Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Create a debate or ask specific questions of a group or the entire web using ProConit as a social evaluation tool. Questions can be pro/con, either-or choices, or open-ended evaluations of a specific topic. Get creative and write your questions to make them even more engaging. You can embed the ProConit topic in multiple web locations, such as websites or blogs, using ProConit's free widget. Get started simply by registering with your email or other social network log-in. The pubic can vote and add their own comments to the ProConits left open to the public. You can also make them private.
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tag(s): critical thinking (111), debate (44), persuasive writing (56), polls and surveys (55)

Looking for quick web pages that even students can author? Then "wiki-wiki" this way! (Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.) This is the one tried and true wiki to use. Create your own Wikispaces site by creating a site name. Educators get a free upgrade to a non-ad site, so remember to confirm it is for educational use. Enter your students manually (or upload a list). Students can also create an account and "join" your wiki. Use Settings to manage privacy settings for viewing and editing. Be sure to check out many of the settings that make Wikispaces versatile including the ability to lock pages so others do not edit them. Individual students can have their own page and/or belong to a group page. Check the participation of individual students in the group by checking the history of the page to "see" what each student edited at specific times. Choose traditional Wikispaces which looks like traditional sets of pages on a site. Also choose from the new Wikispaces Classroom (this can be done at any time and can be converted back to a traditional wiki as needed). In Wikispaces Classroom, members of your wiki can be assigned to various project groups the teacher creates. Set the privacy settings for each individual group or for all of them. If private, only members of that group can see their information. Create announcements, calendar events, discussions, and more for individuals, single groups, or all groups. Wikispaces Classroom takes interaction and management of student projects to a new level. As they work on an assigned project, the teacher can view the activity of each student including pages editing and viewing. Follow help videos or simply play to learn the simple wiki editing toolbar and settings. Creating a site has never been so easy. If you have not tried a wiki yet, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a step-by-step explanation, starter help, and practical management and safety tips. Be sure to check your district's Acceptable Use Policy. We recommend having parents and students sign a Wiki Warranty (downloadable here ), spelling out wiki behavior and consequences.

tag(s): wikis (21)

Discover blog ideas galore from the "friendly writers" at Wordpress, especially these ideas for connecting your blog with other bloggers via special events, such as "blog hops." A blog hop is simply a response to the same prompt during a fixed time frame, with links to the other bloggers' responses so you can "hop" to read the many takes on the topic from the original post or prompt. Share writing around a common theme, image, quote, or topic by checking out the offerings compiled here. Note that this collection is intended for the general blogging public (not schools), so some topics may not be school-appropriate. On the other hand, making contact with "real world" people blogging about how they write, do photography, stay fit, and more. Click on the link to the updated list of blogging events to find inspiration and connection, sorted by general areas of interest. Don't miss the detailed information about how to Start and/or Participate in a Blog Hop.

tag(s): blogs (90), writing prompts (94)

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Aditional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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tag(s): bookmarks (64), DAT device agnostic tool (171), forum (9), social networking (112)

TeachIt Timer is an online alternative to the traditional countdown or stopwatch timer. This free online timer displays a countdown timer and a count-up timer at one time. The most incredible feature is that it allows you to schedule a series of up to eight timed alarms. There are also eight choices of sounds from whistles to bells to barking. Launch the timer right from your screen or download it to your computer to have easy access.

tag(s): classroom management (148), organizational skills (128)

Use Scattervox to conduct a poll visually! For each of the possible items, poll responders click their answer on a graph. The result is an interactive poll that looks like an Infographic! To vote: Click on one of the possible items on the right and then click the spot on the graph to correspond to your answer. Once plotted, replace your choices by clicking on the item again and your new answer on the graph. Click "Vote" to record your choices. To "Create Poll": Enter a title, tags, and a description. Label the axes of the graph with two different variables to value the items such as expensive and inexpensive. (There are two different sets of axes to use for rating.) Enter the chart items that will be rated with your set values. Embed your Scattervox or share using email, Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter. Browse the gallery to get an idea of how the tool works. Membership is required to create a poll, but not to vote.
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tag(s): critical thinking (111), polls and surveys (55)

Draw It Live is a LIVE online whiteboard collaboration and sharing tool. There is no membership required. Simply click on the screenshot of the words "Collaborative Whiteboard" to create your whiteboard and add a username. Copy the link provided for the whiteboard or enter emails of those you wish to invite. Use the chat area on the left of the screen to discuss your whiteboard with other users as you all draw in real time. Tools provided include text boxes, shapes, colors, and more. Use the Clear the Drawing option to start over without having to go to a new whiteboard link. (Remember to SAVE your whiteboard link as a Favorite or email it to yourself so you don't lose it! You can return later to add more!) Note: this tool works great on tablets using the web browser! No special app needed.

tag(s): colors (80), DAT device agnostic tool (171), drawing (81), iwb (31), painting (66)

