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TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This is listed as a TeachersFirst "edge" entry, but our step-by-step walk-through takes the edge off and makes your wiki a walk in the park. Check it out now, while there is still FREE classroom wiki space available from the three wiki tools we review in detail.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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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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ESL Reading Lessons - 5 Minute English
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
Use this site if you want your students to do additional reading. Project the topic, story, and questions on an interactive whiteboard or projector for group discussion. Have your students make up their own questions to go with the site. Have your students write up a similar subject relevant to their own culture and present it, along with questions to check for comprehension. This is a fabulous site to list on your class website for students to use for at-home practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Phil Shapiro Websequiturs - Phil Shapiro
Grades
3 to 10In the Classroom
High intermediate and advanced ESL and ELL students will enjoy the stories and review their grammar usage at the same time when using this site. Reading teachers looking for a way to practice with context clues will find this site a refreshing change. Use this site as a complement to reading stories using sentence strips. Have your students create their own story building activities following the format of this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Book Wizard - Scholastic
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Teachers, make sure your librarian and even parents know about this wonderful web tool. This could be set up as the homepage for several computers in the library, so students can plug in their levels, their interests, and then enjoy the book recommendations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Comic Creator - ReadWriteThink.org
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Instead of writing boring summaries, why not summarize through a comic strip. It's much like storyboarding, but the drawing has been left to the Comic Creator pros. Make a class book of the comics created throughout the year. That book will become the most read classroom book of all in an elementary classroom. Use comics to show sequencing of events. When studying about characterization, create dialog to show (not tell) about a character. Another idea - why not use the comic strips for conflict resolution or other guidance issues (such as bullying). Sometimes it is easier for students to write it down (or draw the pictures) than use the actual words. World language and ESL/ELL teachers can assign students to create dialog strips as an alternate to traditional written assessments.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Newspapers - Web Wombat Pty Ltd.
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Students can update reports and research by accessing newspapers from around the world. Any of your favorite newspaper learning activities can transfer to a newspaper in another part of the USA or world. Foreign language teachers and students will enjoy using the foreign presses for authentic learning. Social Studies teachers can assign students to compare points of view on world issues or perceptions of the U.S. via various newspapers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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D.E.A.R. Day, April 12th - Reading Rockets
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Make sure you post this site's link to your teacher web page to encourage family reading on April 12. Teachers, click on the "Resources on silent reading" link to find free teacher resources to promote D.E.A.R.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Scratch - Lifelong Kindergarten Group, MIT Media Lab
Grades
1 to 12Material created can only be viewed within the program. Drawings are not saved as a JPG or pic file. However, a "snapshot" of the screen can be created by using these keys in Mac: apple, shift, and 4 and click/drag to surround the portion to save. In PC use: control/print screen. These snapshots can be uploaded or used as a picture in other applications.
In the Classroom
Be sure to "play" with this program before you present it to students; or, you could have computer savy students in your class pair up with not so savy students to investigate together. There are many tabs, folders; and icons to investigate. You (or students) could click Create and in the center pane, click on the tutorial. To begin your creation follow the steps in the tutorial. Once you have the idea, choose your own features from the menu on the left, and on the bottom right are two more menus; Look for the cat icon and the backdrops. Different colors, pens, and materials can be used to create the background or an image can be brought in from your computer. Objects in Scratch are called a Sprite and can be added in by choosing the folders below the screen. By clicking the script tab, blocks can be moved in to create motion, add sounds (even record your own message), and change the look of the Sprite. Blocks are linked on to each other to create a series of events. A control block dragged to the top of the blocks control which key starts the event. Advanced options include adding variables and other controls.Be sure to check with your Technology Department, as many districts require authorization to download or install new applications. Projects can be shared online; however an account is required.
Work is saved to the computer itself and only shared online via an account. To avoid problems concerning content made by outsiders or issues with sharing, save the work locally and either create your own gallery on a supervised class website/wiki or set up a single account where you share the "best" projects online via your own log-in. Remind students of the school's Acceptable Use Policy and consequences of violations, if you do allow them to join/share. Images used should adhere to all copyright rules. Use pictures taken in class or those with Creative Commons licensing (and provide attribution!).
Practical tips: Students quickly catch on to this program when allowed to play and easily see what they can make from it. Provide a simple assignment with defined rules/tasks to learn the tools. Younger students may familiarize themselves more easily working with a partner. Have students use a storyboard to write down what they will do/draw/say in their creation in order to keep tabs on what students and their creations.
Possible uses: For the lower grades, Scratch provides unlimited possibilities. Use as a new way to show vocabulary usage. Use the paint program to add information to a picture from your class field trip or science experiment. Use Scratch to help in storytelling a concept in a new and unique way, such as how rocks are formed. In the upper grades, use Scratch to show complex material in a new way. For example, students can draw DNA and show replication, etc. through their drawings and storytelling. Draw the different movements of landforms in plate tectonics. Draw or illustrate solutions to Math problems.
Edge Features:
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be shared by URL
Requires download/installation of software
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Calibrated Peer Review - University of California
Grades
9 to 12Although the collection of lesson plans is heavily science oriented, there are plans from other subject areas, for high school and college. The site appears to function just fine, though the copyright date on most areas is 2001.
