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Documentary Storm - 2013 DocumentaryStorm
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
With documentaries challenge your students' understanding of food, history, politics, or people. Use to provide another point of view which might not be available in traditional text books. Use to explain primary and secondary sources, as well as an example of a way to extend thinking. Provide a documentary as an example for your students to do an in depth research project. Use documentaries to challenge knowledge, create new knowledge, and learn.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Documentary Tube - DocumentaryTube.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Discover the power of documentaries while studying point of view, primary and secondary resources, and debate skills. Examine the aspects shown in documentaries and help students find structure to provide an unbiased research project. Challenge existing knowledge in many areas. Help students become active thinkers and become involved in current events. Sharpen your own understandings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Does Your Vote Count? The Electoral College Explained - Christina Greer
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this video on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) as part of any election unit. Have students research the number of electoral votes available in your state. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare the democratic process in the United States to that of another country. Have students create maps using Zeemaps, reviewed here, to identify the number of electoral votes available in each state. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose various locations on a map, and additional information such as how the electoral votes were cast in previous elections. You could use Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to share the video with students. Use Edpuzzle to add comments, questions, and point out highlights within the videos. YouTube videos are viewable in Edpuzzle, even if your school blocks YouTube! Use Edpuzzle to add comments, questions, and point out highlights within the videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DOGOnews - Meera Dolasia
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Non-fiction reading and background knowledge have found a new emphasis with The Common Core State Standards. It is more important now than ever to help connect students with quality, non-fiction reading and viewing material. Find great news resources and videos of the week to create assignments for your class at DOGOnews. You may want to create a class page and load several news articles. Have students choose from the articles, and email it to themselves. Have students print out the article and complete a "close reading" of the article by annotating it. Then have students who chose the same article get together in groups to discuss their reactions about the article, create a summary together, and create four or five open-ended questions about the article. Lastly, create groups of four, with each student having a different article, and have them present their article to the others in the group and ask them their open-ended questions to trigger a discussion. Create a class magazine from the articles. Or better yet, have students create a multimedia presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here. This site allows you to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. Strengthen reading comprehension by having an 'article du jour' on your interactive whiteboard or projector as students arrive. Link this site on your homepage.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dollar Street - Gapminder
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Most teachers will want to bookmark this site to use in many different situations. Share Dollar Street on your interactive whiteboard to compare and contrast your community and living situation to those around the world. When reading books mentioning other countries, look up financial information using this site to help students understand typical living situations. Use Dollar Street as a starting point for research projects. Ask students to create a virtual field trip to their chosen location using Google My Maps, reviewed here. Google My Maps includes tools for labeling stops on a map as participants follow locations created.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DoluWiki - Andreas Gohr
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
In language arts or history classrooms use a wiki to create a favorite historical figures page, have students share their favorite person from history along with supporting evidence. Use a wiki to set up a debate between students. For example, create a wiki and ask students to debate the use of homework in schools, the effect of social media on society, or year-round school vs. traditional school calendars. As your class builds and adds to the wiki, ask students to select a topic to research further. Ask them to use a multimedia creation tool like Sway, reviewed here to transform classroom technology and share information including text, images, videos, and more. If you have not tried a wiki yet, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a detailed, step-by-step explanation and starter help, including dozens of ideas for ways to use a wiki in your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Don't Gross Out the World! - Bill Haduch
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on global culture. Have students complete the site individually on classroom computers. While it's not something likely to be tested by state standards, it is a great way to get students interested in the differences between cultures AND provide a break from more intense learning centers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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dotEPUB - Xavier Badosa
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
What a great find for BYOD programs! Use dotEPUB for students to take content from your course blog or website and put it on their e-readers for easy access wherever they go. Have students download informational texts from web sites to annotate in their e-reader software as you build comprehension and "close reading" skills a la CCSS. Elementary teachers will need to help students learn to use this tool. Use dotEPUB to create an ePub portfolio of your students' blogging efforts. In Spanish class, convert your website into an e-book for students to practice language learning. Make ePubs of any web content for portability and annotation tools available on e-readers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dotstorming - Gareth Marland
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Share your board with a projector or interactive whiteboard. Put the URL link on your website for students to access. If you don't want to share the link that way, then use a tool such as Stich, reviewed here, for students to type in (and reduce input mistakes). You may want to think about students using only their first name or their code to participate. Dotstorming does not show which posts belong to which student, so you may want to require that students identify their post and comment by putting their initials, their first name, or their code on their contributions to get credit. If you plan to allow all students to post to the wall or make comments, you may want to discuss Internet safety and etiquette and establish specific class rules and consequences.Use Dotstorming to collect WebQuest links and information to share with students. Assign a student project. For example, have students create a board about an environmental issue. They can include pictures, video, links, and other information to display. Use as a new format for book reports. Do your students have favorites such as music or sports? Create a board around these favorites or hobbies. Use a wall for grammar or vocabulary words. Create walls for debates or viewpoints. The voting is perfect for that idea! Post assignments, reminders, or study skills on a board. Do you use student scribes or reporters? Use Dotstorming to create a board with class news and updates.
