Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Teach, learn and collaborate easily with this multi-user whiteboard. Everything that is drawn or written on the whiteboard is visible to all participants in real-time. IDroo supports an unlimited number of meeting participants, the only limitations are computer power and internet connection speed. There is a professional math typing tool built-in making it easy to teach or work through math problems collaboratively. IDroo is integrated with Skype to enhance the online collaboration experience. Currently it only works on Windows systems and requires a software download.

tag(s): iwb (31), virtual field trips (128)

DIY Chart ("Do it yourself") is a simple online tool used to create interactive charts and graphs from any data. This tool is useful to teach the graphing of complex concepts online. though not as simple as other chart creators, the detailed and sophisticated charts are able to be embedded or printed for presentations and projects.
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tag(s): charts and graphs (171)

Use Educreations' simple web-based whiteboard for the iPad app to record lessons and share with your students. Create your course(s) and control privacy settings from the beginning. Make the content public, private to your students, or private to all within the school. Create a lesson by using the online whiteboard and your microphone. Easily upload images from your computer and switch between whiteboard screens. Click on the Students tab to provide a link for students to be able to find your course. Students can self-register using the unique classroom code. Each lesson has a unique URL you can share, as well. Students can access your lessons via the web or an iPad. You can remove students from registration lists in this section.
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tag(s): blended learning (37), homework (29), remote learning (54), Teacher Utilities (198), video (266)

Enter the world of Syvum, a site of logic, math, reasoning, words, and general knowledge puzzles. Join others in playing the many games offered. Every challenge offers background information to help you understand the puzzle. With a free membership you can even create your own quizzes and puzzles.
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tag(s): creativity (86), critical thinking (127), logic (161), problem solving (233)

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. Browse the site without registration. Type Edu or education in the search bar, and find two different Education results. Clicking a picture gives a description and the option to Follow or Comment. To create/add to your pinboards, register for free. If you have an account, you can Repin the picture to a pinboard you have titled and created within your account. Click on the image again to visit the original site of the image. Often this is just what you are looking for to learn specific details. You can also search Pinterest for specific items such as Guided Reading, File Folder Activities, or other classroom needs. Pinterest members can "follow" other users and see their new items as they add them to their pinboards. Use Pinterest on any device or computer, and there is a related Facebook app.

tag(s): architecture (75), cooking (32), creativity (86), DAT device agnostic tool (147), fashion (12), guided reading (33), nutrition (140), organizational skills (88), professional development (385), social media (48), social networking (61)

This is a marvelous collective resource for any teachers of ELL/ESL students and even for teachers of other languages. The range of offerings goes from lesson plans and activities to games to grammar explanations and more. There are also teaching tips and informative articles. The overall ESL Base website also has job-finding and other important information for ESL/ELL teachers worldwide. The GRAMMAR section of this site would be useful to any class learning proper grammar (articles, reflexive pronouns, passive voice, and more). (This website does not use American English, so you may notice some slightly different spellings if using this is American schools. For example, practice is practise.
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tag(s): grammar (137), grammar review (31), professional development (385), resources (84), verbs (26)

Behavior Doctor Seminars offers resources to be used in schoolwide "Behavior Interventions and Supports." The site offers paid seminars; instead you can start positive behavioral interventions in the classroom or even schoolwide. Try these positive behavior interventions at home as well. The interventions are powerful and may sound a little too "happy" at times. But you get more with sugar than vinegar! The topics vary greatly and include parenting articles such as "100 Free Ways Parents Can Reward Their Children" and teaching articles such as "Desk Fairy Coupon for Neat Desks." There is something here for all grade levels.

tag(s): behavior (45), classroom management (120), organizational skills (88), parent conferences (21), parents (57), Special Needs (53)

This site is a wiki that allows ENL/ELL teachers to share helpful websites, games, presentations, and songs with other ENL/ELL instructors. There are PowerPoint presentations, games, templates, tutorials, songs, and more... all ready to go! You don't need to join the wiki to enjoy the games, PowerPoints, etc., but , by joining the workspace, you can comment on materials and methods, and add your own activities. Another benefit of joining is that all members receive notification of changes and new activities added to the wiki, in their email.

tag(s): directions (11), grammar (137), songs (46), vocabulary (238), writing (325)

This site provides resources for educators interested in improving students mathematics learning and development. The site includes video examples of innovative teaching methods and tools for immediate use in classrooms. Each grade level offers links to Core Ideas and most offer MARS Tasks, Rubrics, and Analysis. The MARS Task is where lesson ideas are found. These lessons are available in portions (task, rubric, questions, etc.), or as a large downloadable file containing all portions of the lesson. Be sure to click on the Common Core Resources to find tasks and materials, by grade level or standard, you can use immediately. Many other resources are available such as a school-wide problem of the month, professional development resources, and administrative leadership resources. Be sure to take the video tour of the site as an overview of all that is available.

tag(s): commoncore (73), number sense (69), place value (34), probability (99), problem solving (233), rubrics (37), statistics (121), teaching strategies (50), video (266)

News and information from top thinkers and doers around the world, screened so that it is condensed to that which is significant, relevant, and applicable, that is Big Think. This website is a phenomenal source for information and news. The philosophy of Big Think is that as we "move to the knowledge era" that you will be able to better function if you know more and understand what you know. This website was awarded one of TIME magazine's best websites of 2011 for news and information. Please screen any articles that you wish to share BEFORE sharing with your students. Some content is NOT appropriate for the classroom. This is not a site you want to send students off to explore on their own.
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tag(s): brain (56), business (52), cross cultural understanding (173), environment (252), news (229), politics (118), psychology (65)

Even though the site says the "challenge is coming soon" just click the video and it will come up in YouTube. The Download works perfectly. Use a marshmallow challenge to motivate your students! The concept of this project is to have teams of people work together to create a free standing structure that supports a marshmallow. Sounds overly simple? Well, not always. The given materials for each team are simple, inexpensive, and require creative thinking and problem solving skills to use! All in all this adds up to a fun, interesting, and entertaining activity for young to older students, business people, and any group that needs to learn how to work and think together. Spaghetti, string, marshmallows and masking tape are all the supplies that you will need. Have fun with this, your students are sure to do so! The site recommends giving your class one hour to complete the project and activities. They also mention this project would work for smaller groups (4 students) up to larger groups (800), divided into groups of 2 or 4 and working together. There is a typo in the opening paragraph of the site. However the activity content was worth looking over the typo.

tag(s): creativity (86), design (79), engineering (129), problem solving (233), structures (18)

This site offers more than just worksheets. Choose from over 17,000 worksheets and lesson plans for teaching English, make a word search or word scramble, or generate "double puzzles." Find worksheets by selecting topics including grammar and vocabulary, or use the search feature to find specific topics of interest. This site also includes many ESL essentials including games and ideas for focused lessons.
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tag(s): creative writing (124), descriptive writing (42), grammar review (31), listening (93), multilingual (77), pronunciation (34), reading comprehension (149), speaking (26), Teacher Utilities (198), vocabulary (238), vocabulary development (94)

Test any website's readability using The Readability Test Tool. Test readability by URL or direct text input from any source (such as copy/paste of student writing). Simply enter the web address (URL) and get the readability of the site on several scales. You can also check your own webpages by using the "referer" section. You will get a score for the most used readability indicators: Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease and Grade Level, Gunning Fog Score, Coleman Liau Index, and Automated Readability Index (ARI). These tell much more than a simple "grade level." View sentence info such as total characters, number of words, average word length, percentage of short and long sentences, and more. View word usage of types of verbs, conjunctions, and other parts of speech as well as type of words used to begin sentences. Click the link provided to view an explanation of each type of score.
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tag(s): independent reading (81), readability (5), writing (325)

Nobelprize.org is the official website of the Nobel Prize. Here you find information about Alfred Nobel, the prizewinners, interviews, and photos. Videos of interviews of Nobel peace prizewinners, speeches, ceremonies, interviews, banquets, lectures, announcements, award ceremonies, and documentaries fill the gamut of all of the prizewinners. The Nobel prizes awards are in literature, chemistry, medicine, peace, economics, and physics. Under the Education tab at the top find arieties of educational games/activities and lesson plans help explain many of the Nobel Award winners' work. This site clearly explains and illustrates the purpose of the awards, the award winners, and their ideas. Videos give an insider look at each of the winners.

