Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session is from April 2020. You can register and immediately view the archive of the session.

Join us for this light-hearted session where you take the role of a student working on a real-world connection project. Learn to use Google search tools like a Ninja as you prepare and submit your project. The tips and tricks presented in this session will help empower your students as they use research strategies to locate information and resources for projects and other creative work. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Understand how effective search strategies assist with student research; 2. Plan for the introduction of search strategies in the classroom; and 3. Create a project exemplar to share with students. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

tag(s): digital citizenship (89), Google (48), media literacy (109), professional development (390), Research (88), search strategies (22)

Take your remote teaching activities to the next level with these research resources for grades 3-5. Each suggestion includes information about the online resource and how to get started. Additional resources include links to TeachersFirst blogs and other primary source links with ideas for classroom use.

tag(s): professional development (390), Research (88)

If access to a physical library is limited for any reason, this collection shares tips and online resources to find quality eBooks for young students. Use the General Tips section to find support and ideas for locating eBooks to share when teaching remotely. The Instructional Tools portion of the collection includes several links to online digital and audiobooks curated explicitly for young children.

tag(s): audio books (28), ebooks (45), listening (93), professional development (390)

Open educational resources (OER) are tools/resources that are available to use freely, with open licenses to media, images, text, and more. OER could include readings, videos, audio clips, textbooks, exams, online courses, lesson plans, and more that are openly licensed. An open license means that you can use these tools at no-cost and access, use, adapt or redistribute to others. These tools are useful for research, learning, teaching, and assessing. View our collection to find a tool for your classroom.

tag(s): images (265), OER (43), Online Learning (36)

This curated list includes resources for all grades, compares primary to secondary sources, and countless other topics. Primary sources offer direct (firsthand) accounts about events, people, works of art, and more. Remember our "In the Classroom" suggestions give you ideas about how to use these tools in your classroom.

tag(s): primary sources (120), Research (88)

This curated list of resources provides free tools related to research. Today's students must learn the valuable skill of research. Research will be required in future studies, and possibly a future career. Research requires planning, execution, and digging deep. Students must learn to raise the right questions about what they are listening to, watching, or reading. They must learn how to decipher quality research from mediocre and find the best places for GOOD research. This collection of resources includes lesson ideas, activities, and resources for teaching research skills.

tag(s): citations (33), inquiry (30), media literacy (109), Research (88), summarizing (22)

This collection of reviewed resources includes our best virtual field trips. Peruse the list of websites and many suggestions for ways to use them in teaching almost any subject or grade. Be sure to read the "In the Classroom" suggestions for examples of ways to use virtual field trips as part of a lesson or unit.

tag(s): virtual field trips (132)

This collection of reviewed resources includes tools for creating graphic organizers and many suggestions for ways to use them in teaching almost any subject or grade. Be sure to read the "In the Classroom" suggestions for examples of ways to use graphic organizers as part of a lesson or unit.

tag(s): graphic organizers (49), mind map (28), venn diagrams (15)

Peruse this curated list to find resources related to media literacy. Media literacy is a set of skills that help people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and formats. To become media literate, students must learn to raise the right questions about what they are listening to, watching, or reading. Media literacy education is about helping students become competent, critical, and literate in all media forms so that they can appropriately interpret what they see or hear rather than blindly accepting what they are told. This collection of resources includes lesson ideas, activities, and resources for teaching media literacy skills. Be sure also to check out the media literacy professional learning resources.

tag(s): critical thinking (135), cyberbullying (42), digital citizenship (89), evaluating sources (29), internet safety (114), media literacy (109), news (228), primary sources (120), professional development (390), social media (50)