In the Classroom
Use this site to teach students how to do peer editing. Besides allowing them to see their classmates' writings, it has a series of specific questions, called calibrations, which give them ways to make effective comments. After students make comments on others' essays by responding within a "calibration framework," they can read, respond to, and correct their own writings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - David Perdue
Grades
8 to 12A caution: Some of the links (easily identified) will take you to Amazon to buy the books or the videos. So be specific in where you want students to go on this site.
In the Classroom
You can have your choice of activities from this site for students. Have students work in teams to research various sections of this website. Then, have the groups create a multimedia presentation to share with the class on an interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Welcome to the Universe: Mythology - Windows to the Universe team
Grades
4 to 12Broken into three sections: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, the site offers a variety of approaches to teaching the mythologies of the world. The maps and family trees are especially nice. Switching from beginner to intermediate to advanced changes the level of depth and sophistication as the expectation for more vocabulary and understanding rises. The map showing different mythologies through continents is nice to show students the parallels between the stories of different cultures and places. The site also includes a "Mythology Hangman," always a challenge for any level of student, and mythology links to other sources on the web.
In the Classroom
Depending on what level you teach, your possibilities here are endless. For upper levels, assigning individuals or small groups to different mythologies and then having them "teach the class" that mythology is an attractive prospect. Showing the synthesis among the different cultures emphasizes Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and human archetypes. For younger students, drawing the stories of the different mythologies or writing conversations between Apollo and Freyr (for example) creates some fun while learning stories that influence our western culture. There is a teacher section you can access if you register (registration is free).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - Randall Davis
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Consider using some of the listening exercises to help all students learn to become better listeners or to discuss the concept of "main idea." Turn up your speakers (and use a projector to display the "quiz script," if you wish) to share the stories and questions or assign stories for student listening in a center. Use the follow-up questions to assess listening skills.Be sure to follow your school district's guidelines for students posting information online if they will be responding to the blog feature on this site.
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English: Reading Non-fiction Texts - BBC
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Ready for the test? That's what they say... and with standardized testing on the rise, reading non-fiction text quickly and accurately becomes important. Using this site to quiz students on key elements such as purpose or tone makes it a bit of fun as well as learning. Set up computer stations for each section and have the students work through them at their own pace. Or perhaps use the handouts and play a Jeopardy game as either practice or review. Another idea: project the "tests" on an interactive whiteboard or projector so the entire class can participate together or compete as teams. Special ed or remedial teachers will love these activities for individual students who need re-teaching and extra practice with non-fiction.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spelling Bee - Interactives - Annenberg Media
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
What a fabulous language arts resource - integrating reading, listening, and spelling skills. Project the stories on an interactive whiteboard or screen and have students take turns reading the story aloud to the class. Then have the students record their spelling words at their seats. Once you have gone through the entire short story, ask students to share how they spelled each word. Take a class poll to determine the correct spelling and have students take turns typing the "winning" word into the blank space. Or have teams take turns at the interactive whiteboard, trying to get the best possible score and "defeat" the other groups' scores. You will see some arguments, no doubt!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Literature: Pride and Prejudice - BBC
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Since each section is printable, you might have students review different sections individually or in small groups and then be in charge of reviewing that section with the rest of the class. Using the interactive quizzes included on the site, students could vie as teams. The sample essay is set up in such a manner that several students could write one part of each of the six sections and then the class could put it together and compare it to the model answers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English literature: Lord of the Flies - BBC
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
This is a great supplementary site for pre-reading or for reviewing. An especially nice extra is the inclusion of a sample essay question and answer. It sets up the question to be answered in a five-paragraph theme and offers possible topic sentences as an outline for writing that theme. Using the sample on a projector or interactive whiteboard is a good way to help students learn how to structure their own essay answers. Have students share and critique essays on the projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Literature: Jane Eyre - BBC
Grades
10 to 12In the Classroom
A great review before a test, this site is also good for pre-reading activities to build understanding of 18th century times and novels, particularly the views of women. The sample question takes students through a step-by-step writing of an outline for an essay. On a projector or interactive whiteboard, students might write their own collaborative answers to the sample outline and then compare it with the finished model given.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CuePrompter.com: The Online Teleprompter - Hannu Multanen
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Why bother with this one? Lots of reasons! Once they see it, your students are sure to come up with more, but here is a start: Try making a sample dialog for students to follow out loud as your project it in a foreign language or ESL/ELL class. Be sure to write in script format so they know who is speaking! Or share this tool with students who need help getting their nose out of their notes in presenting speeches. They can run it on a laptop only they can see and look out at the audience past the prompter. The comfort of having their text right there will ease many butterflies.An alternate use: build reading fluency by having students read aloud from this tech-tool. They will be FAR more motivated to read up to speed! Speech clinicians may want to try it for articulation practice, as well.
Comments
While this is a great tool. I found http://www.freeteleprompter.org/ much easier to use. Cueprompter looks rather cluttered and dated. Just my 2 cents as you guys would say.Dave, , Grades: 6 - 12
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