Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

The U.S. is a leader in robotics technology development! Join the yearly celebration by participating in some of the events and activities found at this National Robotics Week site. Use the activities on this site to inspire students to pursue careers in robotics and other STEM-related fields. Download robot trading cards featuring 10 of the most famous robots. Cards include their stats, coaches, and fun facts. Read about the Instuctables contest where you can enter to share your robot projects with the world and even win some cool prizes. Clicking on Bleaker the Rechargeable Dog will take you to comics that include robots. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find a map showing events by state. Once you get the map, scroll down the page and find the Filter Events By State and a list of all events.

tag(s): engineering (129), robotics (24), STEM (297)

Spice up any countdown with this versatile, yet easy to use, countdown timer from Classtools. Options include running multiple timers, adding music or video, and saving a web link to your timer. Choose the Get Started button to begin and follow prompts to choose included music or select your own from any YouTube video. Click the save icon to receive a personalized URL for sharing.

tag(s): classroom management (120), counting (60), time (91)

Literary Devices offers definitions and examples of many different devices used in written work. Although this site is rather "plain vanilla," it offers colorful sprinkles of information and definitions. Browse through to explore the different terms, use the search box to find a specific device, or choose from popular literary devices listed on the left side of the homepage. After you choose a term, this site offers a complete definition along with many examples of its use in literature.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): dictionaries (47), literary devices (13)

Collaborate with up to 100 participants from anywhere and at any time with Zoom's free online video conferencing options. Features include screen sharing, scheduled or instant meeting times, and private or group chat. Up to 40 minutes of group meeting time, and unlimited 1:1 meeting time is included with the free meeting plans. Sign up using your email or social network account to begin hosting a meeting. The step by step instructions make it easy to quickly begin video conferencing at your convenience.

tag(s): chat (41), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), parent conferences (21), video (266)

The Mindset Kit is a large compilation of resources for parents and teachers for teaching and developing growth mindsets. Based on the book, Mindset, by Carol Dweek, these lessons and activities provide tools for developing positive mindsets, in turn, leading to increased academic performance. Choose the section for teachers to find seven lessons for educator teams, or take advantage of ten lessons for parents to learn about growth mindset and how to instill this in students. Other portions contain ideas for specific content areas and mentors.

tag(s): brain (56), learning styles (18), professional development (385), social and emotional learning (102)

Microsoft's OneNote, a downloadable app, keeps all notes, emails, drawings, photographs, and more organized into folders on a page in different sections of a "notebook." Drag copies of files or documents from your computer into OneNote. Share and collaborate with others. Access your OneNote account by signing in to any computer or device.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), Microsoft (80), organizational skills (88), Storage (6)

Create standards-based lessons and rubrics in minutes with ThemeSpark. Incorporate your ready-made materials or use global resources available on the site. The lesson builder includes the ability to add a hook, information to learn, practice, and application activity. When finished, download the lesson in an easy to use format. Be sure to watch the QuickStart Lesson Builder video and read through the FAQ section on the site for full information about creating lessons and using ThemeSpark. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): assessment (147), professional development (385), rubrics (37), Teacher Utilities (198)

Blog About is a blog title generator and a nifty tool to generate writing ideas with specific content. Click the refresh button to view different writing topics or add your own to the provided blank. Then choose the "Next" button to narrow your topic to specific points. Use the refresh button (heart) to view different ideas for focusing on the subject. Be sure to check out the "writer's block?" link on the right side of the page to access a page to doodle your thoughts and download when finished. Don't be thrown off by the "business" prompts; keep clicking and you'll get to prompts about challenges, opinions, improvement, and plenty more.

tag(s): blogs (65), creative writing (124), persuasive writing (58), writing (325), writing prompts (61)

Create a personalized sign using the many templates offered on the Sign Generator. Options include personalized cakes, cartoon characters, movie marquees, and much more. Click the thumbnail of the design you want, add your text into the provided lines, and click the link to finish. Your personalized sign appears on a popup image ready to save onto your computer.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): graphic design (49), images (263), photography (130), posters (43)

The Big Ideas Series, offered by ClassDojo, provides ten video topics encouraging students to explore different ways to healthy social emotional development and learning. The videos discuss concepts such as Empathy, Perseverance, Positive Thinking, Gratitude, Mindfulness, and more. Each topic has a series of short videos and includes a discussion guide to download for classroom use and a page with take-home questions for parent use.

tag(s): brain (56), emotions (49), empathy (34), learning styles (18), social and emotional learning (102), social skills (22)

eLearning Infographics offers an extensive selection of infographics for educational use. Choose from a variety of topics such as Playing to Learn and The Evolution of Technology in Schools. Each infographic displays a category. Click that link to view others with similar topics. Click on the infographic link to see the full image along with links for sharing on social networks and email, or copy and paste the embed code to embed directly onto your website.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): digital storytelling (154), infographics (56), professional development (385)

