Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This YouTube video explains the reason why the Dewey Decimal Classification system was created and also describes the different categories of the system. The video touches on why the system is broken down into subgroups to provide an additional organization structure within each group.

tag(s): classification (22), media literacy (109), Research (87)

Learn about the Dewey Decimal number classifications through this light-hearted rap presentation. "Melville Dewey" shares how libraries organize non-fiction materials by introducing the general classifications category topics. Follow along with the text shared below the video.

tag(s): classification (22), media literacy (109), Research (87)

This PDF provides quick and useful tips for teaching research skills to students from the middle primary grades through high school. The author offers a variety of topics, including searching, clarifying, and citing sources, and then gives ideas for activities to teach the skill. The information on the site is concise and to the point, making it perfect for use as a resource in all classrooms.

tag(s): citations (33), Research (87), search strategies (22)

Learn how to find and deal with disinformation and misinformation through this news media literacy game. Players find and identify factual portions of a news story along with misinformation. Begin by choosing a topic of interest to start your mission. Your goal is to build up your integrity as much as possible throughout the game. Login to your free teacher account to access and print lesson plans and the teacher extension pack.

tag(s): evaluating sources (29), journalism (74), media literacy (109), news (229)

Checkology offers interactive lessons to teach students how to evaluate and judge news and news sources. Lessons include real-world examples; many feature journalism experts as the digital guide. Participants view videos, take polls, and respond to quizzes within the lessons. The free account includes access to four news literacy lessons along with access to a limited amount of teacher resources.

tag(s): journalism (74), news (229), newspapers (93), social media (48)

Learn about how and why fake news is created and distributed with this game where players earn money by spreading false news. Begin by selecting a guide for the game and choosing a financial goal. Follow the game to create your site and choose from different payment and options for monetizing information, while at the same time working toward optimum credibility. As the game continues, players select options for sharing their fake news to gain the maximum number of shares and likes. Throughout the game, follow your progress to your financial goal chosen at the beginning of the activity.

tag(s): journalism (74), news (229), newspapers (93), problem solving (233)

Have you ever told anyone, "Let me Google that for you?" That is what LMGTFY is all about! This site allows you to demonstrate how to Google (and much more) terms, then send a link with a step by step demonstration on how to complete the search. LMGTFY has grown beyond Google and now offers users the ability to select from several popular search engines including Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and DuckDuckGo. The drop-down box provides choices to search the web, images, video, and more. After making selections and entering a search term, click to get the link or choose preview to view the information.

tag(s): browser (8), search engines (48), search strategies (22)

The Free Technology Curriculum from Google provides a series of units for middle school and up for practical problem solving with digital tools. Select options from the site for learners, instructors, or to the entire curriculum. Choose from within the curriculum by grade level. Each option provides a series of lessons teaching skills like collaboration and problem-solving along with rubrics for assessment of projects.

tag(s): careers (156), collaboration (93), communication (129), computers (109), data (151), OER (43), organizational skills (88), spreadsheets (23), visual thinking (8)

Credo Reference is an extensive online research collection containing almost 900 online dictionaries, reference tools, and encyclopedias. Begin by entering your library card number and pin. Continue with a keyword search or by subject. Use the drop-down box to narrow search terms to include images, topic, books, or mind maps. Choose the advanced search option to limit searches to meet your defined inclusions.

tag(s): bookmarks (43), search engines (48)

Small but mighty, this site has several lesson plans for the digital classroom. Use, share, and help create digital literacy lesson plans using Google Docs at Glean. Also, use the hashtag #lessonhack on X (formerly Twitter) to follow the development of ideas and the lessons. Use the drop-down menu for Lessons to view plans for Media, Data, Information, Network Literacy, and also find Security and Privacy lessons. Find plans already created that include, To Teach Memes, Teaching Media Making, Terms of Service, and there are several others about the Internet and IPs. One lesson on Safer Sexting states, "This is not intended to condone sexting; rather it is designed to provide young people (at risk through their sexting behavior) with digital literacies and personal practices to mitigate negative impacts of the sexting they've done."

tag(s): computers (109), digital citizenship (85), internet safety (114), media literacy (109)

At The Visual History Archive discover an online portal of 53,000 audio and video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of twentieth-century genocides. These are cataloged and indexed with over 1,660 viewable at this URL. Besides the WWII Holocaust, other genocides covered are the Armenian Genocide during World War I, the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China, the Cambodian Genocide of the 1970s, and the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. There is a newer collection titled Contemporary Antisemitism. All the interviews, collected by volunteers, were conducted in 63 countries and 40 languages. To access the content just scroll down the page. Search by genocide, experience groups, specific people, places, time periods and indexed terms. Save results in your account. Each item shows streaming audio or video file, identifying data and an interactive map of the location. No transcripts are provided. Many of these videos are available on the YouTube Channel of the USC Shoah Foundation. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): 20th century (62), holocaust (42), interviews (17), jews (33), oral history (13), primary sources (117), world war 2 (161)

Hosted by an Internet marketing company that understands the importance of children's safety online, this extensive collection of articles, infographics, and links should encourage conversations with kids about Internet safety. Sure to be helpful for parents and teachers because of practical steps to improve online experiences for children; plus everything is free to use, print and share. Find resources organized in two areas: Internet safety tips for children and parent safety and Internet monitoring resources. The one-page articles are text heavy, so this site will be most useful with older teens. Areas covered include the usual topics, but also include some not so often covered: Kids' Online Personas & Activity, Internet Video Safety Tips for Kids, Internet Game Safety Tips for Kids, Internet Radio Safety Tips for Kids, and A True or False: Internet Safety Facts for Kids. Parental Internet Monitoring Resources provide a helpful compilation of parents' essential information. These include Cyber Bullying Prevention, Digital Parental Controls, Laws and Organizations for Kids Online, Online Stranger Danger: Stop Internet Stalkers, Protecting Financial & Personal Information, Safe Browser Settings for Kids, Social Media Safety Tips for Kids, and Monitoring Your Kids Internet Usage.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): bullying (48), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (85), financial literacy (93), internet safety (114), media literacy (109), parents (57), safety (68), social media (48)

Google Scholar is a web search tool for scholarly literature and academic resources such as books, articles, and documents. Enter your search term, then choose to search by articles (with or without patents and case-law). Use additional tools within search results to narrow down by date. Enable the My Library function to save selected results for later use. The Cite link beneath the entry description includes formatted citations in many different options.

tag(s): citations (33), search engines (48)