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TeenInk Online Magazine - The 21st Century and the Young Authors Foundation
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
English teachers, create your own TeenInk publication in your classroom. Work with your school's technology teacher to have students set up an online publication like the one at this site--perhaps on a wiki. Don't dare call it a literary magazine these days. Use TeenInk as a prototype of an edgy, creative outlet for your students. Put Shakespeare on the shelf for a few weeks and consider using the TeenInk site's content to show story elements and literary devices. If school policies prohibit publishing content online, make the wiki private and share the password with invited guests. Learn more about wikis at the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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LaRue Literacy Exercises - Charles LaRue
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Let your students play and replay the modules (with headphones!) until they believe they understand, then try thr online or prinatble exercises for practice and comprehension check. You could also do the activities together with a class on a projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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YourDictionary - LoveToKnow Corporation
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Send students to this site to look up those difficult words. ESL and ELL students can use this site to practice the pronunciation of new words. Be sure to mark this site as a favorite or share on your teacher web page for easy access.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Word a Day Homepage
Grades
4 to 12Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips - Discovery Education
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Immerse your students into your studies with a close-up in-depth look through virtual field trips. Visit places where time, money, and mileage inhibit your dreams for bringing your students into wondrous worlds. Find ways to visit where your class has never gone before. Find ways to motivate your most reluctant learners. ENL/ESL learners will appreciate the visit. Reach all types of learners through a class visit. Use field trips as a whole class anticipatory guide, a center activity, a home connection, or even as extra credit. Challenge your gifted students to be guides in their own learning by choosing topics of interest. Then transform their learning and ask these students to share research findings in a video with discussion questions to go with the research and with links to outside resources using a tool such as Vibby, reviewed here. Be sure students create a script to read from before beginning to produce their own video.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Amazing Kids Ezine - amazing-kids.org
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Use this site and its opportunities to submit work as an writing motivator to encourage development of more in-depth writing. Students will also enjoy "meeting" pen pals from around the world. Always get written parent permission before submitting student work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lincoln Goes to War - National Endowment for the Humanities
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
This lesson plan is ready to go and offers step by step instructions! Divide your class into five groups (based on the roles listed above). Allow them time to research and prepare for the debate. Consider having students tape the debate using YouTube or TeacherTube (explained here). Why not have each group (or student) write a blog defending their position (role).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hidden Pages in Anne Frank's Diary - History
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this article (includes a video) as a learning center or station during a unit on WWII in a history class or during a study of her book in an English class. This would be a great way to introduce Anne Frank, the exhibit serving to put all students at the same level of understanding of her life. If in need of some sort of assessment to see what students have learned from the site, challenge students to create an online graphic to share using Visme, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Music In Poetry - Smithsonian Institute
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Play the sound files on speakers in your classroom and be sure to include the link on your teacher web page for students to play at home, as well. If you are into podcasting, consider having students make their own recordings of ballads after hearing and studying these. Challenge cooperative learning groups to modernize one of the ballads and augment classroom technology use by creating a podcast by using sites such as podOmatic, reviewed here, or Buzzsprout, reviewed here. Help students create a checklist or rubric to use for self-evaluation or peer review. Use a tool like Quick Rubric, reviewed here, for the checklist and rubric. Use this same document to help students make constructive suggestions for story revisions. The lesson plans are printable PDFs and work with units/lessons on Langston Hughes and the blues as well as the meters of poetry.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Authors and Illustrators on the Web - Children's Literature Web Guide
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Share this on your teacher web page for students doing book reports or research on authors. When your students have completed creative writing book projects, have them create a mock-up site about themselves as authors! they can use PowerPoint or create an offline web page, depending on the resources available in your school. If you use PowerPoint, be sure to set it on a computer running automaically for parents waiting at conference time. If you display the student books on a nearby table, parents can learn "about the authors"!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Voki - Oddcast
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Access to a microphone is required to record a voice. There is an option to use text to voice (however, it does not have great sound.) Import audio from a file or use a cell phone instead to capture audio. Only one minute of audio can be recorded so be brief. Students need to carefully think of their narrative before recording. Users must be able to copy and paste html code for use in an external site.Use the controls to create your character's style, click customization to further refine your character, change your background, and add your voice. Keep in mind that animated backgrounds may take longer to load on your site. When done, click publish to view and copy the embed code which can then be used on a blog, wiki, or web pages.
Monitor all aspects of student production and use for appropriateness and copyright. If concerned about using student email, consider creating a class account for students to use. Be sure that students understand not to change the Voki of other students if using a class account. Check your school district policy about using emails or identifying student information on the Internet.
