Safeguard Your Students Online

Bloxx delivers industry-leading, real-time content-filtering solutions to safeguard your students online. Bloxx’s technology is designed with education in mind: it ensures CIPA compliance, combats SSL and Anonymous Proxies, supports 1:1 and BYOD initiatives, enables Single Sign On, and delivers multiple authentication options, including Google and Radius. Bloxx will be exhibiting at this year’s ISTE Conference in Philadelphia to showcase its industry-leading solutions. Drop by Booth 352 for your free demonstration.

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Give Today, Thrive Tomorrow!

Learning Bird simplifies your school’s transition to digital learning with an approachable web application that brings 15,000 differentiated lessons to your students’ fingertips. The curated online library adapts to recommend the highest quality lessons in a variety of subjects, from mathematics and science to English and the humanities, for individual students. Students can easily search for lessons by keyword, topic or textbook. Teachers can access the library to differentiate blended or flipped instruction using formative assessment and lessons from multiple perspectives, giving students a greater chance of finding explanations that work for them. Personal dashboards contain detailed and informative reports so that teachers can review the progress and engagement of their class, school or district. Learning Bird also integrates with a school’s learning management system. For every high school or middle school that adopts Learning Bird by June 30, 2015, an elementary school in the district will receive a free one-year subscription. Learning Bird’s education experts make implementation seamless so teachers can focus on giving the best education to their students. Book a demo and see Learning Bird’s future-ready solution in action.

Deadline: June 30, 2015

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Recognize Successful Educational Technology Collaboration

CDW•G, in partnership with eSchool News, is sponsoring Collaboration Nation, an awards program that will recognize the nation’s finest examples of collaboration and successful educational technology projects. CDW•G will share the winning school and district’s keys to success and will award that school or district a grand prize of $50,000 to spend with CDW•G on products and services from partners such as HP, Lenovo and Meraki. Schools and districts are invited to submit a nomination and short video on the Collaboration Nation website. The winning school or district’s nomination and video will demonstrate exemplary technology collaboration across departments and describe how the project had a measurable impact on teaching and learning.

Deadline: June 30, 2015

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Plus: Schools and districts are encouraged to be a part of the Collaboration Nation community on Facebook by sharing videos of collaboration successes. Each month (April, May and June) the school or district video that has the most shares on Facebook will win a $15,000 prize in products from Collaboration Nation partners such as HP, Lenovo or Meraki.

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Hit It Out of the Park

Major League Baseball’s Baseball Tomorrow Fund gives grants to nonprofit organizations involved in the operation of youth baseball and softball programs and facilities. The funds may be used to finance a new program, expand or improve an existing program, undertake a new collaborative effort, or obtain facilities or equipment necessary for youth baseball or softball programs. The average grant awarded is $40,000.

Deadline: July 1, 2015, for grants awarded in November

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Lead the Information Field to the Next Horizon

The ASIS&T/ Thomson Reuters Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award recognizes the unique teaching contribution of an individual as a teacher of information science. To be eligible for the award, individuals must be directly engaged in teaching some aspect of information science on a continuing basis, in an academic or a nonacademic setting. Nominees need not be associated with an educational institution; however, teaching information science must represent a significant work responsibility although it need not occur within the traditional classroom. The recipient will receive a cash award of $1,000, plus $500 toward travel or other expenses, contingent on the recipient’s attending the ASIS&T annual meeting, November 6–10, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Deadline: August 1, 2015

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Offer an Opinion on a News Story

Every year since 2010, The New York Times Learning Network has invited teenagers to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists. This year The Learning Network is running its free Summer Reading Contest with a new, improved commenting system that should make the logistics easy for students and teachers alike. Every Friday, from June 12 through August 14, The Learning Network will pose the same question: What interested you most in The Times this week? Anyone 13 to 19 years old, from anywhere in the world, can post an answer, and contestants can choose from any Times article, essay, video, interactive, or photograph published in 2015, on any topic they like. Whether they were moved by an article, enlightened by an essay, bowled over by a photo, irked by an editorial, or inspired by a feature, students should find something in The Times that genuinely interests them and tell why, as honestly and originally as they can. Every Tuesday starting June 30, The Learning Network will announce the winners from the previous week and publish their responses on its blog.

