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Inspirational Quotes for Teachers - Windows to the Universe
Grades
2 to 12
5 Favorites
0 Comments
Inspire yourself and your students with Windows to the Universe Motivational Quotes. Although a rather simple site in appearance, there is a lot of "good stuff" here. Add creativity,...more
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Inspire yourself and your students with Windows to the Universe Motivational Quotes. Although a rather simple site in appearance, there is a lot of "good stuff" here. Add creativity, encouragement, and an atmosphere of excellence to your classroom and your life.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): firstday (22), quotations (18)
In the Classroom
Post in the signature on your email, on your website, or even on your whiteboard! Encourage leadership, hope, and inspiration! Use quotes as a theme for writing prompts or even to relate to the theme of a story. Use the quotes as examples of figurative language. Add quotes to end of year picture CDs/DVDs. Use the quotes to inspire personal or classroom mission statements. Have students include a quote when turning in work, and explain how it inspired or helped them. Add music or art to explain a quote. During the first week of the school year, share this site with students. Challenge students to choose a "quote of the year" for themselves personally. Have students put the quote in their notebook, folder, or as a screen saver. Also, choose a few quotes to hang around your classroom. If you need more quotes, check out TeachersFirst's Bulletin Board Hangups.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Quandary - Learning Games Network
Grades
3 to 9
1 Favorites
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Quandary is an online simulation in ethical decision-making while building a new colony on the planet Braxos. Face decisions without right or wrong answers but that have implications...more
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Quandary is an online simulation in ethical decision-making while building a new colony on the planet Braxos. Face decisions without right or wrong answers but that have implications on you and others in the colony. This activity was created for students ages 8-14. Login is optional to save scores or track and assess student performance or you can play as a guest. The game includes four different episodes with each containing different scenarios for decision-making. View information on the game, extension questions and more within the teachers and parents portions of the site. Find lesson plans, standards mapping (matched to Common Core ELA standards), and printable materials within the teachers section for classroom use. Don't miss the introduction video, under Families, explaining the site!
tag(s): creativity (84), critical thinking (171), ethics (20), game based learning (299), social and emotional learning (166)
In the Classroom
Try this activity on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Create a quick poll (with no membership required) using Poll Everywhere, reviewed here, to view students' choices of actions to take throughout the game. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos using Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, explaining what they learned and sharing them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here, to explain the decision-making process for different scenarios.
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ESL Discussions - Sean Banville
Grades
7 to 12
2 Favorites
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ESL Discussions is a resource of over 600 discussion questions. They could be used in ESL/ELL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, and as needed for any speaking activities. Categorized...more
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ESL Discussions is a resource of over 600 discussion questions. They could be used in ESL/ELL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, and as needed for any speaking activities. Categorized alphabetically, topics include everyday themes such as donuts as well as more controversial topics such as marijuana. Teachers working with K-12 students will want to select the questions rather than sending students to the site since there are also some very sensitive topics. Choose a topic to view two sets of questions to spark conversations: one for student A and another for student B. Choose the link to print questions in either Word or PDF. Although this site has a lot of advertisements, there are some very interesting topics to discuss/share.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to use anytime you want to develop and promote discussion skills in your classroom. After students have completed their discussion questions, have them present their findings to the class then create a quick poll using using Poll Everywhere, reviewed here. Share with ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers as a resource for promoting discussion and speaking skills with their students. Use this site for teacher-selected topics in debate club, speech class, and more. Some of the topics could even make good blog prompts.
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Whyville - Mundeon
Grades
4 to 10
2 Favorites
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Enter the interactive virtual world of Whyville, where students explore STEM, art, culture, and digital citizenship through hands-on simulations and creative activities. After...more
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Enter the interactive virtual world of Whyville, where students explore STEM, art, culture, and digital citizenship through hands-on simulations and creative activities. After creating a customizable avatar, learners can participate in science challenges, design experiments, practice math and physics concepts, create art, and take part in collaborative community events. Many classic features remain, such as the Zero Gravity Chamber for exploring force and motion, the Rocket Design and Engine Labs for testing scientific ideas, and public-health simulations that teach students how diseases spread and how communities respond. Students can also navigate vector fields in balloon races, join global art scavenger hunts, or choreograph dances in the studio. Throughout the world, they earn clams, collect salaries, manage a bank account, read the daily news, and experiment with responsible online behavior in a moderated, safe environment. While logging in with an email is required for full participation, many areas are available without registration. Whyville continues to be an award-winning platform that blends learning, creativity, and digital citizenship in a way that feels like an adventure for students
tag(s): aircraft (26), animals (271), dance (42), diseases (60), logic (163), money (113), motion (55), puzzles (161), recycling (45), social skills (23), vectors (16)
In the Classroom
Reinforce safe online behavior as your students explore opportunities for learning. The chat feature is a perfect opportunity to practice safe interactions. Demonstrate this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use as a reward in your classroom or to extend and enrich concepts learned in math and science. Offer Whyville as a safe enrichment tool for students to use at home. Encourage all students to join in the educational activities. Have students explore a Whyville simulation, collect data, and connect the experience to a real-world science concept.
