Take Control of Technology in the Classroom

LanSchool classroom management software puts teaching power back into teachers’ hands so teachers can feel confident in today’s digital classroom. With LanSchool, teachers can eliminate distractions, demonstrate concepts, monitor students, and assess progress. LanSchool is easy to use and helps teachers recapture valuable teaching minutes every day. Visit the LanSchool website to download a free trial, hear teachers’ reviews, and find additional information.

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Write the Year in Rap

The start of a new year is a wonderful time to explore the past year’s most important news in your classroom. The New York Times Learning Network is encouraging students to write a rap about the year’s news. Students should include information and stories that garnered the most attention in 2015 and create short, 12- to 15-line raps. Winning entries will be published on The Learning Network blog.

Deadline: January 12, 2016

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Share Groundbreaking Educational Programs

Returning for a fifth year, the $200,000 Follett Challenge will highlight and reward the most innovative K–12 programs that teach 21st-century skills to students. Schools or districts, public and private, in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply. Submissions are open to all K–12 educators and Parent Teacher Organizations. To participate in this year’s contest, entrants must complete an online application and upload a three- to five-minute video describing their program. The judges are seeking programs that illustrate critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration between students and among teachers and other members of the school staff. Eighty percent of each entrant’s score will be based on the judges’ opinion of the entry, with the remaining 20 percent based on the number of votes generated by the public for the school or district’s video. The contest’s three semifinalists each will earn a $30,000 prize. The grand-prize winner, to be selected from the three semifinalists, will earn an additional $30,000, for a total of $60,000, plus a celebration at their school. Ten $8,000 prizes will be awarded to People’s Choice winners—those schools that receive the highest number of online votes from the public for their submitted videos.

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Become a Digital Innovator

PBS has announced its fourth annual Digital Innovators program for tech-savvy educators. The program recognizes K–12 educators nationwide who are incorporating digital media in classrooms and serving as leaders in educational technology. Over the course of the 2016–2017 school year, PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators will be part of a professional learning community that will foster new ways of thinking, while leading the way in using technology to drive student achievement. To apply, simply create a short video, answer two essay questions, and complete the online application. Fifty-four applicants, one from each US state and territory, will be designated as Lead PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators and will also receive a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Denver, Colorado, to participate in the PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators Summit and the ISTE Conference from June 25 to 27, 2016. Plus, each Lead PBS Digital Innovator will receive a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Deadline: February 8, 2016

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Supplement Your Stretched Budget

GetEdFunding is a free website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of thousands of grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional, and community sources available to public and private, preK–12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations that work with them. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas, and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated, and monitored daily.

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Confront Stereotypes and Counter Xenophobia

Headlines about Islamic extremist attacks in Syria, Paris, and San Bernardino, California, along with rhetoric from the presidential campaign targeting Muslim immigrants, have raised anti-Muslim hostility to levels not seen since the attacks of September 11, 2001. “Growing Up in a Time of Fear,” an online lesson provided by The New York Times Learning Network, encourages students to read about what it’s like to be a Muslim teenager growing up in America at this moment and then consider ideas for countering stereotypes and Islamophobia. The Going Further section of the lesson suggests resources for looking at related issues.

Click Here to Access Free Online Lesson

Plus: Since it will not always be clear who in your school community is Muslim, you may want to plan ahead, perhaps with some of the tips suggested in “10 Ways to Talk to Students About Sensitive Issues in the News.”

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Reimagine Change-Making Education

With the help of a network of inspiring educators, Start Empathy has created a toolkit of fun games and simple activities that you can use to practice empathy with your students. The Start Empathy Toolkit is the product of interviews with more than 60 educators and leading social entrepreneurs about what it would take to create a classroom where students’ social and emotional needs are met and how to cultivate the kinds of skills that are critical for success in today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. The toolkit contains tips and tools, lesson plans and examples, and insights that can help inform everything from designing the classroom to conducting daily interactions with students and colleagues. Some activities can be done in as little as two minutes, while others can take the form of months-long class projects, applied to a range of subjects. Others simply offer a strategy that can be adapted to existing lesson plans, and tips that are proven to improve teacher and student performance alike.