Deadlines: Weekly through August 14, 2015

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Stay Up to Speed on Current Events

Newsela is kicking off its annual free Summer Reading Challenge to keep students’ reading skills sharp during the break, a time commonly known as the “summer slide” during which students can lose as much as two months of reading achievement. The global challenge empowers students to remain up to speed on important current events over the summer through news articles that are tailored to every ability and reading level. This year Newsela will be offering its Summer Reading Challenge direct to iOS devices. (A native iOS application to be introduced later this summer will make it even easier for students to read Newsela on the devices they use most, anytime and anywhere.) From June 1 through August 14, 2015, students in grades 2–12 will be able to read news stories directly from their smartphones, receive newsroom promotions, and earn points for the number of words they read and badges to recognize their reading accomplishments. The badges will be awarded to participants when they complete a range of quizzes based on article assignments. The Summer Reading Challenge is available to any student with a Newsela account. Parents and teachers are invited to create a free Newsela account for students to participate in the challenge.

Deadline: August 14, 2015

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Get Help for IT

LapCabby has been doing things differently in IT storage for more than 25 years. Born in the UK, LapCabby’s laptop, netbook, tablet and Chromebook carts are a big hit in schools worldwide—and they’re now available in the US and Canada. The cleverly designed carts give you everything you need in the classroom: storage, safety, simplicity—even charging and syncing.

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Incorporate Mapping Activities into the Curriculum

Hosted by the Science Education Research Center (SERC) at Carlton College, the Teaching with Maps website provides K–12 cross-curricular lessons and activities on integrating visual learning, spatial thinking, and quantitative skills. Educators can browse or search activities by category (K–8, 9–12, AP/IB/Honors) and refine results by resource type, subject, and grade level. Links provide collections of lessons in climate and energy, earth science, geoscience data, Mars, microbes, and more. A section for professional development includes teaching strategies.

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Inspire Students to Rethink Their Relationship with the World

The Global Oneness Project provides multicultural stories and interdisciplinary lesson plans aligned with national and Common Core standards for high school teachers and students. Resources examine global and environmental concerns, and those with associated lesson plans provide links. A trailer, “Bringing the World to Your Classroom,” highlights some of the videos and identifies resources with lessons. Each month a new story and lesson plan are added to the website. Teachers can sign up to receive the story of the month, free lesson plans, films, and more.

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Click Here to Access Featured Stories, Films, and Lesson Plans

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Integrate Media Literacy with Critical Thinking

An initiative of Ithaca College, Project Look Sharp provides lesson plans and media materials that integrate media literacy and critical thinking for kindergarten through grade 12 in US history, global studies, science & environment, health, psychology & aging studies, and general media literacy. The curriculum kits can be browsed as a whole or filtered by kit content, grade level, or media type. The kits contain teacher guides, student handouts, overviews, and assessments that can be downloaded as a whole or in part. Downloading requires free registration. All lessons are aligned with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts.

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Inspire Students to Think Critically and Creatively

The Denver Art Museum’s Creativity Resource for Teachers offers fresh ideas—written by visual arts, language arts, and social studies teachers—to inspire students to think critically and creatively. Among the featured activities are “Capturing Images Through Words,” in which students closely examine an image of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Petunia and Glass Bottle and then use words to capture what they see. The teacher then uses those words to write a poem about the painting. “A Spider’s Perspective” invites students to first pay attention to details about the Denver Art Museum’s North Building and then imagine they are a spider, or other small creature, and write a short piece about exploring the outside of the building from this new perspective. In the lesson “Blue Water: Telling a Story or Baffling,” students work in teams to observe and evaluate Philip Guston’s Blue Water and develop a theory as to what the painting is about and what the forms might represent. They create lists of how Guston’s forms could both tell a story and baffle viewers. Then they discuss their ideas with classmates in an open-forum setting that encourages comparison and the exchange of creative ideas.

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Plus: Watch this video to learn how teachers and students can benefit from using the Denver Art Museum’s Creativity Resource for Teachers website.

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Become Assessment Ready

Schools are grappling with implementing high-stakes online assessments—in particular, those that address the Common Core State Standards. It’s a daunting task to get technology up to code, but school districts can take steps to ensure that their IT is ready for these new online assessments. CoSN, Education Networks of America (ENA) and eLearn Institute have developed a toolkit, Raising the Bar: Becoming Assessment Ready, as part of an overall effort to ensure all districts can make the transition smoothly. This suite of resources includes a white paper, readiness recommendations and checklists, school district case studies, and frequently asked questions.

