Awesome Resources for Curious Teachers

Awesome Seating Chart App

2013-01-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Every teacher knows that a seating chart is a cornerstone of class management. Seat assignments can help both your chatty students and your shy ones...learners who are independent and learners who...

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Teaching With Videos

2013-01-04T17:19:00.004-05:00

With the new trend of "flipping your class", it's become popular for teachers to create videos for their students. I am not crazy about class flipping, but I do recognize that videos engage students...

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"Look, I teach Math, not Reading!"

2012-08-04T22:57:00.001-04:00

"Look, I teach Math, not Reading!" I remember this frustrated exclamation from a colleague after hearing that all teachers in our district would be required to establish silent reading time in their...

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My English Teacher FAIL moment

2012-07-26T11:01:00.004-04:00

I use acronyms often in class to help my students remember elaborate ideas. This morning, I wanted to create an acronym for "reading strategies" so that students can quickly remember what to do when...

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Will students finally have fun with grammar?

2012-07-25T09:47:00.000-04:00

Grammar can be a pain, especially when you're up at 3 a.m. slashing every grammar error with your red pen. Students are often frustrated by the numerous and confusing rules of grammar and many...

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Refresh the Research Paper

2012-07-19T16:31:00.001-04:00

Card Catalog...Microfiche...Book Index. If you have used any of these things, you are officially old school. You remember researching in libraries, combing through dusty books, handwriting all of...

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Digital Citizenship Resources

2012-06-20T03:00:00.002-04:00

photo from Anchorage School District You may be interested in these resources I found while developing a course called "Digital Citizen." The course description is "to develop the etiquette,...

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Standards-Based Grading

2012-06-16T12:58:00.001-04:00

Remember in elementary school you received these long, detailed report cards that told your parents which skills you developed? However, in high school, all the skills in 1 class got blended in just...

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What Happens When Teachers Create Their Own Prof Dev?

2012-01-31T19:26:00.002-05:00

Here's my proposal for an edcamp at my school. Any suggestions for improvement? Before edcampPrepare teachers (in email or faculty meeting) by briefly explaining that they will experience a...

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5 Hi-Tech Tools & 1 Low-Tech One That Will Wow Your Students

2011-09-04T12:41:00.006-04:00

Here are a few new tools you can use in the classroom this year. 1. Clockwords Vocabulary Game 2. Spent, a simulation activity regarding minimum wage life 3. QR Codes in Education -- tool that...

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So, how was your school year?

2011-06-13T18:59:00.003-04:00

As teachers, we meet May and June with bittersweetness. On one hand, we are relieved for the summer vacation, but on the other hand we are often saddened by saying goodbye to our students. Take a...

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Students Track Their Own Vocabulary Progress

2011-04-13T20:49:00.004-04:00

As teachers, we constantly require our students to learn new vocabulary and sometimes we struggle with getting students to actually learn the new words instead of just memorize the new...

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How to Pronounce Any Word

2011-04-03T19:10:00.003-04:00

I remember my students first reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and painfully stumbling over the Nigerian names and words. Sure, I helped them pronounce the words I knew or allowed them to...

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Vocabulary Soap Opera

2011-01-10T08:59:00.002-05:00

High school teacher, Nancy Barile, recently shared a cool way to engage students in vocabulary. Her students create a weekly soap opera that uses 14 vocabulary words. They even videotape the scenes...

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Teachers & MBA Students Hiring Ghostwriters?!

2010-11-21T17:18:00.004-05:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article by a ghostwriter who earns $66,000/year writing essays, theses, proposals, college admissions statements, etc. for undergrad and...

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Holy Smokes! Look at this kindergarten class!

2010-07-28T09:49:00.003-04:00

Look at this kindergarten class engaged in authentic, project-based learning. They create an airport, they plan a bug's funeral, they become public speakers, they use an interactive whiteboard. (By...

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Turning Your Curriculum into a Game

2010-07-21T10:11:00.003-04:00

Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) can turn your History class into a CSI episode. If you teach History in high school, you are familiar with document-based questions (DBQs) or just having your...

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Do your students understand their digital footprint?

2010-07-11T10:13:00.004-04:00

MyFootprintSD.org is an awesome site to help young people understand how online encounters may be harmful. This site would be great to show your students the do's and don'ts of interacting on the...

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Quickly Create Literacy Lesson From Any Article

2010-07-04T14:03:00.002-04:00

LessonWriter.com is an awesome tool that allows you to quickly create the following activities for any article or story:graphic organizersvocabulary dictionaries and questionsgrammar examples and...

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Awesome Writing Tool to Keep Your Elementary School Kids Busy This Summer

2010-06-14T19:20:00.004-04:00

Here's a quick note about a tool I found through colleagues on Twitter. StoryMaker is an awesome tool for elementary school students to write adventurous stories. StoryMaker creates images and...

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Provocative Films Created by Students for Students

2010-06-09T13:59:00.003-04:00

Scenarios USA is a group that matches professional filmmakers with high school screenwriters and actors to create provocative films for other young people. With topics such as teen pregnancy, dating...

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Cool Alternative to Diigo, Delicious, & iGoogle

2010-06-04T18:59:00.000-04:00

Symbaloo is a cool alternative to bookmarking sites such as Diigo, Delicious, & iGoogle. Symbaloo serves as a student's homepage/start page filled with all of their favorite sites. This is...

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Let Students Develop Their Own Personal Learning Networks

2010-06-03T14:29:00.004-04:00

If you are a teacher immersed in online professional development, you are familiar with the acronym PLN. A PLN is a Personal Learning Network, a group of like-minded people who share resources...

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Using Learning Centers in High School

2010-05-30T09:52:00.004-04:00

Learning Centers/Learning Stations is a popular strategy in elementary schools, but not as popular in high schools. However, from my experience, high school students enjoy Learning Centers and it...

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Get free websites for 10 students

2010-05-28T09:20:00.003-04:00

I use Weebly.com to build my classroom website because it's free and easy. When you sign up for the Educator's Plan using my referral, you will get 10 free student websites. If social networks and...

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