Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Look into a high school Algebra classroom through this intriguing blog. The author shares thoughts on professional topics such as lesson planning, gamification of the classroom, and aligning instruction across grade levels. In addition, he shares downloads and activities for classroom use. View archived posts back to June 2011. Browse through tagged categories to find specific content such as lessons or student response.

tag(s): blogs (65), gamification (83)

The cost of college continues to rise, and student debt has a significant impact on the US economy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers several important resources for those thinking about how to pay for college. An overview of student loans and how they work provides important consumer information. Also, some brief money management and banking can help those just starting out. The best part of Paying for College, however, is the financial aid offer comparison tool, which allows you to evaluate up to three financial aid offers from colleges using real "apples to apples" data. Finally, there is excellent advice about repaying student debt.

tag(s): banks (8), college (45), financial aid (13), financial literacy (93), money (113)

Visually compare current data about cities all around the world. Choose three cities at a time to access information such as work, movement (including transportation), systems, and people. View the findings of all three cities side by side. After viewing introductory maps and a summary of trends about any specific city, click on specific information you need. The interactive and manipulable maps change as each different theme about the city comes up. You can easily and quickly compare different parts of the population, weather details, transportation facts, historical boundaries, parks, and many other themes. Creators of the site have the goal of adding data about more cities around the world and welcome outside additions to the fact bank.

tag(s): cities (17), data (151), population (51), railroads (14)

Diagnostic Questions offers over 2000 quick questions for an immediate and accurate look at student understanding of math concepts. Choose the question link to browse and find questions by topic. Choose "Random Question" for one question on any topic. Each question offers multiple choice answers and checks for the correct response. View each response to find out how many others made that choice. Optional site registration allows you to assemble collections of questions into quizzes to save and share. Use the online editor to create and share your own quizzes and questions in just seconds. The site was created in the UK, so it has some pronunciations and spellings different from American English.

tag(s): angles (52), area (53), assessment (147), charts and graphs (171), data (151), decimals (85), equations (119), exponents (35), fractions (160), functions (52), geometric shapes (134), median (16), order of operations (29), statistics (121), time (91), vectors (16)

You're Getting Old! takes an entertaining look at numbers based on your birthdate. Choose to enter a birth date for yourself or for a friend and Go. The site will tell you your age in years and days with other fun (or perhaps gloomy) facts. Calculators show number of candles on your birthday cakes so far, breaths taken, moon orbits around the earth since your birth, and more. Other information tells about important dates since your birth, age milestones, and your age in comparison to others. This site is certain to entertain and provide many opportunities for exploring numbers! Note: There is a public X (formerly Twitter) feed on this site, so preview or "cover" that portion if sharing in a classroom.

tag(s): calculators (36), number lines (33), number sense (69), timelines (56)

Slack is a real-time messaging and video tool for teams that includes archiving and search features. Create channels for different groups or teams to include messages, files, images, and more for sharing. Drag and drop files work with Google Docs, Dropbox, and others making it easy to share across several different platforms. Easily search Slack archives to find discussions, documents, and more. Slack's now offers free voice and video calls between teammates.
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tag(s): chat (41), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147), microblogging (14), organizational skills (88), social networking (61), video (266)

Create a polished, professional live chat on your blog or class site with this FREE tool. Create a "How Can I Help You?" message to pop-up as parents and students visit the page. When in an active chat, visitors receive a pop-up asking if they wish to join the chat. This tool runs on every platform and mobile device. Be sure to check out the demo tab to understand how to use the tool in your website. Add the HTML code into your site to add the chat box and features. Use this tool to analyze site traffic so you can identify what is most used by students and parents.
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tag(s): chat (41), communication (129), DAT device agnostic tool (147)

Any.do is an online to-do list to manage daily tasks across all devices. Create your account and start adding things you need to do. Choose from today, tomorrow, upcoming, or someday in the Time View format. Click the folder icon to sort lists into work, personal, or a folder you name. Choices include adding a time for tasks, options for reoccurrence, and an alarm reminder. Download the Any.do app to sync tasks seamlessly across any iOs or Android device and your computer.

tag(s): calendars (37), organizational skills (88)

Easily track time spent on projects without time sheets! Enter your task and click to begin tracking. View the day-by-day breakdown of time spent on the activities. Generate summary, detailed, or weekly reports. Use this tool to create teams and generate team reports. Invite members by email and mark team data as public or private as needed. Use multiple machines in the day? No problem. Time is tracked across multiple devices including Android and iOs.
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tag(s): classroom management (120), DAT device agnostic tool (147), organizational skills (88), Teacher Utilities (198), time (91)

Spend some time with this real-time typing competition to increase your typing speed AND accuracy. Nitro has multiplayer typing car races where competition is against either other unknown members or with friends. At the signal to go, racers type the words they see on the screen and mistakes are highlighted in pink as you go. Correcting a mistake while racing is do-able. The faster you type, the faster your race car will speed ahead. Race as a guest to try this typing game, or sign up to keep track of your progress or to race against friends.

tag(s): game based learning (205), keyboarding (28)

Create and personalize online surveys quickly with SoGoSurvey's easy to use online platform. This survey tool will work on ANY device. Step by step wizards guide you through the process of adding images, videos, logos, and more. There are many features including steps for using the survey process and even receiving email alerts for negative responses. Choose from over 25 sample surveys to modify or start your own from scratch. Add questions in multiple-choice format or more complex matrix grid formats. Share completed surveys via email invitations or social networking links. The free account allows you to create up to 15 surveys with 75 questions and up to 200 responses. Use this tool anywhere a quick, simple poll is required and on any device! This tool works on mobile device browsers.
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tag(s): data (151), polls and surveys (49)