Use Dotstorming as an "idea bin" where students can collect ideas, images, quotes, and more for a project. Require them to share a brainstorming Dotstorming board to show you the ideas they considered before they launch into a project. Have them brainstorm (and rank by votes) the possibilities for a creative problem solving or a "Maker Faire" project. In writing or art classes, use Dotstorming as a virtual writer's journal or design notebook to collect ideas, images, and even video clips.
Use Dotstorming as your virtual word wall for vocabulary development. Have students submit and share questions or comments about assignments and tasks they are working on.
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Down the Drain Project - The Center for Innovation in Science and Engineering
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Bring problem-based learning into your classroom and share the results globally. Encourage multiple classrooms or schools in your area to participate. Extend the project by having collaborative groups find water saving ideas to employ in school, at home, or in the community. Find ways to share results locally in newspapers or news channels to encourage community involvement. Present findings with a variety of multimedia: PowerPoint, Prezi, reviewed here, video, podOmatic podcast, reviewed here, artwork, poetry, or song.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History - Learning for Justice
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and use the information provided in the article as a guideline for teaching Black history, not just during Black History Month but throughout the year. Find many Black History resources at the TeachersFirst Black History Special Topics page, found here, or within many of the Reading Treks, found here. The Reading Treks share virtual field trips of resources based upon literature and include many Black history selections. Celebrate your students' learning throughout the year using digital tools to create virtual field trips using Google My Maps, reviewed here, or creating interactive infographics using Canva Infographic Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draggo - 2012 Draggo LLC
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use public and private options to collect different links. If you want to make your personal page (with your personal favorites) private, you can share school related links on a public page. Share resources with other teachers. Make group work easy for any age group with easily accessible links. Link directly to single categories or embed categories on other websites. No more students typing in the URL incorrectly! Younger children can easily use your recommended online activities, or enrichment sites. Label sites according to subject, or grade level. Older students can create their own accounts. Sharing links during group collaboration is a snap. Add Draggo as a link on your class website or blog. Explore using Draggo with your professional development opportunities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Drama Resource - David Farmer
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. If you are looking for ways to get students more involved with history lessons, drama may be just the thing. Take advantage of the free lesson plans included on the site. Use lessons and activities as part of your storytelling unit, for beginning of the year activities, or to promote higher level thinking skills. Have students create their own mini-drama moment: upload a photo they have taken and add voice bubbles for dialog using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Have students create animated movies online demonstrating different drama techniques using invideo AI, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw Island - DrawIsland.com
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Allow students to create collaborative drawings through this site as responses to literature. Share the finished products on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or your class website. Have a group of students create a drawing, then another group can use that as a story prompt. Use this site with students in a computer lab (or on laptops) setting to create a drawing of the setting of a story as it is being read aloud. Have students create an online book of images and captions about any topic using saved images withMy Storybook, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw.Chat - Positive Studio
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Allow students to create collaborative drawings as responses to literature. They can map out the plot or themes, add labels, create character studies, and more. Share the finished products on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or your class website. Have a group of students create a drawing so that another group can use it as a writing prompt. Use a board as a brainstorming or sketching space as groups (or the class) share ideas for a major project or for solving a real-world problem. Use this site with students in a computer lab (or on laptops) to create a drawing of the setting in a story as it is read aloud. As an assessment idea, have students draw out a simple cartoon with stick figures to explain a more complex process such as how democracy works. If you are lucky enough to teach in a BYOD setting, use Draw.Chat to demonstrate and illustrate any concept while students use the chat and drawing tools to interact in real time. If you are studying weather, have students diagram the layers of the atmosphere and what happens during a thunderstorm, for example. Introduce this tool to students who are working on group projects. Alternatively, have students use this to work as partners or as a small team to complete complex math problems or equations. Give students a problem by typing it on their board. Take advantage of the map feature to share and annotate landforms, historic places, or locations in novels.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Draw.io - JGraph, Ltd.
