
This post originally appeared on the blog The Daring English Teacher.

Digital classrooms use online educational apps and websites to spark creativity and critical thinking.

Making the Switch to Digital
Google Classroom is a blended learning platform that is entirely free for educators. It is a great tool that allows teachers to deliver content-rich lessons to students, make announcements to the class, share Google calendars with students, and facilitate collaborative work through the various Google apps with the use of Google Drive. And since Google makes it easy for a user to switch from one account to the next, it is that much more convenient. In addition to Google Classroom, there are also other online digital platforms that school are adopting. Some other digital-based blended learning platforms include Haiku learning and Edmodo.
After you (or your district) decide which platform to use, it is time to create your content, build your digital class, and inspire your students.
Students prefer engaging, visually-stimulating, interactive educational materials that require them to collaborate with their peers and use an inquiry-based approach. Simply typing a lesson in Google Docs every day is not enough for students of the 21st century, nor does this take full advantage of what the digital world has to offer.

While most of my SMARTePlans are geared for secondary ELA classrooms, I do have one SMARTePlans lesson that can be used in any secondary classroom: SMARTePlans Back to School Digital Activities. This resource includes more than 10 different, engaging and interactive activities that secondary students can complete during the first week of school.
Current SMARTePlans Available for Purchase:
2016 Growing Bundle
Animal Farm Novel Introduction
Annotating Poetry
Descriptive Writing
Digital Argument Writing
End of the Semester Reflection Writing
Digital Informational Writing
Digital Poetry Interactive Notebook
Digital Research Paper Writing
Digital Socratic Seminar
AND MORE!
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The Daring English Teacher is a high school English and journalism teacher in Southern California. She has a passion for creating educational resources to help teacher help their students succeed. Anticipating teachers’ growing need for digital-based resources, The Daring English Teacher created SMARTePlans, a line of interactive, Google-based teaching resources for secondary English teachers. She has her Master of Education. You can read about how she uses technology in her classroom on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog.