Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

We see cultures through our own eyes, a lens that is influenced by our own frame of reference and experiences. Another way to learn about cultures is to view them through the eyes of others through an examination of images created by others. Visualizing Cultures brings us images from Asia, many not widely circulated before, that illustrate historical events such as the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the Black Ships, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each set of images is accompanied by narratives, lesson plans, and printable handouts to provide context. While we may have seen photographs of Hiroshima's devastation, we can now view the story through the eyes and drawings of Japanese survivors.

tag(s): asia (135), china (80), cross cultural understanding (177), japan (61), perspective (26), visualizations (15)

Discover a collection of resources for the teaching and learning of fractions, decimals, and percentages. These resources will work on your interactive whiteboard, most tablets, iPad, or a regular computer! This site does seem ideal for BYOD classrooms, but they do mention that some of the activities run slow on a standard Android browser. An app (non Internet) version will be available soon for a small fee. This review is for the free portion of the site. At the time of this review, there were 15 free resources to explore. Some sample topics include Fraction Bars, Decimal Compare, Percent to Fraction, Decimal Lines, and more. Some activities require flash which is not supported on all browsers.
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tag(s): decimals (94), fractions (179)

The Lowell Milken Center discovers, develops and communicates the stories of Unsung Heroes who have made a profound and positive impact on the course of history. Click Programs on the top menu and select Unsung Hero Projects to learn about everyday people who became heroes by standing up to adversity in their lives. Each project features information about the hero and the storyteller. Some projects include links to student-created web pages and videos. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. Start your own Unsung Hero project using the ten steps provided to include inspiration from start to finish. This resource also includes Lesson Plans.

tag(s): charactered (77), heroes (23), Project Based Learning (25)

Copy Paste Character offers a large assortment of characters to use with any text. Choose from characters within a favorite set such as music notes, smiley faces, or mathematical symbols. Click on any symbol then paste into your document. View other sets such as graphic shapes, punctuation, and emojis using the drop-down box. Registration is not required, but it is an option if you want to create and save sets for future use.

tag(s): images (263), symbols (18)

Here you will find everything you will ever need to know about plagiarism and citing sources. Start with the article on the right "What is Plagiarism." Be sure to check out all the categories from the left menu. There you will find lots of videos and articles regarding citing sources (explains what a citation is), why one should cite sources, how to paraphrase, how to quote material, what a footnote is, and when one should cite the source. There are several interesting videos with titles like "Everything is a Remix." This is a hot topic and definitely a site to save and share with students! Some of the videos reside on YouTube, if your school blocks YouTube they may not be viewable on classroom computers. You could flip your classroom and have the students watch those videos at home.

tag(s): citations (31), plagiarism (32), Research (80), summarizing (25)

Use your pictures and PhotoFunia to create photo collages, flyers, family trees, holiday albums, and more. PhotoFunia has hundreds of effects and filters. More are added weekly. To add shadows, age your photo, or render it black and white, visit the Filters category. Add clever features such as an astronaut or a Santa suit, a witch's hat, or a queen's crown. Looking for an attractive frame for your photos? Find one here. Write on the sand or graffiti text on the wall. Carve your name on the ground or create your very own road sign using text effects. The program is as easy to use as picking the effect and uploading a photo. Save it to your computer or email it. Try using PhotoFunia online or get the free app for iOS or Android, and most other smartphones. At the time of this review, all photo effects appeared appropriate for use in the classroom. However, we always suggest you preview the tool before sharing it with students.

tag(s): collages (17), comics and cartoons (61), DAT device agnostic tool (125), editing (88), images (263), photography (133), posters (43)