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What's a Thesaurus? - Education Development Center
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): dictionaries (60), thesaurus (24)
In the Classroom
Use as an introduction to the thesaurus when teaching dictionary skills. Click on a related, non-video lesson on "Finding New Ways to Say Something" for more ideas about how to teach thesaurus skills.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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LIFE photo archive - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): black history (56), images (278), local history (15), photography (157), world war 1 (55), world war 2 (142)
In the Classroom
Use the many images and caption of various events to bring the history alive. View Black History events and many other landmark events to life that simple passages in a textbook cannot. Use a specific image to share with the class and have them journal what they see in the picture, what they think is going on, and questions that they have about the image. Use their thoughts to begin discussion about the historical significance of the image. Use other images and research to develop a full understanding of the event. Students can parallel that event with other similar events through history and present their findings to the class. Virtually any recent (1860s through the present day) historical or news topic might be augmented by an accompanying photo on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Be sure to click to open the largest version of the image! Students might generate their own "collections" of related photographs to illustrate a topic or theme, or create a photo montage to capture a time period. Art teachers can also use these masterpieces in teaching design concepts and composition. Under Fair Use, your students can certainly use these photos in class projects, but our editors would not suggest copying and posting them on the web in blogs or wikis, since this could be seen as making unlimited copies. You can easily include them as linked images, however, to appear seamlessly on the blog or wiki page. What a great way to teach about giving proper credit as your students create annotated, thematic collections on a historical or literary topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Laundry Day - Cassandra Erkens
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): assessment (114), classroom management (159), differentiation (53)
In the Classroom
Laundry day allows your students to take ownership of their learning. It also allows the teacher to move around the classroom to assist students and monitor engagement. Post the activities on your learning management site, blog, wiki, or website for students to easily navigate the different "detergents." Provide the learning opportunities online to allow the students to navigate through the different levels. They can work alone, in pairs, or in groups to promote collaboration. Link videos and resources for the students to access to enrich or support the material. For best results, you will want to use this strategy over and over so students become conversant with the terms and strategies.Use laundry day as an activity to pre-assess your students as well. What detergent did they chose at the beginning of the unit? Students could write a blog post or send an email on the detergent they selected at the of the unit. Have students create blogs. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Loose Leaves, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration.
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Exobrain - Colin Dunn and Nick Gauthier
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): mind map (22)
In the Classroom
Use this resource to map out a poem, story, or novel students are reading. Use in managing (and even color-coding) information in any content area. Assess prior knowledge with a class brainstorm. Use as a plan for projects to show all information and all steps for its completion. This would also be a great tool for group projects for your students or even in YOUR grad classes! Teachers in lower grades can create whole class maps together. Share the maps on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Since you can only create three maps for free, you might want to compare with other mind-mapping tools reviewed at the TeachersFirst Edge.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest - DREAMQUESTONE.COM.
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creative writing (165), poetry (219)
In the Classroom
Help students overcome writer's block by exploring this site. Motivate your students with the many writing contests given (for a fee) or do them locally for free. The resources provide a direction for students and teachers to explore in the world of writing and poetry. Explore the many ways to encourage writing using the Internet resources. Use the free ebooks as printed material for your poetry study during poetry month or a unit on poetry. Examine the writing ebook given. Encourage groups to make their own ebook of writing tips. Challenge students to use a site such as Ourboox, reviewed here. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Good.is - GOOD Worldwide, LLC
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): enrichment (12), news (262), newspapers (96), politics (97), writing prompts (93)
In the Classroom
Good.is is perfect for enrichment, research, or a current events class. Include it on your class web page (if you are comfortable with the description: a community of people who give a d---) for students to access both in and out of class. Have students try out this site on individual computers, or as a learning center. For students who enjoy current events, Good.is is a terrific source of up-to-the-minute positive stories from across the web. There is advertising, but it is not too intrusive. Use this site as one of several current event options when asking students to find real world connections to curriculum topics. You can always send students directly to the full articles on their original sites to avoid displaying the Good.is frame at the top. Use articles as writing prompts for blog posts or practice writing informational texts or persuasive writing.Comments
Great reading resource on current events!Ladisha, VA, Grades: 0 - 12
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Quick Picture Tools - QuickPictureTools.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for easy image editing for you and your students for any classroom projects. No registration is required, and images are saved directly to your computer for immediate use. Make simple reminder posters or classroom signs using the text emboss tool. Invite students to create image/text combinations for bulletin boards, such as types of leaves or insects. Make introductions of students as a first day of school activity using digital pictures and the text tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Tv411 - Writing - Education Development Center, Inc.
