Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session is from May 2020. You can register and immediately view the archive of the session.

The authentic nature of simulations can be highly motivating for even your hardest to reach students. When used properly, instructional simulations can empower student learning, helping students to set goals, seek feedback, and demonstrate what they have learned. Learn to choose simulations that model the relationships between concepts studied. In this session, we will discuss how to best use simulations in the classroom to increase student achievement, allow students to reflect on what they have learned, and transfer their knowledge to new problems and situations. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Understand the value of using simulations in the classroom; 2. Explore instructional simulations; and 3. Plan for the use of simulations in the instructional setting. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): professional development (386), simulations (19)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Follow Claudia Kincaid and her brother Jaimie when they decide to run away from home and end up hiding out in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 4-8. Content correlates to Common Core Standards. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1960s (26), new york (24), virtual field trips (128)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book Lost and Found Cat, the True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey. This picture book is the true story of one cat's journey to be reunited with his war-torn family and shows how ordinary people can help with compassion and hope. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades PreK-3. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire collection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): iraq (26), preK (271), virtual field trips (128)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book Harriet the Spy. Harriet Welsch is an 11-year-old girl living in New York's Upper East Side. One day she starts writing her observations about everyone she knows in a notebook. Then someone finds her notebook and exposes its content, which is very critical. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 4-7. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): new york (24), virtual field trips (128), women (150)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Peter Hatcher is a fourth-grader with a two-and-a-half-year-old brother who is a handful. Read about the exasperating situations Peter finds himself in because of his little brother. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 3-5. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, National Core Standards for Visual Arts, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1950s (8), new york (24), novels (34), virtual field trips (128)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book, A Long Way from Chicago. During the time of the Great Depression and the beginning of WWII, Joey and Mary Alice, city children from Chicago, spend a week each August with their eccentric Grandma Dowdel in her rural home town. Over the eight years the story takes place, they learn to appreciate their Grandma's spunkiness and get to experience many situations that their parents would never allow them to encounter. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 4-8. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, National Core Art Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1900s (72), 1920s (6), 1930s (20), 1940s (14), family (51)

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session is from April 2020. You can register and immediately view the archive of the session.

Integrating visual and written content can increase the impact of the writing that your students do. As students learn to use imagery to illustrate critical points in an argument or visualize the action in a storyline, they become better communicators. Join this session and help your students develop the ability to communicate clearly and creatively. Model and nurture creative expression while providing a new way for your students to reflect on what they have learned. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Understand the components of a visual essay; 2. Explore a tech tool that can be used to create visual essays; and 3. Create a visual essay exemplar to share with their students. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): essays (21), professional development (386), visualizations (11)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book If You Lived Here, Houses of the World. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 1-4. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (174), family (51), homes (5), virtual field trips (128)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Learn through two different timelines (the 1940s and 1980s) the story about the friendship of a Chinese American 12-year-old boy and a Japanese American girl. It is set in the city of Seattle and its cultural, musical, political, and social conflicts at the height of the WWII. The plot focuses on the painful separation of friends during the confining of Japanese Americans to internment camps. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 9-12. Content correlates to Common Core Standards and ISTE Student Standards. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1940s (14), 1980s (7), cross cultural understanding (174), virtual field trips (128), world war 2 (161)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Edward Tulane is a special, porcelain rabbit, custom-made by 10-year-old Abilene Tulane's grandmother. Abilene treats him like a human. Then one day, while vacationing on the RMS Queen Mary, he falls overboard. Edward learns that real happiness comes from opening his heart to friendship. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 3-5. Content correlates to Common Core Standards and ISTE Student Standards. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1930s (20), character education (79), emotions (49), virtual field trips (128)

Remote teaching involves a different mindset than in-classroom lessons. This collection shares tips, resources, and assessment tools to get remote learning off to a successful start. Follow the advice to encourage continued interactions with students through the use of digital tools. Use the instructional tools to provide interactive learning activities. Follow up learning activities using the assessment suggestions offered in the collection. Extend learning with continued use of the shared resources following your return to your regular classroom routines.

tag(s): branches of government (65), capitals (16), maps (220), professional development (386)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book, Around the World Right Now. Travel through each of the 24 time zones and experience the people, places, and things that exist there. Introduce geography and time-telling as well as the richness and diversity of life on Earth. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades K-5. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts, National Association for Music Education, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): landmarks (22), time (91), time zones (7), virtual field trips (128)

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. Refugee is about three children all trying to escape violent homelands. Each is from a different region in the world, and each is living in a different decade. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using Refugee, written by Alan Gratz. Use the robust teaching guide with students in grades 6-9 as they learn about the struggles of Joseph and his family as they escape from Nazi Germany. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): europe (84), germany (28), immigrants (34), immigration (68), world war 2 (161)