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Shape Tomorrow’s Leaders

306 – African-American History is a digital learning experience from EverFi that informs and inspires today’s high school students through the stories and themes of African American women and men who have overcome obstacles through grit, strength, creativity, and intellect. The course includes 15 modules of five to ten minutes each, which address Common Core State Standards for Writing and Literacy in History/Social Studies. The module topic areas include the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Underground Railroad, Frederick Douglass, Madam CJ Walker, Hiram Revels, Phillis Wheatley, Harlem Renaissance, Althea Gibson, Brown v. Board of Education, Tuskegee Institute, W.E.B. Du Bois, and The Freedom Rides.

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Bring Mathematics to Life

Designed for children and the general public, Mathigon showcases the tremendous power, great beauty, and countless applications of mathematics. Mathigon uses interactive ebooks, games, animations, and videos to present advanced mathematical ideas in new and innovative ways. The topics range from prime numbers to hyperbolic geometry, networks, origami, or quantum mechanics. The graphics and presentation, utilizing the web’s interactivity, make advanced mathematics accessible and exciting. One example is Mathigon Active, a prototype for the next generation of digital textbooks. While working through a chapter, students solve puzzles and complete activities. They can ask questions or request hints just as they do with a real tutor. Mathigon observes students’ ability and behavior, and seamlessly adjusts the pace and following content, giving every student an individual and streamlined learning experience.

Click Here to Experience Interactive Platform

Click Here to Access Resources for Primary and Secondary Teachers

Click Here to Access Prototype of Next Generation Textbook

Click Here to Access Interactive eBook

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Ensure Success for All Students

On January 18, 2016, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), Big Deal Media’s Amazing Resources for Educators community on edWeb.net will host an interactive, collaborative webinar, sponsored by Quill.com, titled “Ensuring Success for All: Strategies for Bringing Out the Best in Students in Poverty, and Students Who Struggle with Language and Learning.” In this webinar, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year will share her experiences in Title I middle and high schools, as well as her work with refugee students, English learners, and students in intervention classes. The webinar will deliver both practical strategies and inspiration to educators and administrators working toward success for all of their students. Participants’ questions will be answered during the live, interactive session, and the webinar will be recorded and archived for members of the Amazing Resources for Educators community to access after the event.

Click Here to Join Amazing Resources for Educators Community

Click Here to Register for Free Webinar

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Collaborate to Design Learning Games

The National Center for Literacy Education (NCLE) and the Institute of Play have joined forces to create the Gamekit Challenge Pack, designed to get teachers working together to design and analyze games oriented around student learning. The design challenges require teachers to play and make learning games, gather and analyze evidence, and share and reflect as a team. The challenges are based on NCLE’s collective knowledge and experience supporting effective teacher collaboration, and the work that the Institute of Play does with games and learning at its New York City public school, Quest to Learn.

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Focus on Inquiry

The Galileo website is a starting place for teaching with inquiry. The website has articles and resources to learn about inquiry-based education, as well as plenty of research. Start on the home page and then check out the full set of classroom lessons and examples. The site offers plans for specific high school, middle school, and primary school math investigations. You can also download the Focus on Inquiry eBook and read about what inquiry means, learn how to construct essential questions, and much more.

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Journey Through the Beating Heart

Virtual Heart, a free iPad app from Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, allows students to speed up and slow down the virtual heart rate and take a close look at how the human heart functions. Four views of the heart show the electrical system, the valves, blood flow, and the interior of the heart. Students can experience each view with or without labels. When students first tap each view, the app displays a short introduction to that view.

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Create with Code

Young children, aged 5–7, can use ScratchJr, an introductory programming language, to create their own interactive stories and games. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves—and then use the graphical programming blocks to make their characters come to life. ScratchJr is a collaboration of the Development Technologies (DevTech) Research Group at Tufts University, the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, and the Playful Invention Company. In creating ScratchJr, the research group carefully designed features to match young children’s cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development. ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets.

Click Here for More Information About ScratchJr

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store

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Plus: Written by the creators of ScratchJr, The Official ScratchJr Book is a companion to the ScratchJr app. Each chapter includes several activities that build on one another, culminating in an engaging final project. An excerpt of the book appears on the Scratch Foundation’s website.

Click Here to Read Excerpt from ScratchJr Book

Plus: A new version of ScratchJr was launched in December 2015. Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group collaborated with PBS KIDS and the MIT Media Lab to create the PBS KIDS ScratchJr programming app. Young children can now learn the basics of coding by creating their own interactive stories with their favorite PBS KIDS characters. The new app features PBS KIDS media properties such as WILD KRATTS, WORDGIRL, PEG + CAT, and a new series, NATURE CAT.