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): creative writing (165), descriptive writing (41), grammar (212), grammar review (42), letter writing (19), poetry (219), writing (365)
In the Classroom
View videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this site as part of any writing unit or on an as-needed basis to address classroom deficiencies in particular areas. Have students complete the web lessons on their own during computer center time. Create links to particular videos on your class website or blog for students to view at home. Check out the Teachers portion of the site to find activities for specific skills along with ideas for using the videos in the classroom. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to provide suggestions on improving specific writing skills such as run-on sentences, proper use of commas, etc. Use a site such as Blabberize (reviewed here). Share the "blabs" as peer help on your class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pictolang - Michael R. Shaughnessy
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): arabic (20), chinese (50), cross cultural understanding (123), french (91), german (66), images (278), italian (36), japanese (45), maps (298), spanish (111)
In the Classroom
Use Pictolang to help students learn and review languages on their own. This is a perfect site for ESL/ELL students, world cultures class, and world language studies. Display the Analyst Game on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and play together as a class or as a small group center. Discuss images featured and why they represent different cultures. Allow ESL/ELL students to explore the site using the ESL (North America) option to match images to the English word. This is a great link to add to your class website for world language (or ESL/ELL) students to use for additional practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Groups in Action - Video Vignettes for Triggering Discussion - Problem Based Learning at University of Delaware
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): problem solving (294), social skills (21)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource when beginning group projects. Most videos are under 3 minutes (even around one minute). It would be feasible to show nearly all videos prior to starting group projects. Show videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to display suggested approaches to problems within groups. Use throughout projects as needed to address specific problems that have arisen with groups in your classroom. Make the link available for students to access as needed when frustrations crop up. Counselors and support teachers may also want to use these videos to help students improve interpersonal "smarts" for group work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Persuasion Across Time and Space Lesson Plan - Stanford University Graduate School of Education
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): advertising (33), civil rights (119), gettysburg address (18), martin luther king (36), persuasive writing (57), speeches (19)
In the Classroom
Print and use lessons (or portions of lessons) in your classroom. Although geared toward middle school ESL/ELL students, these materials can be adapted and used for any middle and high school students. Challenge your students to write their own persuasive writing pieces. Use this site to teach about historical events in America's past (Gettysburg Address, civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr, and more).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Logic and Values: Critical Thinking - TechNyou
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (120), debate (46), logic (248), persuasive writing (57), thinking skills (16)
In the Classroom
Use the Critical Thinking videos as a stand alone, or use them in conjunction with other units. When teaching debate or persuasive writing this will be an invaluable resource. You might also consider using "Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies" reviewed here. Share critical thinking strategies with students, and have the students create lists of how and when these strategies are used in the classroom. Create a bulletin board with critical thinking strategies for your classroom. Use the lessons included on the site as a resource for lessons in your classroom. Bookmark this site and save it in your favorites as a professional resource. Share suggested activities and resources with other staff members. If your school blocks YouTube, use one of these two programs to download videos at home and bring to school on a mini USB drive: KeepVid reviewed here or HD Downloader reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Visualead - Quick & Easy Visual QR Code Generator - Nevo Alva, Uriel Peled, and Itamar
Grades
K to 12A tip: when creating your QR Code, you will see a link to "generate your image" on the last step. It will give you the options of "try again" or "next." Choose "next" to go to the final step. "Try again doesn't mean that your image wasn't created, it just gives you the option for personalizing the code differently before completing the process.