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate creating a mind map or other diagram on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and then allow students to try to create their own. Use this site for literature activities, research projects, social studies, or science topics of study. Use Draw.io to create family trees or flow charts. Learning support students could team up to map out the important concepts from a unit visually as a review activity. Use this mapping website as an alternative to a traditional test, quiz, or homework assignment in literature, social studies, or science. Have students demonstrate their understanding by creating a graphic organizer about the main points or map out a step-by-step process (life cycle). Be sure they name their organizer BEFORE they start work with their name --or code name-- so you know who did it (they could EMAIL it to you!) or have them print their results to turn them in. Anonymously share and compare different students' "views" of a unit so students can "see it through someone else's eyes."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dropmark - Oak Studios, LLC
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use Dropmark to create a bank of resources to use for each content unit within your subject or classroom. Student can then download and use the raw materials you provide to make their own projects or to learn independently. Create a separate class account for students to curate their own lists or bookmarks and resources. Use this tool to compile web treasure hunts to learn or introduce any topic within your content area. Collect links to informational texts for students to read "closely" a la CCSS. With younger students, create links of audio books for children to view and listen to or simple interactives teaching colors, numbers and more. Have students create their own Dropmark as a place to store links for a project. Share a link to your Dropmarks on your class webpage. Save pictures of class activities with a Dropmark collections then share with parents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Duck Duck Go - ddg.gg
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Provide a link to Duck Duck Go on your class website or as a start page on a classroom computer. Use Duck Duck Go to teach about search strategies and help students think of search terms. When discussing searching in class, compare Duck Duck Go to other search engines, noticing the differences between the search experience and results between the various search engines. Be sure to discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and reliability of the search results with each of the various search engines. Be sure to point out the additional search terms and how these terms can provide more targeted search results. Try a game where students predict what other terms might show up from a given starting search. This will teach the mental flexibility to realize what else the search engine might "think" you mean. For example, if we enter "apple," what other terms might we see?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Duck Soup - Robert Boyett and Andrew McAfee
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Save time and paper using Duck Soup. Start out slowly, perhaps with one or two papers the first week. Choose a paper that is familiar to both you and your students and explore together how to use e-sheets and settings that work best for your classroom. Once familiar with the site, the possibilities are unlimited. Use Duck Soup for homework, centers, and ongoing projects. Instead of sending paperwork home to be completed by parents, create digital versions for a quick response and compilation of information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ducksters - Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI)
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is a perfect addition for use with a biography unit. Explore and share information categorized by topics such as Civil Rights, the Cold War, Ancient Greece, and WWII. Extend student learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president, famous scientist, or nearly any other real or fictitious person. Be sure to create a link to the site on your class webpage or newsletter for students to explore at home. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use the interactives during center time.Comments
Very safe and reliable. Everyone else is my school thinks ducksters is stupid but I love ducksters.Ry, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
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