Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

If you find it difficult to motivate your high school students to read classic literature, try this site. Over two hundred songs and the works of literature that inspired them are presented. Students will discover that Bruce Springsteen was deeply affected by John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and Led Zepplin composed a song based on Moby Dick. High school-level lesson plans are provided.

Using the famous 1938 broadcast of H.G. Wells "War of the Words" as a foundation, this standards-based lesson plan introduces students to the art of creating vivid audio broadcasts and dramatizations. After analyzing the effect an audio composer can have on listeners, students are asked to create a list of criteria for effective storytelling and create a dramatization of a selected scene from a recent reading.

OK - this one's just for fun. These tongue-in-cheek synopses of literary pearls are hilarious and BRIEF! Few authors escape the treatment; nearly every writer from Shakespeare to Steinbeck is represented on these pages. Some synopses are better than others - check out their version of A Tale of Two Cities - but all are quite clever! Use to generate some lively pre or post-reading discussion in class, or kick off a lesson on satire with several choice examples. Links to synopses of science fiction, bedtime stories, and movies are provided at the bottom of the home page.

Create online sticky type bulletin boards to view from any online device using lino. Click to try it first without even joining. The "Give it a shot!" button has a "How to" canvas has stickies explaining how to use lino. Join and create your own canvases to share stickies, reminders, files, and more. Change sticky colors from the menu in the upper right hand corner or use the easy editing tools that appear when the sticky is selected. Use the icons at the bottom of each sticky note to "peel them off," share, edit, and more. Create a group from your lino page to share and collaborate on canvases. You can also share canvases publicly so anyone with the URL can participate. 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.

While this site would require some supervision, the variety makes it very attractive to the writing teacher. It has prompts that are pictures, others that are quotes, still others that give first and last lines, or simply words-- either real or made up. The categories given in the right hand column range from adopt-a-plot to year-long mystery. Both students as writers and teachers as instructors are limited only by their imaginations! Check out the site first as some schools may block what appears to be a blog site, but really is something quite different.

Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni.

Teaching poetry can be a challenge in any school. Here's a site that offers both teaching strategies (lots of them!) and teacher-designed lessons on a variety of topics. If you approach the annual poetry unit reluctantly, take courage here.

The Poetry Archive is a comprehensive place for bringing poetry to life in your classroom. This resource provides lesson plans and activities for all key stages, built around authentic recordings that offer lively, engaging ways of unraveling the mystery of poetry. There are numerous internet sites that provide audio versions of poems; however this site provides access to the actual voice of the poets as they read their poems the way they intended them to be heard. Find out what they say about their own writing and the importance of hearing poems aloud. Browse all poems by title, poet's name, poetic forms, or themes. A full glossary of poetic terms is provided. There are various featured poets in residence, and there is even a link to a Children's Archive with favorite poems for younger students. The Poetry Archive includes a wide range of resources designed to help students learn background information on the poets and understand the context for their work.

This site provides a detailed list of writing idea generators, what ifs, and more! If you have reluctant writers, students with writer's block, or just need to change things up a bit, this site will fit the bill. The site is visually bland but content-rich, mixing the unlikely with the unusual to build mental flexibility and help spark students' creativity. There are six categories of Story Inspiration: Envisioner, Quick Story Idea Generator, Quick Story Theme Generator, Romance Story Generator, Story Generator, Symbolitron, What-if-inator, and Writing Challenge Generator. An example of an "envisioner" story is "A fusion of the story of the little Dutch boy and the story of Romeo and Juliet that concerns a group of manicurists." The site also includes a TON of links to other writing "generators" - everything from Fantasy Novels to an Adventure Generator. Other ideas include character generators, song challenge, and villain plot generators as well as others. Clicking on one will give you a choice of generating anywhere from 1-50 results and you have the option to print them as well.

Be aware: there are some "social" features of this site (see the Community links. This site also includes some advertisements.