Introduce and share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this free site to record a greeting for students that can be seen on the start page of your blog, wiki, or website. Record online assignment information that is spoken by the Voki (always more pleasing to look at than the teacher!). Use this to share homework assignments, a message from you (via a substitute), and more. Use a character that is interesting or matches the assignment you may be leaving. Use Voki to record two different opinions or viewpoints and create a poll of students to view reactions. Use the Voki in Math by posing possible solutions to problems and create a class discussion or poll to determine which one is the actual answer. As students are working on projects, create a Voki that provides hints and tips for students. Allow students to use Voki to provide peer assessment to others. Consider using Voki in place of other assignments such as "What I did this summer vacation..." or "Here is information about me..." Use in any language class to record narratives or translations. Students can create a variety of Voki recordings over time which can show their learning of a language over time. Create classroom newscasts using student(s) on a rotating basis. Use Voki for vocabulary exercises which can be created by students or the teacher. The possibilities for this tool are endless. The quick and engaging nature of this tool offers unlimited uses.
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Brainchild Online Assessment - Brainchild
Grades
5 to 7Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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E.ggTimer.com - David LeMieux and Ben Lew
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
What a fabulous alternative to a traditional egg timer. Project the time on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector while students take a test, solve a drag and drop, practice speeches, rotate between learning centers, or during cooperative learning groups. Be sure to turn up the volume for the "time's-up" alert! As you teach basic concepts of time in primary grades, use this timer for students to understand the real concepts of one minute or ten seconds. Show the relationships between minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc. You can even use it to teach counting backward from 60!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Better At English - betteratenglish.com
Grades
3 to 12This site does have several appropriate advertisements. There are also a few questionable links on the site (for example, "Uncensored English"), so be sure to supervise WELL.
In the Classroom
You will need headphones or speakers if you choose to assign students to listen to the podcasts individually. This site is excellent for enrichment or special topics. Include it on your teacher web page (with a disclaimer regarding content) for students to access both in and out of class. Use this site with intermediate and advanced level ELL and ESL students to help them improve their knowledge of English slang and idioms. If you are into video, consider creating your own student vodcasts about idioms and sharing them via TeacherTube ( reviewed here) and on your class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Using Art to Define the Renaissance - TeachersFirst
Grades
6 to 10In the Classroom
This unit was developed to be used by a wide range of ages and abilities. It can be altered for different ability levels. TeachersFirst editors have included options for more student-centered, project-based activities using technology throughout the unit. You can adjust the time requirements depending on which activities you decide to do.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Speech Accent Archive - George Mason University
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Make this one available to the cast members of your school play or for in-class skits. You could also share some of the sound files as you study literature written in dialect to students can "hear" what it really sounds like. By listening to English accents all over the world, literature teachers may want to encourage authentic oral readings. Make sure you have speakers on your computer - and turn up the volume!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Story Jumper - storyjumper.com
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Although the sentences and graphics available appear juvenile, the fact that writers can delete the text and add their own original text, photos, and drawings makes this site flexible enough to use with older students, as well. This activity would work well for individual or pairs of students in a lab or on laptops. Ask your students to visit the site and create an online book with their original writings, drawings, and photos. ENL and ELL students will be able to use the site easily, and will learn appropriate sentence structure and add to their vocabulary by selecting new items to put into the graphic. Older students can also create "little buddy" books for younger students to read and share.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Costumer's Manifesto - Tara Maginnis, Ph.D
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
This is a HUGE site worth dipping into for everything from history of clothing to wedding rituals and ceremonies of all kinds. As you introduce the setting of a new piece of literature or study of a new historical period, share this site to make another time "real" to your fashion-conscious teens. Include this site for fashion, costuming, or customs as one of the student research topics for a time period or lit study.Note: The site is not terribly attractive as a set of links. It also has advertising and links to "outside" topics. Give precise directions for where students should go.
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American Rhetoric- Top 100 Speeches
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
What's unique about this site is that they have the audio to accompany the transcripts of major scripts in US history. When teaching about crucial figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., FDR or JFK use the audio to physically show students what was so monumental about their speeches. Use this site on the Interactive whiteboard or projector, just make sure your sound system is working. This would be a great resource for any history or government class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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This Day in History - Timelines, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
To add events to the site, locate the "add event" found at the bottom of the Timelines.com homepage. Follow the very clear (with samples) directions to insert your own event. Viewing the timelines is simple. Click to watch videos, view the maps, click "Like" or "Dislike" or make comments by clicking on the words.Monitor what students are viewing in the premade timelines. Also, teach students appropriate events to include and check their work before having them submit work so that they are more accurate.
Use the timelines on the site in science class to help students understand the history behind discoveries that they take for granted, such as the the space race. Today's students have never lived in a world where traveling to the moon was not possible, and understanding the history of the event could be very helpful in understanding the magnitude of such an event. This site would also be useful in art or music class. Have students investigate the history of their favorite group or type of music and create a multimedia presentation to share with the class. How about a video (including music, of course). Use a tool such as Moovly, reviewed here, and then share the videos on a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.
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