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Trace Effects - U.S. Department of State
Grades
7 to 12
1 Favorites
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The U.S. Department of State designed this interactive game to help ESL/ELL learners to learn American English. However, many non-ESL/ELL students could greatly benefit (and enjoy)...more
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The U.S. Department of State designed this interactive game to help ESL/ELL learners to learn American English. However, many non-ESL/ELL students could greatly benefit (and enjoy) this highly interactive experience and look at U.S. culture. Download Unity Player to begin. Registration is free, but does require an email address. Begin your mission with Trace, a teen back in time from the year 2045. Help Trace return to his regular time by completing several challenges. Trace must follow directions (called objectives) on each screen. He travels to 8 separate locations around the U.S. Learn about entrepreneurship, community activism, empowering women, science and innovation, environmental conservation, and conflict resolution. Travel to Kansas, New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Complete 28 practice activities. You will also find 4 multi-player practice challenges, 7 graphic novels for extension activities, and an American English dictionary integration activity. The game is so involved, that you will not even realize that you are also learning English.
tag(s): communities (38), conflict resolution (10), conservation (107), cross cultural understanding (177), women (186)
In the Classroom
This site offers a window on American culture that you can use in comparing cultures. It is a great way to engage ESL/ELL teens as they practice English skills. Since the State Department created it, an AP Civics or Government class might even want to critique or discuss its portrayal of U.S. culture. Have ESL/ELL students work on individual laptops and explore this site alone or with a partner. Provide this link for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Challenge your students to collaboratively write the dialogue for an additional visit Trace might make to a community near you using Google Docs/Drive reviewed here. Your more technologically savvy students may like to create another version of a Trace visit to go along with the dialog! In a world language class, have students work collaboratively to create a visit to a cultural site using this game as a model.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Historical Thinking Interactive Poster (Secondary) - National History Education Clearinghouse
Grades
6 to 12
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Learn to think like a historian. See how we know about the past by using this interactive poster. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of ...more
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Learn to think like a historian. See how we know about the past by using this interactive poster. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of the quadrants and click. More information, activities, and links will appear. Each of the quadrants also has additional teaching resources. On the far left column you will find links to "What Is Historical Thinking?" a video, "What are Primary Sources?" and "What are Secondary Sources?" Unfortunately the video link is not working at this time so here is the one that works Historical Thinking Video.
tag(s): civil rights (220), evaluating sources (36), history day (39), infographics (69), primary sources (125)
In the Classroom
Use your projector or interactive whiteboard and teach your students how to think like a historian. There are some interesting links here for you and your students to investigate. For instance, there are links for exploring the modern civil rights movement, primary sources to look at diary entries from other time periods, examining lithographs, using and reading multiple perspectives, and several more. You may want to go through each quadrant with the entire class, or you might want to assign groups to become "specialists" in a quadrant and have them present it to your class. Challenge the groups to create presentations using Prezi, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Brown Bookshelf - Paula Chase-Hyman
Grades
K to 12
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The Brown Bookshelf features literature for young readers written by and featuring people of color. View the archives to find book reviews, author's chats, and some videos that accompany...more
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The Brown Bookshelf features literature for young readers written by and featuring people of color. View the archives to find book reviews, author's chats, and some videos that accompany books featured on the site. A flagship feature of the site is the 28 Days Later portion. Each day during Black History Month features a different author. It is a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by African Americans to help parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers recommend good reads. Archives are available beginning with the 2008 campaign.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): african american (130), black history (129), book lists (160), civil rights (220), cultures (290), literature (213), preK (318)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for use throughout the year, not just during Black History Month. Create a link on classroom computers for students to explore and find books for reading. Share this link on your class website or blog for students to use at home. Showcase books found on this site for classroom read aloud. Librarians will find this site helpful for creating displays in their library or for presentations in classrooms. Enhance student learning by having students create commercials for books found on this site using a tool like PowToon, reviewed here and share them using a tool such as School Tube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Mighty Girl - Carolyn Danckaert and Aaron Smith
Grades
K to 12
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Are you looking for materials portraying strong females? If so, this site is a great resource to find books, movies, toys, and music that portray strong, confident, female characters....more
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Are you looking for materials portraying strong females? If so, this site is a great resource to find books, movies, toys, and music that portray strong, confident, female characters. Choose from the "best of" lists to find top Asian Pacific or Latino mighty girls among other specific categories. Filter books by categories such as age, award winners, social issues, and language. Many picture books are also featured, making this a site even the youngest students can use. Visit the Character Collection link to learn about various famous females and books available about each character. Be aware: much of this site features items for sale. You may want to use this site solely for finding topic ideas, strong/famous women for research and sharing, and literature to locate in your local library.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): biographies (94), book lists (160), cross cultural understanding (177), literature (213), women (186), womens suffrage (64)
In the Classroom
Choose from books included on this site for classroom use portraying strong female role models. Share with parents through your website for use at home when choosing books, movies, and toys. After reading two books, compare characters using an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Thought Questions - Marc and Angel Hack Life
Grades
5 to 12
8 Favorites
0 Comments
How do you know when you're happy? What's one bad habit that makes you miserable? Find open-ended questions on Thought Questions daily. A gorgeous photograph complements each...more
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How do you know when you're happy? What's one bad habit that makes you miserable? Find open-ended questions on Thought Questions daily. A gorgeous photograph complements each question. The site provides a space for you to answer these questions online or not. Maximize the benefits of self-reflection by taking the time to think! Visit this site daily, weekly, or monthly. There are hundreds of questions and photos to contemplate, and they post a new one daily. The public is able to answer the questions on the site, so you may want to only use this on an adult's computer.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): critical thinking (171), writing (309), writing prompts (57)
In the Classroom
This is the perfect site to start your students' day or end your day with them. Use these questions as writing prompts or quick writes. Penzu, reviewed here, is a quick and easy blog tool to replace paper and pencil and enhance learning. You may want to ask students to choose their favorite and form small groups to discuss their answers. Post some of the same questions on bulletin boards. Discussing or debating these questions would be a powerful community builder at the beginning of the year or when forming new small groups. To avoid the advertising, have your question on the screen before projecting it on your screen or whiteboard. If your class includes gifted students, they may react well to such thought-provokers. Encourage them to collect favorite prompts and responses in an "idea bin" such as Lino, reviewed here, to use at times when they are ahead of the class or need extra writing challenges.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List: 100 Leaders - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
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This CurriConnects list offers books for student independent reading about leaders. This list of leaders includes a wide range of figures, from politics and literature to the arts and...more
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This CurriConnects list offers books for student independent reading about leaders. This list of leaders includes a wide range of figures, from politics and literature to the arts and entertainment. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBNs for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, and Lexiles'® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. Don't miss other themes being added regularly. If your school or public library does not have the books, try an inter-library loan!
tag(s): artists (98), book lists (160), politics (124), presidents (150), scientists (71)
In the Classroom
Use this list as you study any topic that features leaders: the founding fathers, famous scientists, and much more. Encourage students to read about leaders in diverse fields - including the one you are studying - to compare and discuss what makes someone a successful leader and why people rise to the top among their peers across time, place, and circumstance. You could also form an after-school book club around this list or use the nonfiction listings as practice with informational texts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do Lectures - Talks That Inspire Action - The Chicken Shed
Grades
6 to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
Do Lectures are like TED Talk videos, inspiring talks from people who are changing the world. Some examples of titles are Tiktok Made Me Buy It and What If We ...more
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Do Lectures are like TED Talk videos, inspiring talks from people who are changing the world. Some examples of titles are Tiktok Made Me Buy It and What If We Could Build A Database Of Dreams? Search by topic (business, creativity, environment, food, sport, technology, or well-being) or by speaker. Learn more about lecturers by clicking the link to their bio, or find similar videos with the links included with each talk. Share videos easily on social networking sites with buttons included with each talk, or use the embed code to embed talks into your blog or website. Even more simply, copy/paste the url for the video to share it.