Click Here to Access Free PBS KIDS ScratchJr App for All Media Platforms

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Create Complex Geometric Figures

With the free mathematics software tool Geogebra, students can create difficult geometric figures and manipulate the consequences by making slight to drastic changes in the dimensions. They can test conjectures, accurately represent proofs, and solve algebraic problems with visual support. Plus, students can save their work so they can revisit it later to repeat problems or modify as problems become more in depth. Geogebra also allows descriptive labeling. Students can label coordinates, lines, intersections, and angles with words such as “inner circle” and “outer circle,” or “interior angle” and “exterior angle,” rather than using simple variables that require a key. Teachers can use this software to create examples without dimensional limitations and then insert the examples into instructional materials as figures.

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Put STEAM into STEM

Researchers in the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts University have established an initiative called Novel Engineering, in which engineering challenges are plucked from the plots of assigned books. The goal of Novel Engineering is to bolster reading comprehension through hands-on projects while teaching students the engineering process and linking it to the human problems it helps to solve. In the five years since Novel Engineering began, the CEEO team and partner universities have taught the approach to about 150 teachers around the country. They have also stocked an online repository with sample projects and a list of books, by grade level, which have mixed well with engineering in the past, including Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. In addition, the website presents examples of books that some Novel Engineering classrooms have used. Click the cover image to view the problems identified by students in those classrooms and the solutions they designed and built.

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Click Here to Access Examples of Books

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Join the Force for Good

Star Wars mania is in full force with the release of the seventh film in the series. Local members of the Star Wars costuming organization 501st Legion are traveling to schools in galaxy garb spreading the message that bullying is a bad use of the force. The idea for the program, called Heart of the Force, is that if students see the bright green alien Greedo getting picked on by a pack of sleek, white storm troopers, it may mean more. The group will put on short, interactive role-playing presentations and have children pledge to respect others and stand up for what’s right.

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Plus: The website Star Wars in the Classroom has a database of nearly 400 teachers, known as “The Rogues,” who incorporate concepts from the films’ stories into their teaching—even at the high school level. Teachers post ways they use Star Wars to hammer home history concepts or character development techniques.

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Experience the Power of Reading

Scholastic Reads, a new biweekly podcast about children’s books and the joy and power of reading, features in-depth interviews with bestselling children’s book authors and illustrators, editors, and other experts, who provide their insights about writing, publishing, and trends in children’s books, as well as their personal book recommendations in “ask an editor” episodes. The first podcast—“The Magic of Harry Potter”—was released in December 2015. Listen to literacy expert Pam Allyn, Founding Director of LitWorld, weigh in on how Hogwarts and the lessons Harry Potter teaches can be valuable for educators. Among the upcoming episodes are “Every Child a Super Reader” and “Book Trends of 2016.”

Click Here to Listen to Harry Pottery Podcast

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Map Literary Worlds

Academics, readers, and fans have spent countless hours mapping out fictional universes and trying to pinpoint the exact locations that inspired those settings. For example, thanks to the work of Professor Joseph Nugent, of the Boston College Department of English, readers can map out and then walk the exact paths taken by the characters in Ulysses, imagining themselves in Joyce’s turn-of-the-century Dublin. The interactive online map, featuring descriptions of the various characters encountered and buildings seen, is intended to help readers gain understanding of Joyce’s difficult book.

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Enter History

Chronas is a history project linking Wikipedia and Wikidata with a chronological and cartographical view. The Chronas home page has 11 images representative of the world at different times. For example, an image of a painting of Genghis Khan has the title “1248: Mongols Invade East-Europe.” Click on the image and you can read a short article about Genghis Khan and his empire. Click the map to the right of the article and you’ll be taken to an interactive map of the world as borders appeared in 1248. Once you are on the interactive Chronas map, you can adjust the time slider at the bottom of the page to see national boundaries change through the course of history. Stop the time slider at any point and click on the map to reveal a Wikipedia entry about that nation. In the upper left corner of the Chronas map is an option to explore various sets of data. In the data sets, you can find “sunburst” visualizations of population demographics according to year. You’ll also find aggregations of data that show you population distribution by ruler or empire. In addition, Chronas offers the option to turn on additional markers for cities, battles, artifacts, and famous people. When you activate the additional markers, they’ll appear on the map in the proper geographic context for the time you’ve selected on the map’s time slider. Each marker is interactive. Clicking on the marker will take you to a Wikipedia entry related to the item represented by the map marker.

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