tag(s): qr codes (22)
In the Classroom
Create a QR code that directs to your class site or blog and include it on handouts for Back to School night. Create a QR code scavenger hunt for students, making a webquest more engaging. Add QR codes to documents for students to check their answers to questions. Expand knowledge of a topic by adding a QR code to a site that expands upon what is in the textbook. Create a data chart accessible via a QR code. Students access the data and manipulate the information. Have students create a book trailer or review and affix a QR code to the outside of the book. Students may be more apt to read a book that has been reviewed by another student. Make a display completely interactive with a QR code that describes the assignment, the process, the research, student's reactions and more! Add extra help information to any assignment that asks students to solve problems. Create an online help tutorial accessible via a QR code, and place the code beside a similar problem. Link directly to a Google Map. Place QR code contact information for you and your school on contact cards to give to parents. Attach QR codes to physical objects around the room to provide information about the object. Place the links in a newsletter using QR codes instead of a series of words that need to be typed. Be sure to search TeachersFirst resources for many other great ways to use QR codes in the classroom!Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
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OuiWrite - Peyton Fouts
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): citations (37), expository writing (43), persuasive writing (57), plagiarism (37)
In the Classroom
As teachers, we need to be aware that such a tool exists, since savvy students may compile a "paper" without a logical thought pattern simply by clicking to include suggestions from OuiWrite. The best strategy for such a tool is to show students how to use it well. Take the drudgery out of writing formal papers by emphasizing thinking over mechanics. Whether teaching beginning research or seniors in high school, introduce them to OuiWrite. For younger students, seeing all the formatting and citing done correctly, from the beginning, makes sense whether it is the body of the writing or the bibliography. With either age group, give lessons about each part of a paper or letter. Demonstrate on an interactive whiteboard and think out loud as a group to pull together ideas, sources, quotes, and more to support an argument and build a paper. You can use it, too, when you write for your graduate program. Since you can choose from MLA, APA, or Chicago Style, you do not have to worry about memorizing punctuation and double checking the format. OuiWrite will do that for you and take the stress out of formal writing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Learn English Teens - British Council
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): creative writing (165), grammar (212), test prep (98), video (278), vocabulary development (124)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site to your class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and have your ELL/ESL students use it as one of your learning stations. Short stories and other interactive features of the site would work well with weaker readers and learning support students, too. Encourage your ESL/ELL students to share their writings on Learn English Teens (if allowed by school policy).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sound Around You - University of Salford
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (123), listening (87), maps (298), senses (31), sound (105), sounds (69)
In the Classroom
Those who teach geography and world cultures will like this! Use this resource to get your students thinking about the sounds around them. Include it when studying sound or the human ear in science class. Connect with other subjects by envisioning smells that would be there or craft a story inspired by the sounds heard at a specific location. Play sounds for your younger students and ask what they hear. Create sound stories together -- or as a creative project --by playing a series of sounds to tell the tale! Use your imagination to add this resource to other location projects used throughout the year. World language teachers could assign students to create a sound and word story about a cultural location. Use these sounds as background and add the dialog!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Poem Hunter - PoemHunter.com
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): authors (120), literature (272), poetry (219), quotations (25)
In the Classroom
Bookmark PoemHunter to use as a resource for finding poetry or quotations for classroom use. Share with students to find poems based on personal interest or specific topics. Use as a model when students create their own poems. Challenge students to create their own poems to be shared on a class poetry wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Creating Infographics: A Screencast Tutorial - School Library Journal Linda Braun
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): infographics (51), video (278)
In the Classroom
Introduce your students to infographics and this video in class. Share this (approximately 14 minute) video on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then, post this video on your website for students to watch whenever they need help while creating an infographic. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand content and connect it with the real world. See a full TeachersFirst article about using infographics as a scaffold and formative assessment here. Have students create an infographic about the impact of slavery on an economy or to explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Use one of the tools described in the video, Visual.ly, reviewed here, Easel.ly, reviewed here, or Infogr.am, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shake Sphere - Michael J. Cummings
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): feudalism (3), hamlet (10), julius caesar (7), literature (272), macbeth (10), midsummer nights dream (5), plays (34), romeo & juliet (7), romeo and juliet (6), shakespeare (110), sonnets (5)
In the Classroom
Make this all inclusive site available to your students on your webpage so they can look up words they do not know, etc. There are so many resources available that you could divide your class into groups and have each group research a different play or sonnet. Along with resources for Shakespeare's writing there are resources for Feudalism, Kings and Queens, castles, stage directions and drama terms, and so much more. Consider introducing your heterogeneous class to Shakespeare by using one of the Animated Shakespeare Videos reviewed here. Also, to help differentiate, look at Shmoop's Shakespeare page, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Infinite.ly Web Page Maker - Luis Buenaventura
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (85), microblogging (41), portfolios (32)
In the Classroom
Use this site for students to post simple projects such as stories, poems, and art projects. Students can also create online "me-portfolios" where they collect and curate all the links to their various online projects. Collect a master list of links to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, or blog for easy access. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district's policy on student use of email as well as publishing of student work.Try using Infinite.ly for: "visual essays," digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take), online literary magazines, personal reflections in images and text, research project presentations, or comparisons of online content (such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research -compared for bias). Use this tool for science sites documenting experiments or illustrating concepts (such as the water cycle), "visual" lab reports, digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties. More ideas include local history interactive stories, visual interpretations of major concepts (such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution). Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding. You provide the digital pictures, and they sequence, caption, and write about them (younger students), or you provide the steps in a project as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own.
After a first project where you provide "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do, but watch the file size and space limits. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class product together using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach, so students can "recap" long after the unit ends. Separate pages mean smaller sites, so they can remain free.
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