tag(s): business (50), careers (200), creativity (84), debate (39), environment (252), nutrition (138), psychology (61), sociology (24)
In the Classroom
Do Lectures are a great place to find inspiration and new ideas for your classroom. Many of the videos connect today's real world with curriculum topics, even in entrepreneurship, health, or family and consumer science classes. Use Do Lecture videos as the perfect supplement or launching point for units of study in your classroom. Find a video that supports the topics happening in your classroom. Share on your website for student viewing. Use on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) for a whole class discussion. Stop the video at various points to discuss or debate ideas included. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos in response to videos viewed on Do Lectures or their own topic. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Teachers of gifted could plan an entire unit of study around one video or have students select one to use as the launch point for an independent project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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EDSITEent - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Find lesson ideas and more for literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, history, and social studies at the reworked site that was once part of MarcoPolo. Lesson...more
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Find lesson ideas and more for literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, history, and social studies at the reworked site that was once part of MarcoPolo. Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, book articles, databases, educational gaming, professional development events, sound, film, video resources, and resource website lists all aid teachers and learners. A calendar keeps you up to date on famous historical dates.
tag(s): art history (103), cultures (290), Juneteenth (31), literacy (125)
In the Classroom
Use EDSITEment for lesson ideas in language, history, literature, and cultures. Find multiple sources to give a deeper comprehension of the subject matter. In history classes, keep the ongoing calendar in your favorites to celebrate an important historical day every day. Lesson plans cover multiple grade levels in many different subject areas. Resources can enrich or even provide further explanation to current topics of study.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Zinn Education Project - Zinn Education Project
Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
The Zinn Education Project provides teaching resources as a part of its effort to offer an alternative to traditional methods of teaching history. Inspired by the work of Howard Zinn,...more
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The Zinn Education Project provides teaching resources as a part of its effort to offer an alternative to traditional methods of teaching history. Inspired by the work of Howard Zinn, the site and its resources come from a clearly progressive point of view and focus heavily on issues of social justice. Understand there is a political agenda here. The website offers both lesson plans and other teaching materials and a bibliography of related books and other non-web-based resources. In order to access the teaching materials, you must register on the site.
tag(s): african american (130), bias (30), black history (129), civics (127), civil rights (220), hispanic (54), racism (80), women (186)
In the Classroom
If you are looking for additional teaching materials that focus on issues of social justice, racism, or which provide information from a progressive point of view, you can search by time period or theme (i.e., African American, Mexico, Hispanic, Latinx, LGBT, War and Anti-War, Civil Rights, Racism, and many more). The teaching materials are in PDF format you can download once you log in. Language arts teachers will find the articles here great for nonfiction reading and terrific as discussion starters!
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The HTML5 Gendered Advertising Remixer - Jonathan McIntosh
Grades
6 to 12
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1 Comments
Do advertisers market to boys and girls differently? The answer is obvious: Yes! Beyond that, how does that affect children's development and society in general? This site does not...more
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Do advertisers market to boys and girls differently? The answer is obvious: Yes! Beyond that, how does that affect children's development and society in general? This site does not offer a specific answer to those questions, but can make distinctions between boy-girl-centric advertising painfully clear. It is a simple concept: run the audio portion of an ad targeting boys under the video of an ad targeted to girls, or vice versa. Then consider what this "mashup" now communicates. The directions ask you to drag and drop icons; do not drag them to the big open box in the center of the page. Instead, drop one ad on the "audio" icon, and the other ad on the "video" icon; the mashup plays in the middle. If you go to the home page for the project, there are other "mashups" available focused on certain kinds of toys and advertising. You can view in either HTML 5 or Flash.
