One of the best resources I have found for students to use is from The National Archives Website. When we think of the National Archives we immediately picture the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc., and we should because these very important documents are housed under the care of the National Archives. BUT….they have sooooo much more, and you can see ...

When I was in school, I dreaded history.  I found it completely uninteresting, dry, irrelevant, and quite frankly...boring.  This was unusual for me.  Normally, I really enjoyed school.  Creative writing, language arts, science, and even math were fun.  History was unbearable.      I can count on one hand the things I remember learning in history.   I learned that in ...

It can be hard to admit when a lesson goes terribly wrong. But rather than bottle is up, Teaching feature writer, Kate Olson, share with us how one of her Wiki lessons didn't turn out the way she planned. As technology becomes more common in the classroom, it's especially refreshing to hear from a teacher who has tried to something and ...

What it is: Switcheroo Zoo is a site I learned about from Kevin Bibo on his outstanding blog Cal Teacher Blog. Switcheroo Zoo has fun interactive games and activities such as “Make New Animals” where students can create their own animal combinations, “Build an Online Habitat” where students choose animals and match them to the correct environment, “Switch Zoo Puzzles”, “Where ...

Technology is on the brink of transforming education, argue Clayton M. Christensen of Harvard Business School and Michael B. Horn of Innosight Institute, authors of Disrupting Class, in Education Next. So far, the $60 billion investment in education technology has been used to support the status quo, they write. _Computers do not deliver instruction. The teacher is still at the center ...

What it is: Some websites just make you smile. Lite-Brite is one of those sites for me, I am a child of the 80’s so the Lite-Brite holds a special place in my heart! The site is exactly what you would expect, an online version of Lite-Brite. No fancy moving flash animations, sound effects, etc. Just 9 different color pegs to ...

Free Rice is an amazing website that I have written about two or three times in the past. It has been a site where students can play a vocabulary game and earn 20 grains of rice for each correct answer. The grains of rice are distributed to hungry people all over the world through the UN World Food Program. Two of ...

Differentiating instruction can be challenging. Student's educational strengths and weaknesses can be widely varied, making it a difficult task to meet each student's needs in any given lesson. Math is one such subject area where student skill levels can be very different. Some students have their basic math facts so well mastered that completing more complex tasks isn't hindered. Other students ...

[photo:59826] Jeopardy Labs is an awesome website that lets you build a Jeopardy game board without the use of Power Point! All that you have to do to start is enter a password so that others can’t edit your game. Then it is as simple as titling it, typing in categories and then entering questions and answers. This is really SO ...

When I was in Form 6 (today’s Yr 12) I had a teacher who gave us his phone number so that we could contact him if we needed clarification about the work we were doing out of school hours. We knew that on certain nights he had umpire training and wouldn’t be home until after 10.30pm. Did I ever call him? ...

If you want to spice up your lessons and get your students motivated, using the internet is a great way to get started. There are many free sites that offer fun and games for students that teachers can use as educational tools. Some applications focus on reading and science, while other offer tools that you can apply to just about any ...

With H1N1 lurking in our schools and the possibility of pandemic illness, there has never been a better occasion for blended learning. Blended learning occurs when schools and classrooms mix traditional face-to-face teaching, with online instruction and interaction. Aside from the flu, there are other great reasons to create an e-learning environment for your classroom. Natural disasters, weather, school closings, long ...

Dweeber is a social networking site for students that encourages kids to get their homework done faster and with more understanding by working with their school friends online. Dweeber was created to help students understand their strengths and talents, and help them work together more effectively with parents, mentors, and each other. The goal is to get students working together to ...

What it is: Book Punch is a new site dedicated to helping students in grades 3-9 become stronger readers. The site takes the most popular books read by schools in grades 3 through 9 and provides guided reading prompts about the reading improving overall reading comprehension. Book Punch encourages critical thinking skills and teaches students how to be in control of ...

If you're a teacher, you know what it's like to try to help a struggling reader get through a sentence. While we want readers to improve with comprehension and phonics skills, there is a way you can turn practice into a game your students will love. Featured writer, Kelly Tenkely, has found a free site that teachers can use just for ...

Teaching created the Name That Gadget quiz to test how well you can identify your favorite gadgets. We listened to your feedback and are providing the answers so you can learn from the quiz. h4. Don't cheat! If you haven't taken The Name That Gadget Quiz, go take it first. See answers on the next page... [page] 1. Gadget 1 o ...

Our very own featured writer, Kelly Tenkely, presented recently at the Colorado Podcast Summit hosted by Apple Education. Her presentation can be useful to us all, "Podcasting: Creative Communication Collaboration. " In addition, there are many resources for using podcasting in your classroom. Learn more about Kelly's presentation at the Summitt, podcasting tools, and more. Podcasting: Creative Communication Collaboration Podcasting Resources ...

I want to share some of the incredible uses of podcasting in the classroom that I heard at the Colorado Podcast Summit yesterday. One of the keynote speakers was ISTE Primary Teacher of the Year Carol Greig. Her Keynote entitled “Podcasting for the Struggling Reader” was truly inspiring. Carol teaches kindergarten in the Eugene School District in Oregon, here she started ...

!http://teaching.monster.com/nfs/teaching/photos/0001/4605/Picture_2.png! h4. Bookcasting-Grades: 3-5 > Project: A Bookcast attracts a reader to the exciting, funny, or major themes of the book without giving away the story. A Bookcast takes all of the fun that is packed into movie-trailers and applies them to student created book reviews. After reading a book, students use GarageBand to record a Bookcast review that other students ...

There is a myth, a common misperception, that teachers’ use of technology is a relatively recent phenomenon.  However, the great teachers in my life have all had one thing in common; they all used the technology of the time to encourage and enhance learning. When I was growing up this rarely meant computer use—computers were still relatively new to education at ...