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CommonLit - CommonLit
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (120), literature (272), themes (12)
In the Classroom
CommonLit is an excellent resource for literature teachers, speech and debate teachers, and history teachers. Share the site with students on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and ask the class what themes they would like to investigate. Under each theme are two questions. Divide the class into small groups with each group investigating one of the questions for one of the themes and reading the accompanying text. Differentiate for students by having students read on the same theme, but at their reading level. Challenge individuals, pairs, or small groups to create a graphic organizer for the story they read using a tool like Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here. You could take this to another level and have two groups read different selections on the same theme, use a graphic organizer to make comparisons for how the theme was presented, and then challenge the groups to present their findings to the class via video. Use a simple video creator like Biteable, reviewed here. This site would also work when you have to make substitute plans unexpectedly. Just put the link in your plans and tell the sub what theme you want students to read about, or better yet, let the sub choose!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Writing Navigator - SAS Curriculum Pathways
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): editing (72), process writing (48), writing (365)
In the Classroom
Use these tools to guide students through the entire writing process. Introduce each tool on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) and work through the steps together. Ask students to complete each step along the way for their individual writing project. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs describing their journey through the writing process using Pen.io, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. Once the students know the Writing Navigator, use it for peer conferences or at home on their own time. Once you set up your account, enroll students with your school. Their parents can also set up an individual student account. Be sure to provide a link to this site on your class website or blog for student use at home. Be sure to turn off your popup blocker to use the site. Find more ideas in the TeachersFirst review of the Writing Reviser, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digital Citizenship - NSW Department of Education and Communities
Grades
K to 12tag(s): cyberbullying (48), digital citizenship (68), internet safety (118)
In the Classroom
Bookmark Digital Citizenship for use in any Internet safety lesson or unit. Create a link to individual games or activities on classroom computers. Be sure to share a link to this site with parents for use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shape Collage - ShapeCollage, Inc.
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use Shape Collage to take a variety of images to make a collage. Use this tool to create pages of class memories for the end of the year and create yearbook type effects easily. Since you can create and customize the shapes, this would be a great tool to represent a theme for any story, novel, or unit of study.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mission Possible: Successful Online Research - Answers.com
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): internet safety (118), search strategies (28)
In the Classroom
Before beginning a research project, either introduce or review the process of researching a topic. Put a link on your class website so students can refer to this video for additional review.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Digital Citizenship - Cable Impacts
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): copyright (51), cyberbullying (48), digital citizenship (68), media literacy (65), plagiarism (37)
In the Classroom
At the beginning of the year, use the lessons included as a basis for developing a school digital citizenship program or even use with your own class. Use at a parents' informational night to describe the type of lessons that help address responsible digital citizens. Post a link on your class website for parents to view at home. Create a school mission statement regarding technology use or rules for technology. When doing research projects, be sure to review.Comments
This is an articulate and smart program. The videos and materials support the three strands of digital citizenship: safety and security; literacy; and ethical and responsible use.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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TeachThought - Teachthought 2015
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): professional development (164)
In the Classroom
Think beyond your everyday lessons to something that makes you a teacher that kids always remember. Interesting ideas challenge you to do what you want the most in your teaching, inspire and motivate. Subscribe to the newsletter and follow the latest articles. Use the resources for enrichment or information. Share with colleagues and the collaboration begins. Share at a professional development meeting for many relevant ideas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100 Word Challenge - J. Skinner
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): blogs (85), digital storytelling (155)
In the Classroom