tag(s): advertising (24), consumers (16), media literacy (113), psychology (61), sociology (24), women (186)
In the Classroom
One of the truisms about analyzing culture is that it is difficult to see the impact of cultural norms and practices from the inside. Students will probably agree that advertising targets boys differently than girls, but they may have serious difficulty considering what impact it has had on them. This site may help them see the subtle messages in advertising, and how those messages constrain or empower them. Project the mashups on an interactive whiteboard and then ask students how the audio changes the message on the video portion. Reverse the two and ask the same question. What does this say about the girls' gender roles? What does this say about boys' gender roles? What does this say about the impact of play on learning adult roles? Have student groups create digital "collections" of examples of gender-targeted ads using a tool such as Evernote reviewed here or turn them into mosaics of ad images using Mosaic Maker reviewed here. Note: Since students are specifically studying advertising and critiquing the ads, it would not be a copyright violation to add images as part of a media project to illustrate gender targeting.Comments
This is fascinating but somewhat difficult to know how to use. A rich resource. I found the key to making it usable was the list of questions for discussion which are here: http://www.genderremixer.com/curriculum/Sandra, , Grades: 0 - 5
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The Legacy Project - Susan V. Bosak
Grades
3 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
The Legacy Project is a big picture learning project for adults, youth, and children. There are three categories to the program where you develop your legacy: personal, interpersonal,...more
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The Legacy Project is a big picture learning project for adults, youth, and children. There are three categories to the program where you develop your legacy: personal, interpersonal, and community. Explore your connection with others in your life and create closer relationships between generations. Find out how you can help make a better world by addressing issues like building stronger communities and caring for the environment. The Legacy Project was inspired by the award-winning bestseller, Dream, and is a content rich site that explores all aspects of the hopes and dreams we have for ourselves and our world. You can identify and reach for your goals to make a difference in your own life and our world.
tag(s): communities (38), crafts (109), cross cultural understanding (177), environment (252), writing (309)
In the Classroom
The Legacy Project's free online activities for all ages include creative crafts, art projects, games, self-assessments, reproducible pages, and even lesson ideas with curriculum connections for teachers. There are also free guides, tips, and feature articles. Resources can be used individually or grouped to create a themed set that run the gammit from literacy to family, history, or science. There are even free online certificates you can download!Challenge your students to think about questions like: What are your goals and what would you like to be, do, and learn? How can you achieve your goals? What can you learn about your own hopes and dreams and those of others? How can you think globally and act locally? How can we better understand other people and cultures that live in our communities or a whole continent away from us? The Legacy Project combines practical, classroom-tested ideas and research-based insights with a little fun and inspiration to inform and inspire all ages - children, teens, and adults. Using resources like the Dream book, students explore the world around them and their role in it - past, present, and future.
The Legacy Project's annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest brings generations in family and community closer and promotes the importance and uniqueness of inter-generational relationships. Students between the ages of 8-18 years interview a grandparent or "grand-friend" about their life and write an essay. This also opens the door for so many creative projects such as photo essays, (using their own digital images or finding ones that are legally permitted to be reproduced). Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here.
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Spreaker - Spreaker Online Radio
Grades
1 to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
Create a live Internet radio show -- free -- with Spreaker! This super easy online tool creates podcasts instantly for you to share with your own URL, on Facebook, Google ...more
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Create a live Internet radio show -- free -- with Spreaker! This super easy online tool creates podcasts instantly for you to share with your own URL, on Facebook, Google +, Soundcloud, X (formerly Twitter), or add to the Spreaker website. Follow others, or invite others to follow your podcasts. With a click of a button you are creating a live podcast. There is a free version and a more deluxe premium version. This review is for the free version.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): communication (120), podcasts (155), radio (17)
In the Classroom
Enjoy a live radio show from your classroom! Publish written pieces of writing, science reports, social studies reports, and any other reports you would like to share. Create a New Book or Book Review podcast for the media center. Link to your podcast URL on your class website. Publish directions to projects, explanations for difficult concepts, or even a radio show of you reading your favorite books for your students. Have upper elementary students take turns reading aloud for a podcast aimed at little reading buddies in kindergarten. Allow students to podcast to "pen pals" in faraway places. Record your school choir, orchestra group, poetry club, or drama club doing their best work or dramatic readings of Shakespeare soliloquies. Take your school newspaper to a new level with recorded radio articles. Be sure to include interviews with students, teachers, principals, parents, authors, artists, and almost anyone. In younger grades, use to save an audio portfolio of reading fluency, expression, or to aid with running records or even include writing. Be sure do this regularly throughout the year to analyze growth. Have fun at Halloween with your Halloween station filled with favorite spooky stories! Welcome your students to a new school year by sending them your message. Create messages for classmates who move away. Bring your foreign language classes an extra resource of your pronunciations whenever they need more practice. ESL/ELL, special education classes can often benefit from the extra explanations, practice, and elaborated instructions given at their own pace. The possibilities are endless! The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it while at school and under your supervision.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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edublogs - edublogs.org
