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The Tank Man - PBS Frontline
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use the documentary on this site as an in-class activity during a lesson or unit on Modern China. Introduce the circumstances of Tiananmen Square to the class before playing the video on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Make sure to give students sufficient contextual information before playing the video. After the video, have a class discussion about the video, using your own prompts or those derived from the teachers guide! Challenge students to create fictitious blog posts from those living near the area, or from family members living far away.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Smilebox - Smilebox, Inc.
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Upload images from your computer. You can save web images or use screen shots, as well, to be used in your creations. Watch copyright! Check out Awesome Screenshot, reviewed here, for details for a screen shot taker. From there, it is easy to simply click and follow the on screen instructions. The program is simple to navigate and very user friendly for those who are accustomed to web tools.With the variety of formats, Smilebox has a wide variety of applications in any type of classroom! For basic technology integration extend learning with this tool. Use in history class to have students create collages of different periods of time such as the American Civil War. Create topics such as the Lincoln's Election, the Gettysburg Address, Battle of Antietam, Emancipation Proclamation, Battle of Gettysburg, and Lee's Surrender. Have pairs or groups of three select topics at random, and then have them create a collage or "scrapbook" of the event. Try having students choose a role from which to create their assignment such as a Rebel soldier, a Union Soldier, a volunteer nurse, a mother or father of children fighting on different sides of the war, etc. Have students collect copyright free images online for their use or create their own by reenacting and creating visuals to take pictures for their productions. Unleash student creativity by showing them this tool as resource in creating presentations and projects for your class and others. What a fabulous tool to use on the first day of school (as a welcome), beginning of a new unit, or back to school night with the parents! Elementary classes could create whole-class scrapbooks of curriculum projects, such as their science garden or Colonial Days celebration.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Befunky - Tekin Tatar, Tolga Birdal, and Mehmet Ozkanoglu
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Create more compelling graphics for presentations, multi-media projects, reports, yearbooks, newsletters, or class websites. When publishing student writing, liven up the "About the Author" page with a more artistic photograph of the author. Instead of using a dull student mug shot for the class job board or for class routine charts, replace it with photo illustrations. Share class rules through interesting "characters" speaking on the bulletin board! The speech bubble option may help students learn to write in the first person narrative, or reveal the unspoken thoughts of a character from a book or point in time. Use BeFunky characters in a center for creative writing or as visual writing prompts for the entire class. Use the images for creating political posters for fictitious candidates and their platforms. Photograph a reenactment of scenes from a fairy tale or folktale. Transform these photos into illustrations for a wordless interactive online book using a tool such as on Bookemon reviewed here. Students participating in a social network for class such as a blog or wiki, will enjoy using Befunky to create entertaining profile pictures. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. Many schools prohibit use of "social networking" sites. Check your school policies and/or obtain parent permission before allowing students to use social features. Spell out specific permissions and consequences. Of course you will also want written parent permission before submitting student work to this online gallery.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Archive It - Internet Archive
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to compare info from older websites with the ones today. Ask your students to visit the site and create a multimedia presentation from the information they learn there. Have students compare an "inactive" site and a newer site (on the same topic) and then highlight the differences using the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here). Alternatively, elicit ideas from your class about how websites have changed and then have the students take a look to see more differences. More advanced social studies classes can compare the historical perspective on events as recent as five years ago to see how points of view and presentation of information change over time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachinghistory.org - National History Education Clearinghouse
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
While the "history content" section of this website contains resources that might be directly usable in the classroom, there is much more here for the teacher to use in preparing lessons, learning more about topics of interest and in infusing the teaching of history with more primary documentation and historical thinking that has been past practice in a traditional social studies classroom. There is also a focus on the limitations of mass produced text books, and guidance on helping students begin to question what they find in those text books as historians. On this site there are interactive posters to use with your students to get them to start thinking like a historian. Altogether, this is a very rich resource and should be in regular rotation among your "go to" bookmarked favorites.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Very Old Place - N Bosch
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Add this site to your Favorites and use it for an ongoing source of ideas and interesting websites to bring into the classroom and to explore. Challenge students to make a digital collection of "primary source" materials about your school or local community as they come to appreciate the value of such documents and artifacts through a historical eye.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Mapper - Various Professors from University of Sheffield & Michigan
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Geography and history teachers will enjoy this site. Use this site as a learning center during a unit on maps, or a unit on something like poverty or religions (there are many more categories), or a specific time period mentioned within your studies. Many of the maps within categories have pie graphs. Challenge groups of students to use the maps for research projects and create multimedia presentations such as a video using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spy Letters of the American Revolution - Clements Library, University of Michigan
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
The use of spy letters shows students a different perspective of the Revolutionary War. Have your students use the information about the spies and write a biography. Add a little mystery to your classroom and have students write spy letters from the perspective of people on each side of the war. Have students use the images and information from the site and create a poster using Canva, reviewed here. Post the letters on an interactive whiteboard or projector and use the letters in an English class to discuss letter writing, grammar, and sentence structure. The whiteboard tools can be used to highlight and annotate. Several more examples of fun activities including writing with disappearing ink can be found in the Teacher's Lounge.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Blank Game Board Templates - Donna Young
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This site is a great way to add creativity to your teaching. Make games boards that can be used to review curriculum in any subject area. These games can be used as a center to support your curriculum. These boards aren't just for the teacher, have pairs of students work together to create their own games. Perhaps have them research a topic, then share the information with peers in the form of a game. Then have students exchange games for other pairs to play. This is a great way to differentiate an assignment by providing different versions of a game or having students create their own at an appropriate level of difficulty. For students who need more support, provide partially completed versions for them to "create" the rest from a word bank.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Argument Wars - iCivics Inc.
