TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jul 21, 2019
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
Twitter Chat: Using Technology to Strengthen Social Emotional Learning - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): emotions (46), mental health (33), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22), twitterchatarchive (172)
In the Classroom
Find resources and explore ways to build and strengthen social emotional learning (SEL) within the classroom. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to social emotional learning (SEL).You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Mentoring Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bullying (49), mentoring (5), social and emotional learning (80)
In the Classroom
Share sites with the entire class or find specific tools that are useful for individual students in your class. This is a great list to share with parents at the beginning of the year, and list on your class website!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Understood - Understood.org USA LLC
Grades
K to 12tag(s): emotions (46), learning disability (22), learning styles (18), preK (254), professional development (388), racism (76), social and emotional learning (80), Special Needs (53), Teacher Utilities (146)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site as an excellent tool for finding learning resources for classroom students and sharing with parents. Understood includes several helpful resources for parents and educators on how to discuss and teach about racism, use the search feature to find activities to incorporate into your current units about race and prejudice. Be sure to share a link to the site with parents on your class website or newsletter. Use items found on this site as part of your professional development activities. Organize participant's thoughts and ideas using a mind mapping tool like MindMup, reviewed here. Share websites, articles, and resources related to your topic using a bookmarking tool such as Papaly, reviewed here. Papaly allows you to share resources and add comments making collaboration easy for participants. Expand your learning and collaboration efforts using a tool like Flip, reviewed here. Flip is a video response tool that allows you to record a question and gather video responses. As a final product and follow-up to send to your participants, share information learned from this site and others through a multimedia presentation with Sway, reviewed here. Sway is an easy to use tool for creating professional-looking online presentations including video, images, text, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bitmoji - Bitstrips Inc
Grades
K to 12tag(s): creativity (92), DAT device agnostic tool (143), emotions (46), faces (5), images (270)
In the Classroom
Create a Bitmoji to use as your avatar on your class website or blog. Update your avatar to reflect current lessons, holidays, or events. Use emojis to appeal to students and draw their attention to important information. For example, choose the bitmoji with praying hands and "please" as a reminder to read all of the directions before beginning work. Choose a Bitmoji with an interesting background or phrase to use as a writing prompt. Insert a bitmoji into a Google form as feedback for student responses. Have older students (13+) take a picture of a portion of text and add a Bitmoji to share a connection or response to the text (also known as BookSnaps).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Coaching Boys Into Men - Futures Without Violence
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): bullying (49), character education (75), difficult conversations (58), mental health (33), mentoring (5), school violence (10), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22), sports (78)
In the Classroom
Share this program with your school's athletic coaches, physical education teachers, school counselors, and parents who coach athletic teams. Use the program locator to find nearby communities involved with the program. Invite a local coach to speak to young men in your school regarding healthy relationship skills. Extend technology use and student learning by having them create a newspaper featuring sports role models using a site such as Printing Press, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teach With Movies - TeachWithMovies.com, Inc.
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): difficult conversations (58), essays (20), movies (51), questioning (32), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22), worksheets (70), writing (315)
In the Classroom
Movies offer an entertaining format for history and thematic studies. Use a video to add to the learning experience of students who are visual and auditory learners. Use this site to find videos in a wide range of topics to share on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Take advantage of the free lesson plans for classroom use. Preview the lessons before viewing and convert those that can be to a real-time discussion to engage students WHILE they watch a video! Enhance classroom learning and technology use and achieve this by setting up a backchannel chat using GoSoapBox, reviewed here. Alternatively, if you are distance or remote teaching or have a blended classroom, use VideoAnt, reviewed here, to ask questions and have students respond directly on the video.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Big Ideas Video Series - Class Dojo
Grades
K to 8tag(s): brain (54), emotions (46), empathy (26), learning styles (18), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22)
In the Classroom
You may want to start your school year by sharing the three part video series on Empathy. Each video is five minutes and has a discussion guide. As a follow up use the Ripples of Kindness activity in small groups. Share younger students' observations on a whiteboard or poster. Older students can share their observations using a tool like Stickies, reviewed here. Dotstorming allows participants to add comments. Share other videos with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard to introduce a video each week and explore the discussion questions together. These videos could be very useful when preparing and motivating students for upcoming standardized testing or at the beginning of a school year to set a tone that everyone can learn. Include a link to videos on your class web page for parents to discuss at home with their student, and be sure to send home the take-home questions with topics to talk about.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Radio Rookies - WNYC Public Radio
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): adolescence (11), behavior (43), difficult conversations (58), emotions (46), radio (20), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22)
In the Classroom
Be sure to include this site on your class webpage for students to access both in and outside of class as a resource for hearing how peers handle difficult teenage issues. Share a link with parents as a resource for them to use with their teen. Remind parents to PREVIEW! Be sure to share with your school's counselor as an excellent tool for use when working with students. Listen to episodes together with your class, and then have cooperative learning groups create podcasts discussing specific issues found in your school or classroom. Use a tool such as podOmatic, reviewed here. Before beginning the podcast, have students create a storyboard using a tool like Notepad, reviewed here. They will also need to develop a script and practice. Try using Typewrite, reviewed here, for students to write the script collaboratively. This tool allows groups to write together. All the tools mentioned in this review will augment classroom technology use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Happier - Nataly Kogan
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): emotions (46), mental health (33), psychology (67), social and emotional learning (80)
In the Classroom
With testing, social pressure, and the desire to do well use Happier in class to celebrate the small steps and successes on which students should be focusing. Teach students to identify positives along the way, no matter what the test or situation's outcome. Consider asking what did you learn from the situation? Identify categories that encompass all of the student's lives and focus on finding happy moments in all areas. Be sure to use this yourself! Find the positives in every facet of your day building happiness day by day. Psychology and Sociology classes can use this as an experiment about happiness, collecting student or family data through the year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted - SENG
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): emotions (46), gifted (64), social and emotional learning (80)
In the Classroom
Have questions about a gifted child or a child you suspect to be gifted? Teach a gifted and talented group? Answer many of your own questions and also parent questions with an amazing amount of information available. Sponsor a parent night for Gifted Students and offer and feature many of the resources highlighted. Be sure you have a strong base of your own knowledge of the needs of gifted and talented students. Keep up to date with latest research and information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List: Books for Tough Situations - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): difficult conversations (58), disabilities (29), divorce (6), eating disorders (7), emotions (46), social and emotional learning (80), social skills (22)
In the Classroom
Build student literacy skills and help students facing personal challenges. Reading about personally meaningful topics will help students work through them. It will also build the important reading strategy of connecting what they read to what they already know. Keep this list handy in your Favorites to suggest options when a student seems to need them. Since the list includes topics for all levels of maturity, you might want to share portions of it rather than the entire list. You may also want to tell parents about it during parent conferences or when situations arise. As always, allow students to self- select independent reading books from a list of options. Don't forget to share the list with the school and local libraries so they can bring in some of the books on interlibrary loan, if needed. Your school counselor will also appreciate this list. CurriConnects are a great help for teachers and parents who have lost school library/media specialists due to budget cuts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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