Looking for a quiz tool that is better than all the rest? Quizizz is a free tool. It works on any device: web browser, iOS, Android and Chrome apps. You can access hundreds of ready-made learning quizzes or create your own. Join as a teacher, pick a quiz, and use the code for a virtual room to give to your students. Alternatively, you can create your own quiz on Quizizz, even importing questions from excel/CSV files with just a click of a button. Students use the code to enter and submit a nickname, code name, or numerical name (students do not have to register). Quizizz now has to be marked as trusted by an administrator to be able to use it with your Google Classroom account, even if you have been using it. With Google Classroom, students can join by signing in with their Google Account with just one click. Even better, if you assign a Quizizz through Google Classroom, all your data gets updated in your Classroom dashboard. You will get notifications when students complete assignments and their responses and grades show. Teachers can choose to make their quizzes public or private. Embed images with your questions. Check or uncheck the settings, including music. You can even duplicate an existing quiz to save into My Quizizz. A created Quizizz can have randomized or non-randomized questions.

Don't miss the memes that are displayed when students answer a question; these are sure to be a hit with students. You can also customize your Quizizz by creating your own Memes. Use images of the school mascot, students' pets, or favorite game characters to create a set of ten or more memes. Click the My Memes from the top menu, then the plus symbol. You are now ready to start. Be sure to Click "Start Game" after students have entered the code. Send the game link to students (or other teachers to use with their classes) by email, website, or social media. Set time limits of 30 seconds to 5 minutes for students to answer each question. This allows more time for more complex questions. Students earn points for speed and accuracy. Unlike other sites, both teacher and students can see the questions, answers, and the leaderboard throughout the quiz. Most other tools require the teacher to project the answers and leaderboard on a whiteboard. The leaderboard can be turned OFF in this tool as well. And, what is the best part of this tool? Two separate classes can play together using this tool. Quizizz works on any web-enabled device, including smartphones and tablets, and has an iOS app.

You can now email student reports to parents (even send the student reports to multiple/all parents at once), the main navigation bar has moved from the top to the left, and there is a search bar that you can access on all pages, and now you can search both your quizzes and your reports. Quizizz is now available in Spanish and will soon be adding other languages. Don't miss their new Jungle theme with music, backgrounds, and GIFs... oh my!

More than ever, 1984 is a book with significance in our world. This site encourages students to discuss many of the issues, such as privacy rights and random drug testing, that interest and concern high school students. Along with lesson plans, there are many direct links for students to click on and further explore these pertinent issues.

EZSchool is an educational portal that contains EZ worksheets, interactives, online study tools, and tutorials. Although this site is "busy" with clutter from some related advertisements, it is easy to navigate by grade level, subject, or more specific topics such as grammar, writing, and vocabulary for English, or word problems, geometry, and algebra for math, biology and chemistry for science, as well as Spanish, Japanese, and Hindi language activities. There are also SAT/PSAT practice questions with detailed answers. All materials are free to use, print, and distribute for use in the classroom or at home. The website is frequently updated with new activities. Weekly updates to the site are offered on the home page.
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Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni.

The complete works - from the e-text collection at M.I.T.

Read Write Think has another winner with an interactive "Persuasion Map" that helps students use persuasive language to make an argument by walking them through the process with their own words. They can print the map, or work online. Clicking on the interactive tool, students enter their name and title (keep the title short). Students can then work back and forth with main points and reasons to support them. They can preview, print, or make changes to their map at any time. To make changes, you must click the "back button" in the top left corner. The page also has a lengthy list of lessons facilitated by the persuasion map; however, it can be used with any persuasive topic. Note: the tool does NOT save their work! Be sure to have them print before ending their session, even if they are not done. At the time of this review, the save feature only worked in an RWT file.

As part of their extensive site for vocabulary, roots, and more, MyVocabulary.com has added a themed area for Lewis and Clark's Exploration. Find interactive vocabulary activities using Lewis and Clark related vocabulary words. You will also find printable crosswords, fill in the blanks and more, all using the same theme words. This and other "themes" available on the site will make vocabulary development fun.

Though this page has been archived, and it is no longer updated, the links for the poems are still working. Poetry is a tough nut for the best of teachers. This British site offers engaging, highly visual presentations of poetry that will draw even the most poem-phobic students into the presentation. There are many options from which to choose, and the variety of presentation styles will help ensure that there is something for everyone. Language arts teachers will find this one well worth the effort. The audio requires Real Player, and a few activities require Shockwave.

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