2867 language-arts results | sort by:
return to subject listingTwelve Ideas for Teaching with QR Codes - Andrew Miller
Grades
K to 12tag(s): qr codes (17)
In the Classroom
Choose one of the ideas suggested in the article as a starting point for using QR codes in your classroom; then try additional ideas a little at a time. Share the article with other teachers and split up the ideas for each to become an "expert" in one of the strategies. Share your experiences as you learn together, perhaps in a staff meeting.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Writing Prompts - Luke Neff
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): creative writing (122), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (55), writers workshop (31), writing (315), writing prompts (57)
In the Classroom
These prompts are perfect for writing in journals as quick writes or having your students develop into a full story or essay. There are plenty of unusual ideas to get even the most reluctant writer moving. Once completed, have students submit their story to the class using Google Docs, reviewed here. The class can then collaborate by proof reading and suggesting ideas for others' stories. Just because these are "writing" prompts does not mean you can't use them for ENL/ELL or speech/language students to prompt them to TALK and use oral language. World language teachers can also use these to promote conversation/oral language. To get started, project one in class; after that make the link available on your class web page.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
PBS Video Online - PBS
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): video (256)
In the Classroom
Teachers you can now access videos from PBS without having to record them. Use the subject search to find videos relevant to a unit of study. Display videos with your projector or add a link to your class website so students can watch at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Zilladog - Zilladog
Grades
1 to 7tag(s): classroom management (128), digital citizenship (83)
In the Classroom
As with all student communications on the Internet, please check with school policies and parents. If permitted, set up the email accounts the first week of school to help students prepare for a great (organized) year! Zilladog provides students with an email of their own. Send messages to home for extra reinforcement or questions you had on an assignment. Make more personal contact acknowledging noteworthy behavior or successes. Group projects at home are possible with instant emails and sharing links or documents. Encourage communication between students doing study groups through email. At school, students can email parents questions or reminders for important times, dates, or assignments. Before use do a unit on Internet safety, email etiquette, and cyber bullying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Teaching Kids News - Teaching Kids News
Grades
2 to 8tag(s): literacy (106), news (229), newspapers (91)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for interactive whiteboards or projectors. Display the site on your whiteboard when discussing current events. Use as a learning center for students to read and journal. Practice with Main Idea or summarizing using these interesting informational texts. ESL/ELL learners can also find accessible news stories here. Provide this link for students to use at home to keep up with current events. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain or summarize any article on the site. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
iPiccy - iPiccy.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): images (270), photography (131)
In the Classroom
Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use on class blogs, wikis, or sites. Encourage students to use on images for projects or presentations. Use the editor to edit pictures to fit styles of pictures when doing historical reports or to set a mood. Use caption bubbles for the photos themselves to tell the stories. Have students annotate or label Creative Commons online images of cells, structures of an animal, and much more, sharing the results (with an image credit) on your class wiki.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Edsitement - EdSitement
Grades
K to 12tag(s): art history (85), cultures (132), Juneteenth (22), literacy (106)
In the Classroom
Use Edsitement for lesson ideas in language, history, literature, and cultures. Find multiple sources to give a deeper comprehension on the subject matter. In history classes, keep the ongoing calendar in your favorites to celebrate an important historical day every day. Lesson plans cover multiple grade levels in many different subject areas. Resources can enrich, or even to give further explanation to current topics of study.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
What Speed Do you Read? - Staples.com
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): independent reading (85), reading comprehension (142)
In the Classroom
Race to read, with Staples simple Speed reading test. Offer your students and parents an easy way to track reading fluency. Use this tool to open discussion about the reasons why we sometimes need to slow down and how practice can build fluency. Offer contests, use in portfolios, or just plain have fun reading! Begin by using on the interactive whiteboard and reading aloud and modeling good reading behaviors. Help students discover the skills of great comprehension. Have students graph the family results. Test your principal and other teachers. Use this website to prove reading takes practice. For another reading speed builder, try Easy Prompter, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
WhatWasThere - Enlighten Ventures, LLC
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communities (36), images (270), local history (14), maps (208), photography (131)
In the Classroom
