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AllSides - John Gable
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): elections (82), evaluating sources (28), media literacy (107), politics (117)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to easily find topics presented from various points of view. Use articles with students to demonstrate point of view in writing, bias in media, or for students to use as points for debates. Use an online tool such as Interactive Three Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to create a visual comparison of different points of view.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Promethean Planet - Promethean, Inc
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Before you try any of these activities, think about how you can make the lesson more student-centered. Find ideas in TeachersFirst's Hands off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard Learning . Browse the site for interactive whiteboard resources to download for classroom use. Bookmark and save favorites for later use. Download any resource, then tweak it to your individual needs. Have questions about creating Promethean Flipcharts? Post your question on the technical board to receive helpful replies. If you have a SmartBoard, be sure to check out the SmartBoard lessons and resources page located here. You will need to download the ActivInspire software (free).Comments
This is the go-to site for Promethean flipchart downloads. Most files were created by teachers. The only downside is that the files are hit-or-miss. There are many gems, but you might have to browse some not-so-great files to find them.Tim, , Grades: 0 - 6
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Do Lectures - Talks That Inspire Action - The Chicken Shed
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): business (52), careers (141), creativity (86), debate (42), environment (246), nutrition (137), psychology (65), sociology (23), video (264)
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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Useful charts - UsefulCharts Publishing
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): art history (99), charts and graphs (171), grammar (137), multiple intelligences (7), myths and legends (31), poetry (192), politics (117), psychology (65), religions (90), solar system (108), space (217), timelines (54)
In the Classroom
Share a visual overview of a topic on projector or IWB before teaching or as a reference before lessons that zero in on subtopics. Use this site to teach data and the graphic display of data. Allow groups of students to choose a graphic and report to the class on how the data was made more meaningful using the graphics that were chosen. You may also want to share this link as a research tool for debates or presentations on science or social studies topics. Share the timeline or graphic on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Discuss the science, history, or math behind the data collected. Discuss other information and ways of presenting the information in order to create a more interesting graphic. Have students try their hand at creating an infographic using a tool such as Snappa.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Connect the Dots for Democracy - Witte Design, LLC
Grades
8 to 12What's missing? There is no audio recording of the script that could accompany the slides; you must print the script and read it while viewing the slides. And, despite its goal of "making it simple" for busy folks, you have to dig a little in the site to discover that the author is firmly in the "Progressive" political camp, and that the presentation on Health Care, for example, includes one section on "GOP Care" and repeatedly slams the Republican party's handling of the health care crisis. To its credit, the sources for the information presented on the graphics are cited. Be aware also that the graphics use language like "We're Getting Screwed!" which may be inappropriate for younger kids.
tag(s): branches of government (64), congress (40), elections (82), media literacy (107), politics (117)
In the Classroom
The infographic presentations would be great for discussions of election-year politics for Civics/Government classes or Current Events debate. They would be better if the accompanying scripts were available in an audio file. Exercise caution, however, because there is clearly a political agenda here. Ironic that a site that purports to cut through the rhetoric is loaded with its own. Use it, therefore, as yet another example of how a savvy media can "spin" the issues. Invite students to look for the bias inherent in some of the information presented. What questions should be asked about the data contained in the slideshow? How could you verify the information? How would you rebut it with your own infographic? Can you find a site that presents an opposing spin on the same topics?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Scoop on Current Events - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): news (228), newspapers (92)
In the Classroom
Use these ideas during major news years, such as election season, or as a general introduction to current events. During Newspapers in Education month, extend your discussions to include both print and online news media using the lesson discussion questions included here. Incorporate current events stories as one of many types of informational texts you use to teach comprehension and other reading skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Kids News - Teaching Kids News
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): literacy (121), news (228), newspapers (92)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for interactive whiteboards or projectors. Display the site on your whiteboard when discussing current events. Use as a learning center for students to read and journal. Practice with Main Idea or summarizing using these interesting informational texts. ESL/ELL learners can also find accessible news stories here. Provide this link for students to use at home to keep up with current events. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain or summarize any article on the site. Use a site such as Blabberize.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The White House Tour - Google Maps
Grades
K to 12tag(s): presidents (135), virtual field trips (119), white house (16)
In the Classroom
Take your students on a virtual field trip! This is a great way for kids to "visit" the White House. Include it during inauguration week or any time you are studying U.S. government. Show the website using a projector, and have students write a tour script or a tale of something that might happen in the White House. Younger students might want to write a story from the President's dog's (or other pet's) point of view! Before using the site, you should familiarize yourself with how to use the Google Maps street view tools to navigate through the house. Better yet, have a student operate the tour on the whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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House History Timeline - History, Art & Archives United States House of Representatives
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): branches of government (64), congress (40)
In the Classroom
Although this site is not the most visually exciting, it would still be useful on an interactive whiteboard, particularly when you are discussing a defined time period. Select the relevant Congress, then compare the legislative activity with world events. For example, choose a Congress during wartime, and highlight events related to war or the military. As elections approach, use the timelines to compare the activities of a previous Congress during "election season" to see if there are patterns of Congressional behavior.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Knoema - Knoema
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (171), countries (73), data (151), maps (215), statistics (120)
In the Classroom
Use in Social Studies or World Cultures to compare economic indicators of countries. Create data sets and visualizations of environmental data around the world. Use data in the writing of papers or creation of presentations on the country statistics such as GDP or exported goods. Trying to find meaningful data to include in an infographic? Knoema has it! Math teachers can use data sets for practice activities with statistics.Comments
