Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Learn about the Dewey Decimal number classifications through this light-hearted rap presentation. "Melville Dewey" shares how libraries organize non-fiction materials by introducing the general classifications category topics. Follow along with the text shared below the video.

tag(s): classification (22), media literacy (109), Research (87)

This game teaches you how to create brochures that captivate and grab the attention of readers through the effective use of content and imagery. Begin by choosing a theme for your advertisement and follow the prompts to make selections for the best use of titles, text, and images. If you select the wrong option, the game provides feedback on why it isn't the best choice for creating the most effective advertisement.

tag(s): advertising (26), media literacy (109)

Have you ever told anyone, "Let me Google that for you?" That is what LMGTFY is all about! This site allows you to demonstrate how to Google (and much more) terms, then send a link with a step by step demonstration on how to complete the search. LMGTFY has grown beyond Google and now offers users the ability to select from several popular search engines including Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and DuckDuckGo. The drop-down box provides choices to search the web, images, video, and more. After making selections and entering a search term, click to get the link or choose preview to view the information.

tag(s): browser (8), search engines (48), search strategies (22)

Inquiry in Action offers free, inquiry-based science lessons teaching physical science and chemistry concepts. All activities come from a book of the same title, available to download for free on this site. Choose from the most popular activities, lessons reviewing chemistry fundamentals, or browse through all activities. Lessons include complete instructions along with printable activity sheets and assessments. In addition to the lessons, be sure to check out the Chemistry Review portion of the site for a refresher on the principles of chemistry.

tag(s): acids and bases (9), density (18), matter (46), molecules (44), temperature (35), water (102)

NoPlag is a plagiarism checker that compares your writing to online sources to detect possible cases of plagiarism. Complete five checks for plagiarism a day with up to 500 words without an account. With a free account complete twenty checks per day with 500 words. You will get a report after pasting samples of work into an interactive box that highlights probable plagiarism along with links to the possible websites. The Noplag Blog has helpful articles on the importance of intellectual property rights and additional teaching ideas. There are premium features available, but this review is only for the free account. Educators and students at public and church schools and colleges can request an account through a contact form. At the time of this review NoPlag wasn't working on Chrome.
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tag(s): copyright (44), evaluating sources (29), plagiarism (34), writing (325)

TRAILS is a free online, interactive student assessment using multiple-choice questions on a variety of information literacy skills based on 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th grade standards. This easy, flexible tool is for school librarians and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students. TRAILS can be used for formative and summative evaluations in five category areas: Develop Topic, Identify Potential Sources, Use Search Strategies, Evaluate Sources and Information, Use Information Responsibly, Ethically, and Legally.

tag(s): assessment (147), digital citizenship (85), media literacy (109)

Creative Educator offers articles, lesson plans, and resources for many different ways to put creativity into the curriculum. Explore eight main topics: Creativity, Digital Storytelling, 21st Century Classrooms, Project-based Learning, STEM, and Teaching and Learning. At the bottom menu find Curriculum related areas such as Literacy, English Language Aquisition, and STEM resources will grab your interest. Find a variety of lessons in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies to integrate technology and pique students' interest.
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tag(s): addition (129), creativity (86), Teacher Utilities (198)

TeachThought stretches teachers to think beyond the norm, and try new exciting ideas such as learning in a digital world, flipped classrooms, project based learning, and simulations. A few examples of the articles include: 10 Team Building Games that Promote Critical Thinking, 25 Reading Strategies That Work In Every Content Area, 55 Free Apps For iPads, 249 Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs for Critical Thinking, 14 Brilliant Bloom's Taxonomy Posters For Teachers, and 20 Things You Can Do in 10 Minutes For A Smoother Running Classroom. Join in the conversation, add your opinion, or ask a question. Sign up for TeachThought's newsletter.
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tag(s): blooms taxonomy (7), classroom management (120), critical thinking (127), flipped learning (9), professional development (385), reading strategies (96)

Common Core Conversations is your place to find Common Core resources. The Standards, Resources from state education departments, free resources in all subject areas, using tech tools for learning the standards, and a section for parent information provides a great basis for your Common Core needs. Resources include: ENL/ELL, library, careers, family and consumer sciences. Join the online community to join in the conversations.

tag(s): commoncore (73)

Learn the 19 most important topics to teach for Digital Citizenship. Also, get many great ideas for resources by grade level K-8 with this interesting article. Most resources discussed in the article also include a short description of how others have used it in the classroom.
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tag(s): copyright (44), creative commons (28), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85), internet safety (114)

US Digital Literacy is a comprehensive informational site to help better deliver digital literacy information to students. Help to prepare your students to understand and use information in multiple formats from a broad range of sources. Students need to be able to read, and interpret media, reproduce data and images, evaluate, and apply new knowledge from digital environments. Learn how to use the tools, promote responsible digital citizenship, while providing a framework to access, analyze, and create new information. Under Digital Toolkits find information about digital citizens, web 2.0, augmented reality, social bookmarks, wikis, images and creative commons, keyboarding practice, and mobile learning communities. For your own use, find professional learning networks, adaptive learning systems, learning management systems, project based learning, and STEM and STEAM. The Twenty-first- Century Skills section gives background in the Common Core, core subjects, learning and innovative skills, information and media literacy, and life and career skills. Instructional Strategies provide information for classroom management, activating strategies, vocabulary strategies, cognitive growth strategies, organizing strategies, summarizing strategies, and assessment types. Information regarding thoughtful technology leadership includes videos to promote conversations and challenges for your school website. Each section includes interesting and informative videos. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): augmented reality (9), digital citizenship (85), literacy (122), professional development (385)