking News Generator and insert the text required on the template shown below:

Once the image is generated, users have the following options: Download the png file, snag the URL containing the finished product and/or tweet it out to social media.

Check out an example of how the super cool Breaking News Generator can be utilized in a history course to provide factual info about a person or event being studied in class.

Seeing is believing, right?

Classroom Connection:

If you really think about it, the Breaking News Generator can be integrated into the curriculum in a myriad of ways as any topic could be the subject of a newscast—World War II, genetics, a character from a novel in Language Arts or a math theorem to name a few. I know it’s cliche, but the possibilities for using this tool really are endless.

Besides requiring students to summarize and share knowledge about a particular theme, it’s an excellent way to incorporate a simple tech tool into a lesson or project.

And the best part? There’s more where this one came from! So, if you think the Breaking News Generator is a nifty application, then be sure to check out additional interactive resources on the Classtools.net web site.

A shout out to history teacher Russel Tarr for developing and sharing these way cool and very useful applications for educators!