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Unleash Creativity with Technology

On June 23, 2015, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), the Creating Multimedia Stories for Learning community on edWeb.net will host a free webinar titled “Unleash Student Creativity with Tech-Infused Lessons.” In this webinar, sponsored by Shutterfly, the presenter will share a framework that will help you plan creative, tech-infused lessons. The presenter will also talk about how to use Shutterfly’s free Photo Story App for the iPad to fuse your content with the ISTE Standards for Students on Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, and Critical Thinking. You’ll also see examples of student work to inspire you with lesson ideas for your classroom. The presenter will field questions from attendees during this live interactive session. The webinar will be recorded and archived in the Creating Multimedia Stories community for members to access after the event.

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Apply Healthful Living to Your Busy Lifestyle

Everyone—including educators—encounter challenges when they are trying to apply healthful living to their busy lives. To increase your understanding of the relationship between fitness and nutrition, the Amazing Resources for Educators community on edWeb.net invites you to join a registered dietitian and a fitness trainer in a webinar titled “Healthy Teachers = Healthy Classrooms,” sponsored by Movara Fitness Resort. In this webinar, which will take place on July 7, 2015, at 1 p.m. (ET), the presenters will share helpful tools that you can use to apply healthful living to your busy lifestyle. They will also help you to increase your knowledge and understanding of the importance of nutrition and physical activity in ways that you may not have considered before. A free, one-week stay at Movara Fitness Resort, valued at $1,795, will be given away to one attendee at this live event. The speakers will field questions from attendees after their interactive presentation. The webinar will also be recorded and archived in the Amazing Resources for Educators community for members to access after the event.

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Address the Differences Between Standards and Curriculum

The Common Core State Standards are an ambitious effort to ensure all students graduate from high school ready for college or a career. However, there is a great deal of confusion about what exactly the standards are—and what they are not. On July 28, 2015, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), the Amazing Resources for Educators community on edWeb.net will host a free webinar titled “What Every Parent Should Know About the Common Core State Standards.” In this webinar, sponsored by Quill.com, the deputy director of Learning First Alliance will discuss what parents need to know about the standards, dispelling key myths and answering questions about issues of interest. Topics include the history behind the development and adoption of the standards; difference between standards and curriculum; challenges with implementation of the standards; and Common Core assessments. The webinar will be recorded and archived in the Amazing Resources community for members to access after the event.

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Take a Before-and-After Look at Our Changing Planet

Natural disasters, a warming climate, and human activities are rapidly altering the face of our planet. NASA’s free Images of Change app for the iPhone and iPad lets students take a close-up view of many of these changes in an exciting and hands-on format. The app presents a curated collection of the best image pairs from NASA’s Global Climate Change website. These image pairs show areas that have been subject to natural disasters or seen significant change over time. For example, students can compare Alaska’s Muir Glacier in 1941 to the glacier as it looked in 2004. They can take a before-and-after look at flooding in the Missouri River or at wildfires in Colorado. They can see the expansion of agriculture in Saudi Arabia as viewed from satellites. All photo pairs can be viewed individually, side by side, or overlaid with a slider bar for easy comparisons. Each image pair contains background information and a map showing its location. The images are meticulously selected and constantly updated to give students an informative, compelling, and up-to-date visual experience.

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Plan Together, Create Together

Talkboard, a free iPad app from Citrix, enables users to sketch on a whiteboard while talking to collaborators at the same time. Users can invite others to their talkboard by sending them an email from the app, by Airdrop, or by posting a link for them to tap-click on their iPads. Within Talkboard, users can create projects, each of which can have multiple whiteboards, making it helpful for students who are working together on a large project. By creating multiple boards within a project, students are essentially storyboarding or outlining each phase of their project.

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Turn STEM into STEAM

The liberal and fine arts, including visual arts, are recognized as playing an important role in the development of creative thinking skills. The inaugural edition of Diversity in STEAM magazine features Bill Nye, the Science Guy, talking about the importance of art in STEM occupations. Future covers will feature Neil DeGrasse Tyson, will.i.am, Mae Jemison, Stephen Hawking, Al Gore, Bono, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, women of NASA, Danica McKellar, and many more.

