Awesome Resources for Curious Teachers

What Will Happen 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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Build Vocabulary With This Cool Tool

2010-05-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

VocabSushi is a great way to help students, and even yourself, build vocabulary. It shows sentences from news articles and helps users understand the word in context. It also helps you keep track of...

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Greatest Hits

2010-05-25T07:35:00.000-04:00

If you're new to this blog, maybe you missed a few interesting posts and want to catch up quickly instead of searching endlessly. Here's help: 3 Most Viewed Posts: Tools for Differentiation Would...

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Using Scrabble in the Classroom

2010-05-24T07:17:00.001-04:00

Since we're winding down to the end of the school year, a lot of us are doing test review, study time, and project time. If you have any down time and need to engage the restless, try these Scrabble...

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Better Ways to Conduct Webquests or Research Projects

2010-05-09T15:33:00.009-04:00

When students do research projects, sometimes they struggle through the search process, complaining that they cannot find what they are looking for. To help these students, teachers can limit the...

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Cool computer games for K-5

2010-04-19T19:48:00.005-04:00

ABCYa! has hundreds of computer games to help elementary students learn various topics ranging from division and typing to vocabulary and grammar. Great activities for learning centers and free time....

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Use Tech to Help Students do Group Research

2010-03-22T15:44:00.004-04:00

Bill Ferriter, a 6th grade teacher, has created an effective way for students to integrate technology into their research process. Look below for the roles each student takes when bookmarking and...

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Get Your Students Interested in Being Scientists!

2010-03-20T13:37:00.001-04:00

Scientists once carried a stigma of being dull and and geeky, but this website The Secret Life of Scientists helps us see that science is wondrous and even...dare I say it...hip.Sponsored by PBS, The...

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Moves You Can Make To Help Your Students Pay Attention

2010-03-09T21:13:00.002-05:00

Take a look at these videos from Uncommon Schools of teachers using short, specific strategies that help their students pay attention.

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