Grades
K to 12
4 Favorites
0 Comments
Blog your way into the latest social technology using edublogs. Use the free service to set up a blog as a student, teacher, or campus. This education friendly tool avoids ...more
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Blog your way into the latest social technology using edublogs. Use the free service to set up a blog as a student, teacher, or campus. This education friendly tool avoids some of the "public interaction" that can offer inappropriate content. Upgrade to more advanced features, to include more options. The additional information on blogging makes this site very valuable even if you already have a blogging platform. Find a plethora of advice, tutorials, PDFs, and lesson plans for blogging. This site is a great reference site for all who are beginning to use blogs, or even look for more varied and effective ways to blog with students, or even other classes. Compare this tool to other free blogging tools mentioned in TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom . This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (74), communication (120), writing (309)
In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite for all of your blogging needs. Find very informative instructions on blogging, and follow the student blogging challenge lesson plans. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. Peruse through the various subjects and discover how other teachers use blogging in their classrooms. Using the given PDFs on blogging start up, parent guidelines, incorporating into subject areas, and adapt to make them suitable for you. Look at a variety of examples to help devise your own unique style to meet your students' needs.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Thunks - Get Thunking - Ian Gilbert
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking yes/no question that stops you in your tracks to look at the world in a whole new light. Over a thousand Thunks are included ...more
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A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking yes/no question that stops you in your tracks to look at the world in a whole new light. Over a thousand Thunks are included on the site with simple yes or no responses. View results easily, read comments, or submit your own comment by including your name, email (will not be displayed), and comment. Thunks can be chosen by categories such as good and bad, human condition, or friendship. At the time of this review, we found no evidence of inappropriate public comments (and we looked hard!) , but you might want to preview before turning young people loose on the site.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): logic (163), problem solving (270), questioning (37)
In the Classroom
Display a Thunk on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a discussion/debate starter. Have students choose a response and defend their answer. Allow students to discuss their answer throughout the week and survey responses again. Have students create their own Thunks to be discussed in class. Create a bulletin board and allow students to post comments and reactions to the question posed. Use a Thunk as a journal writing prompt. Make this page available for students who are "stuck" thinking of something to write about.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TED - TED staff
Grades
6 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
TED is the home of the award-winning TEDTalks video site, a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. In the beginning, the TEDTalks mission was to bring together people from...more
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TED is the home of the award-winning TEDTalks video site, a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. In the beginning, the TEDTalks mission was to bring together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. However, its scope has broadened to challenge the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers to give the talk of their lives (in approximately 18 minutes or less). Find TEDTalks under the Watch tab on the top menu. At the time of this review, TED.com has more than 1,100 of the best talks and performances by speakers with powerful ideas from around the world. The talks are free and the collection continues to grow. The goal of the foundation is to foster the spread of great ideas, thus it aims to provide a platform for the world's smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries, and most-inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future. Easily search the site by topics, disciplines, newest releases, or most favorite. TEDTalks offers subtitles in various languages which enhances the accessibility for the hearing-impaired, and for those who speak English as a second language.
In the Classroom
If you are looking for a clearinghouse that offers free inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, this ever-evolving site is perfect for engaging your students with digital videos of the global issues facing our world today. Use your projector or interactive whiteboard to project videos. Watch your students' enthusiastic reactions in science, social studies, or English classrooms as they view a TED video and then follow-up with a debate on the future or the impact of technology on society or use them as a springboard for interesting writing prompts or to spark a discussion connected with a unit of study. Challenge students to do a compare/contrast activity using an online Venn Diagram tool. Most of the videos are less than twenty minutes, which makes it real doable to embed in a one-period class lesson.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Privacy and Internet Safety - Common Sense Media
Grades
3 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
This site contains all the information that educators and parents need to keep kids safe online. There are resources, articles, videos, and links to help teach students about digital...more
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This site contains all the information that educators and parents need to keep kids safe online. There are resources, articles, videos, and links to help teach students about digital citizenship.
tag(s): cyberbullying (41), internet safety (116)
In the Classroom
Share this link on your class web page and/or in a parent newsletter to help parents learn about Internet safety. Use the videos to help students learn how to be safe online. Share the videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use the information to run a parent information night.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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