Use this tool to explore the changes in your local area or elsewhere. Compare medicine, education, nutrition, and more from each of the time periods. Create a campaign to showcase your local area today by cataloguing various neighborhoods with your classes. Write stories about life in each of the historical periods. Research headline news of those days, political figures, and major achievements. In elementary grades, show how towns and cities change over time by projecting the photos and maps as part of your Communities unit. In very early grades, introduce the very idea of history by showing "what was there" at familiar local sites. Have students write stories about what happened there "once upon a time."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Endangered Languages - Alliance for Linguistic Diversity
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (156), word study (58)
In the Classroom
As part of a world cultures unit or study of langage origins, students ask their parents and grandparents what part of the world their ancestors came from and then explore this map to determine the number of endangered languages found where their ancestors lived. Gifted students may be fascinated by these unusual tongues. Have them explore to learn more about the culture behind the language. Compare words for the same thing across different languages to see how the languages are related.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
EngVid - engVid
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): grammar (133), grammar review (31), idioms (32), pronunciation (33), slang (15)
In the Classroom
Use video from this collection to introduce a topic or to do a quick review. Students recently mainstreamed from ESL/ELL into the traditional English or language arts classroom or students who need information presented several times in different ways may benefit from a short video lesson. Have students view lessons then create their own grammar lesson video. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
pageOrama - pageOrama.com
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): multimedia (43)
In the Classroom
Use this site for students to post simple projects such as stories, poems, and art projects. Collect a master list of links to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, or blog for easy access. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district's policy on student use of email as well as publishing of student work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Tesla - Master of Lightning - PBS
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): electricity (60), energy (131), industrial revolution (20), inventors and inventions (71), motion (49), radio (20)
In the Classroom
Add intrigue and mystery, to your science unit on electricity, motion, or inventors as you study the life and accomplishments of Nikola Tesla. Excellent lesson plans include a concrete understanding of potential energy, mechanical energy to electrical energy. Use on an interactive white board to begin your unit or create a "Who Dunnit" with electricity or radio. Follow the structure of ideas presented to create an online "famous scientist" wiki, blog or PowerPoint to add to your class website. Use a Socratic seminar to debate which scientist should get credit for the induction motor, radio, and even the Industrial Revolution. Use the readings for older students, advanced readers, or gifted students, as they are far above the reading level of elementary and early middle school students. In language arts, writing topics could include "What a shock electricity is in my life" and "Will the true inventor of electricity please stand up?" The ideas and resources are electrifying!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Lingt Language - Lingt
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): listening (68), pronunciation (33), Teacher Utilities (146), vocabulary (235)
In the Classroom
No matter whether you are a world language teacher, an ESL/ELL teacher, or a language arts teacher who has ESL/ELL students in your class, you will love using this program. Use Lingt for reading practice, commenting on or interpreting an image or video, dictation, and anything else your students need. Students do not have to register. Give them the URL for the class; they complete the assignment and submit. They will then be asked for their name and email. For younger students, have them use an acronym, such as the first two letters of their last name and the first three letters of their first name, and a gmail account you have set up for them. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students. This link about email registration, here, explains how to do this. You can see which students have completed the assignments and view them from your home page. You can leave text or voice feedback on the assignment.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Think - Cathy Sheafor
Grades
K to 8tag(s): creativity (92), critical thinking (112)
In the Classroom
Use this site to create a "think outside of the box" space in your classroom. Keep the area stocked with materials and activity sheets. Use the area as a place for students to go when they finish up work. Better yet, make design thinking part of your science curriculum by tying in some of these challenges with curriculum topics such as gravity, forces, materials, and more. Set one Friday a month aside as "think outside of the box" day, and use the activities from the site. Send home an activity as extra credit homework and create a museum of student's creations. Make this link available on your class web page for parents to access during school breaks or snow days.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
about.me - Tony Conrad, Ryan Freitas, Tim Young
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): college (45), communication (136), internet safety (112), portfolios (22), social networking (68)
In the Classroom