I absolutely love Knoema! They also have World Data Atlas (Chrome Web Store app for free) - chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/world-data-atlas/knlgfedckdhkgjinnhogmhkbcjpmmhko that I strongly advise to use.Olga, , Grades: 0 - 12
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Infographics Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): infographics (56)
In the Classroom
Join the21st century trend of infographics as a way to share a lot of information, quantitative data, and relationships in a compact but effective visual space. Help students learn and construct meaning using infographics. Share this collection on your class web page as a starting point for students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Engine: Tools for Collaborative Education and Research - The University of Richmond
Grades
8 to 12The site is designed for use by college professors in designing research projects for individual students or student groups, but there is nothing here that would prevent advanced high school students from using the site or its materials as the basis for a research project. As the site is designed, instructors are to register prior to assigning research so that students can use an authorization code when submitting their research. If you decide to use the resources without submitting student work to the site, no registration is required. It should be noted that the terms of submission make the work the property of the University of Richmond; be sure that's consistent with your goals before you decide to submit.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): advanced placement (26), history day (39), local history (14)
In the Classroom
The site and the research it encourages is designed for college students, so secondary school use would need to be either in an upper level or Advanced Placement course, or perhaps for a student doing research for a National History Day project. As an alternative, the site can be used even in less advanced classes simply as a resource to explore the "episodes" already submitted by others. Enter a search term such as civil war to see all the results.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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With Liberty and Justice for All - The Henry Ford Museum
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): branches of government (64), civil rights (201), constitution (93), freedom of speech (14), womens suffrage (51)
In the Classroom
While the site is focused on preparing students for a visit to the Henry Ford Museum, the site provides good resources and lesson plans for the study of both the Women's Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. The video tour of the exhibit also provides a "virtual field trip" experience.Comments
This is a virtual field trip that groups resources for 6-8 grades and will be extremely useful at all levels towards a discussion of justice through evidence evaluation, pro and con using various issues from our history.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Critical Past Stock Footage Archive - Jim and Andy Erickson
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 20th century (62), afghanistan (7), africa (144), american revolution (82), china (81), europe (84), north america (15), south america (40), video (264)
In the Classroom
Use photos or videos on Critical Past to help illustrate what students are learning in history. Ask students to be "eyewitnesses" of history and watch a video before they have context for it. Students can write or blog about what they think they are witnessing. Afterward they can research the event in more depth and write a follow-up reflection on what was actually happening in the clip. Challenge your students to use a site such as Sutori, reviewed here, to create timelines of topics researched on the site. Use images from public domain sites, such as the collections, reviewed here, to illustrate the events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Book TV - National Cable Satellite Corporation & C-SPAN
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): biographies (93), independent reading (83), interviews (17), politics (117)
In the Classroom
Use the online resources from this website to accompany your nonfiction literature. This collection is particularly useful when reading about historical figures. Make books and authors come alive for your students by accessing and projecting videos on your interactive whiteboard and sharing "Book Notes," biographies, and more. Lure students into independent reading by allowing them to explore the videos and find a book they might enjoy reading. After viewing a program or reading a book, have students share their opinions in a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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How Our Laws Are Made - Mike Wirth
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): branches of government (64), congress (40)
In the Classroom
Use the graphic as an introduction to a detailed discussion. Share the site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use it to reinforce the process once you've taught the lesson. Encourage students to bookmark it to review or test their understanding. Anyone who teaches civics, government or US history will be able to use this graphic on an interactive whiteboard. For that matter, it should be required viewing for citizens and politicians alike!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Learning Network - The New York Times Company
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): news (228), vocabulary (238), writing prompts (61)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your class web page for students to find challenges or activities. Substitute teachers can always find an appropriate current events or vocabulary/writing activity if there are no lesson plans. English, social studies, and gifted teachers will want to explore the many lesson ideas that draw on current news stories. Find many prompts for student opinion blogs at this site. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, replace pen and paper and have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Weebly, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Chartle - Zygomatic
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (171), data (151)
In the Classroom
You will want to play with this tool before using it in class. Use it anywhere numerical data is collected and is best shown in a chart. Collect data in a science, survey, or math class and display it using different graphs to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using each graph type. Use for quick creation and sharing of created graphs. Create charts together easily on an interactive whiteboard when introducing the different types. Have students operate the board while others offer instructions on what to do next. Use graphs to portray different sets of data about a topic in a new and unique way. Use this tool to create graphs and charts for presentations and reports. Make quick charts students can share with others such as "How I spend my time" and "Places I have visited." During political campaign seasons, create charts to visualize better what the pollsters are saying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library - JFK Library
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): history day (39), kennedy (20), presidents (135), vietnam (38)
In the Classroom
All of these topics are of interest to students doing research into 20th century US and international history, and might be particularly useful to students working on in depth projects for National History Day. After researching a specific topic, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Presentation tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jumble Kids - Tribune Media Services
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): puzzles (146), spelling (98), vocabulary (238), word study (60)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a classroom word-building center either on classroom computers or your interactive whiteboard (projector). Have students use examples from this site to create their own word jumbles for others to solve. Use a site such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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