tag(s): creativity (86), literature (221), medicine (57)

This short animated YouTube clip shares specific copyright issues, focusing on reusing previously developed materials available on the Internet by uploading and presenting them on YouTube. It begins with a written quiz on the right side of the page to assess prior knowledge and also to get viewers thinking about copyright issues. It presents the message that uploading copyrighted material onto YouTube can have serious consequences. It also explores the fact that, in addition to written and broadcast media, performances and other public presentations may also be copyrighted. It explains the concept of Fair Use in easy-to-understand terms and examples. It also points out that you may watch for people who misuse material and report any such items so they will be removed from YouTube. The video is hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then it may not be viewable.
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tag(s): copyright (44), multimedia (53), plagiarism (34)

This PBS site is a reorganized collection of over 16,000+ public media offerings (including radio and photographs), arranged specifically for preK-12 teachers. You can search by subject (the landing page subject is physical education) and grade level across many subjects. After viewing three offerings, you must join (for free) to continue. Membership includes the option of saving favorites. Use the search box at the top to find correlations to state standards. The site is still in development, so material is being added frequently.

tag(s): alphabet (53), careers (156), dance (31), data (151), decimals (85), diseases (67), fitness (39), human body (93), mark twain (8), multimedia (53), music theory (46), percent (59), probability (99), problem solving (233), psychology (65)

Mind 42 is an easy to use mind mapping (or concept mapping) tool. You create the format and easily add links, notes, to do lists, images, or even a Wikipedia article. Import the result into documents or perhaps a Skype conversation. Bring mind maps/concept maps to a new level!

tag(s): concept mapping (15), mind map (27)

authorSTREAM, an internet based presentation maker that is based on PowerPoint formatting, is easy to use and offers some very useful and unique features. Offering more than the basic PowerPoint creation greatly expands its value. Special features of authorSTREAM include the ability to make public presentations, download presentations as FLV, MP4, AVI, and WMV files, present live to an online audience anywhere in the world, and the ability to create a "channel" or collection of all your online work. With this application, you can add YouTube videos and sound narration directly to your presentations. Of these features, perhaps the two most unique are the ability to download in different formats. Using this, you can create a movie to be played on a television or create a file that can be shared by all of your audience on iTunes, since MP4 is iTunes language! With private presentations -- or even public ones -- you can protect access with a password. Also, this program has an add-on in PowerPoint that allows you to search web content directly from the application.

tag(s): multimedia (53), slides (43), video (266)

This site offers a myriad of memory games, brain games, quizzes, and more. Train your brain to think! Interactives offered in a variety of languages include: Dragger, Counterfeit, The Game you Can't Stop, Masterpieces, Sudoko, Mastermind, Crime Scene, The Image Quiz, Anagramania, Square Words, Speed Read, and Spellice. Many other games are also included. After winning a game, you earn a ticket. The tickets let you enter the bonus room to win a surprise image.

tag(s): gifted (66), logic (161), spelling (98)

Curriki is a nonprofit organization that encourages teachers and learners' to collaborate in developing quality educational materials in a global community. Click What We Do from the top menu and slide to CurikiStudio, and click Creators to create a free account and find resources like questions, photos/images, multimedia, and more for interactive lesson creation. Next under Solutions is CurrikiGo, where you will publish your lessons, etc. Last on the dropdown list is the CurrikiLibrary, where you can search by subject area, grade level, or resource type (interactive, video, or podcast). For a thorough summary of Curriki click the Explore a CurrikiStudio Activity. Join different groups for a more involved way to explore new areas in online learning, subject area interests, or focus questions. Create collections of your resources to keep private or share with others. This site focuses on providing free access to teachers, schools, students, or parents to many new creative ideas for in-class learning, digital learning, and hybrid or blended learning in a global community. Free membership includes monthly newsletters. Follow Curriki on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or blogs.
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tag(s): graphic organizers (48), literacy (122), OER (43), operations (72), resources (84), rubrics (37), Teacher Utilities (198)