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Develop Reading and Coding Skills Simultaneously

StoryCode is curriculum and training for using short stories, novels, and film to teach the fundamentals of computer programming to diverse learners. In StoryCode, STEM fiction is classified into three categories: explicit, science fiction, and implicit STEM texts. Explicit STEM texts are novels such as Moby Dick, in which marine biology and ecology are already embedded in the story. For younger students, Little House on the Prairie might also fall into this category, with its descriptions of practical engineering projects. Science Fiction texts usually involve a mostly rational world with one irrational scientific change on which the whole future of humanity rests. For example, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wind in the Door takes the reader inside the mitochondria of a character to battle a microscopic plague. Along the way, students learn what mitochondria really do in the body. Implicit STEM texts are ones in which the literary action is a metaphor for the operation of scientific principle, such as binary and The Lady, or the Tiger? (offered as a free lesson on the StoryCode website). In Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, magic functions in almost identical ways to the way CSS and HTML work. In using fiction to explore mathematical concepts, StoryCode fulfills broad ranges of Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics as well as literacy in science and technical subjects. The computer science understandings and practices embodied in StoryCode align naturally with the standards issued by the Computer Science Teachers Association for the US and Canada.

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Examine the Development of Human Rights

On June 15, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. (ET), Discovery Education will host a live, global virtual field trip from The National Archives in London to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta, a revolutionary moment in world history. Open to classrooms worldwide, this virtual experience will focus on the importance and history of Magna Carta. The broadcast will be streamed live on Discovery Education’s website, where classrooms can register at no cost. Don’t worry if you can’t tune in live. All teachers registered for the event will be notified when the archive is available soon after the live event.

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Personalize SAT Practice Online

Official SAT® Practice for the redesigned SAT has gone live on KhanAcademy.org, making free, personalized online practice available for all students. Unlike traditional high-priced test prep that focuses on strategies for taking the test and quick cramming, Official SAT Practice supports and reinforces what students are learning in classrooms by helping them focus on the knowledge and skills essential for college readiness. The site provides students with (1) detailed information about the redesigned SAT, including thousands of practice questions written in partnership with the same developers creating the new exam, explanations of each section of the test, and guidance on interpreting test scores; (2) interactive questions, video lessons, and reference articles developed in partnership with the College Board to help students practice and review the skills that research shows are essential for college readiness and that are tested on the SAT in both Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing; (3) short diagnostic quizzes in both Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing to help students identify the skills they should focus on; (4) personalized practice recommendations, directly tied to specific skills on the test, to make the greatest impact on student performance and overall college readiness; and (5) four official full-length practice tests, written by the College Board, so students can see detailed results of their work, and Khan Academy can direct them to the most appropriate materials. In the coming months, the College Board and Khan Academy will continue to enhance these practice tools with new features, such as (1) additional practice tests and practice questions created jointly by Khan Academy and the College Board; (2) a new mobile app from the College Board that will enable students to take an SAT practice test on paper and then instantly scan it and get their score; (3) scaled scoring for practice tests so students can see an estimate of the score they might receive on the real test and track their growth; (4) a way for students to upload their PSAT scores to Khan Academy to get an even more personalized SAT practice experience; (5) instant feedback on their answers so students are always learning and seeing their progress; and (6) study tips and suggestions for test day.

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Introduce Students to the Power of Their Own Voice

StoryCorpsU is a learning and youth development program for troubled schools, launched by StoryCorps founder David Isay. A nonprofit that invites people to conduct one-on-one interviews in designated recording booths around the country, StoryCorps has helped create a massive archive of personal stories told to and by ordinary people. The StoryCorpsU Youth Development Curriculum, developed in alignment with the Common Core State Standards, introduces students to the power of their own voice, develops public speaking and critical listening skills, and helps students articulate their aspirations. Students practice college and career readiness skills, such as learning to communicate information in a well-structured, audience-appropriate manner and writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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Click Here to Access Free Clips from StoryCorpU Lesson Plans

Plus: A free StoryCorps app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch offers sample questions, provides tips for effective interviews, and records the exchange, which can then be preserved at the Library of Congress, if those doing the interview wish to archive it.

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Harness the Power of Songs

Songs have a special power to express what words alone cannot: hopes, fears, dreams, love, hate, anger, pride, aspirations, and disappointments. Because songs span the breadth of human experience, they are uniquely able to communicate across time and space the beliefs and ideas held by their composers, performers, and listeners. Voices Across Time was created by a team of teachers and scholars at the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh to help teachers harness the power of songs as primary sources to supplement any secondary American social studies, language arts, or music curriculum. The project has three components: a Teacher’s Guide, a Summer Institute for Teachers, and Lesson Plans and other Teaching Resources. The site also provides an index of Timely Tunes—songs appropriate to enhance discussion of any major holiday or historical anniversary.

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