Let the games begin with ARIS, an open-source, web-based platform to create and play mobile games, tours, and interactive stories that will run on iOS devices. ARIS stands for Augmented Reality for Interactive Storytelling. ARIS is an authoring environment for non-programmers, and also a toolbox of useful code for people that want to make their own interactive mobile apps. You will experience a virtual world of interactive characters, items, and media using GPS and QR Codes through Google Maps reviewed here. During the games, you can trade items with other characters, drop them on the map, get them from characters, or have them taken away. Download the free ARIS app to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to play the games. After creating your player account, select from a list of ARIS experiences. Each game will start on the quest screen, and the quests will likely tell you to go somewhere physically. Open the map screen to see your position and destination to begin the game. QR codes are used to help ARIS determine your position as you complete the quests. A few games contain codes that can be used to access some of the content remotely.

Use the ARIS Editor to create your own games under the "Make Games" section of the site. A separate account is needed to play games, but you can use the same username and password if you want. You'll begin with a Google map on the main screen where you can search to zoom into a particular place in the world. Use the object pallet located on the left-side of your screen to create characters, items, and plaques. Drag and drop the items you authored onto your map to build your interactive game. When your game is ready to publish, you need to set up your iOS device to work with the server for the authoring tool. You need to change the server URL under the ARIS settings to http://arisgames.org/stagingserver1.

tag(s): augmented reality (9), design (79), maps (220), qr codes (18)

Free Map Tools provides tools for measuring, marking up, and using overlays with maps. Scroll through to find tools for discovering the radius around any point on a map, calculating the area of the enclosed point on a map, or determining the distance between any two points. Choose any of the tools to begin and follow directions to find results. This site has some clickable advertisements, so be cautious where you click.
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tag(s): area (53), map skills (63), maps (220), measurement (122)

Find a gem of an infographic with a multitude of action verbs for the different tiers of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. This colorful, eye-pleasing infographic of verbs starts at the top of the taxonomy with higher order thinking skills (HOTS). Learn some new HOTS words to use yourself or with students.

tag(s): blooms taxonomy (7), verbs (26)

Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics (wasteachMathematics) offers many activities, simulations, lessons, videos, and more for upper elementary through high school math instruction. Choose from the topics of Numbers, Algebra, Geometry & Measure, and Statistics & Probability. Although this is a subscription site, a large amount of free content is available. Find "Free Stuff" by topic by clicking on the button at the top left of the home page. When on a topic page, click "Free Pages" near the top right of the page.
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tag(s): equations (119), factors (29), geometric shapes (134), numbers (120), probability (99), problem solving (233), puzzles (149), statistics (121), symmetry (26)

Fake iPhone text is a tool to create fake screenshots of a series of iPhone text messages. Enter your conversation including name and message. Click the link "Create" to view the picture. Take a screenshot or copy the URL to share.
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tag(s): creative writing (124), digital storytelling (154), gamification (83), writing prompts (61)

The Fun Theory is a collection of experiments captured on video to find out if making tasks more fun can change people's behavior. One of the most popular videos on The Fun Theory is a staircase in a subway station. The stairs were converted into working piano keys as a way to convince commuters to take the stairs over the escalator. Another test uses a game-based scenario to recycle bottles. Students and colleagues at all levels are subject to the same ineffective carrots-and-sticks. Why search around for methods to motivate when fun is the key to unlocking a world of possibilities? A contest also encourages visitors to upload their own applications of The Fun Theory. After watching the videos, you will see the evidence that appealing to an individual's intrinsic motivation is better on many levels. Make the road less traveled FUN! The collection of Fun Theory videos is an excellent resource to support game-based learning in your classroom. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.
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tag(s): psychology (65), science fairs (20), scientific method (48), video (266)

ComSlider is free online slideshow creator. Upload your images up to 3mb each, choose a template, then let comSlider work its magic! Customize your slideshow with other options such as width, height, and transition options using controls on the left. Register to save and receive html code for embedding and sharing.

tag(s): images (263), slides (43)

Enjoy and use award-winning educational science (and some math) videos. Presented by distinguished scholars and scientists, the videos originated during conferences, summer schools, workshops, and science promotional events. Peruse the Nobel laureate speakers section to become inspired. Categories featured include architecture, arts, astronomy, biology, business, chemistry, computers, computer science, Earth sciences, environment, events, health sciences, humanities, life sciences, mathematics, medicine, military, philosophy, physics, regional, science, social sciences, sports, and technology. There is a free newsletter where you can stay up to date with the latest science information.

tag(s): cells (82), computers (109), creativity (86), data (151), engineering (129), machines (17), scientists (67)

Explore the progressions of the Common Core math standards throughout the grade levels. Look at different areas of mathematical standards, numbers and operations, base ten, counting cardinality in algebraic thinking, numbers and operations for fractions, geometry, and measurement and data in grades kindergarten through grade five. In grades six through eight explore statistics and probability, expressions and equations, the number system, ratios, and proportional relationships. In high school discover the progressions in algebra, functions, and modeling. Find resources for further development of programs offered to support Common Core mathematics. Discover research, periodicals and groups using Common Core math.

tag(s): commoncore (73)