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
This site is a great way to review the amendments to the US Constitution. Using an interactive whiteboard or projector, complete one case as a whole group so students can see how the interactive should work. Use the provided handouts so students can take notes as they are working through the case. When it is time for students to work independently, make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Afterward, have a discussion or have students journal using the provided discussion questions. This site does not have a save feature, so students must complete the entire activity to see if they've won. For students who need more of a challenge, assign them to Gideon v. Wainwright. Students have to examine two arguments which makes it more challenging.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do I Have a Right? - iCivics Inc.
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
This site is great way to review the amendments of the US Constitution. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Working in groups have a class competition to see who can win the most cases and achieve the most prestige points. Afterward, have a discussion about the process each group used to build their law firm. This site does not have a save feature so the teacher should set a duration for play. Built in help makes this site useful for students who might need some additional guidance. Use the final score printout to assign your students a grade.To fully involve students in their "law firm," have them create a firm logo and "shingle" using an online graphics tool such as Supalogo, reviewed here. Print the logos for classroom decorations or have students upload them to law firm pages on on your class wiki.
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Historical Thinking Matters - Center for History and New Media
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
This site can be used in several different ways. View the introductory movie from the the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then use some of the teaching strategies to prepare students for an upcoming history lesson. Use the student section with individual or pairs of students in a lab or as a center. Have them use their new skills to review historical documents. Break students into four groups and assign them one of the four student investigations to complete. When done have groups share what they learned with the rest of the class. Challenge students to create a video and share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Youth Leadership Initiative - Center for Politics - University of Virginia
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use the site with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students work in cooperative groups and take part in the mock congress. They will develop critical thinking and collaboration skills as they research, draft, and pass original legislation. Use the downloadable campaign simulation software (free), and have your students role play and run a senatorial campaign. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rubric Gallery - RCampus
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to search for rubrics for any type of assignment or classroom use. Material isn't limited to academic use, it also includes attendance, homework, and other types of rubrics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Owl & Mouse Online Interactive Maps - Owl & Mouse Educational Software
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge of countries, states, and capitals. The site also provides printable maps so you can have students write the names of countries, etc and then use the interactive map to self check. In addition, since it is a blank map, teachers can use the pens from their interactive whiteboard to draw in other physical features like rivers or mountain ranges.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Underground Railroad Freedom Center - National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use the lesson plans (found under Learn and Educator Resources) in your own preparation, and make this site available to students who are doing research on the Underground Railroad. If your class is doing any family tree research as a part of a discussion on immigration, this site may be useful to students who have ancestors who were enslaved. Have students create a family tree using an online tool such as Family Tree Creator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Jewish Trivia Quiz - www.jewish-trivia.com
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Working in groups have a class competition to see who can answer the most questions in the shortest amount of time. Introduce this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector and use it as a spring board for a unit study on various Jewish holidays. Have cooperative learning groups replace paper and pen by creating a quiz online to test their classmates. Use a site such as ProProfs Quizmaker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Lincoln Log - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
This site will fit perfectly into any social studies or history class. Have students explore this site independently or in small groups. If used independently put the site on a classroom computer and use as a center. Create a class job for a student called Historian. They can check the website to see what was happening that day and report it to the class. Have students choose an event from the site, find an image of Lincoln and upload it to Blabberize, reviewed here. They can then have Lincoln "talk" about an important day of his life.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Debategraph - Thoughtgraph, Ltd.
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use this resource to view various viewpoints and information about topics in the public eye. Use to create subtopics to be investigated in a class debate. Use the process to delve deeper into debates created by the class. Create visualizations using organizational software to help students follow through on all aspects of a debate topic. If you are having students log-in, rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shmoop: Biographies - Shmoop
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce any of the authors biographies before reading a literary work or studying that famous leader or scientist. You could have the students go through the tabs and take notes on interesting facts, trivia, etc. Then have a class game where all students stand and the first student reads a fact from their notes and crosses it out. All other students have to cross that fact out, too. Then the next person states a different fact and every one else has to cross the fact out. Proceed in this manner until there is only one (or however many you want) students left standing. They are the winners. Another idea: Have your students create an interactive online poster about an individual using Lucidpress, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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