Counselors and teachers could work together to have high school students make about.me the place they use as a "branding" home for themselves online. Start by making your own About.me page to mange your own professional presence and use as an example. Suggest to students that they use a "me portfolio" on about.me for college apps, employment apps, etc. Using about.me is also the perfect opportunity to talk with students about their online presence and how outsiders might interpret what they decide to post on about.me or any social network. Along with that discussion you'll want to review Internet safety and privacy. Consider using Privacy and Internet Safety, reviewed here. If you teach gifted students (13+) who are working beyond your regular curriculum, start by having them create a real world presence using about.me, with parent permission of course. Use this space for them to publish links to their best work, especially projects that take on a life of their own long after the assignment ends. Have a student interested in international politics? Maybe STEM cell research? Have the share the class project that got the started along with essays about where they see themselves in ten years or portfolios of their related accomplishments, including those outside of school. This portfolio site is not something to "pile up" with everything. It is for them to present their best face to the public. Encourage them to take ownership of it.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be shared by URL
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Lalo.li - Franz Enzenhofer
Grades
K to 12tag(s): communication (136), text to speech (18)
In the Classroom
This would be great for ESL/ELL learners; have them type a short sentence and listen to the playback to verify that the sentence is correct. It would also be a great practice for beginning readers. Use your interactive whiteboard and have the class tell a very brief story or say a sentence. After typing the sentence into the program, user a pointer for each word as the synthesizer reads it, or have students take turns pointing out the words. Share tonight's homework on your class web page as a link to an audio reminder simply by typing or pasting in the assignment and copying the link to place it on your web page.Comments
When I tried to use it with Safari on a new Mac in 10.7, it said I needed to use only Firefox or Chrome Too bad.Constance, RI, Grades: 0 - 12
Note from the editorial staff: thank you for your comment. We have added this information to the review.
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Interactive.I - interactive.illimitably.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): drawing (60)
In the Classroom
You can avoid the public galleries entirely by creating the space for your students to use. It takes only seconds, and they can join directly by url. Have students collaborate on the creation of story webs or classroom presentations. Encourage visual prewriting for the students who "think in pictures." Allow students to use this site as their visual during speeches. Have young students use a whiteboard to draw out ideas before they can even write entire sentences. If you know an artist, cartoonist or illustrator, invite him/her to visit your classroom virtually to share his/her drawing process while you class uses the chat to ask questions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Instant Classroom Seating Chart - Instant Classroom
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (128), Teacher Utilities (146)
In the Classroom
Use this site at the beginning of the year to create a seating chart for your classroom. Use the drag and drop technology to configure the desks the way you want them. Use the Random Name Generator to choose a student for an activity or to answer a question. If you need to create groups of 2, 3 or more, use the Classroom Group Maker to automatically split your class into even groups.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
ProCon - Procon.org
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): climate change (87), critical thinking (112), debate (37), difficult conversations (58), persuasive writing (55), politics (113)
In the Classroom
Using controversial topics that have more than one side is a great way to develop critical thinking and problem solving. Find issues on this site that relate to your curriculum and use them as an entry point for a new unit. Use the teaching resources found on the top menu under the Teacher's Corner. Use this site to teach how to distinguish facts from opinions, using information to write essays or create speeches, or hold a class debate. You may want to facilitate student persuasive writing by using an outline such as Persuasion Map, reviewed here, to help them organize their thinking. Help students develop flexibility in their thinking by having them take part in a difficult conversation and argue a side they do NOT agree with. This will also help students think about how to refute a point the opposition will make. Focus on critical thinking with your students to develop skills needed for life. Use as a whole class activity or for individual students to find an issue of interest to them. Gifted students often think deeply on such issues at an early age and will find these topics of great interest. Use this site to guide a deliberate discussion or debate.Comments
I also love this site, but I don't see any advertising on there at all. The site is free. Not sure how they stay afloat but I'm glad they do. For me, it is better than Opposing Viewpoints database for its depth, ease of use, and lack of registration/passwords. I use it for student debates on current events, and my wife (an English teacher) uses it for persuasive essays and role play debates.ProCon, , Grades: 0 - 12
I've used this and it's great! Balanced, has good resources. Helps students see both sides of an issue.Frances, CT, Grades: 6 - 8
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
Close comment form