Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

If you teach theatre, acting, or history, this site is a smorgasbord of information. The home page features "today in theatre history" and a featured topic. The index of topics shows origins of theatre, ancient and medieval theatre, and then theatre by country (American, Irish, Russian, French, etc.). Clicking on one of those takes you to a page with category choices-- Plays and Playwrights, or Actors-- and a list of links to specific articles that are academic, but interesting and very readable.

One of the nicest features on the site is the "Script Archive," which gives access to full-length plays, one-act plays, 10-minute plays, and monologues. This is a fabulous source for theatre and speech teachers alike.

Be aware: this is a commercial site, so there are links to purchase books, but it is more subtle than most sites, and all the links are freely given without a need to register. There are also advertisements, preview for appropriateness before sharing with your class, as these ads change without notice.

tag(s): plays (31)

Choosing a book, especially for reluctant readers, can be a challenge. Working online with some of these materials would certainly offer a different look for savvy teenagers and give them new ideas for reading. Initiated by author Steve Alten, this website uses this author's (and others') books to excite reluctant readers with good stories, incorporating technology with planning. While this site offers a complete program for sale, you can register for free and use most of the materials without buying anything. It offers five books by Alten as well as several other fiction and nonfiction titles by different authors. Each book includes materials such as a PowerPoint of the curriculum, a chapter to peruse, activities, quizzes, etc. The variety of books offered is interesting, including an autobiography of Gerda Weissman Klein, a Holocaust survivor, and a finance nonfiction book to help teens prepare for their futures. This site does have sponsors and minor advertising.

tag(s): authors (114), holocaust (42), independent reading (83)

from the Shakespeare Classroom.

tag(s): king lear (3), shakespeare (98)

A lesson which lets students use body movements to help understand Romeo's character. Released by the Folger Library in spring, 1999.

tag(s): romeo & juliet (7), shakespeare (98)

This mad-lib-type exercise will build better understanding of grammar. Students start by choosing a story category. They then review parts of speech by "writing" the story. They insert a noun, a plural noun, a verb etc. When finished inserting the required parts of speech, they see the new story on the screen. The results are hilarious! students will be motivated to think of many examples of each part of speech in order to make their stories funnier, thus building a better understanding of the concepts of "noun," "verb," etc.

tag(s): parts of speech (40), speech (66)

This site lists approximately 100 recently published children's books, chosen by children and sorted by reading level. Endorsed by the children themselves, these books are meant to encourage reading among children ages 5 to 14.

tag(s): reading lists (76)

Looking to show math, science, and STEM in real life? Look no further! This site has real world applications in video form. The clips tend to be five minutes or less. Videos are arranged into topic areas such as architecture, sports and many others. Learn about bicycle design, wind sails, recycling, creating an advertising team, and MUCH more. It is a good collection of video clips focused on the real math and science behind jobs that people do in real life.

tag(s): agriculture (54), architecture (83), business (50), environment (252), sports (89), STEM (371), transportation (31)

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research curation tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. 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. At this time Diigo is experiencing issues with the "Top 10 Tags" from the menu on the left.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Additional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): bookmarks (34), collaboration (116), curation (25), DAT device agnostic tool (129), forum (2), organizational skills (90), social networking (56)

Newspaper Blackout is a clever way to unlock the secret poetry hidden within any printed page. This Tumblr site shares examples (unmoderated, so preview before sharing in a classroom!). Poetry no longer needs to be a gray area; this activity makes it black and white! There are no gimmicks, no magic pens, and no camouflage paper, but this is certainly a tricky way to write a poem! All you need are newspapers and black markers. Hunt for and select a few words from each of the lines as you read a newspaper or magazine article. Remember to start with the title. Instead of the typical bottom-up approach to writing a poem by starting with a blank page and filling it with words, try this fresh, top-down approach by starting with a page already crowded with words. Then use permanent markers to blacken out all the trivial words in each line until the poem appears. (Put something under your page so the ink does not bleed through on furniture!) Click Share your poem to learn how to upload your work to the site.

tag(s): creative writing (124), poetry (195)

Free-reading supplies oodles of lesson plans and activities to teach reading to Kindergarten and first grade students. It's a wiki-site: anyone using the free materials at this site is also invited to add his/her own lesson plans, adjust existing plans, or simply begin a discussion about particular plans. The reading instruction is based upon researched methodology, phonetically based. For an intensive program, follow the 40-week Intervention A, complete with lessons, activities, and materials. Students will enjoy the lively games, songs, and activities that accompany the lesson plans.

