My new favorite tool is the website “Super Teacher Tools!” at http://www.superteachertools.com/index.php.
The other day we were working in class … I needed to put students in groups in a hurry. I called out names, you know, these four I want you to work together, and so on. But at the end of doing so … several students were lost. “Who did you tell me to work with?” The time lost was minimal but even that small amount of chaos was unacceptable.
Enter … Super Teacher Tools! Simply type in your students’ names to make class lists. It took me less than 30 minutes to type in all 6 classes. Now I simply click a button and voila! The program sorts students in to random groups … and the posting can be on the screen. Everyone can see what group they are assigned to!
Besides that, the program has a random student generator. So if I am not using computer for displaying assignments or work, I can use it to select students randomly during class for maximum participation – a good alternative to the popsicle stick option!
There are game templates at the site also … I haven’t explored those yet. Hopefully there will be time this weekend to create a review game for our equations unit!
I am always looking for online tools to simplify my work. If you know of one … please share!
in stillness the dancing 
Thanks!! I just added my 3 classes, super easy and useful.
I have an app called “Random Student Generator” that stores your class information on your phone. I love it because it allows me to keep track of how often I call on students, how many questions they get right, and I can even check a box if a student is absent. I’ve used name generators in Notebook for my Smart Board, but I have to retype everything if a student is missing. It also allows you to create groups and e-mail them to yourself so you can keep track. I think it was $1.99 at the Google App Store, but I use it almost daily.
That sounds awesome! I’ll check it out. Thanks for sharing.
Class Dojo is an amazing class participation/random student generator/timer. It creates a monster for each student and you can reward or take away points for certain behaviors in the classroom. High School students love seeing their monsters. You can also keep the sound on so they hear a positive or negative sound go off. They start to act very good if they hear a negative sound because they don’t know who got points taken off for it. But, you can also randomly pick on a student or do a timer on the board if needed through the website. It is also an app so if you have a tablet you can walk around the room and monitor for class participation.