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Cycles vs. Checklists: Fostering Creative Process in an Accountability World - TeachersFirst/Candace Hackett Shively
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): creativity (85)
In the Classroom
Teachers in any subject will find ideas for fostering creativity in their classroom, especially with students developmentally ready to talk about their own creative process (usually middle school and up). Make this professional information a discussion item among your teaching peers and with parents. Share it with colleagues for an informal inservice session. Use the many resources to help students discover their own creative process just as you would help them discover their learning styles. Make creative process a habit in your class assignments through electronic idea bins and more.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Hands Off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Learning - TeachersFirst/Candace Hackett Shively
Grades
K to 12tag(s): iwb (29)
In the Classroom
Teachers in any subject and grade level will find ideas for IWB learning in their classroom. Make this professional information a self-guided tour to improve your use of a new or existing IWB. Share it with colleagues for an informal inservice session. Everything is here for you to explore and learn. If you are in charge of leading professional development about IWBs, this new perspective on student-centered use will send Vanna packing and inspire many new avenues for learning.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Getting to Know You Ideas from TeachersFirst - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): firstday (20)
In the Classroom
Try these activities from TeachersFirst to help you and your students get to know each other early in the school year or for a "fresh start" for a new semester or move-in students.Comments
I love the ideas and activities for helping students get to know each other early on in the new school year. In the Headstart program we focus on parent involvement and I like to do activities that involve the parents and help them to get to know each other as well. The classroom and education experience is so much more successful when everyone is working together: children , families, and teachers.Teresa, FL, Grades: 0 - 1
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Ocean Find Your Blue - Smithsonian Institute
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): ecosystems (105), food chains (24), oceans (142), pollution (55)
In the Classroom
Use this resource when discussing food chains, ecosystems, and any environmental topic. As oceans are one of the biggest places we are seeing environmental degradation, many ecological concepts can be taught just by looking at what is going on in the oceans. Assign students a project to learn about an ocean species and create an informational multimedia or conventional project such as a wanted poster or a save the animal poster. Have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here). Research our impacts on the ocean and create an awareness campaign including posters, research information on a class website, and blog posts about the ocean as a resource. Find scientists you can connect to in the classroom that can discuss about this fabulous resource. Have students brainstorm topics about the oceans and let them search for relevant articles that relate to their interests. Do one-sentence summaries of these short articles to practice summary writing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dropbox - Dropbox
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (129), Storage (7), writing (309)
In the Classroom
Use Dropbox to support student collaboration on shared documents, presentations, and projects by allowing students to easily control whether their work is public or shared with specific classmates or the teacher. It works well for continuing assignments across multiple devices, making it simple for students to start work at school and finish at home without losing progress. While not intended as a full system backup, Dropbox provides reliable cloud storage for organizing and accessing classroom materials. It can help all learners, including gifted students, learning support students, and those who benefit from additional organization, keep their work in one accessible place. Dropbox is also ideal for BYOD classrooms, as it works across devices and platforms and offers a free account, ensuring all students can participate. Teachers can quickly share files, folders, and resources with individuals or the entire class, streamlining the distribution and collection of digital work.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Requires download/installation of software
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The Critical Thinking Community - Foundation for Critical Thinking
Grades
K to 12tag(s): critical thinking (179), enrichment (12), logic (166), teaching strategies (68)
In the Classroom
Share critical thinking strategies with students and create lists of how and when they are used in the classroom. Create a bulletin board with critical thinking strategies for your classroom. Use the lessons included on the site as a resource for lessons in your classroom. Bookmark this site and save it in your favorite's as a professional resource. Share suggested activities and resources with other staff members.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Presidents Related Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): holidays (283), presidents (153)
In the Classroom
Use these resources to connect Presidents' Day to your curriculum in almost any subject or select one or two ideas to highlight along with your regular lessons. This collection would also be useful during a unit on the three branches of government, specifically investigating the Executive branch.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Special Occasion Ideas for the Classroom: TeachersFirst Editors' Choices - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): fathers day (17), holidays (283), mothers day (29), parents (52)
In the Classroom
Stretch your students' creative thinking, writing skills, and problem solving skills as they create projects to honor special people on special occasions or just as a surprise "thank you." Create memories for special people as your learners show what they know and how much they care. Share this collection as a link from your class web page for students and parents to use from home or during vacations and holidays.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TeachersFirst's Resources to Avoid the Summer Slide - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): enrichment (12), summer (50)
In the Classroom
Share the link to this special collection via your class web page, newsletter, or email to all your students as they depart for vacation. You will help parents and students alike. Avoid the "summer slide."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Economics and Money: TeachersFirst Editors' Choices - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): financial literacy (93), money (113), recession (2)
In the Classroom
Browse these editors' choice resources to find the best for your classroom needs. Don't forget that you can use economics information to teach math concepts. Make your lessons relevant in today's world by connecting the economic concepts as you teach writing, reading, and more. As your students master the concept, have them create a "Kids Guide to the Economy" on a class wiki or make videos on single concepts to be shared via tools such as SchoolTube, reviewed here, or TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U.S. Presidential Inaugurations Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Since news sources often generate specialized but temporary web resources just in time for Inauguration Day (January 20), you will want to use these resources in combination with a Google News search for the most timely information, such as news articles and images. Assign older students to compare historical background and current practice in a chosen aspect of the inauguration and create a multimedia presentation, wiki page, or mock "news" video about the day's events. Share selected images and explanation with younger students using your projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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African-American History Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): black history (131)
In the Classroom
Browse this collection as you approach Black History month or simply to add multi-cultural dimension to many history lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): 1960s (54), civil rights (219), martin luther king (42)
In the Classroom
Use this collection to inspire lessons for January 15 (or the Monday holiday nearby) or during any unit on civil rights.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Election Resources - Teachersfirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): elections (87)
In the Classroom
Use this handy "spcial topics" collection to find just the right student activity or reference information when you are studying elections. You can also share it on your teacher web page as an "approved" list of election resources for home and school study.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quiz Busters - Teachers Direct Recruitment Ltd.