Create a world language learning plan with the Vocabulary Trainer. Use dropdown boxes to select your native language and a language to learn or practice. Other options include different course levels and options such as business vocabulary. Tools in the program allow you to set up a personalized learning plan, including time set aside for learning and days of the week to practice.

tag(s): arabic (13), chinese (45), french (75), german (49), greek (47), hebrew (16), italian (31), japanese (47), multilingual (77), spanish (109)

Helping Writers Become Authors is an award-winning blog by an internationally published author focusing on tips and suggestions for improving writing. The author recommends starting with the three core series contained within the blog: The Secrets of Story Structure, How to Structure Scenes in Your Story, and How to Write Character Arcs. Be sure also to check out the Story Structure Database containing detailed looks at story structure in popular books and movies. Other sections worth a look include Writing Inspiration and Most Common Writing Mistakes.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): characterization (19), creative writing (124), descriptive writing (42), expository writing (31), letter writing (19), paragraph writing (15), persuasive writing (58), process writing (37), writers workshop (31)

The Classroom Freebies Resource Library contains thousands of free materials for grades K-8. Many different kinds of resources are included such as task cards, classroom management charts, coloring sheets, worksheets, and posters. Use the search bar to find specific content or browse using links to grade level content and topics such as the End of the Year and Common Core Freebies. Follow links for directions about downloading materials.

tag(s): back to school (55), book reports (28), classroom management (120), commoncore (73), posters (43), preK (271), substitutes (25), worksheets (69)

Create beautiful visual designs with Adobe Creative Cloud Express (was Adobe Spark). First, follow prompts for creating an account, then select a creation you will work on; those include flyers, banners, posters, business cards, social graphics, advertisements, YouTube thumbnails, and a few others. The canvas where you will create has a right and left menu. Choose a template, text, photos, shapes, backgrounds, and design assets from the left menu. Next, you can select colors, animation, background, resize, or design from the right menu. When complete, share using email or with the social media links provided, or you can download.

tag(s): blogs (65), communication (129), creative writing (124), design (79), digital storytelling (154), microblogging (14), posters (43)

Learn something new each day with Highbrow's unique course delivery system. Sign up for a course, then receive an email each day with a five to ten-minute lesson. Each course is completed in ten days making learning quick and easy! Choose from many different course options in subjects such as art, literature, languages, history, tech and coding, photography, and several others. Highbrow only allows one course per user at a time to encourage complete focus on each topic. If you don't see what you like, choose the Create Course option and create your own learning experience using your expertise!

tag(s): 20th century (62), architecture (75), authors (107), business (52), differentiation (84), endangered species (27), equations (119), financial literacy (93), greeks (46), human body (93), inventors and inventions (80), logic (161), medicine (57), mental math (19), numbers (120), photography (130), poetry (193), psychology (65), short stories (18), surrealism (2), weather (160), women (150)

The Blended Learning Implementation Guide is an interactive resource for planning, implementing, and evaluating blended learning in the classroom. The guide takes you through the basics of blended learning with infographics, links to videos, and specific instructions for blended learning instructors. Other topics include suggestions on purchasing devices for use, questions to consider when lecturing, and resources for funding. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. Though some of the videos have a 404 message and some links don't work, the PDF itself still has a lot of information.

tag(s): professional development (385)

Quickly create and share quizzes using Go To Quiz. Begin by choosing from three types of quizzes to offer, each includes an explanation and examples of best use. Follow the steps to name your quiz, add questions and responses, and share your quiz. Go To Quiz will work on any device with a modern browser and an Internet connection.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): assessment (147), quiz (67), quizzes (90)

Voxer is a combination of instant voice and text messages. You can also text images and your location. Voxer will work with your headset and Bluetooth so you can be hands-free. It is available on the web and all mobile devices. Hear messages live, or listen later. Broadcast messages to an individual or group, or listen and respond to chats in Walkie-Talkie mode and not even be in the app. Voxer allows talk and text across countries, wireless carriers, or data networks at no additional charge. Registration with email is required.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): chat (41), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), listening (93), microblogging (14), multilingual (77), social media (48), speaking (26), speech (69)

Iditarod Teacher on the Trail includes posts for the current Teacher on the Trail detailing their journey from selection through participation in the Iditarod. Posts include classroom lessons correlated to Common Core Standards about the Iditarod in all subject areas. Choose links to particular parts of the curriculum to view videos, classroom images, download printables, and complete lessons. This site focuses on each new teacher of the year; be sure to see archives and information from previous years' teachers.

tag(s): alaska (21), iditarod (4)