Websites Teachers Use 3.17.16

Websites Teachers Use Roger Strang

Websites Teachers Use1. Pinterest2. Edchats (twitter)3. Lesson Sharing Sites

a. BetterLessonb. LearnZillionc. Curriki, Share My Lesson

4. EngageNY5. Scholastic.com6. NewsELA7. Discovery Education8. Google Expeditions9. Video libraries

a. Schooltube, Teachertubeb. Edutopia

10. Smithsonian Education11. Illuminations (math)12. Online Classroom communities

a. Edmodo, Moodleb. Google Classroom

13. Edthena14. Teaching Channel15. Teacher2Teacher

Pinterest = Pin + Interest

• Follow this link to a video about Pinterest.• Very popular with elementary school teachers.• Pinterest users make and curate digital bulletin boards.

They “pin” webpages of interest onto these “Boards.” A picture of the webpage shows up on the Board and is called a Pin. When someone clicks on a Pin, they are automatically taken to the original webpage, where they can learn more.

• Most teachers use Pinterest search for materials.• Pins often go to a blog or a product on Teachers Pay

Teachers (more on TpT later).

Pins: visual bookmarks of webpages

Name of the Board. Ppl make Boards to organize their favorite things.

Pinterest: Try it out!

• Click on this link.• Click on a picture of interest.• Click on the picture again.• You will be taken to the original website.

Edchats

• A specialized use of twitter• A scheduled time when educators “meet and

tweet,” about a topic (here is recent one on #BFC530: Educators juggle many tasks. What are your successful juggling tricks and tips?)

Popular Lesson Sharing SitesName of Website Who creates the materials?

Teachers Pay Teachers Regular teachers (Nicknamed Teacherpreneurs)

BetterLesson Master teachers

LearnZillion Master teachers

Curriki Regular teachers

Share My Lesson Regular teachers

Teachers Pay TeachersAn online marketplace where teachers can buy materials created by other teachers. Some materials are free. Here is a link to the product below.

BetterLesson

• Betterlesson does two main things:1. Runs online Professional Learning Communities

= scheduled times for educators to get together and be coached.

2. Partners with educators called Master Teachers to create freely available lessons and units.

LearnZillion

• Like BetterLesson because it hired Expert Teachers to make an exemplary curriculum for teachers all over the world to use.

• The difference: LearnZillion has created one curriculum per grade level, instead of multiple.

Curriki, Share My Lesson

• While BetterLesson and LearnZillion curate “Exemplary curricula,” Curriki (mission below) and Share My Lesson source their lessons from any regular teacher.

EngageNY

• EngageNY provides an online, common-core aligned curriculum.

• EngageNY focuses on math and English language arts.

Scholastic.com

• Two Scholastic services are highlighted here:• Scholastic Book Wizard (free) lets teachers

and parents “level a book.” The “level” corresponds to the complexity of a text: higher levels for more advanced readers.

• Scholastic News (free/paid) is a collection of digital/paper magazines for students.

NewsELA• Rewrites the news for different grade levels. – For example, a NYTimes article is rewritten for the 3rd,

4th and 5th grade levels.• Articles span topics from War & Peace to Sports.

Discovery Education

• Has an archive of virtual field trips. • Also has lesson plans.

Example of virtual field trip

Google Expeditions

• Software that provides field trips in virtual reality.

• In Beta testing now.

Schooltube, Teachertube

• Websites where teachers, students, media companies, etc. upload videos.

• Content is moderated, to make it school-appropriate.

Edutopia

• A video library.• Videos are professionally produced, and are

organized into series.• The series cover a diverse range of topics, but not

things like “How to teach ___________.”• Several video series on themes like project based

learning, teacher wellness.

Smithsonian Education

• Educational branch of Smithsonian Institute• Provides resources like interviews with

experts, lesson plans, links to relevant websites.

Illuminations

• Illuminations seeks to “illuminate” math with digital interactives (mobile games, activities), brain teasers and lessons.

Edmodo, Moodle

• Online communities for classes – teachers set up an online “class” that looks

something like a facebook group. – Students flesh out their profiles– Everyone can interact.

• Teachers can give quizes and polls through the online “class.”

• Students can view assignments (e.g. homework, projects) and submit work online.

Picture of Edmodo screenQuiz Results

Name of class

Student users

Google Classroom

• Similar idea to Edmodo and Moodle • “Google Classroom is your mission control for

class. Create classes, distribute assignments, send feedback and see everything in one place.”

Edthena

• Teacher uploads a video of him or her teaching• Teacher gives access to admin, colleagues, etc. to

view and add time stamped comments to video• An admin in the room often changes the way

students act; this a great way to counter that.

Teaching Channel

• A video library curated by the company. This is a key difference between this and Schooltube or Teachertube, which are not curated.

• The videos are for seeing how another educator does something (for students, with colleagues)

• Also provides a paid service similar to Edthena

Teacher2Teacher

• Runs a weekly edchat • Actively promotes

collaboration on twitter between teachers

• Started a twitter hashtag: #WhyITeach (see picture)