Teacher Resources  

The "Top 25" Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, & collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly & encourage a community of learners to explore and discover (subcategories include media sharing, digital storytelling, manage & organize, social networking, collaboration, curriculum sharing & content resources)

"Adapting existing programs to enhance a digital learning environment "

From Kathy Schrock, a clickable image map aligning various Google App tools with Bloom's updated taxomony. Each image links to the tool itself.

"A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing:
A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives"

"The Learning Network provides teaching and learning materials and ideas based on New York Times content." Content areas include American History, Economics, Fine Arts, Geography, Global History, Language Arts, Mathematics, Media Studies, Science, Social Studies and Technology.

Students of all levels need some scaffolding; they need a plan and some knowledge in order to build a foundation for deeper understanding. There are many ways to approach the task of scaffolding depending upon the age group of the students and the text’s level of difficulty. The following 12 ideas can be modified to meet the needs of any grade or ability level.

The Common Core State Standards highlight five shifts that should be happening in every classroom. Teachers should:
• Lead High-Level, Text-Based Discussions
• Focus on Process, Not Just Content
• Create Assignments for Real Audiences and with Real Purpose
• Teach Argument, Not Persuasion
• Increase Text Complexit

"The goal of HippoCampus is to provide high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge. HippoCampus was designed as part of Open Education Resources (OER), a worldwide effort to improve access to quality education for everyone. HippoCampus content has been developed by some of the finest colleges and universities in the world and contributed to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC), another MITE project. "

In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human Development has created this catalog of open textbooks to be reviewed by faculty members. Open textbooks are complete textbooks released under a Creative Commons, or similar, license. Instructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by remixing, editing, and adding their own content. Students can access free digital versions or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks.

All textbooks in this catalog are:
--openly licensed
--complete
--suitable for adoption outside the author's institution
--available in print

With CC licenses, learners can find and incorporate free materials for reports and presentations; educators can customize textbooks and lesson plans; universities can distribute video lectures to a global audience; and publishers can adapt materials and develop services for an enhanced learning experience.

"COSTP’s early goals were 1) leveraging free, already-existing, and widely available K-12 educational content in the public domain; 2) better leveraging the substantial curriculum-based intellectual capital of the best K-12 and college teachers; and, 3) deploying Open licenses to secure new and dormant K-12 and college textbook content that would not otherwise be made available. The foregoing goals are well on their way to being accomplished."

Instructional videos for math, science and humanities courses

List of sites which contain copyright friendly images and sounds for use in media projects, web pages, blogs, etc.

Free Technology for Teachers is Richard Byrne’s award-winning edublog dedicated to sharing resources and practical ideas for their application, including an arsenal of tools for creating video montage “Book Trailers” that add a new dimension to the classic book report and a wealth of alternatives to YouTube for classrooms that lack access to the catch-all video site.

Articles, links to relevant sites and examples of revised lesson plans with rubrics.

The goal of this article is to present eight questions which pertain to how standards-based education affects classroom instruction and assessment at the local level. Various options and recommendations are provided within this article to help education officials discern the practical concerns of standards-based education. (Marzano)

From Shawn Dudley, VVMS principal, an 11 slide presenation about how the middle schools moved to standardized grading practices. Log in with your EdinaApps user info to view.

"Assessment is a huge topic that encompasses everything from statewide accountability tests to district benchmark or interim tests to everyday classroom tests. In order to grapple with what seems to be an over use of testing, educators should frame their view of testing as assessment and that assessment is information. The more information we have about students, the clearer the picture we have about achievement or where gaps may occur." Includes links to articles on the topic

"Standards don't lessen the responsibility of educators to evaluate the performance of students and to report the results. Nevertheless, the focus on standards poses unique challenges in grading and reporting. What are those challenges, and how can educators develop standards-based grading and reports that are accurate, honest, and fair?" Additional books by Guskey available via the Professional Library.

Link to a video explaining the topic. Many books by Marzano also available at the Professional Library

"The intent of this web site is that it will provide information about grading and reporting and provide opportunities for interaction between educators on grading and reporting concerns."

"Communicating Student Learning provides Kindergarten to Grade 12 educators with information on principles and practices for effective communication with students and
parents about student learning . . . This document reflects current research concerning best practices in assessment, grading, and reporting. Classroom scenarios are included, as are descriptions of
assessment and communication strategies that enhance learning."

"how to implement standards-based assessments in the classroom, school and district"--link to book on Google books. Hard copy available via the Professional Library.

"Real-world questions with clear answers regarding educational topics such as grading, instruction, and best practices to ensure success for all students." link to book on Google books. Hard copy available via the Professional Library.

Links to many articles by an expert in the field of standards based grading

Link to book on Google books.

Link to a video on the topic. Several books by Wormeli are available via the Professional Library.

From Converge Magazine, a quick read and explanation for these three reasons:
1. To reflect student progress on standards
2. To differentiate instruction
3. To make grades consistent and understandable

Buffy Hamiliton tells the story of tory of how digital media is helping our students to write the story of learning and libraries. Great slide show about transliterarcy at the site

"Confronting the Challenges of a Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century" - a working paper on digital media and learning

Digital media content and tools provide educators and students with tremendous opportunities to be media creators as well as media consumers. How do you help your students understand the ethics and etiquette of this landscape? How savvy are you about integrating media production projects into your work with students? We've gathered a range of resources and references on these topics and more to help you foster digital media literacy in your classroom.

The film, targeted at parents, teachers, and anyone concerned about education in America, explores how exceptional educators are increasingly using digital media and interactive practices to ignite their students' curiosity and ingenuity, help them become civically engaged, allow them to collaborate with peers worldwide, and empower them to direct their own learning.

From the Univ. of Ill, a leader in this area

A guide of many different digital learning tools, inlcudes links and directions

The blog of Renee Hoobs, a leader in the field media literacy education and a professor at Temple Univ.

A well-done overview of the concepts, the language of persuasion, deconstructing media ads, and much more

This collection pulls together resources that have been published at Digital Is that highlight some of these domains within the Common Core’s ELA standards.

Published in the Atlantic, this "guide can help you avoid the crap and become a savvier citizen of our digital age."