tag(s): literacy (124), phonics (53)

The Cube Creator offers four different options for creating and personalizing a printable cube for summarizing or story-telling: Bio Cube, Mystery Cube, Story Cube, or Create your Own Cube. Follow prompts to create the cube. The planning sheets help you collect information before making the actual printable cube. Once you have entered all your information, print and follow directions to assemble the paper cube. Follow links to find lessons that use this interactive as well as suggestions for other uses. There are lessons for grades 3-4 up through grades 11-12. Note: Read Write Think has added the capability for students to save their work to continue later. In the last paragraph of the Overview, there is a link to watch the video: Saving Work With the Student Interactives.

tag(s): back to school (53), biographies (96), firstday (25), mysteries (27), printables (35), summarizing (25), word study (58)

At reencoded you will find beautiful, interesting photography you can use as writing prompts. The URL for this review is just one of the pages of cool photography you will find at this site. Since this is a blog, the front page will change frequently, so be sure to bookmark your favorite pages. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "older entries" to find a plethora of material.

tag(s): writing (308)

This site presents current news stories from multiple perspectives, featuring videos and commentary from the world's top newspapers. All the video news clips offer a complete transcript (click on "transcript" just below the video window). General topics covered include the U.S., the world, the environment, culture, technology, economy, and politics. Students can see short news clips, make comments blog style, and read news articles from newspapers around the world. Anyone can view the material, but you must register to be able to make comments. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.

tag(s): news (223), newspapers (87)

This site offers audible everyday conversations with adult and children's voices for ESL/ELL students. There are three levels of difficulty. Each story (conversation) includes before, during, and after listening information. Note: some content, such as "Dating Woes," "The Ideal Woman," and "Personal Problems" may not be appropriate for younger students. Preview! There are some small Google ads, but they are not objectionable. This site requires Windows Media Player or Real Media and Acrobat Reader. Get them from the "TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): listening (117)

Prezi is a web-based presentation tool that uses a zoomable canvas to help users organize and present ideas in a dynamic, visual way. Unlike traditional slide-by-slide presentations, Prezi allows creators to show the "big picture" and then zoom in on supporting details, making connections between ideas clear and engaging. Users can choose a template or background, follow guided prompts, and quickly build a presentation to share. Prezi also offers an Explore gallery where teachers and students can view and reuse presentations created by others as templates. The platform works on any device with a web browser and supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same Prezi at once. A free education plan is available with a verified school email and includes private presentations, while standard free accounts have public sharing and limited storage options.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (315), graphic organizers (57), slides (37), visualizations (15)

This website is a fascinating blog of architecture from around the world. The pictures are amazing, especially to the non-architect. The blog details the location and the designer of each architectural project pictured. Pictures of structures can be shared with multiple online social sharing websites. The site can be searched by keyword on the far right or by category of structure. This site offers a wide variety of styles, locations, and more.

tag(s): architecture (83), business (50)

Adorable is the only way to describe this educational site filled with amazing photos of newborn animals born in various zoos around the world. Students have the opportunity to see baby animals and read snippets of information that they may not have had the opportunity to experience outside the classroom. Sort through the photos by specific animal or by zoo name. Some animals are also shown on video!

tag(s): animals (275)

Plimoth Plantation (that's the original spelling) is a reconstruction of the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth. Take a field trip to the Plimoth Plantation just in time for Thanksgiving. From Learn at the top menu, find and slide down to Bring Plimoth Patuxet to Your School and take a virtual field trip to an English village and Wampanoag home site from 1627. Go inside a Wetu, or home, and look. Become a historian and uncover what really happened on the first Thanksgiving. Primary sources give accounts from the Wampanoag traditions to the English home of Pilgrim Mary Allerton. Each student will finish with a printed exhibition panel. Dig into your ancestry to find out if you are a pilgrim. Find actual genealogical profiles. Explore the museum collections of artifacts. Find these resources under the Learn tab at the top menu; slide down to Teachers Tools, and scroll down the page until your find the resources menu on the left. Besure to check out the Digital Resources!
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): colonial america (96), pilgrims (12), thanksgiving (24)

Ever wonder what the next best book to read is? Here's a helpful list of 100 Top Books complied by the Madison Public Library. The most recent books added are listed in red. In additon to this list, be sure to check out the two menus on the left - More Reading & Viewing and Even More Lists (which has a link for The New York Times Best Seller Lists). Never again feel like you don't know what to read next!

tag(s): reading lists (76)