Webnode is a free and easy website builder. Create an account. Choose from hundreds of template design options, including personal blogs. Add many site features: photo galleries, polls, forums, social features, and much more. Webnode saves changes as you make them, so information is stored in real time. Possible uses are only limited by your imagination!
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tag(s): blogs (90), social networking (112)

Homophone help is needed at the Animal Show! Proofread a poster that is full (not fool) of homophone mistakes. Click through the sentences and fix the homophones by choosing the correct response from multiple choice options. Earn points along the way.

tag(s): homophones (16), spelling (167)

This tool makes it easy to share a LONG URL with less characters. Copy the address for the site from the address bar. Paste it into the field of this tool and click "shorten URL." Share this new address with others to easily share the web address. Sign in to your Google account to see how many times the URL is visited.

tag(s): blogs (90), wikis (21)

Parents (or any interested adults) can support young readers with this guide to reading instruction, Children's books, and Reading. Find support in many areas of reading such as book lists, early literacy ideas, ways to improve reading, spelling instruction ideas, and reading interactives. Don't worry, there is also material here to help children who are already reading - to increase fluency, comprehension, and more! Book lists include; audio books, read alouds, picture books, wordless picture books, classic books, books to hook reluctant readers, as well as recommended books. Subscribe to the newsletter to stay in touch with the latest ideas. Although this site is definitely text-heavy, it does offer a lot of information to both parents and teachers working with emergent readers.
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tag(s): literacy (106), preK (289), reading comprehension (119), reading lists (79), reading strategies (48), spelling (167)

Screencastify is a screen capture/screencast software created for use ONLY with Chrome browsers. It even runs on Chromebooks. Choose the "Free" link to add the extension to your Chrome browser. Screencastify captures video and audio within tabs. Find the application icon on your browser toolbar and click Record to easily record presentations, tutorials, and more. Be sure to ALLOW Screencastify access to your microphone to enable voice recordings. Choose from recording tabs or your entire desktop. Recording the desktop is currently experimental, however, and may not work as well as the tabs option. Once your recording is complete, return to the Screencastify icon on your browser to name the recording, download to your computer, or upload to YouTube.

tag(s): tutorials (48), video (275)

If you cannot access YouTube and video sites because of filters, Tube Offline may be the perfect solution for your needs! Maybe you simply want an offline copy of a video to use when you do not have Internet access. Download videos from YouTube and other video services directly to your computer using Tube Offline. Copy and paste the URL, then click "Get Video." Once the preview is loaded, click "Generate" to download the file. Other options include social media sharing links, a direct link, and embed code. Tube Offline uses Java to generate videos for saving, so be sure to read instructions for using with your browser and operating system. Some Mac users may have to enable Java.

tag(s): video (275)

Collect, express opinions, and collaborate on any web content easily using Surfmark. Get started with the quick sign-up process. Add the Surfmark bookmarklet to your browser's toolbar or add the Chrome or Firefox extension. Visit any web page and activate the app when ready. Type in thoughts and annotations as notes, then save. This creates your Surfmark. Add additional annotations to any page, or highlight text directly from web content. View saved pages as a collage, or create books for multiple pages. Privacy options allow for public editing or password protection to access saved information. View other user's pages and grab their pages to add to your own. Easily share any creations using the share link with a custom url or links to social networking options. Because public content is shared on this site, adults may want to explore this site on your own and not send students to explore unsupervised.

tag(s): bookmarks (64), organizational skills (128), professional development (133), social networking (112)

Create, coordinate, and manage sign up sheets online in just 2 minutes. There is no registration required! Create your own sign up from scratch or choose from examples of different types of sheets to modify for your use. View a preview and publish when complete. Send finished sheets to email recipients. Recipients click on the link in the email to sign up using options provided. Optional registration (FREE) allows members to save up to 5 sign up sheets for use at a later time. A premium version offers additional options, but the free version gets it done!
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tag(s): calendars (46), organizational skills (128)

Discover student center activities aligned to Common Core from the Florida Center for Reading Research. Use differentiated instruction to meet every child's needs. Explore the teacher resource guide, the professional development on differentiated instruction, and how to use student centers. All materials are available as downloads. They mention a DVD, but you can download all the files separately and for free.

tag(s): literacy (106)

Published monthly, The Seminole Tribune of Florida is the official newspaper of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Current issues and archives are available via PDF download. Click on the appropriate tab on the left. You can also read the history of the tribe and view a timeline. The cultural information includes art, basketry, beadwork, housing, clans, language, legends, green corn dance, food and recipes, and clothing. Read an explanation about the current government within the tribe. Florida Seminole Tourism offers information for events and places to visit. Note: You do not need to subscribe to use this site. Simply click to view Current Issue or Archives.
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tag(s): civil rights (123), cross cultural understanding (117), cultures (107), myths and legends (25), native americans (78)