The Tools

Free classroom tools for teachers

Always free. No ads. No catch.

First Year Guide
A complete, honest guide to your first year of teaching, from the first week through the last day. Written by teachers who remember it.
Planning Open
Seating Chart MakerBest on desktop
Map out your classroom with drag-and-drop desks, then print the chart or save it as an image for your sub folder.
Management Open
Student Name Game
Learn your students' names before they walk in the door. A surprisingly effective flashcard-style tool for any teacher.
Management Open
Comment Log
Track the comments you leave on student work over time. Spot patterns, stay consistent, and make sure no student falls through the cracks.
Assessment Open
Professional Growth Plan
Set goals, track your progress, and build a clear picture of where you're headed as a teacher. Simple, purposeful, yours.
Planning Open
Rubric Maker
Builds a printable rubric in about two minutes. Print it, download it, or copy it straight into your grading doc.
Assessment Open
Teacher Journal
Reflect on your practice, track what's working, and process the hard days. Private and always yours.
Wellbeing Open
Self-Observation Checklist
A structured way to observe your own teaching. Notice what's working, what to adjust, and where to grow, on your own terms.
Planning Open
Mentor Match
Find an experienced teacher willing to support someone at your exact stage, grade, and subject area.
Community Open
Group Maker
Get student groups in seconds. You can pick the number of groups or the group size, mark who is absent, and keep certain students together or apart.
Management Open
Reading Level Checker
Paste a passage or drop in a PDF to see what reading level it really sits at, plus a printable vocabulary list of the words most likely to lose your students.
Planning Open
Spin the Wheel
Call on students randomly, pick discussion topics, or make any classroom decision fair and fun. Add your own names or options.
Management Open

Common Questions

Questions about the tools

Yes. Every tool on The Faculty Lounge is free to use. There's no paid tier and no features hidden behind a subscription. We made this to help the next generation of great teachers.

Yes, you need an account to use these tools. Some of them (like the Teacher Journal, Comment Log, and Professional Growth Plan) are especially designed to help you save your ideas across multiple sessions. Creating an account is free and takes about two minutes.

Most new teachers find the Rubric Maker, Group Maker, and Seating Chart Maker immediately useful. They solve real problems in the first weeks of school. The Student Name Game is surprisingly effective for learning names fast, which makes a bigger difference than most new teachers expect. The Teacher Journal becomes valuable once you're a few months in and want to reflect on what's working.

Yes. New tools are added based on what teachers actually ask for. If there's something you want, post in the Forums or send a message through the contact page. Several of the existing tools came directly from teacher suggestions!