Share the weekly prompts on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students respond to the prompt on your classroom blog. If you teach younger students or resource students, you may want to apply to the 5 Sentence Challenge, instead of the 100 Word Challenge. They are both available at the same URL. The benefits of participating in a blog like this go beyond just writing. Submitting your students' writing to either of these Challenge blogs will provide the all-important publish piece that students need in order to feel accomplished and to do their best. They can also build cultural understanding through reading the responses from others to the same prompt. If you would like your students to write their blogs more than once a week, you might want to visit Thought Questions, reviewed here.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Twine - Chris Klimas
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): coding (68), computers (102), creative writing (165), game based learning (139), interactive stories (30), writing (365)
In the Classroom
View the Getting Started tutorials together on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) before students begin to write stories. Also, be sure to have the tutorials as a link on class computers and your class webpage. Create a short story together as a class to become familiar with the site. Have students create a story diagram before beginning a story on Twine; then use the site to complete the project. Have students create stories to show what they have learned about literature, geography, history, science concepts, and more. As a more "serious" approach, use Twine to present opinion pieces where you take a position and allow readers to click on questions about it. They could also click on statements expressing opposing views so you can write counterarguments to their points. This idea could end up being a powerful way to present an argument and evidence as required by Common Core writing standards. Using this tool in a computer programming class would be ideal. Going to either Wiki, FAQ, or Forum will show you other development resources such as custom macros, stylesheets, code references, and so forth. Teachers of gifted could use this for students to develop elaborate fictional or informational pieces. Again, a graphic organizer for planning and organizing evidence is a must!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TED-Ed YouTube Channel - TEDEducation
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): agriculture (60), biodiversity (34), brain (68), diseases (72), electricity (92), engineering (129), environment (325), gravity (46), medicine (70), plastics (8), robotics (29), water (134), water cycle (32)
In the Classroom
Show videos on an interactive whiteboard or projector to your class as an introduction to a new unit or class discussion. Flip your lesson and assign videos for students to view at home or in the computer lab and discuss questions at the next class meeting. Add your own questions and comments before students see the video using a program such as EdPuzzle, reviewed here. Use the videos as a springboard for engaging writing prompts or to spark a discussion connected with a unit of study. Show your students an inspirational video or two from TED, reviewed here. TED-Ed lessons also has longer videos that include accompanying questions, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps Treks - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): cultures (109), environment (325), images (278), maps (298), photography (156), virtual field trips (55)
In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. View these different places whether your content includes history, geography, literature, science, languages, and more. View places discussed in class, or in stories. Look at different cultural areas or environments in the world. Choose a trek as an inspiration for further research about the area, the inspiration for a student created poem or short story, artistic work, and many other projects. Encourage student groups to choose one of the places on this site to present to the class, highlighting various economic, recreational, historical, and cultural factors at each place. You may want students to use a tool such as Knoema, reviewed here, or Data - The World Bank, reviewed here, to make sure students get accurate information. Use this as a class "Where I visited in Google Maps" project! As students ask questions about the various places, encourage discovery in finding the answers together.Comments
Can't wait to use this after the Lit Trip session.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Vizualize.me - Parchment
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): careers (139), infographics (51), portfolios (32)
In the Classroom
Have students create a personal resume as an example of how to portray their strengths and interests to potential employers. Middle school students in an art or career exploration class can create a resume infographic about themselves to use for summer jobs or even on a flyer to get part-time work around the neighborhood. In history classes, offer the infographic resume as a possible project alternative. For instance, if you are studying Medival History and the feudal pyramid, students could create a resume for a serf or knight. The possibilities for personalities in history are practically endless! Students in literature classes could create an infographic resume for a literary character or author.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Zoom In! - Education Development Center
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): american revolution (85), civil war (144), constitution (88), immigrants (22), immigration (60), lincoln (84), slavery (67), vietnam (34), westward expansion (29), world war 2 (142)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these free lesson plans for use in teaching social studies aligned to Common Core Standards. Even if you cannot use whole lessons, browse through to find resources to add to your current lessons. Create classes and assign different lessons to different groups of students based on ability and interest. After completing a unit, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools, reviewed here.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Clyp - Audiour, LLC