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): grammar review (33), quiz (62), quizzes (91), test prep (71)
In the Classroom
This quiz would be fantastic on an interactive whiteboard either with a whole class collaborating to earn the optimum (group) grade or small groups of students manipulating the interactive whiteboard themselves. Use as a formative assessment throughout the learning experience, providing more fun than simple question and answer. Use for SAT and other review.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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podomatic - podOmatic
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): communication (122), DAT device agnostic tool (129), digital storytelling (166), podcasts (163)
In the Classroom
PodOmatic does not allow memberships for those under 13. Teachers using this tool with younger students should do so under supervision and with a teacher-controlled account. You will want to supervise or establish consequences so students do not spend time on the public areas of the site and instead proceed to creating their podcasts. This is an opportunity to teach about digital citizenship and safety, such as steering clear of interaction and avoiding sharing any identifiable information about yourself in a podcast. You may want to share the links to class podcasts only with your students and parents. If you have students recording podcasts as assignments, you may need multiple accounts because free accounts have limited storage space. An elementary teacher might have enough space for 25 students to keep a limited number of products on his/her own account, depending on the length.Create regular or special podcasts to share on your class web page or wiki. Create a mini cast of images taken during a lab or a portfolio of images from a photography, art, or any other class. Add music and share as part of a digital portfolio. More ideas: record class assignments or directions, record story time or a reading excerpt for younger ones to listen to at a computer center AND from home, adding a touch of blended learning to your classroom! Have readers (perhaps older buddies) build fluency by recording selected passages for your non-readers. Launch a service project for your fifth or sixth-graders to record stories for the kindergarten to use in their reading and listening center. Have students create "you are there" recordings as "eyewitnesses" to historical or current events. Make a weekly class podcast, with students taking turns writing and sharing the "Class News." Have students create radio advertisements for concepts studied in class (e.g., "Buy Dynamic DNA!"). Have students write and record their own stories or poetry for dramatic readings; language students or beginning readers could record their fluency by reading passages aloud. Allow parents to hear their child's progress reading aloud, etc. Compare world language, speech articulation, or reading fluency at two points during the year. Have your Shakespeare students record a soliloquy. Write and record a poem for Father's Day or Mother's Day (or another special event), and send the URL as a gift to that special person.
If you have gifted students who lean toward the dramatic, this tool is simple enough for them to create dramatic mini-casts without needing a video camera. They can collect images at Vecteezy and write a drama to accompany them, showing what they have learned in independent learning beyond the regular curriculum.
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
Comments
I can see this resource being fun and interactive, while also offering a technology tool that does not rely on video for some of our students that struggle with that. The only thing that gives me pause is the age limit/appropriate level of other "public" pods on the site.Arielle, IN, Grades: 0 - 8
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Dimensions of Creativity: A Model to Analyze Student Projects - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): creativity (85)
In the Classroom
Do more than simply tell your students to "be creative." Try the ideas and practical suggestions on these pages if you ask: How do I help students who struggle with "being creative" in project-based learning? How do I differentiate tools/projects to match students' varied creativity skills? How do I know that more "creative" students are moving forward, challenging their creative thinking and not simply using past "tried and true" ideas, wrapped in a little glitz? How do my students and I talk about the creativity skills they used (or did not use) in making a project?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Imgur - Imgur
Grades
K to 12tag(s): images (267), noregistration (75), photography (136)
In the Classroom
Use in the classroom to quickly upload and share images. Create albums where individual photos can be titled or captioned. Have students categorize photos and describe them. Use for any project, class explanation of concepts, experiments, or demonstrations. Share pictures of class happenings, speakers, field trips, and other opportunities you would want to share.Users must be able to find a suitable image for upload from their computer or the Internet. Follow the very simple directions to manipulate the image. Since no registration is necessary, Imgur is easy and safe to use. Be aware that relying on services such as these can be a problem if the site no longer exists in the future. Be sure that students understand rules for sharing appropriate and inappropriate images and copyright concerns.
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SlideShare - SlideShare, Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): images (267), photography (136), slides (37)
In the Classroom
Pull published slide shows for use in your classroom. Download a slide show as a template and modify it for your specific needs. In science class, have students record each other completing a lab activity. Then have the students put that footage into a slide show with snapshots of work and products of the lab. Have students create a voice over track and sync it using the slidecast part of the site. It would make for a powerful learning experience. Post slide shows of class notes and have students comment on what they understand or do not understand as an online discussion. If you teach online through cyberschool or virtual learning programs, use slidecast to create "teaching tracks" to go with your notes. It allows you to create a short, but helpful lecture for your distance learners. They will appreciate the verbal aspect of the learning. This website allows you to upload, so you will need a basic understanding of where your files are located on your computer to do this. However, you are not required as a member to upload anything unless you want to do so. An interesting and valuable feature of this site is that it will allow you to sync audio files or podcasts with your slide show, creating what the website has coined a slidecast. You can create groups to share slideshows privately to only your group members.Edge Features:
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)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Alternative to... - alternativeto.net
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): social networking (56)
In the Classroom
Click on one of the applications to see a great list of alternatives that may meet your needs or those of your students. Offer this site as a means for students to differentiate and express their understanding of the content in different ways. In a technology class, provide time for groups to explore the variety of options and report on ease of use and features for each. Be sure to check whether the sites listed are blocked by any filters in your school first.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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