Teacher
Chatboards
I'm not sure what I would do without my
"invisible friends" on the internet! There are several teacher chatboards I
check regularly - there is never a shortage of professional support or clever
ideas!
A
to Z Teacher Forums
ProTeacher
Teachers.Net
Mentor Center
General
History Resources
Unit
Resources
Organization is something I struggle with every
year. This year I am going to embrace the idea of FLYlady for Teachers. You
can see more details on the FLYlady site.
As I create and/or find things that help with that journey I will post them
here.
For my calendar/planning section I'm going to
use a monthly calendar, followed by the weekly to-do list, and then my weekly
lesson plans.
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Planning/Planner Forms - Do It Yourself
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Teacher
Control Journal
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This is the blank "teacher control
journal" from the FLYlady site. It walks you through the process of setting up
goals and routines.
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This isn't a clickable link - I
printed my monthly calendars from Outlook. If you go to print options, you can
choose to print a month on two pages, just like in the planners you buy.
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Weekly
To Do List
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This is from the MSN group "FLYlady
for Teachers". Wonderful!
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Weekly
To Do List Sample
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This is also from the "FLYLady
for Teachers" group. It is a sample showing the above form in use. I'll
put up a sample of my own as I use the form.
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Weekly
Lesson Plan Form
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I'm proud of this one - just got
it finished! It is a weekly lesson plan form. Feel free to modify it for your
own use, but you'll need to unprotect the document to change it. Look under
the tools menu.
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Planning/Planner Forms - If I were
going to buy one
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Educator
Planning System
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From Franklin Covey - I seriously considered this
one before I decided to make my own.
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The
Teacher's Daybook
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From Heinemann - This is another beautiful planner
- personal goal setting and access to teacher forms on the website.
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Organization Tips
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Bulletin Boards
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B-Board Letters1
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Store Alphabet Sets in pencil pouches, store
pouches in three ring binders - tip from Basam on AtoZ
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B-Board Letters2
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Get an A-Z accordian binder. Store the letters in
the appropriate slots - this will allow you to mix and match patterns easily.
- tip from Andrea L on AtoZ
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B-board Backing
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Use fabric instead of paper. It doesn't fade,
doesn't show staple markings, and lasts for years!
I like to use a solid color twin flat sheet from
Wal-Mart because it is the right size for my boards and already hemmed.
Most fabric is already the right width for you
board, measure to see how many yards length you need.
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Extra B-board
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If you need a fast extra bulletin board, put up a
piece of foam board - tip from ShouldBeAsleep on Ato Z
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Teaching Social Studies
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My blog, started in Spring 09, about Interactive Notebooks and different
strategies for teaching social studies.
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Show
Me the Strategies
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A mega collection of ideas for starting, sustaining, and ending a lesson.
There are over 400 ideas listed on this site, in small print, so it can be a
bit overwhelming. Great list of ideas!
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Instructional
Strategies for Social Studies
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A selection of content-area reading strategies with specific social studies
examples.
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Windaroo State School
Strategies
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Higher order thinking skills strategies. I particularly like the idea of Slip
Writing. Many of these ideas you will read and go - why didn't I think of that?
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Brain
Compatable Strategies
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33 assorted strategies that claim brain compatability, from AEA267, in Iowa.
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Concept
Attainment
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Uses examples and non-examples to help students develop a gist, or big
concept. Develops relational thinking.
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Marzano's Classroom Instruction that Works
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A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works (ASCD) by
Robert J. Marzano, Jennifer S. Norford, Diane E. Paynter, Debra J. Pickering,
Barbara B. Gaddy
NOTE: Do not buy this book. It is most likely in your
professional development library at school, if not, it is definately at your
local teacher college library. These strategies are not new - this is a
statistical study of strategies that have been proven effective over time. It
is worth a read though, and I include it here because all of the links below
are based on the work. I prefer the Handbook to the original book.
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Nine
Essential Instructional Strategies
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A one-pager from MiddleWeb. If you haven't heard of the strategies, start here.
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Building
Better Instruction
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This is an article from learning and leading with technology. It provides a
nice summary of the "big nine" and also provides some of the charts from the
book including each strategy's impact on student learning. It then goes on to
show how technology can help. For even more technology ideas for the
strategies, click
here.
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Examples/Strategies
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This Bedford County School site provides lists of examples/links for each of
the nine strategies identified by Marzano.
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The Revised Bloom's Taxonomy
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http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Bloom/blooms.htm
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I'm not an expert by any means, I'm just a
teacher wanting to communicate better with my classes and be more organized
with my resources. These are the links that have helped me.
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Web Hosting Services
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TeacherWeb
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I currently make my pages with Teacher
Web. You don't need to know any html, but if you do know it you can use it. I
don't know html, so my site has been created without it. They offer a 30 day
free trial.
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My
Teacher Pages
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Another site for teacher webpages that
doesn't require html. They offer a 30 day free trial.
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ClassJump
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Free hosting with templates. If I had found that
first I might have gone that route - worth checking out.
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SchoolNotes
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Free hosting for a very simple site that allows
posting of homework and announcements.
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Web Page Extras
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Cool
Clips
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A huge selection of clipart for presentations and
the web. Read the license carefully. Smaller versions are free with watermark.
Clipart licenses can be bought.
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Ad Designer
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Create a free custom banner for your website.
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Amazing
Counters
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Free counters for your web pages, they attach an
advertising link.
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GRSites
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Free logos, buttons, backgrounds and clipart for
your site. They would like a link back if you use their images.
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Mr.
Donn's link collection of History and Holiday Clipart
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Links to clipart for many different historical
topics.
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TeacherWeb Help
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TeacherWeb
Online Support
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The "technical manual" for TeacherWeb.
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TeacherWeb
Tips for Teachers
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Mrs. Bainbridge, a TeacherWeb user, has put
together a nice page of tips for teachers on using TeacherWeb.
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I have used, or am using, each of the following
three programs. I will be exploring Engrade, the online option, this year.
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Gradekeeper
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Gradekeeper is a terrific software that mimics a
traditional paper gradebook. It comes with a pocket pc/palm program for grades
on the fly, and it securely exports to TeacherWeb. You can download a full
copy for evaluation, and purchase price is $20 including free upgrades for
life.
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ClassAction
Gradebook
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ClassAction Gradebook is feature rich - highly
customizable grading, grouping ability (it can create groups based on the
gradebook), attendance, you name it. You can download a full copy for a 30 day
trial. Purchase price is $39 and a palm/pocket pc program is available for an
additional $20. Upgrades are free for life.
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Engrade
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This is the gradebook I am planning on using this
year. It is a free, online gradebook. Parents and students can access it
online. It has recently been upgraded and includes an assignment calendar that
supports uploading documents (homework, notes, etc.).
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Classroom
Theme
This year my school decided that we would have "Dive Into Learning" as our
school wide theme.
Vista
Print
Vista
Print is an online printing
service that offers an incredible line of free products. Yes, I said free :).
You pay shipping, and you have to be very careful as you make your order to
not accidentally sign up for paid options, but the products are amazing. A
thread on A to Z Teacher forums opened my eyes to the many creative options
for which these products could be used. The PowerPoint below includes my
versions of their very creative ideas.
Best Buy Coupon