Grades
K to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (179), speech (89)
In the Classroom
When using this site in the classroom in any capacity, we highly recommend providing the direct link to your created material (or your students). This will limit students' exposure to questionable songs on the homepage. Record snippets of information as reminders on your class website or instructions for students to follow. This is terrific for learning support students or non-readers! Have students describe aspects of classroom learning experiences to share with others, such as what they learned from a science experiment or found out about life in Colonial America. Record a quick message for an absentee student and email the link to him/her explaining how to catch up on missing work. Create tutorial pieces that students can use as study aids (or have them create them for each other). Use this site in world language classes or for ESL/ELL students: have students record and listen to their own pronunciation or send short messages to each other to translate. Have students use this site to practice speeches before the presentation to hear their speed, tone, and words. Use this site for research presentations, instructions for a substitute, or many other possibilities. With younger students, read a short story on Clyp, and have students follow along using a picture book. Alternatively have the students read their own stories into Clyp and email the readings to their parents! For Mothers Day, why not have students record messages for mom or grandma? Another idea: Create a class wiki where parents can "find" the entire selection of Clyps for Mother's Day (or another holiday). Record Clyps of each student talking about the importance of Moms for Mother's Day or how grateful they are for certain things at Thanksgiving. Embed them all in a class wiki to share with parents. Just email the URL for the collection. Again, be sure to provide direct links to the students' Clyps.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Calm - Calm.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): stress (14)
In the Classroom
Use Calm to settle students down after activities or during transition times. Use it to relax them before "big tests." This site may be perfect for those students that need a little quiet time in their daily routine. Use this site with any student who may need some quiet time between transitions. Share this site to use with students while studying. They could study for 15 minutes (or longer, depending on the age) and "earn" relaxation time. If students feel stressed out about a project, try starting with some short relaxation time to calm the nerves. Use this site for yourself: relaxing, destressing, and enjoying life for a few minutes. Use this tool during a unit in study skills to talk about ways to refocus as you study. There is great value in incubation time before actually launching into a new project or creative challenge, and this tool can help!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Word Counter Tool - wordcountertool.com
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): editing (72), process writing (48), word choice (28), writing (365)
In the Classroom
Post a link to the Word Counter Tool on your webpage for parents and students to use at home to check the length of written assignments. Use this tool when teaching summarizing. Provide students with a lengthy summary then challenge students to reduce the word count.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Edusight - Garros Li, Dev Chakraborty, Vikram Somasundaram, & Qiming Weng
Grades
K to 12tag(s): assessment (114), classroom management (159), data (161)
In the Classroom
Share Edusight information with parents as part of your ongoing communication process. Use Edusight to collect and gather information for IEP and other intervention and data collection meetings. Track student behavior for positive reinforcement or discipline purposes. This versatile tool has many possibilities.Comments
Edusight features "buckets" for organizing information. Create buckets for tests, quizzes, group work, or any label you desire.Raxi, , Grades: 0 - 12
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YouTube EDU - YouTube
Grades
K to 12tag(s): video (278)
In the Classroom
Bookmark YouTube EDU as an excellent resource of videos for classroom use. Share videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Embed videos onto your class web page for student viewing at home. Challenge gifted students by sharing university level videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Color Schemer - colorschemer.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): colors (80)
In the Classroom
After sharing and teaching students how to use this resource, create a link to the Color Schemer on your class web page for student use with projects, displays, and more. Share with your school's art teacher as an excellent resource for artwork.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Soundtrap - Playwerk AB
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creativity (118), DAT device agnostic tool (179), musical instruments (51), sounds (69)
In the Classroom
Demonstrate how to use Soundtrap with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students use Soundtrap for multimedia and group projects using one of the many TeachersFirst multimedia Edge tools, reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Visme, Adobe Spark, and My Simpleshow. In a music class have students use this tool when they are practicing so they can hear how they sound. They could also use Soundtrap as a group to experiment and combine sounds and hear the results. Drama classes can create music for the background of their play. Share this link on your class website for families to explore at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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